Xboxtravis

1 hour ago, Lorentz said:

Why do you think that Hero Factory characters actually speak English? 

Actually with everything Christian Faber has begun hinting at regarding scrapped Hero Factory stuff lately... yes. Even if English and other Earth languages were not the actual "primary" language of Hero Factory, it seems they certainly could speak it after expanding Earth into their service district in 2011 then broadcasting Hero Factory FM in English in 2011. So canonically they can speak English (although it seems very weird all their iconography and text both in the comics, show and sets is in English too since they are an alien robot group and Earth was just one of many planets they served... but eh it is what it is). 

• Either never start on the post-2010 finale serials, or finish them. Its weird how many cans of worms those stories opened then promptly left hanging. 
• Skip the Bohrok-Kal set wave or redesign the Bohrok-Kal to make them not pure clones of the Bohrok and give them a more unique design.
• No pop-alternative music and rapping in the 2006 advertising. Sure it impressed the edgy pre-teen I was at the time, but in hindsight its pretty bad (dare I say, "Its cringe"?).
• No 2008-2011 socket design, go straight to the CCBS style sockets or retain the original socket style.

I think the reason 2005 gets harped on has more to do with how 2004 ended, we saw were the plot was going with Legends of Metru-Nui depicting the end of the Great Rescue. Had that scene been saved for Web of Shadows instead of Legends, I think 2005 would improve ten fold simply due to rearranging a few of the story bits. It robbed a lot of the drama 2005 did have, by instead showing us the arc's resolution before the climax took place a year earlier.

But there is a lot '05 did right. We got introduced to the Toa Hagah and the greater world outside the Mata-Nui/Metru-Nui set up. The titan sets are amazing (I own all three myself). Play scale sets were introduced and while they weren't great, they were a neat experiment in something new for Bionicle to try out. While I think the Vakama turns evil thing was rushed, there is a lot of potential there had it been fleshed out more in the movie and books. 

It already happened about as much of a crossover as I think we could ever expect, a nice subtle easter egg (or a few!) in Ninjago City and Ninjago City Docks sets: 

Let's not forget the Bionicle easter eggs in stickers is going on strong, take this from the Harry Potter theme's Chamber of Secrets released this year. Nixie the Astronomer would be proud: 

Worst, Gukko ever. 

It is commonly reported that brown sets were the most sluggish seller in the original Bionicle line up of six colors. I think the evidence is there early on that Lego was aware that brown wasn't that exciting of a color, hence why Pohatu had has famous upside down torso to make him more unique in the line up. This idea is further supported in 2006 when we saw G1 phase out brown for more yellow and oranges instead. Only the 2009 waves had a brief return to tan, but other than that we see yellow and orange in some variety replace every previously brown character from 2006 on out. 

So simply put, some of the oddities were a case of Lego trying really hard to lean into the gimmicks to make brown sets different, either via toy design or storytelling means by giving the stone characters a stronger role into the story. Especially in the early 2001-2004 years, although I would argue the homogenization of Onewa's Toa form with the other Metru/Hordika shows that Lego was less willing to take the same risks later on as they had made with Pohatu earlier. 

I think though you are honestly reading far to into some design choices, like Onewa's pitons or Pohatu Uniter's spear. That is honestly just a case of toy design at play, so them sharing some similarities to the other Toa of their wave is not to far out of the ordinary. The whole Ekimu/Protector of Stone eye color thing sounds like an animation goof and not an actual story purpose, and I think Quake Beast with its purple was intended to be a counterpart to Onua and the earth elements and not stone. I also would argue that once the G1 switch to yellow/orange was made we really can't call any character a "brown set" unless it was a legacy character linked to stone (Pohatu or Hewkii) or linked to sand or stone in story, even though it is clear that other yellow characters (Bitil, Mata-Nui, Rakshii Stars) all filled the shoes of the previous brown sets. 

On 5/30/2021 at 7:22 PM, Humble_Matoran said:

Found this thread, which although may not solve all the mysteries, is at least some additional info

The lack of some of the mold marks makes me think it must be a knockoff then, but still an interesting possibility all the same. 

To avoid double posting, you can see a lot of the masks that might have been in old Lego Customer Service data such as this: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/17hRhzagTGwiSroqkkpgHo8u1oHHnEy4t/edit#gid=1296009750

1 hour ago, Max Nui said:

I'm currently working on a story set in the Bionicle universe and I'm running into an issue remembering how trade works between islands. If I remember correctly, Metru Nui used airships to transport goods to other islands, but what methods did the other matoran inhabitants use? I could see boats being used, I'm just wondering if this question has been answered somewhere I've forgotten. Thanks!

I don't know if its ever answered. It is possible airships were also used, even though they originated from Metru-Nui they could have offloaded their goods on one island, picked up new ones, then traveled to the next making peddlar stops selling and buying goods in a circuit until finally returning to Metru-Nui. In the real world that isn't super common anymore as most trade routes are point to point, but in the type of world Bionicle inhabits its very easy to imagine airships making stops at various islands and continents to offload and load various goods well before making that return trip to Metru-Nui. It further solidifies the thought that the Great Cataclysm shutting down Metru-Nui had a chain reaction of consequences on the rest of the GSR's inhabitants. 

Boats though seems like also a likely option, or maybe even Rahi caravans on large inland regions too. 

1 hour ago, Max Nui said:

I recently purchased a used Manas from a lot on Mercari. It was missing the controller so I purchased a controller from eBay. Today is the first day I’ve had them together and something isn’t working. I’m pretty used to repairing my own electronics so I’m not too concerned about diving into the guts, but I was curious if anyone else here had repaired a manas. If so, do you have advice? I couldn’t find any helpful documentation online so I also made this post to assist other people in the future. 
 

Symptoms:

No response from the base when buttons are pressed on the controller. Connections on both units seem to be okay pending testing. No discernible damage and minimal corrosion. New batteries used for testing. 

Your first key job is checking that the motor drive gears are connecting to the gears that transfer power to the Manas' functions. They are loose plastic gears that can slip a bit easily, so wiggle them around a bit to make sure all the teeth are properly meshing. Make sure the are no gear breaks there.

If its a circuit issue, make sure the are no broken wire leads. If so... well get the soldering iron ready I guess. If its an issue in the controller I don't know what to say, since that is all electronical. 

Hindsight being 20/20, both Gali and Nokama deserve a lot more credit than the franchise gives them their due.

Chronologically the very first action scene we ever saw in the franchise was MNOG Chapter 3 with Gali's Tarakava fight in March 2001. The first comic book wouldn't come out until June, and other than the brief commercials there was really nothing else for a few months there in 2001. Maybe it was intentional on Templar's part, or just accidental; but for most of us our first introduction proper to the Toa was Gali. 

Gali then continues to be making some of the biggest story beats in the rest of the franchise. In MNOG's last chapters it is revealed she shares a mental bond with Takua. In Mask of Light when Takua become Takanuva, whose Toa form does he take? Greg said Toa resemble the way "they viewed Toa as Matoran" or something like that, and its interesting that Gali of all the Toa is the one figure Takanuva shares a build with almost 100%. Yes there is a practical set reason for it, so Takanuva has arms long enough to fit on the Ussanui, but its an interesting detail all the same that other than his tools and mask Takanauva is a spitting image of Gali setwise. This is carried over into animated form, as it is arguable that Takanuva again seems like a male version of Gali's build. You can't convince me otherwise, it seems of all the Toa Mata the character Takua looked up to the most was Gali; not Tahu. 

I'd argue like Vakama, Tahu didn't mature into a leader until later books; and in many ways the Toa Nuva were held together by Gali's influence. We also see she is arguable the most powerful Toa using a Nuva Blast on Karazani, effectively causing a tsunami that destroyed an entire island. Again, we can argue that Tahu becomes more powerful when he got the Golden Armor, but story wise Gali is the one we saw using her power in the most dramatic faction. 

Also its G2... but again who is the person who figures out how to defeat Makuta in the Shadow Realm? Yep, that's Gali who basically steals the final scenes of Journey to One with her own journey through Makuta's dark realm. 

Don't get me wrong, I love that Tahu and Vakama are both leaders who were forced to grow in their roles since it gives them a chance for character growth. Vakama in particular has a very interesting arc. But in both cases... it seems what held the team together was the respective women in the group, not the men. It can be argued this is a traditional role of "five man bands" that female characters are the "heart" who emotionally holds the team together, but in Bionicle especially it is strange in hindsight when the female characters are constantly shafted in their screen time; only to make very major plot changing moments when they are on screen. If Bionicle G1 could ever be revisited, it would be nice to give Gali and Nokama more time in the spotlight and give a more solid reason of why they are not the leaders of their team other than "red Toa destiny." Because as the story is written, both are sort of the break out characters of their team when hindsight is applied; but were as far as marketing went were shafted in favor of the male Toa.

Also for reference regarding that whole Five Man Band trope. Even though Toa teams are 6-7 characters, they still fit this set up to the letter (Tahu is leader, Gali is heart/the chick, Kopaka is the lancer, Onua is the big guy, and in lieu of a smart guy; Lewa is more a jokester (a smart aleck?) and Pohatu also plays as an emotional heart character mixed with the big guy stereotype)
 

 EDIT:

More stuff to pile on after taking an even longer look at the prior comments:
 

Quote

Anyway, thank you more than enough for the feedback. It may take a while for the Roodaka piece to come out (since I'd basically only finished the introduction), but my thoughts on her character remain basically the same. We'll see how it goes; Web of Shadows probably won't give me a lot to work on, on its own, but that could be the perfect excuse to incorporate the novels as well (in which case, I need to do some reading). 

Honestly, I don't know if Roodaka's character would be as much out of the blue if it was in a franchise other than Bionicle. One of my oldest memories of Roodaka was flipping through the Lego catalog as a kid in 2005 pausing at the Bionicle section and my mom coming up and bluntly asking "why does that Bionicle have boobs?" The weird way Roodaka's  appeal is dialed up in what had been up to that point a pretty asexual design language for Bionicle still strikes me as odd, and it means that immediately a lot of tropes that Gali and Nokama got to skirt around get dumped on Roodaka due to physical set design itself. Roodaka just suddenly pulls in all the character types we associate with a Jezebel type character, or say even Black Cat and Catwoman if we look towards the comic book influences that got increasingly stronger as Bionicle went on (you can't change my mind that post Time Trap Makuta is just Dr. Doom and Lex Luthor transplanted to Bionicle...). So ultimately the first major female villain (yes technically the Bahrag Queens are first, but they are more insect things than people) of Bionicle falls into a stereotype that doesn't even make sense in the "love isn't canon" universe anyways. Roodaka either forces two bizarre implications, one that the "love isn't canon" stuff is bull and a polite way of avoiding the un-Lego like nature of what its implied with Roodaka's "seduction" (which is what Nathan Furst's soundtrack blatantly calls it); or two everything we see with Roodaka that seems very femme fatale for us human viewers is... oblivious in the Bionicle world, its a character created for the audience to understand, but her actions make a whole lot less sense once placed in the world she actually inhabits? Her three way deception with Vakama, Sidorak and Makuta all in play doesn't make a lot of sense if suddenly its viewed as "everything is super platonic actually we swear, it just looks like a femme fatale to us because we are human, but these people aren't!" It honestly makes her the hardest character to unpack in the franchise, and certainly yes her popularity might be in part due to how much of a sudden departure from Bionicle norms she was; but Roodaka's actions force either the franchise's narrative canon to bend around her, or she breaks it outright. I should clarify, I am not saying the campy femme fatale seductress doesn't work ever, there are plenty of heroes and villains in media who pull it off surprisingly well and many who have gone on to being pop icons (Harley Quin for example), but in Roodaka's case being such a character in a Lego franchise makes her stick out like a sore thumb and you just have to wonder "why do Roodaka like this in the first place?" 

In comparison, Gorast manages to be successful in being a female villain who outright doesn't scream "I am a female villain." I actually didn't realize Gorast was a female character until a few years ago to be honest. As for set design, I hold Gali 2015 as a high mark for improving on Roodaka's lessons of making a set that was feminine without falling for the same mistakes Roodaka made in overly designing it, and all with really a few simple modifications to the CCBS shells arrangement on the set too and nothing absurd!

I once review bombed the Manas score on Brickset, they never worked right; always had issues running, I thought they were terrible and let them fall apart to pieces because they sucked.

Then I rebuilt it as an adult only to make the crucial discovery that I had built them incorrectly when I was a kid... and they ran flawlessly once I rebuilt them following the instructions to the letter. So... yeah.

I really can't say then I own any truly bad Bionicle sets. I do have a few mediocre ones though, like 2015's Skull Scorpio. But even though its an odd set, being CCBS and all its built tough and sturdy so I can't complain about it having quality control issues like the 2008 socket design. I stopped collecting Bionicle as a kid in 2007 though, and that means I skipped entirely the 2008 socket era and only have a few pieces in that style I have bought secondhand, fortunately. 

I honestly still struggle to hear Sean's name know and not think of how he didn't give anyone a heads up to when he pulled the plug on MOCPages. Maybe I am just a bit resentful I guess.

Late 2001 for me too. A chance to snap up as many mask packs as I can, get all the Tohunga sets as McDonalds toys and not secondhand prices, all the Rahi. Not to mention outside Bionicle I could finally have a chance to buy stuff like the Life on Mars sets...

Although with that said, my second pick would be... 2016 actually. Bizarre I know, but I would rather have taken the chance to have gotten all the 2016 sets if I had known the line was about to be cancelled and the Bricklink prices would skyrocket then. Stock up on the sets on discount in early 2017 in toys r us for MOC parts too. I still don't have Storm and Quake Beast, along with half the creatures now five years later because I am still very carefully waiting to pay a reasonable price and not 4X MSRP on those sets (I got lucky to get Umarak the Destroyer and most of the Toa Uniters at MSRP last year though, very very lucky). 

Nope, looks just like parts of the regular 2002 Krana variants for Nuhvok and Lehvak Va.

Breathlessly mumbling phrases about Bionicle lore that most people don't understand? That's still me. 

I forgot how awesome some of those alternate covers were!

3 hours ago, Bioniclefan7782 said:

One disappointment was G2. The sets suck. 

21 minutes ago, TERIDAX941 said:

I love how you blended the colors from dark green to lime. Very well done!

Now I'm curious, what set had glow in the dark Bohrok eyes? I kind of want some now lol

These ones: 
https://brickset.com/sets/8645-1/Muscle-Slammer-Bike

https://brickset.com/sets/8646-1/Speed-Slammer-Bike

https://brickset.com/sets/8647-1/Night-Racer

https://brickset.com/sets/8650-1/Furious-Slammer-Racer

I don't know if I want to pet this thing or run away from it! Very well done. 

So from what I have been able to see, Tohunga is not just a term for "priest" but it is also considered a Maori honorific. I.E. people who excel in arts and engineering skills might receive the title of Tohunga in Maori culture; not just religious practice. However it is most traditionally associated with traditional healers and medicinal practitioners. Take for example Pou Temara who has been called a modern Tohunga due to his specialization in academia especially in Maori genealogy. Or Te Taka Keegan who has been called a modern day Tohunga due to their skill in computer science. Basically, Tohunga is very culturally significant to the Maori since it has both a spiritual and secular connotation, and furthermore is a title they give to people only within their culture. 

So while I remember the phrase Tohunga for its use in 2001 Bionicle, I whole heartedly am fine with Matoran. Bionicle goofed up by taking Maori names, and I am glad Lego was able to compromise with them by allowing other names such as Toa to remain in use by Lego, by in turn removing Tohunga and replacing it with Matoran because of how sacred the Tohunga title is in their culture. Matoran might be a made up nonsense word, but it is wholly unique to Bionicle; and as the years went on I can only see Matoran now as well... Matoran. It is better to have Matoran and other unique names in Bionicle than to repeat using culturally sensitive names like Tohunga are. 

Its a long one, but earlier today TTV did a nearly three hour long interview with Christian Faber. Topics included discussion on Biovival and Faber's history with Bionicle. Give it a listen here (a few content labels, there is some adult language during the live stream so a heads up on that):
 

A few things I found most interesting:

• Biovival is still very much in a pitch phase, but is also meant to be a fan interaction story. A lot more existentialism with a heavy focus on environmental and humanist themes, that treats the original Bionicle story as a sort of "founding myth" and is meant to be much more fan focused and mature in tone. As for physical toys? Very much our existing Bionicle collections, it seems to be a pipe dream to have new Lego products down the line but for now Biovival is meant to remind Lego about how active the Bionicle fandom still is especially after G2 left a sour taste in their mouth. Don't expect much of a strict adherence to canon, instead returning to mystery and mysticism to "find out what is underneath the robot." To me it sounds like Faber is treating it as a fan fiction project that gives Bionicle a bit more leverage back in official Lego eyes. 
• Faber was very hush hush on it, but he suggested his standalone venture since leaving Advanced in 2015 is once again somehow "consulting with Lego." If that is part of Biovival or something else, he didn't really clarify but Faber does still have some relationship with Lego currently.
• Hero Factory was set in the present day (i.e. 2010-2014 during the theme's run). There was a lot more story planned that can't totally be shared because the film rights are owned by Universal, and until those rights expire much of Hero Factory's world will have to remain buried under NDA's. However Faber suggested that in 2010 we can imagine that Hero Factory "extended its service district" to include Earth, showing that a lot more Hero Factory and human interactions were planned beyond just the initial ads in the 2010 Lego Club and tv spots showing children "calling the heroes." So it seems an Earth bound present day adventure would have happened somewhere in Hero Factory eventually, and that Hero Factory was intended to be a smaller window into a much larger world. 
• Faber mentioned working in a collaborative space with Bionicle, mentioning what it was like working with Greg and Binkmeister at Lego. 
• The mask codes in 2001 are actually initials of various Lego designers.
• Faber's initial pitch for a ball joint system in the 1990's that lead to Slizer then onto Bionicle was an early response to Lego's financial struggles of the era, noting that the mood coming from Lego employees in Billund was pretty grim as the company was already laying people off and restructuring. So Faber's incentive to design an action figure system was to "create a product kids are interested in, not their parents" and cheap enough for kids to buy on their own. He then pointed out that G2 in 2015 was a result of Lego "suffering from to much success."
• When asked about "is love canon?" Faber tried to recollect various story pitches the team discussed early on trying to figure out how romance and reproduction worked in the Bionicle or "robot" world. He pointed out various ideas about how the male and female robots would create new life like humans while also being Lego friendly; and how discovering "what is love" would be a part of the robot experience as commentary on our own humanity. However it seems as the line's focus was refined these ideas were dropped, leading more towards the canon we know that Matoran were created by machines within the GSR that Greg recognized as official canon. Faber noted that moving to Rebel Nature with human characters is primarily a way to address some of the shortcomings of a "robot-centric" story, hoping to show love in a way that can "teach lessons to my eventual grandchildren." He then pointed out how storytellers such as Hans Christian Anderson have long lasting legacies about their comments on human nature, due to the story telling medium. 
• When asked about Good Guy, Faber had a good chuckle once the hosts showed him a photo of it. He then named it "Troggle Morph" half jokingly, before reminding people not to actually quote that as canon. 
• Faber pointed out ideas of collaborative creation spaces online, and how he believes NFT's can allow artists to better profit off their work. He mentioned an idea that Cryoshell might eventually do an NFT music release, and is even considering potential CD and Vinyl releases for Cryoshell music as well. 
• Faber has a file of behind the scenes Lego productions he worked on that he hopes to share someday.

3 hours ago, Max Nui said:

Not sure if this is the right channel, but for the life of me I can't figure out what tread the Sand Tarakava used.

I recently purchased part#: bb0661 "Tread with 28 Treads Medium". This belt fits, but I don't believe it's wide enough.

For the instructions I am using Vahki6's excellent instructions: https://www.deviantart.com/vahki6/art/Sand-Tarakava-Instructions-689793205

If someone knows the part number and could give it to me, I'd appreciate it!

Thanks!

If you want 100% accuracy with the prototype treads, they actually used a Duplo piece, part x1228:


https://www.bricklink.com/v2/catalog/catalogitem.page?P=x1228&name=Duplo, Vehicle Tread, Thick Cleats&category=[Duplo, Vehicle]#T=S&C=11&O={"color":11,"iconly":0}

With that said, if you are okay with modifying the design I think using other treads are fine, since the Duplo one always looked a bit goofy on the model. Mind you it was of course only a prototype, so Lego likely just used what they had available. 

Hero Factory starring: 
 

 

Hmmm yes, crazy times in Lego Hero Factory I tell you what. 

Clearly we are asking the wrong question.

Is Nobua a Boxor pilot?