CyclonatorZ

What if Bonkles were just robots, and they lived in a universe where to be mechanical is to be alive, and to be organic is to not be alive? What if the Bohrok were Matoran who rebuilt themselves into more powerful forms, but had their mechanical brains replaced with organic computers, losing their souls in the process? What if the Makuta became evil at the precise moment they evolved from purely mechanical beings into beings of (organic) gas? What if the Piraka, and all the other Skakdi, are evil because they are actually controlled by the massive organic spine slugs on the back of their heads? I can go on, if anyone is interested.

Well he only just posted it. That said, there are a number of people who believe the Great Spirit Robot was a horrible idea and contrary to what they felt was the very essence of Bionicle. Which is all fine and well, but it is also true that their understanding of the "essence" of Bionicle is completely in contrary to that of the Bionicle story team. And I'll be honest, I don't really understand that line of thought myself. Regardless of how Bionicle and its definitive twist were executed (and I think most can agree the execution of the story was at least somewhat lacking), you have to admit its metaphorical underpinnings are much deeper than most of its contemporaries in the action figure world. Transformers was nothing more than a ploy to sell a mishmash of prexisting transforming toys cobbled together from various companies. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles was ultimately based on a joke comic, originally meant to last only one issue. Bionicle... Bionicle was the Biological Chronicle, the fictionalized, metaphorical account of a real person's cells waging a seemingly hopeless war against a horrific disease - cells that never gave up the fight even when their "Great Spirit" was asleep and close to death. It was so, so much more than Tiki robots throwing disks in the jungle, though we had no idea for almost its entire run.

Theory: year three consists entirely of the final, incredibly rushed battle against Makuta, because Bionicle is kicking the bucket all over again in the first half of 2017. Let's just hope this time that the sets aren't glorified AvtoranProtectors.

Yes, there is a third Mask Maker - or shall I say, "mask mucker." He was not born in this continuity, however, and you can follow his trail of awkwardly shoehorned-in pop culture references all the way back to his home dimension. Behold, the inevitable G1/G2 crossover nobody has been asking for: Vezon, Master of Anarchy! (please don't kill me)

A 22 minute toy commercial that is totally self aware about being a 22 minute toy commercial? Lego cartoons are sure growing up - well, at least the ones promoting system-based themes. (Note: I have personally seen neither the Nexo Knights or Bionicle shows, but the feedback others have given seems to indicate this is at least somewhat true.)

Uh, I sure hope we aren't the Great Beings, because as portrayed in canon, the "Great" Beings are - ahem - grade A donkey crevices. Considering all the various horrible things they did or were planning to do before they official story line was cut to an abrupt, merciful end, I'd rather not think of them as an allegory for MoCists or fan fiction writers - especially now that I'm getting back into building and writing myself.

Controversial opinion: I liked Crystal Skull - in fact, I liked it more than Temple of Doom, which is the only one of the four Indiana Jones films that I outright despise. (Come at me, internet)

Are you implying that we do deserve more movies like Gods of Egypt? Wow, that might be the most stunning indictment of humanity I've read all day.

At this point, Marvel is pretty much a synonym for the word "money."

So, correct me if I'm wrong, but I'm guessing they're taking the same route for this series as with the last Hero Factory movie, by which I mean they've apparently got the production staff doing at least some of the voice acting instead of actually hiring professional voice actors. That would explain why none of the actor names were recognizeable, and it lends more evidence to my growing suspicion that the budget for this production (and the Bionicle reboot in general) is really low.

A lot of helpful posts here, everyone. Thanks for all the analysis. I don't really know a lot about what actually goes into making our favorite toy, so I appreciate all the feedback from people who are more knowledgeable than me. I think you have definitely quelled my fears somewhat, and I probably won't worry quite as much about buying Lego sets as I was when I first made this topic.

Uh, so, this is something else. My local Walmart will apparently not be carrying the 2016 Bionicle sets, at least for now. The reason I know this: there's no spots marked for them in our small, crowded Lego isle. They did have a few copies each of Uniter Tahu and Ikir, but when I went there today, Tahu was gone, and Ikir was on clearance, fifty percent off. Granted, it is a smaller location, and they appear to not be carrying the 2016 Ninjago sets either, but this doesn't bode well for Bionicle, at least in my town. And I think I might know what is killing it off here - because the shelves WERE recently stocked with dozens upon dozens of Star Wars constraction figues.

I'm personally partial to the idea that Okotian is basically Matoran, with the main difference being that it is significantly more translated into English this time around. I could have sworn that Tahu was referred to as a Toa in one of the animations, which probably means that Master is the English translation of Toa. This, naturally, would lead to Unifier being the English translation of Nuva. There's a lot of other ideas I've been throwing around in my head, and I think my personal headcanon is ultimately going to incorporate a lot more G1 names and terms - without dragging in all the complicated continuity tied to them, of course.

I'd like to believe they are as ethical as everyone believes, I really would. I'm just rather skeptical. For all I know, their Chinese factory (and all their other factories) could be some of the most pleasant factories in the world to work in, like the factory my dad currently works at is. I think its just as likely, however, that the people working their are as underpaid and overtasked as in the rest of China's factories. And knowing what I do know about the typical hours and rate of pay, it would not be a pretty picture to say the least. You hit the nail on the head, as have a few other people in this topic. Ultimately, everything we own here in America is tainted to some degree by raw economics. Ultimately, I didn't raise this issues because I think I'm a terrible person for supporting Lego, even if they are as bad as I fear. I'm just at the point in life where I'm thinking a bit more about my purpose in the world and what I can do to make it a better place. I'll be honest, at age 23, with a full time job and more money in the bank than I know what to do with, I've learned that the amount of stuff I have doesn't really have any measurable effect on my happiness. I also have a lot of time to think about things while at work, and so I'm increasingly thinking about complicated issues like the one I raised in this topic. Anyway, I'll probably still buy Lego sets, and Transformers, but probably not as frequently, and I'd also kind of like to find a way to use my hobbies to bring joy to other people. Honestly, I'm kind of tired of cleaning that big ol castle and pirate ships that have been sitting on my shelves for ages now. Maybe some kid in town could make use of them more than I do, someone who might not be nearly as privileged as me. *Alright, I think I've rambled enough for now*

Yeah, I know, totally sensationalist title, but this is a subject that I am legitimately curious about. It all started when I read the news that Hasbro is moving production to India, for reasons that are about as transparent (and transparently greedy) as can be. As someone who has recently poured a sizeable chunk of money into amassing a horde of Transformers, this was rather disconcerting to say the least. I had always been aware of the rather soulless economics underlying my hobbies, but I had mostly pushed this knowledge deep into my subconscious, going about my business without paying mind to the reality of said "business." I can't really help but pay attention, though, when Hasbro and other companies are fleeing China - because it is ever so slightly beginning to grasp the concept of basic human rights, and thus is no longer the cheapest source of mass labor. Which brings me to Lego. As far as I know, they aren't moving to India yet, but... they've been taking advantage of cheap labor just as readily as any other company. I'm not sure it really matters that they have a supposed "code of conduct," especially since we know of at least one confirmed case where they let one of their affiliates outright ignore it. I won't post any details here, but if you do the research, you'll know just how abysmally the workers printing some of our officially licensed lego books were (and potentially still are being) treated. Can we really assume that this is just an isolated case, or that Lego corporate didn't actually know about this abuse? I'm not certain I can, and it makes me rather uneasy about my rekindled interest in Bionicle and Lego, to say the least. Am I crazy, or am I not the only person mulling this over? Or maybe I'm just not phrasing it very well, I dunno. I'll be honest, I'm kind of a a whirlwind of conflicting emotions right now, and I'm probably not thinking 100 percent straight. If there is a TLDR version of this ramble, it's probably the following question: have you ever considered whether or not it is moral to purchase the products of and, ultimately, be a fan of a company like Lego?

Haha, oh wow. So, I was browsing tfwiki this morning, and ended up on the page for The Thirteen. Upon which I discovered that, at least as far as I can tell, the official list of original Primes has been utterly screwed up, due to an apparently not very well informed writer for the Ask Vector Prime Facebook page canonizing Mortilus, Adaptus, Epistermis, and Solomonus as members of the Thirteen. You know, the four other parts of IDW Prima once the Transformers god split himself five ways, who were formerly exclusive to that continuity and may in fact be nothing more than legends in universe. Regardless, they are most certainly NOT members of the thirteen in IDW, since the full list of Thirteen in the comics has already been revealed to be virtually the same as it when it was first established for the Alligned continuty - but they are apparently members of the Thirteen in a yet to be featured continuity that nevertheless now exists in the transformers multiverse. In other words, a big screw up. Oh, and because this is Transformers canon we are talking about, it gets even better. Let me now quote the page for on the wiki for Adaptus: So basically, it is now canon that, at least in the case of Adaptus, Vector Prime has made it clear in universe that he has no idea what he is talking about -, because in real life, the guy who wrote that particular Facebook post has no idea what he is talking about in that instance. However, the rest of this mess is still apparently canon, since in universe Vector Prime has not yet caught himself making a continuity error regarding the other newly established members of the Thirteen - even though in the real world the guy who ultimately is responsible for this mess has almost certainly made a continuity error, or at the very least, over-complicated the canon in a completely unnecessary way. TLDR version: Transformers canon is not going to stop being a massive clusterfudge any time soon.

Basically, the flat plastic piece that connects his waist to his chest apparently does not lock on many copies, resulting in Brawl's upper half flopping over backwards. Also, the waist itself is supposed to fold over 90 degrees and lock into the bottom of the chest, but since it was not designed with any tabs, it often does not lock either. I have thankfully avoided both of those issues, and I've noticed since buying him that tfwiki has been updated to reflect that I am not the only lucky one. In other news, I've pre-ordered the wave six voyager case, so Bruticus will soon be complete, and I'll have my own bird-dino-cat-shutle-torso-thingy as well. I must admit, my opinion on Sky Lynx has made a complete 180 since writing about my disdain for him previously. It helps that he's been really entertaining in the IDW comics, and the CW toy looks quite cool. Also, he doesn't split into separate cat and bird any more, and while some fans *coughGeewuncough* might have an issue with that, I completely approve.

So, I was on Biosector01.com for the first time in ages, as I was curious about how they've incorporated G2 information into the wiki. One of the first pages I went to was Masks of Power, where I was surprised to find that masks of strength and speed exist in G2 canon. The problem is, the only reference to them is on a page on Bionicle.com that no longer exists. Can anyone provide me with the info that was originally on the page? Thanks.

I'm in the opposite boat. I adore the look of the 2015 Masters, especially after finally having bought one myself, and I find most of the 2016 masters to be an absolute mess. However, if actually carry out the plan above and modify the 2015 Masters so they can combine with the elemental creatures, I might as well buy the 2016 Masters as well, as it's either that or likely paying half the price of the whole set just to get their creature compatible masks. Thus, my plan is to mod the 2016 masters heavily, turning them into the Gen 2 equivalent of the Shadow Toa. I've already come up with a bunch of concepts, including the usage of skull spiders for masks, weapons that are dark analogues of the Generation 1 Toa Mata, and even a dark Potahu that is completely silver (based on a theory I read just today that the silver arms on the 2015 Stone sets are actually robotic prosthesis. Which would mean my Dark Pohatu replaced the rest of himself as well. Cybernetics eat your soul, dude). Man, it feels good to be interested *coughobsessedcough* in Bionicle again. It's a good thing I have a full time job now, because my ideal display is probably going to be substantial. The only question is how I'm going to reconcile this with my other significant moneysink, Transformers. Decisions, decisions.

Or that the Manas in the MNOLG were to the Toa Kaita as normal crabs are to us in terms of size, whereas the sets have a much smaller size difference between the two. I'm not sure that could really be classified as a continuity issue, since its a difference between physical sets and fiction, not two separate and conflicting pieces of fiction. There have been other instances of this in the line - the most notable one I can think of in the later years was Axonn in the comics being massive enough to hold an entire Piraka in each of his fists, while the actual set is ridiculously short in real life. Seriously, he's like a dwarf compared to the average post-2006 canister set - it's why have him on top a wooden keepsake box placed behind my Inika sets.

I am curious about something: has anyone yet tried to modify the 2015 masters so they can combine with the 2016 elemental creatures, simply by replacing their masks with the 2016 versions and shortening the gear stalk in the back so it doesn't get in the way? The reason I ask this is that, having just recently purchased 2015 Kopaka (my first Bionicle set and Lego set in general in half a decade), I realized that his shoulder armor is the same mold as Melum's paws, meaning with a little modification he could probably incorporate the creature of Ice seamlessly. I'm probably going to purchase the Kopaka and Melum unity set so I can try this myself (and maybe mod what is left of 2016 Kopaka into a dark, skull spider controlled doppleganger), but I kind of want to know if this is going to work before I spend any more money.

Heroes of the Storm, by virtue of the fact that its the only game I invested any money in last year that I'm still playing in 2016. Destiny grew tiring after about two months and my PS4 is about to be sold, and the Wii U has been collecting dust (will be getting Splatoon eventually though). As for PC gaming, the final Starcraft II campaign has been sitting at 95 percent completion since I bought it in November, and I've finally moved on from Team Fortress 2 and Valve in general. That Heroes of the Storm though... I never thought I would enjoy a game in a genre that is almost invariably noob-slaying and unbearably toxic,, but Blizzard basically fixed everything utterly wrong with MOBAs, including adding a versus AI mode that turns it into a relaxing co-op game rather than a rage-inducing competitive clusterfudge (which you can still participate in as well, if you're interested in that kind of stuff). So here's to another year of buying playable characters with free in-game currency (and yes, occasionally with real money, because I'm a terrible person).

A very good year for you, TMD. I may not 100% agree with every particular point you made, but the issues you discussed are very real, and you've handled every one of them thoughtfully and with nuance rarely seen on much of the net. I look forward to another year of essays.

So, having discovered that some the less loved sets in my collection are actually among the most valuable, I'm gearing up to sell my entire collection of Adventurers kits, including a large number of those from the Orient Expedition subtheme. The problem is, if I want to advertise them as 100% complete (which they almost are) I'm going to have to replace the rubber bands utilized in a couple of sets. This will not be easy, because one of the sets, 7415 Aero-Nomad, requires the rubber bands to be stretched out many times their normal length in order to attach the net to the balloon. And, as anyone who has old sets knows, rubber bands from that era become rather brittle over time if exposed to the air. So, does anyone have suggestions as to where I can find a set of those exact rubber bands that will not break when stretched in the way 7415 requires them to be? (Assuming, that is, that it's even possible to find thirteen year old lego rubber bands MISB. I'll be honest, I can't even remember whether or not they were packaged in air sealed bags like the other components)

So guys, I don't know how this is possible, but I have apparently ended up with the first Combiner Wars Brawl in existence that actually fits together correctly - or at least, the first reported online. In fact, he fits together so well that I mistook a scam of a fix for his chest issue I saw on a fansite as being legitimately useful. Eventually, I realized my Brawl transformed correctly regardless, and suffers from none of the issues listed on the official transformers wiki or in any review of the toy. In fact, I would say he fits together better than the majority of the Combiner Wars toys I own, and is easily my favorite of the deluxe Commbaticons.