JINZONINGEN73

>__> <__< ... ... ...I thought he was one already. lol Oh well, testament to his character and all. X D

Bah... nothing to worry about, and nothing abnormal. Between September 2001 and December 2003, I'd done at LEAST a moc every month... sometimes much more. These days, I'm lucky if it's every 3 months. But, it's normal. Creativity usually comes back after a good infusion of new sets being bought. Hey, you might go 3 years with no new mocs... but I assure you there will come a time when you go crazy on them again. We humans would be very boring if our creativity and abstract thought were devoted to just 1 thing. By the way, thank you for not being one of those who goes "Oh my god I lost my ability to have fun and now I'm selling all my Lego off AAAAAAAH!".

I... I... It's TRUE, all of it!

Hmm. Sure looks like an Inika prototype. Looks like a clunky lightup sword. Weird symmetry goin' on with the legs too. Hmm.

It aborts a few minutes in for me. Which is probably a good thing, being that the ETA is 27 hours. *wacko*

Yah, before Kardas, I can't name one combiner that I didn't find embarrassing. I TRIED to like the 2 kaitas that started it all, but there was no hope. I mean, I love the Transformers gestalt combiners thing, but the final models Lego made were kinda' ugly year after year. But kardas. Wow. Well, again... that probably isn't his doing. It'd be hard to sell the same heroes every year, as well as sell them without having an enemy to fight. He just gets told who to write about and goes from there. I almost don't mind that. Better to have new heroes often than doing something like watching Kenner toys celebrate themselves for coming out with the 200th different Batman figure redesign.

That sums the employees up in Connecticut perfectly. They're nice people who give a damn. I really hope the missing/broken parts replacement aspect of their customer service doesn't fall into the crapper. *sad*

I wasn't going to jump into this, for (I think) it's been over a year since I logged in there (still waiting for an apology, you-know-who)... but that above quote, if accurate, makes me bang my head into the wall until bloody. It's easy to use non-quality decisions to make sales rise, even going a few years in a row. But depending on HOW you do it, the pattern can crash in the opposite direction on a dime, whiplash-style. And non-quality can come in the forms of bad storytelling, bad character recognition, bad set design, bad part selections/amounts. Even if other aspects of "the sale" squeak past the bad points into the profit zone, INEVITABLY those weaker points drag future sales down. ANYTHING that makes a current customer feel stupid somehow in the future is bad. So no, "anything" that does it is not good. It has to be carefully selected, with a whole lot of skill and giving a damn involved. What was I typing about? Oh yeah. My head. Wall.

Yah, yah, but again... he only looks super cool like that under a fluorescent blacklight. Without one, it's just his head and three armor pieces. Something close to this: ::is a sucker for blacklight::

Yeah, this "R/C train tracks" phase Lego's going through is EXTREMELY annoying, especially for people who've been bought 9V in the past and want to expand. *sad* I guess someone there thinks women are supposed to be barefoot and pregnant, seen but not heard. :-D Hopefully they'll get over this no women junk next year. They're only sold at Toys R Us and "learning" kind of small toy stores. And from what I've seen, the stock sits there a long, long time. I've also never (for some reason?) seen Playmobil go on sale... which means the same sets sit there on the same shelves, year after year... becoming more the wallpaper of that store than an item you're supposed to think to purchase. It's only going to get worse, as Lego and other more technological toys get smarter. They're something akin to wooden blocks at this point, as far as popularity and public name recognition goes. Yowza, nice sets here. I love how not only can you build with Lego bricks you got 20 years ago, but that Lego maintains the continuity by returning to "Octan" gas stations. That's like... cool. 2007's stuff continually has impressed me, in EVERY line, save for the larger Technic cars. Lego, I ask you... HOW did you become so smart all of a sudden?!? What broke you from your hiatus of common sense? Keep it up! ;-) *y*

Although I sympathize with the term "GregF is a hack", it might not be the case. Yes, personal experience shows he's not the best speaker, not open to new ideas, a little bit on the condescending side, etc etc... but it's entirely possible that, just like initial set designers have some of their cool creations hacked to bits by the suits before production, so might Greg's stuff in fact be chopped to bits by editors with different vision. It's portrayed that he's the be-all-end-all for how the story goes or is presented, but the complete opposite could be true. So, we really can't know for sure. Therefore, we all probably should ease up on the guy, despite wanting a symbol of our feelings that we can burn in effigy. Trust me, the degree to which some things have gone are undeniably a team effort, not the creation of just one man. (And if I'm wrong... yikes.) In other words, unless he 100% takes responsibility for specific stuff found popularly unfavorable, we could back off a little bit in the way we voice our distaste. Credit where credit's due and all, y'know?

The funny thing about Takadox is that he has clear blue limbs. So, under fluorescent UV blacklight, those along with his glow in the dark parts, make him light up almost as much as Nocturn does. ...But only under blacklight.

Pics of 8920 Ehlek: Not sure if all Ehlek sets have an extra white tooth barb, but this one did.

Thanks for these good pics. The ones I saw first didn't represent it as well. And it changed my opinion of it too. I was going to get it anyway, but seeing the smaller parts included on the backside make it all the more attractive. It's a triple whammy, that it has parts done in lime that weren't before, that it has glow in the dark parts, and that it's only 15 bucks. Some might find that expensive, but regular Barraki are $10 a pop as is. Damn... I like their interior decorator. If I finally ever have a house that someone else doesn't own, I'm a doin' a room up in that scheme. Oh yeah, the toy... insta-buy. Me want 2 or 3. HEY... anyone got a keen enough eye to discern if the "balls" on it are the newer (good) kind where the axle hole goes all the way through?

It's all about respect. Starting at the individuals engaged in debate, all the way up to the people running the site to allow it to take place. :-) I think it's great honestly. Lego execs DO peruse these sites and learn who their buyers are from time to time. So many things on my checklist of "What I wish Lego would do / make" list were fulfilled with one sweep in 2006. I'd love to think it's the result of fans doing what we're doing. As for the mocs there, it's been a long time since I resigned the hope of sets being complete fresh from the box. It seems obvious that there are major flaws and heavy minimalization intentionally executed strictly to require the consumer to buy more sets and moc them "right". But in a way, I can't blame them for doing things that way, from the obvious financial standpoint as well as the possibility of cultivating creativity (as well as more interest) in making a Lego mocer out of someone.

I get sick, but then it gets refreshing when the argument reveals we're not all so different. We did get a bit off-topic though. It's hard not to however, as the set designs bleed over onto story and vice versa.

I think he means that matoran are treated solely as helpless "victims" now, nothing like they were in the flash movies of long ago. Once they hit the big screen, they were all... well, retarded. I was expecting them to whip out skateboards, breakdance, then be like "Totally RAD!". As for the music, the (*sigh*, I know) original flash movies had the best. It was subtle. It was all about channeling elemental powers & the music fit it perfectly. Now... :-/ At least I hope that wasn't meant literally. :-D

While I don't agree that the fighting in Mask of Light was anything resembling "tooth and nail" action I do agree that the "feel" of Bionicle 2001 was lost. The violence in the flash games was presented most adequately. The movie pretty much is where I started hating it. They never should have ditched all those clever, funny, brave, nearly mute Matoran from the original flash movies. The originality you speak of was that the heroes weren't really the focus, more the citizens. Even I don't like the story or characters as it is now. I am glad that there's TRULY life or death fighting going on, but without character developement, you're right. It's just brainless action. I got the Lego magazines with the comics inside. This is all I take from it: "HI! The matoran are screwed or dead and we're the bad guys and we hate each other! Yarrrrrr!" Another issue: "It's the Toa busting in on the scene, yarrrrrrr!" "Oh no, someone more powerful! Yarrrrrrrr!" It's more like a 5 minute, poorly written Saturday Night Live sketch where they're incoherently spoofing some chain of events that took place over the course of months. But still, as far as sets and their part content goes, I'm all for the bloody weapons and chainguns. If they do make a return to "tool" tools, then I hope they're sculpted nice enough and / or have some clever translucent mixing of the colors to make them interesting. You might have thought the "elemental channeling" was clever, but to me, it's just more of the touchy-feely stuff seen a million times over to avoid actual fighting taking place in cartoons. If Tahu's super-charged while channeling fire, make the sword trans red. If Kopaka's sword is icy, clear. Gali, blue... etc etc. Having a Bionicle action figure holding a shovel, while sitting next to an entire aisle of other normal action figures... something has to be done to make it stick out, be it a gigantic gatling gun, clear weapons, or glow in the dark. Failing that, there better be some DAMN fine storytelling which has created excitement over the characters enough to get them anyway. And you're right... that's not there. Whether or not that's solely the fault of GregF or not, it honestly beats the hell outta' me... though it wouldn't be an amazing shock.

Yah, I was serious. But I wonder though... are the "master" Builders at Lego even skilled enough to utilize the current hoard of new parts to pull of recreations of all the first Rahi? I question it GREATLY. Even more so, if they could pull it off, chances are their hard work would be obliterated by the money men slimming their designs down to fit the budget and chronological production feasability. Hmm. This sounds like a mocing project if there ever was one.

Lol; http://www.bricklink.com/search.asp?viewFr...chSort=P&sz=100 Well, someone once said that Lego employees get to buy / are given parts in non-set colors. PROBABLY these are test parts that are in excess. And Bricklink of course is the place to look. I mean hell, I got mine there. :-P And those 2 parts in particular... chains and a tail with a large, enclosed area... both are parts one would want to test relentlessy and often. They're out there. They might just not be advertised in the title as such. These weren't, oddly enough. I only knew it was odd because I like both those parts and used to keep an eye on any sets that had them.

Oh, DUH! Now it makes sense. Red was the color Lego used to use to test stress fractures on parts. And now everyone uses clear, for obvious reasons. Now these chains and tails I snagged off Bricklink awhile ago have a credible origin. http://www.brickshelf.com/cgi-bin/gallery.cgi?i=1479654 ::smacks self in head for not thinking of it till now:: *wacko*

Couldn't agree more. Lots of toy lines in the past have done this. But where i REALLY want Lego to do it is in the fact that their superior materials are INCREDIBLY stable. Man... I have "clear" action figures from the past 25 years who ALL are now either yellow or brown. Yet the clear Bionicle Kanohi masks I have from 2001 are still just that. If anyone should be producing clear figures, it's Lego. (I REALLY want me a fully trans-neon green minifig).

Lol... good point. Yeah, Exo-Force goes out there with the heavy weaponry, but the arsenals aren't as lopsided as Barraki animal tossers vs. Toa chaingun. :-D If I were to defend it though, I'd say the Barraki are aquatic, fully mobile and cozy inside their element, whereas the Toa need to overcompensate for being fish out of water... well, the opposite of fish out of water. Kind of like a classic-style, sidescrolling arcade shooter where your ship is hyper overpowered, but all the swift enemies indigenous to their environment STILL manage to blow you up. You could jump into the Amazon river with the entire arsenal of your local gun shop, but if there's hungry Piranha in there... your guns are doing SQUAT to save you. And the squid ammo has similarities to Piranha. But yeah, you're still right as well lol. Outside of the storyline media, it's just kids sitting on the carpet playing war. The toa ARE going to win on that terrain lol. As for the (tired) anti-violence dealie... how can those who like all the swords be so anti-gun? Both can be used as non-destructive tools, but both are classicly instruments of limb-severing, hole-creating warfare from a distance further than the reach of your fist. I dunno'. I'll forever defend their new policy. While some liked the elemental attacks like with the 2001 Toa vs. Makuta, or the stuff in Mask of Light, I personally am too old to like it. Too many years of seeing kiddy cartoons and anime that have had to abide by hyper-constrictive tv guidelines, having to rely on "magical" things, like if someone "gets really hurt" (dies), then they are magically brought back to life by someone's tears dropping on them. Or if there WERE guns, noone ever got hit. And if their vehicle got hit, they'd eject or simply fall out. And perhaps the most overused one is where two guys are aiming guns at each other, then one shoots a cliff overhead to drop rocks on them instead of (duh) just shooting them. LOL... it's an age thing, I admit it. It's why the Transformers movie from 20 years ago was such a hit among the fans. Gone were the intelligence insulting scenes where there's 900 million laser blasts flying around, hitting noone. Robots were actually getting KILLED, permanently. (Until they were brought back to life occasionally on later tv episodes). :-| Same with the later Beast Wars episodes. In their final season, bots were getting OBLITERATED left and right. And fans nearly undeniably loved that. I know I did. So yeah, I know where people are coming from on thinking the violence in Lego is bad. I can respect that. It's a generational culture gap. I grew up barfing at the results from parent groups pressuring cartoon makers into doing the most INANE things to appease them. I guess people these days, and probably some of you in even more censored countries than America, just don't know where some of us came from. Oh well. This is all a bit silly. Things only get to a certain point before they return to a previous state. By that I mean, I have every confidence that these weapons some of us love so much and others hate will eventually disappear again from the line. But for now, awesomeness. Hey... you know what'd be cool? If the storyline were to wrap around and return to the 2001 line... but done with today's technology. Imagine Lewa and the rest done up in new parts, fully posable. Same with the Rahi. Man... that'd be cool. :-D

Thought I'd give this boy a critique of my own, as feelings are mixed on him depending on who you talk to. Straight to it, The Canister: I was sincerely hoping that the base would have peg, axle or stud holes so you could do something fun with the container other than just store junk in it. No go. Strictly pop on and pop off. Ah, but what a pretty container... surely one could buy 20 of these and line them up side by side to make a big, icey-lookin' wall of water, right? No, against all hope, it tilts at the top to only one corner. Tis' a pity. But oh well. At the very least they stick out off the toy shelves and hit passing parents in the eye. (Profit!) One good thing worth mentioning is it seems like more care was taken on all of this year's Lego packaging so as to have pictures which better describe to the seasoned customer what parts are contained within. The pic on the front might be a pile of standard CGI hoobajoo with effects and all this jazz surrounding the model, but on the back is a fairly comprehensive image of him. THANK YOU, Lego. This is a much appreciated thing, it is. Literature: Nothing spectacular here. Everything seems in ord... WOAH, mama, what the heck? On the cover of the instruction booklet is the same art as on the front of the canister and in the back of the same booklet... but it's different. Pridak is shown with missing blood splotches and red eyes instead of blue. Go figure. Maybe it was some near-final production image, or maybe an intentionally miscolored version that was going to be used as misinformation to "accidentally" leak. Who knows. Still interesting enough to note. PARTS (capitalized, for parts are the point): Yup, that's them right there, officer! Nowhere near as bad a selection as some of the past canister figures in the Bionicle series. Some pegs, some axles, and these super huge-o longassed feet! Those alone will definitely be good for something. The mask is a bit tricky as far as mocing goes, for it has blood spattered across it's face. Same with 3 of his blades. But hey, it could be worse. Lego could have insulted your intelligence like in the good old days, saying they were "tools" for harvesting... eh, I dunno kopakaberries or something. Some hippies don't like the sight of blood on their toy weapons, which is funny because other people realize that using weapons usually result in someone bleeding a whole hell of a lot. I welcome this, in case you couldn't tell. Heck with the kiddy junk of past years. Also of positive mention is the new globe eyes. Pridak has blue, which I think makes him only one of two Barraki who have it (I think)? Everyone else has red. These new parts are great! Better yet, even though at first glance they look like a globe that abruptly ends in a peg of lightsaber width, it actually is more mushroom shaped, with a circular pocket inside the dome. This is good because when putting them on other Lego parts such as this one, it completely covers it up... so there's less worrying about whether you used a light gray or blue connector stud. REALLY hope to see more of these domes mass-produced in some set with different trans colors and in good quantity. Finished Model: Hmm. Here we go. I almost don't want to post these. Might make some of you not want to buy him. And that's not my intent at all. Yeah, see? They used those Toa Nuva legs as his white forearms. That's a TERRIBLE Lego piece, both in it's uses in official sets AND for mocers. Ugh. Those parts are right up there with those dang useless Bohrok legs that keep rearing their ugly head year after year. Still , he doesn't look too horrendous from the front. Those little, yellow rubber things hanging off the robot claws on his hand are... uh... little, yellow rubber things. Very awkward looking. They don't help the look of the set at all. Ugh. Sorry about that. This is a review. It must be done. I hope that wasn't too painful for you. But hey, not like you had to take the 3 minutes it took to put it together like I did. ... ...yeah. Wow. Not very nice looking at all. >__< ... ...Yeesh. ...anyway, Building and Playing Experience: Build time was almost as fast as you could flip the pages. A little kid will have NO problem putting it together, save for wondering if they'd built it right... after seeing the model and all. I imagine for a smaller kid or someone really new to Lego that playing & posing this is as fun as sliced bread. So, I suppose that has to be considered a good thing. One more stab: And that right there is this wave's new play feature. Holy crap. Okay, you slide the launcher on the model's gangly arm. Then you kind of rest the yellow snot ammo on the front of it. Then, without having it pop out, you grab it's tail to pull it back AND... it kinda' poops out an inch in front of the launcher at a weird angle. (Hey, just like the Exo-Force foam disk lauunchers! No, worse.) Probably with some practice you could become the squid booger launching MASTER on your block. Who'd want to be though? I dunno', man. No. Just... no. Overall: Wow, the review got pretty bleak there, huh? So I think he's not worth purchasing, right? Hahaha, no. It's a good set. There's enough great parts to outweigh the bang your head into the wall till you bleed parts. And it's that simple. Sure, they cheaped out with ball connector hands instead of the cool, fingered Exo-Force ones, but dude... Lego's about building, right? The blue eye globes, funky cool feet panels, bloody blades and extra connector pieces make it worth the $10 US. But as initially said, the worth of this set depends on who you ask. I think it's far sexier a set than Mantax or Carapar. I'm not going to do reviews for the other 5 (well, 6) so here's my personal breakdown: 1. Nocturn - Good god, I love me the glow in the dark plastic! 2. Takadox - Same here... glowing parts for the win! As well as small barb parts and such. (PICS A FEW POSTS BELOW.) 3. Pridak - Well, i just said why in this review. 4. Ehlek - Mostly for his green color and new parts. (PICS A FEW POSTS BELOW.) 5. Kalmah - For the armor and you get THREE blue eyes. 6. Carapar - For some much-needed new yellowish parts. 7. Mantax - Not feeling the love here. Nothing exciting to mention.