Xboxtravis

I sure hope it was a dumb seven year old who asked that question, because that is below the belt.

A new Black Keys double LP made of covers of classic blue's standards? Sign me up!

The thing is toys fueled the story, story fueled the toys; etc. Almost impossible to imagine Bionicle without both aspects. The only comparison I can make to a toyline story sans toyline, is IDW's Transformers comics. It is firmly rooted in 80's G1 Transformers lore, but 30+ years separated from the original toys allowing more creative freedom in the storytelling. Maybe someday we might see that for Bionicle if we are lucky.

They're buried somewhere on Brickshelf, but the European Misprints also made it to display in LEGOLAND California showing they made it to the states in that same display set up with the misprints. They were indeed in the international mask packs (commonly called European due to their factory origins, but they would be the mask packs available in Asia and Latin America as well). US mask packs came in boxes as set 8525: Masks while the international set 8530: Masks was were the misprints were in polybag form. This trend of dual releasing US mask packs in boxes and international ones as polybags continued until 2003 when the Kraata was released as a single canister with the same set number in both US and international markets. Worth noting though of the misprints we do know the black Ruru while technically a misprint included in 8530, would see mass production as Hafu's mask in both 2001 and 2003 and a few red Ruru's were one of the masks that were possible to get in the clock set!

A forewarning, this is mostly speculation based on tenuous evidence; so don't quote this as gospel... but I have a gut feeling the existence of the fabled European misprints are evidence of cancelled plans for the original Bionicle launch. The term we use "misprint" always felt odd to me. A misprint is a one off mold shot, a factory accident, a faulty machine, etc. But the European Misprint masks are, although rarer than the main production Kanohi are still obviously a mass produced item. It seems unlikely to me that Lego created thousands of masks in eight different color variations with three different molds (Ruru, Matatu and Kaukau) before realizing they had made "misprints." It is almost farcical to imagine Lego having piles of thousands of masks before realizing that they had a collection of "mistakes" filling up their factory. So it presents a more likely argument, that Lego deliberately produced them for something which as later cancelled or scaled back. We know Lego furthermore had codes for many of the misprint masks, along with color variants for many other masks we never saw, in their piece catalogs. We also have seen a few even rarer misprints, the Brown Komau and the White Huna for example which while they are one offs they seem to match the coloring scheme of the other Noble mask misprints (i.e. using a Toa's primary color for a Noble mask). So my running hypothesis is the following, Lego originally intended for the mask line to include Noble mask variants for not just the Turaga, but also the Toa as well. I.E. the Toa would have had to collect matching Noble masks for themselves as well; not to dissimilar from what we see in Legend of Mata Nui and MNOG where the Toa use masks such as the Matatu, Ruru or Komau. It is likely that the International (or European) market was in production a bit before the US sets began production, so the European factories began producing these masks for the Toa starting with the Matatu and Ruru; before the decision was made by the higher ups to pull the plug and trim the mask packs to a smaller set of masks, focusing instead on just one set of Great masks for each Toa and one set of Noble Masks for the Turaga. The Kaukau's are a little bit harder to explain, but it is possible they were originally intended for the Turaga colors (i.e. the Trans-Yellow on say, Vakama and the trans-Medium Blue on Nuju or Nokama). Yes, I know in Bionicle canon the idea of a Turaga wearing a Great Mask is a little silly, but it is possible that decision to limit the noble masks to the Turaga was made after Lego made the decision to cancel the Turaga variants of the Great Mask molds. It is also possible those Kaukau's were intended instead for Matoran, many have pointed out that Macku is not wearing the same mask as Gali and is the only McToran to do such. Either way, I feel that there is an unsolved mystery here regarding the production of the early Bionicle mask packs, the existence and style of the known misprints feels to intentional to just be a simple manufacturing mistake to me. I would love it if anyone else had more evidence or some insight into what was going on with those masks when released, to see if my speculation is right or not.

Nocturn goes vroooom

Basically it sounds like the Vahki were used as a "Worf" to get beaten up and show how tough the new big bad was in 2005.

Yep currently that is an issue. I think 3D printing works fine for "low load bearing" components like masks, but the socket joints require the precision that only injection molding can offer; and unless 3D printing makes leaps and bounds in the next few years it is going to be the hardest hurdle to making new Bionicle parts at home. There are online people who have printed sockets, but they look very rough compared to the official Lego ones.

The reason #ReleaseTheSynderCut worked was a couple of fortunate factors, 1) a massive fandom who wanted it 2) a director willing to waive his fee to do the film as a passion project 3) actors who wanted to come back and do it 4) a multi-billion dollar studio part of a multi-billion dollar company needing a headlining film to launch their new streaming service Bionicle has a respectable fandom, but lets not kid ourselves into pretending its anywhere near the size of the DC Comics fandom. So already we lack the clout needed to make Lego think "easy cash" when we ask for something. Another thing too, we already have a hashtag for Bionicle, #biovival. Its short, concise and comes from co-creator Christian Faber (so it has some sort of small celebrity clout). Basically at this point the only thing we are in a position to ask for is "Lego, consider bringing back Bionicle" and that is an uphill climb against their last experience with Bionicle in G2 and its sales issues. A long hashtag list of fan wishes is just going to confuse the people we are asking, Lego knows what Bionicle was but asking them to continue the serials or listing off fan favorite characters is not productive because I bet 98% of Lego staff (outside those who are Bionicle fans like designers Tooth Dominos or Nic Vas) would not have a darn clue as to what we are talking about. Biovival, its simple, short and comes across not as a fan wish list but instead a clear message that we just simply want to have another go with Bionicle. With that said... we do need to get comfortable with the fact that no matter how much we ask Lego's answer might still be "no" at the end of the day. The fact Sokoda's diorama is getting a second shot on the Bricklink designer program is frankly already a small miracle (since Lego owns Bricklink it would be basically a backdoor Bionicle set release if Sokoda's gets produced), not to mention the fact Lego isn't slapping all the Bionicle fan game projects with digital copyright takedowns either. Or the random Bionicle easter eggs like the Voya-Nui flight plan in the latest Lego City airplane set. We can't get to greedy that we forget what we have already gotten, and we have to ask ourselves that if G1 were to continue or G3 were announced; would it live up to our impossibly high standards if we can't enjoy what we are already have?

Go to Bricks and Pieces, look up set #92176 or set #21309, you can ask Lego customer service for replacements for the printed parts. Then you can replace the printed parts with fresh pieces, then use the methods above to clean the rest of the rocket body up to match the fresh parts. https://www.lego.com/en-us/service/replacementparts/broken/location Personally though I would be tempted to buy a second Saturn V (totally not because I want to do that to create a Saturn V in Skylab configuration and a Saturn 1B to accompany it... no of course not )

So if we all pre-order Sokoda's project on the Bricklink designer program, and it does get in production we should all act like "this isn't real" until it shows up on our doorsteps? Not going to lie, it sounds like a solid plan.

That is my thoughts too, some Makuta created Keetongu perhaps as a purposeful anti-dote to the Visorak. Then when the Makuta turned evil they hunted down his species.

At least he has a few cool new pieces, but hampered by those sockets from the era which I cannot describe properly without using non-BZP appropriate language! Curse those sockets! Really though, I find the complaints some people had about CCBS weird when it was far more flexible of a building system where as once the Inika/Piraka builds got introduced, they were pretty much forever set in stone.

Because apparently my musical tastes sound like that of a middle aged man, the Jackson Browne phase continues. I mean... I may have bought the album on vinyl... Waiting for The Killers to drop a single or something from their 7th studio album soon to at least bring me back to a band that is a bit more modern.

The Saturn V is all printed pieces, not stickers. Since the set is being re-released it might be easier to buy new parts from Lego's customer support.

No there isn't. I have generally found that "GamersTM" are absolutely the worst people to listen to their opinion on game development.

The Skull Warrior mask really gives a sense of this build's scale, impressive. Those look like pieces off Ooni in the torso, right?

Okay in all seriousness though... I kind of agree and disagree with a lot in that statement. As mentioned already, the direction of the story was dictated by the Story Group not by Greg with Greg really just being the guy who put the words to paper. Yes Greg had a huge say on the final story presentation as the writer, but it was the Story Group that decided the overall Ignition trilogy plot, not Greg. We can just dive into Christian Faber's stuff to see the development the team at Lego and Advanced was putting into the Ignition saga well before we the audience ever saw it, such as this 2006 dated concept art that showed the locations of the 06 arc and the 07 & 08 arcs. I will also disagree with the notion that having the Toa Nuva curb stomped by the Piraka in 2006 was a bad thing. Is it a bit of pulling a Worf? Yes (but hey their destiny was to wake Michael Dorn Mata-Nui anyways so...) but, there is to much focus in franchises like Bionicle to rank the "power levels" of characters and put them on a pedestal and treat them as invincible, and its kind of refreshing when they go against the grain. Part of why I enjoy stuff like Indiana Jones or Jackie Chan films, is watching the heroes struggle with winning a fight, Indy takes as many licks before he finally gains the upper-hand in his best action moments, and its kind of refreshing for once to put the Toa Nuva in the same situation where they are finally outgunned and outmatched. If anything I think the Toa Nuva should have lost more fights just to make their victories even sweeter. Plus the Piraka having distinct personalities was a refreshing change of pace from the endless "swarm villains" we got in prior waves... But what I will agree with, one; Time Trap turns Makuta into Dr. Doom/Lex Luthor and I am still not sure how I feel about that change. Alastair Swinnerton/MNOG era Makuta was sooo creepy, so mysterious, yet so intertwined with this metaphorical representation of how destruction is a natural counterpart to creation that was surprisingly profound. Time Trap kind of kills that though. I would argue though the transformation actually began with Legends of Metru-Nui, where Makuta is already starting to come across as more scheming and less "primal" compared to his 2001-2003 depiction. I hate to admit it, I prefer that Swinnerton/MNOG style take on the villain; but with how long Bionicle ran to 2010 before cancellation I don't think it would have been possible to maintain Makuta as a reoccurring villain if his personality was still just "I am the void," the franchise needed him to become a schemer and a mastermind to justify his own longevity in the plot and nothing short of a major rewrite of those last few years could really change that. But I can't place all that blame on Greg, yes I think the Dr. Doom influence being so heavy handed is Greg all the way; but he probably knew by Time Trap that there was a rough plan for "hey by 2008 Makuta is going to Grand Theft Body the Great Spirit" and he had to explain how Makuta went from "I am the void, you cannot defeat me" to "I am the ground you walk on ... the air you breathe. No longer must I fight you to rule a Universe. I AM the Universe! What I can blame on Greg is his side plots. I think he knew the stuff going on with the Order of Mata-Nui, Dark Brotherhood and Brotherhood of Makuta was exclusively "Greg's Realm." It has the feeling since the Story Group considered it a sideshow they just let Greg do his thing there, and while it adds a nice layer of world building it creates an overly distracting B-Plot that runs parallel to everything and is a big reason I can blame G1 for ending in a bloated canon mess. I understand Greg's initial decision to write more serials post cancellation to wrap up his B-plot and give it a finale that sent all the heroes off on their final destiny, but when people say "Bionicle G1 never got a proper ending" I usually disagree with that statement. Bionicle G1 did get a proper ending, two giant robots fighting over the sands of Bara Magna to heal the broken world. That is Bionicle's proper ending, and G1 ended on a high note. The problem is Greg's serials ran past the ending, and thus turned what was a pretty closed book into an open ended one. Imagine if Lord of the Rings ended not with Frodo departing Middle Earth, but instead had a sudden interlude of Legolas and Gimli hunting Orcs in Mordor only to discover that Morgoth was alive and well and about to launch a massive invasion, then it just suddenly ended on the first chapter with no explanation as to what was going and no sequel to follow up with it. That is what happened to Greg's serials, he opened several cans of worms (Velika is a Great Being, Marendar is on the loose and the Red Star is full of Zombies!) and then got the rug pulled out from under him and never got to complete those stories other than vague platitudes "Takanuva will fulfill his destiny, there would have been a happy ending, somewhere!" What I am trying to say, is the Serial World started out as a sideshow and became the main attraction post-2010; yes Time Trap got that ball rolling in a sense but I think the "event horizon" was crossed when as the line was being cancelled Greg promised "I will write more story" after the Rock Em Sock Em God Robots finale had already wrapped up the main story in a nice bow. But I can't really blame Greg totally for it, he appears to have loved the job and the Bionicle world, and like many fan-fiction writers wanted to keep exploring the world after the finale. The mistake was starting it though without taking into consideration that "since I am the sole Canon keeper of Bionicle now that the rest of the team has gone onto other projects, I better make sure I can finish this before I start." Because honestly, not having the serials at all or having the serials in their entirety would be better than this weird decade old limbo we have been stuck in where Greg's promised finale has sat on the shelf for years now, not finished but opening up so many weird plot holes we just don't understand. ... and like most Bionicle talks I have ended up writing a mini essay. That is not an unpopular opinion, that is a "we need to get a time machine and raid Billund Denmark in 2003 to make sure they can at least shove Kongu and Onepu into the line up" opinion. I would be okay with them axing Kopeke and Hafu from the wave we got in exchange for Kongu and Onepu, even though it would have made the Kohli teams uneven. If only for the simple logic of the parts to make Kopeke and Hafu already existed in Hewki and Matoro's sets, the parts to make any Le-Matoran and any Onu-Matoran (excluding the tan ones like Taipu) never existed. It is the biggest handicap to MOC makers who want a line up of 2003 style Matoran.

Captain's report, April 2nd, 2021. Five years. Five long years. That's how long it took us to get Bionicle back... Setback after setback, loss after loss, into another five years of Karazani... Okay obtuse Halo references aside, I look at it more of a "wow it really has been five years" type thing. Where has the time gone?

For white pieces, a mechanical tooth brush rubbing in a mix of Dawn soap and baking soda; rinse over water. Its not perfect, and there is a hyrdogen peroxide method that is stronger; but I find the baking soda/Dawn worked well enough for my needs cleaning off some yellow stains I had struggled to remove for months. I don't know if it is safe for transparent plastics though (the baking soda kind of acts like "grit" to lift up the yellow stain, and while it is ABS safe I can't vouch for it on other plastics especially transparent ones).

I would say that has fortunately slowed down a bit, where the only stuff being canonized now are the big holes like missing character designs (ala the TTV contests) which all things is considered, I think fair. Helryx et. al. exist in story regardless, and giving them a physical depiction doesn't really change the story outcome and only allows us to have a unified vision of these characters going forward. But I would agree that especially in those final years of Bionicle and first few years after cancellation we ended up with a lot of extraneous plot points, trivia and info that is very guilty of doing in the wizard. Its one thing I will defend the otherwise spartan G2 canon for, its vagueness and lack of every canon mystery being summed up was kind of refreshing after years of G1 gradually becoming this bloated canon blob.

Honestly the only brittle part that determines set longevity are sockets right now. Obviously there will be issues with some particular sets (2007's brittle lime sockets, and the 2008-2010 socket design especially) that will make sourcing parts harder, but it is important to remember that Bionicle is a mass produced toy. I think we rarely give credit to how many Bionicle parts are out there, and as long as Bricklink and other second hand stores can maintain a steady supply we won't really have an issue. Break a socket? Buy replacements and swap them in when needed. If you want, might as well start collecting a few spare sockets now just to have on hand to swap the out for. As for the rest of the parts, rubber is going to be tricky to keep up. I have not had any real issues with my larger rubber parts (think like the Piraka and Inika masks/heads) but I keep replacing rubber bands because the originals keep snapping or drying up. Then the last big remaining issue is keeping white parts clean and from yellowing, again there are many many methods to cleaning them. For my needs I have found that an electronic toothbrush, baking soda and Dawn dish soap mix gets them clean enough to keep using. Sure its not "brand new" quality but there is enough luster in them that they aren't yellow anymore and they look decent again. Obviously Bionicle parts will not last forever, but with good care and a few spares I honestly think it is very likely almost all Bionicle sets will outlive us and last for many many years.

It is worth noting the Takanuva and Ussanui set has six Rahkshi backs, so you can put in one Kraata from each Rahkshi set into the vehicle. As for lore, maybe the Kraata's powers were drained after the defeat of the Rahkshi? So it was already in a weakened state when Takanuva took it to fly to Makuta's lair? If that doesn't work then: