KMOI

I totally approve of the "next" and "previous" buttons! Anyhoo, here are some quick highlights I got on my camera of the Jan/Feb magazine for all those who haven't gotten it yet or can't get it (I'm looking at you, Yoda!). Quick note, this is the Canadian edition, so there will be massive differences between this one and the American one. The theme of this one was Aqua Raiders, and there's a comic too. Nothing really that special though. If I do get a chance to use the scanner though, I'll scan it all in! Aqua Raiders intro: City spread: Bionicle Poster: Star Wars poster/spread: Exo-Force comic: Exo-Force combiners: Exo-Force back cover: 40th anniversary of the LEGO club and details on Denmark headquarters tours: Enjoy! :-)

I actually quite like the Christmas banner! That's mainly because I'm a huge Christmas maniac (We leave our tree up until March and maybe longer), but still! Why can't we all indulge in a little bit of extended holiday cheer? ;-)

Ah, gotcha. I kinda assumed they stumbled upon a massive stock of the sets, not exactly the figure piece. Afterall, to stumble on a stockpile of that many sets would be incredible! But since it's just the torso part, it all makes sense!

It's quite possible, though I sincerely doubt it. The Golden Guardian hasn't really gotten that much coverage yet, considering how few people have gotten it and how it's listed as "Coming soon". Looks like it's going to be everywhere on the site in February, just like the Supernova! And I agree with Sam on the cafe corner set. Hope it's at least avaliable on the Shop@Home site though. LEGO hasn't exactly gotten around to building a store in Canada... :'-( Say, where does one pick up one of these nifty pamphlets, jeffery? :-P

Hmm, just a small question. If that torso was only avaliable through that set, wouldn't it be more expensive, considering the size of the set? Sorry if I'm asking the obvious here. I've recently grown a liking of medeval LEGO sets! :-)

disab105, I totally agree! Glad to see someone have the same opinion. :-) And welcome to Eurobricks! OW. OW. OW. Man, this is perhaps the worst storytelling I've EVER seen in my life. And for that sake, my future offspring's lives. Anyhoo, I'm totally getting Terminator 3 vibes from this. Soon enough, we'll have future-Tahu come back through time with the aid of some awesome future-Vahi to save "JON CO-HNORS". I forsee crazy retconning of everything we've come to know and love (OMGZ, ALL ISLANDZ ARE MATA-NUI'S ORGANS AND MATORAN ARE BLOOD CELLS AND TOA ARE WHITE BLOOD CELLS). Anyhoo, why exactly do they have to pass through the Karzhini to get to the Bahrag queens? And why are they getting the Matoran masks back? Somehow, I just know this involves taking them, placing them onto the middle of the desert and by doing so, save the future and create new Toa because had the masks not been there, some massive evil wouldn't have tripped over them and consequently devestated all Matoran in the world in some massive cleansing of souls. (Because Bionicle is dark and edgy like that) But thanks to the actions of the "lowly" original 6, said massive evil beasty tripped and fell onto his own massive mace/death-ray/bazooka/sythe, hence ending evil forever. Yes, I have low hopes for the future storyline. But then again, this could turn out well. Perhaps in the next saga, the Toa will make a triumphant return and give the old fans what they want. Reveal them to be uber powerful beings who were truly sent by the "Great beings" to save the world. Six heroes. One destiny. And for the sake of sets, make them all "upgraded" into something between current canister sets and "titan" class to make it profitable. And new designs that match each Toa's fighting/movement style (More buff and thinly armoured for Tahu, thin frame for Gali, semi-thin but larger forearms and lower leg for Lewa, short but strong build for both Pohatu and Onua, more armoured for Kopaka). Oops, there I go again. Gotta love daydreams! X-D Sadly enough, I'm sure GregF put in some OTHER retcon which will forever prevent the Toa from ever looking glorious in the spotlight again. (Voya Nui was a travesty. They made the Toa look like wimps)

Perhaps they want to push the online aspect of Bionicle? There's not much in their site currently, so my guess would be to try something new, like those new movies for Exo-Force. Kinda stinks, really. You can't read at leisure! I'm a speed-reader so as you can guess, that Exo-Force "movie" was torture to the highest degree.

Not so sure if it's going to stay as a LEGO store exclusive, but it definately looks like it is for the time being from "Eats-the-Trash"'s Brickshelf: http://www.brickshelf.com/cgi-bin/gallery.cgi?f=229637 Seeing as how the Bridge Walker was avaliable on the US Shop@Home, perhaps this one will be up on it too. Afterall, I don't see why not, considering the size of the set!

Hmm, I see what you mean. I was just guessing that they'd have enough firepower to literally blow the bedrock out of the water, but in the way you put it, it makes some sense! Hope the Barraki don't do anything stupid, like decide to challenge the Mahiri to a final battle on a plateau. It's going to be like Britan vs. Zanzibar! (For non history geeks, check here) A-hah! I knew it had to be the Transformers movie! Yep, that was one violent (Not to mention tragic) cartoon movie. Practically all the old favorites died within the opening minutes, including the big cheese himself, Optimus Prime. I grew up with Beast Wars, and I know what you mean! The final battle saw unprecidented main character losses. Digimon Tamers was another pretty violent cartoon which set itself apart from the rest of the series. In that thing, there would be one death every episode. At the end, the bodycount was pretty close to a hundred, including the death of a main character and a kill that involved spine snapping. Though I liked that as much as the next guy, I guess that's where I differ. Wheras you got completely innundated with those horrible, horrible PTA campaigns, I kinda escaped away from it all, hence my liking of non-violent ways. I hardly watch any cartoons these days aside from Avatar, Spongebob or the odd Disney cartoon, but from what I've heard, nobody can stay dead in cartoons these days. As you said, it's always the teardrop that revives someone. Or, in the case of Bionicle, the giant (and overrated) flashlight that is Takanuva. I certainly hope you're right, Jinz! Well, you most likely are. Afterall, eventually support groups will get tired of launchers or maybe LEGO will run out of ideas for projectiles (I forsee fantastic shoe-launchers in 2008). Then we might see more love for hand weapons. I don't have anything against projectiles in terms of the "violence" level, but I just don't feel it really fits into "Bionicle", ESPECIALLY that chain-gun. YES. Agreed! I can't tell if you're sarcastic or not, but I'd love to see that. Even if it doesn't have a plot, redesigning the original Toa to match up to the gazillion new teams we've been introduced to would be a dream come true. Same with the Rahi! Back then, they had to make animals out of REGULAR TECHNIC PARTS! But now with all these crazy pieces, I'd love to see them redesign the Rahi. Heck, even if they didn't make them for retail and put them up on display at LEGO stores and imagination centers, I'd be more than happy! To even catch a glimpse of what the originals would look like would make me scream praise for Bionicle for a good two years. If only, right? :'-(

Agree with the silver. Agree with masks. Agree with can't return to 2001 building style. (Oh, I love the Piraka and Inika, by the way) Agree with useless parts. (Nuva limbs was a major letdown, but Bohrok arms weren't, from my view; makes for decent Exo-Force crane arms) Disagree with anti-violence policy ditching. Disagree with Rahi sets. (I loved them to bits) No stance on ball parts. Disagree "lack of differences on the six main guys". (Look up Toa Metru, Hordika, Inika) Disagree on "horrible designs for rahi". (I prefer biped walking ability to be reserved for special sets) No stance on glow in the dark. MAJOR disagreement with firing weapons. TOTALLY agree on weird parts. Really seems like you're refuting some serious purists there, Jinz. Even though most of us have been outspoken, I don't think any of us actually said "Bionicle should be made entirely out of technic pegs". I agree with you on some points, but otherwise, I'm not really being "converted", so to speak. I definately agree with the overuse of silver in weapons, seeing as how it was supposed to be exclusively for more powerful characters. (See MATORAN use of protodermic blades) Yes, there were also useless parts such as the Nuva limbs which looked horrible (comic artist had to remake legs when drawing comic) even for advid fans. To me, weird parts is what really made Bionicle "Bionicle" in the first place. From day one, they never conformed to the norm of "Technic". They shattered it, and evolved into their own line. Mad kudos to that, Bionicle. But other than those points, I disagree to the fullest extent. Rahi sets back then were alot of fun. Sure, no projectiles, but hey. If you wanted projectiles, why not just walk one step westward of the LEGO section? There, you'd be greeted with Throwbots. And to this very day, their projectiles still hold a very respectable second place in "distance of a LEGO projectile" (First being those awesome spinners). Back on the topic of Rahi though, they were awesome. Compared to what we're about to get, treads are NOTHING. Need I remind you all that there's a SUBMARINE in this upcoming saga? Back on Mata-Nui before the Metru-retcon, they hadn't even made a powerful motorized vehicle (Largest was Ga-Koro skimmer). And it's not like that sub is a minnow either. That thing is a deep-sea BEHEMOTH. It's quite possbly larger than anything in the Aquazone sets of yesterdecade. Also, punch weapons were awesome. Taking a page out of Cyberslam, they really made it work very well. The whole "knock off the infected mask to free rahi" deal really worked! While I love the new boxed sets as much as the next Bionicle "UBER-LOYAL-YESMAN", a part of me still prefered the bipedal walking ability to be reserved for more "elite" figures. But now, practically EVERYTHING walks on two hind legs and anything that doesn't qualifies for a Matoran food source. (Muakaburger, anyone?) Heck, even the fish has legs (Which in retrospect, looks good on him). But hey. It wouldn't hurt to have a centaurish design like some of fellow Eurobricker BigFatSlob's MOCs. Nor would it really murder the line to have a serpent-like frame. Heck, serpents SCREAM evil! Just look at the Vikings! I don't think I'm really going to have to really dive into the details as to why I think that they REALLY dropped the ball in the past in terms of "set" uniqueness. You think the original Toa were rehashed? Look at the Metru. The Hordika. The Inika. They were all just repaints of the same frame over and over and over! The only thing that each character "unique" was the mask and weapons. (Inika, however, were really entertaining) I really like the Barraki, though improvements could be made. Pridak looks really good, if only he weren't so dwarfish. My suggestion would be to have some extentable "thin" limbs (But not THAT long) to balance out the insanely large feet, weapons and head, and he's good to go. Oy. I hate it whenever we go into the "NOWEAPON, YESWEAPON" debate. I sure hope this doesn't go into a 5 page long exchange, because I really doubt any of us want to go through something like that again. Anyways, I say no. Why is this, exactly? I think Bionicle's dived too far into the deep end in terms of projectiles. Don't get me wrong. I LOVED the Exo-Toa's missle launcher. I loved the disks. I absolutely ADORED the spinner launchers. Those ones actually fit into the theme. The only grips I have with these is that I wish the spinners were introduced earlier as Matoran's defense mechanisms during the Bohrok saga along with the Boxor. My hate started with the Zamor. Why exactly? Because it was the most flagrant copy of the concept of what made B-Daman a hit. Granted, they never fired these from the chest, but it was the gesture that hurt. Mega Bloks copied Beyblade in their Bionicle (Not the knight one) clone. Just to see LEGO copy B-Daman (From makers of Beyblade) HURT. It was then that it hit me. LEGO just stooped to Mega Blok's level. However, here's the redeeming part. Other than the launcher, the Piraka (To me) were near flawless. They were simply beautiful. So, no big deal. Take off launcher, and Thok looks normal. I only started to question Bionicle's venture into lanuchers after the Inika came out with those semi-automatic weapons. But still, no red light went off. And then I saw the 2007 Toa. A panel of red lights exploded in my head. The glorious heroes of 2007 come running in. Wait, no. They're not running. They seem to be heaving some heavy foreign object behind them. What is that thing? Holy brick. Everybody run! They've got GATTLING GUNS! Swim, Pridak, swim! Okay, all sarcasm aside, something just doesn't work with those guns. I mean the Barraki have squid launchers. That's as devious as a cat-launching crossbow. But the Toa? They plod in with their old Bessies, going Barraki hunting. Y'know how I said I take back my comments that Bionicle resembles Halo? I take back my take-back. I used to think that the heroes would be the ones seriously outgunned, but after seeing this pics, I find myself in an akward position, cheering the Barraki on and hoping the underdogs take down those Spartans. Usually, I'd be moderately okay with this. But not this time. It's just too extreme for me to even remotely get my head around it. Even Exo-Force, a theme that is loaded with rifles, doesn't even have this. Just picture this for a second. You're invited to a fencing tourney. You're up in the first match. You opponent has his sabre. You decide to nuke the entire venue from orbit. That's basically how completely wrong it feels for the Toa to be carrying these. Great MOC potential, yes. But just the fact it's in the Bionicle plotline makes it so wrong. Aside from the projectiles, I really dig 2006's and 2007's sets. With the exception of the launchers, I can't help but love it! Strange parts yes, but as I said. It's an integral part of Bionicle! Though I have a minor grievance here and there with the designs, it's a good run thus far. Twin flip blades on Matoro are awesome! In terms of that "ridiculous" anti-violence policy, I disagree entirely. Anyone who's watched action movies for the past 7 years and read hundreds of "action" fiction books can write a half decent "violent" book. But to actually have a conflict that strives in creating action without having gory details and still manages to intrance and capture the target audience is what really impresses me. Just knowing that they could actually gain from having such contraints just floors me. I admire that ability. And it was that ability that made Bionicle unique. Elemental and melee fighting beyond our imagination (Note, this was pre-Avatar) that genuinely wowed us all. With that, I close with a clip from Avatar, one which demonstates the effectiveness of non-exessively-violent scenes. Note how all moves in this clip are similar, if not once used by the original six and the Makuta themselves. (Makuta whipped the Toa with tenticles and that was still under non-violent policy) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eigyTz5boXE PS: If this clip isn't allowed, if someone could notify me or remove it before I do would be awesome! I'll be back in a bit less than 12 hours though. X-D

Wowsirs! This looks like a real whopper. It seems like this is the "Supernova" of 2007! I really dig how the stickers are reflective and the return to more traditional builds while maintaining the exposed interiors look of this year. And LOL at the "EXTREME DANGER" signs on his mech. Extreme Hayato is EXTREEEEEEME. I can't help but notice that there seems to be a slight influence from the new Transformers movie coming up. That "cigar" gun of Hayato's as well as the leg build look alot like the prototype photos of Optimus Prime. Meh, I'm just stretching the truth again. :-D Aaaanyhoo. I'm sure the click joints are to ensure that the mech can hold the weapons up, as they are quite heavy in appearence. Ball-joints can only take so much strain, which is why I commend LEGO for realizing this and NOT using ball-jointed legs in the new mechs! Oh, and just in case someone corrects me on my spelling of Hayato again, I prefer to spell it that way, so I spell it that way. The dashes in Hayato's name doesn't make ANY sense whatsoever (Other than to prevent copyright infringement). Afterall, that's like taking a name like "Michael" and turning it into "Mi-ch-ael".

EDIT: Sorry about this post here. I was responding, but it doesn't seem like it's needed anymore. Really sorry about this post too. (Man, I'm really having an off morning)

EDIT: Sorry everyone. Seems I was caught up in the moment and didn't see it posted already. Once again, sorry everyone. Could someone close this or something? I've learned my lesson. :-) For clarification, this set has been posted here: http://eurobricks.hosting.ipsyn.com/eurofo...opic=7481&st=90 *Waits for death sentence of this topic* I was cruising around Brickshelf when I saw this: http://www.brickshelf.com/cgi-bin/gallery.cgi?f=228421 Is this for real? Because if it is, Hayato suddenly went from having fast tiny mechs to HUGE armoured beasts with the abulity to level entire mountain ranges. Oh, and LOL at the "EXTREME DANGER" stickers on the set. Extreme Hayato is extreeeeeeeemee. :-D

Does anybody else see how the eyehole (and mouthhole) resembles a person? Hmm. A sillouette of Mata-Nui, perhaps? Guess the good ol' ovalish shape doesn't cut it anymore. Anyhow, nice site! While it's empty, I'm sure it'll fill up soon. Really dig how most "theme" sites have these neat little animations. Only wish they did the same for Aqua Raiders!

Wow, lotsa birthdays in January! Anyhow, have a fantastic birthday, Hobbes! Happy (insert age here)th birthday!

Sadly enough, it's a 100% accurate impression of some rather... Uh... "Younger members" of the boards. :-P And while I was searching for that topic, it turns out opinion has changed recently. Now, those whippersnappers want girls! But for reasons other than balancing out the gender ratio... Here, let this quote do the talking: And then the traditionalists strike back: Oh, and speaking of market research, here's some explanations for some of the sets. Hayato's fan-beloved "Holy bricks, those are GUNS!?" behemoth: New combiner models: Sentai Fortress: But on the other hand, there's some really good ideas. Oh, and if LEGO reads those boards, I PRAY they listen to this guy:

The point for our complaints lies within your own post. Why do we discuss these sets? Because we CAN. Even you said that everyone complained about the initial pics of the Inika. So what exactly would prevent us from commenting on these ones? Anyhow, yeah. That doesn't look like gunmetal at all! No wonder why I mistook him for Nuparu! I really hope they do make the switch, because at this point, Huki looks like Neo-Reidak from here. I mean, the whole POINT of doing gunmetal gray on him in the first place was to have some differenciation and now that it's no longer there? Simply doesn't work out! :-(

Hmm... It seems there may have been a slight miscommunication between the designers and the artists, because on the 3D version of the Iron Crusher, the shoulder pads are going in the wrong direction (Should be diagonal, not horozontal). And in the comic version, the legs are as if it's got dinosaur legs, when in the 3D version and instruction guide, it clearly has normal walking action. Anyhoo, very interesting overall. The Iron Crusher is definately amazing, as the colour scheme works with fantastic uniformity. The Sky Titan on the ther hand... Well... No offense, but it looks like a powerzord. Blue red, white and yellow are hard enough to mix already and then they have to chuck Ryo's green machine in there for good measure. The results? It depends from person to person. To me, it looks really akward. The design itself looks great, but the colour scheme just looks like a giant blemish on an otherwise decent combiner. All in all, a good show! Can't wait until I get my magazine! (I should really check the mail. Been a week since I last went to pick it up :-D )

It would be a great help to take photos of it, especially for poor old Yoda. Dang, I still can't believe they took down the LEGO mag in France... And yes, the magazine has gotten REALLY thin as of late (Last one I recieved was 7 pages), but I guess the Bionicle comics make up for it. Kinda. Anyhoo, is the poster the one with the Barraki armed with the whip? Because I just saw that on Brickshelf and it's extremely underwhelming. You tend to think it would be a glamour shot of all of them, but alas, less means more to some LEGO fans. :'-(

My god. Isn't that under the suggested age limit? Oh well. Guess those suggested ages are nothing these days! :-D But to answer your question, it's already good enough to please them with these, so why try any harder? X-D On topic though, I'm not too sure how others are looking at Matoro, but from my viewpoint, his mask looks like that hermit crab pirate from Pirates of the Caribbean 2. Y'know, the one who got his head knocked off with a coconut? THAT guy. But if it's an Akaku, I'll buy it just for that. Yeah, if Matoro ends up looking good, then I'll just remove that unsightly chain gun. It seems the weapons for this round of toa are flip blades and massive swords. Matoro went with the flip blades, which is definately a relief. I guess I just prefer my Toa feet as... Well... Feet. And if that fails, I'd prefer that contruction on the combiners, though combiners are a thing of the past these days. :'-( Anyways, I'm taking a look again and I really can't get over how much Huki resembles Reidak. It's truly unsettling. While I am disappointed in some of the choices that they made (I personally thought a Toa of Air should be slimmer to give more movement in terms of typical air Toa agility/dexterity while fighting), some of these sets could make for great parts sets.

Dude, we're not complaining. We're just critisizing. There's nothing wrong about saying what's wrong with sets. Also, your opinion before was perfectly legitimate. I don't see why everyone's chewing you out on grammar and all that stuff. Shame really. Nothing wrong about expressing yourself! ;-) Anyhoo, I'm with Xeno. It does seem a tad "un-femmy" to be a female figure. BUT, given how the Star Wars sets have unfinished stickers on them, there's a good chance that this will be rectified before the release. It's also plausible that this ISN'T a female figure, but rather a normal human ally with insectiod armour. But I'm praying I'm wrong! Just a neat fact I'm going to add in here. Apparently, VERY few kids on the LEGO.com boards wanted a female figure. They kept on saying "EWWWW, DEY GOT COOTIES" and "IF DERE WAS ONE, SHE SHOULD BE SHY AND DO HOUSEWORKZ!!!!elevenoneOne". Gotta love those boards. :-D

They actually shot the sequels back to back, just like the Matrix series. Pretty good strategy considering World's End starts right where Dead Man's chest left off! Also, if you get the two disc DVD for Dead Man's, you'll see sneak peeks for the third one! Well, nothing like a trailer, but clips here and there in the featurettes. Anyhow, as for the sneak peek posters, they rock! Pretty mysterious looking! It may be simple, but it gets the job done. Hope there's a more extravagant one later!

Heavens to betsy! This has to be truly the best Davy Jones I've seen out there thus far! I really like how you did the octopus tentacles as well as the hands. It's spot on! Even the head! Awesome work, Vader! It's really amazing to witness such perfection with that putty! (I, for one, could never do this) :-D If you don't mind me asking, can good ol' Davy move his arms and legs? Just kinda curious as to how much he can move! X-D

WHY IS THIS ALL IN CAPS? Heh, only fooling with ya! :-D I'm with Apo on this one. Hyper-Hogwarts is ultimately where they want fans and collectors alike to end up. For newer fans, it's an intro. For older ones, it's a chance to actually build their own real scale Hogwarts. Sure, it may not end up looking like some LEGO master builder's work, but it's close enough. And it's not like they've made this a secret at all! If you look on the second Hogwarts, they blatently tell you to combine the previous one with it to form a "super Hogwarts". All in all, I think it's a great move by LEGO. Afterall, there are more sets coming, so don't stomp on it until we see the entire array of sets!

I second that, Zane. While I loved the Inika, I'm not liking these at all. My main gripe has to do with the launcher. Zamors were NOTHING compared to this. This is a flat out atrocity! I tend to think "chain gun" would be more villianous than a loogie crossbow. Also, it really seems like they're trying too hard to make them look "cool". They've ventured so far as to actually make me think these are the Pirates of the Caribbean figures of Davy Jone's crew. I'm also getting the impression that the designer who makes the canister sets hates the Ice based figures. The Pridak was pretty bad, but Matoro really gets shafted. He gets a claw looking thing instead of a sword, his mask is a mess and he's got a Toa's FOOT for a torso piece. Now I can finally understand why he's the one who gets to wear the mask of life. At least he has to have SOME redeeming factor. The larger sets are good once again, proving that Bionicle continues to have a strong showing in some areas. The Gadunka really looks like that Sharkticon from the Transformers series. Not great to have that resemblance, but it does fit the whole underwater business. The Hydraxan looks pretty good, mostly because of the Mask. Yes, it may be a remolded Dume mask, but it's not too bad. Maxilos seems to be interesting. His dog is rather unique in build. I don't really like Maxilo's mask though. It isn't something I'd go nuts over. As for the minifig sets, I've never been a fan of Bionicle's sets here, so I'm not going to comment on these. However, I really find it really out of theme that they have SUBMARINES in Bionicle. Oh well. Whatever the focus groups say, huh?