Refia

So now it's wrong to want something new instead of building the old stuff over and over again? Right, sorry. How dare I even suggest it.

Please, do tell me what set I have to buy of the new line if I happen to want one that uses the old system. Oh, that's right, there's none. Those people just got kicked in the balls. Thank you LEGO.

Those feet are horrendous, and the goggles so bad they're bad. Worst of the bunch, and they're all not very great. I'm not a fan of the weapon, either. It looks so un-Furno. This guy has no personality at all compared to his 2010 counterpart. Horrible set of a horrible line. HF 2011 is terrible, and aside from very maybe Jetbug, none of these sets will get my money. They're not worth it.

My biggest gripe with Fire Lord is the price. We're going to have to pay 20 euros for a guy that takes 5 minutes longer to build than the other villains? Seriously? Because let's be honest here, if we take a good look at him, he's snapping ball joints together and that's it. He can't hold a candle to Von Nebula and Rotor, and definately not worth the price. If they'd sell him at the villain price, yeah, that might be more fair, considering what you get. He's villain with longer legs, really. And yes, those upper legs look like twigs. It's ridiculous, when you consider what wonderful titans we've been having the last few years of Bionicle and the first of Hero Factory. =/ He just isn't a worthy succesor.

Well, now that we have pictures of the sets themselves, I can have final judgement. And the heroes turned out worse than I expected. =/ Those feet are HORRENDOUS. It's probably just me, but those look BAD. =X The new heads aren't that great, and Furno looks just plain bad with those nerdy goggles and clown feet. That's what he is, a clown, and a bad one at that. I wouldn't touch him even if he were the last lego set on earth. The others are a bit better, but I think the weapons look bland and uninteresting, the builds lack personalized pieces (unlike say, Stringer's sound armor, for example. that helped tone down clone-ism), and I personally find the new hand piece very bad. So blocky. =X That's the feeling these new heroes give me: blocky, low budget, cheap action figures with no appeal at all that you usually find in Happy Meals. I'm sorry if the LEGO staff feels offended, but I just don't like these one single tiny bit. If this is the price to pay for elbows and knees, then give me the 2010 heroes back ANY day. The villains are a bit better, but not by much. Of them, I can say that I only really like Jetbug, somewhat. Drilldozer had some good ideas, but that weapon drill looks just so bad it ain't even funny. Nitroblaster, same, good ideas, but he doesn't look good. That long, empty face seriously needs fixing. I'm not a fan of those printed parts either. There's only 1 of them, and I find that annoying. Yeah, call it a stupid reason to complain, but I can't help it. Nor am I a fan of this new building system. Through the years the figures became easier and easier to build, and now we've arrived at this point, where the construction is so simple it's not fun anymore. The build was always the reason why I bought Bionicle / Hero Factory, and now there is no (interesting) build anymore to speak off. I'm especially annoyed that they applied this new system to Fire Lord as well, apparently. I hate that. I've always bought the titan sets because they had the build the smaller sets lacked. Now even that has been taken from me. For fans of the old building system, who liked the old Bionicle-style building, there's nothing left anymore. So that's it. No more HF for me, aside from maybe, very maybe, if I can find him at a very low price, Jetbug. To see if the new system is really as bad as I think it is. Now I'm going to get 160 euros for those much better technic sets with some building meat.

I still don't like the heroes, and Zarkan summed up why for me pretty good, so I'm not going to repeat what he said. The villains have improved, however, but I still don't rank them as high as the ones we got this year. Perhaps I need to pictures of the build set before making final judgement. Fire Lord in particular seemed to have upped himself from zero to (just below) average. Total disaster has been avoided for Hero Factory this year, I guess. At least from my point of view. Feel free to disagree. =)

The new chapter of The Powers That Be made up for the last somewhat, though it's kind of convenient Kopaka and Pohatu just happen to come across a free ticket to the Red Star, no?

I'm not saying Greg can't write effectively, just to clarify, I'm saying I don't like his story decisions (so far) such as killing characters left and right. That's not the same as saying he can't write. I agree Greg works best within the confines of that year's story. Now that he's been given free reign, the story kind of seems all over the place, and my interest has really been under zero for quite some time. And yet I keep reading. I suppose it's like a trainwreck, you can't stop watching.

Muaka & Kane-Ra were the first Bionicle sets I owned, and definately deserve a spot on my list. Though very technical in their build, and not very posable, these two managed to be clearly beasts made out of mostly non specific, normal technic parts. Something later beasts, such as Gadunka, could not do anymore. Cahdok & Gahdok, the Bahrag twins. Nope, they're not the most posable of titans, but boy were these two fun to build and they are just dripping with great design and appealing looks. The colour schemes work, the design, holy, the design! Dinosaur-ish sets, what's not to love? Axonn and Brutaka. As far as humanoid titans go, these two are perfect. Perfect colour schemes, perfect proportions when put together (Axonn short and bulky, Brutaka tall and lean). Made before the days of double joints at the hips and shoulders, they were very posable, and had some great new parts. Brutaka's blade and kanohi are still some of the best Bionicle ever came out with, IMHO, and his gold and blue colour scheme just works. Awesome set, and Axonn is no less good. Takanuva 2008. The set that introduced the double hip-joints and shoulder-joints to Bionicle. A very enjoyable build, too. Better yet, he looks so streamlined! Everything about this set screams "Finished!". From his nicely filled shoulders, thanks to those Takadox heads, to the Mistika shield serving perfectly as torso armor, this set was great. Points of criticism would probably be his colour scheme. If he had been white and gold, he would have ruled even more. And the holes in his shins. Then again, if you look at how they tried to fix it with Toa Mata Nui, a set I also own, I'd rather stick with the holes. While Takanuva 2008 did not have as many custom builds as Toa Mata Nui and relied of one-piece parts for his torso, for example, he's still vastly superior to his 2009 successor. And the new Avohkii is also a strong point of this set. While every Phantoka and Mistika Toa Nuva failed majorly at being the characters they were supposed to be, Takanuva avoided this problem perfectly by simply having a Kanohi where you didn't have to squeeze yourself in fifty angles and study it under a microscope to see the similarities to the original. Why couldn't LEGO have done this for the rest of the Toa Nuva, I wonder? Oh, and that Power Lance. Nothing short of great. Enough said.

I'm least fond of Furno's, to be honest. The big eye-effect of the goggles, coupled with what looks like a smile on his face underneath makes him look dorky, to be frank. Kind of like those anime characters who have such thick glasses their eyes are replaced by swirls in the glasses. Same kind of goofyness for me. IMHO, either Stormer or Surge's add-ons for their helmets look the least distracting or unpleasant to the eye, for me. I think my biggest gripe with these new helmets is that the silver of the add-ons stands out so much, making them seem incredibly tacked on. I prefered it when things such as mics or cameras were just integrated in the helmet itself, like in the first line of heroes. That looked much better, they were nice little details that showed how much attention LEGO put in the helmet designs, but this is overkill for me. Just my opinion, though. Compared to the villains, the heroes aren't that bad. But from what I've seen, I liked this year's sets much more. Perhaps seeing more pics of the build 2011 sets will change that, it happened before, but until then I'll remain sceptical.

The Powers That Be was updated, and another one kicked the bucket. Had suckage written all over it. I hate these killing sprees of Greg, I really do. So, shall we start taking bets about who is gonna die the next chapter? Helryx? Arthaka? Mata Nui? The Shadowed One?

That's what I meant. I have nothing against Hero Factory distancing itself from BIONICLE. I'm just saying that it looks bad. If these had been on BIONICLE sets, I would have said the same: holy heck those are ugly. 0_o Hero Factory can try whatever it wants, doesn't mean I have to like whatever it does, right?

In that group shot, the heroes limbs and overal build don't look as hideous as before, but those heads and helmets are still a big no. Sickening compared to the nice helmets of 2010, or the many great Kanohi designs.

*reads the text on the folder* Meh, no story information there... Apparently the heroes will future a combo system, allowing 2 heroes to form 1. They're also speaking about 3 new 22 minute animation movies on a known tv channel. And a big marketing campaign. The villains all are fire-based designs... Fire Lord is described as a cool bad guy every boy wants to have. Yeah... no. They'll all be released in March. All in all, horrible, horrible sets. Hero Factory's dead for me. I don't even think these new pieces of the heroes are Bionicle-compatible, because of this new building system the folder speaks off. They don't look compatible, at least.

I'm just wondering why you're ranting and complaining about this to us rather than to Greg. You know, the person who actually wrote something so obviously sexist and evil? If you've got a problem with Bionicle, he seems the most logical person to turn to. Of course, it's possible that you've already done that. And then I still don't really see the point of ranting here since I don't think either side is going to convince anyone and I personally don't give a damn about the whole situation. Bionicle is dead, so what does it matter if its zombie is sexist or not. If I were you I'd go take the sexist crusade over to Hero Factory. You know, with the only 1 female character this year and all? Then again, I'm not you, so nevermind. Probably will get told to mind my own business anyway.

He's stated numerous times that this is, in fact, what he does. =/ @ Darth Vader, you should take your crusade against LEGO's sexism to the next level and go attack Hero Factory next, seeing as, you know, we have only 1 female there. How sexist! As if females can't be Heroes or Villains! Seriously guy, chill. This hammering of BZPower mods on how Greg and Bionicle are terrible and bad and sexist is getting irritating.

I just can't find anything to like in these new heroes. Maybe it will look better in better pictures, and I really hope it does, but I'm not holding my breath. Bendable knees and elbows is welcome, but if this is the price that has to be paid then no thanks LEGO, you can have it back. These new things have none of the streamlined finesse of the previous heroes, didn't even attempt to at the very least resemble Bionicle a bit so that it would seem that the line kind of still lives, and they above all just seem so... blockish and clumsy. It was as if someone decided "Oh, let's slap as much armor on them as we can and not care how it looks, kids will love the new pieces anyway!". This is overkill, and it doesn't look good at all. The helmet's are terrible, as if someone plastered night-goggles to a top hat. I can't make out much of the weapons, but from the looks of it they make me neither warm or cold. The heroes from 2010 perfected the Agori/Av-Toran kind of build. Some liked it, some didn't, but at the very least they looked nice, smooth and streamlined and heroic, capable of caching villains. These clumsy hulking terrors that are the new heroes ditched all that perfection to try something new, which is a nice idea, but it fails so miserably. If I had to be honest, these Heroes make me think I'm looking at a new Duplo line for little kids. That's how blocky and clumsy they look. Very, if not extremely dissapointed and there is no way one of those things is ever going to get in this house. The villains don't look much better, but at least they kept using some recognizable Bionicle parts instead of ditching that altogether. Just my opinion on the new sets based on what we've seen. Maybe better pics will change it, maybe it won't. I guess I'm sounding kinda harsh, but it's just my own opinion, and if you do like the heroes or villains, hey, be my guest. It's a free world. I think.

Knowing Greg, I'm just glad the explanation wasn't: "He's a Toa from an Alternate Universe were Psionic is a male element". Admit it, he's capable of writing that. =/

Wow, those look awful.

I'm really digging the art-style of these comics. The villains look menacing, and Von Nebula manages to give off the "cunning evil in the darkness" very well. I blame the eyes, they're so well drawn, and succeed in making him scream "evil!". Very impressed.

A new chapter of "The Yesterday Quest" is up, and it's pretty satisfying. The answer to why our Psionics Toa is male is given, and I must admit, it's a good reason, Greg worked his way around that one very well. Naturally, it ends with the typical cliffhanger. Over a month or two, probably longer, we'll probably know how they escape. As usual.

I haven't had any problems with the sockets. Truth to be told, I have a lot of Bionicle sets, but I only ever cracked the joint of a bohrok foot on my Ussanui set and a cracked joint of my Makuta set, both from 2003. But that's all. Maybe the fact that I don't take my sets apart once built the past few years has a lot to do with that, though. But as it is, I have had no problems with weak joints in this set, they seemed strong and sturdy to me.

Heroes: William Furno Villains: Meltdown Titans: Von Nebula

I've listened, and I must admit, I enjoyed it. Quality of Sahmad's Tale is high indeed.

I bought Furno, Meltdown and Von Nebula this week and I do not regret my purchase. All are great sets, though IMHO Von Nebula suffers from the tiny feet syndrome. His lack of elbows bothers me not, he looks fantastic. Meltdown has a great design, but his arms are a pain to pose, and stickers always make me nervous. XD Furno is simple, and the build laughable, but the completed set looks very fine, very pleasing to the eye. In fact that goes for all of them. Lightyears ahead of the Bionicle STARS. *sigh* The stars wouldn't have been so bad if they had had the new Hero Factory non-90-degrees-angle limbs. =/