Aanchir

Or it could actually be tan in the picture. It doesn't seem to match Kopaka's color, so it might just be very brightly lit. In any event, I'm psyched! Shakar rightly observes that the "defenders" appear to have the same masks. I wonder if maybe I was right about randomized masks? But I guess it's unlikely.

For that latter problem, there's no perfect fix. Not every LEGO color has a 1:1 relationship with a Bricklink color. As an example, Bricklink refers to parts officially colored 131 Silver by at least three different names (including Flat Silver, Metallic Silver, and Pearl Light Gray — names it also uses for the official color 296 Cool Silver), while it uses the name Copper for at least four different official colors. However, this spreadsheet might be useful, particularly Sheet 3, where I've tried to keep a record of official LEGO colors and what Brickink colors they correspond to.

Could have worked, yes, provided that Makuta was destroyed in some way and Mata Nui actually did awaken and return to the stars. That would more or less check all the boxes, since Mata Nui would be restored to power so he could complete whatever his mysterious destiny might have been, the forces of good would be victorious, and the greatest threat to Mata Nui and his Matoran occupants would have been eliminated. Of course, it would have made Makuta's lack of direct involvement in 2008 seem rather bizarre. There are plenty of things that lack these sorts of things that still manage to be enjoyable, though. The only one of those things that the original Scooby-Doo cartoon had was "a clear theme", but it was still a beloved franchise. And I don't see why you feel like Hero Factory lacked a clear theme, anyway. Seems to me that the theme of heroes fighting to protect the innocent from villains and monsters was pretty consistent. Unless you mean "theme" in terms of a consistent moral or message, which not even BIONICLE had in my opinion (at least, not until its third years where it adopted the malleable moral framework of the Three Virtues).

I will not feel too bad if Hero Factory is ending, provided the new BIONICLE designs are diverse and well-designed enough to take its place. I doubt I'd be able to remain fully invested in both themes anyway, given how many BIONICLE sets there are rumored to be and how many System themes I'm still invested in. My biggest disappointment will probably be that the change in scale this year was not exploited to its fullest potential, since it would be awesome to see a greater variety of sets at this scale. But as far as story is concerned, after Brain Attack debuted, I didn't get my hopes up for the loose ends from Breakout to be resolved. And that's the only one of the cliffhanger endings that ever had me convinced it might really be leading to something substantive. The stinger at the end of Brain Attack just felt to me like a Goosebumps-style "the end... or is it?" ending to tie in with the rest of the episode's sci-horror leanings, and I have a feeling that the end of Invasion from Below might have been much the same thing. To me, the way Hero Factory presents each adventure as a stand-alone story means that it doesn't have the same obligation for a "grand finale" that BIONICLE did. There was no overarching saga that spanned the entire series which needed to be wrapped up. Rather, the few loose ends we got were set up midway through the theme and then abruptly abandoned. It will be frustrating if they're never followed up on, but it won't have the same sense of having been led in a very specific direction for years only to never arrive at our destination, like how the BIONICLE story would have felt if Mata Nui never achieved his destiny and Makuta was never defeated.http://www.eurobricks.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=97374&st=1300#

You're probably right. It's not as big a theme to begin with, after all. But that isn't to say there aren't ANY fans who enjoy it as much as a die-hard BIONICLE fan enjoys BIONICLE. I don't expect rioting when Hero Factory ends, but some people will definitely be upset.

It's important to keep in mind that the Internet was a different place when BIONICLE started than when Hero Factory did. When BIONICLE began, social media wasn't really a thing, and most of the established LEGO sites like Lugnet basically rejected BIONICLE from the get-go, so BIONICLE fans needed to create their own discussion forums in order to share their love of the theme. These days, it's a different landscape. Hero Factory discussion is welcomed on many LEGO and BIONICLE fansites, and there is plenty of opportunity for Hero Factory fans to discuss the theme on non-LEGO sites like Facebook, Twitter, Tumblr, deviantART, and YouTube. Even many BIONICLE fans have migrated to these sites, hence why so many BIONICLE fansites have decreased in influence even as the BIONICLE fan community continues to thrive on social media. Supposing that a theme is less beloved just because it doesn't have a lot of fansites of its own is a mistake. Ninjago, for instance, has been tremendously well-loved and successful, but you still don't see any Ninjago fansites nearly as large as BZPower was in its heyday — because there already exist plenty of online communities where Ninjago fans feel welcome, so they do not feel pressured to carve out sites of their own. I very much agree. There are plenty of merits to Hero Factory's storytelling style, just as there are merits to BIONICLE's storytelling style. Ummm... not true at all. Furno 2.0 is built very differently from Fire Lord, who is built very differently than Raw-Jaw, who is built very differently from Thornraxx, who is built very differently from Evo, who is built very differently from Toxic Reapa, who is built very differently from Stormer XL, who is built very differently from Bruizer, who is built very differently from Dragon Bolt, who is built very differently from Furno Jet Machine, which is built very differently from Breez Flea Machine, which is built very differently from Rocka Crawler, which is built very differently than Tunneler Beast, which is built very differently from Queen Beast. BIONICLE sets from 2007 and later were indeed impressively diverse compared to the earlier ones, which tended to have one specialized build shared by five to twelve sets. However, the idea that all post-2011 Hero Factory sets are all built the same is ludicrous. They haven't thrown out the basics of the building system, naturally, because it's a good building system and throwing it out would be a huge waste. But there is no shortage of creativity being expressed using that building system, as there has been since 2011 when it came out. This is something I'm glad Hero Factory has done away with. The point of LEGO is to create diverse models from the same system of basic parts, not to introduce lots and lots of new, functionally-identical parts with specialized molded details in order to create an artificial sense of diversity. This is part of why I'm glad the new BIONICLE is sticking with the CCBS.

As cool as that would be, I doubt it'd be that. Pirates doesn't have the same level of pop culture appeal as BIONICLE or Minecraft. So unless they were teaming up with Cartoon Network or another big media entity for a multimedia marketing push I don't think you'd see it revealed at Comic-Con.

Yes, because it's not attached directly to the head. It's attached to one of these in black with "POLICE" printed on it. The main reason I think the color-changing light is sort of important is that all the other Super Secret Police vehicles and creatures have both red and blue lights to really drive in idea that these are POLICE vehicles, these are POLICE crocodiles, etc. Though the police crocodiles in Bad Cop's Pursuit were themselves different from the ones in the movies, which had CMF police hats. I suppose just a red or blue light could still suggest police, especially since you'd also have the printed text on the headgear. I'd say Shaq's face being different in the movie is way more than just an animation thing. The face of the original minifigure, like all the NBA figs based on real people, was a grotesque caricature, with huge lips and whites in his eyes. If the light-skinned players like Dirk Nowitzki and Jason Kidd hadn't been designed with the same bizarre features it would actually seem kind of racist, like the way the Indians in Western sets had slanted eyes and huge noses (yes, noses ). Shaq in the movie is consistent with modern-day minifigure designs. His eyes are black beads with white sparkles, his mouth is no more detailed than Emmet's or Benny's when they wear comparable expressions, and his facial hair is more well-defined. In that regard, Shaq's face in the movie is a complete redesign.

For brevity's sake I'm going to just cut out the hypothetical situation I presented. You are right that it is not a perfect analogy, though personally I think it still has some merit. With a prototype, at least, you're dealing with something that was at one point supposed to be made widely available to fans, whereas with these exclusives that was never the intent. No, of course not. As you say, you choose to be a collector. It's not something you're locked in to doing, and you're free to set different goals for your collection whenever you like. If you think the alternative to being able to get every single item you want (want, not need) is suicide, that's unhealthy, whether you are talking about LEGO or life in general. You are willfully putting your own life in the hands of a toy company that is under no obligation to accept your demands. Making the choice to try and collect a certian thing shouldn't mean giving up the choice to alter your goals according to the circumstances. As I was trying to say, smart and mature compared to a child who has learned that sometimes you can't get everything you want, and you have to take no for an answer. That doesn't mean you have to stop wanting the thing, naturally. There are plenty of things I know I can't have that I would still like to have. Sometimes it frustrates me. But you shouldn't confuse that want for a need, no matter how strong it might be. I respect your decision to make your opinion clear, and I appreciate that you were so civil in your reply. I think we are both a little bit frustrated by the way this issue divides the community, but we simply have different explanations for how the problem should be solved (if it can be solved at all). You feel that the LEGO Group should make all minifigures and sets available to every fan who can afford the cost. I feel that fans should learn to admire and respect each other's collections without feeling like their own collections are made less valuable by the existence of items that are, through no fault of their own, not available to them. Sometimes I am also jealous of other people for things they have that I want: a stable job, a loving partner, the means to support their families and friends, the skills and confidence to create things that are beautiful and admired. But I reserve my right not to let those feelings divide me from the people who have things I wish I had for myself. I admire their gifts and their good fortune, but I remain appreciative of the gifts and good fortune I myself am privileged to have, not bitter over those that I lack. I like collecting things myself — growing up I've collected Pokémon and Yu-Gi-Oh cards, BIONICLE sets and collectibles, other LEGO sets, coins, and all sorts of other things. But I do not think it's healthy for fans to set goals for themselves that they cannot change or control. Even if the LEGO Group did try to make all products available to anyone who could afford them, there's always the chance that you might one day find yourself unable to get a complete collection, due to financial trouble or other factors outside your control. And in that case, you have to be able and willing to adjust your goals to be more realistic. Collecting should be a fun hobby, not a burden, and when people treat a 100% complete collection as the only collection worth striving for, I feel they set themselves up for frustration and disappointment.

Well, a part of me thinks that Christian Faber should still be involved, since he was basically behind so much of BIONICLE's original concept and making it into something more than just weird fighting robots. If somebody else could take over who could stay true to Faber's vision, then sure, I would be willing to give them a shot. But I think BIONICLE is safest in his hands. And yeah, there's a strong chance Minecraft sets will be in that last display case.

Hard to say. A lot of big decisions would have been made together with the rest of the story team, but suffice it to say that determining what Voya Nui was and where it came from would have been the FIRST part of designing the setting, since that is what explains how it connects to the Big Story Engine and why the Toa needed to go there in the first place. Restarting Mata Nui's heart was the whole point of the Ignition arc. And it was long understood that the 2006–2008 storyline would focus on land, then water, then air. This image, apparently from before the 2006–2008 settings were even named, describes their relative locations and indicates the hole in Mata Nui's heart that Voya Nui left behind. Here's another early concept drawing showing the waterfall where water is entering Karda Nui from that hole. And here's an early concept drawing of Karda Nui. All these images are dated 2006, but since Voya Nui is unnamed in the first, it's possible that it was actually drawn earlier. It's a mistake to think that because Greg didn't write outlines for his individual stories, there was no outline in place for how the story would proceed on a grander scale. It could be for BIONICLE, but my brother pointed out on BZPower that it's probably for Minecraft, since there are several not-yet-announced Minecraft sets that we've already seen preliminary images of, and which could easily come out before a BIONICLE revival.

Except... pretty much none of the geography stuff was Greg's doing in the first place. That was basically all Christian Faber, the same guy who was in charge of the design of BIONICLE's settings from the very beginning. See here. Hating Greg's writing is an opinion. Blaming him for things that were not his idea in the first place is pure ignorance. The difference there is Hero Factory was designed for the long term and Galaxy Squad and Monster Fighters were designed for the short term. There's no telling whether the LEGO Group could have gotten a TV show for those themes if they wanted to, but there's no reason to assume that was a goal of theirs. As for Hero Factory, it gets between 22 and 88 minutes of animation every year. That doesn't require nearly the same level of negotiation with networks as a full TV series like Ninjago and Chima have.

The US LEGO Shop has all the HF summer sets listed as "Coming Soon on 1 August 2014". Basically the release date we were expecting, but it's good to have lots of high-quality official images in advance.

He very well might still be involved, since he's one of the LEGO Group's top in-house writers for books and comics. That doesn't mean that he'll be a member of the story team though. I think a lot of people's hatred for Greg Farshtey as a writer is misaimed. He's not one of the greatest writers of our time by any means, but he's versatile, as demonstrated by his work on the Ninjago and Chima books. Just because he lacks the planning skills to carry an epic fantasy story like BIONICLE all by himself doesn't mean he can't write a decent licensed chapter book, comic, short story, or graphic novel.

I don't think there's anywhere near as much money in trying to market a line of colorful buildable action figures to adults and older teens as there is in marketing the same sort of product to kids and younger teens. But personally, I don't think BIONICLE is so similar to Ninjago or Chima that it would have a hard time standing out. The stories have some slight similarities, sure, chiefly their emphasis on ancient legends and heroes with magical elemental powers. But the products themselves and the universes they inhabit are markedly different. Honestly, I'd almost be more worried about it standing out too much. The LEGO Group has had plenty of success with franchises based on the LEGO brick and LEGO minifigure lately. So a theme of robotic-looking beings that, to a lay audience, "hardly look like LEGO", might be a slightly harder sell to TV networks and other media entities than a new minifigure-based theme could be.

Honestly, I'm rather impressed that the LEGO Group was able to find a use for that part outside the Ninjago theme, considering it's such a specific design. It doesn't bother me any more than the reuse of last year's elemental swords in this year's Hero Factory and Mixels sets bothers me. But I'll agree, it was pretty unexpected.

Rule #1: Be sure to say hi to me! I love meeting people from Eurobricks and the other sites I use. I should be spending a good deal of time at the BIONICLE table, since that's where a lot of my MOCs and artwork will be. I'll basically be wearing this name badge, though it's bigger now than it was two years ago, and has more yellow since they changed the brick color to yellow when they started having separate Brickfair events in Alabama and New England. Even if you don't have a lot to talk with me about, I think we'll both enjoy knowing we were able to find somebody else from Eurobricks. On a more serious note, try to connect with people in general! Talk to people about their MOCs and tell them about what you do in the community. A lot of the events will be a lot more fun if you have friends you can talk to. Plus you'll have people you can look forward to seeing if you come back next year! Don't be shy even if you think some of the MOCists are way beyond your building level. Even some of the most advanced MOCists at the event tend to be really friendly, and love telling others about their creations. Wear something that will get people's attention! A lot of people who have LEGO shirts of any kind wear those. But if you don't have any, wear something related to one of your other interests and it might help you start a conversation with somebody who shares that interest. It's good to stand out! With that said, I can't agree more with Legogal's advice to dress for the heat. Virginia is my home state, and in my hometown (Fredericksburg) it's already at the point where you don't want to be outside in the middle of the day if you can avoid it. If you do register as an attendee (which is more expensive than a public ticket), it's already too late for you to get a brick badge or get your name in the program guide. You had to be registered by July 14 to get either of those perks (also, if you had registered before then, you'd get a $15 discount). So maybe just attending this as a public guest might be the best thing for this year, and you can save full registration for next year. The public days do not have as many cool events and panels as the earlier days, and they also are very crowded as others have said. But that doesn't make them any less of an exciting new experience! This is the schedule of events. Not a whole lot of events happen during the public hours on Saturday and Sunday, but there is the public bingo which can have some pretty sweet prizes (albeit small ones — Bingo Grande on Wednesday gets most of the big prizes). Even if you don't win anything, bingo is a great chance to get off your feet if you get tired. There are three rounds of bingo on each of the public days. Here is the event map so you can start planning what you want to see when. The Great Ball Contraption (located towards the back of the expo center) is something you DEFINITELY want to make time for. The vendors are in the middle of the expo center this year. As with any convention, bring plenty of cash if you hope to buy anything — you can't count on everybody accepting other forms of payment.

Green Lantern is being released, but as has long been expected, it's not the SDCC exclusive version and thus not the same one used in The LEGO Movie. Though if anyone should be blamed for that, it would be the creators of The LEGO Movie. They were willing to come up with a new design for Shaq, after all. The police horse would be AWESOME, but the biggest flaw is that it could only have a red light or a blue one — the light could not change colors like it did in The LEGO Movie.

The easiest solution is actually to stop setting unreasonable goals for your own collection. If owning every minifigure isn't realistic for you, why pretend that it should be? Nobody ever told you that you're entitled to a complete collection. LEGO is an expensive hobby. Many LEGO fans wouldn't even be able to afford every single minifigure released in sets. Let's look at a hypothetical situation here. Suppose that a minifigure of a certain character is made as a prototype and never put in a set. The prototype continues to exist, but no fans ever get to own it. Does its existence make every single fan's collection incomplete? Is every single fan's collection less valuable purely because it exists? If not, why is it any different with figs that are released in small quantities? Particularly obscure figs like the recently-released Batman of Zur-En-Arrh who would probably never be released at all if not as rare exclusive items? There is no rule that owning every single collectible item of a certain type should be a realistic goal for an average fan. I have always been a BIONICLE fan. I have never been committed to getting every single collectible Kanohi mask, Krana brain, or Kraata slug (the Kraata slugs are particularly ridiculous. Getting all 252 variants from new sets bought at RRP would cost you upwards of $522 even if you never got a single duplicate... and did I mention they were blind-packaged in every set that included them? And yes, some people have decided it's worth their time and money to get every single one. But even people who sought to get every BIONICLE collectible ever released don't have complete collections, and the chief reason for that is this. The platinum Kanohi Avohkii was given out as a sweepstakes prize in 2003. Yes, it's an official BIONICLE mask. There are a number of BIONICLE collectibles made of precious metals that were distributed as sweepstakes prizes, including gold Kanoka disks, sterling silver Krana-Kal, and gold Kanohi masks, but this one is the rarest: only one was ever produced and distributed. Did this make collecting BIONICLE masks pointless? Of course not! Most BIONICLE fans were smart enough and mature enough to understand that owning every single collectible item the LEGO Group put out was a distant ideal, not an achievable reality. And they adjusted their expectations accordingly, setting their goals only as high as they felt they could reach. It's frustrating that so many LEGO System fans, who in the past have often dismissed BIONICLE as a worthless kiddie toy, lack that same intelligence and maturity. Instead they adopt an "if I can't have it, nobody should!" attitude that you'd expect to see from a five-year-old, not an adult. I'm sorry if this answer makes you uncomfortable. But you can't expect reality to bend to your expectations, especially when your desire is to put a stop to a practice that does not affect you or your personal collection in any way. Some people would like it if the LEGO Group didn't release licensed sets at all, because they personally don't like them — never mind the people who do. Their desires aren't any less reasonable than yours.

Yeah, one thing to keep in mind is that if LEGO wants to make the official reveal at a big media event like Comic-Con, they're also going to be at New York Comic Con later in the year. So there's no reason they'd have to make the announcement this early. Given how much other stuff the LEGO Group is going to be promoting at SDCC, a BIONICLE announcement might be more than we can reasonably hope for. It's not entirely out of the question, though.

LXF is short for LEGO Exchange Format. It's the filetype used for models built with LEGO Digital Designer, a free software application that lets you build virtual LEGO models. Anyway, this is an awesome model. I think I already might have replied to it on BZPower or somewhere? I forget. In any case, great work!

Not sure quite what you mean. By "old part usage", do you mean things like the old finger hinges? Those will never be allowed in any set because quite frankly they were poorly-engineered parts that could break very easily from normal use. Furthermore, introducing retired parts to the production line is not always an easy process. Even if you can afford a spot on the production line for a mold that doesn't appear in any other current sets, the molds might not even still be in usable condition, in which case you'd have to create new molds — something that LEGO Ideas does not have the budget or production volume to support. And as for illegal connections, those aren't just prohibited from sets for kids' benefit. Connections that stress parts beyond their intended tolerances are prohibited because they can potentially damage the parts used. Adding a connection to a set that could potentially destroy the parts involved isn't "inventive", it's sabotage. It'd be like creating a car where the mirrors might fall off when you put on the brakes, or a lightbulb that burns brightly for an hour and then explodes. Now, bear in mind that not all flimsy connections are illegal. Some are just that — flimsy. So those would be more like designing a computer program that invariably crashes after five minutes of use. Nothing is permanently damaged by a design flaw like that — you can always reopen the program, or rebuild the model when it falls apart. But it's just a source of pointless and never-ending frustration for users of any age.

I would not mind if Gali got a brighter color like Medium Azur as her secondary color. Her secondary color was always one of the less vibrant ones. I was thinking about something earlier. It's a bit odd how each of the Toa has both a name AND a title ("Tahu: Master of Fire", etc), but the "Defender" sets just have titles with no names. Do you think maybe it's possible that the "Defender" sets might be Matoran with non-specific masks and identities? As in, each "defender" would have a standardized build and color scheme but a random mask? There's not a whole lot of precedent for this sort of thing. When individual parts in a set are randomized, it usually means all the variants that might come in a particular set are treated as the same element — so, for example, all eight Krana shapes would come off the same mold and share the same Design ID, and every one of a particular color would share the same Element ID. The same is true of all 2012–2013 Hero Cores that share a particular point value. However, it'd be an interesting possibility, offering both a way for kids to collect masks and a way for designers to create a diverse population of Matoran. The back of each package could maybe show names and pictures of the various Matoran the set might contain. As a bonus, unlike mask packs, each "Defender" set would have built-in play value, since it'd include a full figure and not just accessories for one of the larger figure sets.

That WOULD be a cool idea! Maybe they could have a color scheme like Bright Green and Olive Green? The big problem with coming up with brand-new color schemes is that frankly, most of the tribes have avoided sharing any of their colors other than neutral colors like white, grey, and black or transparent colors like Tr. Bright Orange and Tr. Light Blue. There aren't a whole lot of completely unused color schemes as well-coordinated as what we've already seen. Maybe Medium Lavender and Bright Reddish Violet, or Light Purple (Bright Pink) and Bright Purple (Dark Pink), or Sand Blue and Light Royal Blue (which could be cool for a shark-like Mixel, maybe).

Well, white is one of the most basic colors that hasn't been done yet. I imagine it was avoided because the eyes and teeth of all the Mixels are white. I don't know what kind of theme it might correspond to, since ice is already taken by the blue ones. White and grey could maybe be used for cloud-themed Mixels. Pink/magenta is another color family the Mixels haven't touched. Although the LEGO Group might be avoiding that since some boys would probably be hesitant to buy products where pink is the dominant color. Flowers could be a cool theme for pink Mixels. You could even use white and pink together for some type of dessert-themed Mixels. Of course, it's also entirely possible that any new Mixels might belong to some of the already established tribes.