Torchbearer

I suppose by this argument anybody in the world who's homeless or impoverished doesn't care or try hard? It's impossible for mistakes or outside circumstances to affect somebody or something's chances of success? No, of course not. Pretending that how hard somebody cares or tries are the only things in the world that can affect their financial performance is downright irrational. A person can pour their heart and soul into a project and try their hardest to make it the best that it can be, and it can still fail if people don't like it or respond to the ways they try to promote it. You're comparing poverty, an actual issue ongoing literally all over the world due to the poor economy, to a lackluster toyline? That's a really far fetched analogy. How are you going to continue jumping through hoops to defend another heartless reboot even after it was cancelled after two years? It's clear Lego must've felt the same way otherwise they wouldn't have given it the axe. People worked on it and put effort into it. Designing a major toyline is harder than it sounds.

"The sets were objectively the best" In what way? Is it the fact that the gear functions barely worked? Or was it the added pin textures to pretend it was like Bionicle and not Hero Factory smooth? Or was it the extended torsos that were longer than the chest plates? Or was it the fact that most the sets had to be modified by fans just to make them posable without hitting another part of the pieces? Or was it the contradicting color schemes on each character? Please enlighten me without the "Inika builds are terrible" argument. On that note, since you're bound to bring it up or someone will, no. I'm not a fan of the Inika builds after 2006. They worked in 2006 because they were brand new and innovative, but that's when Lego got lazy and chose to reuse them instead of developing new molds for 2007 onward. I definitely think the oversaturation of Inika builds led to Bionicle's initial cancellation. But back to G2, which also uses a reused body build type with one slight adjustment (the barely functioning gear system), also failed for lack of innovation and design. Slapping on a new chest piece with a thousand pin textures isn't innovative; it's just lazy. G2 failed on it's own account, and the thought that where G1 failed is responsible for G2's failure is an ignorant conclusion and really reaching. There's no need to be hostile. The 2015 Toa were, objectively, the best. Full articulation, functional gearboxes that did work, and I personally have not encountered the issue of armor preventing movement, but I assure you it was there in G1 as well. Subjectively the 2015 Toa can be whatever you want them to be. I don't have any particular liking for them myself.

I think G2 was a victim of it own failures to be honest. While I can people thinking sets were cool (im not as big of a fan as many were), they were large, complex (often clunky in this regard) and expensive as compared to the clean, simple sets of G1, which I think might have been less appealing or attainable for kids. This is speculation however Never thought I'd see the day G1 was called "clean" over G2.

I think it's sad to see a line cut short of its time, but truth be told, it was very clear this was coming when the books and comics started being cancelled. I do not think the line's ultimate failure can be attributed to any one particular thing. I'd imagine the paper-thin lore, high set prices (in relative comparison to G1) and market oversaturation with "collect golden elemental doodads" were a large factor. The sets were objectively the best, and as such lost a certain simplicity and charm that the originals had. It was created to meet all of the downfalls of the original system, perfectly machined to fit exactly what kids should want. And in doing so it lost all its soul and personality. If anything G2 has been a victim of G1's failure as well.

Eh, I didn't have much hope for this. The graphics are beautiful, the animation is choppy, hair is freaky, writing is bad, story is generic and predictable, and it doesn't really do anything special. The IFB movie was better IMO, and it wasn't exactly the greatest of 20-minute adverts.

MNOG isn't as good as most people claim. Glitches and the tediousness of it can drag you out of the game. Delivering the notes to the other five Turaga at the end of the game is infuriating even with fast travel, and the battle at Kini Nui was pretty bad IMO.

Wanna know why shows like my little pony and gravity falls are so successful? People like being taken seriously.Ha. Ha. ha. Oh, my sides.What's so funny?My Little Pony isn't exactly high art, is it? Gravity Falls, Phineas and Ferb, Steven Universe are all great cartoons, but that's it. They're cartoons first with a merchandising machine followng. Bionicle is a toyline first with cartoons following. Compare Bionicle to something in the same category, at least. My Little Pony has a lot more going for it than you give it credit for. The story arcs actually mirror Gen 1 BIONICLE in more than a few ways. You can say the new shorts are cheesy all you want, but at least they're up-front about it. Looking back, the 2001-era comics were hilariously overdramatic. The 2001-era comics were nothing more than glorified commercials. Case in point: Rahkshi Kaita.

You're thinking of mind, not shadow, I put in wind for the heck of it, Lloyd's power is or was power, it's changed recently, Oops, didn't notice I my error with shadow and mind. Gone and changed that now.

Yep, and it bothers me greatly. I was so pleased with how the sets handled the characters' heights (especially since Pohatu and Onua have traditionally been the shortest), so to have the animations completely ignore the sets' relative heights and make Onua the tallest of the Toa is a bit of a disappointment. That's probably my biggest gripe with the animations, all things considered. I mean, is it really that bad though? Dr. Makuta made a good point of him looking like the incredible Hulk of the group, and if anything it makes more sense that he's the biggest since he is advertized as a "sleepy giant" and a large hulking figure. Height only makes this a little more prominent. To add more onto this, Bionicle Toa have traditionally been clone sets (maybe with some differences), but it's nice to see that the animators are diversifying the cast a bit. It gives them more personality and individuality, even if it's just from their appearance. The Toa Mahri, Mistika, Phantoka and Barraki would like to have a word with you. (although yeah, everything from before 2007 were outright clones)

What is wind doing here? Wind is a sub-power of Jay's lightning abilities, not an outright element. You're also missing Lloyd's power, which is energy. Anyways, I voted for absorption, ice, shadow and mind. Keeping in mind the restrictions we've seen on each power, absorption is OP in its own right, creating ice walls to block enemies/get over obstacles is a great ability, mind is downright awesome and being able to read people's minds and counter their attacks based on that is incredible.

No one's brought it up here to my knowledge, but a few people have noticed it before.

I think it would be very cool to have toothbrushes for BIONICLE again (I only ever got a Jack Stone one ), but I doubt that LEGO would bring them back. Too obscure, I guess.

Hooray for Bonkles. edit: oh, you guys left the topic of celebrating BIONICLE while I spent two hours procrastinating before finishing writing this post. Sorry. Are you talking about his voice in the new episode? That sounded more like cockney to me. Sounds like deep Australian to me (although I hear Ausie accents have they're origin in cockney/London), besides it makes more sense that they'd try to give him an Australian accent what with him having boomerangs as weapons. That's not an Australian accent. His voice sounds nothing like an actual Australian accent (unless you're deep in bogan-ville), and it's so far off that pretty much well anyone I know would have a hard time trying to match Pohatu's voice, it's that far off. Honestly, I find it more than a little annoying that LEGO chose an accent (super-annoying when everything to do with Pohatu is Australian stereotyping, except his personality, which is odd) so far off from the truth. You see, the stereotype is all most people know. If it bothers you that much, you should try and change the stereotype. Every country has a stereotype. What matters is if you have the ability to laugh at yourself or not. XD No offense, but that's preety bad advice considering we're talking about an entire country where the stereotype hasn't been even close to true for 50+ years. Worse yet, they didn't even go with the "Larrikin" stereotype and instead made Pohatu this super-serious-always-on-task guy.

Are you talking about his voice in the new episode? That sounded more like cockney to me. Sounds like deep Australian to me (although I hear Ausie accents have they're origin in cockney/London), besides it makes more sense that they'd try to give him an Australian accent what with him having boomerangs as weapons. That's not an Australian accent. His voice sounds nothing like an actual Australian accent (unless you're deep in bogan-ville), and it's so far off that pretty much well anyone I know would have a hard time trying to match Pohatu's voice, it's that far off. Honestly, I find it more than a little annoying that LEGO chose an accent (super-annoying when everything to do with Pohatu is Australian stereotyping, except his personality, which is odd) so far off from the truth.

Yes. Also, did anyone notice that most of the Toa came into the scene just outside of the entrance, while Tahu entered from the entrance? Presumably he created a giant lava fountain and surfed his way there. Or he turned evil. Because in LEGO media, it's always the white guy that dies, and it's always the red guy that turns evil. Technically, in Ninjago, the first of the Ninja to turn evil was Cole (when he was hypnotized by Skales). I don't think Kai has ever turned evil except in "The Ultimate Spinjitzu Master" when all four original Ninja were corrupted. Nya was the first one the Overlord corrupted with his dark matter, though, so I guess she counts. Technically in BIONICLE, Lewa was the first to turn evil. Twice. Followed by Tahu and then Vakama, the only one who "willingly" turned evil (which was what I was referring to). Kai was never corrupted by dark matter, and if he was, they never showed it. I made a boo-boo in that post, it's a spoiler from a later episode. I'll go put tags on it now.

Yes. Also, did anyone notice that most of the Toa came into the scene just outside of the entrance, while Tahu entered from the entrance? Presumably he created a giant lava fountain and surfed his way there. Or he turned evil. Edit: added tags around NINJAGO spoilers

I'm wondering how you must have felt about Makuta's defeats, seeing as Makuta had far more embarrassing defeats than that. Anyway, I would love to say the Overlord but as you said, he's so dependent on everyone around him that he just can't be taken too seriously. Master Chen was really lackluster on a whole, he got very annoying towards the end of season 5 and was ridiculously self-obsessed, and not in the typical villain way. Pythor is cool, but considering his own evil plots were "Unleash someone more powerful than me!" I can't say I like him too much. IMO Garmadon was the best during his time as a villain. His backstory and relationship with his son were very well played out, and I enjoyed him more than any other villain because he felt like he was more than a cartoon villain. The Overlord was the most menacing, Pythor was the most cunning, Chen was the most dramatic, Soto and his pirates were the silliest, Samukai and his forces were the dumbest, but Garmadon was the most complex and more than just a pile of evil plans and cartoon drama. Morro shouldn't be on the list. We literally no nothing about him other than that he's a ghost (minor spoilers: he's almost certainly going to have a darker history, unless they go the route of Arcturus). With the set-up they have, he could easily be the darkest and most powerful villain yet. But as I said before, we no nothing about him other than trace details on powers and backstory, he has only appeared in episode 44 and we don't even have a proper personality for him yet.

Are you serious? I was never 100% happy with any G1 Toa Team as far as sets were concerned. They were always either clones (with near-identical parts, proportions, and builds) or completely lacking any sort of visual unity (the Toa Mahri relied solely on tubes and blasters to convey their affiliation, and the Phantoka and Mistika had slightly more unity as far as color schemes were concerned, but only among their particular group of three). The new Toa have unifying features (like their chest patterns and the general unified look granted by the CCBS), but their builds, proportions, color schemes, and armor configurations are more diverse than ever before. Yeah I'm serious. The new Toa are more alike than you say in build. Different proportions are basically the same bone and shell pieces in a different length. Not to mention they all use the exact same feet except for Onua. With the exception of gearboxes and shoulder armors, they all follow the same scheme, and I'm left struggling to find a reason to buy them besides to own the main cast (mind you, I am going to buy them all, I just don't know why, I want to like them but idk). If anyone is a new fan, what would be their inclination to buy the sets if they're all so similar? They don't really have any attachment to the characters yet. Really, if old-school fans like us could be convinced to collect the Toa Metru who were all completely identical builds except for two being taller than the others, or the Toa Hordika and Toa Inika who literally had zero differences in their body proportions between team members, then it's silly to say that the differences in the new Toa aren't substantial enough for new fans to care. Zero differences in body proportions between the Inika? Yeah, no. For the most part they were similar, but to say that they have zero differences in body proportions simply isn't true. Matoro, Nuparu and Hewkii shared the "bulky" build, Jaller and Kongu had a "streamlined" build and Hahli have a combination of the two. There were two sets of feet amongst the Toa as well, three having one kind and three having another. And if you want variation between members, sure: Nuparu had claws and a shoulder-mounted blaster. Kongu and Hahli have melded pieces, Matoro and Jaller have transparent bones that really set off their colors in a way the 2015 Toa don't, and Hewkii comes with a chain and his upper leg armor is upside down. The Inika may be clone builds, but they're certainly not exact replicas of one another in the parts department. Matoro, Nuparu and Hewkii all have differentiations (Nuparu's claws count, and so do his feet) in their proportions, however minor. Even Kongu and Jaller share different proportions, if only in the feet regions. So no, the Inika have far more than zero differences in body proportions alone amongst members, however slight those changes may be. By "proportions" he meant the actual measurements that determine a figure's stature—things like arm and leg length, shoulder width, torso height, etc. They used multiple torso armor solutions and weapons, but none of those changed those basic body proportions at all. I suppose "waistline" and "foot length" could count as proportions if you want to be anal about it, but I've literally never seen that considered when discussing the overall proportions of Bionicle sets. Except that torso armor variants affect more than just waistline. Kongu, Jaller and Hahli looked more streamlined from the longer armor length and sleek endings. In contrast, the armor used by Matoro, Nuparu and Hewkii give a more bulky, muscular appearance that was also more "exposed" than the former. Frankly, I'm not even sure where "waistline" even comes into play here. These are entire torso pieces, not specialized fat bulge pieces LEGO made for a Homer Simpson Ultrabuild. I'm not sure about you, but I've definitely seen people taking into account torso armor pieces when it comes to proportions, particularly when it comes to the Breakout torso armor. CCBS torso armor shells are literally the exact same thing as the Inika armor pieces except with different shaping and connection point/s. I've also seen people take foot proportions into account when discussing sets like Axonn, Brutaka and Roodaka. And I'm sure there's going to be far more to come once more people realize Skull Slicer uses the mini Kaiju feet. Zero differences in body proportions between the Inika? Yeah, no. For the most part they were similar, but to say that they have zero differences in body proportions simply isn't true. Matoro, Nuparu and Hewkii shared the "bulky" build, Jaller and Kongu had a "streamlined" build and Hahli have a combination of the two. There were two sets of feet amongst the Toa as well, three having one kind and three having another. And if you want variation between members, sure: Nuparu had claws and a shoulder-mounted blaster. Kongu and Hahli have melded pieces, Matoro and Jaller have transparent bones that really set off their colors in a way the 2015 Toa don't, and Hewkii comes with a chain and his upper leg armor is upside down. The Inika may be clone builds, but they're certainly not exact replicas of one another in the parts department. Matoro, Nuparu and Hewkii all have differentiations (Nuparu's claws count, and so do his feet) in their proportions, however minor. Even Kongu and Jaller share different proportions, if only in the feet regions. So no, the Inika have far more than zero differences in body proportions alone amongst members, however slight those changes may be. I was referring to skeleton proportions and actual differences in assembly there, rather than to the thickness of arms, feet, or torsos. But I definitely should have worded it better, and that's a mistake on my part. The Toa Inika were definitely a step up from the Metru and Hordika when it came to things like armor and color variations. But they were all the exact same height, and their limbs were all the exact same length, and their shoulder joints were all the exact same width, and they all had the exact same posture, which is what I was trying to get at. By contrast, none of those factors are exactly the same across all six of the 2015 Toa, and the actual build differences between them aren't nearly as formulaic as many of the differences between the Toa Inika (which in most cases just meant them having one of two different options for particular parts of their body like torso armor, lower arms, and feet and combining those options in different ways). So I think the new Toa are closer in spirit to the Mahri than to the Inika. Limbs all the exact same length? What about Nuparu's claws? They add a relatively significant amount of length onto his arms.

What are people expecting? Die-hard fans are going to lap stuff up in an instant, many people already have all the Toa they intend to buy and it's no secret what happens in episode 9. Absolutely zero is really going on in the plot, and there's almost no rewatching value in the shorts because they're so simplified and short that there's nothing to speculate on that hasn't already been speculated. For a reboot of a story-based line, there's not a lot of meat to chew on. Also LEGO's communication between media teams is utter garbage. That's undeniable when an entire season of NINJAGO was uploaded by Cartoon Network (and promptly pirated) and when LEGO themselves upload the rest of BIONICLE's minisodes. And if it wasn't a mistake to release them, they wouldn't have been taken down.

Are you serious? I was never 100% happy with any G1 Toa Team as far as sets were concerned. They were always either clones (with near-identical parts, proportions, and builds) or completely lacking any sort of visual unity (the Toa Mahri relied solely on tubes and blasters to convey their affiliation, and the Phantoka and Mistika had slightly more unity as far as color schemes were concerned, but only among their particular group of three). The new Toa have unifying features (like their chest patterns and the general unified look granted by the CCBS), but their builds, proportions, color schemes, and armor configurations are more diverse than ever before. Yeah I'm serious. The new Toa are more alike than you say in build. Different proportions are basically the same bone and shell pieces in a different length. Not to mention they all use the exact same feet except for Onua. With the exception of gearboxes and shoulder armors, they all follow the same scheme, and I'm left struggling to find a reason to buy them besides to own the main cast (mind you, I am going to buy them all, I just don't know why, I want to like them but idk). If anyone is a new fan, what would be their inclination to buy the sets if they're all so similar? They don't really have any attachment to the characters yet. Really, if old-school fans like us could be convinced to collect the Toa Metru who were all completely identical builds except for two being taller than the others, or the Toa Hordika and Toa Inika who literally had zero differences in their body proportions between team members, then it's silly to say that the differences in the new Toa aren't substantial enough for new fans to care. Zero differences in body proportions between the Inika? Yeah, no. For the most part they were similar, but to say that they have zero differences in body proportions simply isn't true. Matoro, Nuparu and Hewkii shared the "bulky" build, Jaller and Kongu had a "streamlined" build and Hahli have a combination of the two. There were two sets of feet amongst the Toa as well, three having one kind and three having another. And if you want variation between members, sure: Nuparu had claws and a shoulder-mounted blaster. Kongu and Hahli have melded pieces, Matoro and Jaller have transparent bones that really set off their colors in a way the 2015 Toa don't, and Hewkii comes with a chain and his upper leg armor is upside down. The Inika may be clone builds, but they're certainly not exact replicas of one another in the parts department. Matoro, Nuparu and Hewkii all have differentiations (Nuparu's claws count, and so do his feet) in their proportions, however minor. Even Kongu and Jaller share different proportions, if only in the feet regions. So no, the Inika have far more than zero differences in body proportions alone amongst members, however slight those changes may be.

Some have theorised the makers were playing on how fans confuse the two elements, but I think it's likely the makers themselves had them confused. Well, assuming this was the writer's fault it's either a joke that wasn't found funny by most of the community, lazy writing or a joke done in the wrong circumstances and without clear enough indication that it was a joke. If it was a joke, something like "Bah! Pohatu and Onua are so similar, it's a wonder people don't get their elements mixed up!" would probably have been better. It could be worse, though. Could be a lot worse. Really though, it was probably the fault of someone on the storyboarding/animation team, writers rarely have any influence on the way a scene is laid out. Stuff like this happens in NINJAGO all the time with the random swapping of ninja suits and voices every now and again, so it's not unlikely that they're going to make a continuity error. At least it's clearly a mistake, and not an outright lore-breaking retcon that's going to make everyone confused.

Now, it's interesting to think of HOW the upgraded Toa will be made distinctive, since unlike the Toa Nuva it's more than a matter of adding metallic armor. But I'm sure it can be done. One idea I've considered is elemental armor motifs achieved through either printing (which is easy with most CCBS parts, and might even be doable with parts like the Toa's standard masks) or with new parts entirely, like Strakk's icy shoulder armor. But there are plenty of other options as well. Considering Hero Factory managed to continue revamping its main cast for longer than Bionicle EVER kept characters around, I have little doubt that the new Bionicle theme can afford the same privilege to the new Toa. >implying that the only change between Toa Mata and Toa Nuva was adding metallic armor. Hero Factory did manage to revamp its main cast for far longer than BIONICLE ever did, but there was almost zero consistency between variations. Surge started out as blue, silver and trans fl. green with a lightning-esque theme, his next iteration was blue, white, lime, trace elements of silver and had a sniper rifle. His breakout incarnation featured a vastly different style to his 2.0 form, yet closer to 1.0, featuring blue, lime, trans fl. green, a slight amount of silver and a combination of weaponry from previous forms. Surge's final notable appearance as far as upgrades are concerned featured silver, blue, trace amounts of yellow, trans fl. green, trans blue and gunmetal/titanium along with a singular lightning themed weapon and a jetpack. Some might deem it an "upgrade" but the variation in his profile and weapon usage beginning with his 2.0 form was a bit awkward. HF really did suffer from a lack of being able to communicate direct upgrades (seemingly why they dropped the ".0" format) but also from a lack of consistency between exactly what role he was meant to play as in the team. From the story perspective of what HF is meant to be about, this makes sense. But from a set perspective, they may as well have been entirely different characters if it weren't for a nameplate or helmet, both of which his Brain Attack forms were exempt from. With the way the Toa are currently structured, I can't really see them escaping this any time soon. It's most certainly possible to make the Toa look "upgraded" like the transition from Mata to Nuva, but it will be nowhere near as significant a change.

Just for the record I'm male (sex & gender), the avatar (Link, Wii U version, some liberties) is very ambiguous, anyhow; considering the upvotes I thinks it's safe to say that you communicated something that was better & different (points for examples) than what I had typed Oh... sorry, I don't usually take notice of upvotes on here.

That should have been your entire post, not an addition to it. I don't mean to be rude here, but notice how I said "Edit:"? That means I saw Iblis' post after I had finished mine, and found he/she (sorry, avatar makes it hard to tell) to have a better explanation than my own.

Several years of bloating and ridiculous aesthetic, location and style changes were what killed BIONICLE, not the first three years. There's a difference between bloating and added depth. Things such as Ussal crabs and the assorted flora and fauna of the island of Mata Nui make the story feel rich and alive, but sudden turns like Metru Nui were, arguably, in the long run for the worst. And MNOG came out in a time where dial-up was the norm. Are you really going to play the slow internet card? Names for the Protectors isn't going to kill Gen 2. Personalities for the Protectors isn't going to kill Gen 2. Variation among the villagers so they don't all look like clones isn't going to kill Gen 2. "Inspiration" builds that don't consist solely of Toa with half a Protector sticking out of them won't either. The problem is that the story is so simplistic that it's almost a facade. The only hope at the moment is the upcoming Vahi storyline (and let's not open that can of worms right now) and perhaps the Ancient City. But we know literally nothing of Okoto right now save for some sparse details. We know as much about Okoto as we do Makuhero city. Edit: What Iblis said.