Removed297

Gah, I've spent the latter half of my summer reading Elder Scrolls lore, and trying to get a good Skyrim role play going; mostly the former.

Should it return in 2015, I hope we also see some form of collectable Kanohi; what always disappointed me in later years was the lack of many-colored masks to make MoCs with, compared to the massive 8 colors per Great Mask, and minimum 6 colors for others. Perhaps there's one or two early Kanohi molds I'm forgetting that only came in one color, but they escape me at the moment.

I've bought my ticket to the Hype Train; here's to hoping that, assuming we get a 2015 return, it will bring further life to this site in the process.

Hopefully this site's users will continue to ward away oblivion for many years yet. This too meant much to me in the past, and I hope it continues to be.

As someone rather out-of-touch with leaks, this was a marvelous way to get me to look for them. Not criticizing BZP's policy, that's already been discussed. I, too, find it ironic, and that is all.

Ooh, a transparent sawblade. I've been wanting to try making a Timbersaw MOC, and that mightn't look bad as his Chakram.

Perhaps I could agree with you more if HF had the same level of molded mechanical detailing on its skeleton pieces as BIONICLE did, but to me it looks incomplete, not robotic or industrial; but that's just a difference of opinion between us. If anything, I feel that this line would have been perfect for introducing more mechanically-detailed shell pieces similar to this, but that hasn't happened.

----------------Circular Reasoning--------------- This here is the first iteration of a mech I've been working on for some time. My photography and MoCing is a bit too sub-par to post on other forums as of yet, but I thought BZP would be a good place to pitch the prototype. Front Weapon Side Walrus Robot Punch! Cockpit Pilot The claw is attached to a string wrapped around the end of a small rod, that can actually be wound and unwound without being caught. I'm rather shocked it works so smoothly.

What beautiful part-packs; I especially like the Drill Machine, Crystal Beast, and Tunneler Beast sets for their selections of orange, trans-blue, and red, respectively. Also, it looks like the thruster piece on Drill Machine that connects the drill to the beams is in gunmetal, which I think is new for that part. The designs themselves, as I believe I've stated before, are interesting and far more varied than anything we've gotten in HF before, but they don't thrill me; a good piece-to-price ratio keeps LEGO from filling in gaps and beefing up overly-skeletal designs. Perhaps if I can satisfactorily revamp a few they'll be displayed, but otherwise they're for the parts and the new Hero minifigures, not for the assembled set designs.

If I pay some unholy sum to import one of these, it will likely be Cragger. I can get my hand on some trans. blue HF elements in Crystal Beast from HF, but this fellow comes with an even amount of trans. orange HF elements, as well as some of those beautiful new armor parts, also in a hue not provided in HF sets.

I'm curious about your constant referencing of the Dark Hunters book; yes, many of the figures used BIONICLE parts to a great degree, but what held all those parts together? Technic. You seem so dismissive of HF for its lack of interesting set designs, and laud BIONICLE for its supposedly more versatile components, but you ignore that the unifying component of many of the best BIONICLE and Hero Factory sets are plain, boring Technic elements. Now, ask yourself; is HF's building system inherently bad, or are you just disappointed by the lack of Technic components in sets? Because if not for the extensive use of Technic in larger sets, BIONICLE would have been miles worse than anything under the HF line; imagine a BIONICLE titan that completely lacked generic Technic elements other than the occasional pin and axle, and you'd end up with something similar to the ugly messes that are many of the earlier HF titans. For example, look at the difference between the most Technic-heavy of BIONICLE titans and those that were combiners of canister-sets. More specifically, let's look at Krekka and Irnakk. Irnakk's a mess! Why? Because he's what happens when you use nothing but your lauded BIONICLE components for a titan. Now, look at Krekka. He uses a fair amount of BIONICLE armor and even a few limbs, but what makes him stand out is his extensive use of Technic. For the same reasons as Irnakk, many of Hero Factory's larger figures are lackluster; they don't incorporate enough well-placed Technic components and instead rely on re-using the same generic frames. Now, inversely, look at some of LEGO's more Technic-heavy HF figures, such as Witch Doctor and Evo XL. Both of these sets are miles above the simpler, more boring cookie-cutter HF figures because they have a good blend of Technic parts. What point am I trying to make? That the HF building system has marvelous potential that isn't even close to being fully realized because LEGO has been stingy with the Technic components, and that BIONICLE's components would not have been praiseworthy without the generic Technic parts that held them together. Thankfully, LEGO has been introducing more Technic in recent IFB sets, especially the summer ones, much to their supplement. Even before IFB, those HF figures which stood out the most to me, like Frost Beast, were those that used Technic components in their construction.

Oh, Phovos, I share this pain, the problem of the upper cross-pin holder breaking. I had a fine collection of Throwbots once, and now whenever I even make a sideways glance at my beautiful teal and purple socket pieces, the tops crack down the middle, lose all ability to hold a technic pin firmly, and eventually snap off completely. What's worse, I fear every socket of mine, old, 2008, and HF, will suffer the same fate, since LEGO has never (to my knowledge) changed the shape of that upper portion.

This is why my Tahu star holds the honoured position of the always-assembled; being such an iconic figure, and one of the last BIONICLE toys ever released, I decided to keep him together for fear of broken limbs.

This is somewhat off-topic, but, whenever Legends of Chima Online is referred to as LOCO, I am reminded of this relic.

My, my, those textures have come a long way since I last saw them, being far more worn and no longer like the sheen of a Jolly Rancher. I am happy to see that this is still under development. Even if we don't get a full overhaul, just having a plugin that adds Toa, Rahi, and Kanohi would be marvelous for a lore-murdering Skyrim playthrough.

Curse you, awfully chosen Youtube name of youth! Well, it's either that or my real name, so I suppose the latter will have to do.

I'd imagine this is why the pieces are smoother and have a more finished appearance, yes, but no matter how nice they look, it alone wouldn't improve durability (Unless their machines were quite violent about ejecting parts from their molds, and the smoother HF-style parts allow easier separation.) I'd imagine that, yes, these parts are easier to create molds from that BIONICLE's heavily-detailed elements, but I'd think they must have started using better plastic also.

This reminds me of Vakama's conversation with Takua, immediately after he's been expelled from the Bohrok hive and thrown onto the beach. It's such a sad nostalgia; even back when I first finished the game, it was sad, knowing that MNOLG was over, and that I'd finished my time in that wondrous realm, so beautifully and consistently designed. Now it's far worse; BIONICLE has come a long way in terms of builds and MOC potential, but I'll always miss how beautiful and mystical 2000-2003 were, and this drawing of yours helps capture a piece of that feeling so well.

But... the clear fists... the clear medium-length arm pieces... I hope LEGO reverses this decision. I can't say I liked the Chima constraction figures as models, but they were a wondrous spring of recolored parts originally introduced in Hero Factory. Still, they may have their reasons. The only Chima constraction kits I've picked up were two heavily discounted Worriz figures, and if my reluctance to buy them is reflective of a larger group, then maybe they just aren't selling as well as LEGO would like. Ah, well, at least I still have Crystal Beast to look forward to.

Ooh, such nostalgia. That and VNOLG have to be my favorite two BIONICLE games of all time. Rest assured that, assuming my chronic forgetfulness doesn't hinder me, I'll be watching this Friday!

I think Greg was trying to build Velika up as the new main villain of the story, but... yeah... Who knows? If Greg's output of web serials had stayed consistent (had not stopped), and if he'd started planning on an evil GB Velika some years ago and dropped some hints beforehand so that it would all fit into place upon the "big reveal" like with MN's reveal at the end of '08, I'd be fine with it. But from what I understand of Greg's plans for Velika, it all seems contrived in such an artificial way, with no thought behind how much longer he'd be able to keep up the web serials, or whether we really needed many more plot twists. The only unique trait of Velika's (pre-GB reveal by word of Greg) is his odd tendency to speak in riddles and parables, but that's hardly what I'd call a fair hint towards the nature Greg claims he has; living on Voya-Nui for a thousand years is just cause for insanity. As things are, I feel compelled to ignore everything post-Spherus Magna's re-creation just to keep sane, it is so confusing and loose-ended. I also can't stand the thought of Tren Krom's death. Sure, he's not on the scale of Cthulhu or Hermaeus Mora, but I have an affinity for tentacled, madness-inducing things with great knowledge.

My disappointment is that Greg and LEGO tried to go on with BIONICLE after 2010's finale, when upon retrospect it would have been better to wrap up loose ends, stop creating layer upon layer of plot twists, and call BIONICLE done. The stories post-Spherus Magna's reconstruction felt fatiguing to read, what with their constant creating of loose ends. Greg's serials kept creating more questions than they answered, and those answers given didn't feel satisfying to me; plot twists were in abundance, and they weren't satisfying plot twists. The big reveal that Mata-Nui was a giant robot was outrageous, but a well-done plot twist; we've been getting hints about that ever since 2001, it all ties together quite nicely. But many of plot twists and questions brought up in the web serials felt underdeveloped and unnecessary. For example, in one of the older web serials, Gali discovers living beings within the Red Star. This plot twist creates more questions. Then those questions are sort-of-answered in later serials, only creating more questions and plot twists. And through all of those questions created and answered, I can't help but feel that these plot twists were thrown together on a whim, and that the simple explanation "The Red Star is a jetpack for Mata-Nui" would have been good enough and cleared up all questions behind the Red Star without creating any needless new ones. Every single character doesn't have to have some secret, or mystery, or plot twist behind them. The Red Star can be just a jetpack, Velika can just be a normal matoran; BIONICLE could have ended with "And all those still living lived happily until they died" like the end of a particularly complicated story from the Arabian Nights. I can accept that BIONICLE was inevitably going to get more complicated as it went on, but Greg really ought to have tried to cut back on the plot twists and questions created, that weren't directly relevant to BIONICLE's conclusion; at the very least he could have tried to wrap those already in existence up quickly when he'd been told of BIONICLE's pending end.

How wonderful! The only thing that bothers me about these is that the designs make use of so many recolored parts and doubtfully sturdy designs that I can't replicate them with my physical LEGO collection. Looks like I'll have to be working on my own revamps if I want to get my Slizers back together.

Those eyes, and that sickly green color have potential for brickbuilding eldritch abominations. I can already imagine a rudimentary Hermaeus Mora made from some of those eye tiles and a few black and green tentacles.

I can't seem to find it anywhere. I've found a guide on Valrahk, the game creator's website, but I can't seem to find a downloadable copy. Could anyone point me towards a link I may have missed? I'd love to try this game.