Shakar
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Some 2009 box art showed mysterious creatures (8978). That might've been an hint at Skopio, or just something they threw in for fun.I guess we're talking about the gold-ish figure above Tahu's hand? If it's that, I see two things depending on how I look at it: a)A humanoid figure: a torso, a pair of arms and a pair of legs crouching. Whatever that figure is, that pose reminds me of Toa Ignika riding his Skyboard. b)A volcano, with the gold stuff actually being lava leaking out. Yup. Actually, I'm more and more heading towards this. Very fair point. I'm so used to the CCBS I didn't even remember about the shift from the old building system. That definitely outshadows any year after 2004 (where nearly every piece was new).Aside from new parts, though, I was also talking about the sheer effort and faith they're putting in these. Sadly (or maybe luckily) I lost that long rant I had wrote, so I'll try to sum it up. This isn't the HF topic, but what I'll write ties into the point I want to make about BIONICLE, so I hope it's ok. When Breakout came, I was sure Lego was taking HF to a new direction, similar to how BIONICLE 2 looks now: bigger, more complex sets, more menacing villains, a darker and more complex story. I was pretty naive on that. By Summer 2012, HF's downfall had already begun (switching from 10-12 sets per wave to 8) and things got worse and worse from that, for sets and story. Mind you, I'm not blaming Lego for that attitude. They probably had big plans that were swept aside once they realized HF wasn't hot enough to invest much into. They could've worked to make the line more attractive, maybe it was too late, but that's beside the point (this isn't Hero Factory Autopsy ). The point is, the amount of effort and faith that lacked in HF is, to me, already far more present in BIONICLE 2. They're probably more confident because it's something they've already done (and they have as a result a huge bible of plots, concepts and set designs to draw from). I don't know the exact reason, but I do have this feeling (just looking at how strong and big those Toa look, and their extra gold masks, is enough).
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Indeed I should have. IIRC I meant to say that I cited 2013 Cragger only because he used a tall Titan torso, while 2014 Cragger used a standard size one. I used the argument on complex limbs to prove that the new Toa don't use the Titan torso and a new one instead, but then I realized a new torso mold would eat the set budget even more than a Titan torso would (less plastic used, but a lot of money spent into the mold). So guess my point is moot.The gap kinda looks bigger on Lewa and Kopaka, but I think it's just due to the angle, showing more of their black torso underneath. I really don't see Lewa having a taller torso than the others, especially since he's one of the 3 smaller Toa. Yup, pretty much. It's the only way I can think of for the Toa torsos to look the way they do. There's still something odd about those torsos right under the shoulders (look at Pohatu and Tahu and you'll see what I mean), but with the pic we have it's impossible to tell. Now those were copouts. Sir Fangar was "hey let's make a really tall Hero and slap some Technic on the body!". Meanwhile Fluminox stopped at stage 1- just a really tall Hero, with a simple wing mechanism and a overcomplicated weapon no one really asked for (the first time since Kongu Inika a character gets a crossbow...and we get that? No, I'm not going to count Furno 3.0).Furno XL was the last humanoid Titan I truly liked- he did have some flaws (oh god, those upper arms) but overall his torso worked quite well, giving him a powerful looking yet unique build for the cape to attach on without feeling gimmicky. Evo XL had some good design, but too much Technic for my tastes. Personally, I'm far more interested to see how CCBS can be further developed than seeing more Technic builds. Though I admit it's partly due to the fact I suck at building with Technic, lol. As for the villains, I think this is the last we'll see of the Skull Spiders. As I said before, I'm pretty sure the SS are starter villains to introduce new fans to the Toa, their powers, the world and the plot. I just don't see how they can manage to make other 6 spiders after they introduced its leader a while earlier. Unless "Lord" is a crappy translation and it's just an elite class Spider, that way the rest of the army and its leaders can get revealed in Summer. It depends on how long they want the story to last, and if they're willing to make 6 months long plots like 2003 or 2011 (their rarity tells me they might not be very popular). If they skip right to Makuta himself, the Summer wave might feature revamped Rahkshi as enemies. Or, the Bohrok and the Bahrag might make a return and so Makuta gets his set in 2016. And I agree with Aanchir. No non-buildable major characters this time. I'm still bothered by the fact we never got another Teridax set after 2003 (though I guess Maxilos came kind of close, given its colours, build and weapon).
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I get the feeling (and I'm sure I'm not the only one) that these sets have have a much higher budget than HF ever did, except probably its very first wave: at least one extra mask per set (I count the Spiders as masks), almost double the number of sets of the average HF wave, lots of new parts and recolours.. I kinda expect a store exclusive at this point. I'm not too worried about the lack of full Titans (I'd place Tahu, Kopaka and Onua as "half Titans", kinda like Fluminox), we've yet to see the Summer wave and, for now, seeing the 6 most iconic characters back in fairly faithful forms is enough to make me happy!
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Link doesn't work. If it's another colour pic remove it! The leaker asked to remove that one from the web as he'd lose his job. Only the b/w one and the new big one are fair game. Nevermind, Brickshelf is down. Anyway, I remember you posting that but I don't remember how they look. Not sure what to say for now.
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As far as I can tell there aren't any sets in the first b/w pic that didn't reappear in the new coloured image. The Titans you're talking about are probably Kopaka (fun fact: when I saw that large white figure I had hoped he would've been the main bad guy ) and possibly Tahu. I have the b/w image in front of me: the sets shown are (top to bottom) Ice Defender, Fire Defender, Air Defender, Lewa, Lord of Skull Spiders, Tahu and Kopala. I do have this hunch there are 1-2 sets we've yet to see, though, for some reason.
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Unfortunately, Tahu, Lewa and their Defenders don't seem to use transparent parts. Which is a pity, since I see their elements as prime candidates for that (and never ever did I expect Pohatu to feature tr. yellow). If they make Takanuva in later waves (and I'd be surprised if they didn't), I think tr. yellow bones would suit him (he did have yellow eyes in 2003, and light is often represented by yellow in fiction). 2014!Cragger has a normal torso though, which is why he has average limbs (I should've I don't see the gap, sorry. Also, I don't see why his torso build would be different than the others' (minus Onua of course). Look at Tahu- his body is a seamless shape with zero gaps. You're welcome. ; ) That seems accurate. There are some differences among them but this is pretty much the general build. The Fire Defender's torso is something along the lines of Toxic Reapa though. I agree. Never liked the Agori. They came too late and were essentially Matoran without likeability, powers or potential. The Glatorian were the same, to a slightly lesser degree.The Defenders do have potential, but their lack of unique masks really hurts their individuality as characters. I just wish they followed the Mctoran route (which is arguably what they tried to do with the Earth Defender)- they could've even saved a new mold that way! Part of me thinks these are prototypes (Gali is wearing a Pakari there, I'm sure of it- remember mini-Evo with Rocka's helmet in the IfB preliminary pics?). It just seems so weird for them to return to the much hated clone sets (*). The Defender mask looks a lot like the Mystery Gold Mask (MGM) Tahu is trying to grab (many compared both masks to the Avsa or Gresh's helmet): what if the "Defender mask" is a preliminary version of the MGM they're using as a placeholder? It's a bit unlikely, but I can still hope.. * = they aren't exactly clone sets, but as I said the mask is a huge blow to their individuality. I never quite realized that until you mentioned it. Somehow, putting three CCBS torsos together isn't quite as easy and obvious as doing it with three Toa bodies. I guess it's due to the smaller pieces the CCBS relies on and the switch from an axle based system to a balljoint based one.I think the new Toa Kaita (pretty sure we are getting combined models as usual, so they might as well be those) will be something more akin to the 2-in-1 Hero fusions from 2011- slightly bigger and complex, but overall around Toa sized and shaped (think something like Trinuma). Maybe they will be in duos (a larger Toa+a smaller one perhaps) instead of trios, though that would kinda ruin the epicness of two super powerful giants fighting side by side.
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Still, his legs are far more complex and long than the likes of Cragger. If the Toa have new torsos, though, we'd still have to count the budget to produce the new part so I guess that point of mine is moot.And good thing you mentioned the crotch section (that sounds terrible, I'm sorry), Aanchir. As Lord-Vorahk pointed out, that area is completely covered by the torso shell. And unlike Leewan's design, there doesn't appear to be a significant distance between the torso bone and the torso shell: it's as if the shell was directly attached onto the torso bone, without a oOo liftarm in between. Now I'm more convinced than ever that the Toa use a new torso, to accomodate their bigger and stronger body build. And I can't believe I didn't realize this before. You're right, the Stone guys DO have tr. yellow bones! Not sure why, but they look cool (and they match the recoloured Pyrox flames on the Stone Defender's weapon. The Water and Ice characters have tr. light blue bones (check Gali's lower legs), the Earth defender has tr. purple upper leg bones. These sets just keep getting better and better... First off, I agree. Those are some awesome mockups. Very realistic.It's supposed to be Defenders..apparently. And curiously enough, as Aanchir pointed out a while ago, some Turaga were called like that in some very early promo material. As for their torso armour, it's a new piece- check the text under spoiler tags for more info. And yes, I'm more and more conviced they in fact use XT4 torsos, just take a look at their proportions: their heads (as you said), their limbs AND how huge the Pyrox flames look compared to them. They really want to make clear the Toa are that much bigger than them, just like in 2001. That, and since a part of the pieces budget is eaten by the Skull Spiders, they've been made a bit more simple than (think Rocka Crawler). Oh, and more analyses and rants I had wrote but cut out from the final post because it became way too long and boring: Finally, is it just me or...is Gali wearing a Pakari? It looks exactly like Onua's mask, but Gali's gold mask looks different than that (its eyes are much bigger, for one). Could this imply the sets are preliminary and the Defenders might have different masks in the final version?
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Ah, definitely agreed on that. My guess is that they thought about making 6 heroes with distinct colours first (6 colours that were deemed to be the most attractive ones to customers' eyes, I'd guess), and only then did they decide on which elements assign to each Toa. Some were a no brainer (red and orange symbolize fire in nearly all cultures, for example), some were more tied to the locations than the elements (Onua, the black Toa wandering through the dark caves and Lewa, the green Toa jumping from tree to tree). But I can freely admit green=air is a stretch. I remember, back in 2001, that I would often argue with my friends on Lewa's element: of course, guess what, they were convinced he was the Toa of Plants (or rather, "grass", as they said). The confusion was very much there.The Stonegate was a pretty fun one, yes. Mind you, I was one of the many who were outraged to see Hewkii turning gunmetal and yellow. Then I realized I liked yellow lot more, so I stopped thinking about it. And stone comes in a whole lot of colours- grey, tan, yellow, orange, white, pink, brown.. anything goes really. And I always liked the idea of each element being associated to a group of colours rather than a single one. For example, Air had green, but also lime and teal. Then there was Earth, with black, dark grey, and even tan, orange and purple. ) I did think about a titan torso, actually. The problem is that Pohatu's shoulders stick out much wider than the design you showed- just compare him to Black Phantom and see what I mean. That, and you'd have to fill in the gaps with more shells and the limbs would have to be really long to fit the torso size, shooting the set parts budget (and therefore its price) well beyond the limits. There's a reason past mid-size sets using the titan torso (Hulk, Cragger, Panthar, Mungus..) have featured very short and/or skinny legs (and sometimes arms). These Toa, meanwhile, have some very long and well armoured limbs.
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In fact, later I did realize the same problems you mentioned (hence my comment on tr. purple). The topic kinda died a few posts later though, so I didn't follow upon it. Never thought about the photogenic issue though.Mind you, I don't outright hate black+red. In fact I think Core Hunter (due to red being used only as subtle accents), Black Phantom and Tunneler Beast (bright green created a wonderful contrast) pulled it off rather well. I just hope the new villains don't overuse it. The Lord of Skull Spiders seems to use tr. reddish orange, which is pretty darn cool. As for Makuta, I just red and gunmetal never fit him that well. Black and dark orange, as an homage to his infected and rusty Hau in 2001...now THAT is something I'd like to see. And yes, I pretty much meant that. Not an instable person, but one who knows she must use force when neccessary. Pohatu could be dark orange, indeed- much more exciting, in my opinion, than Avak/Mungus brown. But as I said before, I've never been a fan of brown. I do really like Hewkii brown, though, and this one is rather close to it!As for Lewa, I tried to build a (really crappy) mock-up of him to see how the major candidates (keetorange, dark tan and gold) would look, and..well, see for yourself. Dark tan and gold look ok actuallym especially dark tan. As for keetorange, not sure if I like how it looks. They're both extremely bright colours, so there's little to no contrast. Even when combining it with classic green rather than bright green, the problem is still there IMO. I don't mind Lewa and the others getting new secondary colours (Onua having tr. purple is AWESOME), but I would've followed Le-Matoran colour schemes- so, leaving lime aside, something closer to teal, a bluish shade (like azure, which Gali is using, or tr. light blue). Green for Air wasn't exactly random, green is often seen as the colour of the wind/air element in eastern cultures (I know, I know, TvTropes, but they summed it up nicely). And then they probably built the whole association between Air characters and jungle (that, and he probably was created as Jungle Slizer's spiritual successor). Or maybe it's the opposite they thought about a Toa living in the forest first, then they decided his power was air-based intead of plant control. You're right though, it's not an obvious (nor universal) association.Finally (and probably one of the main points I wanted to write about)..taking a look at the Lewa mock-up I built, the arms sit very low compared to the Superhero chest plate, and the head is barely visible (and it looks downright dumb with a helmet on, unless you extend the neck like on Core Hunter). On the Toa, however, the arms are nicely aligned with the chest armour and the head sits above the chest and shoulders just right, without any trace of extended necks. Just look at Pohatu to see how different his proportions are compared to the standard Hero. So it got me thiking: what if the Toa use new torsos? Something taller (but slightly shorter than the titan torso), with different connection points?
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*Feels morally obligated to reply to a post on Lewa*Pretty sure he's bright green, especially if the Toa use Hero feet (I'd rather see new feet for variety sake, though). Plus bright green seems to be the trend in recent years- just look at the Hulk and Green Lantern. Actually, I do actively hope that's bright green. I'm going to spoiler tag paragraphs for better reading. As for his secondary colour, I repeat it's not and it can't be gold. I know it looks like gold but it'd make no sense if it were. Why? If it's not gold, then what is it? Your guess is as good as mine as I don't have any exclusive pics. I initially thought tan or dark tan, but looking at the image again the shade is too yellowish. It might be Keetorange. Note however, that the image is quite oversaturated (gold is nowhere that bright IRL!), and the Jungle Defender's secondary colour looks darker, closer to Hewkii's burnt orange (Dark Orange perhaps? I don't know). No way, the... gold-ish mystery colour smooth part is definitely a shell (likely a 5M size), with the Toa Inika-eque silver part is a new two-pins add-on. Kopaka has it in white, and Onua and Tahu (on his lower arms) in gold. Definitely a small useful piece to add some detail.
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Very interesting overall. I never realized how redundant some elements were till we started discussing them here. Well, I thought about Gali and Kopaka essentially controlling the same element in different states (and good thing we never got a Toa of Steam :P), but I never thought of combining the two given how different they are as characters. I guess Lightning and Plasma are essentially the same as well, plus according to some science articles fire is plasma, so...Kinda surprising how much redundancy there is once you start to take a more critical and/or scientific view or the matter. I always did think BIONICLE elements were a bit too specific (Psionics, seriously?), heck some aren't even elements (Magnetism and Gravity), which is why I always felt a bit uneasy using some of them. On the other hand, however, it makes for a great variety of colours and designs, which is probably one of the reasons for BIONICLE's success (and before BIONICLE, that of Slizers and..ahem... of Roboriders, I guess). As for the reboot vs continuation issue, I'm torn. A reboot would open to so many possibilities but the risk is for the story to not live up to the original one (let's be honest- even if the new premise is completely different, people will inevitably compare the two). If handled well a continuation could be very interesting, as long as it strays away from the mess 2009 onwards had become. It took us 8 years for the Mata Nui=giant robot and MU reveal and we still have Bota Magna to explore and the Great Beings to face (after the Makuta, they seem like the natural step up as the next major antagonists). The story could continue for another 10 years. Granted though, I'm not that happy with some reveals we got post-2010 (like the Red Star and its mass reviving abilities) and the way some really interesting characters were handled *coughKarzahnicough*, but it's up to Lego to decide how many things should or not be retconned.
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As used in fantasy settings, plasma is..really hot stuff, basically. It's what lightning, stars and other things (like aurora boeralis, curiously enough) are made of so to speak, so it's actually a very hax power if used correctly.Plus white and orange! Of all the secondary elements that got their colour canonized, I think plasma got it best. The other elements used colour schemes that were done already- like gravity (black and purple, like some Onu-Matoran) or lightning (blue and white, like some Ko-Matoran)..or were downright boring, like Sonics or Magnetism.
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Yeah, I thought of that as well. In a (non-Lego) story of mine Earth includes everything that comes from the ground- soil, rock, sand, crystals, wood and plant life. So Pohatu and Onua would be one there. BTW, there are some Onu-matoran with tan (like Taipu) and some Po-Matoran with black (like Hafu). Earth and Stone have a lot of colours in common, which is quite telling.My story also has Air being upgraded to weather manipulation (Wind+Lightning), and Water and Ice being one, but let's not go overboard. I think that, in the end, since Voxovan pointed out Lewa was always the Toa of Jungle in Russia, we're going to get the usual 6 elements. Won't stop me from rambling about elements and (thinking of) rearranging them, however.
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Mind you, I don't really want Lego to change established elements like that (and it's not going to happen, Pohatu is clearly in a desert setting in the box art). Mine is just a farout idea I might use in my own mind canon. I agree his colours would need to be slightly tweaked- by adding some green perhaps.
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Warning. The following post contains lunatic rants and absurd, messed up ideas that seriously threaten what you know and love about BIONICLE canon. Please read at your own risk. Man, I looked it up on BS01 and I forgot just how messed up the whole Earth vs Stone/Rock vs Sand ordeal was. I get what they did in 2009 but IMO Lewa has to stay as the Toa of Air, and the same goes for the Air element in general. It's a unique element that can't be confused for anything else, compared to how similar to eachother the 3 elements I mentioned are (hint: way too much). Sure, the desert area is fascinating (Po-Wahi was, at least), but I feel Pohatu is the one who should change, not Lewa. I know it sounds like heresy buut- am I the only one who is actually thinking of changing their mind-canon so that Pohatu is the Toa of...the Green/Flora/Plants? I know I know, it sounds absurd, but aren't trees brown? I feel it could work.
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Why would you give your HF parts away? The new sets are going to keep using the HF building system. I'd suggest you to keep them for your future MOCs.
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That makes sense, actually. You could even say she represents both sides of water- the clear, beautiful one that brings life, and the dark, destructive force of nature. Gali was always both IMO.In fact, when I think of it, I realize bright blue was never that suited to represent water. I think Hahli was the Toa who did that best, in both forms: I always thought the white in her Inika form represented sea foam (especially when mixed with blue on her two-toned leg and foot pieces), while Hahli Mahri's lime was a reference to seaweed. It's kinda similar to Onua. I see the black as the symbol of the darkness of the caves, while the tr. purple is reminiscent of the beautiful crystals found deep down. That's what Toa (without going overboard *coughtheglatoriancough*) should be IMO- living representation of their elements, in subtle and charming ways. And speaking of that, I like that Tahu has blue eyes now. The pink ones from 2001-2002 would've been awesome, but I guess that wasn't possible. Tr. reddish orange would have provided little to no contrast, and you don't even know how sick I am to see fire characters with tr. lime eyes.I can't tell which eye colours the Toa have, Tahu clearly has blue eyes, Kopaka's are similar, Onua's seem purple, while the other three are next to impossible to tell.
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Takadox! I knew she reminded me of someone. I guess you mean medium azure? Now that I see her and the Water D. again, I realize that light blue shade isn't transparent- actually, it's too solid and vibrant for that. So that's what her colour is- azure. I always wanted shells in that colour, so that's awesome. Kinda disappointed her mask isn't transparent, but that wasn't vital I'd say. I'm still puzzled the rest of her armour is black or titanium metallic- definitely not something I'd associate to water. EDIT- Sorry for the repeated misspelling.
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I didn't consider that- a fine idea, though I don't think green eyes would look very menacing...it's either red, ice blue or yellow for me. I'm not sure if the whole "Makuta are made of Antidermis" is going to be kept though (don't get me wrong, it's something I always found cool and I'd like to have most basic details be kept). Heck, we might not even get the full Brotherhood. And yes, Onua ditched grey and tr. green for tr. purple (looks like they listened to me after years of praying). Most Toa are getting their secondary colours updated- Kopaka has some tr. ligh blue, Lewa has some sort of brown/tan, Pohatu got his 2001 colous but switched. Gali is the one who changed the most, using. tr. light blue and what looks to be black (dark blue would've been great, though). I'm not sure about her but I'm happy with the other changes- I for one think some Toa needed some new colours, like Onua and Kopaka (a bit too monochromatic IMO). But the most important thing is that we finally got what I always dreamed of: updated, fully poseable Toa Mata. Not the Nuva, not some Glatorian I can't bring myself to care about..the original six. I'm willing to overlook any flaw they might have because of that.
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Not if it's a reboot. : P Great ideas here. I do like the interchangeable backs idea a lot. I doubt the set would include parts to make a Mato.. ehm Defender form though, as cool as an homage that would be.I did think about him being completely black, and I'd love that, but then I realized Lego always adds a secondary colour in figures. And if there has to be another colour, I'd rather it not be the overused red but something more original instead. And since you mentioned his Matoran form, I think an infected 2015!Hau would rock. I always thought the idea of the main villain wearing a corrupted, twisted version of the good guys' symbol of hope as his own mask was simply awesome- much more meaningful and scary than the 2003 Kraakhan IMO, as cool as that one was. Also, I do like the yellow eyes idea, though it seems kind of unlikely (and, personally his 2003 ice blue eyes remain my favourite ones for him). I guess we need to see what the new sets bring in terms of eye colours. 4 colours like in 2012 was definitely a step in the right direction, of course the best thing would be one colour for each Toa/element. Onua might just have purple eyes- here's hoping! And to reply to some replies above, I don't mind Onua missing the huge hands. IIRC those were his weapons, not part of his body (much like Gali's hooks). And remaking those is incredibly simple anyway- just build black replicas of 2013 Laval's paws.
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Looks like my idea is popular :P And agreed with you on Makuta, Pate-keetongu. I was very excited when we finally got a Makuta set but I was puzzled as well: so the Master of Shadows is a big grey and red guy? Ok.. I still think giving him ice blue eyes was genius, though. Too bad all other deciptions gave him cliched ZOMG RED EYES OF PURE EVIL. If Makuta comes back as the main villain (and I think it's very likely), I'd like if he was more similar to his 2001 form- something more slender (yes, the double entendre is intentional), surreal, and pure black (I'm sick of red and black bad guys really). And since Onua is bringing tr purple with him, what about that as his secondary colour? : O
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I think the Skull Spiders and their Lord are going to be "starter" baddies to (re)introduce the theme. They're probably going to be revealed as the minions of the main villain so the main story can kickstart in Summer.
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I won't cry, but after years of the mainly fantasy BIONICLE HF gave us fantastic sci-fi sets and elements and broke the 6 sets/colours/elements scheme I was honestly sick of (and, frankly, I'm not that hot about its return). Sure the story was never stellar, and basically nonexistent after 2012.. but even during BIONICLE I followed my own storylines so that never bothered me anyway. I'm sad to see HF go.
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HF seems like was given the axe.. Our last hope is LoC but given what happened in US they might not even bother making another wave.. Which is a real shame.
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IMO it's the gold mask on top that looks like (a "good" version of) Vamprah's Avsa. The Defenders' masks/heads look more similar to Gresh's helmet to me- or yes, Metus's. I still hope it's a prototype thing, though. Characters' faces and masks/helmets are a central point in their identity and recognizeability so I imagine it's a big selling point. It just seems so weird to me for Lego to sell 6 sets with the exact same head (the only sets I remember doing that were the Bohrok, Vahki and Rahaga) especially after all the efforts in the last 7-8 years to destroy the clone sets syndrome. What I REALLY wanted to see was something like the 2001 Matoran (the Toa masks recolored into "odd" colours like yellow, purple, teal and such) or something more mixed like the Metru Matoran (where, for example, the Huna didn't go to Nuhrii but to Tehutti). That way, the Earth Defender could've had, say, a purple Miru (and I could've finally built my self-MOC ).
