Aanchir

Bear in mind all the set photos are probably still preliminary. They might not reflect the full range of minifigure variety that the final theme will have. It's possible the key visual from the cover reflects a more finished version of the same figs.

LEGO seems very dedicated to ensuring that LEGO City remains a safe place. This extends beyond the lack of weapons for police officers and criminals — note that every single burning building in a LEGO City firefighting set has been an abandoned one, not one with people or animals living in it. And emergency victims in LEGO City ambulances and hospitals generally never have any obvious injuries. Besides LEGO City being aimed at a younger audience than themes like LEGO Ninjago, there are other reasons for this. LEGO City is the closest LEGO theme to reality. And yet LEGO doesn't want to reflect parts of reality that kids might be particularly sensitive to. A kid who's been in a house fire would probably not respond well to a set depicting a house fire. A person who had a family member killed by police (sadly, an all-too-common occurrence in many parts of the world) would probably not respond well to a set depicting police with guns. Once you experience these things in real life (especially as a child) they stop being fun and become traumatic. Kids are welcome to role-play these kinds of scenarios if they are comfortable doing so, but that's different from LEGO promoting that type of role-play through the actual products. This is not anywhere near as great a concern in themes like LEGO Star Wars. No actual child has ever lost their parents in a confrontation with a Jedi, Battle Droid, or Clone Trooper as far as I'm aware. The most dangerous scenario depicted in LEGO City sets is shark attacks. And perhaps LEGO allows for this because again, no injuries are shown, and besides, shark attacks are extremely rare in real life. The United States averages 19 shark attacks per year and just one shark-attack fatality every two years. Whereas the United States has had over 9,000 shooting deaths this year alone.

The main example I know of is 4094 Motor Movers from 2003. Its tail is a Duplo element, and is attached by a rather unusual technique (plugged into the underside of a 2x2 brick).

The heads do come off and can rotate freely. The shields of the ones from 2004 are cardstock, about the same thickness/sturdiness as a trading card, but the shields of the 2005 and 2006 ones are hard plastic with the animal patterns molded into them in three dimensions.

Makes sense. It probably has to be rubber to get that level of detail in the molding. LEGO doesn't mold really thin details in hard plastic because they might snap or bend out of shape, whereas in rubber they'll bend right back into shape. Examples: Kit Fisto's head from LEGO Star Wars, the super sharp corners of the collectible minifigure spear and Exo-Force hair, the curled tip of the Ninjago minifigure snake tails, etc.

People are allowed to like things that they know are flawed. Sometimes people are fully aware of these flaws but like the thing for other reasons. Other times, people only become aware of these flaws in hindsight, particularly if an alternative that doesn't have these same flaws presents itself. Goodness knows there are a lot of people who absolutely loved the classic video games of the 1980s like Pac-Man, Donkey Kong, Super Mario Bros, and The Legend of Zelda. And understandably so — they were great games for their time. But continuing to love those games for what they were doesn't have to mean thinking video games should go back to how they were back then now that better graphics, gameplay, and storytelling are possible. Nor does it mean that a game designed to imitate 1980s sounds, gameplay, and graphics will be as popular with kids today as it was with kids back then. The same goes for G1 Bionicle. There are many things it arguably did better than any other toy of its time. But that doesn't mean kids and adults have no reason to expect better today, after designers have had so many years to learn and develop and after the standards for LEGO design have gotten so much higher. I'm not entirely sure what you mean. With the Toa Mata weapon arm I get your point slightly, but the Toa Mata leg and Toa Mata torso had almost the exact same defining motifs: pistons and deep, angular cavities. The pistons even all had the same diameter! By contrast, the 2006 sets introduced a texture (circular dots arranged in an array of equilateral triangles) that was not present in any previous Bionicle parts. The 2007 sets introduced even more textures, like the larger elliptical spots on Kalmah's armor shells, the bulbous, segmented shape of Takadox's armor shells, the scalloped edges of so many of that year's blade pieces, etc. None of these textures was inherently bad. The problem is that as Bionicle went on, picking up texture after texture, it became far more complicated than when it had started out. Worse, there was no "default" state for the the foundation of the build — instead, certain shapes, sizes, and functions were restricted to certain textures. Want a lower leg beam with that dot texture from 2006? It only comes in one shape and size — the 8M Piraka lower leg beam. Want a torso beam with that texture? There's only one, and it's eleven modules wide at the shoulders. Want a 7M lower leg beam? You're limited to two basic designs — the Vahki lower leg beam and the Toa Metru lower leg beam. If you want different textures or proportions than those at that size (like, say, something more visually compatible with a Toa Nuva lower leg) you have to go with a completely custom solution. Whereas the interchangeability of CCBS means you can get lots of different sizes and shapes of lower leg depending on which beams and shells you use, what angle you attach them at, and whether you include any add-ons. And after just one year of G2 Bionicle, some of the 2016 sets are starting to exhibit some texture problems of their own. The new Tahu's shoulders, forearms, upper legs, and lower legs appear to use four very different textures that aren't repeated anywhere else in the build. Maybe this might be less egregious in the final set than in this one preliminary image, but in the image we've seen it seems more than a little problematic.

Whoops, ninja'd by my brother. Well, I hope most of what I have to say is still relevant. LEGO has lots of robot faces that they've accumulated over the years. These two faces from the Age of Ultron sets and these three faces from the LEGO Movie sets are just a few recent examples. You can search "alien" in the minifig head category on Bricklink for a full list of non-human minifigure faces. None are an exact match for Hero Factory faces, of course. But most non-HF minifigure headgear does not tend to be a perfect fit for the Hero Factory universe anyway, and the characters' identities are generally defined more by their headgear than by the faces underneath. So once you change the headgear, you're effectively creating an original character and can really use any robot head you choose without worrying about whether it looks "canon" to specific, known Hero Factory characters. As for the torsos they are already compatible (and fairly complete-looking) with some other body armor like the classic castle armor. I suppose they could have been better if they'd used this skeleton torso that has a more solid lower body and doesn't need as much clearance built into the shoulder armor for the arms to rotate. On that torso, any armor that covers most of the upper body like this or this would feel fairly complete. But these are just small improvements. If you had more substantial improvements in mind you're going to have to articulate them for me, because I am having a hard time picturing them for myself. But playsets aren't strictly about the figures the way constraction sets are. They're about the structures. The figures just give you a way to interact with the structures and help provide a sense of scale. The building and customization potential of the figures themselves is secondary. I suppose I get why you were disappointed with the Hero Factory figs, and I suppose creating a generic face print for mini-Bionicle figures to match the generic head design of the larger figures would be no huge burden. But overall, I think this style of figure offers plenty of room for customization, and much more than any past LEGO robot minifigures that don't use the generic fig design. With only a few small adjustments it could potentially be made even better.

Yeah, something around those lines would make sense. With some exceptions, LEGO tends to start putting out official teasers for the next year with the release of the November–December LEGO Club Magazine. That's not to say we won't have finalized pics before then, if by chance they show up on Amazon.com or someplace like that. But for this theme, I do not expect to see teasers at New York Comic-Con or anything like that. Events like that tend to focus on themes that already have a sizable audience (like Ninjago, Bionicle, or licensed themes based on familiar brands), not ones that have yet to even enter the public consciousness outside of dedicated AFOL communities.

I was about to say the same thing. Umarak's lower legs are definitely non-traditional, but they are fairly simple and efficient, adding support and allowing for a wide range of poses. With a better kneecap I'm sure they would be even better. I'm also fond of some of the other creative techniques we've seen, like Lewa's lower legs. The only issue I have with them is that this construction comes apart more easily than a normal leg built from CCBS beams But their proportions are quite charming and I really think they suit Lewa quite well. And again, regarding the new shell used for the creatures' torsos — it seemingly has to use Technic pins to allow the creatures to connect to the Toa. It is as much a connector as it is an armor piece. I'm not so fond of it on Kopaka's lower legs, but we're seeing that set from a somewhat bad angle anyway. There are things that DO bother me, of course. It's hard to understand the purpose of Kopaka's weird shoulder construction, which just seems to give him bony upper arms. Or for that matter the decision to give him black shells on his lower arms. I dislike Onua's more generic-looking physique, which loses a lot of the originality that this year's Onua brought to the table. The number of different textures in Tahu's design is somewhat alarming. And I'm not sure just what kind of functions to expect with the Toa's torsos, or how compatible they will be with things like Lewa's weapons. And finally, all the Toa appear to use friction joints on their ankles, which pretty much always looks weird. If ever there were a reason for a new foot piece, it's how awkwardly high the ankles of almost all current feet become when a friction joint is attached. But overall I see a lot that interests me, and look forward to further details. It can't be denied that the designers are trying new things and exploring new types of building techniques, and we'll see how some of those pan out. Overall, I prefer the Toa's current (2015) designs, but some things like the new blended add-ons and the idea of each Toa having an animal companion appeal to me greatly, and we'll see if the new sets can win me over when all is said and done.

My guess? The new shell is Technic-based so that the Technic pin holes can be used to connect the creatures (many of which use it as a torso shell) to the backs of the Toa. I could be wrong, but that seems probable to me.

It looks like his blaster is built into a shield, albeit a smaller one built from Technic panels.

I was confused too, but it seems the primary use of that piece is on the torsos of some of the creatures. Which makes a little bit more sense — it attaches more tightly to the torso than the Protectors' armor did and adds some connection points on the sides which I'm sure can be useful. To those who are saying there are a lot more parts next year than this year... don't get your hopes up about that. So far I can count 15 new parts: eight masks, a new torso beam, a new torso shell, a new co-injected shell detail, a new co-injected blade, the creature faceplates, the "bear trap", and the new Technic shell used on Kopaka's legs and the creatures' torsos. I'm sure there might be other parts which are hiding, but in the meantime, remember that the first wave of Bionicle sets this year had NINETEEN new parts, not counting basic Technic. Tahu, Onua, and Kopaka all have functions in their weapons, which might be to make up for a lack of functions in their torsos. But I could be wrong about that. I generally like the new masks. Tahu's seems a bit small but that might be the angle of the pic playing tricks on me. Wonder when we'll get clear, official, non-preliminary pics. Probably not for a few weeks at the very least.

Yeah, the new shell on Kopaka's lower legs perplexes me. I mean, it definitely seems like it could be versatile. Its connection points are much like those of the Barraki shells, which were some of the most useful ones of G1 since like CCBS shells they could be attached to either the front or sides of a beam. So a lot better than things like the Toa Inika or Toa Metru thigh shells. Still, I'll have to see how this shell is used on other sets, because in the context of this set I don't entirely see the point. It just feels like complexity for complexity's sake, and looks a little bit messy compared to the cleaner designs we're used to from this year. Terak and Ikir seem to use it as torso armor, which makes a bit more sense. Kopaka also has a Technic construction for his torso and upper arms? Which again, confuses me. I can't tell if there's any kind of integrated function or if it's again just complexity for complexity's sake. It seems like it makes his upper arms a bit spindly and his shoulders a bit cluttered-looking. And since the combination feature seems to just be the creature riding on Kopaka's back and acting as armor, I don't see that justifying this build. Interestingly, although the Kopaka and Melum Unity Set has 172 pieces, it is still in a hexagonal box like the smaller sets. But much larger than the current $20 boxes. And just so nobody gets alarmed, it also looks as though the main pic in this catalog is mirrored, so no, his eyepiece won't be switching sides (but his sword will). There seems to be a new torso beam. Possibly just for the lower body. Oh, and the catalog also advertises "Strong Media Support through Netflix and other channels"... Now THAT's a creative building technique I can get behind! Wonder why I've never seen that technique on a MOC before. It seems simple yet highly effective!

What issues did you have with the Hero Factory minifigs? I thought they were plenty versatile, especially since their torso armor and helmets could be used on traditional minifigures. If I could put my sigfig in Bionicle armor and a Bionicle mask I'd be a happy camper. :) The only real limit on the Hero Factory minifigs compared to traditional minifigures was that their wrists couldn't rotate, and I thought the ability to clip things to the arms and legs helped make up for that.

I'm assuming that by "anime" CM4S just means large eyes with detailed colored irises, like other LEGO Friends/LEGO Elves people and animals tend to have. As opposed to the smaller and simpler eyes typical of LEGO Ninjago or LEGO Castle dragons. It wouldn't surprise me if the dragons have brick-built bodies but more specialized head sculpts like the pre-2014 LEGO Ninjago dragons.

You can probably find ways to use the parts together, but it might take some creative thinking since as Onepu said, they use different types of joints. That hasn't stopped some builders from using Galidor parts in Bionicle or System creations, though!

Perhaps they could have last year, but I'm pretty sure LEGO's license to produce Ninja Turtles sets has expired and Mega Bloks has picked it up. So no chance at more Ninja Turtles sets unless Mega Bloks opts not to renew their license.

While I agree with you that the spirit of this theme is very akin to Ninjago, this sentence confused me. Ninjago has hardly any laser guns, at least of the hand-held variety. The only laser-gun-like minifigure weapons I can think of over five years of sets are General Cryptor's laser rocket launcher in set 70721 and Jay's lightning weapon in 70731. Otherwise all of the lasers tend to be on mechs and vehicles. If you'd said Chima the comparison might have made more sense. But really, on a conceptual level, the theme is definitely a re-imagining of LEGO Castle. Sort of a "what if LEGO Castle happened in the future?" theme. Personally, I'm not sure if the designs appeal to me. It doesn't seem to have so much of the sculptural elegance and thematic unity that helped draw me to Ninjago and Chima. I will still give the story a look, and that might turn out to be the deciding factor. But with Elves, Ninjago, and Bionicle returning next year I don't know how much room I will be able to make for this theme in my plans for next year. I will say I like the little flying robot horse in the Chaos Chariot set better than the big one. And the theme as a whole has a lot of creativity — love those ball creatures!

Presumably because they're fluorescent, so they stand out more and have more "energy", so to speak. LEGO did have Transparent Fluorescent Red and Transparent Fluorescent Yellow colors (Tahu and Gali's original eye colors), but those were discontinued years ago as part of the LEGO Group's attempt to trim down their color palette in the mid-naughts. It's understandable why they didn't make the cut since they were hardly used in any other sets.

LEGO would have chosen the product. One of the defining traits of a "big bang" theme is that it's developed in house rather than based on an external or co-owned property.

I really feel like I ought to chime in that if the set labeled "Mr. T" were an A-Team set then he almost certainly wouldn't be identified as Mr. T, even in a placeholder title. That'd be like identifying the level pack with Peter Venkman with the placeholder title "Bill Murray" instead of the name of the character or the name of the franchise. Mr. T. has been on plenty of shows where he's played himself, so it seems to me one of those would be the more likely inspiration. I'm going to agree with some other people that there's a good chance "AT" stands for "Adventure Time".

It would not surprise me one bit to see the Vorox armor come back. It's much more compatible with CCBS than most other G1 shells, both visually and functionally. And it's been in sets as recently as 2012 (Speeda Demon). So I doubt that's just a prelim thing. Largely impressed with what I've seen and heard so far.

I feel like the Star Wars torso shell could work fine for Bionicle, myself. Chances are if it's used it will be printed in the final sets, so I'm curious what type of printing they might use. The biggest disadvantage would be the size and the lack of variety, but the latter is not a huge change and the former could arguably improve the characters' proportions in some cases. Lack of gear functions is not something I would take at face value, since not only was that many people's impression of last year's sets from preliminary images, but it also wouldn't necessarily preclude a different type of function. Though it would be a bit sad not to get more mileage out of the gearbox element. Fiery-looking add-ons blended with two colors were something I had predicted as a possibility. It sounds like I was right on the money. Good to hear the creatures are nice and diverse. Umarak sounds very unique. Overall, though, I still feel like it's too early for me to really form a lot of opinions about the sets individually or as a group. After all, there's no clear indication of how close they are to finalized.

According to this official article — the very article that declared most of the EU non-canon — Star Wars: The Clone Wars is still canon: "While Lucasfilm always strived to keep the stories created for the EU consistent with our film and television content as well as internally consistent, Lucas always made it clear that he was not beholden to the EU. He set the films he created as the canon. This includes the six Star Wars episodes, and the many hours of content he developed and produced in Star Wars: The Clone Wars. These stories are the immovable objects of Star Wars history, the characters and events to which all other tales must align." I don't see why you're trying to argue with me on this. I won't pretend to be a die-hard Star Wars fan, but I wouldn't have posted about that if I hadn't done enough research to be sure I wasn't just making wild assertions. In this case, the research was a simple as a Google search for "Is Star Wars: The Clone Wars still canon?" and a bit of poking around in Wookiepedia's sources to make sure the facts backed them up.

Well, we've got some more info on the LEGO Ninjago "Ninjaland" at LEGOLAND Billund here (teaser site) and (fly-through video). No obvious 2016 set teasers (there's Nya's 2011-style ninja costume that was also seen in the LEGOLAND Malaysia stage show, and some similarly "revamped" 2011 costumes for the other ninja, but it's not clear if those are a set thing or just something created for the LEGOLAND parks), but it does give us a better idea of what the attraction will include. LEGO Ninjago: The Ride — a 4D ride where you can use hand gestures to interact with the surroundings and fight Ninjago villains like the Great Devourer (I guess making elements shoot from your hands or things like that). Pretty cool! Lloyd's Laser Labyrinth — pass through two tunnels without tripping the 30 lasers Jay's Reaction Training — an electronic game where you try to press buttons as they light up Kai's Spinners — looks like a kinetic, playground-type activity... not much info on this one yet Cole's Climbing Wall — a 12-meter climbing wall with light-up grips to guide kids along. Ninja Room — seems to be an exhibit of brick-built ninja and weapons, kind of like the Star Wars character display they have near the life-size X-Wing exhibit. Nya's Training Room — room with an "interactive water globe" suspended in the center that you can touch. Dragon Stables — features stable doors of the ninja's four dragons, with "interactive sounds and levers/knobs" The Great Room — building tables Pretty cool overall!