Baraklava

I finally found some time to make a video about the Nui-Rama prototype to kick off a YouTube series! Please check out the episode here: I should have some more Bionicle items to show eventually, but I think another theme will be next

Thank you for showing me this! This is really interesting, I wonder if these belong to cancelled sets or if they just registered them so it was possible for designers to use them internally for stuff. For example I see many Kanohi colours in there that were likely used for Matoran either for prototyping or in the MNOG. There are also surprising entries such as the Nui-Rama (8537, called "Bird" lol) having their instructions listed before the red/yellow claws, which in turn were before the orange/lime ones. Wonder if they made instructions of the red/yellow version. Yes, most likely many of these have been destroyed unless any Lego designers brought them home. This is what makes me so happy to find prototype stuff in the wild and being able to save it. As far as I know Lego didn't save a lot of stuff back then. And many who find this stuff don't even care, to some these kinds of "artefacts" or Lego history are just regular parts to build or trade with. I really hope I can get my hands on more stuff in the future. Edit: Yup, there seems to be "preliminary" entries of the instructions before the final versions. You can match up the numbers in the sheet with the pdf names on Lego's instruction service. And there's not only the Nui-Rama that are interesting. For example here is the final Tarakava: https://www.lego.com/cdn/product-assets/product.bi.core.pdf/4162046.pdf and 4162046 appears as the instruction entry for the Tarakava. But in the spreadsheet it also lists 4159091- 4159094 as four versions of the instructions way before this final entry. Around the time it had a Dark Turquoise claw in front. Might also be the two regular versions + Sand Tarakava + Tarakava Nui, or just earlier editions of the instructions with the Dark Turquoise claw. There's even a few unreleased sets in there, such as 1399, that appears to have been Tohunga? Very interesting that this was all public back then, I would've loved to go through all of it, and not only Bionicle. It's not often you get a glimpse into Lego's database and can dig out potentially unreleased stuff. Thank you again!

My favourite is the yellow one too. The Nui-Kopen were designed after the colour choice of Lime/Orange was made, I actually have proof of it which I'll show in the video review Might make a Nui-Kopen out of the prototypes too for the video! Could you link me to this spreadsheet you refer to? Was it of unreleased parts that had been spotted in the wild or just parts you never got? Because I haven't seen anyone else with red/yellow Onua claws, let alone the tail piece. I still haven't found any information about the reason about the colour choice/change either...

Promotional artwork and pictures frequently feature prototype pieces that they forget to update later when the set is released. What you see here is likely a remnant from the prototype stage of the Nuva sets. You can see those here: https://bionicle.fandom.com/wiki/Gallery:Prototypes#2002_2 It is hard to see but definitely looks like there were holes there from this stage as a little of the white background bleeds through, and there is also a grille covering the lower holes. Unfortunately I don't think there are better pictures, or that any of the Nuva prototype sets have been found in the wild. If you got your hands on whatever magazine these are from you'd probably be able to see it clearer, or you could hope someone grabs a higher-resolution scan of it!

That would be cool! I'm not too active here myself but I'll post more stuff here in the future too I'm afraid not, there were no prototype Kanohi apart from the Rurus, however I got an amazingly beautiful short-shot yellow Komau that I thought was a prototype because it looks so unique and had a vague memory of seeing a similar design as a prototype. Might be down to sell that if there's interest, I think it's a very unique item. The slot is slightly smaller on one side but the middle kind of gets shaped like an arrow. It is not warped at all despite how it might appear. Here's some decent pictures: I almost forgot I did acquire some prototype Turaga parts too, I think nearly two full sets of prototype masks and a few weapons, but those aren't new things and can be found online, the Nui-Rama above are the only truly unseen things I found. There were two prototype Toa Mata torsos in there but I have since then found pictures of both Pohatu and Lewa having them, just not in black like the ones I got: I gotta organize what I found though to make it more interesting, all of these items will appear random if I just put them up in a thread like this, but in reality they all have a coherent "origin story" that I think many will want to hear! I'll be back with more when I have time, next focus is making a video on the Nui-Ramas.

Indeed, these in particular would've likely been parted out and sold as regular loose parts unless I got my hands on them, and then we would've never known where they came from. In such cases, parts like the red prototype hook would simply be lost, because who would notice that they are prototypes if they aren't labeled as such? Most random buyers would probably think it's a fake item and throw it away then. I got some other stuff, but nothing as well organized as a complete, untouched prototype set, but people will probably find it interesting anyway, considering if I should post them in this thread in the future or in the "Rare collectibles" topic. Also, is Slizer and RoboRiders prototype content relevant to Bionicle collectors at all or should I keep that out of here?

Please note that this set is not for sale. I'm happy to chat with other collectors though. Thank you! Hello! Today's Bionicle day, and I made a promise a while ago to post an unseen prototype set of a 2001 rahi, so here it is. I'm a Lego prototype collector and found this when going through a cache of prototypes I hunted down. I figured it'd be appreciated if I dusted them off and shared them with the world! You can tell that the parts are prototypes by comparing the moulds to any moulds that were released, mostly by being rougher than (and containing scrapped details of released) Lego elements. The pieces in this set can also be compared to known prototypes already online: Most obviously the kanohi are prototypes with codes on the front. All Toa Mata parts on these Nui-Rama are genuine prototype pieces too, including the red 32551 hook, and the red 32506 claws even show evidence of being the first claws to ever be produced. Please see the last images. The tail piece, 32177, was also never released in red nor yellow, and have to my knowledge never been seen in those colours before (however Google Images has a cached, very mysterious listing, of a yellow claw here, but I assume that was an error). Of course the colour scheme raises questions, so I'm looking for more information on this: The colour scheme matches Muaka and Kane-Ra. Were all rahi supposed to have those two colours? Were all rahi supposed to have several colour packs released? Were the colours somehow swapped around between the rahi? Or was this just a first test where they didn't focus on the colours? The Toa Mata parts on it are prototypes, but the rahi were designed and released after the Toa. However these predate the earliest looks we've seen of any rahi. Was the Nui-Jaga perhaps first designed next to the Toa, and if so were there perhaps more rahi prototypes that were dropped/designed with alternate colours at this stage? Did it have a nickname by the designers similar to the legendary Sand Tarakava? (Otherwise I will make some up!) If you can help out maybe contacting the designer of the set, please let me know! I'm planning on uploading a "prototype overview" video to my new YouTube channel soon, going through every nerdy little detail about this set, so feel free to subscribe if that interests you! There will be more stuff coming too! Not a full prototype set like this, but some interesting Bionicle things plus some RoboRiders and Slizer. Let me know what you think! Some more images: