dviddy

Interesting. I live in a state in the US where recreational marijuana is legal, and I've never heard the term grinder used for any legal or illicit drugs or associated with any of them, save one- coffee. Might be because I manage a coffee shop, but I had a hard time not thinking of coffee bean grinders when I hear the term.

The question was asked and I answered honestly. I've seen the "this is just what I like" excuse thrown out by folks who want to be taken seriously as "big names" in the community before, and I think it's a poor excuse designed to overlook mediocre builds. People asked for honesty, and that's what I'm giving. I do not think everyone needs to take MOCing as seriously as I and some of my peers do, but of those who do, I find this poor excuse to be exactly that- poor. Some of the most frustrating folks in the community are ones who think their builds are worthy of being mentioned with Cajun, Retinence, etc, but refuse to accept criticism, to innovate, or to do something that just looks good, and just say "but this is what I like and art is subjective so leave me alone". Absolutely- if you don't want to be serious about it (it's a toy, after all!!) then don't! Have fun! If you want to build blocky, ugly (IMO), Neo-Toa c2007, do it! Have fun and own it! But don't expect to be taken seriously in the more competitive and overly dramatically serious MOCing world. (Dubstep as an evolution of classic rock is a throw to the side. It's more akin to saying "I like space MOCs more than BIONICLE MOCs", because they're both MOCs, but they are different genres.) What I love about CCBS is that it's brought a focus on design simplicity to the forefront for those who are overly serious about the hobby. For those of us who are (and I am aware that it's a toy, and that it can be silly to be so serious, but that doesn't stop the fact that we are serious about it), the CCBS parts that offer such a simplicity (and the ability to replace areas on old MOCs where, for example, I used to use thirty system slopes and tiles to create a shape and texture I can use ONE CCBS shell to create simply and effectively) offer a chance to focus on why this part works here,what that part usage says about the MOC, how it informs the feel of the MOC, etc. It's allowed for a focus not just on aesthetics, but since the part selection can feel simpler and less diverse, it means a greater focus on parts usage and storytelling in a visual medium.

One of the most basic tenets of design is "keep it simple". When folks use twenty technic pieces in an attempt to replicate the form and shape of pieces that already exist in a single-piece solution just to "do something custom", it's an unnecessarily complex design. Not to mention it looks absolutely terrible 98% of the time. Think of the generic Neo-Toa designs over the last ten years, with the double-pin clip based limbs, the heavy technic armoured legs that simply attempt to replicate the lower limbs TLG already produced, etc. There was this strong push in the community in the early-to-mid 2000s to create "everything custom" and to avoid pre-fab solutions, but this is the opposite of smart design. It's one of the things I am referring to when I say strong swaths of the community are "stuck in 2007", because even with a few new elements introduced since then, so many of those technic-heavy complexly-designed MOCs could be timestamped with "2007" and they wouldn't look out of place. Some designs are timeless, sure, but the community as a whole has never stopped moving forward and innovating, from people like Retinence, Brickthing, Djordje, etc. These people push the boundaries and create new standards that the community attempts to replicate and catch-up to.

If that's supposed to be an example of a good moc to counter my comment, well, it is neither a good moc nor a good example of moving away from unnecessarily complicated designs.

I don't know why he did that, we haven't updated our review guidelines. My reviews will have the building section. My video will too even though that's the section I want to skip in videos.

The Bohrok eyes are the beautiful dark azure.

My favourite part of the set is his two solid red parts. Because they are size 6 shells in red. I'm so happy for this you don't even know.

More in the review, these are quick rough shots just so you can all see some things.

There are comics on the Toa boxes.

Which was exactly my point. ;)

I don't know. It could come down to cultural differences in a lot of ways, but while that might be how your overall community leans, Hero Factory sold better in Russia and Eastern European former Soviet bloc countries than anywhere else in the world, so remember that. That said, there isn't a whole lot of cross-pollination with the Russian building community and the Western community (nor with the Asian community), and I could only name a builder or two from that part of the globe who are doing things I'd say were worth watching. A lot of it falls into the same grouping I'd put the Deviantart-centric part of the community in, which is the overly-detailed, fill-every space, massive technic combo blocks attempting to replicate parts that already exist, akward and unproportionate builds. It feels lost in time a bit, as if the overall mocing community had hit pause in 2007 and never continued to innovate. I don't want that to be awkward, but you asked and that's the best I've got.

Received Tahu and Ikir in the mail from LEGO today. No review embargo, so here's my thoughts as I'm currently processing. No photos yet, but soon. The red-silver mix on the mask has a massive Toa Nuva nostalgic kick to it. It's small, though, and the steep front angle doesn't help. I like the design overall, though. The molded Nuva symbol on the crest is unobtrusive and nice. The mask is just so small. It's undeniably Tahu, though, and the brow ridge is strong like the G1 Hau. The gold-orange mix looks amazing, and it makes me wish we'd gotten a blended Mask of Fire for Tahu in 2015. It would have been the highlight of the mixed-masks. I like the skull enemy add-ons, so I'm glad to see them in gold. That said, they look incredibly awkward hanging over the sides at such a direct angle. And there's too much trans-orange. That plus the gold without the strong red is searing. I don't like it. The torso piece is smaller (thank god) than the Star Wars one, and I like the blue and reds printed on the gold. The decal is lovely, but I like the detailing even less in person than I did in the renders. It's so busy! It makes the new "piece of unity" used on the upper legs look simple and sleek. It's a mess. The torso bone does indeed have the turn-table section molded into the bottom, and the waist piece has the inner portion molded in. They connect together with a lot of friction, to the point where it's hard to do the waist-swiveling function easily. It's very tight. The pieces don't pull apart easily, but they can be pried apart unlike the gatling guns from the Protectors. The crystal piece just sort of exists. At least this add-on lies flat on the shells, unlike so many of the other ones we've gotten. The upper legs look empty and small with only the unity piece and the friction extender. The entire set just looks lanky and awkward altogether. Tahu's head looks like it's floating above an empty void in the torso. And the newer pieces don't compliment the shells the same way the newer parts from 2015 did. It's simply undeniable in person. The weapons just??? The molding is co-injected with silver and classic orange, and where they mix looks like a bad paint-job from a knock-off company. Really disappointed, though the actual blade mold is pretty nice. The gear blade-extender is just so random. The blades don't like to stay up or down and sort of shift a lot. I'd like some new feet. The blue bohrok eyes are AMAZING. Such a beautiful colour, and I think the set would look better with more of it. Really it would look better with any more solid colour, red, dark azure, something. Ikir: The animal head mold is interesting. I like the glyphs, as they feel like some sort of mystic-magicky detailing, not extraneous mechanical details. But it's so big and empty, and it looks a little awkward. The gear function works well and is nicely frictioned. The blades look a little awkward, but the overall looks is nice. The bird is nice. I like him. The colours work a lot nicer than on Tahu. Getting ready to set my photo studio up and take some quick teaser photos.

It is an opinion. I've been in the thick of the online BIONICLE mocing community for almost fifteen years, and I came up with designs still prevalent all over the community. I've been around for every shift in the community's habits and styles. I find balljoints immensely easier to build with than the more geometrically limited technic connections. I also don't think the number of connection points being different is a con (and they aren't different amounts of connections for the most part, they are different styles of connections. Pins and axles vs balls and the smaller utensil holes.) It means that more serious builders finally have started paying attention to aesthetic over "which part fits in this space for connections regardless of style" which drives me crazy. CCBS is the best thing to ever happen to the community. Full stop.

Relevant answer sections from the explanatory post several above yours bolded: And to be blunt, the idea that the messier, clashing, pistons-for-pistons-sake aesthetic is the definition of BIONICLE's visual style is limited and incomplete. BIONICLE, from its very beginning, married simple, geometric shapes with purposefully-placed mechanical details contrasted with smooth textures. There is a reason that a large chunk of the fanbase, even those who came in during the latter years, prefer the original masks' aesthetics over those that came later. They married the design styles and the design simplicity in a way later masks simply couldn't. It's why the original kanohi were the iconic masks the brand purposefully re-worked for the new line. It was only as the line went on and the visual design had a mostrously large number of competing textural and design elements to choose from that the messier and, frankly, lackluster sets came in. The first several years of BIONICLE G1 attempted to unify the design language for each wave, and was better for it. The later years picked and pulled from existing parts with seemingly no thought beyond "this is a lower leg, let's use it". That said, I liked BIONICLE (and still do) because the line's beginning was marked by a fantastic, mythical story that mixed nature and technology in a brilliant way, with core conceits of mysticism and fantasy lightly sprinkled with science-fiction concepts. It was a larger than life story, and especially as originally told from the angle of the villagers instead of the Toa, it had an epic scope. The toys were super neat looking, and the ability to use other LEGO parts to make them "mine" was a massive plus. And Kopaka's sword and shield combo won me over from the moment I saw it. The community that sprang up around it became a home for me during a lot of terrible times as a teenager, and has been a source of great friendships and opportunities as an adult. I met the woman I will marry next year through it. It's been a crazy fourteen years in the fandom. I loved the story at the beginning, and merely liked it by the end. But I'm invested in it as a story, a franchise, a toy, and as someone who enjoys building MOCs. As if "pistons everywhere!" was the only reason for someone to like the thing. I know it was an offhanded, snarky, attempt at being smart and flippant reply, but I'm not interested in that right now.

This is mostly how I feel now, but we'll see if my thoughts change when I get my review sets in soon. I'm hoping they change just because of how right I feel like 2015 got everything, but I just really don't like the over-detailed massive pistons-everywhere look. The new piston add-on from 2015 was a perfect marriage of the old and new, these don't do it anywhere near as well.

Weird rendering or does the earth creature really have black hordika necks? Would be nice to have them in real sets and not just from illicit German bricklink stores. And a new axle connector on the kylo ren piece connecting it to the chan on the scorpion's trap? Otherwise, eh? The don't look terrible, but I could do without the unnecessarily complex "needs more custom" 2007 era (our modern DA era) moc limbs. Complexity for its own sake is inherently bad design.

I never understood the "looked like he had lost his arm" thing. It seemed pretty clear to me, at least, that he was simply wearing assymetrical armor, with the elemental coloured arm lightly armoured and the elemental energy flowing from it, and the other completely covered. It always seemed odd that the first place people jumped was a replacement robot arm thing.

This exactly. They are two different masks almost entirely. The animated mask is aggressive, dark, slightly evil, malevolent. The new one looks like an older dwarf wearing a war-cap from LotR. It's not the same effect or design at all.

Not even an "almost", I would appreciate any shade of grey in more shells, outside of greyscale metallics. We have dark grey savage-planet "paw" shells, and that's about it. I'd give all the trans-purple shells in the world for a full range of dark and light grey shells in the usual sizes.

Mask of Control looked way way way more exciting in the animations. Supremely disappointed to see it represented in plastic like this. :( Otherwise, while I'm more sold on Lewa, I'm in the "Pohatu looks terrible" camp, though oddly I like his "more like G1" mask design a lot. But goodness his design looks awful. I hate the dumb technic limbs, they feel like a massive step backwards in terms of aesthetics and smart set design. The first new Toa designs worked so well because of how strongly the visual cues all meshed with the CCBS design language, while maintaining that more fantasy-oriented BIONICLE feel from the earlier years, paired with a smart and simple design aesthetic. These look messy and complex solely to please the "but ccbs isn't the god-given TECHNIC PINS I NEEDED" complaints. Really really not thrilled with that. I'm hoping these look better in person, as they often do. Thrilled for some new shell colours, not thrilled with the design choices. Hate the torso shell so far. Proportions look miserable on a lot of these. Though the golden Tahu mask on the pedestal leans hard into the MoL Hau Nuva design. Love it. Gali's mask, meanwhile, looks like she's wearing a silver bathing cap and it looks silly.

I've had six of those talon pieces used in the beasts or LOSS' legs snap off the molded axle, but they are being used in an incredibly high-stress build, so it's pretty much my fault. Otherwise, no broken CCBS-era parts.

6M shells are the best too. Stoked for these, odd or not.

That was one of the points Scott and I were making above: there are many factors that go into whether someone likes or dislikes something, we just happened to be talking about the textures and visual design cues at this moment. There are things like the ability to pose, the action features, the colours themselves, the expressions, the assumed playability, which parts are available in which colours, the story role, etc. These things are always nuanced beyond belief, we just happened to be honed in on one area during this segment of the discussion. @TFguy89: I think you'll find that you and I are in near one hundred percent agreement in your entire post. Design is important, many design elements are universal and not subjective, many areas of criticism are objective and not to be countered with a "but that's my taste" argument, but at the same time what a person is looking for can ultimately form and skew their view of what makes the design good or bad. I also like Pohatu's asymmetric design, for the same reasons you listed. Not everyone is looking at a new set for the same reasons, and those reasons help shape a purchase or lack thereof.

Maybe not consciously? Have you ever seen a set and knew it was ugly, but didn't have the words to articulate why? You mentioned the barakki (consequently, the one line I never bought a single set from, because I agree: they were ugly). When pressed as to what you didn't like about it, your only answer was that it "looked weird" or "was just ugly" or "I just don't like it?" Things like design theory and design languages aim to articulate what these things mean in a manner to help content creators mold their choices to the widest audience. I've said this before, but there's a reason most friendly aliens in films, books, tv shows, etc, all stay as close as possible to the human design, and that's because humans are biologically wired to trust the human form more than other forms. It's more attractive to the brain and causes us to imprint upon it. Do kids understand that? Heck, do most adults? Maybe not in words, but they do in their subconscious. Personal tastes and preferences go a long way in design and theory, but there are entire realms that exist to define and understand the human relation to certain colours, textures, the interplay between them, etc. This goes into everything, from logo design, to costume design, to weapon design, to toy designs, to comic book character designs, etc. This research and field helps define nearly all the media around you, even things you've never thought about before- and a lot of times that's the point. It's why Walmart's logo is blue, it's why certain stores use certain colours in certain sections, etc. The desire is to create a subconscious realization that attracts the proper attitude (generally: buy this, and do it ASAP) at the certain time. IDK, I spend a lot of time reading and researching this, because it's incredibly important to me. This is a long answer to a probably flippant question, but the TL;DR is: no and yes and no and yes.

I don't think it's as bad as those years either, my original post simply stated that it felt like a step towards that direction and away from the unified design language the designers spoke so highly of at NYCC. I liked that, I bought into it, I agreed with it. This feels like the wrong direction to me, so far. Like I've said, maybe that will change when we get different and better images.