2016 Set News and Pictures Rolling in from Nuremberg Toy Fair!

[Hapori Tohu]

The Toy Fair (Spielwarenmesse) in Nuremberg, Germany is underway, and pictures of upcoming 2016 sets are rolling in from German LEGO news sites such as Promobricks.de and Zusammengebaut.com. So far there's been just one Bionicle picture and no Elves or Ninjago pictures, but plenty of pictures of City, Creator, Technic, and Nexo Knights, and even a few videos of the summer Technic sets in action! The Brick Fan has been compiling the pics from around the web, so watch that space for additional updates!

 

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[Nightmaresandwich]

Ekimu looks cool with a trans blue Mask of Creation I must say.

[Toa Smoke Monster]

I wish there were more Bionicle pictures, but I bet more of them will be added to this as they are put online.

 

Regardless, there are a lot of cool pictures of sets here. The Architecture sets look really good, especially the US Capital Building. The Marvel and DC sets look cool too. 

 

It looks like the summer of 2016 will be another good one for Lego.

[Zeb]

Are those poisoned versions of Tahu's, Kopaka's, and Onua's masks I see next to the Beasts? Also, I'm glad that there is finally a good way of having baby minifigures in sets now.

[Nescent]

Ekimu looks cool with a trans blue Mask of Creation I must say.

I really like that trans-blue MoCr, and although I think Ekimu could use some more gold, I hope the mask stays un-blended. I don't think the mask's design would really work blended.

 

Anyway the sets look swell and have me pretty hyped. It looks like we're getting interesting recolors of some masks:

 

Tahu, Kopaka, and Onua's mask blended with trans-light green, and I guess Umarak's mask in black and trans-reddish orange? Nice recolors, but it suffers from the same thing as the skeleton sets - some of the Toa are left without recolors...

 

Also, Umarak the Destroyer is seriously impressive. Wow. He's gigantic and he just looks so awesome.

[Rahkshi Lalonde]

i had seen descriptions of Jestro's volcano base call it "kind of boring and disappointing" and now i think they must've seen a different set because those are not the words i would use!

[NickonAquaMagna]

Boy, it seems Bionicle is gonna be dead last to get any coverage.

[Toa Zaz]

A Lego baby (besides Maggie)?!?!?! And a minifigure in a wheelchair?!?!?! Those are both extremely welcome additions to add variety to the minifigure canon, thanks Lego. Now we need actual non-white non-licensed characters...

 

Architecture capitol building looks nice but will undoubtedly be ridiculously overpriced...

 

The Spider-Man bridge set looks nice but also very expensive.

 

I'm not even a Technic fan but that Porsche looks gorgeous.

 

Will reserve judgement on the Bionicle sets until we get better pics (annoying that it gets lets coverage than the other themes). Glad that the Mask of Creation is recolored fully trans-blue instead of blended with gold, though, actually I'm really glad about the set designers being a little bold and making Ekimu's trans blue so dominant in his color scheme, Tahu has made me tired of gold.

 

I hope at one of these Toy Fairs we get pictures of any new Star Wars constraction figures (since I heard there might be more coming out later this year).

Edited January 27, 2016 by Toa Zaz

[MrSciFiGuy]

Umarak seems like a true Titan set that we havent had yet. Excited for that. Not excited for Ekimu though. His color school looks non-existent. Comparatively to the other models, it looks like his has the least thought put into it.

[Toa Zaz]

From Chimp on Eurobricks commenting about the City set:

 

 

"The wheelchair guy and old man kinda look like Walter and Jesse from Breaking Bad. Hope that's intentional. They would go perfectly with RV creator set! "

 

 

 

Edited January 27, 2016 by Toa Zaz

[Bricko Botface]

Umarak the Destroyer, as hoped, looks awesome. I have doubts about the effectiveness of the waist gearbox however.

 

The Beasts? Ehh, Idunno. They look like they'll be as unintimidatingly small as the Skeletons, although I may reconsider when given a better look.

[J46 Nui]

New Umarak looks really impressive, but I wish that he kept his trans-green parts instead of trans-yellow-green. I have way too few parts of the former and way too many of the later. 

[NickonAquaMagna]

Why does lego keep making most of the villain sets smaller than the Toa?

Edited January 27, 2016 by NickonAquaMagna

[Bfahome]

[scrolls down]

 

wait

 

BUCKET WHEEL EXCAVATOR

 

OHHHHH WOW

[Rooster Nui]

Why does lego keep making most of the villain sets smaller than the Toa?

Probably because kids generally like the heroes more and having most villains at the same level as a big-Toa set can end up being a bit of a budget waster when they generally don't sell as well as the heroes. It makes sense when you consider that the Toa are in the spotlight.

[The 1st Shadow]

 

Ekimu looks cool with a trans blue Mask of Creation I must say.

I really like that trans-blue MoCr, and although I think Ekimu could use some more gold, I hope the mask stays un-blended. I don't think the mask's design would really work blended.

 

 

Ever since I saw the leaks a couple days ago, I'e been speculating on Ekimu's new appearance. 

 

Consider his abundance of trans-blue and only bits of gold. Looks very transparent.

 

Almost.... like a ghost.

 

A Force Ghost, you see.

 

My theory: Ekimu gets killed by Umarak or something, and his spirit returns to help guide the Toa in their quest, with this set being the physical representation of his disembodied form.

[Bricko Botface]

 

 

Ekimu looks cool with a trans blue Mask of Creation I must say.

I really like that trans-blue MoCr, and although I think Ekimu could use some more gold, I hope the mask stays un-blended. I don't think the mask's design would really work blended.

 

 

Ever since I saw the leaks a couple days ago, I'e been speculating on Ekimu's new appearance. 

 

Consider his abundance of trans-blue and only bits of gold. Looks very transparent.

 

Almost.... like a ghost.

 

A Force Ghost, you see.

 

My theory: Ekimu gets killed by Umarak or something, and his spirit returns to help guide the Toa in their quest, with this set being the physical representation of his disembodied form.

 

 

Ghosts don't tote around force hammers waiting to clobber people silly.

 

 

 

Why does lego keep making most of the villain sets smaller than the Toa?

Probably because kids generally like the heroes more and having most villains at the same level as a big-Toa set can end up being a bit of a budget waster when they generally don't sell as well as the heroes. It makes sense when you consider that the Toa are in the spotlight.

 

 

 

The reason Pohatu wasn't a temptation to me last year because he was around twenty pieces short of Gali and Lewa. Even though some of the Skeletons had a higher piece count, the fact that they were all as small as Pohatu was a bit of a deterrent to buying them, as cool as some of their parts are. Of course, I did only get three sets last year, partly because I spent 45$ of potential Bonkle budget on a seven pound ebay lot...

Edited January 27, 2016 by Brickobotface

[The 1st Shadow]

 

 

 

Ekimu looks cool with a trans blue Mask of Creation I must say.

I really like that trans-blue MoCr, and although I think Ekimu could use some more gold, I hope the mask stays un-blended. I don't think the mask's design would really work blended.

 

 

Ever since I saw the leaks a couple days ago, I'e been speculating on Ekimu's new appearance. 

 

Consider his abundance of trans-blue and only bits of gold. Looks very transparent.

 

Almost.... like a ghost.

 

A Force Ghost, you see.

 

My theory: Ekimu gets killed by Umarak or something, and his spirit returns to help guide the Toa in their quest, with this set being the physical representation of his disembodied form.

 

 

Ghosts don't tote around force hammers waiting to clobber people silly.

 

Actually, in some cases, ghosts are supposed to reflect themselves from when they were living. Ekimu's hammer was a representation of who he was and what he did while alive, and so that would have carried over into death. Think about the Army of the Dead from LotR--those guys all had swords and the like, and they did a lot of Orc-stabbing. Or, alternatively, this case could be one of those where the ghost resembles the being in the moment of death (bearing a shield and hammer to the very end).

 

Otherwise, the lack of gold and bizarre change in stature is really odd. Until we hear otherwise, I'm sticking to the ghost theory.

[Aanchir]

Boy, it seems Bionicle is gonna be dead last to get any coverage.

Bionicle has already gotten more coverage so far than Elves, Ninjago, Friends, or Mixels, so I wouldn't be so quick to assume it's going to be relegated to last.

[Voltex]

That new Mask of Creation is niiiiiice

[Ehksidian]

The new Mask of Creation looks great

so does Umarak.

Can't pass judgement on the other sets, though, since we only have the one (fairly poor) angle. Can't wait to see other pictures of 'em!

[SixFootBlue]

I'm kind of bummed out that the "poisoned" masks that come with the beasts changed from how they looked in the leaked images. Gunmetal grey marbled with trans neon green was a real nice look for them.

[Rahkshi Lalonde]

Consider his abundance of trans-blue and only bits of gold. Looks very transparent.

 

Almost.... like a ghost.

 

 

I've actually called this set "Ekimu's ghost" almost every  time i've mentioned it for that reason, :u

 

also, i just noticed bucket excavator, it's... a technic set, to system scale, and like, it has places for minifigs to stand and everything and... it's HUGE. and wonderful, i love industrial technic so so much more than racecar technic almost 100% of the time!

[Smitty]

I'm happy to see bots for the rest of the knights. I'm super excited to see hover horses for Clay and Axl. We also get the book keeper with the Volcano Base. The Ultimate sets are nice but there are too many nexo powers that are already released.

[SixFootBlue]

I just noticed the post updated with some up-close photos of the new bionicle sets. It looks like the beasts and umarak all come with a toa head in trans-neon green

Though from the looks of it, it also seems the jaw pieces are attached to the axle hole meant for connecting the toa brain to the head... Would that mean they don't come with toa brains, and rely on the entire head for eye colour? I mean if they did come with a toa brain, then the mask would pop off every time you closed the jaw, which feels like an odd mechanic. Also lava beast is the only one to have a gear function at the waist apparently?

[Nescent]

I just noticed the post updated with some up-close photos of the new bionicle sets. It looks like the beasts and umarak all come with a toa head in trans-neon green

 

Though from the looks of it, it also seems the jaw pieces are attached to the axle hole meant for connecting the toa brain to the head... Would that mean they don't come with toa brains, and rely on the entire head for eye colour? I mean if they did come with a toa brain, then the mask would pop off every time you closed the jaw, which feels like an odd mechanic. Also lava beast is the only one to have a gear function at the waist apparently?

Quake Beast and Storm Beast (the purple one and the blue one) are the only ones that don't have the waist-swivel gear. Ekimu, Umarak, and Lava Beast do have it.

 

But yeah the jaw confused me too...I hope it's not locked in place.

[user-402520536]

.

Edited August 30, 2023 by user-402520536

[Toa Imrukii]

Eh.... I hope that this thing of more or less lackluster summer wave sets doesn't become a trend with BIONICLE G2, hopefully LEGO can add some interesting story details that will make the 'beasts' seemingly less lackluster, at least I'd hope so. With a title a prestigious as 'Umarak the Destroyer' I hoped he would be something MUCH more interesting, as opposed to pretty much being like Onua G1 plus or minus some power and strength or what have you. I was hoping he'd be like a massive, and I mean MASSIVE being of pure shadow, with multiple limbs, lots of gear functions, and blasters. Or, something along those lines, though, I guess what we have is better than nothing. Though, I'm not sure if I should say that this is a step up from the 2015 summer wave, if anything, it's more of a step down in my eyes. Now, thats not saying that these sets will be bad, that I can only say or not once I have them in-hand. But, as for the Beasts, I honestly was hoping for them to be MASSIVE! Like Umarak, but more mythical, and unique looking, almost alien in appearance I was hoping, but again, oh well. Here's hoping that they're good fun sets to play with.

[fishers64]

Is it just me, or does the purple beast's mask look like Makuta's G1 movie mask?

 

(Even if it does, the resemblance isn't enough to get me to buy that ugly set, but there you go.)

Edited January 28, 2016 by fishers64

[Naota Takizawa]

That minfigure in the wheelchair bothers me because of the mismatched hands. 

[Aanchir]

That minfigure in the wheelchair bothers me because of the mismatched hands.

That's probably preliminary. That torso has had Light Nougat hands in past sets, but there's another fig in the Airport sets with the same torso but Bright Yellow hands.

 

I'm excited for the wheelchair as well as the new baby minifigure. I had thought that the Microfig part from the LEGO Gamesmight be ideal for a LEGO baby (it's even identified as a baby in the name of many microfigs in the LEGO Group's customer service database), but this new baby design might be even better!

 

Overall, the theme I'm most excited for at Nuremberg Toy Fair has got to be Elves. The theme has a great variety of new brick-built dragon designs, not to mention some amazing locations like the Starlight Inn, the Secret Market Place, the Precious Crystal Mine, the Dragon Sanctuary, and Ragana's Magic Shadow Castle. It wouldn't surprise me if once again I end up getting the entire range of sets for this theme, although it's looking like skipping the Elvendale School of Dragons might be an option.

 

Ninjago also looks phenomenal, but I'm still going to have to think long and hard about which sets I get from that theme. And according to some reports on Brickset we haven't even seen all the summer sets yet! My poor wallet!

 

Bionicle didn't really wow me, aside from Umarak the Destroyer, who is a GREAT evolution of Umarak the Hunter. In fairness, the beast sets were not shown from the best angles and I still can't figure out some of their functions. Ekimu seems interesting but seeing his new design mostly just leaves me wanting some story context. How does he transform? Is it permanent, or temporary? Etcetera. I don't think his colors are as unbalanced as some people make them out to be, and if he is a "supercharged" version of Ekimu that's great because I love characters like that (the NRG ninja from LEGO Ninjago, the Ultimate knights from LEGO Nexo Knights, etc).

 

The Friends hot dog van looks like a cute set packed with humor, and the other amusement park sets are nice in their own right, though they don't wow me as much as the Pop Star, Jungle Rescue, and Adventure Camp sets did. Maybe that's because by now I'm used to Creator Expert amusement park attractions, so these new ones feel rather simple by comparison.

[bionicleFanatic]

Welp, there's a lot of new stuff there that's interesting. Baby minifigs, the larger caravan (Dat bear!), the Volcano-based city wave, the airport hanger, the official Claas tractor, that whopping technic crystal sweeper redo, the mini-marvel sets, and Jestro's lava castle (looks great for an RPG map). The Bionicle waves look interesting, but I don't think I'll be buying any. I'm annoyed that they made Ekimu all toa-sized. Here's hoping they have a good in-story explanation for that. Umarak's updated look is beefy, but I'll still pass.

 

Looks like it's back to collecting 01 mctoran, then []

[bohrokman]

if you go on brickiest there are links to more bionicle pics. After seeing these pics Ekimu looks way awesome with gold print on a trans torso shell and Umarak looks so amazing and reminds me of like a 20x better ultimate due some how. I am not really digging the lack of armor on the beasts, and I think I will only be getting one of them other than that that unmark mask in trans relish orange/ black looks incredible. Also the ninjago sets look extremly better than last years or later this years sets. I love all of the ninjago sets especialy the stealth raider set. I am also hyped for the elves sets I mean dragons what else could LEGO have done to get me to buy the "girls sets."

I think that also the mixes are getting better. I love love love love loooovvvveee that Porshe and the bridge battle set also I don't understand why the volcano base was "ugly" and "wasted a lot of space" I think it looks amazing same for the other next knights set espescialy the clone turbo tank like thing. My Birthday is around the summer so looks like I will have to make a thousand hard choices! SO HYPED!

[Takametru007]

I'm not liking the Summer Wave as much as I thought I would...

 

Considering the Uniters look FANTASTIC and are a definite upgrade with a cohesive feel to them, I was expecting more, but the Villains leave a lot to be desired. The beasts look clumsy, and don't look like worthy adversaries for the Toa - even if they come in hordes in the story-line, like Bohrok, I still can't get over the awkward look of them. Still, it may just be the angle, so we'll see what features they have as the year goes on.

 

I do like the look of Umarak the Destroyer. He makes for a threatening villain. The only complaint I have is story-wise. I think they missed an opportunity to add another villain to the G2 canon, and in a way making Umarak transform into a brute takes away from the image of the skilled, calculated poacher/warrior that I found so interesting (sort of like an evil version of the Hydraxon character). The set is great, but I wish it had been a new villain character instead- the G2 Toa need more worthy foes.

 

It looks to me like Ekimu is being set up as the "Seventh Toa", a sort of Dume/Takanuva/Mata-Nui hybrid character (in terms of the role he plays in the story). Story-wise, I like this. I was a little worried that the eventual clash between Makuta and Ekimu would be between two Protectors, so I'm glad to see that we may see a Toa-Sized (maybe even Titan-sized) battle between the two brothers next year.

Again, I have reservations about the design. Though he is among the best of the Summer wave, next to Umarak Part II, I find that his design is not as interesting, innovative, or cohesive as the Uniters. Again, perhaps the angle is wrong, but from the image his shoulder armor looks like it's not really fitting with the rest of the design. Sadly, his Protector sized form had a greater aesthetic appeal to me. And, though I know that the gimmick with G2 is for every set to have unique masks, I wish they had included a golden MoC with the set. The over-use of trans-blue doesn't appeal.

 

I wish the older formula would return, where six villains clash against six Toa. I suppose the emphasis is meant to be on the Toa, but what good is a hero without a threatening villain to face? This year is very lacking in that department. Here's hoping next year ups its game with the baddies, and gives our heroes a real run for their money.

 

EDIT: Y'know, the more I look at Ekimu, the more he grows on me. The Trans blue is OK, and the shoulder armour isn't as bad as I thought either. Those legs though...I dunno if LEGO is trying to save plastic or what, but they could be covered just a little bit more.

Edited January 29, 2016 by Takametru007

[fishers64]

What intrigues me is the mask coming with the new Ekimu Toa figure. What is that mask? 

 

Could it be the Mask of Ultimate Power? O_O

[believe victims]

What intrigues me is the mask coming with the new Ekimu Toa figure. What is that mask? 

 

Could it be the Mask of Ultimate Power? O_O

 

I hope not, considering it's just Umarak's mask blended with transorange instead of transgreen. It seems a bit early to bring in the ultimate macguffin.

Edited January 29, 2016 by Dina Saruyama

[Pohaturon]

I actually really like the summer Bionicle lineup. I disliked the skull villains, with only Scorpio appealing (he's real cool though).

I'm only getting a single set from this roster, and it's a toss up between Lava Beast and Storm Beast, though Stormy is winning so far. Will wait for more info.

 

Am I seeing it right that Lava Beast gets half a shadow trap, Storm Beast gets half a shadow trap, but Quake Beast gets both halves? If this is so, I'll be a tad ruffled...

 

EDIT: I now see that Storm Beast does in fact have both halves of a shadow trap, so consider me un-ruffled. Based on this I'll assume Lava Beast has a full shadow trap too.

 

What's up with Storm Beast's left shoulder though? Is that some sort of function connected to the tail?

 

Edited January 29, 2016 by Pohaturon

[fishers64]

 

What intrigues me is the mask coming with the new Ekimu Toa figure. What is that mask? 

 

Could it be the Mask of Ultimate Power? O_O

 

I hope not, considering it's just Umarak's mask blended with transorange instead of transgreen. It seems a bit early to bring in the ultimate macguffin.

 

Agreed. 

[Lenny7092]

I must say. It looks like an interesting wave. Looks great, but could've been better in my honest opinion.

 

To start with, Ekimu the Mask Maker looks beautiful! I love the trans-blue pieces, including the Mask of Creation! However, this seems to be too much trans-blue and less gold, so that's strange. I can see that Ekimu had gotten taller, at the size of a Toa. I don't know how he will look like this. Mane the trans-blue means being supercharged with energy. I always wonder if Ekimu will become a Toa, too, because of his size. Hmm... Well, anyway, Ekimu looks awesome!

In Ekimu's set, there is a black/trans-red Umarak the Hunter masks for some reason. I don't know what is going on with that, but I doubt it could be the Mask of Ultimate Power. It's too soon. Wait until next year.

 

Lava Beast has cool blades on his wrists and horns. The blades look weird when placed backwards. His legs look weird, too.

 

I like Storm Beast's claws and tail. The claws have a very neat yellow color. The tail has a Shadow Trap for a hand on the tip. That's very cool.

 

I find Quake Beast's asymmetrical design questionable. He looks uneven, but I guess he is supposed to be based on a golem with uneven-looking features. I do love the trans-purple colors, however.

 

Overall, the Beasts are least impressive. They also include new corrupted-looking masks for Tahu, Kopaka, and Onua, but not for Pohatu, Lewa, or Gali. Let me guess: the reason why not every Toa gets an evil counterpart is because Lego is concerned about the budget. This is sad because I am looking forward to collect these neat-looking solid-color/trans-yellow-blended masks. Why does always happen every summer? First the Skull Villains, now these Beasts? Man, why can't there be six evil guys with six solid-color/trans-color-blended masks? It's kind of like an old tradition back in G1. Oh, well. Better luck next summer.

 

Umarak the Destroyer looks epic! Hehas a nice trans-yellow pieces. It's impressive that he retains his legs, Shadow Traps shoulder pads, and rib cage piece. Man, he's huge! He's bigger than his Hunter set. The claws on his hands look cool, but could have been five in each hand instead of three. His arms look very cool, too. I like his giant gold horns, also. It's looks that the Mask of Control has fused to his face, which could be why his face is gold and has the horns. It would be weird. Anyway, it would seems that Umarak could somehow turn into a big monster (similar to Kraven the Hunter in a Ultimate Spider-Man episode when he transformed into a huge, tiger-like monster) later on in the story. Anyway, he's my favorite!

 

Overall, the summer wave looks great, but as impressive as the last year's summer wave. But, I'll be collecting them when they come out, but I like the new pieces.

[Nidhiki of the Shadows]

I like the display for the Bionicle sets. Really nice CG backgrounds.

 

These sets are displayed better than at the recent NYC toyfair (arguably) but I'm still not sold on them. Beasts seem too messy, Ekimu is bland, and Umarak is too unlike his excellent winter counterpart. I guess we'll see when these sets come out if they are worthy of a purchase or not. 

 

-NotS

Edited February 16, 2016 by Nidhiki of the Shadows