Jump to content

Bionicle Guru

Outstanding BZPower Citizens
  • Posts

    143
  • Joined

  • Last visited

  • Days Won

    2

Posts posted by Bionicle Guru

  1. Once upon a time, there was an administrator of BZPower, one of the founders, who was fond of Ronald Reagan and the flag of the USA and his username on here was "Bionicle Rex". This inspired a host of copycat names with "Bionicle ____" something or the other. "Rex" is regal, and when I joined BZPower back in July 2003, I wanted to stand out, but not in an official-sounding capacity. I brainstormed other roles that could exist alongside and within BIONICLE and I settled on a guru. After all, Mata Nui was populated by tribes led by tribal chieftains, and there was a Chronicler and a Wall of History and Suva shrines and a Great Temple. I'm sure a guru of sorts could've found a niche in Matoran society, and that is what I wanted to do on BZPower: find my niche and be a guru regarding the toys and the myths of the BIONICLE. A BIONICLE Guru. And so I am still to this day, though few remain to remember me and even I have started to waver in my knowledge of the legends of olde.

    • Like 2
  2. BZPower can now legally drink! Soon it will be graduating college and going off into the wide world...

    To think back in July 2003, I was a "latecomer" to the BZPower community. I think the major facelift in May 2003 and getting my own personal email address in July prompted me to join BZPower. Those first few years were pretty amazing as a member. Sad that so many of those posts from pre-2011 are now forever lost, but I'll always have the memories.

    Though I was upset BIONICLE got no more-than-marginal love for the 20th anniversary last year (and just a little more for the 90th anniversary of LEGO this year), it definitely still resonates in my heart and mind. I've been recalling a lot lately the summer of 2002, when the Exo-Toa, Bahrag, Boxor, and upcoming Toa Nuva were all the rage. So many awesome things happened to me that summer and BIONICLE is cemented among them. Axiomatic to my teenage memories. Kanohi-Power was a part of it, too, since I checked out that site before it merged with BZCommunity.

    A virtual toast, then, to BZPower!

  3. I mean, I get wanting to be optimistic and enthusiastic, but you have to face the facts. And the biggest one is past experience here. BIONICLE is only turning 20 years old, and that is a major anniversary for one of LEGO's most important IPs. So for reference, you should be looking at other successful LEGO themes that are gone, but LEGO has acknowledged in some "celebratory" way. Consider the main classic themes of Space, Castle, Town, Pirates, and Trains. For Trains' 50th anniversary, LEGO made a collection of mini versions of famous Train sets throughout the decades...and then gave it to employees only as a gift. Earlier this year, we celebrated 40 years since the birth of minifigure-scale Trains, and all we got was a replica of a small train from 1980 as a GWP from LEGO. That's it! Randomly in the past decade, we've gotten magnets and other small GWP to acknowledge Pirates, Space, and Castle. If there happened to a concurrent iteration of the theme (i.e. Kingdoms in place of Castle), well, we just got lucky.

    Mind you, all these themes are far older than BIONICLE. Why would anyone think that anything beyond a nice book or GWP is "not enough" to celebrate the 20th anniversary is beyond me. The love of BIONICLE is perpetuated and continues thanks to fans and fansites like this one. As Toa_Kralich expounded on above, it is in these communities that the real celebrations will happen. Anything LEGO gives us is gravy!

    I'll grant you one silver lining: if LEGO really wants to acknowledge BIONICLE properly next year, they'll wait until July 2021, which was when BIONICLE finally was released worldwide (it was only available in Europe for H1 of 2001). If that is the case, we may still very well be in the dark and far from uncovering what may be coming our way. If, say, somehow constraction was being Lazarus'd back into existence for BIONICLE's sake, it's possible summer 2021 is when it would finally be released, and we might catch hints or leaks of that early next year. In other words, it is a little too soon.

    I can't speak to software development, and I'll stand by my previous stance on "continuing" BIONICLE from where it left off. As far as most fans are concerned, BIONICLE finished its story in early 2010. No need to continue a decades-old web serial that has no bearing on the main plot, what made BIONICLE, BIONICLE. Whatever comes next year, I just hope it either honors what was already released, or makes a bold, new path forward.

  4. 14 hours ago, Xboxtravis said:

    It took me several years, but I finally restored my Toa Mata, Bohrok and Turaga sets after Bricklinking a lot of new pieces. The problem with most of the parts there, other than a few cracked sockets; one of my dogs had gone through a chewing spree on my Lego pieces as a kid. For years my Kopaka had a lame-ankle for example since the socket was loose and partially open because the dog chewed on his foot. Tahu Nuva's fire swords had teeth marks in them. Vakama's fire staff was a makeshift Technic axle with a System flame piece stuck on top since the dog completely turned the fire staff to little red bits. My early Bionicle sets were just physically abused, and I am glad to have almost finished restoring them all (I just miss one socket to fix a Gahlok Kal that I bought second hand off Bricklink and the socket broke in shipping). The rubber bands are a lost cause... I have to use non-Lego replacements but hey I can't be to upset over just the rubber bands at this point. 


    But... I am glad I kind of quit G1 when I did (2007 after the first few Barraki sets) since I think the line's quality control problems really kicked off about then and lasted until Hero Factory introduced CCBS. Knock on wood, but my Ehlek (one of my last G1 sets I got as a kid) has zero broken sockets. I think the fact I lost interest in Bionicle after the Barraki wave meant I only assembled Ehlek once, but now I am afraid to ever take him apart since lime joints have such a reputation. But yeah its unfortunate that despite Bionicle's popularity it had some of Lego's worst quality control issues. 

    My condolences, that sucks! Fortunately, I did not have a dog growing up, so I never had to worry about that kind of damage to any of my LEGO sets. I can see, though, how this would've been especially devastating to BIONICLE parts. Good on you for performing the restoration!

    I'll have to check my Ehlek, I don't think I was quite so lucky. I know for sure my Hahli Mahri has cracked lime green parts, and Lewa Nuva from the Phantoka line may similarly suffer. I still have Lesovikk MISB, so hopefully everything is OK until I decide to build him.

    At least with the decline in parts quality happening in the latter portion of BIONICLE's life, it is easier and cheaper to acquire replacements rather than the earlier parts, many of which were discontinued even while BIONICLE was still up and running (the original Toa feet, for example. A 2004 revamp was released for the Vahki, but they were never seen in the original Mata/Nuva colors).

  5. On 8/7/2020 at 11:54 PM, Master Inika said:

    Or: Great Spirit Robot set officially released in 1995 in the former USSR.

    The ultimate revelation will come when oceanographers detect a massive metal anomaly stretching the entire breadth of the Pacific Ocean floor, with a roughly humanoid form. Suddenly, the news reports that New Zealand has started experiencing massive earthquakes as a giant, metal...face...starts to emerge from within it.

    BIONICLE: It's been here the entire time!

    EDIT: Wow, a quadruple post! Haven't seen (or performed) one of those in a very long time! Sorry about that; it seems the forums kept fritzing when I went to post this reply, and it never showed up after refreshing the page. Guess I was bamboozled!

     

  6. On 8/7/2020 at 11:54 PM, Master Inika said:

    Or: Great Spirit Robot set officially released in 1995 in the former USSR.

    The ultimate revelation will come when oceanographers detect a massive metal anomaly stretching the entire breadth of the Pacific Ocean floor, with a roughly humanoid form. Suddenly, the news reports that New Zealand has started experiencing massive earthquakes as a giant, metal...face...starts to emerge from within it.

    BIONICLE: It's been here the entire time!

  7. On 8/7/2020 at 11:54 PM, Master Inika said:

    Or: Great Spirit Robot set officially released in 1995 in the former USSR.

    The ultimate revelation will come when oceanographers detect a massive metal anomaly stretching the entire breadth of the Pacific Ocean floor, with a roughly humanoid form. Suddenly, the news reports that New Zealand has started experiencing massive earthquakes as a giant, metal...face...starts to emerge from within it.

    BIONICLE: It's been here the entire time!

  8. On 8/7/2020 at 11:54 PM, Master Inika said:

    Or: Great Spirit Robot set officially released in 1995 in the former USSR.

    The ultimate revelation will come when oceanographers detect a massive metal anomaly stretching the entire breadth of the Pacific Ocean floor, with a roughly humanoid form. Suddenly, the news reports that New Zealand has started experiencing massive earthquakes as a giant, metal...face...starts to emerge from within it.

    BIONICLE: It's been here the entire time!

    • Like 1
  9. I went with all Noble masks in Toa colors, all Great masks in Matoran/Tohunga colors, and all Noble masks in Matoran/Tohunga colors. On that last one, it was close to picking either that or all Great masks in Metru colors, but I decided that wouldn't have much of a role in my set collection unless I wanted to focus on all sorts of Metru Nui Matoran looks and designs.

    The fact that misprint Kanohi exist for some of the Noble masks in Toa colors makes this idea even more tantalizing and desirable. Too bad all the original Kanohi molds are long since retired now. Lament for what could have been!

    • Upvote 1
  10. Thinking about it, someone should just ask one of the guys in Kenna, Woven, Cold, or Rob Zombie himself (he's pretty active still) what their involvement with BIONICLE: The Album was all about. They're not dead, and I don't think LEGO made them sign NDAs. Of course, it is entirely possible we may find out that the record company (Interscope Records) signed up these artists for them in a contract, but never actually had them come into the studio for it. So for all Rob Zombie knows (for example), he was going to do it one day, and then got notified a month or two later it was cancelled. There would be no music, even simple chords, if Rob had no idea was BIONICLE was at the time, other than a studio booking on his calendar. But I'd love to be proven wrong!

    3 hours ago, chuckschwa said:


    Paul Hardcastle, who did the music for the 2001 promo album (3 tracks, one of which was "The Bionicle Music" featured heavily in MNOG), had a Bionicle themed track pop up on his remix album Zer01. "Obey The Force" features various familiar sounds recycled throughout and the song ends with garbled dialog "Bionicle... obey the force... the legend is born... the Bionicle has begun". It's pretty clear this may have been intended for the album and got scrapped, or Hardcastle reused the sound samples for his own song as a tribute.

    I think I stumbled upon that Paul Hardcastle track a while ago and noted the similarities myself. I'll have to give it a re-listen.

    With change in Kanohi over the years, you hit the nail on the head with the "rubbery" Inika masks. We never got back to that nice hard, shiny plastic used in the original Kanohi, Nuva or otherwise. We got stuck with the soft plastic all the way to the end, with the Inika masks representing a horrendous departure in 2006 by making them rubber and therefore seem "alive".

    10 hours ago, JMSOG said:

    When the Inika transformed into Inika, their masks acted way differently than anything we'd really seen before. Three (hewkii, jaller, and nuparu) got masks that gave them super strong physical abilities. Matoro got a mask that allowed him to "fly" long distances as a scout.

    Kongu and Hahli though? Kongu got telepathy he couldn't turn off. Hahli got a mask that made her head hurt.

    In a real world analogy...Kongu was schizophrenic, and Hahli had chronic migraines.

    It's been a while since I've read through the books, so I don't remember how it played out for Hahli, but I DO remember how it played out for Kongu: early on, it looked like dealing with voices constantly would become an integral part to his character, but then it kind of got...handwaved away, I guess.

    Re-reading the books and comics from the Ignition storyline recently, the powers of the Suletu (Kongu's mask) and their effects on Kongu weren't really dropped so much as Kongu was one of six Toa characters that had to share story time in a limited number of pages. In Hahli's case, her mask specifically allowed her to track the position of the Mask of Life. The closer she got to it, the more the mask "pinged" her mentally, causing the headaches. Obviously, these got worse the closer she got to the mask, but since it is such a specific power, and Hahli again being one of six main characters in a short book for children, I don't think Greg even had the time and space to develop these traits if he wanted to. For further example of this, in the battles during the race for the Mask of Life underneath Voya Nui, Kongu isn't even mentioned for a stretch of time even as we get brief vignettes of the other Toa Inika fighting. In conclusion, I don't think these side effects of the mask powers were deliberately dropped or not addressed. The fast-paced nature of the story and the space with which Greg had to tell it necessitated a tight focus on characterization. And then, less than a few days after gaining these masks, the Inika lose them as they are transformed yet again into Toa Mahri, with new masks and abilities. So realistically, how much of your character would change if you only had a strange phenomenon affect you for a couple of days before it disappeared entirely AND you were on a mission of the utmost importance? Not to mention you are of a certain physical and mental toughness that makes you more resistant to the damage the outside world (or others) can do to you?

    • Upvote 1
  11. On 8/13/2020 at 9:48 AM, Illuminatus said:

    In all honesty I'm disappointed his mask doesn't in fact resemble a Hau, as the Suletu design is quite frankly one of the least visually attractive Kanohi produced in the entirety of Bionicle in my opinion.

    On the other hand, the fact that Kanohi masks generally have specific designs to match their powers but they can also be made to look like any other Kanohi (yet don't most of the time) has always bothered me beyond belief. Just say Krakua was wearing a Hau, end of story.

    Whole-heartedly agree. It strikes me as no small coincidence that this confusing concept was introduced in 2005, a year full of out-there BIONICLE stuff that made the whole universe a lot bigger, but simultaneously, more convoluted to follow, sometimes just for the sake of convolution. I mean, to paraphrase a popular quote, sometimes a Kanohi Hau is just a Kanohi Hau. I understood that LEGO didn't always have the budget or need to create new mask molds, but this wasn't an elegant solution.

    • Like 1
  12. 55 minutes ago, Illuminatus said:

    Yes.

    Hmm, looking at Bricklink, would this be classified as "Metallic Gold" for color? Judging by the photographs, the standard color for the gold Kanohi Kaukau that came in the Krana packs is labeled as "copper" by Bricklink. Guess I'll have to do so more digging on the origin and availability of these masks, but at least it looks to be more affordable to obtain than the trans-yellow Kaukau!

    And tangentially, looking at those prices for trans-neon orange/trans orange Kaukaus makes me feel like I'm sitting on a goldmine with my three spare ones!

  13. 2 hours ago, Illuminatus said:

    Hoho, wait till you hear about the trans-gold Kaukau.

    Some good stuff posted on here while I wasn't looking. This is the first time I'm seeing the glow-in-the-dark eye stalk on the instructions. Great stuff.

    Wait, are you talking about an actually-released trans-gold Kaukau? The "olda", not Nuva or G2 version? And not the trans-yellow Kaukau misprint mask from 2001?

  14. In a perfect world, yes, it is ideal to finish what was started. I was definitely a fan of seeing "Samurai Jack" (something that came out the same year as BIONICLE first did!) finished twelve years after the last episode aired. "Samurai Jack" was Genndy Tartakovsky's baby and he finished the way he wanted it to, and you could tell. I can't speak to the "Hey Arnold" or Ninjago TV series, but there is a similarity here between them and "Samurai Jack" that BIONICLE sorely lacks: they are all television shows (one made to develop and help sell a LEGO theme), and BIONICLE is not. Heck, BIONICLE isn't even the creation of one single person. Granted, by the end of 2009, it was pretty much Greg Farshtey's story to tell, so I can understand why, by 2011, people were counting on him to "finish" BIONICLE. But at that point, BIONICLE wasn't a toyline, not a direct-to-video movie, and not even a comic book (delayed Papercutz graphic novels aside). It was a series of online serials. Entertaining, yes, but a far cry from the multi-platform story we got from 2001 to 2010. So even though it has been nine years, I don't think it would be the greatest idea to drag GregF out of BIONICLE retirement just to finish some web serials. If he wanted to, sure, I'd be all for it. But here is another consideration: what makes you think BIONICLE is "incomplete"?

    Going back to the example of "Samurai Jack" (since it is the only one I can talk about), the last episode released was about Jack saving and traveling with a baby. It was a cute, fun little episode, but it had little to no bearing on the overall plot of the series, which as you know, was all about if Jack was going to find a way to travel back in time to stop the evil of Aku from ever taking over the world. That was never close to being resolved, so justifiably, fans clamored for the "ending" to the show for years until Genndy finally got around to it and found the proper story to tell.

    This is NOT the case with BIONICLE. BIONICLE's main plot, the awakening of Mata Nui and the ultimate defeat of Makuta, was completed. We even got a last-minute deliverance to a new paradise thrown in for all the characters to enjoy. It was a great way to end the story. However, picture if the last bit of BIONICLE we got in 2010 was like the last episode of "Samurai Jack". After the events of "The Legend Reborn", the toyline shifts gears again like it did in 2004 to flashback to when Spherus Magna had just broken up and the Mata Nui robot rocketed off into space. On the desert world left behind, Agori and Glatorian begin rebuilding their lives. A new society is born, and we are introduced to Certavus and his Legionax of Spherus Magna--his old Core War veteran buddies, and suddenly, they're on a mission to find the corpse of a Great Being. In March of 2010, just as they find the corpse, they realize it was all a trap by the Skrall, and they barely manage to get back to southern Bara Magna. They agree to keep the Agori in the dark and start the Glatorian system. The End. BIONICLE is over, and we move on to HERO Factory in the summer.

    I completely made all of that up, but wouldn't that be a huge let-down? A good story, yes, but what about Mata Nui and his quest to get home? What about Makuta and the universe of characters we know and love? What happened to the Toa Nuva? Heck, what about Ackar, Kiina, Gresh, and Berix? What was up with that disassembled robot in the sands of Bara Magna?

    It sounds terrible, and if that had been the case, I'd be right there with you, picketing every day, "BRING BACK BIONICLE, AND FINISH THE LEGEND!"

    But hey, we live in this reality, where BIONICLE, for better or for worse, was completed. Yes, we still have some ongoing serials involving the characters thanks to GregF. Like any good writer, he knew before BIONICLE ended to plant seeds in all his stories for future development. Lucky for us, he got to develop them with some serials post-summer 2010. But he didn't get to finish those. That's what's left unfinished. Not BIONICLE. Just these serials. It sucks, especially for those that wanted to see it "all" finished. But for me, I see the big picture. I am definitely biased since I was about to begin my senior year of college when BIONICLE ended. I remembered the serials, but their specifics faded from my memory after a few years. However, the core BIONICLE plotline of 2001-2010 is still as fresh as ever in my mind.

    In conclusion, I respect and understand why you and so many others would like to see those serials concluded. But BIONICLE is not the unfinished story franchise like "Samurai Jack" or (big tears here) "Reboot". There are some hanging threads, yes, but even as you pointed out, others have jumped in to write their own takes on what direction BIONICLE could've gone in after the main story ended. Who is to say after enough years, fans would prefer the fan-endings more than something official churned out after the fact? And finally, remember that just because something can be "finished", doesn't mean it should be (looking at you, Star Wars sequel trilogy. Grrrr....).

    • Upvote 3
  15. 22 hours ago, Peri said:

    minor but important distinction; greg said those are kraata, not rahkshi. which didnt make much sense to me either, until just recently when these mask of light storyboards came up (https://www.ebay.com/itm/LEGO-Bionicle-Storyboard-Copies-by-MIKE-VOSBURG-133-Pages-2002-Domes-of-Doom/114279737078) that establish the kraata were envisioned as being formed from protodermis after all.

    that doesnt totally address your concerns with the time jump, but i think the bionicle team wasn't envisioning such a gap between the nuva and mask of light, considering the kal were such a last-minute addition.

    Those storyboards are fascinating! As an aside, I'm surprised no one has bought them up yet. Yes, you're right; in 2002, they clearly envisioned the Kraata rising from the "mercury" and then going on to enter Rahkshi bodies.

    From a sales perspective, LEGO knew even in early 2002 that BIONICLE sets had to be sold in waves. In those early years, it corresponded to releases in Q1 and Q3 for each calendar year. Based on the success of the theme in 2001 and early tracking they undoubtedly were aware of for Q1 2002 (when the Bohrok were released), they had to have something planned for Q1 2003. If the Kal really were a last-minute decision, that implies the Rahkshi were the originally-planned Q1 2003 release. No canister sets for Q3 2003, then, prior to the movie release? I don't think they wanted to let that happen, since the canister sets (particularly Toa) were the biggest sellers (I believe GregF once mentioned 2003 was a weaker one for BIONICLE sales overall because the only new canister sets released were villains). But of course, I wasn't in the room where all that was decided, and I have only the power of retrospect to guide my thinking on the matter. Again, this would all be great fodder for a large, well-detailed and researched "Making Of...BIONICLE" book. For all we know, there may be unseen conceptual imagery of the Toa Nuva rising that shows a further intermediate stage that makes the "bumps", whether they are Kraata or Bohrok Kal, more evident.

    Fascinating stuff to consider!

  16. Maybe I'm just old, but while I "get" why 8/10 is being called "BIONICLE Day" (or is it 810N1C73 Day??? Can my descendants look forward to 5/3/8008 for another special-interest reason?), I cringe a bit at the usage of numerical pareidolia to determine the day on which we celebrate this great LEGO theme. What are we, the ALIEN fandom?

    Jokes aside, a good way to make this official is an announcement from LEGO regarding a certain tell-all retrospective on the making of BIONICLE, one that go into comprehensive detail on the chronology of the story, toy, music, and game development prior to launch in 2001, as well as concepts done to plan for all subsequent years. For the theme that saved LEGO from bankruptcy, BIONICLE deserves at least this much.

  17. So, an update after looking through my Private Messenger: apparently, some wonderfully kind soul gifted me Premier Membership back in the summer of 2004 as part of a promotion BZPower was doing for their anniversary celebration. So that was my first time. After it expired, I bought another membership for myself for a sweet Proto boost.

  18. 11 hours ago, Master Inika said:

    BZPower article 20 years from now: "Turkish BZPower member discovers LEGO released Mutated Brutaka in 2011!"

    Haha, wow, I get that reference!

    Even better: BZPower exclusive BIONICLE 20th Anniversary Roundtable Interview with Greg Farshtey, Bob Thompson, and Christian Faber reveals "Voriki was always intended to be the REAL seventh Toa" and point to limited release in Luxembourg as proof.

  19. Well, obviously, the island of Mata Nui is a huge favorite. I liked the beaches in particular. I grew up not seeing the ocean until the Christmas before BIONICLE was released, so being introduced a landscape surrounded by ocean gave me good feelings, a sense of the exotic that in my mundane world, had gotten to experience (albeit briefly).

    Bara Magna, however, probably was my favorite setting. Long before the LEGO Movie 2 introduced us to Apocalypseburg, Bara Magna was the original post-apocalyptic LEGO wasteland populated by fierce warriors, feral survivors, and cobbled-together technology. Plus, there were all those mysterious colossal robot parts sticking out the sands! Almost as much an air of mystery as the original setting on Mata Nui.

    • Like 1
  20. 14 minutes ago, Hahli, the Chronicler said:

    Hmm... never thought about that!

    The Nuva freed the Bahrag after escaping from the Piraka and before arriving at Kardi Nui, and during this time they received their adaptive armor from Arthaka. Maybe their new, special armor rendered their Nuva symbols obsolete? That doesn't really make sense, but then again the Nuva symbols never really made sense to me...

    It seems that outside the BIONICLE story, the symbols were cool marketing graphics to lend some "fresh" identity to these new Toa sets that need to stand out from the ones sold the year before. However, considering the role of the Nuva cube and symbols in the 2003 storyline, it is also entirely possible that the BIONICLE team planned ahead for this and created the concept of the Nuva cube and symbols explicitly to set up the Bohrok Kal story that would tide us over until things could begin for the Mask of Light storyline.

    BUT, on further reflection, recall other contemporary story imagery from the summer of 2002! Alongside pictures of the Nuva cube and symbols, other images of the Toa Nuva were released, including the infamous one of Tahu Nuva rising from the energized protodermis, only the top half of his Hau Nuva Kanohi visible. It is an iconic image, but it was often cropped. The full image showed two other menacing "bumps" in the protodermis on either side of Tahu, but further behind him. Early theories in mid-2002 suggested these were the other Toa Nuva rising from the liquid, but the sinister, un-Toa-like appearance suggested otherwise. Eventually, Greg Farshtey came out and said the "bumps" were prototypes of the Rahkshi, and most accepted that, as Rahkshi are formed when Kraata are dipped in energized protodermis, just like the Toa were. This never sat well with me because the Mask of Light movie made it clear the Rahkshi were formed around the time of the Mask of Light's discovery, not when the Toa Nuva were created. Furthermore, although we have yet to see these "early prototypes" of the Rahkshi sets, those bumps don't look a lot like Rahkshi at all...they look more like the heads and raised handshields of silver Bohrok!

    Here's my point: if the Nuva cube and symbols were only introduced to kick-off the Kal storyline, then that means the story team had already planned out the first half of 2003 by mid-2002. Makes sense, considering how LEGO develops sets anywhere from a year to 3 years (or more) in advance. Considering that imagery of the Nuva (finalized imagery, not prototypes) was seen in early 2002, the images of the Nuva cube and the bumps in the protodermis are contemporaneous and precede the design process for the Rahkshi. So in conclusion, the "bumps" were actually the Kal, Greg was just misinformed (he didn't work in set design), and the Nuva symbols were all part of the story planned for the first half of 2003. They knew in early 2002 they had to start working on the movie and related sets, so I bet the Nuva cube and Kal were part of that "holdover story" for early 2003. It allowed the designers to quickly produce sets for 2003 and then focus on really innovative new ones for summer 2003 and the story team had a good coda to the whole Bohrok saga. Problem was, any long-term significance to the BIONICLE mythos was sacrificed. In the end, people look back on the Kal and the Nuva symbols as a mere footnote before Mask of Light: The Movie because perhaps that was all it was ever intended to be.

    • Like 3
  21. Anyone remember the planned "BIONICLE: The Album"? That was hyped up on the backs of the BIONICLE comics in 2002, and although I didn't know anything about the artists attached to the project (Woven, Cold, Rob Zombie, among others), music had played such an important role in the spirit of BIONICLE from before the toy release that I was excited to hear what new directions the music would be taking with the coming of the Toa Nuva. Alas, it was quietly shelved and never saw the light of day. So that was disappointing.

    Another disappointment from 2002: realizing we were all duped by slick CGI once again upon building the Toa Nuva and realizing the new limb pieces did NOT bend at the knee. Thank goodness the Rahkshi were only a year away.

    Personally, I was disappointed I never found a white metal or silver Krana Kal back in 2003. I spent a lot of time in stores looking into Bohrok Kal canisters, hoping I'd spot the tell-tale black bag. Alas, no luck, even as I read about people finding three in one store on BZPower!

    I didn't realize it at the time, but 2004 was the last time we got the original Kanohi mask designs in sets. I missed getting recolors of the original BIONICLE masks in later years, especially since some of the Matoran sets released between 2006 and 2008 could have used that extra spice of a classic mask. Yes, I understand the practical considerations of a LEGO part mold wearing out or not being financially viable for limited runs, but still, it was disappointing.

    Later on, my biggest disappointments became quality issues. Cracking connector sockets from all years, as well as cracked Toa Mata feet, cracked Bohrok feet, cracked lime green t-bone connector pieces, dried up and cracked rubber bands from my 2001 Rahi (big tears shed on that one), cracked Glatorian hand sockets, and any other Technic part that cracked. It is going to be a real challenge to collectors of the original BIONICLE toys to maintain a certain "purity" to them if they have to spend lots on Bricklinking old parts to replace cracked pieces. I already did it for my Exo-Toa and some original Toa Mata feet. As far as LEGO in general goes, that is a massive disappointment that will haunt BIONICLE for a long, long time.

    • Like 5
×
×
  • Create New...