Aanchir

It's not all that unusual for a theme to get its first wave in March and its second wave in August. That's how the release schedule was for this year's Ninjago and Elves sets in the United States. Five months is plenty of time between new product launches. For that matter, the release for this year's Chima sets had the first wave in January and the second wave in May. Granted, that theme's summer wave consisted of only three sets.

Omigosh, the spherical lava monsters are called globlins! And one of the swords in the Fortrex set is called Techalibur!

I dunno, I could see Macy's Squirebot getting one (assuming she will get a squirebot). The knights themselves tend to have more formidable sci-fi weapons (and in most cases, brick-built ones), but many of the squirebots have smaller and more conventional weapons. Same with the King's Soldiers, but so far their weapons are invariably longswords.

Is that a Korgot revamp? I thought it was just a generic Earth villager. But anyway, I don't mind the red axles here any more than I mind them anywhere else. I certainly wouldn't have changed them.

I personally feel like Gali+Akida is one of the most stunning "power up" model. She looks very fast, graceful, and powerful! It helps that the official pic has her in an incredible pose. I don't think the silver heads clash with the golden masks at all — in fact, I'd almost say the contrast helps them look BETTER than the golden creature heads do on the golden masks. On Gali, Lewa, and Pohatu, the golden masks stand out (as golden masks should), and the creature heads take on the appearance of a protective helmet or armor rather than just an oddly elongated forehead. Individually, Gali is my second favorite of the new Toa, after Lewa. She pulls off the asymmetrical look incredibly well, her color scheme is very dynamic with the contrasting orange accents, and her mask does a great job echoing this year's fantastic Mask of Water design while still bringing something new to the table with its crystal motif and more streamlined goggles. Even her weapon looks very impressive, and is a nice upgrade of her harpoon from this year (though I will miss the brilliance of her 2015 weapon's dual functions). My only gripe is that like Lewa and Pohatu, her arms are slightly too short for her torso (which is less of a problem for Tahu and Onua, who have lower shoulder joints, or Kopaka, who has longer arms). Akida, individually, is a bit more of a mixed bag. It's the only creature with launchers rather than a gear function, although it does have a creative function for changing the angles of its fins and launchers. It's also very heavy on Technic and very light on CCBS. But from the pictures I've seen, it works very, very well. It shares Gali's dynamic color scheme and has just enough articulation to feel lithe and expressive. Overall, Gali, Akida, Lewa, and Uxar are the 2016 Bionicle sets I'm most enthusiastic about getting. :) I will agree that Pohatu's "power up" model with Ketar is one of the most awkward. I have to wonder if it might be better in real life, since you'd have the freedom to wrap the legs around the torso (which could actually look really cool, sort of like a harness) instead of them just sticking out at odd angles. Even then, it's hard to understand the function of Ketar's bladed arms, unlike the appendages of Uxar, Ikir, and Akida which enhance the Toa in much more obvious ways. Instead of making wings flap or adjusting the angle of the fins, Ketar's function in "power up" mode would just mean the blades and tail flailing about rather awkwardly.

None of the theme-specific LEGO magazines like that (LEGO Ninjago, LEGO Star Wars, LEGO Legends of Chima, LEGO Friends) are released in the U.S. Maybe kids in the U.S. just don't buy as many magazines? Or maybe it's hard to find a U.S. magazine publisher who's interested.

Bionicle, Ninjago, and Elves. :)

Just the one size.

2016 Lewa is actually half a module shorter than Onua and Gali due to his leg build. In general, I think the Toa's proportions are alright, but I'm not too fond of the extra length in the torsos or the extra length in Onua's legs. The three smaller Toa end up with arms and/or legs that feel almost too short for their bodies, and Onua's lost his tunnel-dwarf proportions that I liked so much. I also wish that Onua could have still used the "XL" chest plate, as I feel like it did a lot to help him feel unique, and it should still be compatible with the new torso shell and torso beam. Guess that's an option to keep in mind for revamps...

For UK viewers, the series premiere will be on December 19.

If it is Lasha, then it's an entirely new version of Lasha (and thus, still an exclusive fig). It has both a different facial expression (mouth fully opened and tongue to the side rather than mouth half-opened and tongue centered) and a different outfit (no poison bottles, and dark orange right sleeve and harness printing on the torso) than the 2012 version.

The two Serpentine in those sets do appear to be exclusive, though!

Oh, I have a whole bunch! My brother and I even have an entire "LEGO shelf" in our room, and some of them have spilled onto other shelves because they don't fit on the first one! Scholastic readers Rocket Rescue, Mission to the Arctic, Bionicle: Journey of Takanuva, Bionicle: The Secret of Certavus, and Bionicle: Desert of Danger. The first two I got when I was still a kid, the rest I got because they had original stories and hand-drawn illustrations (most LEGO Scholastic readers these days use stock graphics or video stills). Bionicle Encyclopedia (the original edition with the blue banner on the cover, not the updated edition with the red banner) The guide books The Official Guide to Bionicle, Bionicle: Rahi Beasts, Bionicle: Dark Hunters, and Bionicle: World The graphic novel Bionicle #8: Legends of Bara Magna All 28 Bionicle G1 chapter books LEGO Bionicle: Island of Lost Masks (the first Bionicle G2 chapter book) All five LEGO Hero Factory chapter books LEGO Hero Factory: Face Off: Makuro's Secret Guidebook LEGO Elves: Quest for the Keys Five LEGO Legends of Chima storybooks Twelve LEGO Ninjago graphic novels Five LEGO Ninjago chapter books (the ones that tell original stories rather than TV adaptations) LEGO Ninjago: Official Guide LEGO Ninjago Character Encyclopedia LEGO Ninjago: The Visual Dictionary LEGO Ninjago: Secret World of the Ninja Beautiful LEGO and Beautiful LEGO 2: Dark Brick by Brick: How LEGO Rewrote the Rules of Innovation and Conquered the Global Toy Industry (an excellent book that I'd recommend to any AFOL) LEGO: A Love Story The LEGO Movie: The Essential Guide LEGO Minifigures Character Encyclopedia The Ultimate LEGO Book ...and besides those 80, there are probably still more I'm forgetting to mention!

Personally, I feel like the face on the figure is a very good likeness for his face from the show. Not entirely the same expression as that screencap (his eyebrows are lowered for a bit more of a determined look), but otherwise I don't think the differences are very great at all. On the whole, I'm not bothered by the change in his face much at all. However, I agree that giving him a scar in the show would have made more sense in terms of keeping continuity within both the show and the sets — it's easier to come up with a reason for a character to get a scar than a reason for a scar to go away. But on the other hand... this doesn't stop them from giving him a scar in the show in the future. What it does do is give us a non-scarred version that we can potentially use on our earlier Kai figures if we want them to be more show-accurate. While for those who prefer the scarred face, that one is still incredibly common and might even still continue to be used in sets.

Nope, it's just Earth Blue, as far as I can tell. The differences are all in the torso, headgear, head, and legs.

The Ninjago sky pirate ships aren't really "nautical" enough to have any place in a traditional pirates layout, even with heavy modification (they're airships, after all). But in terms of the loose parts they offer I think there's a lot that could be repurposed for more traditional Pirates fare. I think the Angry Birds sets may end up having a ship for the pigs, so if you found a use for the Flying Dutchman's ship from the SpongeBob sets that might also be serviceable.

Arguably, Nexo Knights. Star Wars and Super Heroes too, if you count licenses. And Ninjago also has shades of sci-fi, as usual. Really, there's no shortage of sci-fi sets for 2016. Remember, LEGO doesn't break its themes down into the same categories Eurobricks does. The Action/Adventure subforum on Eurobricks is on some levels just a collection of all the themes the other subforums have decided they don't want.

I don't think that's entirely true. After all, we didn't have any real (non-humanoid, non-vehicle) animals in the first year of Legends of Chima sets, but that changed in 2014 with the Legend Beast sets. On the other hand, a robo-dragon or hologram-dragon could be very unique and stand out from the typical LEGO Elves, Castle, or Ninjago dragon.

Other than being human and alien characters, the Star Wars buildable figures generally have more in common with Bionicle than Galidor. All their parts besides their heads are far less specialized than any Galidor parts, and they have far more of them. The biggest Galidor set by piece count, the $20 Ooni, had less than 30 pieces, while the smallest Star Wars buildable figure, the $20 First Order Stormtrooper, has more than 80. A lot of people generalize LEGO action figures as overspecialized, Galidor-esque nonsense, but it's important to remember that, in the words of company CEO Jorgen Vig Knudstorp, "Bionicle is the theme that saved LEGO." (Brick by Brick, p151) "In 2003—the year the rest of LEGO came crashing down—Bionicle's soaring sales accounted for approximately 25 percent of the company's total revenue and more than 100 percent of its profit (as the rest of the company was tumbling to a net loss), making a financial anchor in turbulent times." (Brick by Brick, p155) "In early 2004, an internal survey of the company's entire product portfolio revealed that 94 percent of LEGO sets were unprofitable. Only Star Wars and Bionicle kits were making money." (Brick by Brick, p98). Now, none of this is a guarantee that the Star Wars buildable figures are a sure-fire money-maker, but from what I've seen, they've been selling like hotcakes. If LEGO were in a 2003-esque situation (which they're not), these sets could potentially be working towards a better bottom line for the LEGO Group, not against it.

The average LEGO buyer is not expected to buy every set from every theme. Some will buy just a handful of sets from several themes, others will buy every set from just one theme. The point of having so many themes, though, is to have options to suit the tastes of lots of different buyers. There are some buyers who might have no interest in LEGO Star Wars but love LEGO Ninjago. Others might have no interest in LEGO City but love LEGO Friends. Still more might have no interest in LEGO Creator but love LEGO Technic. If LEGO didn't have all those other themes, they might not have anything at all that appealed to those particular customers. I don't have any idea why you and your friends would buy fewer sets just because there are so many themes out there. Seems to me no matter how many themes are out there, you should be able to buy the sets you want and ignore the sets you don't want (or can't justify buying). And yes, sometimes it can be tough to make the choice between two sets or themes you really like. But would you really be better off if you didn't have that choice at all

Top left: 57546 Bottom left: 32476 Top right: 45951 Bottom right: 32177

I wouldn't mind if the creatures spoke to the Toa telepathically, to be honest. It'd help firmly establish that these are magical creatures with a special connection to the Toa. With that said, it's not something the writers HAVE to do — if they choose not to have the animals speak in any way I'm sure they could still manage to establish that connection.

A single stud in a Technic hole is definitely legal. Attaching a part with multiple studs (say, a 1x3 plate) to multiple Technic holes on the same part is considered illegal because it is a very tight connection and thus much harder to separate.

Reddish Brown has some decent variety. Savage Planet "paw" pieces, Invasion from Below "talon" pieces, 4M shells, 3M beams, Y-joints, and now fists. That's not counting the various pre-CCBS Ben 10 parts in that color like the 8M curved "tail" element, which is just as CCBS-compatible as the talon piece. Sand Yellow (Dark Tan) is also skyrocketing in variety starting in January, just as Brick Yellow (Tan) did when the first wave of Star Wars buildable figures came out in September. 5M shells already exist in that color. Next year we're getting the Star Wars shoulder add-ons, Star Wars torso shell, Bionicle torso shell, 2.0 torso shell, and 4M shell. Plus a few Technic panels.

Maybe they just wanted to avoid Kai being the most boring figure in the gift box? All the other figures in the box have uniquely printed legs. And as you say, it's easy to swap them out. The "point" is to make the figure more desirable for people who care more about how it looks than how accurate it is to the show.