Aanchir
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Everything posted by Aanchir
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I don't think budget is necessarily where the issue would be. After all, since mask packs would presumably just use the same molds as the main sets, they wouldn't necessarily require any new molds, just a bunch of recolors. I could potentially see the budget for that being lower than the budget for the collectible minifigures, which DO regularly feature a lot of new molds, elaborate printing, pre-assembled parts, etc. I think a bigger issue would be return on investment — would enough people actually buy enough of them to make up the cost of producing them? And that's more difficult to say. The collectible minifigures have a number of advantages over mask packs. Each set is a complete toy with a completely unique identity, not just a generic accessory for a larger toy. They cater to a diverse audience, which not only includes fans of various LEGO themes but also fans who are not dedicated LEGO collectors, but appreciate the minifigure for its iconic status and are drawn to ones they identify with. Also, the collectible minifigure series are cheaper to collect at RRP than Kanohi packs. Back in 2001, getting a full set of 72 masks would cost a minimum of $72, assuming you either didn't get any duplicates or were able to trade all your duplicates for masks you needed to complete your collection. When you factor for inflation, that shoots up to $96. A full set of 16 minifigures at the current price of $4 per pack would cost only $64, two thirds of that price. Of course, you might wisely point out that there are typically three collectible minifigure series per year, and there were only ever two BIONICLE collectible series per year, so in that respect the price discrepancy for a complete collection sort of balances out... though BIONICLE also had a nasty habit of both increasing the number of collectibles needed for a complete collection and reducing the usefulness of those collectibles in some series. The less said about the exorbitant cost of a full Kraata collection (and the limited usefulness of having such a collection), the better.
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Then again, you never know when a character from a different theme might show up and surprise you. Remember when Dr. Brains from Power Miners showed up in a 2011 Atlantis set? Granted, that was a character who was still in sets the year before, not one who hadn't been seen or heard from in many years.
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I don't know if the fire piece from Brain Attack really needs to be replaced with anything. It's slightly specialized, but a lot less so than a lot of the older fire pieces that came before it, so it can be used as an energy effect no matter what color it comes in. Having it in lots of new colors or color combinations would be fantastic! I am wondering what we might see with the "defender/protector" masks, though. It would be unusual for all the characters to keep the exact same mask. Even Hero Factory rarely used the same mask more than twice within a single wave. Randomized masks would be interesting (and would explain the characters' lack of specific names — there could be MULTIPLE "defenders/protectors" of each element who are distinguished by having different masks), but it's also possible there might just be a different new mask specific to each set.
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No telling. Not a whole lot of info has been revealed about what the LEGO Group will be showing at their booth this year.
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In the case of the Toa and Matoran, that's arguably true, but in the case of Glatorian and Agori it's definitely not. In the official story they were originally going to be 100% organic with armor, and Greg only backpedaled and gave them mechanical implants when people pointed out that this conflicted with a previous statement of his that the sets were the most official form of the characters (since the sets had plenty of obvious mechanical features like pistons). I agree there. I think a lot of people get bent way out of shape over random preconceived notions about how color schemes should or should not be. I have been in a lengthy debate with somebody on BZPower who is convinced that orange and black "clash" and that any set using them together in equal measure clearly has no thought put into its color scheme. No joke.
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Aren't they? How can we be sure what color they're supposed to be under their armor? In any case, I'm not talking about consistency between the sets and storyline, I'm merely talking about aesthetics.
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I honestly don't see fully transparent heads as too great of a downgrade. After all, most BIONICLE characters' heads didn't match the rest of their color schemes flawlessly anyway. The Toa Metru heads were the only Dark Stone Grey parts on some of the Toa Mahri. Admittedly, as a neutral color, Dark Stone Grey might not clash with color schemes as much as transparent fluorescent colors would, but most of the time I didn't feel like color schemes were harmed all that much by the Glatorian heads and others like them. It felt to me just like the head was the part of the body with the least armor or clothing covering it, kind of like how Superman's head is the only place where his skin color isn't covered by his usual costume. I also felt that the eyes of the Glatorian head still stood out reasonably well, since most of the heads had a rough texture and the eyes had a smooth texture.
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I'm still not totally sure how to feel about the new BIONICLE sets' prices, myself. My chief concern is always that the prices are equitable, of course. But the high price points do raise some questions. For instance, will the LEGO Group be able to reduce the prices for future waves if these sets don't sell well? The last time they tried to do something like that in any constraction theme was with the BIONICLE Stars, and we all saw what people thought of THAT decision. People evidently are much happier paying more for more than less for less. In that case, it might have been safer to do as Hero Factory did: start small ($10 and $15 Toa) and raise the price points if demand can sustain it. I also think that a lot more classic BIONICLE fans would be willing to give smaller sets a shot than larger ones, because it would have been easier to compare them to classic BIONICLE sets in order to judge their value. The original Toa Nuva had just 40 pieces on average for what today would be about $10, and it would be downright easy to design a wave of $10 CCBS Toa that boasted between 40 and 50 pieces each. But a $20 Toa is going to seem overpriced to a lot of people compared to classic BIONICLE no matter how many more pieces it offers. Finally, I am a little bit worried about the sets' proportions. Not tremendously worried, but I really liked the proportions of the $10 and $13 Brain Attack heroes. And while I can appreciate sets with proportions more like this year's Legends of Chima constraction sets (which are priced much like the new Toa), it still isn't really what I had hoped for initially. Overall, my opinions might change once we see the finalized sets. But I can't help but be a bit uneasy with this pricing scheme.
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I know some old BIONICLE fans who like the CCBS and others who don't, just as there were some old BIONICLE fans who liked Toa Inika builds and others who didn't. It's hard to make generalizations about old BIONICLE fans because so many people enjoyed the theme in different ways and for different reasons. I'm not too particular about what sort of head piece these sets use. If they do have a molded face, though, I hope it's one that's both versatile and reasonably expressive. I'm not too fond of how rigid and alien-looking some of the classic BIONICLE heads were. I felt the Glatorian head was a step in the right direction, even though it was still kind of skull-like in appearance.
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I've heard this kind of attitude on other sites, and I honestly feel like it's a bit rude. I self-identify as a brony, so I don't think it's really anybody else's place to say I'm not one just because I don't fit with their own preconceived notions of the term. It's a classic No true Scotsman argument. You wouldn't like it if somebody tried to tell you you're not a real AFOL just because you didn't fit their preconceived notions, would you?
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Should LEGO Invest in a 'Disney Infinity' Type Game?
Aanchir replied to adotnamedstud's topic in General LEGO Discussion
In the United States, the Legend Beasts from LEGO Legends of Chima include RFID "game cards" that you can scan with a mobile device to unlock the Legend Beasts in the game Legends of Chima Online. I think that this would probably be a more efficient way for the LEGO Group to invest in this kind of technology than actually embedding NFC tags in the toys themselves, like Skylanders, Disney Infinity, and the upcoming "Amiibo" from Nintendo all do. -
Ummm... Jaw Beast is a $10 set. Are you talking about the beast sets in general? I'm also hoping for equitable piece counts. This year's Hero Factory sets were pretty good as far as piece count is concerned, though, especially the $15 sets (most of them offered twice as many pieces as even some $13 BIONICLE sets from 2008 and 2009). The only Hero Factory set this year that I felt had a fairly disappointing piece count was Splitter Beast (just 108 pieces for $20), but even that wasn't awful.
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If the special new theme reveal event is actually for BIONICLE, I don't believe for a minute that they'd only be revealing one set.
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All thirteen sets might be a lot to hope for (this isn't a trade show like Toy Fair), but you never know. I think it's entirely possible that they might show at least the six Toa. I'll be reporting back from NYCC for Eurobricks, so you can rest assured that I'll do my best to document whatever it is they reveal (even if it's not BIONICLE).
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Actually, it did! At SDCC 2010 the LEGO booth had a special edition version of the first Hero Factory comic to give away to visitors, a costumed character dressed up as Preston Stormer, a screen showing the HF TV special (or part of it, anyway), and even a full one-hour Hero Factory panel. At SDCC 2011 there was a costumed character dressed up as Rocka 3.0, a display case featuring many of the sets on a brick-built cityscape. And in tangentially related news, that's when the Super Heroes constraction sets were first revealed.
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Have we seen any solid evidence yet that it's going to be air or wind in any countries? I had thought it would be wind, judging from the display stand image, but not only might that still be preliminary, but somebody else told me they thought it said Jungle so I guess drawing a clear conclusion from that image is jumping the gun. I'm not saying it's GOING to be Jungle worldwide, but I think it's premature to make assumptions about the English set names when we have yet to see a single comprehensive set list in English. Prices are more or less consistent with what I was expecting, though I'm a little bit surprised Lord of Skull Spiders is just a $15 set.
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Honestly, I'm not sure if they'd do that anymore. Other than The Fold releasing the Ninjago theme song "The Weekend Whip" to sites like The Brothers Brick when the theme began, the promotional songs for themes like LEGO Ninjago and LEGO Legends of Chima have been actually sold through services like iTunes, Google Play, and Amazon.com rather than just given away for free on the LEGO site. Then again, LEGO Friends promotional songs have been free downloads on the website (which really needs better organization for its downloads section). So it's not like the LEGO Group has quit doing free music downloads entirely. Anyway, while BIONICLE: The Album SOUNDED like a cool concept, I honestly don't know how much I'd have liked it. I barely knew any of the artists who were supposed to be involved, and there's no telling whether I'd have really liked the songs anyway, or whether they'd have been a good fit for the BIONICLE brand (though I'm probably overstating things a bit, since I tend to be fairly open-minded about music and often care more about the lyrics than the genre). I do hope the new BIONICLE has a significant musical presence, though, and hopefully one that can be kept as consistent as Ninjago's has been for the most part. More than anything else, I want BIONICLE's new soundtrack to be very closely connected with the blend of ideas and genres that makes the franchise so unique. And ideally, I want any promotional songs to have a clear lyrical connection to the brand and story. If you can't tell that it was BIONICLE that inspired them, then I won't be able to enjoy them as BIONICLE music any more than "Move Along" from the Toa Inika ads or "Crashed" in the American Toa Mahri ads.
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IT'S DARETH I was NOT expecting this! Especially not in a store-exclusive polybag... how often do we even GET those? Hope this set turns up in the United States as well!
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I'd kind of prefer the story to avoid some of those. Iron and Lightning are OK, but a lot of the weirder ones like Psionics, Magnetism, and Plasma just don't feel like traditional elements to me.
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Not for somebody like me who knows next to nothing about either of those TV shows. And I honestly don't think it's pertinent how 4chan has managed to pervert the My Little Pony brand, or any other brand for that matter. It's regrettable, but it doesn't make a lick of sense to hold the cartoon and everyone who likes it accountable for the actions of its more unsavory fans. I've seen some horrendously NSFW BIONICLE art, MOCs, stories, jokes, and memes over the years, but it wouldn't make sense to prohibit BIONICLE references in non-BIONICLE discussions on those grounds, now would it? I think it'd be great if BIONICLE got a video game of some kind, but I'm not sure what I would like to see. It's been a long time since I did a lot of gaming. A point-and-click adventure game like the MNOG would be quite fun, especially if it were designed for mobile devices. Many of the games I enjoy nowadays (specifically the Ace Attorney and Professor Layton games) fit into that genre. But I think how well that could work depends heavily on the story direction — a lot of the Mata Nui Online Game's charm came from the fact that you were seeing the world from a Matoran's perspective. The role of an action hero is not as well-suited to this genre, in my personal opinion. I would probably have little to no interest in a BIONICLE MMO, and I don't know how smart it would be to make one anyway, given how prone MMOs are to failing. But some of my friends enjoy MMOs, and if a BIONICLE MMO of sufficient quality were released they might be able to rope me into playing it, provided it's free. I enjoyed the Hero Factory Breakout game (particularly the online version), and it would be great if another game of that caliber were released for the new BIONICLE, but I don't know if it'd be a great fit for what I want in a BIONICLE game. It might be hard to work a lot of storytelling and characterization into such a game.
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Actually, the Elements of Harmony are more like physical manifestations of the characters' defining personality traits. But that's neither here nor there. I'm not trying to make this an argument about how BIONICLE and is or isn't like other series, guys. I'm not trying to "force" ponies on anybody or shoehorn them into conversations where they're not relevant. My point is just that if I'm trying to say something about BIONICLE or Ninjago or any LEGO theme and I feel like a comparison would strengthen my case, then I'll make a comparison... and My Little Pony is one of the shows I happen to know well enough to draw meaningful comparisons to. I don't know much about Power Rangers or Transformers or Skyrim, but if you feel like making references to those things, be my guest. I'd be happy to learn a thing or two. In the meantime, I'll TRY to reference more things other than My Little Pony... but I'm not going to dig around for a slightly-relevant reference from shows I barely know or care about when there's a much more relevant one staring me in the face. I know that sometimes the amount of pony references on the Internet might be irritating for some people. But it annoys me that I mentioned ponies twice in the past two days (and my brother mentioned them once), and all of a sudden three separate people blew a fuse. If other people liking different things than you on the Internet bothers you this much, maybe you have some issues of your own that you need to work out. But all of these "offending" posts were pertinent to the points my brother and I were trying to make, and YOU'RE the ones who derailed the conversation to focus on the references we were using and not the actual points we were using them to make. EDIT: Sorry, VBBN, missed your post. I'll drop this now, but I HOPE the issue doesn't come up again.
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Gee, you're a friendly bunch. I already apologized once, but honestly I don't see why a few references to something else I happen to genuinely like is viewed as an unwelcome intrusion. I can't imagine there'd be this kind of reaction if somebody were drawing frequent comparisons to Star Wars, or Transformers, or Skyrim.
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Sorry, but sometimes it's the most apt comparison I can come up with off the top of my head (especially since it has a surprising amount in common with BIONICLE). If I were a Transformers fan, then it's entirely possible that I'd be making Transformers comparisons instead. But I'm not, so I don't.
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*shrug* I suppose I'm just not as easily annoyed by fictional characters as some people are. I also found Kiina engaging and even a little bit inspiring, and I know a lot of people absolutely HATED her unbridled enthusiasm. Even Pinkie Pie from My Little Pony is hated by a number of bronies I've encountered, but I think she brings a healthy dose of levity to most of her scenes (though some of her songs were a bit annoying back in seasons one and two).
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I personally really liked Jaller's portrayal in Mask of Light. He was the responsible, authoritative foil to Takua's aimlessness and meddling. Furthermore, I can easily picture many of his lines in the Mata Nui Online Game spoken with his voice from the movie. He wasn't just a leader — he was a leader in over his head, dealing with problems no Matoran should have to deal with. Members of his Guard were disappearing in Ko-Wahi, communications with many of the other villages had been lost, and Rahi activity was increasing. The only major difference I see in his dialogue from the Mata Nui online game is he speaks in more of a flowery, old-timey sort of language (never using contractions, for example). Trying to picture him speaking in such a uptight manner in a movie or TV series just feels weird and wrong to me, no matter what kind of voice you might give him. You wouldn't even expect a real-life military officer to talk like that in this day and age. And that's another thing that deserves mention. Just because the Matoran were characterized a certain way in the Mata Nui Online Game doesn't mean that the characterization in question is necessarily a good fit for them. In my opinion, Jaller from BIONICLE: Mask of Light feels like a much more nuanced and relatable character than the stuffy Jaller in the Mata Nui Online Game.