Aanchir

He wasn't talking about the hilt piece, but rather, the Technic piece it's attached to on the stone shadow trap.

1) Not sure, you might be right! It looked grey to me at first glance though. 2) Yep, it also appears on the Creature of Fire's talons, and in some sets from other themes like Nexo Knights.

For right now, some Technic and Bionicle sets are using yellow axles and others are sticking with grey ones. Maybe that's just to clear out old stock of grey pins, but it's also possible that the two colors will continue to exist as alternates depending on what set they come in, same as how blue half-pins never fully replaced grey ones and the two colors continue to coexist.

I think some people do lose sight of the point of the LEGO Movie. There's nothing wrong with choosing to do things according to the instructions, so long as you try to understand and appreciate the things others are doing instead of dismissing them as "bad" or "wrong". On the meta level of the movie, as it relates to families, I think it is important that once your kids are old enough you try to include them in your play (and take part in theirs). It's fine to set a few ground rules, but it shouldn't go as far as completely segregating your LEGO play (because yes, it is a form of play) and declaring your entire LEGO collection off-limits. Sometimes the best way to supervise how your kids use LEGO and teach them to use it responsibly (clean up their own messes, etc) is to be an active participant in their LEGO play experience, as The Man Upstairs was in the very end of the movie. I say this as a movie viewer, not as a parent. Maybe if I ever have kids of my own I might become a bit more jaded and realize it's not as simple as the movie makes it seem. But overall I feel like the lesson of the movie was about togetherness and acceptance, not about one type of fan or enthusiast being better than another. Anyway, I tend to keep a lot of my LEGO sets together, but that's more because I have a very hard time keeping loose parts organized and having too many sets apart at one time just leads to increasing amounts of clutter. There are certain sets like my Hero Factory sets that I do generally keep apart for MOCing purposes. I have never "Kragled" any of my bricks, though!

I'm not quite sure what you mean. She has the crossguard lightsaber piece, same as Kopaka and the shadow trap from Ketar (can't tell if it's Dark Stone Grey or Titanium Metallic, probably the former), but the silver metallic connectors in her weapon are not the lightsaber hilt piece, but rather these. (also this is the story topic)

Swings his lightsaber arm. I believe Rey and Kylo Ren also both have gear functions for the same purpose.

I apologize, but I can't take this argument any more seriously than all the moms and dads who stubbornly believe that basic brick buckets are the ONLY sets that encourage creative play and that any other kits stifle it by teaching kids to only build what's in the instructions. If kids or adults want to use these named characters as generic characters, or even mix-and-match them to create new and unique characters, there's nothing stopping them. But giving the characters names and identities gives kids another level on which to relate to them, if they prefer that. It's not "dumb", it's just a different type of play that involves plenty of creativity in its own right. From my experience, things like character names and backstories generally don't stifle creativity, but rather jump-start it. After all, if nameless characters encourage so much more creativity than named ones, then how come I invariably see so much more fan art, fan fiction, and fan videos (often involving original characters) for themes with elaborately crafted lore like Bionicle or Ninjago than for more open-ended themes like City, Pirates, or Castle? Does the creativity these traditional themes inspire begin and end at the toy box? In my opinion, what really stifles creativity is telling kids that only completely open-ended play is creative and that anything short of that is scripted and unimaginative. From modern-day stories like Wicked and Sherlock all the way back to the days of Greek myths, people have been telling stories using characters that other people before them created, and those stories are not "unimaginative" or "uncreative" or "dumbed down" just because they are built on a pre-existing foundation.

From my understanding, there's a futuristic medieval kingdom called Knighton. The king's jester (Jestro) becomes disgruntled because the royal family is more interested in digital entertainment than his performances. He finds an evil book called the Book of Monsters which promises it can help him get back at the royal family. The Book of Monsters can summon an army of lava monsters, which Jestro commands. It's up to the king's knights to protect the kingdom.

Right here!

They all look excellent to me! LEGO is getting better and better with these head sculpts. I knew they'd look a lot better than they did in the awkwardly posed and lit Club Magazine render. The Stormtrooper and Captain Phasma both feel a bit generic in terms of color scheme and build, as does Kylo Ren, but they still look good and feel very authentic. Finn's coattails (?) feel a bit awkward, and he and Poe both have somewhat knobbly knees, but they look great otherwise, with very exciting color schemes. Poe's pilot harness is also an excellent build. Rey is probably my favorite of these designs. Her build and costume feel fresh and unique, instead of feeling like a rehash. Her physique is more petite than the others without being exaggerated, and her knees are less knobbly than Finn and Poe's since the thigh shells are pointed down. Her textile elements add a lot of personality. It's great that the first two female characters in this range have been handled so well. I will probably end up getting her for parts. She'd have been more useful to me if she didn't have headgear, though.

The motorcycle mode looks really cool, and I'm really warming up to the horse mode as well! I still prefer the little hover-horses, though. The Rumble Blade looks nice, and it's cool that the main part of the vehicle becomes a turret/ballista when the bikes and flier are detached, however ridiculous that makes the size of the base compared to the size of the blasters. The sword-shaped flier is brilliant! Once again, Mark Stafford brings his A-game. It's still not clear if there are any interesting details inside or behind Jestro's Evil Mobile, but it's still a really good design. It's cool to see that Infernox can be hitched up to it in place of Sparkks! The Fortrex interior looks nice. I love the round table and kitchen, small as they are. These are the kinds of features that LEGO Castle has long been lacking. I like the cannon on the top a lot better now that I see that when it's mounted on the Fortrex, it's crossbow-shaped, and the transparent fluorescent reddish orange lightsaber blades are the bowstring, although it still looks very silly when detached as a flier. It's really a very solid design for a mobile fortress. :) Merlok's Library makes a nice expansion to the Fortrex, though I think they could have made room for more than just one book. That's kind of disappointing. Still, nice to be getting a library at all. The King's Mech remains a great design with really nice articulation, The Ultimate characters have great figures and accessories. I love the idea of swappable accessories to match the Nexo Power shields. :) I hope there's another wave in the future that includes other characters like Axl and Jestro. :) It's possible that they might be stickered in some sets and printed in others...

Opinion time! Lewa looks great, possibly the best of the Toa. His back is a little bare-bones, but he uses some very creative techniques very creatively for his arms and legs. Lewa's new mask looks awesome, though it's surprising a lot of people consider it more authentic to his classic mask than the 2015 version was, since most of the similarities to the classic mask were present in both versions. I do wish Lewa had a more contrasting color like Gali and Tahu do. Even Flame Yellowish Orange like this year's version used could look quite nice. Pohatu generally looks alright, but his color scheme is not as coherent as Lewa. I think he'd be much improved if he used 4M Silver Metallic shells on his forearms instead of 3M Tr. Flu. Green ones. Maybe also if he used Dark Orange shells on his upper legs rather than Sand Yellow ones, though I know many people would be upset to miss out on a new recolor, particularly in such a rare color. His weapon is one of the weirder ones, as is his "Power Up" form with the Creature of Stone. His mask is very nice, though! Gali might be my second-favorite of the Toa, after Lewa. Her design is now asymmetrical, yet well balanced (so she sort of takes Pohatu's place as the asymmetrical team member). Her weapon is similar to Pohatu's, but I generally like hers more. Her color scheme is very dynamic, with orange accents taking the place of the previous version's yellow ones and Tr. Dark Blue taking the place of the previous version's Titanium Metallic. The "powered up" form looks great. The artists creating these renders chose some excellent poses for her. And her mask is a great update of the current version. Tahu's proportions are not as weird as I expected them to be since his lower legs are actually 6 modules rather than 5 — which means we get a nice new recolored shell and recolored beam as well. I think his upper legs could stand to be a module shorter, though. His combination with the Creature of Fire is excellent and makes for a particularly majestic upgrade. I'm still not totally digging the way he uses so many different textures. Maybe the crystal element from his lower legs would have been a better fit for his lower arms as well. Like the others, he's got a good mask, and I love his Dark Azur accents! Onua... oh dear, what to say about Onua. He's definitely a coherent design with a well-coordinated color scheme, but I do not think this design suits the character nearly as well as his design from last year did. I miss his clawed feet and his short stature and his muscular chest. I'm not as thrilled with his mask as many of the others (though it's a better upgrade than the Pakari Nuva in 2002 was), and I'm not 100% sold on the "Power Up" form with the Creature of Earth. The weapon also lacks the crystal motif of the others, which is a bit of a shame, but at least it's creative. I had already seen some details of the Kopaka and Melum Unity Set at BrickFair New Jersey, so it's not as new to me. Kopaka looks nice, although his color scheme would probably feel a lot more balanced if his shoulder shells were Warm Gold instead of Silver Metallic. I guess it just wasn't in the budget. His design does nicely evoke the feeling of a lean character in heavy padded armor. I like his new sword a lot more than his new shield, but maybe it will have some stickers to spice it up a bit. He was cool when he had a spear, but since Pohatu and Gali now both have spears a sword offers more variety. And it does feel distinct from Tahu's. The Toa in general have longer torsos than they did previously, and I'm still not 100% sure how I feel about that. I definitely am not too fond of how all the characters use friction joints in their ankles, because in my opinion it messes up the proportions of the foot. I understand why they did it, but perhaps a newer foot with a shorter ankle (2M rather than 3M) would have been a good idea. The new eyestalk looks good, but makes me wish the Toa's eyes were green like the "good guy" eyes in 2006 and 2010. Because not only was that an generally sound decision even back then, but a fluorescent color would probably glow a lot better with the new truncated eyestalk. The elemental crystal motif of the armor and masks is a much nicer update in my opinion than the extremely organic look of the Kanohi Nuva from 2002. On to the creatures! Uxar is an awesome bug design with some good recolors and tasteful use of System. The Jungle shadow trap gives a good idea of what to expect with the others: a bear-trap with element-specific legs and possibly a tail. The yellow accents look gerat with the green, and are the sort of thing I'd have liked to see more of on Lewa. The flapping wings function seems nice, and is a great addition to Lewa in "power up" mode. Ketar has a cool slashing function that sets it apart from past scorpion creatures. I wonder how Pohatu's previously expressed hatred of scorpios might affect his bonding with Ketar. I wish the tail were mounted a bit lower on the body, and I'm not sure why a new recolor for the Vorox shell was necessary for just this set (Pohatu uses it in Silver). The shadow trap is simple, but I like its "stinger". Akida is definitely one of the most unique creatures. Instead of a gear function it has launchers that change direction with the angle of the fins. Bit awkward that you can't spin the propellors without firing the blasters, though. The color scheme suits Akida as well as it suits Gali. The shadow trap is nice, though maybe more organic-looking tentacles or fins might have suited the environment better than legs. Ikir really has what it takes to be the "poster child" of the Great Elemental Creatures. Good posability, a unique avian design, and a cool color scheme. I don't know if the Hero Factory flames really suit the design or go well with the new crystal blade pieces on the wings. The wings flap when you press the tail, which is a nice function. Great talons! Ikir's Shadow Trap is maybe the most mundane, though. Terak is a nice design. Its "digging" function when you press the tail is quite nice! It has some great new recolors too. I mentioned already I'm not super thrilled with its "power up" function with Onua, in part because it doesn't add extra functions the way Uxar, Akida, and Ikir's combinations do. And Onua's shoulder armor didn't really need beefing up. The drill legs on the Shadow Trap are nifty! Melum is a bit plain as creatures go, and similar structurally to Terak, but its "bear hug" function seems interesting. Its combination with Kopaka makes a bit more sense than Onua's with Terak, since Onua already has pretty beefy shoulders while Kopaka's are a little leaner. It also does a nice job balancing out Kopaka's color scheme. Bit of a shame that this set doesn't include a Shadow Trap, but it'd be easy to rig up a custom one! Finally we come to Umarak. They really want to push that Umarak can combine with any of the creatures, judging from all the different "Power Up" pics. The Creature of Jungle matches Umarak's color scheme best, but I actually like the other ones' contrast. Feels a bit more evil and unnatural. Umarak's antlers are awesome, and it's great to have the segmented leg/tail pieces in the same color at long last! The bow and sword are both nice weapons, if ones we've seen a lot in this year's sets. Umarak's color scheme is a lot more dynamic than the typical red and black we see for villains. It almost feels like camouflage, which suits a hunter character. Some people have criticized Umarak's leg construction, but I feel like it's fairly coherent and quite creative. Umarak's mask is nice and spooky, and the Mask of Control looks excellent, every bit as ornate as Ekimu's but a bit more stern. My biggest criticism of Umarak is that the area above his shoulders feels a bit gappy. Overall, my opinion of the new sets since seeing these new, highly-detailed pictures has generally improved. I look forward to getting some story info on more of these characters!

Just wrote up a news story for BZPower with links to all 85 pics. Here it is for your viewing pleasure!

I don't see how combining ideas in new and creative ways, as The LEGO Movie encouraged, is "dumbing things down". Nor how today's society has a tendency to dumb things down. Obviously, that's something people have been saying about "today's society" for millennia (back in Plato's day there were even concerns that the rise of writing was "dumbing things down" by taking the place of oral tradition and making it so that people no longer had to remember so many things). In my opinion, we live in a great time for kids' entertainment. There are certainly plenty of dumb cartoons on the air, but also lots of more sophisticated ones like Gravity Falls, My Little Pony Friendship is Magic, and The Legend of Korra. Even merchandise-driven cartoons like LEGO Ninjago: Masters of Spinjitzu tend to have much higher production values and deeper storytelling than a lot of the cheap cartoons that dominated the airwaves back in the 80s. Kids' movies, too, have evolved: films like The LEGO Movie, Big Hero 6, Toy Story 3, Brave, and Wreck-It Ralph are as well-loved by adults and kids alike as they are in part because of their sophisticated themes. Even video games are evolving, with some sandbox games such as Minecraft transforming the concept of the video game into a profoundly creative and social experience, and others like Undertale exploring new ways that player choices can be used to tell emotionally resonant stories. Even in LEGO, I don't see things being dumbed down. On the contrary, I see exactly the opposite, at just about every level of building (from Classic/Juniors all the way up to Technic and Creator Expert). Sets in general are getting increasingly creative and sophisticated. Just look how much better 70411 Treasure Island from this year looks than 6241 Loot Island from 2009. And as for complexity not being popular, themes like Ninjago and Legends of Chima are generally VERY complex, whether you're talking more sci-fi sets like 70737 Titan Mech Battle and 70144 Laval's Fire Lion or more fantasy-oriented sets like 70734 Master Wu Dragon and 70123 Lion Legend Beast. Nexo Knights looks like it will be no different — already, of the two sets we've seen, 70316 Jestro's Evil Mobile boasts 658 pieces including a brick-built golem, a fearsome brick-built figurehead, and elaborate brick-built tires. Plus a brick-built robo-horse for the heroes. Even the concept, a giant, jester-themed chariot pulled by an evil lava golem, is much more complex than a run-of-the-mill chariot like 7078 King's Battle Chariot. So what about this set isn't complex? Naturally, some people have issues with Nexo Knights. Understandable issues. But unless they're not paying any attention to what the theme is actually like, a lack of complexity shouldn't be their chief concern.

Wow, been a while since anybody's posted in this topic, huh? Anyway, thought I'd pop in and mention that this year's Target minifigure cube, featuring non-zombified Sir Fangar, is now available. :) And it's just $10, $5 cheaper than last year's which featured fire CHI Lavertus. If you use the promo code TOYS you get 20% off, bringing it down to just two dollars per figure!

You keep saying that, but not only have we not gotten super-clear pictures of Cole's symbol (or most of the symbols, for that matter), but also, seems to me the biggest difference is that its mouth is closed on his previous badge and open on the new side-view one, same as Kai's, Zane's, or Lloyd's. Other than that, both versions feature ears/ridges behind and to the sides of the eyes, a ridge up on top of the head, and an angular chin. So it seems plenty believable to me that they could be the same creature.

Nope, not at all. He's wearing the stone armor from episode 34 "The Titanium Ninja". Only Lloyd and Zane were previously released in that armor, in set 70728 (Jay and Cole still haven't been released in that armor as physical minifigures). Interestingly, Kai's got uniquely printed legs in this minifigure cube. Zane and Lloyd didn't have printed legs in 70728 and none of the stone-armored Ninja had printed legs in the TV episodes. So I think that's a nice little bonus for them to throw in.

Some of them are decent MOCists, for sure! But to be honest I don't pay all that much attention to that part of the community because I prefer to look at MOCs, news, and speculation as text/pictures rather than as videos (just personal preference).

Really fantastic! Excellent work on those rocks! You did a fantastic job really capturing the visual language of Elvendale.

It's the name Bionicle fans on YouTube have come up with for their community.

Pretty sure "Tiger Widow" refers to the island's giant spiders (like the one that can be seen in the leaked pics).

Based on the Euro prices on the latest site where I've seen pics of the sets, I'd imagine that both the Raid Zeppelin and Jay's Elemental Dragon are $35/€35 sets, that Sky Shark and Ninja Bike Chase are both $20/€20 sets (same price as as 70733 Blaster Bike), and that Cole's Dragon is a $10/€10 set (same price as the Airjitzu fliers). Not sure about the larger sets because they don't have a lot of older Ninjago set listings for me to compare the prices to.

I... am not sure what this means. What makes Eurobricks' "posting system" different from other forums, and how does it enforce certain opinions over others? It seems to me that you're pretty free to express a wide range of opinions here, at long as they don't get into things like religion or politics that are liable to lead to a flame war (and those aren't things that are likely to come up in a discussion of Bionicle). Just look at how many differing opinions on the new sets there have been in this very thread. Some people like the new sets in general, some don't. Some people think they use too much Technic, some think not enough. Some people think certain Toa are better than their 2015 versions and other people think they're worse. Just like any other forum, if you express an opinion here that other people disagree with they're probably going to tell you so, but that doesn't mean you aren't free to express that opinion, just that other people are just as free to counter with their own opinions. That's generally how discussion works. I have heard some more controversial things about this site and how they've handled certain disputes in the past, and if you're talking about something like that we might be better discussing it via PM since it'd be getting kinda off-topic for this thread. But your post didn't give me the impression that you were referring to those specific issues.

I just got into Gravity Falls a couple weeks ago, but I'm not terribly upset that it's ending. There's something gratifying about being able to see a story through to its end. Plus, there's always the possibility of a movie spin-off or something like that in the future. And for me personally, I've still got a backlog of "cartoons I should have watched by now". I'm finally caught up with Steven Universe and Gravity Falls. I think Over the Garden Wall or Star vs. the Forces of Evil might be next on my list.

Evidently you're wrong, because I'm looking at a site right now that still has preliminary images. Presumably the same one people have been talking about all day, which is different from (and has larger images than) the one people had been discussing prior to today. Hopefully we get official, non-confidential images soon, because it's frustrating talking in vague terms like this with people who can't even find what you're talking about.