CaT in Rogue

Holy Mata Nui the voice acting is like a bajillion times better than in the trailers. The show itself is better than I was expecting as well.

Well of course it had to have a hiatus like this. Cartoon Network needed the airspace to air more of Teen Titans Go!, which, as we all know, is yoUR NEW FAVORITE SHOW!!! FAVORITE SHOW A O V H O S R E I T T I E R S O H V O A WOHS ETIROVAF

We have like one tiny voice clip of it from that trailer. It's hard to judge a clip that short unless it's really good or really bad.

The animation looks really good, and the story seems serviceable. Ekimu's voice actor is also pretty good. Unfortunately, most of these performances are terrible from what we can see here. Lewa I guess I can learn to live with if I have to, even if it does sound like he's slowly reading off-screen cue cards, but by all that is holy, Umarak's voice is about as fitting as casting Hello Kitty as Darth Vader. It's like if Skeletor became a chain smoker and inhaled a bottle of helium right before getting a throat infection.

Out of curiosity's sake, what defines a "necessary theme"? These sets look well designed, and I still don't get the amount of hatred they've gotten. Every discussion of this theme I've seen, even those involving otherwise reasonable people, ends up with LEGO fans sounding like a bunch of grumpy old men complaining about these newfangled "cratoons" and "vidya games" are just shallow fads that rot kids' brains and have no cultural merit. Sure, the Angry Birds franchise peaked in popularity three to five years ago. But I don't remember LEGO fans (on BZPower or elsewhere) complaining nearly as much about Scooby-Doo, a franchise that was many years past its prime when it was announced as a LEGO theme. Or about Jurassic World, built on a franchise that had its last commercially successful outing in 2001, and which invited a lukewarm response from critics in every installment except its first. Or even about The Lone Ranger, a series that hadn't really been relevant within most of our lifetimes. Angry Birds is a franchise that emerged onto the cultural scene less than five years ago and made a big splash, appearing in lots of merchandise, advertising, and video games. In many ways it is to today's kids what Super Mario Bros. was to the kids of the late 1980s and Pokémon was to kids of the 2000s. There have been three Angry Birds television series, so this movie won't be the series' first appearance in a non-gaming capacity. All in all, I really struggle to understand why everyone's so cynical and dismissive about this? So much of the criticism just seems to boil down to "it's new, so it sucks". We'll see how the movie does and how the kids like it, but I don't think it's done anything to invite the level of cynicism I've seen. My issue is less 'it's new so it sucks' and more 'it's a fad that hasn't been relevant for ages and it kinda sucks'. Scooby Doo and Jurassic World are franchises that everyone's loved and talked about for decades (although I have no idea what the deal with the Lone Ranger thing was), whereas Angry Birds is sorta like that one friend you used to hang out with a lot because they were fun to be around, but they got kind of annoying pretty quick because they have like one gimmick to their whole personality and so you've sorta lost touch with them but lately you've heard they're getting married or something and you go 'well, that's nice, I guess' and suddenly one of your other friends who you've remained friends with makes a big deal out of it and starts getting on your nerves. That might not be the best metaphor but it kinda sums up my opinion on the Angry Birds franchise. It's not actually bad, it just seems kind of...meh. I don't usually associate Lego with 'meh', so this is kind of irritating from my perspective. (Also I know this isn't their first branding deal that could be seen as 'meh', but don't think I don't feel the same way about those things)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5phl8p3euG4

AHAHAHA THAT FRIGGIN SHARK MIXEL THOUGH BAHAHAHA I LOVE IT Seriously, these look pretty good. I do have to wonder how they came up with the idea of surgery Mixels, though.

Nicolas Cage confirmed for Lego Ghost Rider.

Holy mama. This wave. It's. It's so beautiful!

I find Ekimu's design kind of funny, as my dad's response to seeing the new booty-gear function was why they couldn't use both that and the gearbox function together. As for the beasts, I like them. They have a very warped, undead feel to them.

We don't care because literally everyone on this thread can use Google. All you did was plop up a couple search results, and you expect everyone to come up and award you a gold star or something? Other people on this forum do a lot more for a lot less, you know.

As long as that one man is Dee Bradley Baker, we should be set. Bionicle platypus: confirmed. Bionicle platypus, Air Bison, Ben 10 aliens (oh wait that did happen...), Captain Rex, Cinnamon Bun, Martian Manhunter, Boba Fett, and really just half of everyone and everything in western cartoons and video games confirmed, really.

As long as that one man is Dee Bradley Baker, we should be set.

Well, separate voice actors is good, but, uh, their respective lineups aren't exactly...stellar. They'll probably do fine, but I ain't exactly raising my expectations here.

The set looks pretty decent, I guess. I just hope the movie itself is any good...

Reminder that Nickelodeon has rigged it for the past ten years so that Spongebob wins every time. They literally state in the fine print that they're allowed to screw with the results.

Magenta, dark blue, that one reddish-sandy color, all sorts of stuff really. (I'd include purple, but we've been getting more of that lately with the Onua and Earth Creature sets, so my need for glorious purple has been satisfied. For now...)

This set looks awesome, and that broadsword is FRIGGIN HUGE. Just look at the size of that thing!

You can directly place YouTube videos into your post by popping the URL straight into the text box. For instance, it might look something like this: My reaction to seeing Skull Villains in these teasers: ---- But yeah, that is pretty cool.

Lol, Umarak's introduction: "That is Umarak." Srsly tho, this looks pretty good so far.

The animation looks pretty good, aside from that flying bit. Color me somewhat impressed.

You know what, buddy, I agree with you. Have a high five: >_>^^<__< Well put. Okay, reality check here. Lego is a toy company that isn't publicly traded and doesn't answer to any shareholders. Toys, in and of themselves, aren't necessary for human life, so if that company stopped making money tomorrow, no big deal. Money isn't reason for a toy company to exist - especially one that isn't paying any stakeholders. Here's the Lego Group's real mission statement: http://www.lego.com/en-us/aboutus/lego-group/mission-and-vision Now, they aren't going to inspire children to develop and think creatively by making poor business decisions like investing too much in a brand new line or keeping an old dying story alive that has nothing to do with building. They aren't going to inspire builders by not selling them the sets that they would build with. They are trying to give builders a set of tools and inspire them with their creative vision. In other words, they have to be a viable business in order to fulfill their mission statement. However, their mission statement doesn't say they have to make money selling building sets. That's just the best way they think with fulfill this mission right now. But they also could use other means to fulfill this mission in the future, because that is what they are truly all about. Not money. Not profits. Those are just tools to see this mission and vision through. Going back to Bionicle, I definitely think that the story of Bionicle is an inspiration to children and builders everywhere. We're all here - and the creative forums of this very website exist - because of that. And I think they tried to go after this mission in that work on G2. That's why you see all the paintings, MoCs, contests, and designer videos on the Lego Bionicle facebook page - it's supposed to be building inspiration - and TLG earns zero money from those trappings. And I will be the first to agree that Bionicle G2's story is nowhere near as inspiring as the original. They are not living up to their mission statement there as much as they could have. Lego still hasn't learned that crummy story doesn't inspire anybody...except to go build an RPG to "improve" the story so that it is better. But then again, this is only "2002", folks. The original Bionicle story didn't inspire me until late 2003. --------------------- Finally, I'll throw this out there because I know someone will bring it up if I don't - one of the factors that contributed to G1's ending was that kids were just following the story without buying the sets. They weren't being inspired to build or think creatively as much as they were inspired to just sit around consuming story in a vegging way. This didn't work. Obviously, the reason the line was canceled had to do with money. But I think the money was a symptom of the above problem, not the cause. Anyway, that is my mildly informative rant for the day. I expect many complaints. Less of a 'complaint' and more of a 'counter-argument'. I'd like to believe that Lego's functions are centered around their mission statement, but most companies only put that out there for PR purposes. In addition, Lego is kind of terrible about giving things proper conclusions. The story team for Bionicle had to beg them for one more wave of sets so they could wrap up the story, resulting in the supreme lack of caring known as the Stars toyline. Lego's probably one of the better businesses out there, but it's not exactly all flowers and roses. They are a business, and they need to make money so that they, and by extension, everyone that works for them, can make a living. Also, in one last point for the 'money-grabbing' category, four words: Angry. Birds. Movie. Sets. The only thing that inspires me to do is hit my head against the wall for several hours.

The only reason kids seem dumber today is because you didn't realize how stupid you and everyone around you were when you were kids. This ain't rocket science man, stop being so stuck-up.

Everyone has the right to their opinion of course, but... Mata Nui looks like a natural island with an exotic shape and, while it has six distinct elemental territories, they blend together much better than those of Okoto. Okoto looks like a lazily drawn hexagonal island with a mountain range that divides it neatly into six districts in such an unnatural way... I'm not saying Okoto is bad, but I would definitely call it uninspired, whereas Mata Nui clearly has a much more imaginative and aesthetically pleasing approach. I don't think I can really argue the point about Mata Nui being better on purely technical aspects, but the unnatural look of Okoto is personally what I find so interesting about it. Mata Nui, though somewhat distinctive in its own right, always felt like 'Mysterious Fantasy Island #267: Lost: The Revengening' to me, whereas Okoto's odd design really sticks out. They could've easily made a smoother-flowing island and basically do Mata Nui all over again, but they went with something new, and each biome looks fantastic in its own right. Again, this is all personal opinion, and different people will like different things, the same way I like chocolate whereas my sister does not. That's called a 'placeholder'. It's when a company (or anyone, really) uses existing materials to illustrate a point or concept without having the final product on hand. I'd argue that whereas Mata Nui took a lot of elements from the Pacific islands, specifically Hawaii and the like, Okoto's theming and designs take a lot more influence from ancient Grecian and Mayan culture. This style is especially noticeable in the abandoned city and the labyrinth that's apparently going to pop up later this year (if the new game is anything to go by). They're very similar, yes, but calling Okoto a 'cheap knockoff' is really stretching it. Literally anything they did to this franchise could be considered 'fixing it' after the abomination that was Stars. Besides, the intent was never to 'fix' the Bionicle we grew up with, but to take the themes presented and turn them into something new. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3ksKETF0f4I >"If anything, it's now just Hero Factory with the name Bionicle slapped on it." >"just Hero Factory with the name Bionicle" >"Hero Factory" You really want me to get started on Hero Factory right now? Because I really don't think you do. Hero Factory had so much wasted potential that the World Nature Organization is protesting it for polluting the biosphere with mountains of unused greatness. Its character were so flat that year-old Coca Cola is practically frothing by comparison. The amount of pointless cliffhangers makes the entire horror genre look positively conservative. With Bionicle G2, at least the characters are tolerable, at least its story is well-contained, at least it tries something other than the same old kid's show cliches that occupied every single second of Hero Factory's existence. Comparing G2 Bionicle to Hero Factory isn't just stupid or unfair, it's downright dishonest. The only thing these two franchises have in common are the sets, and even those Bionicle did ten times better with. I don't even care if you like G1 better than G2 or whatever, everyone can have their own opinion, and I can see both sides of the issue. It's when they try to enforce that opinion by blatantly ignoring or disregarding the other side's points that really ticks me off.