dviddy

Which is on purpose. The first half of the line mismanaged the mold costs according to the CEE team, and all those molds were found to have been more expensive than previously thought. Hence the near-standardization of the Inika style build the last three or four years.

The videos are just extended advertisements for the contest. I wish they were more, but let's not be surprised at this point.

Cody's a yes for me. More white shells are always a bonus, and the one with the orange stripe, plus the orange shoulders makes this a "purchase twice" kind of thing for me. The set design is neat too, though as with most CCBS sets, I will buy because it's going to get taken apart eventually and added to my parts bins.

And even in person (my girlfriend works as a model builder at the LEGOLAND CA park, where this photo was taken), the scale on this model with the minilanders feels off. It'd be very, very large, that's for sure. I think most of us were taking issue with the "looks like action figures with useless parts" bit, the weird echo of the AFOL community's ever-present grumble that TLG has made sets that aren't exclusively bricks and studs all the time, when we've been part of the community with BIONICLE and buildable action figures for fifteen years now.

The source is an anonymous poster on 4chan. Take that as you will. It is mostly likely about as false as false gets.

You do know which subforum you're in right now, right?

YEesh that Grievous is a mess. I can easily overlook for the tan and the tan and the tan, but otherwise... yeesh. Love that Obi-Wan though. Everything I love about the CCBS in one perfect humanoid set. Desperate to get a hold of those white add-ons on his shoulders. I need those in my life. And the white talon/spike beast foot on the back of his legs? Yes. I would also like those.

If the story team decides to add a Takanuva at some point (and twelve years later and I still hate how awkward that name sounds, required to protect the "twist" in the story or not), this is exactly how I hope they do it. Homaging his Takua colours on his chest print is brilliant. That said, I'm not sure if conceptually Takanuva works in the new story, at least not yet, for the reasons you've also stated. We're missing the thematic resonance, and it's hard to see that being added yet.

The models on display at a LEGO store mean absolutely nothing. Until this year LBRs had a policy allowing one window to be relegated to a rotating fan display, usually in conjunction with a local lug. For half of December to mid-January the Tigard store in Oregon had a Tahu model I built amongst other BIONICLE MOCs I had built on display. The stores don't police the models that go in, outside if making sure they are appropriate and don't contain adult content. Having a Takanuva and Makuta battle on display literally means nothing for the line.

This whole "transition year" is nonsense. The rumour holds in a lot of places where contact with LEGO employees is rare or nonexistent, and it began from those who don't like CCBS and wanted a more "old style" system to return with BIONICLE. I've seen it hundreds of times on 4chan, for instance. The first wave of Hero Factory was the only one to rely on the old building style. We've seen wave 2, and with it comes: one new add-on, a new torso shell (which as has been pointed out we've gotten most years in HF and Chima as well), and new skeleton-style bones. The basic shells? The same. The limbs that use the shells? The same. We will get new add-ons and new torso shells, and if a money-making theme (hey Star Wars) needs to budget for more organicly shaped shells, then those will probably trickle into BIONICLE too. But the idea that this first wave is a "test" or a "transition" to a different aesthetic posits a grave misunderstanding of the entire purpose behind the CCBS shells and limbs. As has been mentioned, the point is to have a base system, a la the 2x4 brick, to build off of. The basic 3, 4, 5, whatever shells aren't disappearing in favour of more detailed parts, especially when a new detailed add-on (such as this year's awesome piston add-on) can do the job more effectively and for less cost. Also, as an aside, the reason the original small wave of Hero Factory sets in summer of 2010 used the older building style is because they were rushed to production. Hero Factory was initially conceived to debut with the CCBS system (see the press release for the cancellation of BIONICLE, positing the next action figure theme as a more flexible building experience), but the release gap between the Stars sets and the Ordeal of Fire wave was larger than TLG desired, so a quick "filler" wave (which was also how the Stars came about) was created to fill the interim before the CCBS sets were ready to go. The "transition" wave didn't exist to help integrate folks to the new line, it existed to keep constraction sets in the forefront of consumers' minds and maintain TLG's hold on that small market demographic. There have been two constraction themes active at a time for the majority of the system's life. We had the Superheroes in 2012 (the second year of the CCBS system), consisting of two waves. In 2013 and 2014, we had Chima waves as well. The advent of Star Wars CCBS sets does very little, though you're right that it allows for some more varied parts because they do have more sets to use them in. As Aanchir said, that's one of the reasons why system themes can do more, because they can spread them over more. But this doesn't change the status quo much. 2015 is the first year since 2011 where a secondary theme hasn't been active with our main CCBS line. The new parts were conceived to launch with Hero Factory, and designed to be used for all future constraction themes, as the design specs posted a few above this point out. The superhero ultrabuilds debuted a full year after the CCBS lineup had launched. Imagine system fans complaining about basic bricks continuing to be used sixty years later. The new armour add-on (both the piston one and the one debuting in a few months) are the perfect counterexample for what you're arguing for. Why would they change the shells beyond the base set when a new add-on can be introduced to do the exact same thing, for a lower cost and a greater usability? The entire point of the CCBS system revolves around this, in fact! We've had four themes use this system now, and none have deviated from the base shell set. They have all utilized different add-ons to convey the aesthetic they desired. Why would you expect this to change now? Because they aren't trying to fully replicate the old style. They are trying to replicate the feeling with an updated aesthetic. The masks are less smooth and more geometric than the first, original six masks, precisely because they needed a visual update to fit the CCBS style. They don't want to recreate the ultra-busy technical parts of the original line. They want to recreate the feeling of those sets while updating the visual style to match the current offerings. Even the very obviously BIONCILE styled giant sword parts are less visually busy than the vahki staffs were. This is on purpose. It's not half-hearted, it's intentional. New BIONICLE will indeed add new add-ons, a new torso shell (and maybe more of them?), and other new moulds to expand the CCBS system. But I don't understand why anyone would think, that after three other themes have used it and the base set has stayed the same with little expansion or contraction, that the name saying "BIONICLE" suddenly means the shells and the shell system are on their way out. Star Wars is introducing one new torso shell and a leg covering. Darth Vader and Luke both use an abundant number of the base shells as well. Star Wars is not a good argument for removing and changing the base set. Will we get new add-ons? Yep! New armour parts? Probably. Will the base aesthetic change from the base CCBS aesthetic? Nope. It's not what it was designed for. On the other side note going on, I also hate the 2.0 clown foot, and have been advocating for a new, not-terrifyingly-ugly foot part for years. It's comically shaped and overly large. It's bulbous. I hate it too. I love the beast feet from Invasion from Below, and I'd love to see some new feet with bar connections like those in a more human-styled foot. I'm okay with the 2.0 chest, though the breakout torso is by far my favourite, and I'd like it in some new colours. When it looked like Kopaka might have had it in white in the old leaked images, I was pretty stoked. I don't mind the silver on him with the gold, it just looks like armour, but a white recolour would have been awesome. If there's a limitation in the new system, it isn't in the variety of shell styles, but in the lack of colour variety. I love Gali's dark azure- I would like more shells in that colour now. Especially the 3 and that sloped one used on Kopaka's thighs. I love that part.

Just as in real life, you are not entitled to affection from another just because you have been a nice guy fan. How you spend your money and interests is your business. If you don't like the sets- don't buy them.

Yeah, I hate that a toy company is trying to make money and stay in business! The argument that the shells are Hero Factory and that this is a "transition year" is one I have seen all over the Internet. It is wrong. The purpose of CCBS was to keep the basic building blocks the same and vary the designs and details pieces, the same way system sets do. You will notice very few system fans complain that TLG continues to use 2x4 basic bricks in so many sets. This is the same as that. The system has been used for four lines now, each introducing only a small number of specialized parts. That isn't going to change just because the name says BIONICLE. Frankly, I am very glad they have retired the super busy design style of EVERY part seen in the first line. It was over-designed and cluttered and I personally prefer the more aerodynamic aesthetic introduced with CCBS. Let's make sure to remember that any claim that this "doesn't look like BIONICLE" is a personal preference. I think, as do many others, that the new line pulls all re right elements from the original to draw me in and say "yes, this is BIONICLE and nothing else." It simply changed some if the details in the re-vamp. Those details didn't define the design principles for me. Ergo, looks like BIONICLE. As for introducing a large number if new parts and then re-using them the next few years, as was said the original line did... This happened with the latter years precisely because it was discovered the intricate molds associated with the line and normally used only for the one year had not been fully figured into the line's costs. Once they were, the mold use was re-evaluated and that is when you saw limb parts get re-used over and over and the same basic structure was kept. You know, for the exact same reason they are doing what they are doing now.

No. What us being said is now, unlike before, TLG is being -smart- with the line. The all-new mold heavy lines of the late 90s and early 00s were one of the reasons TLG was in dire financial straits. Turning that around meant limiting the number of elements and re-colours available to designers. This isn't being cheap, it's making smart financial decisions. Also, I don't know where the "low budget" thing keeps coming from. A single report from one employee at one event is not compelling, when all things point at a pretty strong marketing and design budget. CCBS was designed to be akin to system bricks- a solid platform on which to build a customizable and variable build using the same basic architecture with each set. But we get something like thirty new molds this year! That isn't very different from what we got the last few years of the original run, which came after it was discovered the mold costs of past waves hasn't been factored into the line's profits. On top of that, eight gold masks, several competitions, the NYCC event, a theme month at LBR stores, our own polybag... I'm just not seeing it. For once our line is following the same release pattern as other lines. Considering how many lines currently exist, this shouldn't surprise anyone. We're doing pretty well, especially for a niche theme.

I wonder if my kakama tattoo would count! :D

I have all if them, doubles of all the protectors, several dozen of the orange Tahu masks and a few score of the clear ones. Plus just a bunch if random parts from NYCC and whatnot. I really love the CCBS system and the new parts are all amazing.

Definitely won't be a building contest. Last I checked all seven remaining masks will be given out somehow. But only the one building contest.

But with the exception of a (tiny compared to industry-standard comics) comic every month or so, what did most years of BIONICLE do differently than this? We didn't even have books the first two years. And even then, we got a book quarterly, and the books were superfluous to the plot for most casual fans, telling in more detail the story beats we already knew at wave-launch. I would love another MNOG, but I don't think fans are remembering the original line's run as well as they think. Story beats didn't happen much slower than they are now.

The pacing comments seem weird to me. In the first series, outside of the (spectacular) MNOG, we got a comic a month or so, that was pretty much the equal to these animations (in that so little happens or a lot happens in a short span), with colouring issues, misplaced word bubbles, etc. In the latter half to two-thirds we had books, but we'll have books later this year too. (And a graphic novel, apparently?) this really doesn't seem different to what we had then, in that all of the story seems to happen at once and then we wait. The difference seems to be that in the first series we had Greg actively answering questions on BZP and that helped keep interest moving, but whether that was, in the long run, a good or a bad thing has long been debated.

@Scarilian: lol. You desperately want the last word, so I guess you can have it. It definitely applied to the latter few years of the first series, but I desperately, desperately hope the new series doesn't take this route too. The turn from more fantasy to sci-fi the line took over the last few years was really disappointing to me. It just felt like Greg preferred sci-fi to fantasy, and it often seemed pretty forced, regardless of the "living in a giant robot" thing having been planned from the beginning. Technology and magic can co-exist pretty well (the original Star Wars films version of the Force is basically just magic, after all. Alternatively, The Legend of Korra). I'd rather not have that massive tonal shift this time. I want the magic to be just that- unexplainable mystic forces. Just my personal taste at play, though, and I certainly recognize that. The latter years of the story just always seemed so disconnected form the first three, and that shift always seemed like one of the biggest reasons.

@Scarilian: I guess we'll just pretend you didn't bring the vahi thing up yourself pages ago, and then pretend that I'm the only person talking about it, when you've written posts just as long as mine? It's not personal targeting, you're simply the person discussing something that merited a reply. The vahi thing is a personal peeve, I'm well capable of admitting it, because again, I was there. I am adamant about these things because the vahi rumour nonsense has all started because of a misunderstanding (that came from TTV, whether I like their channel or not, this entire fiasco is their fault, and stating so is not some ridiculous slandering thing, it's a simple note of where the entire thing started, and the mentioning of their fans as being the ones who propagate it is also entirely accurate. I don't see why this is somehow slandering the channel or them, or somehow is indicative of some big grudge?) of a simple statement. You're adamant that my views are simply "another opinion" but I was there. It's not an interpretation of the events, it is me telling others a memory as it happened. There's a difference. As for you thinking me saying something is "misguided" is an insult... I'm sorry? Misguided is misguided. I don't know how else you want me to word it. Bruh, you brought the vahi thing up. This is part of how a discussion community works. If it had been someone else, it would have been someone else I was debating it with. As it has been in the past. And because the fandom, for better or worse, continues to move in circles when these things come up, and they will, will be in the future. Chill. This is honestly the best part of the new series for me. The entire concept that not everything needs a story role, that not everything needs a complex explanation, but there's still that central conflict, a mythological feeling, a story with purpose, this is exciting. It's honestly how the first year or two of story felt. It's awesome, and it's inspirational for me. In all seriousness, the whole "Twokua!" thing has always bothered me a bit. Takua was a homeless wanderer originally, a vagabond with no real sense of purpose besides the deep desire that he needed to do something and that it was important he do so. He was clever, adaptive, and while somewhat awkward and odd, easily befriended others, especially those also outside the current social structures. He wasn't a wide-eyed kid, he was a hero before the Toa even showed up. Instead of standing wide-eyed when the Toa did show up, he worked parallel to them with others to aid the island and the Toa simultaneously. I get the surface-level gut instinct comparison, but it just doesn't sit well with me.

@Scarilian The TTV guys who won tickets from TBB did indeed win them fraudulently, they created fake accounts under numerous different names in order to increase their chances to get the tickets from the last place available. BZP ran the giveaways behind the scenes, this is a true statement. As for the rest, considering we already knew the line was coming back, we definitely did not deny the existence as you claim, we simply said leaked images and information were not allowed, which was at the request of TLG themselves, a request other sites such as EB continue to blatantly ignore. It isn't censorship, it is following the agreement we have with TLG. The vahi rumour came from TRV, was promoted solely on their channel and site, and therefore comes from them. I don't know what else you want, the rumour is baseless and a misunderstanding if Jordan's words and position. Ergo, as it is all predicated on a misunderstanding of theirs, the responsibility to clarify is also theirs. I fail to see how this is somehow a grudge. The intent wasn't to promote BZP via some sort if bragging, it was to showcase that there is no reason for us to have some grudge- we are doing just fine. I read what you wrote, which is again a bunch of regurgitated misinformation trying to circle around the truth you are continuing to ignore. Context supports nothing you have said, not even once. There is no place for a "other half of the vahi" discussion, because it comes from a re-written version of what was actually said. Again, I was - there-. Speculation is fun, but when it continues to fester on ground that was shaky at best to begin with, it becomes irritating and unwelcome. But as for the TTV tangent, we will continue to pretend you have no official role on their site and vested interest in pretending they merely "share" the view versus the reality where they invented it.

Videos that don't actually say anything? You act like I don't watch those- I do. You can't talk about something you don't know about, and considering they have three videos about me specifically, of course I've seen them. The videos where they attempt to remain neutral, walk their own statements back, and then say "but we still kinda think our misintepretation was right wink wink". It's not a grudge against them, but they have a powerful voice for those mostly outside the message board fanbases, and they don't seem to respect that power enough to verify their claims in their attempts to be the first to cover something. It's irritating and it just causes problems within the community. Their show has a place in the community and I respect that- I don't respect the "gotta be first so post a bunch of things and damn the consequences we'll fix our wrong things later after they've proliferated" schtick. It's problematic. If you think there's something else there, I mean, I'm not sure what? I know I've heard random comments about BZP being jealous or threatened by them, but we were the ones informed of the return, sent free pieces, we didn't have to make numerous fake accounts on TBB to win tickets to NYCC, etc. I care about the community (after all, I'm one of the idiots in it) and I like it better when we're all on the same page with information. The moment I wasn't under NDA I basically said as much as I knew about everything behind the scenes, because that stuff is fascinating an educated fanbase is a good fanbase. The spread of misinformation is irritating and yeah, I don't like it. Considering how much of it comes from them... I think the point makes itself? The ones in the video aren't the stud shooter piece, they are the piece from the gatling gun mounted on the CCBS Iron Man set.

He gave a straight answer, and it's only the fanbase's frustrating and dooming interest in "unpacking every statement for canon and theories and hidden meanings" that keeps this dumb rumour going. The fanbase, thanks to all the interactions with Greg back during the original run, are used to looking at and analyzing every piece of information for hidden meanings and speculation and theories based on every spare word Greg did or didn't add into his response. He was asked if the series had a connection, and he gave an answer with an example. That's not vague or ambiguous, that's him attempting to explain the answer whilst also providing some sort of evidence to understand the answer. Clearly it didn't work, because clearly Jordan Paxton did not understand the way the fanbase works, especially fanatical arms like the TTV overhype-mill. The answer that there will be a mask of time and it will be a full mask was exactly the answer he was trying to give. "The old series had a mask of time, OURS DOES TOO, but it's DIFFERENT." It really doesn't allow room for the ambiguity you (and the other TTV fans) are forcing into it. It has no bearing in reality because it has no bearing in anything he said or even implied. It comes from members of the TTV fanbase misinterpreting the misinterpretation TTV gave on their channel and forum. They said "we're getting the other half" which led to all this "OMG the Vahi was incomplete??! We're going to see the top half?!? I bet it connects to a fifteen year old part that hasn't been produced or available in ten plus years!?!?" That's dumb. I'm sorry to be so blunt about it, but there's not a fluffier way to say that. It has no bearing in any sort of reality we live in, and since these masks don't have real powers, no universe we can hop into either. He was not answering a question about canon- he was answering a question about marketing, because his job is marketing. His response is about the series having connections from a marketing standpoint (ie: various shared names and characters, tropes, sort of locations, masks, visual cues, a mask of time, etc). Of course they're connected, they're both BIONICLE, from LEGO. You're forcing the canon connection into a place it didn't exist. The latter half of your quote in this box has no bearing in conversation outside of the "what if.." fanon realms. We got a simple answer from the BIONICLE team members at the panel, all of whom rank higher up on the totem poll within the BIONICLE structure than Jordan. The art director, story director, set director, and the employee in charge of constraction brands entirely were all at that panel. They said near verbatim: "you can stop the speculation and discussion, it's a reboot". What speculation and discussion could they possibly be talking about? Probably the one about whether or not the new story was connected or not to the old one. The answer is "it's a reboot" which is a simple and unambiguous term when not qualified with a "soft" or "near" prefix. The general public is very aware of what "reboot" means, it's only this fandom that seems to have an issue understanding the simple terminology. They did not qualify the term "reboot" and thus it's a pure term. Language! BIONICLE 2015 is obviously not discarding prior elements since the very Toa themselves share the names and near-personalities of the original six, the shapes of many of the masks, Makuta's name, etc. To claim otherwise is not a claim anyone here (or anywhere) has made or will make. That would also be dumb. But sharing elements (which is sort of the bedrock of a reboot, actually) is not the same thing as sharing canon, and the team (and Greg) made that very clear. The fandom itself has tried to create this ambiguity out of a desperation for a connection to an outdated, bloated, dead storyline that proved the downfall of the original line. I don't know why either (as much as I enjoyed the line all the way through, and I did), but this desperate attempt is getting tired and old and frustrating, and it's sort of ruining the community's ability to enjoy the new line on its own merits. What is that statue?? We don't need an answer to everything, sometimes scenery is just scenery. Frankly, they don't add up because you won't let them. There are obvious answers to every single comment in these ongoing vahi discussions you've brought up, over and over, that answer and satisfy every inane theory the TTV-side of the fandom trots out. I was there. I was behind the scenes talking about this line for a long time before the panel. I knew it was a full-on reboot back in July. The team specifically said they were pulling parts and ideas from 2001-2003 because those were the most profitable, and also the years that the team felt truly defined the original run and mythos (which probably explains why so many latter-year fans seem upset about the more ambiguous storytelling of the reboot, where fans from the first few years are enjoying it immensely). Specifically saying they were cherrypicking ideas and storytelling moments from those years doesn't seem like something you'd do if you intended to somehow connect your story back to that.

It does make for a confusing read, that is for sure. One of the many reasons I have moved away from that username on most sites.