Ikki o' Moopyville

"For whatever reason" -- they forgot 2001? Tuma's head looks like Nidhiki... and while it's not an overly awesome set, his name is great. Even if it brings Lego down. -Ikk

Much more likely = Mata Nui gets a new body. Besides, Great Beings are waaaay smaller than Mata Nui. Tuma tuma yay... or however the song goes XD -Ikk

HECK YEAH! Okay, I know this is gonna cause major trouble, but Tuma just became win. -Ikk

Dead on with the locations being bland in color -- that's a major reason I'm so excited about next year. Ever since Metru Nui, the settings have been boring, so lacking in detail. Every time there was some potential -- murky swamps, undersea forests -- it got blown to bits. I miss the dozens of images showing how cool landscape the islands had. -Ikk

Bad colorist, then... baaaaad colorist! -Ikk

Yep, they adapted to the vehicles. And Pigbrick speaks the truth! Carlos had a wonderful mix of set-style and actual 'living' drawings. Sayger went too much towards his own style which somewhat messed up the character design, while Elliot tried to draw awkwardly posed photographs of the sets. Another problem with Gallagher is the sleep-inducing colors. That's where Sayger excelled: he really captured the glow and sparkle of lava caves, storms, even eyes. Gallagher... I'd rather just have it in black and white. Actually, THAT'S no bad idea... -Ikk

Several things... the proportions on his characters were way off, he tried to hard to make them look like the sets, which made them undynamic and boring, and eveything was 'shiny' -- from the sets to the buildings in Metru Nui, they all had that metallic feel. His drawings of the environments were also very, very dull. No, Carlos D'Anda all the way, baby! -Ikk

The summer canister sets are Vastus, Stronius, Kiina, Gelu, Ackar, and Mata Nui. -Ikk

The image is *okay* -- it's the caption that shows Greg's lack of talent. Oh, and no words can describe how bad Elliot was. :-P -Ikk

My bad. It doesn't even look 'enormous'... this Gallagher guy makes it devastatingly bland to look at. Compare these -- http://biosector01.com/wiki/images/5/50/Gali_Lewa_Storm.PNG http://www.brickshelf.com/gallery/Ikki/Movies/stormfail.png Igh. -Ikk

http://www.majhost.com/gallery/Shine/Stuff...picture_093.jpg FAIL. -Ikk

How do you know? :-P -Ikk

People still think there's no good and evil in this? C'mon, guys, this is Bionicle -- do you honestly expect it to sell without heroes and villains? XD -Ikk

I know the name is Klakk, no idea about the set number. -Ikk

Yeah, Ice and Stone are pointless if you base the idea of elemental variation on material differences -- in Bionicle, elements are based on environments, though. That's why, while Ice is just really cold water, it is vastly different from Water in Bionicle. Ice is found in the mountains, in glaciers and on tundras, while water is associated with the rivers and oceans. Same with Stone and Earth. Stone is in the deserts, the mountains, the canyonscapes... Earth dwells beneath the ground, in caves and tunnels. That's the reason Magnetism and Gravity and similar elements are awkward -- where do they dwell? In which natural regins can they be found? I dunno if that's how it's seen officially, but that's my take on it. That would also make Jungle / Wood more similar to Air, which it is in Bionicle -- they both dwell in the same regions (though probably at different heights XD). -Ikk

Greg said something along the lines of "The new mask and weapon pieces look great", so I guess they're masks -- look like it to me too. -Ikk

I don't see why any of the elements are worthless. Jungle sounds spiffy, though! EDIT: What page did I start? Forty-two! -Ikk

Personally, this is incredible. Rock Raiders (ooh, the game!) was a favorite series of mine until Bionicle took over -- yes, you may now brand me a weirdo. With this, classic-looking Bionicle, Pirates, Castle, and heck, even Indy, I will love 2009 more than my wallet will. Underground exploration is one my favorite things in fiction, and in Lego too. Even if the sets aren't fantastic, there's always the chance of gear, good parts, and stuff that can be combined with RR. Lego, I love ya. -Ikk

I may just replace all the hands with old joints and ship the hands to Jinzo. -Ikk

And Mata Nui himself is rock giant. He knew it might happen and factored it into the Plan. Maybe more than we know. -Ikk

I think they dropped the idea of System playsets -- I hope so at least! No idea what these things could stand for, but I think they are retailer categories rather than descriptions of the actual sets. -Ikk

Just checked the set list again -- the unnamed sets are MDP 1 & 2, SHP 1, 2 & 3, and HPP 3 & 4. F&S are HPP 1 and Tuma is HPP 2. So if we are following last year's pattern, that sounds like four regular large sets (the HPPs), two store exclusives (the MDPs), and three super-sized sets -- the SHPs. Sweet. -Ikk

Hopefully they'll carry on the tradition started in 2008 and release more super-large sets -- $50+ Rahi would be awesome. There seemed to be a lot (10 if I remember right!) unnamed sets, so add to that F&S and Tuma, and that's 12 large sets. Quite a bunch! And Atrozek, I love those drawings! Reminds me -- I wonder if Gallagher will continue to draw the comics in 2009. -Ikk

I'm a 120% sure these guys are half evil, half good. Remember what Bionicle is about, and what kids want -- obvious conflict, between pure good and evil. They already tried the ambiguous sides thing in 2005, and it was not received well. Besides, really any science fantasy story is about good versus evil... it'd be boring any other way. -Ikk

They're released in January and August offcially, though usually the respective months before that (in the States anyway XD) And the summer canister characters are named Gelu, Kiina, Stronius, Vastus, Ackar, and Mata Nui. So yep, Vastus is there. EDIT: I'm going with the set list, and since that says Malum, that's what I believe is official. -Ikk