Theory (Real Life): New sets in the future?

[Toa Halcyon]

One thing that I noticed about the new generation of Bionicle is that there's a certain "lack" of sets.  Not necessarily in the number of sets; as with each passing generation, Bionicle gets a release of at least six Matoran and their equivalent Toa counterparts.  The first group had the Mcdonalds "Tohunga" promotionals with Jaller, Hewkii, Macku, Kongu, Matoro, and Onepu, the Toa Metru had Tehutti, Akhmou, Nuhrii, Vhisola, Ehrye, Orkham, and so on.  So that's kind of expected that the Protectors (which I believe to be essentially the title for village elders, such as the Turaga were for the Matoran) are the Matoran to G2's Toa.

 

However, all we have for the bad guys are the small Skull Spiders and their master, the Lord of Skull Spiders.

 

Now, granted, I think I'm not the only one who's noticed Lego downsizing a lot of its products lately.  We kind of saw that with the lower quality casts of the Piraka/Inika series pieces (parts broke easier and wore down a lot faster than their previous models.  I know, I kept track), and then later sets got more expensive, with Glatorian costing at least 15 bucks versus the Toa Metru that cost around 8-9 (this is a ROUGH estimate, as 2004 was a long time ago).  I don't really want to get into why I think that, because that has nothing to do with the discussion I am posing, but I do feel that if Lego's really attempting a good reboot with the second generation of Bionicle that everyone's hyping about, there's no way that what they've released is all we're getting...at least this year.

 

I'm thinking personally that they may end up approaching it the way they did with Hero Factory.  Based on some of the information on Brickipedia, 2011 saw several releases by Hero Factory over the course of the year, including two different redesigns of the same heroes; Furno 2.0 with the funky head design released in January, and then his better 3.0 design that was released in July.  This not only fixed some of the 'mistakes' brought about by the 2.0 models (those heads...good lord those heads...you'd think Lego learned their lesson with the Inika head pieces), but it also introduced more sets that made them a lot of money a lot quicker than their traditional releases with a generation every year with Bionicle (though at the expense that previous sets were off the shelves faster).

 

It is also pretty traditional that Bionicle includes the really big sets since the big Technic era back in 2001, with the inclusion of the Rahi; the Tarakava, Manas, and Nui Rama being some of the more well known sets of that era.  The Lord of the Skull Spiders is, frankly, not much of a Titan; it is in a similar size range as most of the Toa, and it's piece range is only slightly bigger.  For a first gen villain, it's kind of a killjoy in the sense that there's not much standing in the Toa's way, especially if they face him as a group.  But...he'd be a nice introduction that hints at something greater, especially if there's books, comics, and a web-based series of animations to go with him.  It'd be nice to find out that they released these sets now only for there to be more to be released in the future.

 

So, what do you guys think?  Do you think that they're going to approach the second generation the way they did with Hero Factory, releasing more sets in increments rather than all at once?  I'm all ears.

[aldero]

Yeah, they'll do that. That has happened for most of the Bionicle waves. For example, 2003 started off with the Bohrok-Kal and the 2003 Matoran. I'm pretty sure that was it. Later in the year, we got four Titan sets, and the Rahkshi. Second waves almost always have a larger variety of sets, so I'm not so worried.

[Munty]

I believe ALL Lego lines have both Summer and Winter releases so this is confirmed. Not really a theory at all Congratulations though, given that you weren't aware of this before you posted (I assume!) this was a very accurate prediction on your part

[Chro]

"There are sets and so there will be more sets."

 

Well, uh, yes. And on top of that, we have some information about them already from London ToyFair, if you need more proof.

[Black Six]

Moving to Bionicle Discussion...

[bioniclepluslotr]

I never saw Glatorians reach $15. It was $10 in my area. It wasn't until HF that prices went up. Also, I think LoSS is part of the new villain team for the summer, since they always have a canister-sized villain team each year, and the summer wave only has 5 listed villains (I think)?

Edited January 23, 2015 by bioniclepluslotr

[McNugget]

I never saw Glatorians reach $15. It was $10 in my area. It wasn't until HF that prices went up. Also, I think LoSS is part of the new villain team for the summer, since they always have a canister-sized villain team each year, and the summer wave only has 5 listed villains (I think)?

They reached 12$ here, anyway, there are 5 villains this summer, skull scorpio, skull basher, skull slicer, and skull warrior, as well as a 30$ big set, called Mask maker Vs. Skull Grinder

[Nidhiki of the Shadows]

As long as we have more than 18 sets per year, I'll be happy - I'd prefer to have a set of six villains + heroes and titans along with the smaller sets. This year seems to be mixing the titans with villain and hero sets.

 

-NotS

Edited January 23, 2015 by Nidhiki of the Shadows

[Toa Halcyon]

Moving to Bionicle Discussion...

Sorry about that Black Six, I'll remember next time. ^^

 

Hey thanks for the replies everyone.  It's good to know what people think about this.

[Xabla]

Yep.

 

EDIT: Fixed.

Edited January 24, 2015 by moamahrimatoro

[Jobber]

Do not post or discuss leaked content. -B6 Edited January 25, 2015 by Black Six

[Munty]

Do not post or discuss leaked content. -B6 Edited January 25, 2015 by Black Six

[Toa Halcyon]

Well at least now I know that there will be more stuff coming out this year, good to know!

 

Here's hoping though that Gen 2 will include some sort of game, comic series, books, and other items that's pretty much a traditional part of Bionicle.  Bionicle's story is what made it so successful, so it's pretty much unspoken that the new sets NEED to have some sort of external storytelling device for us all to enjoy.

[dotcom]

 Bionicle's story is what made it so successful

Well, more like...it's what killed it, in the end, but....

I hope they don't spread out too thin really. There don't have to be lots of different places where they tell the story. We do know we're getting books at some point, though.

[Blueblur21]

Sweet Gali's hips those pictures were amazing!

[Jobber]

Sweet Gali's hips those pictures were amazing!

you have an addiction man

[Spiffy247]

 

Sweet Gali's hips those pictures were amazing!

you have an addiction man

 

And I have amazing hair. ^__^

[Blueblur21]

 

Sweet Gali's hips those pictures were amazing!

you have an addiction man

 

An addiction to those awesome new pictures? You're right!

[Regitnui]

 

 

 

 

Sweet Gali's hips those pictures were amazing!

you have an addiction man

An addiction to those awesome new pictures? You're right!

To a toy robot's butt, which is slightly disturbing...

[Toa Halcyon]

 

 

 

Sweet Gali's hips those pictures were amazing!

you have an addiction man

An addiction to those awesome new pictures? You're right!

To a toy robot's butt, which is slightly disturbing...

 

To be fair there are worse things to be addicted to...

[Blueblur21]

 

 

 

Sweet Gali's hips those pictures were amazing!

you have an addiction man

An addiction to those awesome new pictures? You're right!

To a toy robot's butt, which is slightly disturbing...

 

First off, she's a cyborg. Second, I said nothing about her butt! Even then, obviously I'm just being silly. 

 

 

 

 

 

Sweet Gali's hips those pictures were amazing!

you have an addiction man

An addiction to those awesome new pictures? You're right!

To a toy robot's butt, which is slightly disturbing...

 

To be fair there are worse things to be addicted to...

 

 

Yeah. Like technicolor donkeys and Rebecca Black.

Edited January 24, 2015 by Blueblur21

[bioniclepluslotr]

 

I never saw Glatorians reach $15. It was $10 in my area. It wasn't until HF that prices went up. Also, I think LoSS is part of the new villain team for the summer, since they always have a canister-sized villain team each year, and the summer wave only has 5 listed villains (I think)?

They reached 12$ here, anyway, there are 5 villains this summer, skull scorpio, skull basher, skull slicer, and skull warrior, as well as a 30$ big set, called Mask maker Vs. Skull Grinder

 

For that price, I think the big set's just gonna be a protector-sized Mask Maker and a Toa-sized villain. Not much titan here either :/

[Lyichir]

 

Bionicle's story is what made it so successful

Well, more like...it's what killed it, in the end, but....

I hope they don't spread out too thin really. There don't have to be lots of different places where they tell the story. We do know we're getting books at some point, though.

 

The easiest way for the new story to avoid falling into the same trap as the original one, even spread across multiple media, is to make sure that a single medium tells the whole story and everything else either adapts that or is nonessential. I loved the 2011 Ninjago chapter books, which told stories which either simply elaborated on events from that year's main TV special (like the story of how the Ninja obtained the Nunchucks of Lightning, which happened in a montage in the show), or were side-stories that featured the characters in unrelated adventures (like a story about the ninja being tested by a rogue former student of Sensei Wu). Those kinds of stories can still be compelling if they give new insight into the characters they portray, but someone who stuck to the TV series wouldn't be missing out on any developments in the overarching plot if they gave those books a pass.

[Munty]

Good job moamahrimatoro, see how this topic is still free from moderator influence? That's down to you man! Someone get this guy a cookie  

 

I agree wholeheartedly with Lyichir, I don't mind too much what medium is used for the Gen 2 storytelling but it would definitely make sense to keep it more streamlined than it was in Gen 1. The gen 1 story was in a way both it's greatest success and most damning failure...

[hiddenderek]

Well at least now I know that there will be more stuff coming out this year, good to know!

 

Here's hoping though that Gen 2 will include some sort of game, comic series, books, and other items that's pretty much a traditional part of Bionicle.  Bionicle's story is what made it so successful, so it's pretty much unspoken that the new sets NEED to have some sort of external storytelling device for us all to enjoy.

Yeah if theres just a book and those micro shorts for the story I'll be sorely dissapointed. That would be less than what even Hero Factory got.

Edited January 24, 2015 by hiddenderek

[Tea-rex]

Hehehehe, the link's still there. Gonna save it before everything gets killed.

[Toa Halcyon]

 

 

Bionicle's story is what made it so successful

Well, more like...it's what killed it, in the end, but....

I hope they don't spread out too thin really. There don't have to be lots of different places where they tell the story. We do know we're getting books at some point, though.

 

The easiest way for the new story to avoid falling into the same trap as the original one, even spread across multiple media, is to make sure that a single medium tells the whole story and everything else either adapts that or is nonessential. I loved the 2011 Ninjago chapter books, which told stories which either simply elaborated on events from that year's main TV special (like the story of how the Ninja obtained the Nunchucks of Lightning, which happened in a montage in the show), or were side-stories that featured the characters in unrelated adventures (like a story about the ninja being tested by a rogue former student of Sensei Wu). Those kinds of stories can still be compelling if they give new insight into the characters they portray, but someone who stuck to the TV series wouldn't be missing out on any developments in the overarching plot if they gave those books a pass.

 

Yes, I agree with this statement.  It would work a lot better if Bionicle had a main storyline set in a TV show or a comic series, then have books that either expand/elaborate on what was on the original show/comics, or follow the path of a completely different character.  It's why I liked the Mata Nui Online Game so much; even though it took place during the Quest for the Masks, it didn't follow the Toa, it followed a side character who ended up carving his own place into the storyline...which was amazing.

[IcarusBen]

Has LEGO confirmed the summer set names or is that still leaked.

 

If it isn't, then GOOD LORD THOSE ARE GENERIC NAMES. Skull + Thing. It's not like the army sets of days gone by where they had a formula (? + ak, ? + rahk, ? + dakh) but this is just generic as all ######.

 

EDIT: Didn't notice that I swore. Oops. Thank Mata Nui for censorship.

Edited January 26, 2015 by IcarusBen

[Mazek_Of_The_Order]

I completely agree with this assessment of the villain situation. While the new Toa are pretty cool, the Skull Spiders are the biggest disappointment I've ever seen from Bionicle. I've sent more hours than I could ever count playing with Bionicle sets. Not necessarily building, not posing them, but PLAYING with them. Playing with them as if they were action figures. And the coolest sets, the ones that make every battle so much better, and the ones that nine-year-old boys are going to want to spend their own money on, are always the bad guys. The Skull Spiders are small, overly simple, and just plain boring. The Spider Lord isn't much better. Realistically, Tahu could take on that thing by himself and win. Game over. Yawn. We need big villains. Freaks with creepy masks, huge blades, hydraulics built into their legs, and spikes all over everything. Minions with wings and claws. Stuff like that. I sincerely hope that they introduce a new Titan collection soon. If they don't, I doubt the reboot will be very successful.