ToaDraco

 

Am I the only one who wishes the protectors were a bit more turaga like, don't get me wrong I like the protectors but I wish they had staffs with them to give them that village elder feel. I admittedly am a bit peeved that they seem to be primarily warriors because it feels lego are caving into the sexist concept that boys just want mindless violence with no substance to it. 

From my understanding, the reason we barely got any Turaga in G1 is because kids were more interested in characters like the Matoran who could accompany the Toa into battle or even fight for themselves. This isn't necessarily because BIONICLE's audience was boys — the sets are action figures, and an action figure that isn't suited for any kind of action scenarios is pretty lackluster from a play perspective.

 

With that in mind, I think it was a very smart decision to make the Protectors village elders who CAN fight for themselves. Being able to hold their own in battle doesn't amount to mindless violence — Avatar: The Last Airbender had lots of butt-kicking characters of the older age set.

 

Yeah, I think main reason is ACTION figures of old people who need a cane to walk aren't very exciting, like getting an action figure of the old man in a walker from UP, nobody wants that. I agree with Aanchir, they did a great job in giving us village elders that are wise and can hold they're own in a fight. More Yoda, less old man from UP.

 

 

I must say I've noticed increasing disappointment in the reboot over the past few months, and just last year we were all super excited and happy for the reboot, now everyone is criticizing it (not that there's anything wrong with that).

 I wouldn't be surprised if Lego started throwing fart jokes into their stories (actually I think they might have already somewhere).

You're right, they did it in the Chima show(A.K.A one of the worst things lego have their name attached to). 

They also did in MNOG.

Where?

 

In Tahu's arrival animation.

 

It's still a more dignified fart joke then whatever Chima was going for. 

 

Holy cow, I never realized that was a fart joke! The fart jokes in Chima, I absolutely hated! I thought LEGO was better than that. Even as a little kid I never found that stuff funny, just crude and distasteful. That Steve Urckal-like skunk was the worst thing about Chima, hands down.

It's interesting how consistently G1 BIONICLE's later years are disparaged around here, when I personally consider them to have some of the theme's best storytelling, period. Hm.

 

My main beef with G2 so far is how non-existent the world feels. Okoto barely qualifies as a setting. Ok, we have the Temple of Time and the Ancient City, and then...what, exactly? There is no feel to the island, no atmosphere. There is not a single named inhabitant of the place, outside of Ekimu and Makuta. None of the villagers have names, and the Protectors who are supposed to apparently play the role of Turaga have no personalities. Nothing. We literally do not have a single character trait for a single one of them. Couple that with the webisodes that almost exclusively focus on Tahu, who has no actual personality there either, and you end up with a story that isn't there.

 

There are promising hints of things to come, such as the constant references to 'Time' and the Ancient City...but the problem is that nothing is being established. The Ancient City is clearly meant to house secrets and revelations...but I feel no real interest in discovering them. G2 is trying to build up a sense of mystery without establishing anything first. Why should I care about the truth behind this world or the adventures to come when I don't feel anything for...well, anything? Why should I care about these Toa? This island? The story team has put no effort into building investment in what we're seeing here.

 

There is simplification...and there is just poor story-telling. And try as some here might make it appear, 2015 is not equal to 2001, in any department (story-wise, of course. The sets rock.)

 

Edit: 

The Metru Nui years are a good example of this; 2004 started with six Toa and six Matoran, and the premise that the Toa have to fight the Morbuzakh, which had no presence in the sets at all.  Only in the summer did the "real" story of that year happen.  Same in 2005, with the Hordika having to stand on their own until the summer gave them adversaries in the Visorak.

 

Difference: the Morbuzakh conflict was told over the course of two books and several comics. The books especially used this "placeholder" conflict to establish firmly both the personalities of the Toa as well as the setting, while also including abundant foreshadowing for what would happen down the line. In addition to that, Nidhiki and Krekka featured prominently in the first half of the year, providing a threat to the Toa Metru that directly related to the larger conflict (Makuta's plan). They were mysterious, they were dangerous, and they built up suspense. As a bonus, we had Ahkmou the traitor as well.

 

It's not fair to compare 2015, the first year of G2, to 2004, and just as well, because there is no comparison to be made.

^ this x10

 

There are animations yet to be released.  There are books that have been announced.  Heck, even just going by the sets, we're getting Ekimu, so there has to be something about that coming up.

 

You bring up the fact that 2001 promised a PC game, but I think that hurts the case more than helps it; promises are meaningless if they aren't carried through.  You can promise a lot, but that only matters if you can deliver.

 

I see the argument that there's no big conflict yet a lot.  But the fact that there's any conflict at all, especially something that's represented in the sets, is more than most of Gen 1 can claim.  This wave's sets at the very least have enemies to fight against, whereas many past years simply would've left it at "good guys now, bad guys next wave".  The Metru Nui years are a good example of this; 2004 started with six Toa and six Matoran, and the premise that the Toa have to fight the Morbuzakh, which had no presence in the sets at all.  Only in the summer did the "real" story of that year happen.  Same in 2005, with the Hordika having to stand on their own until the summer gave them adversaries in the Visorak.

 

The conflict in the current story may not seem all that dire, but that's because it is, in essence, a placeholder; in this case, though, it's actually tied into the Toa's overall quest rather than being an arbitrary obstacle.

 

I can give you the books part - I guess since books have been a staple of Bionicle since 2003 it was only to be expected, so to me it does not fuel any excitement. But yeah, I guess we have that. Some of the excitement for the animations is tainted by the fact that all of them (at least for the first wave) were uploaded already. 

 

Regarding the cancelled PC game - at least they talked about it. The Mask of Creation game came out of nowhere, with no advertising and I still don't even see much promotion for it from LEGO. I think the payoff for that games release would have been better if it had prior advertising. Not keeping promises isn't good either though, I will agree to that. Bionicle Gen I was especially bad in that regard. 

 

Now about conflict - the fact that this line of sets comes packaged with conflict ready to go is what makes its execution so disappointing! In Gen I, to ensure the story didn't crawl to a snails pace, the writers tried to make conflict with what they could. The Morbuzakh is just a small part of winter 2004 - a faceless, non-set enemy designed to be an adversary to the Toa Metru toys - but the real conflict of that portion of the year was the Toa Metru's quest to find the Great Kanoka discs and prove their worth as Toa. The Morbuzakh essentially was a plot device that emphasized the importance of their quest and why the Toa had to team up with the Matoran to defeat it. There was solid storytelling to be found there. 2005 actually was unique in that all the sets were released at once (though, at different times in different parts of the world) so the story ending up being consistent throughout the year without a need to set up a next wave of sets. The "main" story happened in the Summer (more accurately fall) because they had to tie it into a movie franchise. Despite this, the books told a lot more story in those "blank" portions of the year then the movies ever hoped to. 

 

The only year that I felt didn't make successful conflict out of one wave was 2007 with the Barraki, but even then there was some intrigue to what lies beneath the surface and what happened to the Matoran of Voya Nui. In comparison, 2015 has all the set-up for conflict but never utilizes any of it. Various types of Skull Spiders with different powers? Their ability to snare onto the villagers faces and enslave them? That's awesome, so why aren't they putting this to full use? They don't have a backstory and they haven't set it up well enough that I even care about it. We have potential for exciting conflict right off the bat and its not happening. By comparison, the 2001 villains were simple Rahi tainted with evil, but the infected masks were utilized to their full potential. The Rahi's importance and defining characteristics were already stated beforehand.

 

Also, I agree with toa kopaka4372 - Okoto is, well, boring. The island of Mata Nui was treated like a character itself - there was so much emphasis on the landmarks and history which made it feel like an organic, living component of the story. I don't think Bionicle would have been so enticing without the focus on the island itself. That's probably why it remained a defining symbol of the franchise throughout its original run, despite changing locations in further years. I don't feel like the same amount of thought went into creating Okoto. We don't know the culture and society, the inhabitants, we don't know anything about the flora and fauna, and I personally can't really care about their mission to save the island because I don't feel its importance. 

 

-NotS

 

I whole-heartily agree. There is no story, no character and no soul to gen2 so far and I seriously hope this changes soon and hopefully the books help with this. Bionicle's initial creation was about not only selling toys but about doing so in a way that creates a story and a franchise all its own for children to read about, explore, be inspired by, and much more. It seems this time around, LEGO is so scared of adding anything remotely complicated (like names for goodness sake) that they seem to forget why they experimented and took a risk with Bionicle in the first place, the same reasons it lasted a full decade. I fear they're over-caution will be what dooms the reboot and I really hope they prove me wrong by doing some real world-building and character development. After all, they essentially copied the formula used for Bionicle and created Ninjago and that worked beautifully. It would be sad if they shied away from it for the theme that gave them that formula and proved that it can be very successful in the first place. Having more media about the theme is an important part of that. The videos, while a great idea, are not long enough or numerous enough to convey the story. For me, the comics and books were my primary source for the story. Ideally, bringing back comics or making a tv show would be significant enough to really flesh out the story.

 

 

Guys! English! Now! Watch! Go!!! Episode 6!!

 

http://www.lego.com/en-gb/bionicle/videos/6-quest-for-the-mask-maker-4086798ab407449782cd3e7dd032d31b

Yes!

 

The episode is great!

 

Except one thing: The narrator calls Pohatu's element earth and Onua's element stone.

 

Let the confusions begin...    

 

For crying out loud LEGO!! Seriously, is it that hard to get your OWN story strait?? Sigh. I get so sick of Earth and Stone getting confused. It isn't so bad when it's miss-typed but to mess it up in a promotional video is something else, sheesh. 

Anyway, is it just me or does the character dialog keep getting worse. Tahu sounds like a brain-dead idiot although his voice is acceptable while PoF's lines are OK while his voice is terrible.

Realistically, Kevin Michael Richardson for Onua. He is a very prominent voice actor a does the voice for Bulkhead in Transformers Prime and the high school principal in American Dad among other things. As for the rest, I would like the rest of the voice actors from MoL to return as the voices of the Toa, except for Pohatu who is now a gruff Australian for some reason. 

How much did it cost you? I have always wanted one of those Bionicle statues but it would be really expensive and rare, it would be the centerpiece of any Bionicle collection! So cool!

Tahu Mata was my first but Onua would have been my first if the store had him at that time. Onua was my first this time around.

I voted earth for the win! Earth characters have always been my favorite.

So I don't know if anyone else has noticed this, but you can now play the Mask of Creation game on the Bionicle website.

 

 

 

Everyone's saying how Constraction Luke Skywalker's head looks terrifying, and I'm just sitting here thanking the heavens it actually exists!

A while ago I created a skin for a hypothetical Self-MOC that used a human head. The head was blonde and had blue eyes. The Luke head fits that description perfectly!

What were they expecting Luke's head to look like? Because this looks as good as I could have hoped for! I don't see anything scary about it...

 

Personally, I think it was a poor choice to use luke in the first place. It would have been better if they had replaced him with a Stormtrooper or C3PO. Human features just don't work so well in constraction, it's best if it's a character fully clad in armor or a robot. The head is exactly as I expected it would be but it still looks odd.

 

Well on the contrary, the dc constraction sets "amored heroes and villain" which had green lantern, joker, and batman and hulk constraction had heads that were iffy or awful including such as The Joker's hair and hulks hands.

 

Luke on the other hand feels like lego has greatly improved themselves with human heads

 

By fully armored I meant head covered too, like a helmet. Which is why Darth Vader works well, while Luke on the other hand looks like a creepy mannequin. 

 

Everyone's saying how Constraction Luke Skywalker's head looks terrifying, and I'm just sitting here thanking the heavens it actually exists!

A while ago I created a skin for a hypothetical Self-MOC that used a human head. The head was blonde and had blue eyes. The Luke head fits that description perfectly! 

 

Now does all of Tahu's red sections (mask excluded obviously) come in Metru Blue?

What were they expecting Luke's head to look like? Because this looks as good as I could have hoped for! I don't see anything scary about it...

 

Personally, I think it was a poor choice to use luke in the first place. It would have been better if they had replaced him with a Stormtrooper or C3PO. Human features just don't work so well in constraction, it's best if it's a character fully clad in armor or a robot. The head is exactly as I expected it would be but it still looks odd.

Back on topic, I love that the Mask of Creation is getting it's own brick-built stand, it just adds that much more to an already fantastic set! By the way, does anyone else find it odd that Skull Warrior is the only skull guy to have a gunmetal skull while everyone else has silver to mach the silver bones and torsos? If anything, Grinder should have gotten the gunmetal skull as it would mach his color scheme much better. And for that matter, Skull Basher should have gotten a gunmetal skull so we could have a different color for both skull masks, plus it would mach his color scheme quite well.

I feel like this will be 99% MNOG. I must say, MNOG gets my vote, 2 was boring to me and vnog I really liked but it wasn't great atmosphere-wise. MNOG had really great personality and storytelling. 

 

My dad wants to use one of my Bionicles for a demonstration for teaching his grad students about plastic moldings. Who is the best sacrificial lamb? O.o

The Protector of Fire.

 

Onua would be the best for that discussion I feel. The armor pieces and shoulder/ hammer pieces are incredible pieces of plastic molding with lots of intricate details.

My first memory was getting the very first Bionicle comic in the club magazine back in late 2000 as a wee lad in first grade and I instantly fell in love with it and read it over, and over, and over again. Unknown to my family or myself, I had an undiagnosed case of OCD and had just been diagnosed with Tourette Syndrome, so there was that. It was a crazy time in my life. It was also the same year my sister and I started getting into Pokemon.

No no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no, can I vote no on these more than once?!? NO. Just, nooooooo.

I just got Tahu and PoJ for V-day, they are pretty great sets. Tahu's shoulders atre a bit odd and the chestplate prevents him from looking down but these are minor issues. PoJ will likely be my favorite Protector, he is just really cool. Now I have two Toa and two Protectors, the other two are Onua and PoE.

I am 110% for weapon storage. Onua and Tahu and Pohatu(kind of) have it but that's it. 

I noticed in the entry list that the links to my entry photo and topic do not work, is there anyway I can get that fixed?

here is the topic link:http://www.bzpower.com/board/topic/17335-bbc-69-heat-vision-rahkshi/

and here is the entry photo:http://www.brickshelf.com/gallery/lupa/heatvisionrahkshi/dsc_0100.jpg

We should have a tv show which could replace Chima's time slot since it's over. A 20 min program would be awesome.

This is amazing. This is going to be very hard to beat.

 

Just one question though, why is there orange paint on the right shoulder pad?

Orange paint? There is no paint on anything, it's likely the lighting.

 

 

Awwwwww yeah LEGO fixed the file so the BIONICLE magazine insert is available digitally. Booyah.

Awesome! I've never seen that Battle for the Region of Fire insert. Really nostalgic! Reminds me of similar inserts they had in 2005-08

 

-NotS

 

 

Yeah, those were always my favorite parts of the Lego Magazine.

 

The colors are messed up on the Protectors on another page, though. Specifically the Protectors of Stone and Jungle.

 

I actually wish the PoS looked like that, the brown and candy apple green look really nice together! Although, that color scheme should be given to a representative of the Jungle region. 

Thank you everyone for the kind words!

Oh wow, now this is a formidable contest entry. It has a very clear CCBS structure, which is also very smooth with good flow, and you also made it look striking similar to the original character. I like all the specialized CCBS bits, like the clawed toes, curved spine, and wicked staff. Quite an imposing son of Makuta. My only real complaint is the use of the trans yellow panels; it's not exactly going against the overall color scheme, but since that's the only place its really used, I find it a bit clashing.

Great job, and good luck in the contest!

 Yeah unfortunately have very little in the way of trans yellow aside from those pieces. They are the only shells I have in that size and I really liked how  they looked. I would have much rather had them in solid yellow or had other trans yellow shells to balance their use but as it is now, I admit they look a bit out of place. 

 I actually used the front picture as the entry picture since it shows it off best. I'll update the op to reflect this to save confusion. Thank you for your kind words! I love the "chicken-walker" leg style and I use it whenever possible. 

I loved the Ignika ark and I loved the seriousness and epic tone it set, so yes that should return. That being said, why not both? I think they could have the mystery while also have an epic tone. Having villains that pose a threat aren't going mess around and I want villains that are intimidating and ruthless. Having the setting be mysterious while the conflicts are epic and dire would be a good balance between the two 'feels' imo.

Thanks! Btw, I like how you did Malum's claws in your entry. Yeah I still have trouble photographing models with lots of black. The black chest area is where the two horizontal black hero torsos line up with a black savage planet paw in the middle.