Refia

Good god, I loved the comic! I need the next one now! XD I love how we've seen almost all sets in one comic already. What was really so awesome about this comic, however, was that it actually felt like a form of story-telling, and not just a few coloured pages of action, like most comics the past 3 years. I liked last year's comics, but this one blows every comic since 2002 out of the water. Strakk is awesome (loved his line about Gresh's guts) and all other characters are pretty cool themselves. Vorox are lovable! ^^ The art and colouring was nothing short of great too. Well, I really have no negative things to say about this comic. 2009, I love you. I have that 2001 feeling again. ^^ PS: DID9 was not bad, better than DW9 at least. I'm glad nobody died except Miserix, and even he died in an original way.

Or evolving all Zesk and Vorox back to their original form. =p I must say, this black picture makes me like the Mata Nui set a lot more. The canister made his weapon look weird. Here, we can get a better look. Looks like some sort of bladed staff. His shoulder armour intrigues me. Most of all, this picture seems to be having a 2008 Ignika, an absolute must for the set if it wants to be liked by me. EDIT: I forgot to say, but the map with the location names is awesome. I really, really missed having names for the geographical features of a setting in Bionicle. Really, names were part of what made Mata Nui (island) so awesome. Mount Ihu, Tren Krom River, Naho Bay... It gives soul and identity to a location, which Metru Nui, Voya Nui, Mahri Nui and Karda Nui all sorely lacked. Bara Magna, I love you!

Say, is this Toa Mata Nui? (cut from the scans) He looks like it, comparing this figure to the canister image from earlier... I seem to recognize the shape of the Ignika here...

Destiny War 9 sucked. And as a whole Destiny War wasn't much to write home about. It wasn't a story, but a thrown together mess. It started out well, but when it began to cross with the other serials, randomly introduce Dark Takanuva's, kill characters for no reason and resolve next to nothing, it became suckage. The best parts were any part with Brutaka or Axonn. Or Vezon. But all in all, Dark Mirror was much, much better. The only serial this summer that I really like is Brothers in Arms. It's as random at times as DW and DiD (Alternate Spherus Magna, the hell?), but at least it sticks with its main characters and has cool randomness (Alternate Spherus Magna = great).

The sets look good, mostly... But Stronius looks too broad and too short. And I'm really holding off judgement on Mata Nui until there are clearer pics because... I don't like him at first glance. He needs a golden 2008 Ignika or else he's fail in my book. Kinda funny how we already have leaked summer pics while I haven't even seen one winter Glatorian in stores here yet.

Meh, I kinda found the new DiD update bad. The Order of Mata Nui is now officially on my hate list, as I can't stand most of them aside from Brutaka, Axonn and Jerbaz. Helryx is an annoying ****. Zaktan dying is no surprise. GReg's on a killing spree lately and he's so overdoing it I don't even care anymore. Destroying Brutaka's Olmak is also a big NO. Brutaka sans Olmak =/= cool. Sucks, to tell you the truth. Really, the summer serials are dissapointing mostly. They seem like a thrown-together mess. Destiny War, for example, has almost no continuity IMHO. The Mahri parts of Dwellers in Darkness just about suck and even BiA is overdoing it with the random teleporting to an alternate Spherus Magna. I liked the earlier three serials better. It seems Greg wants to cram as much random stuff and character deaths as he can in these last few chapters and last few moments in the MU. And it sucks IMHO, to tell you the truth.

It may just be me, but the 2009 was really good. Sure, you barely saw a thing, but we got to see a bit more of Bara Magna's architecture! I missed diving into a setting's culture ever since we began setting-hopping in 2006. That, and the entire desert reminds me of Mata Nui. Does anyone here remember how awesome it was back in 2001/2002 to play the MNOG and walk through Po-Wahi? I always found that so awesome. I loved the music of MNOG too. My favourite piece has to be the music that plays when Kopeke makes that ice-key. Gives it such a mystical touch. Bring on 2009.

The sets were okay, the Phantuka were good, Toa Ignika FANTASTIC, Krika was great and Takanuva was a great Titan as well. Icarax was just good and all other sets I was "meh". The story was pretty okay. I didn't feel that much for the Nuva, though I liked them better as character than the Inika/Mahri. The Makuta were nice characters, but the absolute SAVING GRACE and BEST CHARACTER EVER this year AND BEYOND has to be Toa Ignika. Bionicle has yet to create a better character than our cute Toa of Life (though I have high hopes for Mata Nui) and it's sad his story had to end the way it did. Most serials were okay as were the characters in it. Miserix takes the cake in that area. However, I felt there were too much unnecesary, random deaths (Carapar, Ancient). The mystery introduced in the serials is nice (The Shattering, Spherus Magna) but it gets a bit much lately, IMO. The Makuta taking over was a nice twist, but it didn't come as a surprise to me, somehow. I had expected it, to be honest. All in all, 2008 was an okay year, with Toa Ignika being the absolute highlight of this year and Bionicle so far (and probably forever). But 2009 looks better and far more interesting setting-wise. Sorry, but Karda Nui was dull. Insanely so. It's a big cave. With a swamp in it. Bara Magna looks so much better. Hopefully it'll stay that good in summer and hopefully LEGO won't mess up Toa Mata Nui.

Why not? Toa Ignika was the only decent Toa set last year (save Takanuva and perhaps Lewa Phantoka), IMHO. I still dig his shoulder armour. A better torso would be welcome, however.

For you perhaps. If you don't like a launcher, a bazooka on your set is like the set having your most disliked colour. You won't buy it then. And I'm against taking things of my set, nor do I have the pieces for modification. It's all not as easy as people with the spare pieces or the ones with the money say it is. But I made an exception for Krika and Toa Ignika. Krika I removed his Nynrah and connected his 5th arm to his connector piece on his back. It stabilizes the neck. And Toa Ignika I just removed the blaster and added nothing, like in the books, he just has a sword. The thing is, you shouldn't have to modify the sets, you should buy them and like what you buy. When you don't, LEGO did something wrong for you. And then you have two options: you don't buy it or modify it if you can. But if you can't modify, you don't buy and then you have nothing. Or you could remove the launcher of your set. But in case of Kongu Mahri, that's a bad of a problem, no? I hate that set. Well, I hated all Mahri, but... Like I said before, my opinion is that launchers should be a part of the set, not the focus of it. And that's the problem with the past 2 years. Cordak, Midak and Nynrah were so not-subtle you couldn't look at the canister or the first thing you saw was the blaster. Launchers first, characters second is not a good strategy IMO. Zamor, Kanoka, Thornax and the Rhotuka a bit were better in that aspect. They didn't demand you to see them first, then the character. Especially the Thornax. I can look at the pictures and not notice the blaster until I look a bit better. The launcher is subtle, just another weapon, not the focus of the set. And that, LEGO, is a very good thing. I hope they keep that up for the summer sets. If Toa Mata Nui will have an oversized bazooka I swear I'll scream the neighbourhood together.

QFT. The launchers were enough to ruin every canister set for me the last 2 years. I stil hate the Cordak with a passion that knows no bounds. The only superblaster I tolerate is Takanuva's Midak, but it didn't look oversized on him. It still is huge, though. But Krika's Nynrah and Toa Ignika's Midak went right back into the box and will remain there until the end of time. I'm currently debating what to do with Hydraxon's Cordak. It's too big, I think... Maxilos is the only one in 2007 on who the Cordak did not look out of place, so I left it on. Thornax are great. Small, simple and not screaming "HEY! LOOK AT ME! FORGET THE REST OF TEH SET! JUST LOOK AT HOW AWESOME A SUPERUBERBAZOOKA I AM!". Yay for Thornax. And Zamor. And Kanoka.

I know, I know. Still, can't hurt to dream. I like small sets who play active roles. Balta and co are still my favourite small sets ever. Shame I never got any of them, but I liked their story. I hope the Agori at least get some similiar time in the spotlight.

Hmm, so Tarduk isn't confirmed for the movie? I wonder how many Agori have a chance of not apearing. I for one would kinda like it if the small sets got a mayor role for once. Even this year I felt the Matoran didn't do much.

Well, the new Dwellers in Darkness was certainly better than chapter six of it. Got to love Miserix. Shame he'll die. And now Brutaka and Axonn have arived as well, I think. Should be interesting. And we saw the two corpses of two Glatorian. All of that in one update, not bad.

I just hope we'll stick around on Bare Magna for a while. Three year, like on Mata Nui. So we can get to know its culture and all. That's what made Mata Nui so great, IMO. That, and the MNOLG that just gave so much life to the island. Did I ever tell you guys MNOLG had beautiful music?

Meh, I for one hope Tuma is a completely new villain/person. The Makuta are old and done with (aside from Teridax). I also hope Tuma isn't a minion of anyone, I hope he's just... Tuma.

I just hope the enormous-oversized-super-uber-bazooka-launchers (aka Cordak/Midak/Nynrah) stay away for good. Yay for Zamor and Thornax launchers, I say. Or better yet, no launchers. Ah pre-2004, how I miss thee.

Better yet, Imagine such a scene in next year's movie. Walking with Dinosaurs - Bionicle style.

This broken pieces thing seems weird. I bought Krika, Toa Ignika, Icarax and Takanuva this year and I never had one piece breaking. 0_o The only piece that ever cracked with me was 2003's Makuta's right hand. I wonder how you guys break them? Is it region bound or something?

The new Destiny War is up. It was nice, but not very exciting imo. Nice to see a certain Visorak-hater back and an entity with a huge ego, though. One thing that was interesting, however, was that the new chapter hinted at the origin of the Energized Protodermis...

Please no. I want us to stay on location for more than one year for once so we can learn a lot about the culture of the inhabitants and the land they live in, just like Mata Nui in 2001-2003. That's part of what made Mata Nui so great imo. Ever since we left that paradise, LEGO never really gave us another location we could get to know so well as we did Mata Nui.

Possibly. Personally, 2009 so far is great for me because we finally have sets with secondary colours again and no super amount of silver or oversized blasters, and not gunmetal grey or silver. No. Gresh for example, he's dark green and light green. Instead of like Lewa, grey and green. Strakk is blue and white, Skrall red and black. Tarix blue and gold. And so on. But also, the weapons are coloured again, and that's great. I really missed that. And like I said, the blasters aren't oversized. Cordak, Midak and Nynrah... Bleh.

Well, when I first saw the Phantoka I was really disapointed. Pohatu was the worst of em all IMO, while I could find, if I looked very hard, some resemblance in Kopaka and Lewa to their old forms. All in all, I disliked them. Then the Mistika had to come along and prove to me that LEGO could indeed mess up things even worse. The Mistika Toa have to be the worst of all Toa LEGO has released so far (and I thought the mahri were bad). And aside from Krika, I didn't think much of the Mistika Makuta either. The Phantoka Makuta were much better, imo, mostly because they were bats (and I like bats) and they didn't have an oversized blaster.

2009 just keeps smashin' all other years away! -Ikk Oh man, that's great news! Means no repeat of the Phantoka/Mistika fail-nuva. At least, I hope. *prays for golden Ignika of this year* Agreed, agreed, agreed. Say, when is the earliest we can expect leaks of the summer sets? It's true, isn't it? Everything about this year seems so exciting. The sets have returned to greatness (colours! colours! no silver overkill (yet)!), the story sounds fine, movie sounds great, I sound great, everythign sounds great.

I like most of those ideas, but I wouldn't really want a new Ignika design. I'd prefer a golden version of this year's Toa Ignika.