Thoughts On Playsets

[Pohaturon]

The system based playsets Lego added to the Bionicle lineup in 2005,06 and 07 are pretty divisive among fans as far as I've gathered, and many seem to outright dislike them. I have some gripes with them, but overall feel like they were pretty cool and a nice way to shake things up from pure constraction.

 

I feel the larger playsets managed to get things right while the smaller ones were those which suffered more. The largest sets of each year were undoubtedly the best each time in my opinion, but not solely because of their size. The playsets were also the source of some exclusive recolors in 2005 and 2007.

 

In spite of the static "minifigs", I think the 2005 playsets worked the best, and the ones in 2007 were possibly the least appealing due to the overly similar designs and oddly made minifigures, however the recolors were pretty fantastic. The way the parts selections of each year blended system with constraction was nice to see and made the sets good parts packs even if you personally weren't a fan of the concept. 

 

One particular gripe I had with 2006 is that every single playset had at least one, but usually multiple, Kanohi Rodes and the Olmak was also common. These masks were the masks of titan sets Axonn and Brutaka, and I felt that as titan masks, they should have retained some measure of "exclusivity" to make them feel, I don't know, worthy of titan sets, and having them seemingly littered throughout the playsets cheapened that effect. 

 

I'd say The Battle For Metru Nui was my favorite of them all, it had some great features and the Kahgarak's golden visorak shell was welcome - I also ended up using the large Hau mask-gate thing for a costume some years later. 

 

The playsets were an interesting experiment, and while many consider them failures, I don't think a three year run constitutes that much of a "failure", and I enjoyed them for what they were. 

 

If I were to suggest improvements to them, I'd say 2005 would have benefitted from poseable minifigs, and if the prototype Tower of Toa set was kept instead of the final version - Metru-build Keetongu FTW. In 2006, I would have included fewer Rodes and Olmaks and offered some exclusive recolors like in 05 and 07, and would have included one set in the Ignika chamber with a Vezon minifig and a mini-scale Fenrakk. In 2007, I would have preferred more structures and fewer vehicles, such as a brick-built depiction of Mahri Nui (the settlement, I mean) and the shrine for the Ignika as seen in the "Creeping in my soul" trailer. 

 

Thinking back though, I would have loved to see playsets from the 01-03 era on Mata Nui, as well as the non-ruined Metru Nui from 04. Mata Nui has some beautiful locations and landscapes which, granted, wouldn't be as evocative as in the MNOG games, but seeing a brick-built Ga-Koro, Kini Nui or Le-Koro is still something I yearn for (I know MOCs exist, but still). 

 

What are your thoughts on playsets? What did you like, and what would you improve on them?

 

[CommanderKumo]

Playsets were awesome! the exclusive recolours where nice, and while it is sad that the Rodes and Olmaks never got a recolor, at least they are cheap on bricklink thanks to the playsets!

 

The only con of the playsets is that finding a pearl gold kraahkan is impossible! (excluding that US exclusive ebay listing )

[Lyichir]

They were interesting, albeit flawed. The way they integrated System and Technic building was unique. On top of that, they were really the only manifestation of Bionicle's interesting and varied settings in set form.

 

I wish we ended up getting playsets in G2. The older figures were flawed, but I would have loved to see figures following the template of the much better "Invasion From Below" mini-heroes. And Okoto featured some interesting location designs that would have been wonderful to see in sets.

[Distorted]

I thought they were great! The 2006 playsets didn't really appeal to me, but the 2005 models in particular were really interesting and fun to play with. I do wish the 2007 sets had more accurate minifigs, though.

[Taria Pakari]

I've always been indifferent towards them.

[The 1st Shadow]

I feel like it was a neat concept, but the execution was flawed. It could have been better. I didn't outright hate them, because they did have a lot of cool builds and neat techniques, but I didn't love how they turned out overall.

[Steampunk Tahu]

I like them if they were done right. The most appealing have been anything brickonicle on the TTV.

[Planetperson]

I agree with pretty much everything you said. The 05 playsets are okay. They have some neat functions, really cool recolors (gold and silver Toa Mata heads!), and I like the modular system of the buildings. Those things were smart.

 

The 06 and 07 playsets, on the other hand, are disasters design-wise. Do any of the creatures actually look like anything? It's usually just a mess of legs, tentacles, zamor spheres, and Takanuva staffs. I totally agree about the Rode and Olmak masks. I mean, using Rode masks as catapult scoops? That's almost as bad as giving Makuta Avohkii hands.

 

Overall, I wish LEGO had converted their bid on playsets into more effort on the constraction sets.

[That Matoran with a Vahi]

I had a few of them, namely Visorak Battle Ram, Battle of Metru Nui, and Race for the Mask of Life. Back in '05, I thought they were the coolest thing, but... my interest in them subsequently waned, I guess. I found the build of the '05 ones were too flimsy to make playing with them practical - I remember that, while building Battle, I pressed a bit too hard as I was putting some bricks in place and the whole thing fell apart because the brick-built pillars weren't as sturdy as they might have been - which was a big minus in my opinion. Really, my set of Battle only served as a big display piece for the remainder of its life, because I didn't want to knock it down again by being too rough with it. The so-called 'Great Visorak' was the only part of it that I fully appreciated.

 

I personally enjoyed the Visorak Battle Ram, though. The design wasn't that inspired, but it was a fun little set... and I did like the Hordika minifigures, even though they were static. The fact that they were on traditional minifigure scale, and had pretty detailed moulding for how small they were... though it would have been nice to see some variety amongst them, rather than all four sets having the exact same figures.

 

I never really studied the subsequent years' playsets in any great detail, I only got Race because it was reduced after that Christmas. It was fun, too - and I liked the Piraka and Inika minifigs a lot, since they were more versatile than the static Hordika - but it wasn't really... anything special? I feel like the aesthetic of the set relied too heavily on the reused Bionicle weapon pieces; if they were to be removed, for instance, the vehicles looked extremely dull, where I feel like they ought to have been able to be interesting even apart from those pieces. I guess mostly I agree with what others have said: the concept was cool, but the execution most often felt lacking.

 

I didn't get any of the '07 ones, so I don't feel qualified to comment on them.

 

 

Personally though... I feel like I would have been more interested in them had more of the sets had actual storyline significance. The Piraka Stronghold, the Tower of the Toa, and the Battle of Metru Nui did - albeit the latter not representing the actual movie scene - but the others either didn't show up in the year's storyline, or just felt shoehorned into the comics to sell the set. I don't even remember if the Toa Terrain Crawler showed up in canon story, or if it was just that one music video; the Lava Chamber Gate's single scene was forgettable to me; and I don't recall any of the other '06/'07 vehicles showing up anywhere. I think I'd have preferred more diorama-type playsets that represented specific scenes and locations that were significant to the story, rather than what we actually got.

Edited October 3, 2017 by Darth Jaller