~ShadowBolt~

2008 followed closely by 2006.  It was great to see everything come full circle again with the original characters returning for their last go around.  

Probably the 2008 sets topic. Before it got spammy and shut down, it was one of the funnest places on the forum to be for someone who truly enjoyed the sets.

I'm not following the BZPRPG at all so I have no idea who these characters are or their role, but those are some really impressive drawings. Really nice work there.

The Nuva were the best in my opinion. The silver armor and upgraded weapons made them look like vastly superior Toa to my childhood mind.

 

 

 

A lot of prototypes were test parts for sets that were never made, or were eventually made much differently than the initial plan. For example, it is my personal belief that the prototype Carapar-color Strakk helmet would've been used for the Element Lord of Rock, or something like that, that never ended up being produced. There's a gold-blended Tarix out there too. So there are a lot of prototypes sitting around that were never used, yes. And then, what's Lego going to do with these parts? Destroy them? Nah... so they give them away.Pretty sure that's it.

Actually, it is policy in the LEGO Group (confirmed here) to destroy most prototypes because they may not be up to the same safety and quality standards as finished parts, and so having them out of the LEGO Group's hands could reflect badly on the company and result in liabilities.

I must admit I'm quite surprised to hear that.

 

Yes, same here.

 

I would imagine that if you work in set design for Lego, creating prototype parts is just another part of your job. At the end of the day, most of these parts, while interesting are at the end of the day inferior to what Lego puts out for their sets.

Looking back, I can't believe how basic the first sets looked compared to the ones that came in 2006 and after. It's amazing how far Lego has come with set design.

I guess you could see it that way.

 

 

 

Changing the logo, or at least minimizing the use of Hapori Tohu in the site layout, might be more worthwhile. To us, it's our forum's mascot and protector. To the average LEGO fan, it's a weird (and as you say, eerie) robot face that doesn't have any obvious connection to LEGO, and stares down at you from the top of every page. An average LEGO fan would not understand that it has any connection to LEGO, and might think they stumbled onto a Transformers or Gundam site. If we could create a new header that exemplifies both our heritage as a BIONICLE site and our wider focus on all things LEGO, I'd be all for that. Perhaps something based on LEGO Technic gears, since those are not something unique to BIONICLE, Technic, or any one theme, but they are already a prominent part of the site layout and identity.

You know, I never thought about that, but it's so obvious and brilliant.

 

-Gata

 

You want to remove Hapori Tohu!? Treason!

 

No need to remove Him entirely, but I'm sure something could be done to show how our site is related to LEGO.

 

-Gata

 

Thank you. I never advocated for removing Tohu's image from the site. He could still remain our mascot, but our domain name shows nothing about how it is a Lego forum (if we were going to change to a Lego fan site, which we should). I Googled "Lego Forums" and BZPower is currently on the bottom of page 3 (it may vary for other people), but that's pretty far back. No way are we going to get new members through Google searches unless we change the focus of our site.

 

It's far from dead, but unless something gets done by the staff, it's not going to last much longer than another 18-24 months before the place becomes devoid of activity.

I made this prediction two years ago.

 

I was wrong. This place is a cockroach that refuses to die, even after the nuclear bomb of line cancellation should have spelled DOOM in big bold letters. That doesn't mean that it can't be improved, that we can't have more activity or whatever, but this place isn't going to close down next week due to lack of activity.

 

Haha you're quite right. I was going to say a year, but I thought about it and honestly I felt like it was going to be more like 2-3 years before it's only 20 people active at any time. Right now, there's only been 60 people active in the past 20 minutes, back in the day, it used to be hundreds (I seem to remember it even reaching a thousand one summer? someone correct me if I'm wrong). Even if expanding the site only doubles or triples the amount of people online, I think it's worth it and it could easily add several years to the lifespan of this site.

What I personally would like to see is the site change domain names to something of the effect of "LegoPower" or something and compete with other generic Lego fan sites. Obviously, this place was always geared to the 13 and under crowd, and that wouldn't need to change. Basically, the BZPower section would simply become a subforum and we would have other small subforums for the big Lego lines. You could even keep some of the old BZP skins for th eolder members and have several Bionicle images and graphics spread throughout the entire site as an "inside joke" to appease the older members. The blogs would remain the same also.

But I would like to see an emphasis on sparking growth in the off topic forums. There should be discussion (age appropriate of course) of whatever is going on in the world. We have members from all around the world so there is a great opportunity to discuss current events as they happen (music, technology, pop culture, hobbies, news, etc). That would simply allow for people on this board to connect on a level that they hadn't before. Obviously this site prospered with the COT forum as a small bonus to all the Bionicle discussion, but I think that would get more activity on this site.

But most importantly, the focus has to be on changing this board into a generic Lego forum that is friendly to the pre-teen crowd. I'm in college right now and I obviously wouldn't gain much from a site like that. However, I do appreciate all the good times I had on the old BZP and BS01 while the two websites were at their respective peaks. I would like to see the site take the initiative to make that happen again rather than sit around and die slowly because that is what is going to happen. I've looked around this forum and honestly, I can only find around 4-5 topics to post in each day (if I really was trying to post and get active again), and that's honestly not a very positive sign for this forum. It's far from dead, but unless something gets done by the staff, it's not going to last much longer than another 18-24 months before the place becomes devoid of activity.

 

Yeah, Bungie will more than likely do very well on all of it, maybe not PS3 (though, like GoW said, ps3 usually got the short end of the stick on multiplats)

Though, if I'm getting any version, it'll be the 360 version. I have a 360, no need to buy a One or PS4. I don't care about graphics. I can't even use HDMI because I only have a tube TV. A big tube TV, but not HDMI-capable. so yeah

i'll stick with the 360 version, unless i magically get a ps4/xbone.

The PS4/Xbone ONLY support HDMI, hence the reason I'm not even considering either.

 

That's like saying you're not buying a laptop because it doesn't have a CD Drive or a Floppy disc drive. Those technologies are outdated and there's better ways to transmit data nowadays.

I couldn't tell you the last time I used the old red/white/yellow cables once I got the newer 360, the quality of the graphics is so much better.

I'm not saying that post count is the ultimate decider, but the forum does need to do more to get the off-topic discussions up and going. Having the site effectively tell you that it is not going to reward you for getting involved in a section is only going to discourage members from using it.

And forums that do have more active general discussions tend to do better from my experience. I've joined several sites and gotten involved simply because I liked the environment in general and I branched out to the site-specific categories that brought me to the site in the first place.

I'm not an expert on maintaining forums nor have I been active because I have other things to do in my life and being over the age of 18 means I'd rather be on other forums that deals with other subject matter than this one. But this site has always been oriented on discussing Bionicle among preteens and young teenagers with older members working on the framework and providing support to keep the site running.

The pool for Bionicle fans is never getting any bigger but Lego has many other lines ongoing and there are several other communities out there devoted to Lego but they're more adult based. All BZP has to do is find a way to get younger kids who are into the more popular brands here. So that means a complete reorganization of the forums, changing the ranking system of members ( you could even keep the old Bionicle system for older members if thats even possible), changing the domain name, updating the home page of the site, redoing the focus of news articles. Its doable, and its been done before. All that needs to happen is for Admins and senior moderators who know what they're doing to step up and get it done even though there will be many upset members.

Also, making post count count in off-topic does wonders for activity on a forum. I've been on other incredibly popular forums and they had lots of activity in their specific sections of the forum but one of the largest draws was their respective off-topic/general discussion forums which gets people to post and get to know each other outside of specific conversations.

I honestly would not over think this at all. Many of the sizing issues come from the sets becoming more and more detailed and articulate over the years (which is an improvement because I hated how the original Toa couldn't move at all). It does get awkward when you have 2003 sets next to 2008 sets, but you're just going to have to accept they're built to different scales due to real life limitations.

I would just base everything off of how tall the respective characters were to each other in the most recent sets. The Voya Nui -- Karda Nui sets for consistency.

I think the golden days for me was around 2006-2008 when the storyline was picking up and reaching its climax and the forums were still incredibly active. It was a great time to be into Bionicle.

This seems like something that would fit best as fan fiction. If you fixed a few details and fleshed out what you wrote, the story has potential.

I may be simply confused, but how would any corruption of the Mask of Life affect Mata Nui?

I really should get all 4 of the DVD's for old times sake.

think about it this way: Bionicle sold perfectly fine from 01-08. In 09, the sales dropped significantly with the Glats. My theory is that the Glats didn't look Bionicle enough, and didn't attract anyone. HF isn't increasing in revenue, by what I have read, and if it hits just one drop, that might be all it takes to kill it off. I am not sure about Bionicle replacing it, although I would like that.

 

Aanchir, you say that HF's loose storyline could help it replenish its fanbase as some fans out grow it. But There are two reasons why that fails to stand up to Bionicle's complex storyline:

 

1. Anyone who would be interested in a story as cliche and un-wow-ing as HF's wouldn't mind buying plenty of Bionicle sets as well, as they likely wouldn't even care much if they could comprehend the story, assuming they missed earlier years.

 

2. HF's storyline is without a doubt less attractive to early teens than Bionicle's, and no youngster would have minded buying a Bionicle either. That means that while Bionicle could get 7-18 year olds buying it (i would still be buying bionicle sets if it were still running), HF can only really get 5-10 year olds. While there will be some teens buying it, that number of teens buying HF would not be as large as the number buying Bionicle.

I think the allure of Bionicle was that it was mysterious and magical for its time. Just like Lord of the Rings, Star Trek, Harry Potter, Twilight, and all other brands similar. They attract their audiences in the same way. Lego just needs to find a different formula. That's all.

Creating biomechanical characters and giving them human names takes the mystery out of the equation for me and I think thats one of the area's where Hero Factory fails as well as being too "childish".

The best were the original Toa Nuva masks. They took a while to grow on me, but when I did I really liked them and that's how I identified with those characters for all those years until they got remade for the Karda Nui storyline.

The worst has to be either the Mistka Nuva masks or some of the Inika masks. They looked good for what the designers intended, an organic feel. But I felt that the organic rubbery texture on the masks didn't make sense with the electric theme the Inika had.

I am missing a few, but the few I am missing includes not just released combo models, but all of the combo and alternate models. I also have almost all promotional sets, and most of the collectibles.I need a total of 4 sets to have every set not including any combo/alternate/promotional sets and roughly 15 sets to have every combo/alternate/promotional sets! I'm going to release a topic with pictures and everything when my collection is complete.And to make it even better, myself and my friends ( total of 3 of us.) Are going to try to build every set from ground zero in under 24 hours.But another question I had always wondered, does Greg have all of the sets? I mean, I feel like if I made a awesome story line and a company made my idea real, I would own all of them, but that is just me.MC

Don't quote me but I remember Greg answering several questions on that topic when members used to be able to PM whenever and from what i recall, he only bought a few sets a year if that many.

It's a toss up between the Rahkshi, Makuta, and the Barraki. I wanna go with the Rakhshi as they started the trend of canister sets having knee joints. Bionicle wasn't going to last beyond 03/04 if the sets couldn't bend their knees.

Takanuva's sparkly clear Avokhii from 2003.

2006. They were all so cool and unique even though the masks were slightly disappointing.

The Boxor. But then again, I was 7-8 at the time.

Gresh and Tuma.