Pranciblad

I was hoping Voo-Doo Heads.

Don't worry, I've got you covered.

Anything complete I have ATM that isn't on display in some part of my house is in a couple of old shoeboxes. I have a separate box for incomplete/cannibalized sets as well, and a small tray for assorted useful technic bits in addition to the obligatory random parts bin.

Wow, that press release... I guess even back in the day Lego was super touchy about anything that could be misconstrued as official.

Yep. Looks like even on the desktop version of the site most moblie browsers won't load the full list editor. You can probably still insert emoticons if you know the shorthand for them, for example : a : without spaces for . See this link for a full list.

I know this has probably been said numerous times by now, but I think the twists in Bionicle's story wouldn't have been so jarring if it weren't for the fact that the story became so huge and sprawling. Yes the Matoran living in Mata Nui's body may have been hinted at from the beginning, but  having to wait through seven years of story with several drastic shifts in tone and setting before we get any payoff to those hints takes something out of it, no? I know many people here like how extensive the Bionicle universe became, but I find myself thinking I would have liked it much better as a shorter, more tightly focused narrative.

Half Pakari, half Ruru...

 

It is...

 

The Pakaruru.

Pakaruru, mask of Templar Studios.

I don't really care, but I think a 3-D version of TLR would be hilarious. SO MANY SPINNING PINS! MY EYES!

 

I'd be surprised if it'd work at all, considering most of the backgrounds were mostly just flat images from the looks of it. I don't know if the previous films had them, but if they did it wasn't nearly as obvious.

I don't know... It's pretty hard to put together Jokes that aren't Bionicle Puns. Can someone give Instructions on how to create good lego jokes?

 

I could, but it'd have to be spread out over two booklets with one sentence per page to make sure it's not too hard for you.

Look, I'm not implying that the Bohrok-Kal arc being filler was it's only failing-- far from. I just found it odd that you pointed out that it was filler to try and excuse its failings, because every other time I've heard the arc called filler it was used as a point of contention, not in its defense.

I understand the dislike for the Kal, but bear in mind they were only ever meant to be filler between the Bohrok and Mask of Light stories.

But that's exactly why they're so disliked. They were filler, and nothing more. There was no redeeming value.

 

 

I would love to see the '01 gears again, the yellow G2 propellers leave a bit to be desired.

 

They're still in production, actually, just not used in Bionicle anymore. Although they are color-locked to black now IIRC.

 

Assuming you mean the double crown gears... they're still in use even in Bionicle! The small ones are used on every one of the Protectors as the part you turn to activate their launchers. That said, they are indeed color locked to black now.

Oh man, I can't believe I'd forgotten that, considering I had two protectors sitting next to me as I typed that. I guess I meant to say they're not used on the Toa anymore... Serious brainfart there.

 

 

The mid-size double crown gears (like those used on the Toa Mata's backs) are currently color locked to tan.

Are you sure you aren't thinking of the single-bevel gears? I'm pretty sure 32269s were in black as well, and bricklink seems to list them as coming in both black and tan as of this year... Odd.

I would love to see the '01 gears again, the yellow G2 propellers leave a bit to be desired.

 

They're still in production, actually, just not used in Bionicle anymore. Although they are color-locked to black now IIRC. 

I agree that 2004-2005 story at least delayed the the current story, but I did and still do not mind it. As for 2006, I greatly enjoyed that year. 

 

Yeah, I was speaking more from what I felt back in the day more than anything else. I really don't mind going back to the Metru Arc nowadays and the 06 and beyond story certainly benefitted from the ways that it broadened the scope of things. I'm still not the most fond of 06 itself still, but I don't dislike it that strongly anymore.

Oh, I was under the impression that they had most of it planned out up till 2008, albeit the Toa Inika/Mahri were supposed to be the ones in Karda Nui.

 

Nah. While G1 planned a lot of things ahead of time, a large chunk of it was still just the story team winging it. It wasn't a case of everything being fully planned out from the very beginning like some people would have you believe. Like Dina said, most of the stuff that got planned out pre-01 really only lasted until 03. Deciding that MOL wasn't going to be the finale tossed a monkey wrench into things and thus most of the story of later years was planned out after that. I actually begrudge the Metru Nui arc much less than I used to, since its apparent they needed the filler period to let them sort out how to properly continue on the main plot.

 

Also, before I get called out on calling the Metru Nui years filler, I understand that they contributed a lot of worldbuilding and I certainly appreciated that, but the fact that it effectively stalled the plot for 2 years before ultimately dumping us into the (IMO pretty disappointing) 06 story, just left a bitter taste in my mouth that I didn't get over for a long time. Actually now I'm probably going to have to explain why I disliked 06... Nah, I'll spare you that at least. I'd rather keep my posts concise.

If we're talking about strange sets, I'm surprised nobody has mentioned the Code Pilot yet. A sort of proto-Mindstorms thing that used barcodes for no apparent reason; it got one set and was totally obsolete within a year.

I'm very glad to see this project fully supported, though I'm a little skeptical about its chances in the review. It's on the larger side, and it's got a fair bit of overlap with products currently being offered-- but the Ideas crew are wont to dish out surprises, so we'll just have to wait and see.

I'm somewhat surprised no-one else has mentioned the Kahu yet. Not only is it one of the more aesthetically pleasing of the combiners, it's interesting in how distinct it is from it's component Rahi.

Mostly I'm indifferent on this matter, but I have to say that if any canisters were to come back, It'd be the X-pods. They're not Bionicle, I know, but they were probably the best iteration of the canister concept Lego produced. They were compact, modular, And each part of them was also a useful building element. Still not perfect by any means, but they were my personal favorite.

I used to keep them pieced out in (disorganized) bins with all my other Lego, but as of late I've been trying to rebuild sets that haven't had their pieces lost/broken/taken up in a MOC. That number may be lower than I first thought though...

In the exact same place, but with far less wasted time.

Wait, didn't we have this topic before? Like not that long ago even? Oh wait, we did. And I still have the same response.

 

Third party Bionicle will likely never take off simply because MOCing exists. When Bionicle fans want something more than the official sets offer, they build it themselves. That's because Lego isn't selling individual action figures. They're selling a building system that's inherently customizable. The only thing I could really see sold are a few custom parts, or custom instructions, as have been done with Lego before. The distribution of full-scale sets would be impractical and likely run into legal trouble depending on how it's handled. I really could not imagine myself buying what amounts to a fan-made bootleg.

Third party Bionicle will likely never take off simply because MOCing exists. When Bionicle fans want something more than the official sets offer, they build it themselves. That's because Lego isn't selling individual action figures. They're selling a building system that's inherently customizable. The only thing I could really see sold are a few custom parts, or custom instructions, as have been done with Lego before. The distribution of full-scale sets would be impractical and likely run into legal trouble depending on how it's handled. I really could not imagine myself buying what amounts to a fan-made bootleg.

"So why make them go through that entire stupid mask fetch quest again in 2003 after they had already done so in 2001?" Easy. There were Kanohi Nuva packs that needed to be advertised in the story. However, there was no room in the comics or webisodes to cover yet another mask quest (and as you rightly point out, it would be tedious and repetitive), so a chapter book was used instead.

 

The mask hunt worked in 2001 because it was the main focus of the story, which at that point was more open ended. By the end, one could safely assume the Toa will have collected all the masks without having to see them do it. The comics showed them getting only a few masks, so there was still a whole bunch of adventuring for you to fill in yourself. In this way, it was sort of a less frustrating equivalent to HF's cliffhangers, since it left wiggle room for your own stories while not undermining the main plot.

 

I will agree that 2003 botched it, not just because there were new masks out of nowhere, but because they made absolutely no difference in the end.

I never really understood the logic behind the Technic hockey sets. I guess desperate early-2000s Lego was thinking "Okay, Bionicle is selling like gangbusters, if we make our new sports line similar, surely it'll succeed!" But it just seemed weird and out of place to have hockey being played by deformed robots with sticks coming out of their torso. They were some neat parts packs at least, but on their own merits they aren't that good.

I've totally done this, though in instances where there are new parts I usually try to find the closest substitute, which winds up looking questionable even in the best of cases, not helped by the inevitable motley colorscheme. Still, even if the results aren't worth showing off, they're usually a fun building experience.