Wrinkledlion X

Actually, more Matoro sets were given to retailers than any other Mahri. He sold pretty much averagely.

Where are these actual photos of them coming from anyways? Some kind of ToyFair?

Maybe, but I think they're proportioned chibily enough (new adverb!) that it looks fine.

Awww. They got chibilated. This is actually really nostalgic. I probably won't buy all of them, but Tahu at least is a definite yes.

I explained pretty thoroughly here. Granted, it's not as distracting in the body of the actual movie, but it is a problem. The animation really isn't any better than the first three, the character designs just have more detailing.

If you already have Stronius, I'd go with #3.

If you can find me shots more flat and lifeless than this or this from the first three, I'd be very surprised.

I like that they advertise his "Spiked Thornax Launcher" with a clip of two unrelated Glatorian firing their launchers.

Here's a good one. Well, I'm actually pleasantly surprised. Apparently the worst shot in the whole movie was the one of Mata Nui rising. (There's another bad one where it shows all of Skull Mountain and it's nearly textureless, but it's brief, and all the other locations look pretty decent.) The motion capture, though somewhat awkward, isn't as bad as I had previously thought... It looks like the worst instances were for some reason shown in the scenes on BIONICLE.com (ie: Mata Nui's awkward "not too steady on his feet yet" part, his fight with the Vorox, Ackar's flipping, etc.). Also, the texturing and atmospheric stuff was generally okay—not quite as good as the first three, but still pretty nice. (I'm too lazy to write paragraphs, so I'll do bullet points for the characters.) Mata Nui: Pretty much great. Michael Dorn was good, as I'd expected. I liked his no-nonsense personality, especially after the immaturity and inferiority complexes the main characters have had in the past movies. Ackar: Also great. They got him pretty much how I imagined him. (And he sounds like Cat from CatDog.) Kiina: Not as bad as she seemed at first. Still, she was a bit... Giddy. What with all the whooping. Berix: A bit overdone at times, but not bad. Metus: I really enjoyed him. Crowning Moment of Awesome: Gresh: Sounds like a kool kid. Probably the worst character, unfortunately. Tuma: Not as imposing a voice as I pictured him having, so I'm a bit disappointed by that. Skrall: They should've had voices other than growls. They aren't supposed to be Vorox... Click: Best part of the movie. Click is the new Pewku. Music was largely boring and there wasn't a lot of variety. Mostly variations on one main theme... Not as good as the first three at all, or even the MNOLG. There was one great part, though, when they first arrive at Tesara. (I felt like dancing in my seat for that one.) It felt like a mixture of the MNOLG and the theme from "Hot Fuzz." I've listened to it about ten times now. The locations are mostly average, but I did really like Tesara, which is... Vast. If there are living versions of those trees on Bota Magna, it must be crazy over there. (There could be whole cities in individual trees!) The story is decent overall, but not too special. The ending had a few really weird parts, though... So, overall, I'd say it's about on-par with the previous ones. It has generally superior voices, but worse animation and music. It does have better action, though, and there are a number of very cool parts.

I like the dirt and scrapes, but I'd rather they weren't so set-accurate. They ought to give them better proportions for the movie. Also, looking at that video again... I'm glad we're on a desert planet this year, because this studio doesn't seem to know how to animate water.

Ugh. Video game graphics. Honestly, I can't even begin to understand why anyone on here is saying that the animation is better than the first three movies. The lighting is terrible, the textures are way off, and there's a complete lack of any atmospheric detail. (Objects that are miles and miles away should not be the same exact color and level of brightness! It makes the scale look ridiculous!) And, worst of all, the motion capture is awkward and static... In the first three movies, while the animation wasn't perfect, the atmospheric effects, "camera" angles, and the way the characters interacted with their environment gave a very effective illusion of movement through space. Just about every clip I've seen so far for this movie looks flat and unengaging. And I hate this half-assed motion capture technique they're using. In the first three movies, each character model was adjusted properly for each frame and it made for movement that was consistently decent and believable. The problem with motion capture is that, unless it's a well-rendered, realistic character interacting with actual actors (ie: Gollum), it looks stiff and awkward. (The fact that they kept the inhuman proportions of the sets for the movie only aggravates this.) This is a problem that's been known about since rotoscoping was invented (see the awkward movements of the rotoscoped jazz-walrus as compared to the fluid movement in the other, traditionally animated characters). It's especially bad when they show a character jumping six feet in the air or doing some acrobatic attack, because it's jarring to see the transition from realistic, believable movement to cartoony spinning through the air (Ackar does it twice in there). Bah. At least seeing Mata Nui's beach again was kinda nostalgic.

Aah, man, that is so cool. I want it!

There, that one was actually a really good clip.

The terrible line delivery.

This is pretty bad.

0:10- Valley of the Maze 0:16- Ackar clunks two Bone Hunters' heads together

Well, they are on a giant fighting machine.

And we have a new pic of the general Tajun area. EDIT: Hmmm. Bug-face.

Whoa, I wish Christian Zanier had done the illustrations in most years.

Whoa, I wish Pop Mhan had done the illustrations in 2007. He makes the ocean look like something interesting and dynamic rather than just a blue background.

I pronounce all the original characters' names as they were on the Toa Mata CD-Rom. Hence, LAY-wuh

The Rahkshi had really nice faces.

A sad, fat child. (I gave him an AC/DC shirt because I figured that was the most incongruous thing he could be wearing.) A gangly, awkward man who I can only assume has a stamp collection. Fudley Bankworth, the corrupt mayor of Stickington. He's so rich that he secretes money as he walks. A Hunkerdown. It has three matted beards and a stylish pair of eyebrow-horns. (And a lot of legs.) A sea-dwelling Hunkerdown. The name "Hunkerdown" doesn't seem relevant for an ocean creature, however, and the name "Sea-Hunkerdown" sounds rather clunky, so I'm calling it a "Sea-Dagra." I imagine that it's dumber and more vicious than its cousins on land, and will sometimes attack ships for no good reason. The HMS Stuntbundler, a semi-steampunk ship with a disgusting name. Helioteuthis, Squid of the Future! (Created for a contest on another forum.) A sand-walrus. It would be largely sedentary, only uprooting itself once or twice a month to create a new burrow. It spends its days covered in sand, waiting for prey to come within lunging distance. Maybe it lives in the same desert as the Hunkerdown, I dunno. Oh, and it has a beard. EAT CORN. "Out of Order." Made for the UCLA Animation Workshop. Includes a bouncing ball, a walk-cycle, and some sort of Russian villain trying to get a soda.

That was a great RotGB chapter. It may be my all-time favorite serial.

Sounds pretty darn fake.