T.B.O.C

On 6/19/2023 at 4:42 AM, Master Inika said:

Good choice. I believe the Chronicler's Company cues were reused (isolated) for the long walking sections in MNOG II, and I thought they fit that role just as well.

See, for YEARS I swore I'd heard it in something else, but wasn't sure. I played MNOG II a lot as a child but didn't get anywhere with it (mostly on account of being like 5), so I spent a ton of time around Ga-Koro and some of the little walkways around. Glad to hear I was actually remembering correctly.

Yeah, extreme doubt. Nonetheless, I don't think I'd want more BIONICLE. What they made of it already was fun, and enjoyable. I'm still able to enjoy it and have fun with that world and those toys. A new BIONICLE for me would not recapture the feeling I had for original BIONICLE (and hey, even G2) - whatever feelings I had at the time are two decades away and exacerbated by the same two decades of being fermented by nostalgia.

I think my favorite is the Chronicler's Company music (Journey to Kini-Nui) from MNOG - that always comes to mind in terms of BIONICLE ambiance. Mostly stuff from those early flash movies as well for the Bohrok and Kal.

On 6/3/2023 at 2:58 PM, tourmalinex said:

I got my answer the Krana Xa & pearl gold Kraahkan are bootlegs.

 

“Those are bootlegs, the mask of shadows and commander krana come in various types of colors from the early 2000’s. You could get hard plastic krana and gold,gray,yellow, light brown colored masks of shadows off sites that sell bootleg from CN. This command krana is not metal, it’s made of krana rubber and has metal paint/Shrink-wrap on it. Look up 9299 Star Soldier Wars and you will find a bootleg mata nui giant. These masks sometimes have the Lego lego and part numbers.

Oh neat! Shame it's not the rarer collectible, but I honestly have a bit of a soft spot for the bootlegs and imitators now. Somewhat hard to find...

On 6/2/2023 at 11:28 AM, Toa Matia said:

Also, I’m still collecting too! All I really need are kraata now, which I’m sure most of you already know from my posts and DMs lol, but I also keep my eye out for lucky FB marketplace finds, and I finally had one!

Wow! Absolute score on the Kanohi. Not sure what you paid, but hey - that's some value there. And do I spot a Kane-ra torso in there?...

My updates are relatively slow - been trying to cut down on spending. But... I did just finish my Krana-Kal collection (last couple of ones), got a few boxes (including the yellow Jetrax, sort of pumped about that), and am now down to 4 sets remaining. Just bought #5 - Toa Undersea Attack. A weirdly pricey one. Interestingly enough, found a sealed one for cheaper than people are trying to sell it opened and without the box... 2007 playsets aren't good enough for that kind of money.

Oh, and I got a Chrome Rua finally! I bought a partial Powerpack from a BZPer back in the early 2000s. Was basically just the box and CD. Had a Hafu, finally last year found the instruction booklet (had to import from Germany...), and finally picked up the mask. I'm gonna pretend there's no plastic insert and try not to let that bother me. Slowly wanting to finish up my Kanohi Nuva as well and call it quits with mask collecting. Then I can pretend like I'll finish my Kraata collection ever!

On 6/17/2023 at 11:25 PM, Nato G said:

Throughout Bionicle's run we're told that awakening the Great Spirit was the Destiny of the Toa Mata/Nuva, but after all the build-up, when we finally get to the 2008 storyline they aren't the ones to do it. All they did in the end was find the keystones and open the Codrex, something that wasn't particularly difficult, and that literally anyone could've done at any time. The Makuta even proved that the keystones weren't actually necessary to bypass the Codrex Shield, when Krika phased through it. 

Toa Ignika was the one who actually gave up his power and reawakened the Great Spirit. And him doing so wasn't even actually necessary, it was just a way to speed up the process. At no point along the way was any threat or obstacle encountered that only the Toa Nuva could have overcome. The whole process could have happened without their involvement. The Makuta, even the Av-Matoran, could have done it all themselves at any time. 

Ooh, you know? Heavily agreed. I know there's a degree to which I think the awakening of Mata Nui came earlier than they wanted to (I may be misremembering this), but I feel like it would have been simple to create an actual meaningful *thing* the Toa Nuva had to do to awaken Mata Nui. I think in the end they could do what Ignika did, they were just under time duress and he did it faster. Toa Ignika was a weird character... not that BIONICLE's relatively quick year stories and necessity to throw in every set make character narratives easier. Just does feel important when it's the central characters.

Collector for sure. I never seriously moc'ed when I was younger, and don't have any time for it now unfortunately. I'll occasionally play around with parts when I have some free time though. I very much like to see MOCs though! I feel like I see tons of really inventive and creative new ones often now, which I really enjoy. It would be fun to get better with for sure! I need to take inventory of all the new fun parts that have been invented in the past few years though - I find myself quite unfamiliar with them at times.

As for rarity? I guess prototype coloration parts are my genuine rarest. I believ e I've talked about them a few times, so pics below. Won them in a raffle here on BZP about 13 years ago. Crazy how time flies.

Other than that - not too sure? I have two European misprints, but I hardly count those as rare. Red Ruru and Brown Matatu - and not even gotten for terrible prices! The other stuff that might be considered rare are just harder to find sets. CIB Kardas, Ultimate Dume, Voporak, Icarax, Karzahni, Lesovikk, etc... Besides a small handful of sets that are missing boxes, I maintain a CIB collection, which I know isn't always too common. Do complete collectible collections count? I have all the original 72 Kanohi and all 72 Krana.

I also have a short mold Tahnok foot. Don't think that's rare per-se, but it I haven't seen short molds of near any part commonly (besides that pearl light blue Toa foot in one of the parts canister sets).

On 5/10/2023 at 3:47 PM, Crimson Jester said:

I’m missing 3 sets from 2001-2002, and I’ve got most sets up to 2007 now. Need to thin out duplicates before I get more now!

My most recent acquisition was a sealed Muaka and Kane-Ra which I’ll open for YouTube and build on stream alongside the Bionicle GWP sometime soon.

Nice! Older sealed sets are super neat to me - I don't have any older than 2003 (a Turahk I ended up getting for cheap). Would be a ton of fun to watch that opening! Which 2001-2002 sets are you missing now?

22 minutes ago, The Archivist said:

I started in late Quarantine, after having played with Bionicles as a kid. I love the technical aspects of collecting. 

 

Anyway, it's financially ruined me. At least I got a few slick prototypes. 

Ah, quarantine was definitely a time to start. Prices are SO rough nowadays. Very curious about the prototypes, what ones have you gotten?

On 4/14/2023 at 4:06 AM, Nato G said:

The whole point of Mata Nui taking his nap was that he wanted the citizens to form a new society without his influence, and one of the last things he asked everyone to do was find the Great Beings and let them know the mission was complete. 

Based on that, I don't think any number of Great Beings rolling up would make him emerge. Certainly not when only a few days had passed. 

This, primarily. I think it says a lot that Mata Nui isn't seeking out the Great Beings himself. He simply wants them to know he completed his journey. I also thought the fragmented and wildly different reactions of the Great Beings says a lot about what they would do. Been a hot minute since I've read The Yesterday Quest, but isn't Angonce freaking out that MU inhabitants appear sentient? He seemed a lot more willing to do something than the rest, but given the lack of involvement in helping out any other inhabitants in the last 100,000 years, I think most of the Great Beings appear content in their (exile?)

Oh I remember these from back in the day. Absolutely confusing little things. Not too sure why people prefer these to the Stars though - as much as I don't care for the Av-Matoran limbs and parts, these are awfully proportioned and ugly looking. Granted, I have disdain for the Hordika lower leg parts. Never looked very good on sets, particularly the Inika builds. I've kind of grown a fondness for the Stars sets - not the best, but cute and fitting.

Mask of Light is far more likely to be canon. Given that Greg was making much of the determination on what media was canon, and Quest of the Toa was made prior to his involvement, it's likely considered semi-canon and only canon where it doesn't explicitly change story from something centrally canon (books, comics, etc). MNOG is similar. Given too that Quest of the Toa is a game, I think it's fair to determine aspects of design influenced by it being a video game are less likely to be accepted.

That being said - as it's been many years since I played through, I can't recall what differences would exist. Like Lorentz said, it's pretty easy to justify the differences as separate sections. The Koro had vague definitions and descriptions, usually limited by the resources of whatever media they were in (like how MNOG villages are typically small and contain a handful of Matoran).

On 4/16/2023 at 1:06 PM, (-Kopaka Toa of Ice-) said:

I don't see how a team of toa metru could carry 42 masks (kanohi plus the noble kanohi) I'd guess Artakha and the Order of Mata Nui would have programmed them in pre-determined locations if the face camouflage on the great spirit robot was activated.

The Nuva Masks probably re-appeared in any random order of the old locations that the kanohi mata appeared in.
However why masks disappear if a suva is destroyed seemed very absurd rule in my opinion.

It was explicitly established that the Toa Metru brought the masks - they left Metru Nui with airships and plenty of time to get them from the Great Temple. Order of Mata Nui only ever had the one member on Mata Nui who was slain before long, who was likely far more interested in either: making sure the Matoran weren't being culled by Makuta, and likely trying to keep eyes on Teridax. I don't think it would particularly make sense for them to be programmed in - Mata Nui wasn't made to be inhabited, nor was anyone supposed to spend significant time on it. I don't think they would have delayed the Toa Mata's travel to Kini-Nui in the event of Mata Nui shutting down.

Also, as Lorentz said, a Suva is a storage unit, which is why its condition would affect the status of Kanohi. If you're referring to Tahu's Kanohu Nuva and Vakama's noble masks that were destroyed - it only makes sense. Molten protodermis is gonna melt a few masks. It's a fair limitation in universe - a non-functioning Suva isn't gonna do anything for you.

On 4/5/2023 at 2:43 PM, (-Kopaka Toa of Ice-) said:

And yet they were brought in to give fans updated sets. Sorry for my rant but now that i remember them... i was disappointed in them.
Their color schemes didn't not fit for maybe any except Kopaka.
Pohatu was now orange and his weapons were weak and floppy.
Onua was very odd with a shield and giant weapon grip.
Gali Mistika had very bulky limbs on her arms and the two scope's didn't not fit for a swimmer.
Tahu Mistika's weapon was pathetic and the Hau mask was boring.

Oh for sure - I personally find the Phantoka passible, but the Mistika were just kind of... eh...

Sort of the issue with how BIONICLE design worked - sets were made with minor input from the story team, and otherwise had to be wrangled into the story. So, all in all, you ended up with a lot of the intersecting toyline concerns overriding concepts from the story (such as Pohatu's orange armoring, as they had switched from brown to yellow/orange in an attempt to boost sales). This was also as the design team was centralizing around the Inika builds from previous years. I'm intrigued by the switch - as 2007 managed to have several builds go far more custom designs - even the Mahri, to an extent. A lot of that was dropped into the Phantoka and Mistika designs, which really sucked.

Not that they were entirely bad. I sort of like the degree of silver elements we got, and you'll often see people incorporate some of the unwieldy parts in fun ways (example that comes to mind are the jetpack pieces forming a bulk of Alternate Teridax's warhammer). Trinuma, ironically, feels more like what regular Toa sets should have been like. I prefer his design to literally all of the three Toa Mistika.

I actually just read about some of this in the Greg Answers archive - primarily, the comics are advertisements for the current products, so they shy away from showcasing anything that wasn't an available set. Granted - Ignition comics do feature some wild unrelated Matoran, but books became the primary medium to use characters who weren't in the current product line. It was a major point of discussion for a while that the Toa Nuva would show up in the story without being re-released, and Lego apparently had thought briefly about if they wished to reuse the Toa Nuva or use different characters. Probably decided a redesign of the Nuva would be somewhat difficult at the time.

Neither show up in canon - but are all theoretically possible if I recall. Matoran Nui was formed twice, but we only ever got the diminished Matoran model from 2001, whichw as formed in the McDonalds promotion comic as you mentioned. Apparently the Matoran Nui's inclusion in Trial By Fire was because Greg thought there was going to be a combiner model for that year that never ended up happening. Kind of interesting...

19 hours ago, Matoro, Toa of Ice said:

Ahhh..... I'd have to have a refresher on what happened in '08 and '10, cause I don't remember the difference 😅 but I vaaaguely recall Mata Nui getting a toa sized body and going into an arena of some sort, which I assume is this Bara Magna (cause that rings a distant bell), is there somewhere I can read up on all this?

Like confused piraka said, Wall of History is a pretty good site. If you're looking for a very quick refresher, the Mata Nui Saga is a good 11 minute video that was an official part of the BIONICLE website. Skirts over most of the minutiae of 2009, but explains the final conflict with Teridax. BS01 is also good with some of the summary. Sounds like what you're thinking of is 2009, when Mata Nui explores Bara Magna and we got a broader view of the overarching plot of BIONICLE. 

20 hours ago, Nato G said:

Nuva masks can share powers anyway, so there was never really any need for any of the Toa to use their spare masks later in the story because they were almost always together. 

Ironically, I think the only time we see them have a decent reason to use them is in Reign of Shadows, if I recall? Though I think only Onua and Tahu were together briefly. I guess it was because Teridax didn't view them as a threat, but its curious he made no moves to secure the suvas on Metru Nui. Again, conflict of story, so not too unexpected.

I actually had conflicting thoughts on this - way way long ago, I recall Greg saying that when the Nuva symbol was moved out of the village for safety, so too were his masks. Thus, they survived the sinking of Ta-Koro. I believe he has multiple times since confirmed they were destroyed in the sinking. I think there's likely specific Greg answers to cite for that, but it would also fall within canon to believe so. Like Nato G said - I don't think anyone fully realized the extent of the damage, or even if they did, they were far more pre-occupied with getting out themselves.

Plus, he can't really use them anymore anyway, even if he had them.

Eh, sets are fine to take apart. There's better or worse ways of making it easier. Not all parts disintegrate upon touch - especially non-ball joint pieces. Bohrok especially have no difficult/expensive parts besides their rubber bands, which I've never had issue with.

I'd say build it once to see how you like it. That's how I did most kaita back in the day. Kind of stopped after 2005 or so as combiners mostly faded away. Going through a lot of them now is fun. I actually have been scouting my extra Bohrok parts to see how much I can scrape together into kaita. They're always sort of a product of what could be done with those parts, but I recall the Bohrok Kaita being fun. I always enjoyed the rubber-banded Krana on the bottom.

On 10/18/2021 at 11:48 PM, Nektann said:

Amazing, I didn't know lime joints from 2005 were a thing, thank yall for pointing out a secondary source of parts just in case my 2007 sets break down.

Yes, but be warned there's not any visual distinction between these two. You're gonna be guessing unless you know for certain it's from a Keelerak.

But yes, to echo people's statement: it was 2007. Specifically Hahli Mahri and then later Lesovikk - I myself never had trouble with Ehlek. I don't remember any widespread reporting until Hahli's release due to the batch of improperly cooled plastic. I think the news article still exists - probably from July-August 2007?

Then of course we got the socket redesign in 2008 and everything was fair game for cracking.

Are you meaning Mata Nui's awakening in 2008, or after the events of 2010? For the latter - not really. Greg had started a few serials that began to explore the world post-reformation of Spherus Magna. These were ultimately unfinished around 3 chapters in, and are abandoned. Story is effectively frozen at that point, but smaller canon things have been run by Greg since. This is mostly appearances of characters and small story tidbits from the MU. If you mean the former, there's essentially 1.5 years of Mata Nui's adventure on Bara Magna and the conclusion of the story through his subsequent confrontation with Teridax.

The 2015 reboot is it's own continuity, unaffected from G1 BIONICLE. It was less story-centric than G1 for sure, but had fun moments. Only 2 or so years of story though, as BIONICLE was cancelled after it's 2016 waves.

19 hours ago, The Toa of Music said:

Still collecting lol, rn I'm trying to get every single bohrok because why not.

Admirable goal - the Bohrok are really good. I've been doing a fair amount of Bohrok collecting lately between Bricklink orders. I mainly just need Nuhvok and Kohrak shields and then this little slice of my collection is done.

6 hours ago, Master Inika said:

I'm still collecting. It makes me happy. There are a few sets I'd still love to get my hands on, like Lesovikk or the regular blue Jetrax T6. It's mostly Kanohi and Kraata I collect nowadays, though.

Nice! The Jetrax is a very fun set. I'm still on the hunt for the limited edition version with a box (that's the kicker atm). That and Mazeka are my last 2008 sets finally. I just finished up my 2001 Kanohi collection and am working on the Kraata, but that's gonna be a long time coming for me, I think.

6 hours ago, confused piraka said:

how do you store it all?

Poorly, LMAO... right now mostly disassembled in original packaging. As I get more space for myself I have some designs for year displays I want to make. Probably a long form endeavor though.

13 minutes ago, Bonkle said:

I got a Brutaka last spring missing a few parts and spent the summer hemming and hawing over the various $6 tube listings and ended up skipping, really regretting it now, lol.

Right? I swear I checked prices on some of these parts last year in case a Kardas I bought was missing stuff and it was not this bad. Hoping those prices go back down...

12 hours ago, confused piraka said:

how would you get Brutaka? is the best strategy just grinding for him?

Basically, yeah. My one offhand piece of advice is I often see Brutaka or parts of him in lots. Worth keeping an eye out for that, as you typically limit how much you'd be paying for it. Keep in mind what parts are expensive, though. On the other hand, besides those pearl gold parts and the rubber sockets, a lot of Brutaka parts are cheap. I'd say its worth keeping an eye out and setting a max price you want to spend on it, and see what fits.

On 2/24/2023 at 6:23 PM, confused piraka said:

I'm almost thinking about just buying the parts indulvidaly

Be wary - price of the gold parts alone can make this just as expensive. That, and the rubber socket parts. I'm currently just waiting out some Pearl Gold parts to build Botar and the pricing SUCKS. I'm not even going after many - some of the Pearl Gold tubes in that set are $11 right now in the US. That is, unless some pricing changed in the last few days. I try not to think about the costs to finish this Botar build. Imagine a $20 set would turn into being this expensive...

I would say though - Brutaka isn't rare, just overvalued. Brutaka had the same availability and shelf-life of the other regular retail 2006 titans, and technically received further with the release of Vezon & Kardas. His Pearl Gold parts are just highly valued, as I believe he's the only set for most of them. This is probably why he's more expensive than Axonn, who uses relatively common parts (and his rarer and exclusive/ish parts are pricier). It also helps that Brutaka is one of the better G1 BIONICLE sets, so it's a lot of market desire being overvalued.

I would also agree that titan sets are just generally overvalued and are pricier in the current market. Look at the 2007 and 2009 titans. Full availability... extreme pricing.. Definitely the ones that were good to have bought at release if for nothing else than the relief of going "oh I don't have to think about these prices." Just hope you're not needing Karzahni still.

On 2/17/2023 at 4:42 PM, Tohunga Premium said:

I also have Gadunka! Can't believe I forgot about angry bionicle. JTO Makuta is the official g2 combo model shown off at a toy fair that ended up getting cancelled due to g2 getting the axe. I believe it would've also been released as it's own set. Really sucks it didn't because it's genuinely an excellent model! I really like g2, but only had Pohatu and the black and trans purple protector when it hit stores. I ESPECIALLY love how g2 handled exclusive collectibles, I have the trans clear NYCC hau and the trans neon green SDCC skull scorpio mask. The trans blue Inside Tour kaukau is a huge want for me but I'd consider in unobtainable, as I'm not spending what people are asking for for it. With g2 on the mind, reminds me that I've also really wanted a g2 art book! Those are unfortunately very rare and very expensive as well.

Amiibo are pretty cool, I recently got the Steve and Alex ones, and the two sets of Splatoon "idol" amiibo. I've wanted a Guardian amiibo but they're too expensive for what they are lmao. On the Bionicle gwp, I'm sure you'll enjoy it. I love it and it was such a treat to open and build!

The Kanohi Dragon is a pretty cool model! I've never really been into building models that weren't actual sets, JTO Makuta was an exception but it WAS supposed to be an official set lol. I guess it's just not my thing, neither are the fanon contests, but it's really cool to see people still finding new ways to enjoy the hobby and keep it alive beyond just buying old sets.

Interesting! I don't think I ever knew the JTO Makuta was intended to be a set. Very sad that the last wave of G2 had such a cut. I definitely wanted to collect those NYCC masks back in the day, but they command enough of a price now I don't think I will. Gali's mask especially! I was so upset that was an Inside Tour exclusive, having a trans-blue Gali mask was such a nice little reference back.

I do really like the amiibo that come out nowadays - I got big into collecting the Smash series amiibo, and finally got my last couple a year and a half ago. Nowadays I just keep up with the final ones for Ultimate, and picking up ones I like (mainly Zelda and Metroid). The Splatoon ones are very nice too - I think I'm only missing some of those original miscolors and the Octolings. 

19 hours ago, xccj said:

I mean, not particularly.

I got most of the sets when they came out (because who needs any other hobbies in the 2000s?) and the ones I missed out on I'm fine with.  And since my sets are parted out for MOCIng, it doesn't really bug me that I don't have a full Mahri collection.

I have all 72 masks of the Toa and Turaga (plus gold and silver) which was a huge goal of mine as a kid and I'm super pleased to have pulled it off a decade later.  And I have all 144 of the krana.  I had started on the Nuva, but I dislike those masks so I gave away most of them a decade ago.  The kraata never really interested me either.  I do have 12 of the 14 misprints, but the ones I'm missing are so expensive nowadays that I doubt I'll ever get them.  I have a handful of prototypes, but it was more fun to spread those out to the community at Conventions.  (Even found the original Mata pens so I have those pen masks!  Technically only have half the Nuva pens but they're less interesting.)  There are other things that I am missing but I'm cool with it at this point.

In truth, I'm more interested in current sets (CMFs and Ninjago) to spend much time looking back on Bionicle.  I'll buy the occasional piece for MOCing but that's about it.  So I'm pretty set with my current Bionicle collection as is.

 

For sure - I find myself feeling lucky I collected so many during the original run. So many sets that are nice, but NOT worth current prices (I think of Brutaka a lot - wonderful set, but wow) The pens are super interesting - I have a Kaukau mask from one of the pens I got in a lot. I had one of the Star Wars ones back in the day as well.

I'm a big fan of the modern Ninjago sets I see every so often - I collected a lot of the sets back in 2011-12, but fell off of it as I was in high school and college. I bought Zane's Titan Mech the other year because I liked the build so much - and if I was more plugged in I think I'd get more. Still always fun to see what they come up with, CMFs as well.

17 hours ago, Toa Turing said:

I'm slowly building up my collection of 2001-2003 sets. I always wanted them as a kid because I got started with Bionicle around 2006 so the 01-03 sets were always somewhat of a holy grail. It's also a more obtainable collection than all of G1. It's a pretty small collection right now, I'd say maybe 10% complete, and that's not counting mask/krana/kraata collections, which I don't think I'll even get into. I haven't bought any new sets in a long time (a couple years now that I think about it, wow), but I'll probably look for another batch when I figure out how I want to display them, my current collection is just in a box right now.

Definitely! I find a lot of the 2001-2003 sets end up in lots. Buying a couple has netted me a few sets of Mata, Nuva, Turaga, Rahkshi, and Bohrok. Even some rahi as well, at least partially. I think these tend to be some of the most nostalgic and intriguing sets in the background. I can definitely get not wanting to get into the collectibles - they're honestly way more cost intensive than they were ever meant to be. Hard to want to collect them all when people charge $15+ per mask!

10 hours ago, That Matoran with a Vahi said:

I don't collect anymore, not seriously so. I used to as a teen, especially from 2004 - 2008; but I eventually gave up when I didn't find the Av-Matoran interesting enough to get all of (and couldn't afford the battle vehicles besides!). Still, at one point I had something like 90% of the (non-promotional, non-playset, non-collectable-pack) sets from the first eight years, which was some kind of achievement at least!

I then sold a majority of them when I was at university, having moved on to other interests and figuring they'd do much better going to people who would actually appreciate them rather than them just sitting around in large boxes taking up space in my bedroom.

I... don't regret that decision, on the whole. However with hindsight, I do think I could have been a little more discerning. A lot of sets I'm completely happy to have let go on to better homes, but there are definitely a few that I have come to miss. Unfortunately, some of those - especially the titans such as Axonn, Brutaka, Lhikan and 2008 Takanuva - command steep prices on eBay these days and I balk at paying double (or more!) what I bought them for in the past; so, while I look out for them on occasion, I don't have high hopes of getting them back.

But yeah. The handful that I miss, and the McToran who were never available in my home country the UK, are the only ones that I'm seriously interested in collecting (or re-collecting I guess) anymore. I just kinda like to have them for the nostalgia, for the fun of rebuilding and posing them a little; but I don't do anything serious with them besides that. It's just nice to have a few of my old favourites around sometimes ^^

That makes a lot of sense - 2008 was definitely a major shift from before, and were I older at the time I think I would have done similarly. Sorry to hear about the titans, they were ones I also did not expect to be as expensive in the modern day. 

Building and posing is a lot of what I do nowadays too - sometimes going after combiners I never did just to see how they come together, or building little things I'd thought about when younger. I've had some rough ideas for making more permanent displays to showcase the different years, but its mostly been small concepts I've doodled on paper while at work nowadays. Still, would be fun to do sometime!