Zarkan

Not to mention, it's small, unobtrusive, and it's parts are probably the most useful launcher-specific molds we've ever had in Bionicle. So yeah, Thronax launcher wins easily. The runner up for would be either the Zamor launcher or the Midax. The Zamor launcher, because it is buildable and has plenty of connection points, and the Midak, because it looks cool and can store four zamor spheres at a time without looking awkward.

Don't count them out just yet. Reports have been coming in that their vehicle modes have been spotted on the sets. And remember, this is being directed by the same guy who assured us that Megatron wouldn't be in Transformers 2. Who also can't act - or at least you'd assume that, what with her being a model with no prior acting experience. Maybe she'll suprise us and be better than Megan Fox, but the chances of that happening are slim to none. If anything, she'll probably be worse.

Just dropping by to say that I agree with everyone who loves this movie. Nolan is quickly becoming one of my favorite directors ever, and his movies keep getting better and better. I don't have much else to say beyond that, except for one thing: Well, that's a given, since Avatar's storyline was basically Dances With Wolves with Aliens. Say what you want about Inception, but you have to admit that it it is a lot more original than Cameron's latest flick.

Hey guys, thought I'd let you know that a new Comic-Con review with Andrea Romano can be found here. Among other things, it reveals that there will be a Batman: TBATB crossover with the current Scooby-Doo show. I'm not really a fan of either program, but the hilarious potential for this episode has even me excited!

Well, the hero creater is as fun as we all thought it would be, but for some reason they've ditched the CGI from the preview screenshots and have replaced it with photographs. This is disappointing, as it doesn't look nearly as polished as it could have. Also, it seems that TLC is once again snubbing the usage of purple in their action figure lines, as it doesn't appears as a possible color choice. Strangest of all, however, is that the icons for Dunkan and Stringer's armor pieces are reversed! How did the programers manage to screw that up? On the other hand, the Hero Factory game isn't nearly as good as it could have been - in fact, I'd say it's downright boring. I've enjoyed most of the Bionicle games we've gotten over the years, as they've offered unique and varried gameplay. The Hero Factory game seems to offer nothing beyond clicking the mouse button mindlessly and defeating hordes of the exact same enemies over and over again. Additionally, the usage of stop motion animation makes the game look and feel really clunky, and the music seems to be either glitched or simply really poorly composed. I honestly can't see myself playing this again anytime soon - and I didn't even complete the first mission.

Just posting to thank VBBN for those great reviews of Meltdown and Rotor. Out of all the Hero factory villian sets, these are the only two that I can actually see myself getting, though I'd likely ask for them as gifts rather than buy them on my own. It's too bad that most of the other sets aren't nearly as cool as them, IMO, because a line like Hero Factory does have potential. It just seems like most of the sets could fit right in with Bionicle, whereas Meltdown and Rotor actually do their own thing. On the other hand, though, at least the other villians still feel like they are part of the lego system, unlike the smooth'n'shiny protectors of Makuhero City. Seriously, the more I look at those gun-arms, chest pieces, and leg armor molds, the more I'm reminded of Neo Shifters and Megabloks than Lego. Is it really too much of a pain to add a few more technic pin holes and to ditch the asymetricality?

Oh, it's legit all right - I know because of another forum that I post on occasionally. That possibly has to be one of the lamest usages of elemental control I've ever seen in a movie - not to mention the most hilarious. Regardless, I'm also sure I will enjoy the series. So far, I've only really seen on person online who doesn't like it, and that person also thinks that the Ralph Bashki Lord of the Rings animated films are better than the live action versions. I'm sure there's more naysayers I haven't met, but for the most part everyone says it is fantastic.

I'm calling it: it will be just as bad, if not worse than Revenge of the Fallen, and will win Michael Bay a second Razzie the year it comes out. Case in point - about a month ago, they revealed the replacement for Megan Fox (who quit the film after she supposedly got fed up with the director), and it's a Victoria's Secret model with no prior acting experience. Gee, really learning from your mistakes, aren't you Bay? Also, if you guys haven't heard, the villian is apparently not going to be Unicron, but Shockwave, who apparently is a purple cyclops robot who takes over Cybertron. Of course, he probably won't look anything like his previous incarnations, and might also possibly be equipped with a codpiece that the Autobots will proceed to make fun of for 10 minutes straight. I wouldn't say that. I just started watching Transformers: Animated, and I'm amazed at how good the characters, dialogue, humor is. Sure, the amimation not be nearly as advanced as Bay's CGI transformers, but it's still a fun show. I've also heard that Beast Wars is really fantastic in just about every area, including plots and characters. Sure, that's only two series in a mountain of different incarnations, but it's a bit unfair to say that all transformers-related media is just "an excuse for robots to beat down each other." Transformers doesn't have to be stupid, it's just that most executives think that they can sell toys with a low quality show or movie. And they're right, sadly - but that still doesn't excuse it.

I'll add to my previous statement that I have no intention of ever seeing this movie, even thought it's very likely I'll eventually watch the animated series. The reason? I really don't want to subject myself to what apparently is the worst movie this year so far, with not a single bit of talent dripping from any of its scenes. Case in point: if this.... ... is what Shyamalan thinks is a cool depiction of the elemental control over earth, then I already know I could make a better action scene that he could. Heck, a 10 year old fan of the show probably could.

See, this is why there is no point in discussing anything with you, Darth Vader. As I've said before, the first rule of discussing anything on a mature, friendly discussion board is "don't assert your personal opinions as facts." Time and time again, you've shown that you have no interest in considering opinions opposite to yours as equally valid and resonable, thus making it a chore to really discuss anything with you. I honestly don't understand why you even bother posting on message boards like Eurobricks, if from the outset your viewpoint is that "I will only respect opionions that are close to or equal to mine, and will shoot down any opposing opinions as false and misinformed." To be honest, I don't know why I'm here either. After all, by merely posting my appreciating of Greg F and the Bionicle storyline, I run the risk of you responding with an assertive "Bionicle is terrible and you have bad taste for liking it" post. And that's a pity to, as most of the members of this forum are much more accepting of other people's opinions. To be honest, you also remind me of most of the members on one forum I left a while ago, and that's not a good thing. Bleh, whatever. I don't know why I even bother talking to you, DV. Just because you're a college graduate with a degree in English (or whatever it is you said you had) doesn't give you the right to troll like this (yes, I just used the T word). It's just not enough for you to simply state your opinions - oh no, you also have to assert them as fact and insult anyone who doesn't agree with you. You could really learn something from most of the members on this site. Regardless, from now on, I will be posting as if you aren't even a member of this forum. Perhaps I should have taken this action long ago, and perhaps all the other fans of the storyline here should do the same. After all, there's no point in arguing with someone if they've already decided that you are wrong for simply having a different opinion.

[opinion1] [/opinion1][opinion2] [/opinion2][fact1] [/fact1]

You know, the more I think about it, the more I'm confused as to why everyone is so excited about the Hero Factory storyline. Sure, there's been bits of the character profiles that I've appreciated, but for the most part this is really a huge step down from even the earliest years of Bionicle. For one, there's absolutely no mystery - everything we could possibly know about the theme has already been revealed to us, including Von Nebula's motive. Also, the amount of media that conveys the storyline is severely decreased - so far, all we've gotten is a four page comic, a couple interviews with the characters, and generic character descriptions. Whereas Bionicle 2001 had the year long MNOLG and three sixteen page comics, not to mention multiple magazine articles and a book that came out in 2003. Yeah, so, not seeing why even the most diehard fans of the early years of Bionicle like this theme so much, at lest from a storyline perspective. I know some of you wanted a simpler story, but this is really only one step above the generic "storylines" of most regular lego themes. Am I missing something, or are you guys just trying too hard to love this theme?

CabooseBM is right about the Tahu shoulder armor (although I personally wouldn't have stated it nearly as rudely as him), and I'm also not a fan of the chest armor and the Technic hand on the side of the realistic hand. However, a lot of the stuff you guys have looks very impressive, and it gives me a little hope that you guys might actually be able to pull something off. The thing I'm most concerned about is that, with so many different projects going on, the team really lacks a unified focus. I think it would be better to start off a bit smaller - say, with one or two projects - and if they suceeed, then move on to other ones. Personally, I think most of you guys should concentrate on Dark Mirror, as that has the potential to be a really epic and unique movie. Although, personally, I'm still really waiting for the definitive 2001 fan movie, which would hopefully combine all of our favorite scenes from the comics, MNLOG, and perhaps even the books. However, for that to suceed, it'd really have to be at least an hour and a half long, while Dark Mirror only really needs an hour at the most to cover everything in the serial. In addition, a 2001 movie would also need a lot more sets and likely have a lot more intense action scenes, making it all the more difficult to pull off. I can see why Lewa11 abandoned it for a while (and perhaps abandoned it again, as I haven't seen any updates for a while) - doing justice to one of the greatest years of Bionicle will really take a ton of work! Regardless, I wish you guys well. I'm afraid I won't be able to help, as I'm busy working on my own personal project (which has nothing to do with Bionicle). But it seems you guys already have a lot of talent on your team, so I doubt you'll need a third-rate artist like me anyway.

Well, with reviews pouring in, it looks as though the butchering of the characters' races should be the least offensive part of the movie to fans. What they probably be should far more outraged about is that, according to almost everyone, the movie absolutely butchers filmmaking in general, including casting, acting, pacing, storytelling, and coreography. My predictions? The Last Airbender will likely make Jonah Hex seem like a success in comparison, and will also usher in the end of M. Night Shyamalan's career as a filmmaker.

Well, I'm a fan of the books, that's for sure, although I don't actually own any of them. The last time I read the series was in anticipation for the final book's release. I had already read through books one through six before that, but I thought it would be a good idea to get them fresh in my mind again before reading the last book in the series. Overall, I have to say that Book Five is my favorite, followed by either Book 4 or book 7. But really, all of them are fantastic - Harry Potter is easily one of the most original fantasy series in recent memory, and J.K.Rowling's rich writing makes them a blast to read over and over again.

Have lego themes become more extreme? Yes, and I'm loving every moment of it. While I do have fond memories of some earlier lego kits, for the most part I feel lego themes are getting better and better as time goes on, especially in the areas of asthetics and functions. An excellent example of this is Power Miners versus Rock Raiders. The latter theme can be considered part of the classic age, as it was released in the previous decade and lacked much of the features of modern kits. The kits were entirely focused on drilling, and not on combating the monsters. Yet, it's sucessor Power Miners was, IMO, far more interesting, and also arguably less <insert that tiresome argument>. The reason for this is that Power Miners utilized gear-driven functions in a way that had never been done before in lego sets, making many of the sets an absolute blast to play with. Never in the classic age did we get sets like the Granite Grinder (which packed a clever jackhammer function into a 10 dollar kid), the Thunder Driller (which had a drill that spun when driven across the floor), and the Titanium Command Rig (which combined multiple functions into a vehicle that also transformed into a stationary drill). These set designs are far beyond anything in Rock Raiders or any other classic themes, as they utilize the most recent in lego pieces and construction techniques. To be honest, until recently, lego sets never came close to matching the complexity and ingenuity of AFOL creations. Sure, the sets of old were cute and fun, but they were also extremely simple and rather plain looking. On the other hand, today's sets use many of the techniques that first debuted majorly in MOC's, such as heavy SNOT usage and seamlessly fusing Technic and System. Until the last decade, most lego sets were built in pretty much the same way - by stacking rows of bricks onto each other. Now, most larger sets require building many intricate sub-sections and merging them into one huge vehicle or building, often in ways that forego "studs on top" entirely. On another note, while some people might complain about huge molds, I find that the size isn't as much an issue as how useful it is. TLC has taken many pieces made specially for one specific set (such as the giant airliner pieces) and incorporated them into sets like the Coastguard Helicopter and SP3 Galactic Enforcer. Other seemingly useless molds are used in multiple ways in the same theme, such as the power Miner wheels doubling as drills. In the meantime, standard bricks, plates and slopes are continually appearing in a multitude of colors and shapes - the ever useful cheese-slope, for example, has already been produced in just about every major lego color! I think it's unfair to write off modern sets as being more <insert that tiresome argument> then classic ones - in anything, it's the early sets that are less complex and less detailed than modern ones. An example of this is how, before the modern ages, I don't believer we had ever gotten a flagship set with over a thousand pieces. Now, we have themes like Agents and Atlantis, which contain huge bases and vehicles that dwarf early sets in both size and piece count. Now, it has to be said that, while more complex, many of the sets these days feel less quaint and cute than sets of the earlier ages? But is that really a problem? Honestly, I wouldn't say it is at all. What is happening is that, like many other toy companies, TLC is not simply making vehicles and buildings that look like toys, but is making toys that look more like real vehicles and buildings. Instead of approaching licensed themes with the mindset of "how can we legoize this theme and make it cute and friendly," they're trying to make licensed themes that closely resemble their counterparts in the movies (hence the switch to fleshies). Again, some would say this is bad, but I'm in the crowd who likes the fact that Lego sets are feeling more like interactive display models and less like pure toys. The lego sets these days are just as fun to build and play with, IMO, but they also have a sophisticated complexity that I feel most early sets lack. This is evident in my display shelves, which mainly feature sets from the last few years. While some of the earlier lines look good on shelves as well, I don't think there's a single line today that doesn't look fantastic when perched several feet above the floor. Maybe it's just me, but I'm not as keen on displaying themes like Alpha Team and Extreme Team. One more thing: To be honest, I think World Racers is the wrong theme to use as an example of how modern lego has changed from earlier lego. While many of the recent action themes surpass classic themes IMO, World Racers, is a step backwards from almost every action theme released in the last five years. The vehicles aren't as well designed, the minifigures are rather boring, and the color scheme is extremely dull. I was initially excited about having a racing theme that didn't just focus on cars, but the more I look at World Racers, the more dissapointed I feel. World Racers is just simply a mediocre theme, regardless of the year it came out in.

We should have gotten a green Hero Factory set to begin with. I'd much rather have that than a set that is almost totally silver - although it is nice that we got a set in Mata Blue. Regardless, I also have high hopes for this game, as the customization feature alone sets it apart from all the Bionicle online games. Lets hope that it adds more to the games than just asethetics - each weapon, each chestplate, and perhaps even each helment should give you different powers in the actual gameplay. Perhaps they could even make collectibles a part of the game - as you fight villians and complete missions, you can earn some sort of pay to trade in for more advanced weapons and armor. I'd really like the ability to beat up Xplode's hideous form and use his helmet and staff on my hero. This is all just wishful thinking, of course, but if TLC wants this game to really stand out, they need to focus on adding some real depth to the gameplay. I'm not expecting anything comcparable with full-price games, but I'd at laest like to see something that doesn't get old within five minutes.

And grogall strikes again! Thanks man - keep them coming! Anyway, there's not much new to say about the house, except that I am more and more psyched to see the (likely awesome) interior. As for the transportation set, all the vehicles look awesome, particularly the tram and the street sweeper. I also like that the Prince of Persia Dastan hair has made it into a town set, and it looks like the torso on the green-shirted guy is new. However, the includedc structures unfortunatley look even more generic and boring before, and the lack of design consistency is very annoying. Oh well, at least we get a green bike and two recycling bins.

I agree with people who want a revival of Blacktron - however, with TLC's insistence on making good guys vs bad guys sets, I doubt they'll devote an entire theme to a bad faction in this day and age. A more likely scenerio would be them doing something along the lines of the new Kingdoms theme - pairing two neutral factions together in a wave of sets. If that was the case, I'd definitely like to see some more interesting colors involved. Even better, to entice nostalgic AFOLs, they could give the factions colors similar to early space themes. Maybe they could make one of them red with black and neon yellow highlights, and the other blue and grey with classic yellow highlights. That way, we could have a classic space revival without the classic space name, in the guise of a new theme that would please both kids and adults.

Well, the search returned exactly 200 posts, so I just qualify for the tag - but note that the search only counts posts back to 2009. If it counted all my posts in the Bionicle forum and the old Bionicle/technic forum, there'd probably be hundreds more. Also, it would be interesting if you made tags for people who reviewed some of the other action figure sets, like you did with Hero factory. I think someone should definitely deserve a special tag for reviewing a Galidor set, anyway.

It's not about predictability, it's about feasability. Honestly, that piece looks more useless than just about any other lego piece that's ever been made. The only piece that really compares is the legs of the giant lego dino sets, which are also asymetrical, have an ungainly shape, and lack decent connection points. I'm not saying you're a bad builder, Zip. I'm just saying I'm not sure how anyone is going to be able to use these pieces as anything other than gun arms. If you can prove me wrong, though I'll be really impressed.

Good luck trying to use it as anything other than a weapon arm.

New Sahmad's Tale is now up.

Well, we know that now, but it wouldn't have hurt TLC to be a little more specific in their first press release, instead of getting our hopes up falsely. Whoops, looks like I missed that part of the review. I was mainly paying attention to the text that went with direct-linked pictures, although I did read the entire review a bit before I made that post. Regardless, it looks just as bad as ever.

Edit - it seems as though I lost some of my original post, thanks to a glitch in the forums. I'll retype the rest of it later, but one of the key points was that I feel like Hero Factory is basically a step away from what made Bionicle still feel like lego. Well, the problem is that the press release about Bionicle's end made it seem like they would be very innovative. Remember the line about the new line being "much more flexible than Bionicle" or something along those lines? That made me, as well as other people, think that Hero Factory would be a step up from Bionicle in areas like poseability. Instaed, what we got was sets that were Bionicle in practically every way except name. And really disapointed me, even more than the canceling of my favorite line already had. I'd have to disagree with this, as I honestly find the one pice weapon arms to be rather unappealing in looks. The reason is that they are molded mostly in one color, which contrasts with the two-colored arm on the other side (and not in a good way). In addition, what your review didn't show was that the weapon arms are also hollow on the other side, which limits poseability even more. So, I wouldn't really say it adds to his appearance at all, IMO - I'd much rather have a more standard weapon. And see, this is exactly the problem I have with Hero Factory - the hero sets honestly don't seem very lego like, even compared to Bionicle. The one-piece weapon arms and giant armor plates honestly remind me more of Galidor than Bionicle, as they sacrifice MOCing potential in order to make them look better.