Old Sets by New Standards?

[Banana Gunz]

A lot of people hail the original/classic sets to be the best there was. But what if you saw 2001's Toa Mata Tahu on shelves today and had never known anything about Bionicle before. Would you think that LEGO is out of their minds, or would you say that it's genius? Would they really be good sets at all if they were released today? 

[fishers64]

It's the new gear revolution! New action posability, from Bionicle!

 

Er, I'd at least pick one up, just for the sake of finding out how clunky they were. I would miss the hands, but I think I'd admire the cool weapons. It would make for a nice display piece, if nothing else. 

 

HF sets don't make good display pieces IMO. They kinda look ugly compared to the regal and elegant Bionicle sets. But HF is better for roleplay and MoCing, so I'd probably put the new old ones up to look tall and proud while posing Jimi all wacky and then disassembling him again to test my latest large set theory. 

[Sumiki]

If LEGO did that today, the sales would be worse than Galidor.

[believe victims]

If LEGO did that today, the sales would be worse than Galidor.

 

I'm gonna have to call that bull. Nothing could flop as bad as Galidor besides Galidor.

[Sumiki]

 

If LEGO did that today, the sales would be worse than Galidor.

 

I'm gonna have to call that bull. Nothing could flop as bad as Galidor besides Galidor.

 

Galidor sets were action figures with simplistic assembly and ridiculously hard-to-use parts. While the sets of a Mata re-release would never objectively approach the horrific levels of Galidor, after over a decade of improvements, what potential new fans would actually like them?

 

Perhaps the number of sets sold would increase, but I'm pretty convinced that the percentage would be worse than Galidor's.

Edited August 30, 2014 by Sumiki

[TBK]

With a few tweaks, I think anything closely inspired by the detail, colors, and playability of the Toa Mata sets would do LEGO well in sales. But in consideration of HF's audience (who generally know little of the Technic side of Bionicle), to sell them now as they were may not be the best idea.

 

Then again, it might just be different enough that everyone absolutely loves it over the smoothed-over design of Hero Factory. Who knows.

[Toatapio Nuva]

The sets would still look awesome and would attract attention due to their creative canister design and bright colors. One problem that would hinder their success would be lack of posability, though. Then again, the gears would be welcomed.

[Axilus Prime]

Their range of motion is severely limited, it would turn off new fans.

 

That said, I'd still like it if I got them somehow.

[Tuuli]

I would love to see the old building styles make a comeback "Lego Technic: Bionicle" and I think they would sell just as great as they were sold back in 2001. You just can't beat the classics.

[Aanchir]

I'd definitely be more skeptical about classic BIONICLE sets today than I was back then. Today, I feel like the LEGO Group has a profound mastery when it comes to making relatable, articulated action figure characters, so seeing a new line of characters with limited articulation and scrawny one-piece limbs like the Toa Mata would definitely feel very weird.

 

Even the Bohrok, fantastic sets packed with functionality, would feel weird today. After all the variety I've gotten used to with Hero Factory, I wouldn't be too keen on buying multiple ten-dollar sets with the same exact build. Particularly if, after buying one or two, I realized how very specialized many of their parts were compared to modern constraction or Technic sets.

 

Smaller sets like Turaga would also seem out-of-place among today's sets. The Turaga used a lot of less specialized parts than the larger sets, it's true. They were mostly built from basic Technic in the end. But they still had very little uniqueness (just minor differences in their proportions), unlike things like the Mixels which frequently offer twice as many parts and a lot more variety for just a dollar more.

 

And collectible packs? I doubt I'd have any interest in those today. Even with the collectible minifigures I prefer to feel the packages to know what I'm getting before I get it, and those have a lot more uniqueness and value on their own than functionally identical masks that only serve as accessories for larger sets. A complete collection of 16 unique minifigures is not nearly as expensive as a complete collection of Kanohi, Krana, or — worst of all — Kraata. And most of the time, the individual masks don't have a lot of value except as part of a larger collection, unlike the CMFs whose charming designs make them a lot more special than simple recolors of a part you could just as easily get in other sets. I'm a bit weary of blind-packaged collectibles after so many years buying Pokémon and Yu-Gi-Oh cards as a teenager — I wouldn't fault other people from collecting things like those, but I'm old enough to recognize that the effort I put into collecting them is not proportionate to what I personally get out of them in the end.

 

Now, the larger sets are where things get tricky. Some, like Exo-Toa, would not impress me nearly so much today as they did back then. $40–50 for a Technic set that boasts few particularly impressive functions, and which you can use to boost a BIONICLE or Hero Factory character's height, lock up their interesting functions, and nerf their articulation? Not terribly impressive. If I were a kid, I might still buy it on account of its good looks. As an adult, I'd quickly realize its shortcomings as soon as I looked up a review or tried to build it for myself on LEGO Digital Designer (something I do frequently with new sets that intrigue me). And I'd have a hard time spending $25 for Makuta or the Gukko when sets like Evo XL Machine and Dragon Bolt have similar piece counts, similar functionality, better articulation, and pieces that better suit my building style.

 

Other sets, like the Rahi, might be more tempting. The high prices would be disconcerting (especially for sets that are pretty much straight Technic, since the Technic theme today tends to offer a very good price-per-piece unless it includes power funtions), but large Technic animals that can battle each other are things you don't see in sets anymore, and they're definitely an interesting concept! Back in 2001, I actually passed up on getting Muaka and Kane-Ra in order to get the much less interesting Manas, a mistake I definitely would not make today. The Nui-Rama lack a lot of articulation, but they are still charming designs that I could easily imagine paying $20 for. However, it'd be harder to justify paying $40–50 for the Nui Jaga, a set I loved back in the day.

 

Of course, it's worth noting that I was a teensy bit skeptical about BIONICLE even when it was new. Back when I saw the first teasers for it in Technic leaflets, the specialized, rounded shapes of the masks confused me — they were not at all like the geometric, functional Technic pieces I was used to. Thankfully, back then I was not as discerning in my purchases than I am now. I took a risk and became a lifelong fan of what turned out to be a lot more enjoyable than previous Technic sets I had owned.

[Matoro Zeliph]

I would hecks yeah buy it! It includes gear functions!!!

[MrSciFiGuy]

I personally loved the 01 canisters and their design, and I know I would buy them too. But funny thing is, when I saw the Toa Nuva sets for sale, and I didnt know much of that part of the story at the time, I thought it was some knock off and I hated them. Oh how I came to regret that...

[Ghidora131]

If LEGO did that today, they would probably realize they had a brilliant idea, but too basic sets. So, they would make them be nuva in the second wave, and give them a drastic re-design.