Shakar
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Everything posted by Shakar
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2007 was just a really weird year in general. 4 small sets instead of 6, lots of large sets, unusual (at that time) price points like Nocturn, large sets not related to the main plot (Karzahni and Lesovikk), parts with unique colours (Ehlek, Takadox/Nocturn and Carapar), a set under 20 Euro with two figures included (Jaller). They tried to experiment a lot, unlike the far more standardized 2006 sets. The sets weren't perfect, but gosh they were fun. Too bad 2008 was so bland.
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Future DC & Marvel Character as Ultrabuilds
Shakar replied to ShadowWolfHount's topic in LEGO Action Figures
I was about to say we might never get SH Ultrabuilds again, but then I remembered one of the, if not the, main reason we got them in 2012 was, you guessed it, the Avengers movie. And since Age of Ultron comes out next year... I can't see Lego missing out on something this huge and hyped up. They might even skip the DC Ultrabuilds (just checked, the 2015 DC movies seem nowhere as bg as AoU) and make a 100% Marvel wave. Unless they're forced by contract to make as much DC sets as Marvel ones? I don't know. It's been 3 years so updated versions of the 2012 Marvel Ultrabuilds are perfectly feasible: Batman appears in tons of System sets and Heroes/Toa get new sets every year, so there you have it. Hulk (maybe in proper bright green this time, courtesy of Lewa), C. America, Iron Man, plus Thor, one of the new heroes (Quicksilver?) and Ultron: that's 6, like the 2012 Ultrabuilds. -
I'll always support combi models no matter what. Even if I don't build most of them and I think most don't look that great, they always push you you to try out new designs and colour combinations. Akamai and Wairuha would be great to see again, but I'd really like to see 2-in-1 super Toa too. The problem with Toa+Defender combi is that I can't think of a way to connect the large Toa torso to the Defender small torso, there don't seem to be double C bones included in the sets.
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Combo models could really go anywhere this time, even more than usual. Maybe 2 or 3 Toa combining together, 2 or 3 Defenders (likely 3) into one, Toa getting a weapon/armour boost from their respective Defender..no idea about the LoSS though.
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Excellent post Aanchir. I'm still amazed that the CCBS gets these accusations after nearly 5 years it debuted. While analyzing Lewa's mask, I noticed something that might be interesting. Check the masks that feature decorative slits, like the Hau, the Miru or the Akaku. The slits aren't coloured like on a Glatorian head, they're black (while the eyes glow). It's a bit hard to see on Kopaka, but just look at the big Tahu on top or Lewa. Now, Lego loves to give pretty much every set glowing eyes in promo art, even when their actual eye parts (in toy form) aren't trasparent, so you might think they made the eye part of every Toa glowy and blackened the other parts of their head. But they didn't with Stringer's helmet (which has two slits under the eyes, just like the Miru), they just made the eyes glowy while the head colour underneath can be still seen. Could this hint at a head similar to the Mata and Metru ones?
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Dunno, I think the Lord looks pretty creepy as far his general shape goes. He's dark, red-eyed and has sharp claws. I think his head printing will make or break it, depending how cartoony or realistic it looks. Also, I appreciate he's the most realistic constraction spider so far- far more so than the Visorak (and no, I'm not talking about the legs number). My favourite is probably the Earth defender, but I like the Water D. as well (her/his weapon seems very neat).And the brown (Stone) characters' bones aren't yellow, but trans yellow! I wanted more pieces in that colour for years.
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I've been looking at the Skull Spiders (hey, they can turn into masks! How can I not be interested in them?), I know they come in 3 colours (plus the gold one from LoSS), but I can't tell the exact colours: -The blue one is clearly, well, regular medium blue. Gali's colo- oh wait. Well, Surge blue then. -The greyish one is... light bley? Dark bley? Silver? -The green one looked lime to me at first, but now I see it's a much more drab colour. Could it be olive green?
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Love these! The only one that looks off is Lewa's, I agree with Aanchir. It's too wide, whereas the set mask has a more narrow shape similar to the classic Miru. Overall though, very accurate drawings. These masks actually do look like the classic masks, another reason these sets, AFAIC, trump the 2008 Toa. That piece is used in nearly all new sets. It's a piece I'm very exicted about, given the sets show it can be used pretty much in any area of the body. Plus, those eye-like holes remind me of the Toa Nuva shoulder pads, which is great.
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It's definitely not one of the existing torso bones, that much I'm sure about. (for the reasons you pointed out). Leewan made a pretty neat render of a possible new torso bone- I hope this is what we're getting, and it's not related to the other things we don't know about. I just want the CCBS to be develop, I don't care for functions at all. I think a new, slightly taller torso bone is in line with the trends 2015 is showing. It seems the average set size is going to increase again: not in such a sudden and obvious way as classic!BIONICLE, but in a subtler, less regular way: sets grew from 2010 to 2012, then shrunk (save for the and now they're getting bigger than 2012 (HF's peak). This is something I can agree with. Vehicles are purely mechanical, non-living things, so I expect to see functions that can somewhat mimic those of a IRL vehicle. It's not that a vehicle needs to show as much expressiveness as a character, so functionality comes before poseability. Pohatu's mask isn't that different that his classic one..it's just more boxy. The big wing-like cheeks are there, so are the long slanted eyes. And, as Mariko pointed out, you couldn't tell from Tahu's packaging alone how similar his mask is to the classic Hau, yet it is. Now that I see it, the red Hau in the packaging looks really bland and featureless, just like the Defenders' mask, while the gold Hau is clearly..well, a Hau. Actually, that goes for all the Toa sets: the Toa themselves are in a preliminary stage (chest printing missing, very prototype-ish masks, heck Gali borrowed hers from Onua), while the gold masks look much more finalized. This might support my theory that the Defenders are using a prototype mask piece. And no, Onua is different than the others, he uses a Hulk chestplate, which means he's going to be massive. I saw a kid with Breakout Nex at a pizzeria about a year ago but that's it. Indeed, seeing HF around is pretty unusual, more so than bonkles I think.And I agree, green and brown look pretty nice, but I think Lewa's using keetorange as his secondary colour. I tried it out myself (assuming he's using Bright Green, which is something I actually hope for) and I can't say I'm very fond of the combination- two bright colours don't look that great totgether. I'll probably replace it with lime or a blue tint. It never bothered me much, but I guess it's because I'm not a native speaker.
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Touché, then let's say I'm leaving her and some other non-Toa races as exception. But on Toa? No, just no. And the Toa having functions? Oh my, please no... Never liked them.
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Eh, way too organic for me. I just can't see bonlkes with hair. But yes, DV is probably right, I had noticed the squarish shapes on the Toa' backs (I think all 6 feature it) but I didn't think of Lewa's armour/hair/whatever pieces being connected.
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That's definitely the reason, yes. If this trend continues, I'm curious to see how creative they can get. I suggested elsewhere they could remake the Bohrok and turn the Krana into minifigs (while keeping their organic and alien look), but that' just speculation on my part (Bohrok are certainly some of the things I'd like to see again). Well, compared to Lewi's Defender the sets aren't very different- they just have more complex weapons and some armour (the new add-on piece) on their shoulders and torso, and of course there's the Skull Spider. 10 EUR/USD is too much, I agree. That makes sense I guess. I'm not sure if making the Defenders/Matoran smaller would make sense, but I guess I just don't fall into the group you mentioned. AFAIC, the small Heroes were very fun and refreshing, but after 3 years and half (not counting 2014) I really want to see the CCBS expand, in builds and pieces, towards bigger humanoids on average (and yes, even to Witch Doctor-scale characters- the CCBS is a lot more mature now). I pointed that out a few pages ago, actually. My guess (and dear everything I hope I'm wrong) is that it's...hair. I can't imagine Lego making such a specialized piece (and for something so odd, too), so I hope it's just shoulder armour (odd for only him to use a new piece like that, but I can't complain).
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Nice one, LewiMOC! I didn't realize how good those proportions look IRL. I'm happy to see the XT4 torso finally getting used on a whole group of small characters. And I agree on the Toa. I was ok with the Heroes being relatively small, it was a nice change of pace, but Toa have always been really tall compared to Matoran. I think it fit the "mysterious saviours from far away" theme they were often accompanied by fairly well. I guess the size difference is justified by the heroes' relationship with the people they have to protect. Heroes are essentially cops: they're slightly bigger and (much) stronger, but civilians see them everyday, they're part of their society. Toa are something much more rare for Matoran to witness, they're like giants to them (..giant alien demigod elemental spirits) and thus it's fair to potray them as such EDIT: alien as in "way different from what they (Matoran) are used to". Better clear that up.
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Assuming the prices that are generally accepted here (10-15-20 Euro) are correct: The Defenders might be overpriced (8-9 Euro would be better..good thing they're the sets I'm less interested in)..but the Toa do look really big. Even the smaller 3 look about as bulky and complex as the 2013 LoC Ultrabuilds, which I still think as some of the best, more fleshed out CCBS humanoids: 15 Euro seems perfect for them, especially if you add the extra gold mask and Skull Spider. Now, I'm not sure if the 3 larger Toa are actually worth 20 Euro (especially Tahu and Kopaka), but we don't know how they're built yet. I actually took the trouble to dig up pics of when the Superheroes Ultrabuilds were presented for the first time (BTW, did you know this topic already is the section's 7th biggest ever?). A whopping 4 out of 6 were shown on display. IMO, Tahu at the very least is going to be shown since he's pretty much BIONICLE's mascot. I hope a Defender, another Toa and the LoSS are there too, but I'd be happy even with 1-2 sets.
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Indeed, I immediately thought of dreadlocks. Also, the gold Miru has a squareish area, which might house connection points (think Black Phantom's helmet) for.. those.. things. Yeah, I really want to be wrong. It'd just look silly (and probably offensive). My bad, yes I meant to write Dark Orange. And I do agree that he should have more of it- it's weird, his colour distribution doesn't follow that of any other Toa (the smaller Toa in general are more diverse as far as colour schemes go, actually). However, he seems to use brown-ish 5M shells on his lower legs, so it shouldn't be too hard to make him more brown than he currently is.Dark orange and tan is pretty much Hewkii's colour scheme, which I'm fine with (so we have Toa Onepu and Toa Hewkii : P). As DV said, it's an interesting compromise between brown and orange, classic Pohatu and new Pohatu.
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I just noticed something odd on Lewa.. there are black things seemingly coming from his head and falling down on his chest. It can't be.... hair? Right?
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As DV said, you likely won't get all three of those things you mentioned.. but I say you might still get them in a way:1)Pohatu doesn't quite look brown (or at least, not his 2001 brown or dark brown). His colour might be Dark Brown (yes, that is Hewkii's brown/burnt orange- I thought it was a similar colour..but nope, the real deal). I had initially wondered if that was Lewa's secondary colour, until DV came along with a much better theory: 2)Gali has tr. light blue bones, her primary colour seems to be azure. 3)The Hau, Akaku and Pakari DEFINITELY look similar to the 2001 versions. The other 3 are a bit more ambiguous: the Kakama has its classic slanted eyes and wing-like cheeks but is more squarish, the Kaukau (the gold one) is closer to Gali's mask in MoL (which..is..ok, I guess). Lewa is by far the hardest to make out, but I can see some details from the 2001 mask (I made a quick analysis, but I'm not sure if I'm allowed to post it): the slanted eyes are there, but the smile looks a lot smaller and the general shape seems a lot different. But, whatever the case, I wouldn't mistake the mask Tahu is wearing on the big display art for anything other than a Hau: given the effort put into that gem, I'm not worried about the others. I thought about this as well. Mainly because I still think that 6 sets with the same mask/head is an incredibly odd (and dumb, honestly) thing to make in 2015. The Beasts get a pass because they had two different head styles and each had a unique printing..these don't.But that's not the only reason. I the only one who thinks the mask's general shape is very similar to the mystery gold mask (MGM) Tahu is trying to grab? It's just missing the mouth hole and the fine details the new Hau and the MGM have. The Defender mask looks so simple and featureless it looks like an early prototype. And these sets clearly are in their preliminary stage: most notably, Gali's wearing a mask that looks completely different from the gold one included in her set (it awfully looks like Onua's Pakari, in fact) and only Tahu and Lewa sport printed chests (no way only 2 Toa are getting those), but there might be other small details as well. I have this theory (admittely, mostly born out of my wish for the Defenders to NOT have the same freaking mask!) that they're using a preliminary version of the MGM as a stand-in for the Defenders' real masks (which, as I said other times, don't necessarily have to be completely new masks, just recolours of the Toa Masks- randomized masks, as you suggested, would be the BEST thing but obviously unlikely). Of course, there's another question standing: which set is going to feature the MGM (such a detailed design is clearly meant to be turned into a real piece)? I'm assuming it's going to debut in Summer, afterall the Ignika was introduced in 2006 but appeared as a piece only in 2008. It's definitely gold, but it's not "all of the Toa": only the 3 larger Toa (Tahu, Kopaka and Onua) feature it, the other 3 only have gold masks. Lewa and Gali have silver armour, while Pohatu does his own thing. Since the gold armour is mainly done through that new add-on piece, it shouldn't be hard to make the Toa a bit more consistent.. you can't do anything about the printed chests, though (unless they are stickers, but I very much doubt that, except for Onua). No real news save for the prices as Kalhiki mentioned, we've been mostly discussing whether the new BIONICLE is a reboot or a continuation. And whether this refers to BIONICLE or something else.
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I got the impression that, despite having less pieces than the mini-Heroes, the Skull Spiders masks/bodies still use a fairly large amount of plastic. You're right about the Jumpers and the Heroes' equipment though, the Spiders are nowhere as complex and playable as those elements. Including the ammo, I count 43 pieces on the Stone Defender (though I had to make a lot of assumptions about how the staff is built, and I'm sure I missed 2-3 pieces). It's a pretty average parts count for a small set, though a bit lower than this year's average. I can see these sets dropping to 9 Dollars/Euro instead of 10 (2012-2013 small sets have been priced at 9 here and in a bunch of other European countries, actually), but I can't see them go any lower. I tried counting Lewa's and Tahu's parts, and it's confusing, yeah, the counts are pretty much in line with those of a small set. The arms are pretty easy to figure out, but there's definitely something about their torsos we haven't figured out yet, and that might hold true for their heads as well (doesn't Water Defender's neck- I'll assume the Defenders use the same head design as the Toa- look odd?). Now for the juicy part. From the links Mesonak posted: Since you're probably wondering how these sets compare to those we already know about (data taken from the same site): There's no doubt anymore: the bottow row Toa with gold armour are bigger sets than the other 3. Lord of Skull Spiders is an odd case: he's in the "Gold Toa" age range but his packaging is as big as those of the 7-14 Toa. I wonder if it's a mistake, it's really weird for Lego to mix up things like that.. anyway, I tend to trust the age tag more (he has six legs and 2 arms/mandibles, which implies a more complex build). Compared to Invasion from Below sets, the age ranges are the same (which implies they're using the same price points), it seems like they're aiming for smaller packaging however.
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The "Master" thing aside (which sounds really weird, I agree), it just feels really weird to see such long names for constraction sets (well, aside from special ones like the BIONICLE playsets and IfB). They already used the "XXXX Toa insert-Toa-name-here" scheme in 2008, sure, but was that problematic to use the 2001 scheme (simply "XXXX insert-Toa-name-here")? HF Hero sets used the exact same names in 2012 and 2013..I guess that didn't work. I assume that the small Spiders shoot the price up by about 2-3 Euro, as the equivalents of this year's mini-Heroes. Seems like we went from 2008's "ensure there's inner conflict inside each wave" (3 Toa vs 3 Makuta, Heroes and Villains mixed, etc) to 2014 "ensure there's conflict inside each set (Beasts vs mini-Heroes, Defenders vs Skull Spiders, etc..) as it's been the norm in System sets for years. I guess it eats up some of the main model's budget, especially on the Defenders. Still better than the awful piece-to-quantity ratio of 2008-2010 (it got only slightly better with the 1.0 Heroes).And Gali (and most likely Lewa and Pohatu as well) are 15 Euro as I expected- they're too big to be 10 Euro sets. That seems like a fair price for me.
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I wish they released those chests without printing, like they had begun to do with the Breakout torsos (what a wasted piece, BTW- I'm still immensely annoyed they stopped using it after 2012). Alas, they never did, and last time I checked HF pieces on PaB had largely disappeared- the project looks pretty dead. I do like the Toa chests (if Tahu is anything to go by, the designs are going to be much more tribal looking than sci-fi like- I just hope they're more subtle, for versatility purposes), but since it appears we're finally getting gold and probably silver chests (looks *yawn* titanium metallic on Lewa, but the rest of his armour is silver.. ), I wish the PaB blank pieces were still around. There are some cool chest pieces with versatile designs (Iron Man, Queen and Crystal Beast), but most aren't..I hope the Toa ones fall into the the former.
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Sometimes, a volcano is just a volcano. And yes, these sets are not shown in their final stage. No way only Tahu and Lewa have printed chests, all six are going to in the final versions. And I still somehow think the Defenders are not going to have the same mask.
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There are 3 pictures:1)The original b/w one we got in July, which shows about half the sets 2)A coloured, very crappy and blurry version of the b/w one, which we were requested to not link or share in any way (as that would cause the leaker to be fired) 3)The high quality (..well, it's not that great, but it's impressive having it in August) colour one we have now, which shows all the sets.
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The same one we've had for weeks. It just seems zoomed in, as it doesn't look sharper.I thought it'd be selfish to not share it though, so I linked it anyway.
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Pretty much what I (and proably DV as well) meant. Effort wasn't lacking, they just decided to focus it on other projects, like Chima and BIONICLE. And, you guys don't agree, and of course I'll respect that, but the drop in sets quality was felt by a lot of people that year, I remember that well.And the 10th Hero was mostly speculation I did for fun, based on 2011's record of introducing at least one new Hero per wave. I meant to say it probably was a very very very early idea they scrapped almost immediately. EDIT: fixed a few typos. EDIT 2: Found a bigger version of the colour pic. Not sure if it's more detailed, but a bigger size is nice. Credit to netkid at TFW2005.
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I'll bet anything this is the case as it makes sense and explains Brain Attack's sudden drop in quality well. By mid-2012, the Summer sets (the last sets to feature truly innovative pieces, like the oOo liftarm, the double C and the XT4 torso) were complete so they couldn't do much, but the cuts and lack (or rather, shift) of effort became very apparent by the time Brain Attack came. Who knows, maybe a 10th purple Hero and another villain (Goriz?) were planned for Summer 2012 but then they went "nah guys, let's start BIONICLE again.". Most European countries, though, have often gotten the sets before USA in recent years. 2014 has been absolutely horrendous for USA fans, with IfB wave 1 in March and Chima Ultrabuilds being cancelled. And let's not forget Breez and Thornraxx getting pushed to Summer. I say we've been lucky most of the time.