Shakar
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Everything posted by Shakar
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I'm disappointed his eyes are green and the bone parts look to be white. I'd rather have the bones and the skull/masks be silver, they'd be more useful. On the plus side, I really love Ekimu and Grinder's chest design, the torso looks pretty useful as well.
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Neat, good eye! The variety of horn pieces we've been getting since 2005 is amazing. They certainly make him look very demonic. Now if the sets had more armour and less tr. orange..
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Really disappointing. It's ridiculous how smaller sets are getting. This better be not 35-40 Euro, but I know they're perfectly able to do something like that. And I didn't consider that the bones would be white but it sure looks that way now that I think of it. Meh.
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Details like colours, masks and printed elements can definitely change but the build and the general design tends to stay the same. Really, if you except these to look completely different in the final versions you're in for a disappointment. And by the way, I don't see any hysteria in the topic, just some disappointment. I don't think it's that unrealistic to want these sets to be on the same level of quality of the Toa. And I noticed that Grinder has a bley or dark bley torso. I guess it's the largest size given the ECS (Exposed Crotch Syndrome..wait that wasn't supposed to sound so dirty).
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The new bone piece is terrible. I get they're supposed to look like skeletons but I see no use for such a piece. Taking another look there are actually some pretty good parts here, like the new torso shell (too bad it's not in black or some other neutral colour) and a tr. purple bone in a longer size (or is it actually tr. pink? I certainly wouldn't mind that). I hope the new torso doesn't look overly villainous, I'd like to have a larger variety of torsos to use on my MOCs. There's a new armour piece too, which looks pretty cool. Also, the sets (except Scorpio I guess) use printed super hero chests like the Masters- I hope each has a different design in the final version, I like the "tribal chest designs" of the Toa a lot. Skull Scorpio is supposedly tan from some descriptions but it's lime here, I don't remember a set colour changing so drastically in the past so I'm curious to see how that is going to end up. Tan would at least make it a good parts back, otherwise.. definite skip. I guess I'd like these sets a lot more if they didn't have so much random tr. reddish orange. Basher especially suffers from that. I'm really curious to see these at Toyfair, where they'll be shown at a much more finalized stage.
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Wow.. sorry, but I'll say it: I think these look terrible. The colour schemes are jumbled, the builds look weird and they're recycling the gold masks. Ekimu and Grinder are the only ones who look actually good. Really hope these are early images.
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I don't know about what the others think, but the smaller Toa are basic humanoids, while the Skull villains, except Warrior, aren't. It took a 20 Euro tag for Onua to pull off the big guy type (that Basher seems to fit under) well, and figures with more than 4 limbs like Slicer and Scorpio are almost bound to have simplified arms and/or legs at this price point.
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I just checked S@H UK and LoSS, Lewa etc are 13 each. So the Skull quartet is really going to be sold at that price point. Either they're going to have an amazing price/piece ratio or they got some pretty big cuts to their designs (armouring, ahem, elbows, etc). EDIT What wghost said.
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I hope this is ok as a bump, I found this series of posts. They're pretty much in line with Risgrynsgröt's descriptions: Mask Maker sounds like a fine act of trolling on Lego's part. I hope the sets look better than the descriptions make them out to be, because Skull Grinder aside I'm pretty disappointed so far.
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Is 13 pounds the price of a set like Lewa? If so, really disappointed that the sets are so small. It'd be ok if they were more, but it's just 5.. I guess constraction, even with BIONICLE returning and all, is really without hope. : ( Unless it's all their master plan for us to buy doubles and army build. Still, I'm worried that Basher and Scorpio might turn out half baked. I think those two needed the 15 pounds/20 euro tag. EDIT: on another note, thank you Huw for the report! I admit I didn't like you in the past (calling the 2013 Chima Ultrabuilds "HORRIBLE", snarking at Ninjago, etc), but you've gotten more professional and unbiased since. So congrats.
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Between Scooby Doo, CMF 14, the BIONICLE Skull villains and now these sets too, they really want to give us a huge Lego Halloween. :-D Those ghost minions sound pretty silly though. I hope the main enemies are like ghost warriors, similar to the LOTR ghosts in concept.
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I think a Lego employee at NYCC confirmed the similarity was fully intended. @TheOneVeyronian really nice, thanks!
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Will Makuta redeem himself or will he stay as the main villain right until the end of the planned 3 year arc? I think it could go either way: On one hand, "Makuta" is one of the only 7 character names from G1 that has been reused so far. Makuta was chosen, not "Teridax", "Karzahni" or anything else- and there's a good reason for that. Ask the average Lego fan who is BIONICLE's main villain, chances is that they'll reply it's Makuta. It's a very iconic name many instinctively associate with BIONICLE, much like the term Toa. Lego knows about this so I doubt they're going to waste the name of BIONICLE's satanic equivalent for a misguided antivillain. On the other, the narration clearly stated the MoUP "took control over" Makuta. Also, the MoUP looks nothing like the golden, divine looking legendary masks we've seen in G1 and G2 (Ignika, MoCr, even the MoCo)- it is black and blood red with creepy glowing red eyes. It looks downright demonic. As I wrote a few weeks ago, the plot is looking to be slightly similar to Ninjago's first year (with a classic Cain and Abel plot and the presence of a group of skeleton-like villains), and given Ninjago's immense popularity I wouldn't be surprised if the G2 took some cues from it (I think Ninjago in turn took a few ideas from BIONICLE G1, but I digress). In that case, Makuta might parallel Garmadon, with the real evil being the Overlord / the MoUP. However, as Timeline15 noted, "taking control over" might be not supposed to be taken literally and actually means that Makuta was seduced by the power of the MoUP or something along those lines. But as I said, the MoUP looks really, really evil. I think that Makuta is going to stay as the story's main villain at least throughout the entirety of 2016 and the first half of 2017. Then, something like this might happen: Makuta gets his hands on the MoUP, the Toa manage to defeat him, then he dies or passes out while realizing the error of his ways..but the MoUP has been activated, and it uses Makuta's body as its vessel, turning into the final boss. And I didn't quite piece together the Avokhii/MoUP similarities until now. Wow. I didn't lock my Tahu's gearbox, but I used ball socket joints like on Onua's gearbox to massively increase the friction. Now the mechanism doesn't move unless I actually choose to rotate the gear on the back. No wobbling arms and shoulders anymore.
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I've been wondering about this (pure speculation ahead): what if Skull Grinder wears a cape? We've had a caped constraction set each year for two years straight so far. No Master or Protector is wearing one and it seems it would fit Grinder's description and supposed role well. A recolour of Fangar's cape design perhaps (red?).
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Now that I built, modded and played with Tahu a bit I can give some thoughts on my first Biokotonicle set. Not sure if I'll write such long reviews (if at all) for the other sets, I usually don't write reviews in general and this one isn't just about Tahu but about some common elements among the sets as well (gearbox, etc). GENERAL + He looks simply awesome. Strong, regal and powerful like the leader of the Toa should look. While not a tank like Onua, he's big. This is no Tahu Mistika, this guy is bulky and filled out..except the shins. LIMBS - The shins are, yes, pretty pathetic. They're quite flat and they look dull. This can be easily fixed, but this post is about the set, I'll post my mods later. - The silver feet and hands are just out of place and I don't understand why they used them. - The arms, at least in my set, wobbled a bit too much. Again, this isn't hard to fix. TORSO+HEAD + The chest decoration is gorgeous. The design, the colours, the metallic lines.. I can't wait to see the other 5 designs in person. - I've written about this many times already so I'll be brief: I don't like the repeated use of the 2.0 torso shell for the..well, torso. This goes for Lewa too. WEAPONS + The wing blades are just as cool as I thought, adjusting them around is a lot of fun and they contribute to Tahu's regal look. - The Adrenaline Mode is a bit awkward in look and posing to me... + ...but I still love the concept. NEW PIECES + Not new to me since I got the clear one weeks ago, but I didn't write much about it anyway, so I shall now. The Mask of Fire got a lot of flak for looking too different from the prototype version (hailed as an excellent revamp of the 2001 Hau), I was disappointed by it myself. But once I got the piece in my hands all my doubts disappeared: not everybody is going to like it I guess, but for me it is an excellent update of the original Hau. + The Skull Spider looks very cool and creepy and I hope the Skull villains' masks measure up to its (well, their) design- but I'm optimistic on that. + The new head looks perfect to me, it evokes the Mata and Metru heads very well. - It's true, the eyestalk is very dark. I hope the neon green one is a bit more visible.. + I absolutely love the gearbox! It makes the figure thick and full and opens up to a whole new series of opportunities to adjust the figure's proportions. + The greatswords are fantastic. They're pretty similar to Lhikan's blades, but they have more connecion points and far less awkward handles. + The new piston add-on looks great and fits over almost all shells (it doesn't work on the Fire Villains machinery shell). EDIT: Lol, I check for typos a hundred times but there's always something that escapes me.
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I guess Gatanui is talking about the whole "Mata Nui is like a human body, Toa are his antibodies, Makuta is the disease etc" idea Faber got when he was himself fighting cancer.
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What the? These look waaay different from the sets. Onua's and Lewa's masks look almost nothing like the real designs, Gali doesn't have her axe and the Protectors' masks are monochromatic. I wonder if the artist got prototypes as reference models instead of the final sets.. However, I have to say I don't mind the art style itself. In other news, BIONICLE is officially available in Italian stores! Bought Tahu, I'll build him and post some thoughts later.
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Yeah that's another reason I thought of that piece, if you decide to reuse a part might as well release it in a new colour.
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I haven't thought of silver actually, I hope this is the case: silver pieces get a lot of hate but they're much more useful than white ones (...to me). Still, I wish the colour schemes were more consistent, like those of the IfB Beasts. Something like titanium metallic and/or black+a transparent colour, like S. Grinder's colour scheme. Obviously I can't judge until I actual pics so I'll wait. I guess it's completely unrelated but I've tried to draw the Skull villains for fun and I had this idea that it'd be cool if they wore some medieval armour like skeleton warriors often do in fictional depictions. And I realized that I'd really like to see 15369 in new colours like black or titanium metallic. I don't know if we'll see it again in 2015, but it'd be such a waste if they never used it again, I like its design and shape a lot.
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It just doesn't fit well with the new aesthetic to me. However I trust the designers and I realize they clearly know what they're doing: they used the Vahki shin, a 11 year old piece, to show how committed they are to following BIONICLE's distinctive style. This is the reboot's very first wave and we've already come a long way from HF: a few new pieces and some clever techniques were enough to do that, so imagine what they can do in the next waves!I agree, I really like the Stars feet and I feel they were terribly underused- only 5 sets used them! They're somehow inbetween a Matoran's more animalistic foot and a more robotic look Toa usually sport. They're so versatile. EDIT: text size got somehow messed up..
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I don't like the Piraka foot (I'm talking about the clawed one- the webbed one pretty much disappeared in 2010) either and, like DV, I wish they stopped using it altogether. The Beast foot fits better with CCBS, looks more substantial and has more connection points..plus it comes in two sizes! Its only problem is the lack of colour variety (3 for each size just isn't enough). I somehow get the feeling the Skull Guys are going to use them- hopefully in new useful colours like titanium metallic or silver. It's funny, I thought HF was using too much t. metallic, but I miss it now (really hoping we get the piston add-on in that colour). It's a bit different for the 2.0 foot. I don't dislike it but it needs to be mixed with a new design, just like 2006-2010 (even HF 2011) which used a plethora of different feet even among the same team. Two designs coexisting, much like the Toa Inika, would already be a step in the right direction. We have the exact same problem with the torso, yet that one is suprisingly less talked about. I've said it many times: the 2.0 torso shell looks extremely bland to me and I wish they stopped using it as a torso piece (as a giant shell for arm/shoulder/leg/etc armouring, it works well). Gali, Pohatu and Kopaka look very nice with their detailed Brain Attack torso but Lewa's and Tahu's torsos stick out terribly. I've lost hope for the Breakout torso to return so I'll say that we badly need a new torso shell, or at least the Brain Attack torso in more colours (Kopaka definitely suffers from that). Interesting, thanks once again!I'm a bit disappointed about the colours you described. Colour variety is nice but tr. light blue? Tr. green (bright, I suppose, it seems to be more popular lately)? White? Not very evil sounding to me. Bright transparent colours mixed with dark solid ones can look evil and creepy, and I guess blue and green somehow match the Skull Spiders breeds, but white.....eeh. Besides, I disagree with the notion that "skeletons = they should be white": in a setting like BIONICLE where nearly everyone is partly or completely robotic (nothing so far suggests that G2 is different in that), metallic coloured bones (I mean bone motifs, not CCBS bones) make a lot more sense to me. Skull Scorpion probably uses these pieces on its legs, the same ones LoSS and Lewa use. Those in titanium metallic would be pretty neat to see since we already got them in the other 2 major metallic colours. I hope that Basher isn't too similar to Onua but I trust the designers on that.
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Nice, thanks. I figured as much but I still wanted to be sure.
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I meant European prices yes, but I was so tired I didn't explain properly. Queen Beast was 40 Euro in Europe, which, considering we already pay more with a 1:1 conversion was a really crappy deal. Same with Combat Machine ($25 -> €30) and Dragon Bolt ($20 -> €25). Funnily enough the opposite happened in 2012: Stormer XL was 20 Euro and Speeda 30 Euro. It only seems to happen to larger sets and once in a while- Splitter Beast, Evo XL, Fangar, Fluminox and the 3 bigger Toa thankfully didn't see any hike.My idea was to have MM vs SG at 40 Euro/Dollars so there's a bit more room for pieces, but I'd be ok with 35 as well, provided that Grinder is still reasonably bigger (Queen Beast looked pitiful) and 35 doesn't turn into 40. Looks pretty nice! It could certainly work and seems like what a designer would build. Another theory I have is that two arms are geared and two aren't (perhaps attached to the otherwise unused torso balljoints), but it would be so much fun if all 4 worked- now THAT would be some real slicing action. A pet theory (..more like a piece of wishful thinking) of mine is that at the end of 2015 Ekimu gets awaken and as a celebration decides to give the villagers new masks that honor the six Masters..and bam! Six villager sets as the small sets of 2016: a fire villager with a yellow Mask of Fire, an Ice villager with a sand blue Mask of Ice... you know who I'm referring to.Keep in mind that the first small sets ever we got were the Turaga (masters), we got the Mctoran later. I know we got the Bohrok Va in 2002, but remember we didn't get another full set of six small villains after that (nothing in 2003-2007 and very few individual ones in 2008-2010): it seems that making more villagers would be a more profitable choice. From a production standpoint, the 6 Master masks would be old pieces by then, so those would be nothing more than specific recolours (just like what the Protector masks are). We might never get mask packs again, but I feel this would be the next best thing.
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It seems everyone is forgetting Scarox, not that I can blame you anyway. : D On the subject of 4 armed villains, I think that, unless they went for a really bare bones (aeehm I'm sorry I guess) design, Skull Slicer is going to be a 20 Euro set, same for Basher. Warrior doesn't sound very complex, but it doesn't seem to be a Protector size set either, so I think it's going to be like a mid size Toa, so 15 Euro. Skull Scorpio is most likely bigger, around 25-30 Euro. The vs set is probably going to be 40 Euro like Queen Beast, with Grinder standing between Basher/Slicer and Scorpio in terms of size (since he's apparently slightly bigger than Kopaka and Tahu but he's still a humanoid). Just some speculation based on what we know about the sets and their numbering. Sorry my phrasing might sound awkward, I'm getting really sleepy.. :S
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Each set contains a transparent version of the Toa masks. The Skull Grinder set includes two masks, a trans orange Hau and a trans light blue Akaku (since it's 5 sets for 6 masks). ...hey, I can dream.
