Zarkan

That's funny, because I kind of had the exact opposite reaction upon seeing the pictures for the first time. Honestly, the NinjaGo playsets are probably some of the weakest kits TLC has released in years, IMO. The skeleton fotress and ninja dojo just don't really compare to sets like the Portal of Atlantis, Space Police HQ, Kingdom's Castle, or even 2011's Atlantean Temple. I can understand what you mean about this theme being a "stepping stone," but the problem is that it also seems to be the biggest release of 2011, with all the collectable figures pushing the set count way above the likes of Atlantis, Pharaoh's Quest, and even StarWars. If some of TLC's other 2011 releases were being given the same treatment, then I'd be perfectly fine with NinjaGo, but as it stands I don't like to see a second-rate theme take the spotlight away from everything else. Then again, I seem to be apathetic about next year's lego in general. City is underwhelming, Pharaoh's Quest seems more like Adventures with monsters then an actual step up in design, Hero Factory is an absolute bust, and Star Wars is very boring apart from the new figures. The only stuff that seems to maintain the quality of the last few years are Atlantis and a couple of the new Police sets, and even then they don't have the same wow factor as Space Police III, Prince of Persia, or even this years' Atlantis and City. It just seems like they've taken a big step backwards in both originality and set designs - and no, I don't consider putting Ninjas and Fantasy Castle skeletons in the same box "original" in the least. I'll ask again: does anyone else feel this way?

Hm, I'm liking the originality in this new name-change prank, but for some reason it just doesn't seem nearly as fun as the last one. I guess I'm just not a science geek like the moderators here all seem to be.

Shame, shame, Eurobricks Staff - using a prank theme you already used several years ago. I can't be the only one who remembers a similar "glitch" a while back. Oh well, I haven't laughed this hard in a while, so I guess I can't complain.

*Looks at Fire Lord picture* ...and ladies and gentlemen, we have a new contender for worst titan set ever! Haha, really, that looks like some "MOC" a 10 year old submitted into the Lego Club Magazine - those legs are hideous, as is the color coordination and the "weapons." I though Von Nebula was weak, his work-for hire henchmen Xplode even weaker, but this might just top them all in terms of sheer ugliness! Oh, and the heroes still look awful to me too. All those ultra-specialized molds, horrible goggle-helmets, and shared weapons just ruin the concept. Plus, why exactly are Nex and Evo "2.0" if we never got versions of them in the first wave? I say they should have just kept Bulk and Stringer and say their armor changed colors - hey, it's not like Bionicle never used that explanation before. Seriously, I can't see how anyone could like these abominations - they literally look like they were ripped out of a Megabloks Neo Shifters catalog page. Even the other three villians dont' have nearly as much thought put into them as 2010's bad guys, and the lack of distinct color schemes keeps them from having unique personaly. Overall, despite my dislike of Hero Factory's first wave, I thought they did do enough right that 2011's sets would be able to perfect the formula. Instead, we've gone ten steps backwards into "knock-off" teritory, and as someone who doesn't even call Megabloks or other lego clones that term often, that can't be a good sign.

I'm finding it interesting that people are comparing NinjaGo to Exo-Force, when the two have very little in common other than taking insipration from manga and anime. Exo-Force was revolutionary at the time for being the first official lego mecha theme, and its sets are still some of the largest released under their price-points. Also, the theme had way better set designs, IMO, and the resuage of specialized parts and large number of recolors gave them a unique flair. On the flip side, Ninja go offers almost nothing new besides a few new molds - the trading card game gimmick has already been used before, as have skeletions, ninjas, and giant vehicles and dragons. Honestly, it seems more like a mish-mash of previous lego themes than anything totally original, and the lackluster set designs hurt the overall outlook. I know I'm not feeling the same rush to invest in it as I was when I first saw the pictures of Exo-Force (which still ranks as one of my all-time favorite themes).

Greviously Renamed Gungan - Recieved when I requested that my old name be changed to the username I use on most other sites. Five titles in and four of them have the word "Gungan in them." Why did I ever join the Tie Army Role-playing game all those years ago....

And thus, we have reached an impasse in this discussion. The line in this debate is clearly drawn down the conservative and liberal ideologies, and thus this issue will never be solved. The End. Now, if you excuse me, I have far more important things to worry about that supposed sexism in a toyline. The rest of you probably do as well, if you have lives that are filled with more essential activities than arguing about gender roles for biomechanical robots.

Firstly, there really is only one major Bionicle fansite these days, and I just looked at the topic there designated for the Yesterday Quest. Turns out, you and Kohaku are the only ones who posted your distaste. Secondly, the idea that Greg is sexist just because he wrote the Great Beings like that is ludicrous. Everything we've seen in the storyline before has done nothing but reinforce the fact that, while the Great Beings mean well, they are in fact deeply flawed and don't often seem to know what is best for their creations. Thirdly, as I've said before, this is entirely an issue of elemental stereotypes, not gender stereotypes. It was established far before this that both Toa of Water and Toa of Psionics are more gentle than many of the male elements - just as it has been established that Toa of Air and Toa of Earth are much more easy going then Toa of Lightning. Seriously, I just read over the serial again, and nothing in it screamed sexism at all. Chiara's sarcastic quote about "women being so gentle" pretty much established that the Great Beings were nuts to think that about all females, and their choice seemed to be directly a result of Orde's faults (not any actual gender-specific traits). If Orde had not been such a loose cannon (which seems to make him more like a Toa of Fire then any other male element), the Great Beings obviously wouldn't have decided that. It's all part of the storyline, and regardless of whether you feel that the female characters in Bionicle are all stereotypes or not, the fact is that they are hardly all "gentle and peaceful," and I would hardly argue that all the non-peaceful ones are "crazy bat-crap insane." As for your accusation that sex and gender never cary any sort of emotional tendancies, well, I think this post by Surreality pretty much sums up what I feel about the issue: Now, if you feel that this is sexist, than I'm afraid we've reached the critical divide in this subject: a divide that affects basically everything in America. Yep, I'm talking about the dreaded conservative/liberal debate, and that is something I would rather not go into here. Just let it be said that, yes, I'm a conservative, and I feel that the radical feminist movement to erase any distinictions between males and females is rather dangerous. I don't believe that there are absolutely no distnictions between men and women, nor do I believe that society shoudl pretend that the genders are exactly the same in every way. And with that, I can really say no more.

Funny that you say that, because so far you're the only one who has said any sort of thing. That would seem to indicate that, rather than this update being overetly sexist, you're simply reading far too much into what was probably just meant to be a neat look into Orde's orgins. More importantly, you've never actually explained WHY it is aparrently sexist. So, in the Bionicle universe, Toa of Psionics are generally gentle - and Toa of Air are generally happy go lucky, Toa of Fire are generally hot-tempered, Toa of Ice are generally cold loners, etc. How is this any different from what we've been getting ever since Bionicle began? It's one thing to call it cliche and unoriginal, but its entirely different to say that it's blatantly insulting to a particular gender. This reminds me a lot of how some members of minorities consistently look for racism in everything white men say about their race, even when the opposite is obviously true. It's also rather insulting and rude to Greg, as calling someone sexist is akin to calling someone a white supremacist or a bigot. Seriously, you're overreacting, especially considering that this is about a CHIDREN'S TOY. As if we've never seen unfair stereotypes of females in chidren's toy storylines before - or in comic books, or in movies, or in anything else that has ever been published. Heck, I'd argue that the comic books that turn every female superhero into a walking sex-object are far more sexist than anything a story about biomechanical robots could ever be. As for the aparrent weakness of the explanation, it seems a lot of people are happy that he didn't just pull the "Orde is a Toa of Psionics from an alternate universe" trick, like he did when he "resurected" Toa Tuyet. Making Orde the first Toa of Psionics is probably not the most original idea, but at least it's something that took place in the official universe rather than some far-out pocket dimension or alternate timeline. Sometimes, it seems like people are just looking for things to complain abou.... hm, perhaps that's why TvTropes has "Unpleasable Fanbase" listed on the Bionicle page. It's certainly not an original phenomenon - it almost seems natural for the fanbases of many lines to complain about everything that every happens. Maybe the Biosector Wiki should have a "RUINED FOREVER" page like the Transformers and Star Wars wikis.

You know Vader, you've basically just said that Bionicle has never had a female character that isn't a stereotype, and that includes the ones that were created before Greg even wrote the storyline. Honestly, I think you are way overeacting. Pretty much any character in literature can be boiled down to a few words, if you leave out all the detail that makes them stand out from other "stereotypes." It's a fact of writing that, unless your characters are utterly generic and have no defining personality traits at all, then they are going to at least lean towards one of several basic personality types. As an example, some time ago I came up with a chart that basically classifies basically every villian ever concieved into one of nine different catergories, all based on their motive: 1. Megalomaniac (duh) 2. Greedy (also duh) 3. Romantic (loves someone and will do absolutely anything to get him or her) 4. Revenge-minded (again, duh) 5. Brute (villians who evil because he is brutal by nature) 6. Crusader (villians who think they are doing the right thing, when they are really bad) 7. Disadvantaged (villians who were lead into being evil by other villians, and actually aren't really evil deep down inside) 9. Exterminator (villians who are out to destroy all those who they feel are inferior) 8. Always Chaotic Evil (Villians who are evil simply because they enjoy doing evil things) Now, take catergory 1, for example. Many villians that are the stars of epic fantasy or science fiction sagas fall under this trope, including Makuta, Sauron, Emperor Palpatine, and Lord Voldermort. However, does that mean that these villians are all exactly the same, with no defining factors that make them different from each other? Of course not, that's ridiculous. However, because they all have the same motive, they do share some similarities in the way they act. All of them, for example, have no qualms about killing massive numbers of living beings in order to obtain their goal, and all are masters at planning ahead. Oh, and all of them are also ridiculously cool, despite the fact that they are evil. Good guys can probably be boiled down into a list as well, though it would probably be a bit bigger than the villian list. At their core, however, all good heroes share some things in commo: they have a code of morality, they are brave (or at least become brave by the end of the saga), and they are ultimately willing to put their life on the line if it means that they will benifit the greater good. You can say that, just because Harry Potter and Toa Lewa have these qualities, that they are essentially the same basic character - and you'd be right. However, unless that is as far as you go with their characterization, you can't say that they are the same character period. It's like saying an apple and a mango are the exact same kind of fruit just because they are juicy and red in color. It's like saying a Toyota and a Jeep are the same kind of car just because they are both small wheeled vehicles that can seat no more than a few people. It's like... well, you get the picture. The point is, defaming characters as "murderous crazy insane female stereotypes" or "prophetessishs" is not truly giving the whole picture, as there's much more to a character than simply their basic personality. Small differences in dialogue, emotion, actions, etc, can utterly separate one character from another, and when a whole bunch of small but significant details add up, you have entirely different personalities. Just because two characters get angry a lot doesn't mean they are not a bit different from each other. Some characters get angry only at evil, some characters get angry whenever they feel they've been wronged, some characters get angry when they don't get their way, and some characters just get angry because they like getting angry. Same goes for any other personality trait, whether it be their hobbies, the kinds of things they laugh at, or the amount of pain they are able to tolerate. Again, it's the details that matter, and things like dialogue and description help to incoporate these details. Now don't get me wrong: I know that some characters are stereotypes, and nothing more. I just recently watched an episode of Avatar: The Last Airbender called "The Great Divide," and it stood out to me because of how different it was in it's characterizations. That's to say, as opposed to most of the other episodes (which I have really enjoyed), all the new characters were nothing more than cliches. One group of people were neat-freaks, and the other were slobs. You never got anything more than that, and thus you could basically predict what each "character" would say next. Not so with the vast majority of the other episodes, where the main cast and even some minor characters were developed and grew out of their basic personality archetypes. So, while I hated "The Great Divide," I've still been generally loving the show, as have many other people who have watched the series. Anyway, I really think you need to calm down, Darth Vader. It often seems that when you talk about the Bionicle storyline, your posts emmit an almost furious tone. It's like you can't stand to hear people say they like the storyline, just because you feel that it is an objective fact that it sucks. This is not the way to engage in a discussion, and it makes it hard for people like me to converse with you (even knowing that you still are generally a really great guy). If reading or talking about the Bionicle storyline really generates such a virulent response from you, then just don't read or talk about it. But seriously, I know you can talk about it without seeming overly angry, cause you're not really an angry person at heart. If you were, then I doubt you'd still be a staff member on BZP and generally loved by the forum's population. I think the phrase was "just love, don't hate," and that includes more than just relationships. Is it really reasonable to "hate" the storyline of a childrens toy? You can dislike it, sure, and even say that it is terrible. But to say that you "hate" it implies that it harmed you in some personal way. Rasonable people don't hate other people unless they truly have done something despicable, and even then it's still better to not express your hate with the same amount of force. Otherwise, you're really no better than what you put down. But come on, I know you don't really "hate" the storyline. You think it's utterly cliche, filled with "poorly disguised Marvel and DC characters, with cheesy comic book powers, cheesy comic book locations, and a whole bunch of deux-ex-machinas." That's not true hate, just dislike, and it's a perfectly acceptable reaction. I feel the same way about certain things, particularly the very comic books you say Bionicle borrowed most of its story ideas from. We just have to not let it get control of our emotions, to the point where it seems like we're emotionally harmed by something simply existing. It's not like it's a death-row crime for a story to be cheesy, or for someone to actually claim that storyline is good. If it was, I think most people would chose to be a pig-sty feeder before they decided to become a writer. And thus, the world would not be nearly as interesting of a place. Okay, I think that's probably enough for now.

Yeah, because we know Bionicle has always given their female characters unique personalities instead of lumping them together in the "peaceful and wise" catergory. If anything, the existence of Greg-written characters like Roodaka, Krahka, and now Chiara proves that this statment is absolute nonsense, as if he was really sexist, then all his female characters would be like Gali or Nokama.

So, I’ve been browsing the pictures of the 2011 Pharoah’s Quest line, and the thing that first comes to my mind is “gee, I can’t see why the kids would root for the adventurers, when the bad guys are so much cooler.” The more I think about it, however, the more I realize that this is a trend common to many of TLC’s other recent action themes. To give you a picture of what I mean, I’ll list a few of them down below: Space Police III Good Guys: Standardized future-policemen with generic minfig heads Bad Guys: Multiple alien criminals with unique head pieces and torsos Agents: Good Guys: Standardized agents with com-link wearing versions of generic minfig heads Bad Guys: Multiple villains with unique heads, helmets, and torsos Atlantis: Good Guys: Standardized divers with generic minifig heads Bad Guys: Multiple underwater monsters with unique head pieces and torsos Notice a pattern here? If your answer is “yes, the good guys are all the same, while the bad guys are all different,” then congratulations, you’ve stumbled upon TLC’s formula for almost all recent action themes! Needless to say, it’s rather odd how the good guys seem to have so much little effort put into them, while the villains are always chock-full of neat concepts and unique molds and prints. The only exception to this rule seems to be Castle, which features a bunch of standout figures in both the good guy and bad guy factions, Other than that, however, TLC’s recent themes seem to generally sway towards the “villains unique, heroes alike” line, or in the case of themes like Mars Mission and Exo-Force, feature the same few figures on both sides over and over again. What do you guys think? Should TLC invest more time and effort into making their heroes stand out as much as their villains, or are you fine with the good guys being marginalized in the design department?

Meh, I’m not really feeling this new line at all, to be honest. The set designs seem a step downward from previous action themes (and even from some of the other themes continuing in 2011), and the figures are nothing special. They’re just ninjas and skeletons – nothing we haven’t seen before, even with new armor and weapons. Speaking of weapons, don’t kill me for saying this, but the accessories in the Megabloks TMNT kits were way cooler, IMO. You actually got sais and nunchuks, where as these NinjaGo sets seem to be just recycling a lot of old molds. Seriously, a chain attached to spikes does not constitute a nunchuk, and it really disappoints me that TLC chose to cheapen out on the opportunity to produce a cool new weapon mold. I’d rather have that then poles and bones, thank you very much. This and other developments with Lego 2011 are actually making me glad that I decided to stop purchasing lego this year. It honestly seems that, after all the innovation that we got in the last few years, TLC is starting to slide back in the quality department. Aside from Atlantis (and perhaps a couple of the City sets), nothing coming out next year is really standing out. In contrast, I remember how excited I was when the 2009 set list rolled around, and I saw that we were getting City, Space Police, Castle and Pirates the same year for the first time since before the Dark Ages! Now we’re back to the generic action themes bonanza of 2001 to 2004, and all but the first classic theme have seemingly crawled back into non-production. I’m not sure the summer will be any better, aside from perhaps a (much improved) continuation of the overall mediocre Kingdoms theme. At least we have PoTC to look forward to, but I’m in the crowd who would have rather had a continuation of the Classic Pirates revival. Anyway, not feeling NinjaGo at all, and I wouldn’t be surprised if this flops as big as the last card-game oriented theme we had (Orient Expedition, although that at least was a standout in figures and sets). You know what I would have rather had? A Ninja theme that actually had both Ninja’s and Samurai. But of course, we couldn’t have a theme with two human factions, could we?

Hm, I just don’t know. On the one hand, I’m glad to see the Egypt theme revived, but on the other hand, I’m just not impressed with the overall result. It’s not for the reason you think though – while I don’t mind having another humans versus monsters theme, something about Phaorah’s Quest seems to scream “boring.” You know what I think it is? I think it’s that, from a design point, nothing here is really anything different from what we’ve seen in other themes – and in some ways, it almost seems like a step backwards from some of the recent action lines. The treaded vehicle in the Pyramid set is an excellent design: that is not a new, modernized version of an Adventurers’ vehicle, that IS an Adventurer’s vehicle, right down to the one piece seat and simple design. With all the neat design touches in themes like Space Police and Atlantis, the vehicles in this line seem rather simplistic and bare in comparison. In fact, if you took the giant monsters and mummies out, what you’ve have left would fit right in with the Egypt sets we got in 1998. That’s not to say that revisiting classic themes from the ground up is necessarily a bad move. The problem I have is that it’s lazy, especially when we expect much more sophisticated set designs from modern themes. Again, look at some of the vehicles in Space Police and Atlantis – they blow the water out of anything we got ten years ago, with all their complex functions, greebles, and seamlessly incorporated technic bits. On the other hand, these Pharoah’s Quest sets scream “last millennium,” and I can’t really pick out one neat design technique or function. All the effort seems to have gone into the bad guys, and even then, only really into the new figures and accessories. The brick-built monsters don’t hold a candle to the ones in some of TLC’s previous themes, IMO, and nothing about them makes me want to purchase sets built around them. So, does anyone else share this view, or am I really just a lone dog howling for his favorite treats?

I quite liked this new chapter of Yesterday Quest. The explanation for Orde being male was really clever, and it's great to see Vorox getting a bigger role in the storyline (and inteligent ones at that). Oh, and a special mention has to be given to Kuabra's name: I absolutely love it. Sounds a lot like 2001 names, actually, which I'm sure is a good thing for at least a few people.

Oh man, it is as I feared: Hero Factory has jumped the shark. Back when we first were introduced to the 2010 wave, I made a post or two about how Hero Factory seemed to be a step downward into non-lego teritory. All the ultra-smooth, technic-pin-less armor parts and one piece gun arms reminded me more of Megabloks then Lego, and the only sets that still seemed like they came from TLC were the villians and vehicles. Well, ladies and gentlemen (okay, who am I kidding, it's just gentlemen), what we have here is Neo Shifters made by Lego, complete with tons of giant POOP's and a lack of any actual personality or uniqueness. The villians in particular look like Transformers rejects (that face on one of them just screams Megatron), and the heroes all look exactly the same. In fact, I'm suprised these are even marketed as Hero Factory, as they look nothing like the line we got this year. At least 2010's sets still had some semblance to Bionicle (I even admitted the heroes reminded me a lot of Metru Nui). No such thing here - instead we get ultra-generic robots and more ultra-smooth technic-pin-less parts than you can shake a 2X4 at. I'm sorry, but this is just unacceptable coming from a company who is known most for their originality and their embracing of creativity in building. Even the Ben 10 sets were better then these walking piece of crud - heck, I'd say only Galidor is worse than these things, and not by much. Oh well, so much for the future of lego constraction-figure lines. I think it's time we just start calling them action figures, since it doesn't seem like we're really getting much construction in 2011 at all.

Man, I bet at least a few members will be a bit ticked off at this announcement. As for me, I feel this really shows how far Eurobricks has come in giving some recognition to often-maligned themes. Bionicle and its sucessor may not be the most popular themes around AFOL circles, but at Eurobricks, they're treated just like any other themes (complete with their own subforum). I won't be entering the contest, seeing as that I don't really own any Hero factory sets/don't MOC much anymore, but I hope that it gets a decent number of entries.

Hm, it's nice to hear that there are actual playsets, but ten euros for one small minifigure and acessories? That would translate to 13 dollars in American money. I know that probably won't be the real price, but it seems like it will be rather high regardless.

Hooh boy, if this turns out to be true, than I can think of at least a few people who are going to be majorly bummed. Personally, I have no problem with "Atlantis meets Egypt," but this seems to be a far cry from the Adventurers II line that people have anticipated.

Is this really suprising? Bionicle's target audience of young boys ensured that its females regularly got the short stick, and since Hero Factory is its direct replacement, they're obviously continuing the trend. Sure, we've finally got a female hero in a color other than blue, but she's still just one character out of twelve. What would have really impressed me is if they had made a female villian and actually made her look slightly less boyish than the male villians (in the same manner as Gorast was compared to Bitil and Krika). But of course, we couldn't have that, could we?

Considering that I'm the guy who first posted in this topic about the last two Sahmad's Tale updates, I'd say yes.

Eh, I can't really agree with that, particularly the part about Gali Mistika actually looking somewhat female. To be honest, I still feel that Gali's Mistika form is probably the most blatantly masculine and evil-looking Toa we have ever gotten, even surpassing frog-face Kongu Inika in sheer ugliness. And that's just not right, since Gali is also the very first female Toa we ever knew. As for Tahu Mistika... eh, way too much silver for me, and I also don't like the Mecha-jets and his lack of a flame sword. I fixed all of those problems in my mod, and the end result was much better. Oh heck, I might as well post a picture here. I had avoided doing this because my attempted photo-editing was less than sucessful, and I didn't feel like retaking my pictures.

Honestly, Lewa's original Phantoka mask has grown on me a lot, to the point where I'd probably still use it even if I had his Axalara mask. Sure, the latter is closer to the Toa Nuva design than the former, but I honestly never liked Lewa's original Nuva mask either. Something about the Phantoka mask just gives off a real Lewa air - something that I can't really say about Gali or Onua's Mistika masks. Then again, Tahu's Mistka mask has also grown on me, and it barely resembles the original Hau at all. I think my still-yet-to-be-posted 2008 Toa mods might have something to do with it - when placed on the original set version, I disliked Tahu Mistka's mask with a passion, but the changes I made to his body and weapon actually compliment it quite well. I guess it's just more proof that the Toa Mistika were atrocious sets, period, and a little modding can go a long way to improving them.

After a long wait, Part 5 of Sahmad's Tale is now up!

From the news ticker: Well, so much for Hero Factory and Bionicle being in different universes...