Zarkan

Thank you so much for that great review, Kanal. Even though you're the one that owns the set so early, it's always a treat for the rest of us to get some clear pictures of everything in a new kit. As for the set itself, I only have one thing to say, and it's the same thing that so many others have already said as well: (times infinity) Yes, I feel that this set may be a contender for the best set of the year, despite it's relatively small size compared to many of the other kits in 2009. I mean, sure, it's not perfect, but very few sets are. And as it stands, there's very little to complain about. You get two classic town style buildings with a modern twist, a great, reasonably scaled bus and bus stop, and five figures, including a female and a CHILD! This set is so incredibly amazing, especially considering that just 10 years ago, getting a kit like this from TLC was not even a remote possibility. Look how much times have changed, and look at how far lego has dug itself out of the gigantic hole that was the Dark Ages. I'd say that they're at ground level now, and beyond that! Yes, 2009 is indeed a great year to be a lego fan, no matter what age you are.

Oh, yes. On a day that was pretty underwhelming for april fool's jokes, FBTB really stood out with the sheer amount of effort put into their joke. Also, BZPowers's one is really brilliant as well - considering that it's possibly the only one I've ever seen that isn't really obvious at all. It took me a while to figure out that the mods were making fake member accounts and posting tons of topics on every bionicle subject, and so far it seems that very few other people have either.

Um, none? I mean, honestly, I don't really understand how any color can really be not so great. Each and every color has tons of uses - it just depends on what kind of MOCs you're building. I've seen just about every lego color imaginable used in really creative ways online, including slightly more limited colors like pink. But, if I had to pick a color, I'd chose the new pearl gold. The problem I have with this color is not the actual shade, which is cool, but the inconsistency of the molding. Every piece in this shade has terrible multishaded swirls going down the part in random ways. It's just not of a good quality, and I wish TLC would scrap it for the new metalic gold similar to it (which they have used in certain kits). Either that, or improve their molding methods.

Honestly, I like both of the ages of lego castle, although I do prefer the Fantasy subtheme. Although I don't own any classic castle sets, I think it was great that they gave lots of great small sets, many different human factions, and superb large castles. Also, that theme was the first ever to introduce modular buildings, which is an added bonus. On the other hand, the sheer variety that the modern castle theme has given us makes me give top marks to the fantasy line as well. In just a few years, we've gotten a wonderful main human faction, undead skeletons, wizards and witches, orcs and trolls, dwarves, and even civilian figures like the maid, blacksmith, jester, squires, and bartender. We've also gotten a variety of buildings and lots of beautiful siege engines, and even a couple ships. Combinine that with a wonderful color scheme and amazing figures and weapons, and you have one of my favorite themes to date. And honestly, I don't think that you can reasonably claim that the new castle theme is less detailed and more <insert that tiresome argument> than the old theme. I own the King's Castle Siege, and I must say that it's one of the most enjoyable and well designed sets I've ever bought, as well as an absolute joy to build. Different doesn't necessarily mean more simple, especially when you are talking about Lego.

BQOTT's back? Awesome - I've been waiting several years hoping that it would someday show up again. Glad to see that Lewa11's back in business. On a more solemn note, I hope that BZP can get up and running again, and I seriously hope that stuff didn't get deleted from the forums and blogs. That would be horrible.

Thank you for posting those, Antrozek. I must say - I have no idea why everyone thought they looked so terrible at the begining. Honestly, I think the new style is absolutely gorgeous. The scenery is amazing, and Mata Nui looks wonderful in gold. I don't even care that he's pretty much like the set.

I'll say it again - 2009 has the best Bionicle comics since 2001, if not the best Bionicle comics ever. The art is superb, the colors are vivid, and for the first time in a while, the story in the comics is all new and takes preference over lame puns. It's a winning formula, and I hope they keep it this way.

Who cares if TLC never shows minifigs dying? Anyone with a tiny bit of experience with lego could figure out how to "kill off" some minifigs easily. Kids have probably been doing it ever since TLC first introduced minifig weapon molds to the system line, and violence was even less evident back then! Ah. That would be the legalism doing its work there. And, despite being a self professed Christian, I can say that that particular brand of Christianity is not my cup of tea either, especially since so much of what they claim God is against isn't actually in the Bible. Fortunately, as you said, that doesn't seem to be a real problem anymore. Just look at the current Castle line: there's more fantasy and magic related stuff in there than any previous line TLC has made! Gargoyles and reincarnated skeletons, wizards and witches, and so many other things that the legalists would not find acceptable.

Happy belated birthday!

Hm, for some reason I can not play the new game. It seems that the mouse will not click the "Start Game" button. And man, the 2009 names are seriously interesting. It's kinda strange that a lot of them end with the same few letters - but hey, it's better than all the names we got ending in "rahk" or "x." Edit: Just realized why the Baranus's rider's name sounded so neat to me. I think it's because it sounds a lot like a Middle Eastern name. Which is great - as both the Middle east and Bara Magna are deserts.

Well, let me say right out that this is not what I have intended to come across as, and I'm sorry if I seemed that way. Honestly though, I don't see where you're coming from. In all of my posting, I have never stated that somebody is wrong if they argue that Bionicle is not lego. The only time I've said anything like that was when I stated that "technically," Bionicle is a lego sub brand, and technical issues rarely affect opinions based on taste. In many other cases, I've agreed that things are purely a matter of disagreement and opinions, not fact verses fiction. The reason I felt that you were demeaning my inteligence was that that "contradiction" you pointed out seemed to smack of "look, here's a stupid error you made - try to see if you know what I'm talking about." Now, you said that wasn't the case, so that doesn't apply, but how is someone really supposed to tell what you mean when that statment was so vague and cryptic? I honestly couldn't tell what point you were trying to make by that. I've always thought that posting on forums without always making it clear what you mean is a slippery slope, as people can very often take you the wrong way. This applies to everyone, and that is why I think sarcasm is a bad thing to be doing in this medium. (FYI: I've struggled with detecting sarcasm for a long time - and it is especially evident in some of my early posts on this forum when I was younger. Nowdays, I'm a bit better, but that's mostly because I'm more quick to ask whether someone is being sarcastic than replying to it at face value. This is because of a disorder that I have, but I won't get into that here.) Look, I appreciate opinions just as much as anyone else here, but I really feel that some people are cleary misreading my intentions. I'm actually really not upset at you at all about the Bionicle issue, Norro - you've explained your opinions much better than many of the other posters here, to a level that your posts are probably some of the best ones in this entire discussion. I'm more upset about the huge urge some of the other members have to immediately call Bionicle the worst theme without even giving reasons or thinking it through. I'm honestly shocked that Bionicle has the most votes for worst theme in this topic, and that many people have not even listed Galidor, which I think we can all agree is far worse. Heck, is there even a single person here that likes Galidor? Not really, and that should make it pretty evident which theme is the worst, at least in technical thinking. It's like how some movies are viewed worse than others depending on how many people disliked them. The movies considered the worst ever basically have no fans in any age level or demographic, which is how they earn the title. I think that kind of reasoning can apply to the Galidor issue as well. Anyway, sorry again if I came off the way you thought I did, Norro. I never meant to try to demean your opinions, nor was I trying to argue with you so I could "somehow prove you wrong." Honestly, the only reason I'm continuing in this discussion at all is that I enjoy a good debate, especially when it relates to my favorite hobby.

Wha? I'm not completely sure what you meant by that, but if I'm right, then that was really uncalled for. Taking two totally separate comments by me and using them out of context instead of actually adressing the large post I made yesterday seems to be your way of demeaning my inteligence. But again, I'm not sure on this, and I sincerely hope I'm wrong.

Yeah, I know what you mean about that - in fact, I seem to remember reviews of really old 70's sets that had really long technic axles in them. Personally though, the fact that Technic sets are now almost completely studless doesn't bother me much, as I don't really buy any sets from that theme. However, I can see why it would bother some people, and I think a better approach would be the one they used in the Motorized Bulldozer from 2007: There - that is the ideal approach. This way of designing sets combines the old technic beams with the new, making a design that is neither blocky nor studless. If TLC made all their Technic sets this way, I bet a lot of people would be happier.

Since I don't feel like arguing much longer, I'm just going to adress a few points Norro made: Eh? How did you get that out of what I posted? I was only stating that certain studful pieces are far less useful in certain themes. And besides, it's already been said that you can merge Bionicle parts and stud parts as well. How exactly am I onto a losing argument? Well, first of all, Bionicle has also had stud parts and other non-technic parts in it's kitsas well, such as the doctor octopus hands. But secondly, Bionicle has so many more technic holes than Galidor, which only ever used them as connection points. While the average galidor part has one or two molded on technic pins (which I may add are less useful than technic holes), Bionicle parts often have anywhere from three to over 10 technic holes. There's actually very little comparison between the two themes - while Bionicle parts have always been designed to be used in multiple ways, every single galidor part was made to only be used as limbs on an action figure, nothing more. That's it then. This is why we disagree so much. You see, I really view Technic as just another part of the system, not a seperate entity. It to me is just one of the newer innovations in lego parts, and especially in recent kits it has become many recent lego lines (and while that sometimes gets annoying, overall I think that's a good thing). Just because Technic was introduced later in lego's lifetime doesn't mean that it's a separate entity. To me, it's become an important part of a system, and this is the real reason why I view Bionicle part of the system as well. Well, I'll give you that. However, simplicity and juniorzation were never present in the Starwars line, as the kits always have been detailed and well designed. If Starwars was so uncreative, then why were the kits so excellent? The same could be said about Indiana Jones, Batman, Spongebob, almost every other recent licensed theme. They've all been filled with well designed kits with excellent figures, great piece selections, and plenty of great play features. TLC could have just reasoned that "whether the kits are well designed or not, they'll still sell" because of them being licesned themes, but they didn't do that. And that to me is a sign of creativity - just a different kind. Think is, they did begin to adress the rot very soon after introducing those two themes. Starting with 2003, which was less than two years after Bionicle's launch, lego began to introduce excellent themes like Orient Expedition and Designer, which steered away from juniorization. Two years later, they reintroduced City and brought back history based themes (Vikings). Two years later, they brought back Castle and introduced Mars Mission (which I now feel was just a gradual step back to the proper space theme that we're not getting this year). And two more years later, we now have a reuniting of all four evergreen themes. The point is that because lego feel so deeply into trouble, it took a gradual effort to restore all its greatness. They couldn't have simply brought back all their classic lego themes and ways of design. The only way to do that would have been to rewind the clock back to 1994, and that would not have been the least bit innovative. You see, lego has always been moving in a new direction - that's the way their company has been throughout all the years. The current revivals of classic themes are really less of a revival as much as a new, innovative spin on the old lines. In order to keep with their image, TLC had to go in a new direction with their classic themes, and that is what they did. The current place they are in was never a step backwards to the classic age as much as it was yet another new direction - one that combined classic themes and building techniques with current styles and building methods. And without Bionicle and Starwars, they may not have had a chance to do all of that. I'll give you that as well. The problem is, as far as I can tell, some people here seem to be suggesting that just because licensed themes are less creative than generic themes like Castle and Space, that in some way they are not creative at all, and should not even exist. I'm not saying you're doing that, but it still is unsettling to me. Is licensing a theme really wrong? After all, the licensed themes aren't affecting TLC's creativity right now - TLC has been introducing two or three brand new themes every year, which is equal or more than the amount of licesned themes introduced every year. And that isn't even considering that lego produces far more themes currently than they did 20 years ago. To me, since licensed themes are really just supplements or partners to the equally impressive main product line, there's nothing wrong with them existing. After all, most young fans want licensed themes (as well as many adults), so it's in TLC's best interest as a for-profit orginazation to add them to their product line. Did TLC actually say that technic was semi-independent? I'm serious - could you give me a quote on this? And besides, even if they believe that, it doesn't mean that it's true.

Man, considering that you only recently came out of your dark ages, this is superb! The attention to detail, the neat frontal section, and the overall look are excellent. Actually, this looks more like a real lego kit than a MOC, which is not necessarily a bad thing. I know I'd probably buy this if lego released it as a kit.

Eh? How can you be so sure that a theme is the worst if it isn't even coming out for 4-5 months?

What the HECK? I don't usually react that way, but WOW, I never expected someone to list TOWN as one of his three worst themes. Just wow. I'm afraid I'm having a lot of trouble understanding how anyone could pust a theme like that at the bottom, even if it isn't their favorite.

Hah, that's nothing compared to how long we had to wait for the VNOG. Was supposed to be out in November of 2005, but it was delayed nine months until September of 2006 due to debugging. And guess what - it still had a ton of glitches!

Heh, if anyone, I should know about being stubborn. But I guess I should give it a break now. I'm kinda getting tired of typing huge posts anyway - doing it ocassionally is okay, but I don't have the paitence to do it every single day! On another note, ever since the first good pictures of Agents came out, I've considered the theme to be far more successful in capturing the James Bond spy camp factor than Alpha Team ever did - especially with the minifigures. Also, the vehicles and buildings are superior as well IMO. Ogel's original base never deserved to be called a Volcano Base, while Dr. Inferno's base rightfully claims that title as it's own.

Well, this is a very interesting opinion, Clone. While I can't really agree with you about the system part (for reasons I've already stated), I think you make some very valid points, and I'm glad you took the time to explain them. I do totally understand why people often call the sets all the same - especially in the last few years, most of the sets have been using the same basic design with variations. This is mainly because most Bionicle sets are generally humanoid designs, and that lends to limited variation among the sets. Thus, I can see why people would view Bionicle as repetitive. However, I think many Bionicle fans (including me) generally overlook the repetitiveness of humanoid designs and focus on the positive new features with each wave. Bionicle fans generally seem to have different tastes than pure stud set fans, and I suppose the very nature that is Bionicle lends to different interests. Then again, most expert Bionicle builders rarely build the sets as they are anyway. Jinzo, one of the finest builders here, buys sets only for the parts, and I can understand why. The good news is that each line of Bionicle sets brings more and more new parts and recolors, and that is what IMO makes the theme such a great potential tool for MOCing.

I don't take offense, but I don't see why you're asking this. You're saying that it's wrong for me to be defending a theme I like? Yes, I've been doing it constantly in this topic, but it's only because people keep giving bad reasons for their dislike of the theme. Look, I have NOTHING against people who despise bionicle as a theme. What I do dislike is posts that don't give good reasons for their dislike of the theme. Look, compare these two fictional posts: Now, quote one is not only a perfectly valid opinion, but also is a very well written post, and there's not a single way I or anyone else could debunk anything that he said. He expressed his opinions while showing that it was just his personal taste, which is IMO how posts like that should be written. On the other hand, post two is also a valid opinion, but the problem is that the writer is elevating his thoughts to an almost factual statment. This may or may not be his intent, but the way he's written it makes it look like he views his opinions as fact. Because of the lost translation of emotion through the internet, I really feel that people need to make an effort to explain why they think things, instead of making generic staments that don't offer any reasoning. That way, other people can tell what this person is really thinking, and why he has his opinions. Look, I know I may have been getting carried away a bit, but I think a lot of people can understand why I'm doing this. I'm not against opinions, I'm just against ones that are not explained, and I think everyone on this and other forums could benefit if we all took a little time to explain our thoughts. Internet message boards may be one of the coolest things out there, but their system is not perfect, and we all need to realize this and take time to explain our thoughts. Eh? I was never refering to you, Algernon. I'm refering to people who never gave Bionicle a chance, and it's obvious that you have.

Same here. It's a good thing that statments like these are not really serious, otherwise this forum would be seriously creepy.

Seriously - you're making the argument that Bionicle isn't system because kids can't make great looking MOCs combining bricks and Bionicle parts? Careful now, as you could also use the argument that Technic isn't lego because kids can't make great, complex Technic MOC's combining bricks and technic parts, or that Pirates isn't lego because a kid can't make great MOC's combining boat hulls with themes likes space and town. Measuring the systemness of a theme on the ability of kids to make great MOC's with the parts is like deciding whether a video game is really a video game just because kids can't become experts on it, which makes absolutely no sense. If anything, Bionicle is as an expert theme as regular Technic, as it provides people with many special techniques and pieces, and gives them a far greater challenge - as opposed to Bionicle being a kids only theme. Also, arguing that Bionicle killed a whole generation of Moc'ers is ridiculous, as you've given no real proof to back that statmenet up. And again, why are you being so hard on kids? You can't expect them to be nearly as good MOC'ers as adults. Even if Bionicle didn't exist, I don't think that would mean that young kids would be better MOC'ers overall. MOCing is all about experience, and experience takes time, no matter what theme you use. Little to no small detail pieces I can't agree with, as the Titan sets generally use tons of small technic pieces and other doo-dads. And how can you judge whether the story is horrible if you've never paid attention to it? Also, you're absolutely wrong about the canisters - I just looked, and they indeed are totally recyclable. But even if they weren't, why would that matter? The whole reason they make canisters is so that kids can use them to store their sets. They've never been like regular cardboard boxes. Look, if you want to criticize Bionicle, fine - but arguments yours this show that many Bionicle haters simply don't have any experience with the theme, and have no right to automatically bill it as non-lego and the worst theme ever. Sorry if I'm getting carried away again. I'm just simply astounded at how quickly people criticize Bionicle, even if they've never actually touched a set.

Actually, many of the bionicle fans I've talked to feel that Bionicle is in fact going back to it's roots somewhat. Sure, the story is not the same, but the sets are once again looking far more elegant, elemental, colorful, and well designed, with a far small emphasis on launchers, as opposed to many of the sets of the previous years. Also, you may not know it, but 2009 is considered a Bionicle reboot by TLC. The story was getting increasingly long and complex over the last few years, and now they have taken all that away and devised a simpler, more straight out storyline that has few connections with the first eight years. While I loved the storyline of 2001 to 2008, I feel that TLC has done an excellent move with Bionicle, and I hope they continue on this path. I get your point, but there's different levels of interaction even within basic themes like Castle, Space, and Town. While some pieces like the cheese slope are almost always useful, huge curved slopes from the Space line tend to be less useful in the castle theme, castle windows aren't that useful in Town creations, etc. The themes have never been totally integrated, and they probably never will. And although Bionicle parts generally have somewhat less compatability than other molds, they still have plenty of potential for use in combination with other themes. The fact that TLC has been doing this in some of their brands shows that TLC themselves advocates it, and I think people need to follow their lead. Except that Galidor and Bionicle couldn't be more different. Throughout its entire existance, Bionicle kits have been filled with countless technic holes and even the occasional system stud. On the other hand, Galidor's smooth pieces are almost completely incompatable with all lines - even Bionicle itself. There's really no comparison. Well, then I can see why our opinions are so different. But out of curiosity, does this mean that you also do not support the giant sculpture kits like the Taj Mahal, the Mindstorms line, the current Racers line, or even Technic as a whole? Huh? How does that section of my post line up with your limited system feelings? Could you explain what you meant by that? Well, that's where you and I disagree. The thing is, overall creativity and imagination was far from the only problem in lego sets back in the late 90's and early 2000's. To me, the biggest problem was the servere juniorization which pervaded much of the area. Themes like Town Jr, Jack Stone, Galidor, and even good themes like Rock Raiders showed a severe trend towards simplistic, uncomplex designs that not only were really boring as builds, but also did not look nearly as good or detailed. However, Starwars did not follow that pattern, as its designs were far more complex and detailed than many of the other themes from that area. In fact, I'd go so far as to suggest that over time, Starwars;s success supplied TLC's eventual reasoning to return to complex designs. The theme wasn't just a licensed theme, it was a well designed theme, and it surpassed many other themes of that area by miles. But going back to your point. You mention that it was possible that TLC might have reverted back to creativity faster if they hadn't gotten Starwars. The problem is, would there have been enough time to do that? You see, it would have taken a few years at the least for TLC to realize that their current methods were not working, and by then they would have lost tons of money and probably even some of their staff. It's far more likely that they would have colapsed into bankruptcy or have been bought out than what you're suggesting. But that's besides the point. Because, as we've seen, TLC is fully back to making their core, creative themes, even as Starwars and other licenses continue to be in the lineup as well. I really thing arguing that Starwars has hurt TLC is a moot point now, as the company is obviously not hurting as of today. I get the comparison between different kinds of stories, but I'm not sure that this sums up the whole of the argument. You see, having a basic established world like Starwars to play in can also stimulate creativity. Just because many of the basic characters and stories have already been made up doesn't mean that it's harder for kids to make up their own. An X-wing could just as easily be a space pirate raiding ship in a kid's eyes, and a stormtrooper could be robot or human, good or bad, powerful or weak, etc. I think the argument that licensed themes are far less creative doesn't hold true, as basically every theme is inspired by something. It just so happens that Starwars is based off of an established Space Fantasy series - which is in turn inspired by other stories, and so on. Nothing is truly original in the world, and even the designers of classic town, space, and castle were bound to have some non-generic references in mind when designing the emblems, logos, minifigures and other elements that gave them a distinct look. Concerining the MOC ratio, I may have possibly misread your post, but I still feel that you're being unfair with your acusation that Starwars widened the gap between MOC'ers and Non-Mocers. Looking across Brickshelf, Lugnet, and other sites, I don't really see any lack of great creations. The MOCing community is just as booming as ever, if not more so - and that's not even considering that the fanbase of lego is probably considerably larger than it was before. It may be true that the gap is wider, but if so, it's probably just because there are simply so many more lego fans than before. If Starwars and other licesned themes had not come along, the gap would not be as wide, but the fanbase would also not be as large. It's simply a natural result of licensed themes, and I don't really see why you view that as a problem. Okay, here's the reason why I said that. Basically, I feel that on a technial level, you can't actually reasonably claim that Bionicle is not lego. That is because Bionicle has such a huge amount of technic holes, has full compatibility with lego pieces from all themes, and is just as buildable as regular lego kits. If you were to argue that Bionicle was not lego in that respect, than you would also have to claim that Technic was not lego either, and that would be an extremely hard point to get across. Now, as for aesthetic reasons, there's no real argument against claiming that Bionicle is not lego because it doesn't look like lego. However, this comes down to personal taste, not actual fact. I guess my annoyance over the whole "bionicle is not lego" argument comes from just an overall frustration that people don't seem to want to give Bionicle a chance. Many people that argue against it have probably never actually tried to make creations with it, which really saddens me. Even more so, some people have come out actually denouncing hardcore Bionicle fans as not real lego fans, which to me is unfair and biased. I'm not saying that you or anyone else in this topic are guilty of having those feelings, but I am saying that I've seen it here before. As for the second of my comments that you referenced , you're right about that, but that was because I misunderstood what you meant about that subject. However, from reading your post at face value, one could logically come to the conclusion that you felt that the benifits of Starwars saving lego paled in comparison to the supposed harm it had on creativity. Though, I supose this feeling of mine also came from an old memory of a post on this forum. Some member named wolf claimed that he would have rather had TLC die than be partly saved by Bionicle (if you didn't know before, it's fairly well known around here that Bionicle ALSO helped save TLC financially). I wasn't sure if you were thinking the same thing here, so apologies for misquoting you. Well now, hopefully you and I both understand each other better.

Well, considering that you didn't even include Town or City as one of the top 3, I'm tempted to just ignore your post completely, Norro. But in all honestly, why exactly is Bionicle not part of the system? Sure, it's different, but it's also completely compatible with technic and even normal lego parts. It's also given a number of parts that have incredible possibilities, including the mini piraka spines and barraki eyes. Seriously, I feel that a lot of people who dislike Bionicle have just never given it a chance. As soon as they see pictures, they're quick to dismiss it as useless, when in fact Bionicle has it's own excellent potential. It's one thing to say that you don't like it, which is a perfectly fine opinion. But It's a whole 'nother thing to say that it's not Lego, because then you're dismissing all the evidence against something like that. Then again, if your picture of lego is exclusive to stud-full minifig sets and nothing more, then I'm afraid I really can't agree with you at all. Also, I'm not getting your logic about Starwars. So, you're saying that it was a bad thing that Starwars kept TLC from ceasing to exist as a company? That makes absolutely no sense. It was either that TLC got the Starwars License and it took 10 years to go back to the classic themes, or that TLC did not get the license and went bankrupt, meaning no more classic themes at all. There's not much of a choice really. And on another point, if Starwars influenced the so called "MOC breakaway," then why are there just as many excellent Starwars MOCs as MOCs of other themes? Because TLC can't possibly make every ship and figure, tons of fans have resorted to making their own creations to fill in the gaps. I really don't understand where you're coming from, Norro. Careful now - the generic Megabloks Pirate line from several years ago was named Pyrates.