Adventurer

I'd say it developed in the same way most dialects form - a specific group of people in a specific environment adapting their language for their own convenience and ease of use. Also as with slang, it possibly is a kind of point of pride for them culturally? As the how they didn't forget - I don't think the other Matoran forgot how to speak normal Matoran, so I don't see why they would forget Chutespeak?

Happy birthday, old timer!

I'm just going to summarise my initial thoughts here: The mask has a nice tribal look to it (particularly the shape) - somewhat, but not entirely reminiscent of the early Polynesian inspired designs - I like this a lot. The blue background colouring also reminds me of a lot of the promotional materials from 2002 and 2003. These two factors combined, though a little to go on, are greatly reassuring as it confirms to me they're not going to transform Bionicle into something else and are sticking true to its roots (when I say this I'm referring primarily to the visual style of the sets and characters and hopefully the atmosphere of the storyline). Incidentally, the mask looks a little bit like a gold Great Kanohi Mahiki or Avsa with a crown. (EDIT: It actually kind of looks like a combination of some of the 2008 Makuta Kanohi kind of. ) Purely coincidental I'm sure though. Between the grand significance of this Kanohi (I'm like 99.9% sure it'll be Kanohi ), the gold colouring, crown like appearance and energy wrapped around it - I'm pretty sure this will be a legendary Kanohi, or if not a very special Kanohi of similar or greater power or significance (in which case for convenience I suspect it will be legendary as that what a legendary Kanohi is as a plot device really. ) As to whether it's the only legendary Kanohi we know of but haven't seen - the mask of creation - it seems a decent bit likely given its appearance and how its one of the things fans have talked about for a long time but never been "given" exactly. If it is the mask of creation I think that would be very cool in terms of finally getting to see its power in action and maybe even Artakha doing some cool stuff. That being said, it could be an entirely new Kanohi with its own new exciting possibilities that come with that which I would also be happy with. It could also possible be the Ignika (I doubt the Vahi, or Avohkii or any other important Kanohi) in a different form for example, however I don't really feel this will be the case.There appears to be some writing of some sort on the mask - whilst this could be purely decorative I've noticed in the past these type of things always tend to get mentioned in the story to some extent. The language (assuming it is writing) doesn't appear like anything I've seen before in the Bionicle storyline - but if anyone else think it looks similar to anything else, that would be very interesting.The background appears to be some sort of stone with a crack in it? It's hard to discern, I heard one member mention it looks like space - which I guess it could be (and I think that makes more sense given where the story left off), but either way not much we can deduce from this image. That being said if we could tell the background, in the past that has given a fair bit of insight into the setting of the storyline for the year, so as more surfaces I think it will be worth analysing. The crown may not just indicate the importance of the mask, but perhaps this mask is a symbol of leadership? Maybe we could have a sort of King Arthur like sword in the stone storyline? Or the mask belongs to the ruler of a kingdom/domain of some sort? Either way I think this could be a possibility if the design isn't purely just to show its importance as it definitely looks quite regal. The energy is distinctly blue, somewhat electric and in a spiral. I'd say this is meant to be general "magic energy" and not a specific element or power such as electricity or lightning. I do think this energy will have some great significance however as it is quite prominent in the image - perhaps something similar to the lightning from the Red Star which featured in 2006? Obviously I don't mean something specifically like this, but it will definitely important as the designer has made it very obvious - in fact placing in front of the subject of the image.Ok I'll leave it there, just some stream of consciousness thoughts there, will be thinking about this more properly for a while I suspect. Very very excited.

I'd suggest we avoid any images that were leaked for now, since all we really have official confirmation of is that Bionicle is returning and that there is a golden mask or head in it. Also someone already beat you to the punch with your avatar. No beating to any punch - I feel everyone should change their avatar in celebration of this wonderful official news. Also I was scanning the active members and I'm pretty sure RahkshiToa88 was a solid second. Also just throwing it out there the Kanohi is awesome! The logo and the image look very much of what I'd want stylistically from a return to Bionicle and leads me to speculate we won't be having a straight reboot. I say this based on very little, but the fact the style and Kanohi are so familiar make me think they're going to keep a lot of roots in there and stay true to series. If anything, it look more Bionicle-like than some of the later years (and by Bionicle like I mean like earlier Bionicle ). I definitely think the mask is a legendary Kanohi and I really do hope it is specifically the mask of creation because a) I've always wanted it and b) it's an awesome power I want to see in action and c) it might mean some Artakha action. All in all very hype.

There's been a lot of very find and memorable moments I've had involving Bionicle and it's really hard recollecting them all at once, let alone choosing the best. A couple of standouts (in brief) would be after I first got my first sets, Onua and Gali, and taking them out back in the bush outside my grandparents old house (behind the wine cellar made from a shipping container ) and having Onua lift rocks and stuff. Another moment/set of moments that has always stuck with me was my time playing MNOG - I was by myself a lot then so when I had the chance to played MNOG on fast internet I was very happy - I did this at the university library where my mum worked at the time and feeling super privileged that I only had to wait a few moments for the scenes to load. I think the final memory I'll share (I'll stop here I think) was getting the 2003 Makuta set - I was given it as a reward for having behaved in school for a whole term (something I struggled to do a lot at the time ) and I had been very very excited to finally have Makuta in set form, so it felt like a double accomplishment at the time. Just a few briefly anyway - I could give more but I don't think anyone wants half my life story.

It happened! Looking forward to the building excitement as we get closer to 2015 and what they have in store for us all - very very excited to see it all come out into the open. Edit: I agree - I had a similar thought when I first saw it too. I definitely suspect this will be a legendary Kanohi one way or the other. EDIT 2: I guess we know what the next spinny will probably be?

UTC+10:00 for life! (Unless I move I guess which is a possibility...) (But that's beside the point. )

Technically I think they were tiger and bull-like creatures. Off the top of my head the Tahtorak would be the closest thing we've had to a dinosaur Bionicle character/Rahi? On the original topic - the original plan I think was to give the Bara Magna saga a three year arc - similar to the other arcs and during that time the other fragments and the history and consequences of the Core War would be explored more thoroughly. I'm guessing the idea would have been to show the more astronomical scale of these events by exploring other worlds more. That being said to get an idea of what we would have had with those extra two years or so - a lot of that content was moved to the online serials before they ended. (Albeit in a condensed form).

Am I the first BZPower to steal the 2015 promo image as an avatar? If so, I'd like to thank my timezone for making this possible. :') If not... Am I second at least?

I had a lot of fun collecting them (an excuse to have McDonalds too ). That being said the best things about them for me were the characters behind them - at the time they were characters I knew and loved from the online games, but didn't have sets of - so getting them was a big deal at the time for me. Furthermore, their small size made it easy to re-enact some of the larger Matoran events (like the battle of Kini-Nui). That being said - the sets are nothing particularly special - I think most if not all of the pieces have shown up in other sets as have most if not all of the characters. I'd say they're cool to have - but nothing to stress over. Particularly for me in terms of the characters and story - the Matoran aren't in that form anymore and it wasn't their original form either, so the purist in me would rather collect the "current" or "original" story Matoran. That's one way of looking at it anyway if you get what I mean.

It'll be successful - as successful as Lego's similar constraction ventures anyway I think and hopefully moreso. I think the question will be how much more so and how high expectations TLC have for it. Hopefully it gets to stay around for a while.

I have purchased a few little things here and there, but nothing directly because of the 2015 return I don't think.

I would probably get this if I saw it in store just for Groot. (The other stuff is pretty cool as well I guess. )

Purely in terms of story I would probably agree with 2008 - though 2006 and 2004 come close after for me personally. Including media and what not though it'd have to be one of the years with one of the "NOG" online games - probably 2006 overall in that case with VNOG.

I'll get any sets that hold particular importance in the story and any that particularly take my fancy. How many that will be will be determined later.

I remember several times where I swapped gender. Not sure if that counts though... Maybe that was just me and a few others.

Yes! They add that extra level of addiction and can sometimes be fun to collect separate to the sets themselves (sometimes it can be hard to get/justify getting all the sets, but something like collectible packs are a fun side thing that you can do with little need for things like tonnes of space etc...). I still have a soft spot for masks (the projectiles never really had enough variety for me to really want to "collect" them) but anything with a strong lore would be awesome.

Great collection of finalists, I honestly feel that the winner could have deservedly gone a number of ways. I'm quite happy with this result however, congrats!

The Muaka in your sig caught my attention, these are really cool! They'd be great for staging certain scenes in the story at a reasonable scale and giving easier access to non-commerical set Rahi and characters etc... It'd be a dream come true for Lego to release small bags of these or something similar to the minifig ones they do at the moment. Not that that will happen but the idea is cool. May attempt to build the Muaka myself on the holidays actually if I remember, its too tempting not to. That being said I would need to acquire a few pieces or have to settle for incorrect colours hmm...

Have you tried Amazon or another online bookstore? I always used to get my books from Amazon - Greg has his own author's profile there too I believe.

Astral Traveling - Lonnie Liston Smith

At the time I think people were annoyed for a variety of reasons (other than the pieces in the sets mentioned above). Story-wise some people were annoyed that the flashback arc was being extended another year, delaying us finding out what was happening in present day with the Nuva. Additionally I think some people didn't like the nice clean heroic Toa Metru becoming uglier and more beastlike - while that was the purpose of the story I think some people didn't like the characters and the appearance of the sets as much as a result. My two cents anyway.

...Adaptive Kaukau Nuva isn't that bad, I think it looks kinda cool. Not a traditional design but not bad. Personally I actually didn't like a lot of the original Nuva Kanohi, particularly the Hau and Pakari, which sucks cause I really liked the original designs for those masks. The Kakama and Miru Nuva were quite cool I thought though luckily. I also wasn't a fan of the Inika masks in general I think - not how they worked (I liked the rubber head thing at the time) but the design of the faces felt a little too ugly for me on some of them.

Happy birthday, Mak, have a good one!

Happy birthday, Emzee! Have a great day!