Aanchir

Who's to say these characters won't? We can't assume that they won't have actual names just because the names of the sets don't feature any.

Yep! Ghost did most of the CGI animations for the entire BIONICLE theme!

That's the alternate build for Millennia (NA)/Millennium Slizer (IN).

So now we get a good look at what the "app bricks" are. They ARE physical bricks, black, built into little trinkets based on the theme of each sets. It looks like you press them onto a tablet to unlock something in the game or activate some kind of in-game effect. Also, given that each "trinket" is a different shape with the "app bricks" spaced differently, I'm guessing that they're all the same design and their relative positions are what allows the game to interpret which set you're using. None of the sets really cry out to me to buy them (good thing, too, since BIONICLE and Ninjago are going to keep me so busy next year), but there are some lovely designs and play features on display here, as well as some interesting new parts. Also, I get the feeling AntiMatter's head glows in the dark!

Its name in the United States was "The Boss", though Brickset has it simply listed as Super RoboRider. Here's a mini-catalog scan from 2001 that has the American name listed.

Throwbots were pretty cool in terms of their variety of shapes and colors. However, they were difficult to relate to as characters (the lack of story media establishing their personalities didn't help this). Also, the action features of the ones that use a worm gear are tedious and almost infuriatingly boring compared to the quicker action features of the ones that use a sliding gear, or of the later BIONICLE canister sets. I think these are some of the aspects in which BIONICLE most considerably improved on them.

Beyond that, things like the Super Heroes and Legends of Chima constraction sets usually aren't meant to look expressly mechanical like Hero Factory or BIONICLE sets are (Iron Man being the obvious exception). A gear function like these would be a lot more overtly mechanical-loooking than things like the wing/spike functions of CHI Fluminox and CHI Sir Fangar. As far as the new packaging is concerned, it wouldn't surprise me if any other constraction sets next year might use it. After all, it makes more sense from a logistical standpoint to replace the Hero Factory pouches as a packaging method than simply to introduce yet another packaging design. Using the same design for more sets also probably helps the LEGO Group get their money's worth out of that design much more quickly. I also wonder whether any larger BIONICLE sets in the future might end up using similar packaging — particularly if there are more of them than there were Hero Factory sets at the $25 and higher price points.

This isn't related to TV-type cartoons, but... Homestar Runner is back with a new cartoon! Also, Strong Bad has a Twitter!

Well, more elaborate Technic functions aren't unheard of in Hero Factory either. Dragon Bolt obviously had his flapping-wings function, and then there's Breez Flea Machine, which is the only constraction set ever to incorporate a winch. So it's not as though the LEGO Group thinks Hero Factory or its audience can't handle Technic-based functions. But beyond that, it's clear that with the new BIONICLE sets, the LEGO Group is putting in a lot of effort to recreate the aspects that made the theme so appealing over the years, and gear functions were a major feature during the years when the theme was most successful.

I have mixed feelings about modding sets. I modded some of my Breakout sets back in 2012 (mainly just improving the proportions of my Breez set and adding back armor to the $9 heroes), but never really had them on display that way, and they were in pieces before long anyway. It was more a way for me to test out how I thought the sets could be improved than anything else. I don't see anything on these new sets that's begging to be modded right now. Which is kind of weird, because the main thing that bothered me about Breez from the Breakout series was her proportions, and the proportions for these sets are not much different (well, besides having the shoulders further back and generally having better arm length). I guess that as much as I try to be open to new ideas, some of my opinions back then were sort of knee-jerk reactions to things that conflicted with what I was used to, or with my personal preference. Shorter lower legs for Breez did make the proportions more realistic, and in all honesty the same is probably true of some of these new Toa... but the original set was hardly ruined by having legs one or two modules longer than my own personal preference. The new Toa's proportions, to their credit, are not much different (and arguably better in many ways) than the proportions of the Toa Metru and Toa Hagah. I think they should look great together as a group. If it turns out they DON'T... well, then I guess that's when it's time to start modding. But I'm not too worried about that being the case.

Well, the articulation would be limited by having the shoulders so narrow, but you could fix that on many of them by swapping the 7x9 torso beam with a 9x9 torso beam. Also, it'd radically change Lewa's look since his shoulders are raised up relative to the torso beam. No simple fix for that.

I'm not very good at choosing favorites, and there are SO MANY combi models to choose from that it's especially difficult in this case. Particularly because they cover such a wide range of designs. With a question like "Favorite titan set" it's easier to compare because at least the sets are generally somewhat humanoid in their design. But combi models can be ANYTHING. For people who need to refresh their memory, this gallery is great reference. The creator of that gallery has photographed most sets and combi models from 2001–2011, though it's a bit difficult for browsing combi models in general because they're divided up between subfolders for the individual themes or years. The Bohrok-Kal Kaita were indeed very awesome, though I somewhat prefer Ja to Za since it has a more unique build rather than just feeling like three Bohrok snapped together. I wouldn't consider either my favorite, though. Maybe my favorite in terms of combi models that were specifically fusions of multiple characters, but not in general. 2004 was a very good year for combi models, turning lots of very repetitive sets into much less repetitive creatures. Obviously, as with many combi models, color schemes could be a bit disjointed. But it was helped by all sets sharing the same Dark Stone Grey secondary color and having somewhat subdued primary colors. And despite being pretty weird, they each had a very unique identity. It would be hard to pick a favorite among these. The Toa Metru combi models, the scorpion-like Kralhi and rabbit-like Kraawa, were the coolest on a functional level, so it'd probably be one of those. My least favorite would probably be Ultimate Dume, the only one actually released as a set of its own. But I don't think ANY of those would be my absolute favorite of all time. The Lava Hawk and Dagger Spider might be my favorite combi models built from small sets. It helped that the sets they were built from were diverse designs made up of extremely versatile parts. And despite using some odd building techniques and having disjointed color schemes, the 2007 Rahi are some of my favorite canister set combi model designs (and inspired a few drawings I'm still somewhat proud of). As for titan combi models, probably The Shadowed One (though oddly, a lot of those in general don't impress me so much in hindsight, either from feeling too much like their component sets, inferior to their component sets, or just generally awkward). My favorite Hero Factory combi model is easily Scorpion Beast. And my favorite Slizer combi model is Robotops. Comparing combi models from the different themes would be tricky.

Hard to say. The LEGO Bionicle Facebook page said it was "coming in January", so you won't see it everywhere until then, But sometimes sets do show up in a few places up to two months in advance, so it wouldn't be out of the question for the first sightings to be in mid- to late November.

I'm not sure how much gold it'd be likely to have. Or for that matter how much I'd WANT him to have. On one hand, CHI Gorzan used a base color for his stickers that didn't match the chest plate, which was unusual, but it didn't look awful in my opinion. In fact, it wasn't unlike the other Chima constraction sets, who also had chest plate patterns in colors that contrasted with the chest plate itself. On the other hand, the sticker's base color could be designed to match the color of the chest plate, like Stormer XL. That would be more consistent with the other characters like Kopaka, Pohatu, and Gali. I don't think either situation would be awful-looking, personally. I guess we'll find out what to expect soon enough.

I think stickers for Onua will be just fine if the patterns are as elegant as they are for the other Toa. Stickers on a surface that large and smooth, with clearly-defined edges, are rarely any challenge to apply.

I think the assumptions that the Protectors will be "faceless drones with no identity" is wildly off-base. There is literally nothing to support that except the assumption that if they had identities, the sets would refer to them by name. But that's not set in stone. Remember Piraka? Also, not giving the set a specific name could people to buy multiples to serve as generic villagers, rather than each one representing one particular character. The designs, for what it's worth, have more personality than the Bohrok or Vahki ever did. Beyond that, we haven't even seen the final designs yet. For all we know, they might have different masks in the final sets. Or perhaps even masks that are randomized in some way. But even if they don't, sharing the same mask hardly means they lack actual identities.

Technically, there is not any problem with the horse. It uses one of these in black with "Police" printed on it. But yeah, expecting the LEGO Group to modify the thickness of the seats in order to have coolers is a bit ridiculous. For one thing, the coolers would not be hidden. Not the slightest bit. So they'd make the couch look LESS realistic from the front. Additionally, just adding the coolers would only require making the seats thicker by one plate. Adding a hinge would make it thicker by an additional plate. In other words, you'd be nearly doubling the thickness of the top seats. Again, for the sake of a rather unimpressive play feature you'd be completely altering the couch's actual appearance. Now, the couch isn't 100% accurate to its appearance in the film anyway. It has four pairs of studs so that minifigures can be seated securely on either the top or bottom. The back and several other structural areas are altered to make it sturdier (you can see the original here). In the movie, the supports connecting the top and bottom are connected by a single stud at each end of a 1x6 column, whereas the set uses much sturdier Technic connections. Also, oddly, it doesn't appear that the seats of the upper layer in the movie version are connected to the rest of the couch in any way — there are handles on the back cushions, but nothing clipped to them! Another big difference in the set version is that there are four pairs of studs to allow minifigures to sit securely. Again, keeps the cushions from flipping up with a simple motion like they did in the movie, where flipping them up meant literally detaching them from the couch. Now, if anybody thinks they can make a double-decker couch that meets ALL of the movie's specifications, by all means, I'd love to see one! Most of the pictures you should need can be found here. But from what I can tell, it ranges from impractical to impossible.

One of the Anacondrai goons is also named Krait, I think. He comes in 70745 and 70752 (incidentally, paired with Kai each time). One of the things that confuses me is that there are literally two different minifigures identified on the boxes as Sleven. Either they have only very slight spelling differences in their names that I was unable to pick up on, or one of them is built wrong or misidentified. Discounting the possibility that they have magical moving tattoos, it can't just be two different "costumes", because the two Slevens literally have different tattoos on their torsos! The one in 70756 has a coiled snake tattoo on the lower right side of his torso, while the one in 70747 has a wavy snake tattoo on each side of his torso.

Yup, the same way Emmet is able to put his work clothes on over his head and shirtless torso instead of having to take his whole body apart to swap the torsos.

LEGO employees did. It's not something somebody in the AFOL community came up with on their own. I don't know where it was ORIGINALLY revealed, but I can pull a quote from the book LEGO: A Love Story, from the author's firsthand account of visiting LEGO Headquarters in Billund. "The last stop on the tour is the mold warehouse. Molds are stacked on orange and steel shelves; Aksel [Krabbe Nielsen, the visitor manager] estimates that LEGO has between six thousand and seven thousand molds, of which four thousand are currently active. Molds can potentially be filled five million times, and some have been in use for more than thirty years/ Since it takes twelve weeks and up to $50,000 to make one mold, LEGO wants to get the most use out of each. 'What happens when a mold is done?' I ask Jan [Christiansen]. 'We put them under the concrete in front to make sure that nobody will steal the molds," says Jan. He's smiling, but he's not kidding." (p164). I have, however, found some sources that seem to suggest this practice has been discontinued, and nowadays molds are recycled. In any case, this applies to molds that are WORN-OUT, i.e, useless. They will no longer produce parts that meet the LEGO Group's standards of quality due to manufacturing wear, so the LEGO Group has no reason for keeping them. Frankly, there's no way to know for sure which molds have been put into storage because LEGO hasn't needed those designs in recent sets, and which have been destroyed because the molds have reached their actual end-of-life. The quote from LEGO: A Love Story notwithstanding, different molds are created with different lifespans in mind. Those that will are not EXPECTED to be used year after year are not DESIGNED to be used year after year. On the subject of the CCBS, I have no doubt that there are ways the CCBS can continue to improve, but people who think the limits to its potential are insurmountable and that the LEGO Group should just can it and bring back the parts and building styles of the old BIONICLE sets are kidding themselves. The torso beams are just one example. Yes, a lot of sets use the basic torso beams, because it's often the most efficient solution and there are probably a lot of buyers (especially kids) who don't know or care what the ratio of a quadruped's hips to its shoulders are supposed to be — they just want to see awesome-looking monsters. But treating this as an inherent fault of the CCBS is ridiculous considering that sets such as Thornraxx, Evo XL Machine, and Witch Doctor show how even a CCBS set can have a completely custom torso skeleton. I've even built a MOC that subverts some of the usual issues with quadruped proportions. So the issue isn't that the building system needs to be retired or replaced, or even that the current parts palette is too limited for these kinds of applications. It's more that the designers don't always use it to its fullest potential (sometimes, of course, consciously choosing NOT to in the name of price or efficiency).

I think that'd be doubtful. I can't think of any way you could make a regular hinge like that be "springy". There's a reason the jumpers this year used a single-piece base.

That's sort of the feel I got from him as well, though the lower legs still look to me like they'd look really strange.

I'm amazed at how many minifigures there are. I count 26 minifigures total — by comparison, the theme's debut wave only had 20 minifigures! Included among those 26 are eight different Anacondrai goons, three different Anacondrai Serpentine (including Pythor), and ten new Ninja minifigures. It's still not as many figs as there were in 2012, but this is just the first wave of sets! Just as a point of comparison, there are now as many minifigures that were NOT featured in the Character Encyclopedia as ones that WERE.

Its a shame it doesn't have a tail of any kind, though, since that's one of a beaver's most distinctive traits in real life. I know MOST of the Chima animals lack tails, but in this particular case it is almost difficult to tell what kind of creature it's supposed to be without one.

Good lord almighty, the Lion Tribe Pack is 2/3 female? That's practically unheard-of in an action theme! Shame the other three packs are universally male, especially the two bad guy battle packs since we hadn't seen any female members of either of those tribes. All the figs in these packs look fantastic, though. Sets look great in general. No sets that are jumping out at me as must-haves (not because they're bad designs, but just because I'm not much of a Legends of Chima collector), but still lots of great creativity on display.