emily

The Interactive Demo CD. They were given out to the winners of the Manas tournaments at Toy R Us stores. Here's a download of it from the BioMedia Project.

The only ones that exist in high quality are the ones on that CD. Justin lost most or all of the original files - it's why he couldn't do the remasters like he had originally intended

I've had my qualms with Journey to One. Goodness knows I have. Coming into these new episodes, though, I kind of knew what to expect as far as production value went. I think that went a long way to making the whole thing a less disappointing experience. And even though, if I cared to dig, I'm sure I could find just as many issues with the script this time around. And the animation, and the staging, and the shot-to-shot pacing, what absolutely overwhelmed me by the end was how much they just wanted to give Bionicle a good sendoff. My idea of a sendoff probably would have been different. But what they did is, on an elemental level, so much more Bionicle than anything past 2005 ever was, up to and including G1's conclusion. They did the thing! The thing the Toa always did where they all shot their power at once to trap Makuta (and the Bahrag that one time). Let me tell you a secret: planet-sized robots fighting is okay, but it's not very Bionicle. This was, after a fashion. And they didn't hold back on the parallels to the original films, either. The Shadow Realm Makuta is trapped in is represented by a rock that looks just like the shard Roodaka claws from Makuta's rock prision in Web of Shadows. It even has a propensity for shooting out a shadowy hand to suck people in with - just like old Makuta did (he used the ability through the rock in Web of Shadows, too!). Visually, the Toa sealing Makuta back away is just like Legends of Metru Nui, too. And in both productions, the shot is closely followed by the Toa's spirits in the stars. And then we end on "For that is the Legend of BIONICLE," which doesn't only carry on the tradition of how the original films concluded, but actually acknowledges the original in-universe meaning of "Bionicle" - the legend of the Toa who will arrive to save the island. That's something that hasn't been touched since 2001. It's not perfect. But goshdarn, they really gave it their all, and I really, deeply admire that. As far as ways to say goodbye to Bionicle go, its a heck of a lot better than any other option that's come up since Mask of Light. And I think I'm okay with leaving it at that. Goodbye again, Bionicle. And thanks for everything.

I mean, maybe its just me, but if you want to do something like this maybe it would make sense to set it on the day of the actual Naming Day update? It was posted on June 4th.

Technic still puts out massive models every year, which isn't something they'd be doing for a dying line. The theme is definitely more for older fans, but there isn't a shortage of collectors and builders out there. Mindstorms EV3 made the top five list of bestselling LEGO sets last year, IIRC. It's less of a big deal to Lego fans, but as it turns out, its a pretty great starting point for studying robotics, and I think it sees a lot of use that way.

Oh, definitely - I never would have intended to imply Bionicle was more effective throughout its history. When I criticize Elves I'm holding it to a higher standard because, in many ways, I do feel that it has surpassed Bionicle in its narrative capability - even if that doesn't mean I don't have quibbles with it.

Elves continues to be fun with Ragana around. What a wonderful, wonderful narcissist. Crystal Clear was a great piece of comic timing, too. Sira's VA really sells the whole thing. Point of View is embarrassingly trite and lacks any nuance ("good person is GOOD and bad person is BAD"), but I'm really happy to see Lego trying out a big musical number like that - not the sort of thing we usually get from them. The lyrics are pretty good for something of this caliber too (ignoring, again, the subject matter). I think it also really shows, more than ever, how Elves is modelling itself a fair amount on the success of the current My Little Pony incarnation, which has a lot of spontaneous song as part of the show's flavor.

Something worth considering is that Bob Thompson said in an interview that there were at least 7 "books" of story conceptualized in some form, with 2001-03 being the first book. Assuming Metru Nui and Ignition were the next two (and add the post-ignition arc about the Nuva awakening Mata Nui that was later condensed into its third year), that still leaves 3 arcs that we know next to nothing about. Hard to say if the Bara Magna saga was grown from whatever the initial idea for the 5th book was, but I wouldn't be too surprised if Bob took whatever ideas he had past Ignition with him when he left around 2005. So basically, at one point, there was at least the seed of an idea for each year, potentially stretching as far as 2019, and almost definitely as far as 2016. Sure would be nice to know what those ideas were.

Maybe I'm being cynical, but frankly I would still tend to think it's Gali's status as "The Girl" that has prevented her from getting a drained/corrupted mask. Not to avoid the damsel in distress trope, but because Lego is still stuck on the idea that "It has to be for boys so girl sets are inherently less valuable."

They also have not made corrupted masks of water, stone, and air for the current summer wave. Just the realities of economics.

EDIT: I just realized what I posted made no sense. So uh. nevermind that

heh. eheheh ehUHAHAHAHAHA

You gotta link the video so everyone can see this for themselves, man! https://www.lego.com/en-us/videos/themes/bionicle/lego-bionicle-contest-video-a74b0b3ddf4d4701a6d60fec4279c583##sp=334

if they release a makuta that has a pop-out grabbing hand in his chest, I will officially lose it

The general consensus is that 197 was never printed - I've yet to meet a single person that has one. Same goes for the tournament prize cards (T1 and T2) - they're advertised on tournament posters, but if they actually exist, no owners have come forward.

Huh, so Makuta has the Mask of Ultimate Power wherever he is trapped? Poor Ekimu, knocking the mask off of him for nothing. Or maybe Makuta is choosing to project his ghost self with the mask, even though he doesn't physically have it yet. That'd be pretty funny, actually. Excited to see how this all goes down!

Huh, that's a new one. What version of the game are you playing? Best advice I can give is to move over to another one to bypass the issue.

It's not just the logo - like any theme then or now, Technic has a specific way that packaging art was done. At the time it was that organic silvery border with the set number in a yellow 'display'. Plus, the font and placement of the set details, stuff like that. This box has a unique design, with the sort of dented metallic surface with a few different plates running around, plus the glowing green additions (including those six dots above the logo, I guess to represent the Toa). Interestingly, the yellow display that was used for set numbers on Technic packaging is there, but they use it for "ages 7+" instead.

Yeah, Hapori is from the merger in 2002. He is the heart and spirit of BZPower, you know!

Trailer for episode 3! The bit with Lewa and the village is striking and I'm looking forward to seeing how the full scene plays out.

Toa Hanahtu may know for sure, but I'm pretty certain boxes like these contained the component sets with their original packaging.

I've seen that somewhere before, but it's definitely obscure. You've got a really nice collectors item on your hands! What's actually super interesting about this is that it's a 2001 set, but it doesn't have the Technic branding or standard graphic design. So I guess this came out after LEGO had set Bionicle apart as its own theme, but before the Bohrok launched. It's a peek at what 01 packaging may have looked like if Bionicle had been independent from the beginning.

It hasn't come out yet, there's just a preview for it in the first issue of the BIONICLE magazine.

They also blink in Templar stuff. I'm pretty sure you could probably locate a few instances of Greg writing "[character] blinked," too.

I think it really depends on what your looking for - I can tell you right away that, while Shippey's is colloquialized and flows better on modern tongues, Hudson's adheres more closely to the original text. Personally I like the more literal translations, but that's because I find the historical context of the poem more interesting than the content - which definitely isn't the case for everyone.