I mean, part of the POINT of the CCBS was to keep from having to totally reinvent the building system every time they wanted different proportions, builds, or functionality for a model. The old Bionicle's reliance on new molds and constant introduction/retirement of older parts was unsustainable.

But good luck getting those older fans to accept that. Comparisons to basic Lego don't work, because to many fans, Bionicle was the only Lego theme worth any investment. Business case arguments don't work because in the minds of many fans, a company "only caring about money" is EEEVIL (never mind that making money is the only reason Bionicle exists in the first place, and that failing to make money was the reason it had to end so abruptly). There's just no point trying to reason with them.

I'd much rather have more new pieces across the board than just for the Bionicle theme, even if it is my favorite. A lot of the developments of late for System lines have been absolutely fantastic.

I'd much rather have more new pieces across the board than just for the Bionicle theme, even if it is my favorite. A lot of the developments of late for System lines have been absolutely fantastic.

Very true! In particular, I feel Lego's been on a ROLL with launcher designs lately—they started with the handheld stud shooters, but then adapted that to vehicles, made the spring-loaded shooters (with both laser and grappling hook ammo), the six-shooters used on the Protectors, the disc shooters from this year's Ninjago and Chima sets... so many launchers, all of which are reliably effective! I'm eager to see what else they might come up with (and whether it can be adapted for Bionicle figures).

By my count there are 27 new molds across this year's 18 sets? So one and a half new molds per set? That's not bad.

With that said, even in the later years of Bionicle there were a LOT of new molds each year, which is part of why it became unsustainable as its sales continued to decline. The Barraki and Toa Mahri series each introduced 23 new molds, not counting their packaging. Add in the small blades from that year's Matoran, the four new mask/faceplate elements from that year's Warriors, and the eight new parts from the three playsets, and you've got 59 brand-new molds in a year with just 26 sets.