gylman

Not having my hands on any of the possibly good 2005 sets, it's hard to say fairly, but I don't think any of the 2005 sets are as good as Kikanalo - how many different ways can you build a humanoid? Really, the best humanoid figure was probably Makuta, allthough I agree the big 3 from from 2005 are ok looking. The Metrus are the best Toas - 2004. In 2005 Lego put the big bionicle sets into System, which is disappointing. I have all the system I want. I don't need more of that stuff. I hope that one day we get stuff again like the Rahi sets from 2001, and the Exo toa or Boxor. And notice that Kekanalo is a rahi too. Much more variety is possible with non-human animals.

How about the need for more complex Bionicle sets? The first year Rahi sets had some excellent stuff, and the Boxor is a work of art. I haven't even begun to think of all the different things I can do with the Manas motors. However, it seems that the more recent sets are dumbed down ( :) same old complaint, juniorization, don't matter if you you are a brickish person or a bionicloid). I come more from the Technic side of things, building mechanical things, but I learned to appreciate the interesting things you can do with ball joints and really really steady feet. I was kind of disappointed with the Bionicle "system" sets from 2005 - they are all the expensive ones fromthis year. It seems like Lego is trying to push the Bionicle audience towards integration with mainstream lego, which is fine and reasonable, but it woudl have been nice to have one mechanically interesting Bionicle set this year. You can only make so many humanoid or arachnoid figures, no matter how cool looking they are. I am also not sure if the Bionicle audience will be interested in building Metro Nui - the nature of the playability of System Lego is very different than that of Bionicle. Oh well, guess I'll have to make my own mechanically complex bionicle sets..... what should I try to make? G

Whoa, BFS, where do those parts come from?? Awesome selection. Is it just the photograph, or are they really shiny? Nice. Wolf - I have no particular love for the basic Toa and Matoran figures. The figure you mention is one of these. They are boring in and of themselves, but the kids love them for role playing. with 10 Toas you can build something intersting. However, to see what Bionicle offers for an older kid, like me, get a hold of Bionicle 8811 (Toa Lhikan and Kikanalo) from 2004. Or from 2002 get the Boxor (2002). These give a better representation of the potential of Bionicle. Then, if you have 90$ sitting around get the Manas (8539) and see what you can do with 2 separate Technic motor blocks, each of which in turn have two independently turning motors, each of which in turn has two separate points of access (side and back), that can go either forward or backward at the press of a remote control button, with remotes that can either control a single motor or both motors simulatneously. And then see what you can think of building with that. Beats endless variations on Star Wars Millenium Falcon models. Gyl

Hey, 2 years ago, I was convinced Bionicle totally sucked. I am an AFOL with every single Castle set ever made + most of the good city / space /pirates/ underwater sets. Used to carefully build them with my kids, play a while, carefully put all the parts away ("DON'T STEP ON THOSE INSTRUCTIONS, JACKIE!!"), make sure all were accounted for, and build the next set. 3 months ago, for no reason other than that they sold a bunch of 5$ sets at TRU, we picked up a couple of bionicle boxes. Since then my kids can't get enough. They read the books, they write in bionicle language, they role play like crazy. They play Mata Nui on line. Nothing else lego-ish has ever caught their attention this much even though I have had them steeped in Duplo and Lego since before they could walk. While the basic characters are totally lame to build, some of the bigger sets are fun and work cleverly. The ball joints open up MOC possibilities that could not even be considered before. You can build a bionicle MOC every bit as complex as the most complex lego castle. It doesn;t look as pretty as brick Lego (to my eye), but it does much more. I, unlike some of the more rabid anti-Bionicle people on this board, am not afraid to say I was wrong. This reminds me a lot of the old "mac" vs "PC" debates, or other such meaningless arguments over the years. Peace people. If people on this board do not want bionicle in the discussion,the forum will die a natural death. You could also argue that Eurobricks is so tiny compared to some of the big regular bricklego sites (Lugnet, 1000steine) that it should not exist either. But, obviously people have found a comfortable home here. I, for one, will monitor the activity on this forum. Gyl

I find the pictures of Vladek's castle quite disappointing. A typical childish castle. In general, the current state of castle architecture is quite sad. The quality of the build is totally inferior to castles like 6090 (Royal Knights), 6276 (Eldorado), 6085 (black monarch), 6074 (Black Falcon), and even lowly 6097 (bat lord). I took apart 6080 (King's castle) last night, and it was painful (physically, on my hands) and time consuming to rip it apart becuase of how well constructed and interlocked it was. The last 3 Lego castles, King Leo, Morcia, and the upcoming Vladek look childish and build childish compared to the castles of 1980's to 1995 (6090). Even 6090 was not that great to build - it just looked good. That is my ultimate lego wish - a beautiful and interesting to build UCS type castle. ya yah, I could build my own, but they are never as nice as what the Lego people design, and hunting down the parts you need when you have some special idea is an expensive pain. Oh well, sign me up to the whiny adult AFOL club. "it's a kids' toy" "it's a kids' toy" "it's a kids' toy" (he says to himself again and again) Gyl

The black cat 5571 I thought was the biggest before all these useless gray Starwars sets came upon us. Space Shuttle 8480 was the biggest technic, wasn't it? Probably the new one from this year will top that. Which was the biggest castle? 6090? Gyl

Although I must say I never saw the appeal, my kids are mad for Johnny Thunder's adventures. They play games with the legos, while I just like to build. I've had to speak with an Australian accent for entire days at a time. Also the web site has excellent tie-ins for Adventurers, which really helps keep the kids' interest leve. Me, I'm a castle man myself, but that theme appears to be dead for now. It's been dead for quite some time, really (since 6090 I would say). So, on behalf of my kids I voted for Johnny and his crew.

I have been pushing Lego at my kids since they were 3 years old. While they always played with it, and liked it, Bionicle has been a total phenomenon at our house the last 3 months, and shows no sign of abating. We have to realize that Lego is not just there to keep AFOLs happy. They are obviously doing something right with bionicle. My daughter, middle of grade 1, has read a whole bionicle book in the last 2 days, staying up late to do so. So...... I would sell my soul to the devil for a 3000 piece castle UCS, but obvious Lego won't make much money doing that. Maybe if they sold enought bionicles, they would throw us AFOLs a bone. Besides, I have build a few of the larger Bionicle sets, and they are not bad. You all just got to open your minds up a bit. Peace Gyl

Honestly, I just don't get it. This is one seriously ugly set. It will be a great parts pack, but why on earth would LEGO release this? 10030 was FAR nicer looking. What a waste of 3000+ pieces. Why don't they build a UCS castle!