MisterJulius

Back in 2001, my mother took me to Toys-R-Us to get a Lego set. Of course, they had Bionicle, and the Bionicle canister sets were really the only thing that we could afford at the time. Any other system set with a similar price point was too uninteresting to kid me when compared to these awesome robot action figures. So, I picked up Gali and have been hooked ever since. It wasn't until 2004 that I became a dedicated fan, though. Up until that point, I mainly followed it because its canister sets were all my mother could afford to get me, and it had a cool comic series that kept my interest from dying out. In 2004, though, I had access to all of the storytelling material. I got to read all the books thanks to my school's library, I got to watch the movie, I had all the comics, and I had most of the sets. Because of the story, I was hooked for good and I decided that I was going to follow this series until its death. Fast forward ten or so years later, and I now own a collection of every piece of published Bionicle storytelling media. I still thirst for more things to collect.

Good ol' Gali Mata was my first set.

All they need to do is bring back Swift & Danny and whoever created the Piraka Rap. We need more beautiful gems like Bionicle Brain. I'm just joking please don't hurt me

Set-wise, my favorite year would be 2009. I really want to put 2007 up as my favorite, but the issues with the lime-green plastic really hurt that year's sets. 2009's canister sets don't have as great of a variety in builds as 2007, but they don't completely lack variety. I loved the designs of the new pieces, and the vehicles were great. My least favorite year for sets would be 2010. Now, I don't hate the Stars. I love the Stars. But it's kinda hard to find a year that was worse for sets than a year with only 6 small sets. As for story, my favorite year is 2004. 2004 was the first year in Bionicle's story when I got to experience every piece of storytelling media. I read all the books thanks to my school library, I got the movie when it came out, and I had all the comics. That year's story really solidified my love for Bionicle. Least favorite year for story would be 2010. I loved that giant robot fight and all, but the rushed nature of the ending, the poorly shoehorned-in golden armor gimmick, all paired with being a pretty short "year" for story makes it my least favorite.

Personally, I don't have much of a problem with CCBS on paper. The problem I have with it is the execution of its system in finalized sets. CCBS is, as we know, a three-layer system. You have a generic skeleton, which you cover with generic shells, which you then cover with armor add-ons to give it a unique look. My problem is that the third layer doesn't seem to be utilized as often as it could be. With sets such as Brain Attack Breez, or even the new Protectors, you can see that one armor add-on can make a huge difference. However, the variety of armor add-ons is very slim, and that lack of variety in the third layer can make the whole system seem bland. As for the other drawbacks with the system, I don't mind them really. I just think that they should make more armor add-ons to expand the options for customization.

Personally, my favorite music tracks come from BIONICLE: Quest for the Toa and the GameBoy Advance version of BIONICLE Heroes. I feel that Quest for the Toa really nails the feel of 2001, with a good mix of wooden instrumentals and some more electronic-centric tracks. As for the GBA version of Bionicle Heroes, the game's soundtrack in general is just pretty awesome. It's got great sound quality for GBA, and is overall really well-composed. One of my personal favorites from its soundtrack is the Grounded Arena track.