Aanchir

You can see some clear images of two of the chest plates in this image from my BIONICLE 2015 New Parts Preview on New Elementary. This image from the same post shows all five printed chest plates as they appear in the CGI product pics.I think it's hard to fully appreciate the designs without seeing them in person, on account of the beautiful metallic printing which I think is the highlight of these patterns. The background color of each pattern looks slightly cracked and weathered, which might be clearer in this photo from my Kopaka set review. I feel this also adds an appealing level of detail, reminiscent of the weathering that characterized the surfaces of the Toa's armor in some of the early comics. Rather than just adding asymmetry, these patterns also have metallic vents and decorative patterns that simulate tribal war paint (or perhaps a fusion of tribal war paint and the paint job on an automobile), which really adds to the sets a great deal, in my opinion. It's entirely unlike anything in previous BIONICLE sets, but at the same time, it is extremely consistent with the dichotomy of tropical island culture and mechanical intricacy that defined the early years of BIONICLE. It looks less like a child drew it with a marker and more like it was drawn carefully and deliberately, like the ornate tattoos worn by the Maori people. It also reminds me somewhat of the Nuva symbols in that the metallic patterns evoke the energy of the character's element — however, it is less rectilinear than the Nuva symbols, and as a result I think it conveys an even more dynamic energy. I, too, was a surprised to find that Lewa's chest plate uses Bright Yellowish Green and Bright Yellow instead of Bright Green and Flame Yellowish Orange. But I think it works surprisingly well with the look of the completed set (just as the Bright Yellowish Green vine pieces work surprisingly well on the feet of the Protector of Jungle, or on Lewa's feet in his "powered up" form). I'm not sure whether the darker color on Pohatu's chest plate is Dark Red or Reddish Brown (I've honestly forgotten), but it looked excellent when I saw it at New York Comic Con. Though his chest plate has fewer of those ornate metallic zigzag patterns that I like than most of the others. All things considered, I think these patterns add much more appeal to the set designs than they take away. Gali's is my favorite of the ones I've gotten to hold myself. It suits her color scheme brilliantly and feels very aquatic.

Yeah, sure, I probably wouldn't mind that! I think the current chest plate from the Super Heroes sets is really nice, and I'd hate to see it discontinued, but introducing a new one to give the next series of heroes a sense of freshness and variety would not necessarily be a bad thing, since there are few parts that perform the same function with a greater level of molded detail. Certainly I think that introducing a new chest plate would be preferable to how Legends of Chima introduced an entirely new torso shell with fewer connection points than ever before. The Legends of Chima torso shell has its uses in terms of its bulkier shape and more hollow interior than a classic torso shell with Super Heroes chest plate, but it still felt like a downgrade to me as far as versatility is concerned.

please don't sit on your sets With that said, yeah, I'm in the camp that the prints look AMAZING. Great mechanical details and decorative patterns that give the appearance of tribal war paint. The metallic zigzag patterns on all six Toa's chests are particularly unique. I can see the sense in maybe removing the prints from them if you just want to have the pieces available for MOCing without a printed pattern, but even then there's not a lot of sense in removing the print from Gali's chest, since that chest plate already exists in Titanium Metallic without printing (and her printed pattern is one of the most beautiful IMO).

It's true, I do somewhat miss him being a Toa of Air for that reason. At the same time, I can see why they changed it, and to a certain extent it seems like just a nominal change. After all, the Protector of Jungle's weapon is still called the "Air Elemental Flame Bow", and Lewa's mask power is described as "communes with plants and the wind". So it's not really replacing the air element, but rather expanding it to include the Chinese classical element of wood (which also includes both plants and the wind).

A new torso shell for BIONICLE definitely isn't out of the question. Though to be honest, I almost think recolors of the Brain Attack torso shell might be cooler, since that's one of the most versatile in terms of connection points and has a great texture (smooth enough to match basic shells and not draw too much attention to itself, but detailed enough create a sense of structural complexity and flexibility). My point is that it's unlikely for the 2.0 torso shell to ever be completely discontinued unless an equally generic torso shell is introduced to take its place. If a more detailed torso shell could completely take its place, one of the ones we've already gotten like the Breakout or Brain Attack torso shells would have already done so. But frankly, there are some models or parts of models where you want a large, solid armor plate without any kind of elaborate mechanical detail. And this doesn't just apply to themes like BIONICLE and Hero Factory. The Super Heroes and Legends of Chima constraction sets mainly depict non-mechanical characters, so for them a shell characterized by organic smoothness is often a much better fit for them than a shell characterized by detailed multi-layered armor plating or mechanical textures. Especially for places like a figure's back that are generally not meant to be heavily emphasized. Even System sets like Maula's Ice Mammoth Stomper can benefit greatly from the smoothness of the 2.0 torso shell, because it's consistent with the smooth curves, slopes, and edges of other parts of the model like its back and shoulders. This is the case with most parts, really. The more generic they are, the more versatile they are. So introducing newer shells with more detailed textures to supplement the existing shells is fine, but expecting them to completely replace their more basic counterparts is unrealistic.

I think this has less to do with lack of thought and more to do with lack of budget. It's not like adding another joint to his arms would have required any real thought — if the budget had been there, it would be a no-brainer, especially since the Protector of Fire is one of just two sets that lacks forearms. As for the weapons, they're definitely much smaller than the weapons of other Protector sets, but you do have to keep in mind that all together, his two swords and shoulder-mounted blaster use 25 parts all together, barely any fewer than the Protector of Jungle's 28-piece weapon. If the designers had given the set just one weapon, it probably would not seem nearly as small and pitiful — but it would have also have made the set's weapons considerably less unique.

There has been a new torso shell pretty much every year, though. In 2012 we got a new one for the Breakout sets, in 2013 we got a new one for the Brain Attack sets, and in 2014 we got a new one for the Legends of Chima sets. If the designers had wanted to retire the 2.0 torso shell, they could have done so at any point. But the 2.0 torso shell, with its smooth simplicity, has advantages that none of these other more detailed torso shells can offer. It has a specialized shape but its texture is just as simple and versatile as any of the smaller shells, and that's part of why we've seen it get plenty of use even in sets and themes where a newer torso shell was available. In 2012, the Breakout torso shell would not have worked nearly as well as the 2.0 torso shell for Evo's Tank Arm, or for most of the Super Heroes constraction sets, or for Black Phantom's "cat burglar" aesthetic. In 2013 and 2014 it gave a level of organic smoothness to the Brain Attack and Invasion from Below villains and Legends of Chima constraction sets. Even Furno XL, who was already using a Silver Metallic Brain Attack torso shell, used two 2.0 torso shells in the same color on his legs, perhaps because the designers wanted that armor plating to look solid rather than mechanical and segmented. If the 2.0 torso shell DOES get retired, you're right that we will need a new torso shell to replace it. But I'm frankly unsure how a replacement could really improve on it, because the reason it's stuck around so long is because it lacks specialized mechanical detail. Only a replacement with a similar level of generic smoothness could genuinely take the 2.0 torso shell's place in many of its applications. And I doubt that such a shell would actually be seen as an improvement by many of the people who are clamoring for new shell designs.

Those hair pieces all look fantastic! I can't wait until more info on this theme begins to surface! EDIT: I just noticed that Brickshop.nl's product pages for the elves sets include a little rhyme: "Home to find she must be clever. Unity is needed more than ever." This is interesting. I'm guessing "she" refers to our protagonist, Emily Jones. Presenting the theme's premise as a rhyme definitely suits the fairy-tale imagery of the theme. EDIT 2: The product descriptions on babybrick.ru also indicate that the purpose of the keys is to open the portal for Emily to return home.

For now, I'm just referring to the villagers of Okoto as villagers. Because... they live in villages. I'm wondering when we will get more story info on the Protectors, since we don't have a completely clear understanding of what the term means, let alone what their individual personalities might be like.

Bright Green was definitely not a replacement for Mata Green (Dark Green). Bright Green been around for over two decades, making it about a decade older than Metru Green (Earth Green). And it's coexisted with Mata Green that entire time. It simply was never used in constraction sets until 2012. There was actually a considerable spike in its use in 2012, even in System, with a number of people mistaking it for a new color.

In what what absurdist fantasy world is using Bright Green instead of Mata Green (Dark Green) "lazy"? First of all, what color a set uses has nothing to do with how much effort the designers put in, so calling it "lazy" just means YOU were too lazy to come up with a word that actually means what you wanted it to mean. I'm assuming "cheap" might have been closer to what you meant. But even if you meant "lazy" to mean "cheap/thrifty", that wouldn't make the slightest bit of sense, because the green parts in Lewa have never been released in EITHER Bright Green or Mata Green before, so it costs no less to release them in Bright Green than to release them in Mata Green! If the designers REALLY wanted to be cheap or thrifty, they would have used Metru Green (Earth Green), because both the 8x5 torso shell AND the 4M shell already exist in that color. Chances are, the designers used Bright Green for one main reason: they genuinely thought it would be the best color for the set. And I think they were right. It's WAY more vibrant than Mata Green or Metru Green (Earth Green) would have been.

Took me a while to find them, but here's some photos of the spider my brother built . It's hardly any bigger than the Lord of Skull Spiders. The issue isn't with it not being stable enough to support its own weight, the issue is that once you get one leg into a position you like, it's very easy to knock it out of position when you go to move the leg next to it. Getting all eight legs angled the way he wanted for his photos was not easy at all. I actually think on a larger spider with longer leg joints it would be much LESS of an issue, provided the body didn't weigh it down a lot.

Good photos and review. I strongly disagree with your conclusion, though, I think Lewa is amazing. He has an eye-popping color scheme, an extremely original physique, and very cool weapons. I actually really like his adrenalin mode. You can't really pose him like he is posed in the mini-comic on account of the eyestalk colliding with the gearbox, but he looks fantastic in this sort of "Peter Pan" pose. I think that really suits him, and evidently some other people felt similarly given how similar it is to some of the CGI character art used to promote BIONICLE: The Game. His inability to really swordfight while gliding hardly strikes me as a disadvantage, as he can easily just slash foes with his outstretched swords as he flies past them (OK, impractical on some levels, but it would certainly look impressive) or simply land before striking at more guarded foes. All in all, this might not be the most impressive adrenalin mode, but I like it a whole lot better than the 2002 Lewa Nuva's pitiful excuse for a secondary weapon function. I also really like his mask design. I think it looks great for an adventurous and playful character like Lewa, with its confident smirk. It lacks the nose/beak of the original, but when taking comparison photos of the mask I realized just how much of a disadvantage the shape of the classic Miru was — from many angles, you couldn't even see the eyes through the corresponding eye holes. So a face that fits more snugly on the face makes a lot of sense. The new Miru also reminds me of many different portrayals of the Miru Nuva, which also had smaller eyes and a more dome-shaped forehead than the original. And its angular jawline reminds me of both the movie portrayal of the Miru Nuva and the design of the original Miru. It's less square from front view, but it still has those same sharp corners. His battle-axe design is awesome. It echoes his classic axe without feeling like a complete repeat. I really have no idea what you mean when you say it looks like it was designed for Gali and then given to Lewa? Feels to me like it was designed with both of them in mind — for Gali, it has the flipper-like lower edge, whereas for Lewa it has the feather-like leading edge. Also, Lewa uses it for a single-bladed design like his classic 2001 weapon, whereas Gali uses it for a double-bladed axe like her 2002 weapons. It seems to me like the sort of part the designers knew they would be using for two different characters when they started designing it. I notice that in many of these pictures you have his shoulder armor over top of his chest armor. I actually like it a bit better off to the sides like in your adrenalin mode photo, but I guess you can have it either way depending on your personal preference. The way you have it in adrenalin mode allows more movement for the head, I think. Speaking of the head movement, even as limited as it is I can't help but feel like you can put it into some extremely expressive and "Lewa-ish" poses, since to turn his head to the left or right it kind of has to be cocked to one side. When my Lewa review goes up on New Elementary it will include some photos that show what I mean — in the meantime, your photo of the "powered up" form shows a subtle example of this kind of angle. Choosing a least favorite of the new Toa is harder and harder as I see more reviews showcasing just how awesome they are! Tahu might still be my least favorite, since his upper legs feel uncharacteristically bony, his lower legs could use some modding to add shells to the back, and I feel like he could possibly afford to be slightly shorter. Still, I think they're all excellent designs!

It was, but I believe the decision to continue the series ended up undermining those intentions. You can't exactly release something as "The Complete Series" and then go ahead and make new episodes.

I'm sure that would LOOK fine (not that I think the current legs have any problems in terms of looks). But it sounds like a nightmare to me as far as posability and functionality is concerned. I feel like having full articulation on the legs of a four-legged or six-legged model is more trouble than it's worth (my brother, having built a fully-articulated, eight-legged spider from CCBS parts, can attest to this — getting photos of that model was a chore). I can fully understand just why the designers chose NOT to give the set fully-articulated legs, and if they HAD given it fully-articulated legs, I think it would have been a real mistake. Now, I am not under any illusion that this is likely to be as good a set as, say, Gali or Kopaka. But at the same time, I do think that some of the arguments about its aesthetics are a bit picky. To me, the shaping seems about as nice as one could reasonably expect. The only photos in this review that look genuinely bad to me are the side view photo and the photo where the legs are splayed out awkwardly at the end. Otherwise, I think it looks very shapely, with good color blocking and the same balance of curves and angles one might expect a CCBS set to have — yet still with thin, creepy legs and a bulbous body like you'd expect from a spider. The trigger, mounted well behind the rest of the body, hardly strikes me as obtrusive. Now, as for the functionality? There I can say I'm a bit disappointed with what I've seen and heard. The grabbing function sounds extremely fun (kind of like Dragon Bolt's flapping-wings function), and it's also brilliantly complex. I love that! But it can't exactly measure up to the 2001 Rahi when there's no "game" to it. As it is, there's no way to visibly incapacitate the Lord of Skull Spiders, unlike the 2001 Rahi which all had masks to knock off. And also, the Lord of Skull Spiders' function is not well-suited to knocking off OTHER sets' masks — at best, it can grab them, which is nice and creepy but doesn't make for much of a "game". Part of what makes the Toa and Protector sets so great is the number of ways they surpass the BIONICLE hero and villager sets which came before them. The Lord of Skull Spiders, in spite of all his creativity and functionality, can't make that sort of claim, which is a bit sad. Oh, and I hope I don't see any ridiculous "how can it be a spider if it just has six legs" comments, because I'm really sick of those. It's a fantasy creature, so there's plenty of room for creative license. And there's no reason a fantasy spider's number of legs is any more important than the number of legs on a fantasy insect, or a fantasy tiger, or a fantasy scorpion, or a fantasy wasp, or a fantasy crab. The Gukko even had four wings and nobody raised a stink about it, even though pretty much everybody should know that real birds only have two! But for some reason, perhaps because everybody learns how many legs a spider should have in grade school, some people have come to treat that characteristic as gospel, all while ignoring whatever other sorts of creative license show up in sets. All things considered, I hope the people who nitpick the number of legs on fantasy creatures never watch Avatar: The Last Airbender. Hearing characters refer to a six-legged creature as a bison might give them a seizure.

It's always cool when the big exclusives use constraction parts. The Ultimate Collector's Series B-Wing Starfighter also used CCBS fist pieces as detailing near its engines.

Not sure who might be interested, but my Kopaka review has been posted to The New Elementary! I'm really proud of the pictures I took, so even if you think you know the new Kopaka like the back of your hand I think you might enjoy taking a look!

I actually think the Transparent Fluorescent Reddish Orange works well for this guy. To be honest, I kind of wonder how he'd look if his mask had used it as well. Sure, it wouldn't have matched the weapons, but neither did the mask of the Protector of Jungle, and it looked fine. I actually sort of like the weapons, peculiar as they are. Definitely a bit more exciting than ordinary swords might have been. I agree, though, that lower arms would definitely help. He needs them a lot more than the Protector of Ice does, since his shoulders are raised up one module. If they were Black it would even help balance the color scheme better, since the Tr. Flu. Reddish Orange hands wouldn't be directly adjacent to the Tr. Flu. Reddish Orange arm shells, and since his arms would no longer feel so much lighter in color than his legs. I'm also not a huge fan of how his lower legs are so much longer than his upper legs. Given how high the ankles of these figures are raised relative to the overall size of the leg, it seems to me like the reverse would make more sense — long upper legs and short lower legs, like the Protector of Earth. I think the Protector of Fire would have been a lot better if his arms and legs alike were built more like those of the Protector of Earth. That way you could even use the same two beams for his arms and legs — another step towards balancing his color scheme! All things considered, this guy is definitely a creative and expressive design, but I feel like he needs some slight modding to completely realize the potential of that design.

I agree. I really like how the designers were able to create more snake-themed ruins and vehicles without it feeling like a rehash of 2012, and also how we're seeing a greater emphasis on locations than we really have in any year since 2011 — without that coming at the expense of the colorful ninja vehicles that the theme has since become known for. While there is now a female ninja, one thing I sort of regret is that the theme STILL hasn't had any female villains of any kind. Also, it's a shame that Pixal doesn't show up in any of the sets (I had hoped the character would have some real staying power), though perhaps she'll show up in the summer sets like Nya did in this year's sets. I wonder what Skylar's hairstyle will be like. Aside from the Titanium Ninja (and I think we all know who that is, even those like me who have been trying to avoid spoilers for this year's last two episodes), she's the only character who doesn't come in a sleeveless, hoodless costume. Speaking of which, I wonder if we'll see a return to the different versions of the Ninja having names to distinguish them, since this is the first time since 2012 that we've had multiple costumes for each ninja within a single wave. This is our first year to have human baddies, but it seems like there's still something spooky and supernatural about them, what with their red eyes, tattoos, and the fact that they're in the service of the Anacondrai. The costume similarities between some of the actual Anacondrai and some of the human baddies leads me to wonder whether the Anacondrai thugs might have been promised the opportunity to become true Anacondrai. Could be coincidence, of course. I guess we'll find out once we know the character names. Funnily enough, this is also the first year that one of the special weapons/treasures (in this case, the jade weapons) has been reserved for Lloyd. Lloyd has never really had a signature weapon in previous sets, and most of the time has just used generic ninja swords (or, in the Golden Dragon set, a reuse of the Dragon Sword of Fire piece from 2011/2012). I definitely DO wonder if that robot in the Mobile Ninja Base is an upgraded Joel. It would be HILARIOUS if he were! Especially since it means that instead of Nya's indecision in the current love triangle seeming wishy-washy, it actually makes her seem cool and independent. She don't need either of yous! She gots a robot sidekick now! (In all seriousness, I do hope she picks Jay in the end, but to have such a silly joke result in her getting a robot sidekick would be pretty sweet!) I've tried making a checklist to see which sets I might have to get to get all the characters I want, and to be honest... it's a lot! I had hoped the number of new sets might allow me to be a bit more choosy about which sets I get without missing out on characters, but the number of characters has also increased dramatically. And unlike 2011 or 2012, there's not currently a whole lot of choice in terms of how to acquire the Ninja in both of their new costumes. Kai appears in two sets in each costume, but Jay, Cole, and Lloyd only currently appear in one set per costume. Perhaps once the summer sets are revealed there will be more options to explore. My favorite of the new ninja vehicles in terms of design is probably Cole's Boulder Blaster (funnily enough, not the first set with that name...), and my favorite of the Anacondrai vehicles is probably the Anacondrai Crusher. Speaking of which, anybody know if there's a name for that kind of "ruins tech" like the Anacondrai are now using? It's not really steampunk because it's not steam-powered, but if anything it has an even sharper degree of anachronism since it looks indescribably ancient. The Titanium Dragon is very different from past Ninjago dragons, but it's definitely a fantastic design! Despite having a brick-built face like the Nindroid MechDragon, its face design feels very lifelike! I like that it continues to use Hero Factory feet like the MechDragon did, since those feel much more lifelike to me than the BIONICLE feet from the classic Ninjago dragons (which in fact even had molded pistons on the back, albeit subtle ones).

In the old story, at least, Greg tended to treat stone as controlling strictly solid rock, and earth as controlling loose soil, sand, or clay. Though I agree that was kind of an odd distinction to draw even back then. How small must a rock be to be considered sand?

Good review. Honestly, Pohatu is fairly bare-bones, and in some cases it's a bit hard to understand why. It seems like the designers could have possibly done more with the design to make it unique, but I'm not sure what specifically they might have done. I do like his color scheme, weapons (PROPER weapons this time, not just weird claws or toe armor), and physique. Like Onua, he was traditionally one of the shorter Toa, and this is maintained here — but unlike Onua, who's built like a tank, Pohatu is small, lean, and agile, like you'd expect a character known for their speed to be. It is indeed a bit strange that the box art and weapons of Pohatu and the Protector of Stone are both sandstorm-themed, rather than strictly stone-themed. It suits Pohatu's classic environment, but you'd expect sandstorms to be more of an Earth or Air power in the old BIONICLE. Then again, Pohatu was also one of the Toa who never really used his elemental stone powers as visibly as, say, Tahu used his elemental fire powers. In visual media, it was usually limited to using his tools to kick or break the rocks around him. I guess that in the end it's just another example of how having separate Stone and Earth characters can get kind of screwy — perhaps the decision to make Lewa a Toa of Jungle should have been taken one step further, with Pohatu becoming a Toa of Sand. That's what they did for the Agori and Glatorian.

The fact that it's such an easy fix is what makes me fairly certain that it had less to do with design intent and more to do with cost. The Protector of Ice, for instance, has three of the rather bulky piston detail piece rather than just two like the Protectors of Jungle and Stone Protectors or one like the Protectors of Fire and Water. He also has a rather substantial weapon in each hand. If the designers hadn't cut costs by removing his lower arms, I imagine they would have had to do so in a different way, such as eliminating his back armor or removing the piston shell details from both shoulders. And in fairness, the Protector of Ice doesn't really need longer arms as badly as the Protector of Fire does, because his shoulders aren't raised up the same way The Protector of Fire is a bit more of a puzzle. He doesn't have a tremendously high piece count like the Protector of Stone, nor are his weapons as bulky as those of the Protector of Ice — though in fairness, he does have three of them (two swords and a shoulder-mounted blaster). And while he doesn't have back armor, his shells are greater in size, number, and variety than those of the Protector of Earth (four Tr. Flu. Reddish Orange 4M shells, two Silver Metallic 4M shells, and one Bright Red 5M shell instead of just six black 4M shells).

Yeah, I can see how the designers might have needed to cut out the elbows for cost reasons on the Protector of Ice, but Protector of Fire is honestly one of the Protectors that needs them most, since his shoulders are raised higher than most of the others. And also, despite his beefy torso build, it's a bit of surprise the Protector of Fire needed that kind of cost-cutting, since he already has some of the shortest legs and smallest weapons of all the Protectors.

True, but to be honest, I don't think the Fire Protector and Earth Protector need back armor as badly as many of the others do. I don't feel like the sole function of back armor is to cover up the back of a model. More important, I think, is that it adds volume to the back of a model. And the Protector of Fire and the Protector of Earth already both have that taken care of, on account of the way their shoulders are built (and also the way that the front shell of the Protector of Fire already extends back further than the back of the torso beam). I'm sure a back armor solution for the Protector of Fire exists, but it seems to me like it'd be more trouble than it's worth.

Interesting concept, but not really accurate to the Fire Protector. The Fire Protector's front shell is snapped directly to his torso beam, not pressed out like the front shells on most of the other Protectors.