Hero Factory (HBS?) and Old-School Bionicle

[Aanchir]

Those aren't the beams I'm talking about. I mean the solid straight beams with holes. All those pieces you showed don't need armor applied, new or old.

No piece needs armor applied, necessarily. You can use any beam on its own, depending on the look you want for the resulting model. But there are times when you WANT to apply armor to one of these pieces, as obviously occured to the creators of Krekka or the Kikanalo.

 

Yeeeah, aanhir, most people don't consider Bionicle lower limb pieces as "beams". :t

Well, that's what they are. Beams. Even with armor built into the piece, that doesn't change the identity of the part itself, any more than a brick with molded detail on the sides ceases to be a brick.

 

IMO, the fact that the CCBS has fewer instances where it makes the armor and beam the same piece, and instead makes shapes, sizes and details completely interchangeable, is one of its strongest assets. In BIONICLE, if you wanted a character's lower leg to have different length, different motifs, or different outlines, you'd often have to change all three, because they were all specific to a particular piece. But by separating every part of a character's body into shells, beams, and detail elements, the CCBS gives greater control to builders. Want to use the same armor shape on a character's lower legs as on their torso, or the same texture and motifs on their upper legs as on their shoulders? You can, even if all those parts of the model have different proportions!

Edited October 23, 2014 by Aanchir

[Pohatu: Uniter of Stone]

I think that the two systems work quite well together. I use them together in my MOCs often, and it looks good.

[Rahkshi Lalonde]

 

Yeeeah, aanhir, most people don't consider Bionicle lower limb pieces as "beams". :t

Well, that's what they are. Beams. Even with armor built into the piece, that doesn't change the identity of the part itself, any more than a brick with molded detail on the sides ceases to be a brick.

 

IMO, the fact that the CCBS has fewer instances where it makes the armor and beam the same piece, and instead makes shapes, sizes and details completely interchangeable, is one of its strongest assets. In BIONICLE, if you wanted a character's lower leg to have different length, different motifs, or different outlines, you'd often have to change all three, because they were all specific to a particular piece. But by separating every part of a character's body into shells, beams, and detail elements, the CCBS gives greater control to builders. Want to use the same armor shape on a character's lower legs as on their torso, or the same texture and motifs on their upper legs as on their shoulders? You can, even if all those parts of the model have different proportions!

 

 

yeah, but most people still don't refer to them when the say "beams". :u

 

also, i'm not ragging on the new system or anything, it's pretty cool. but you've got to admit the new shells are indeed thicker at base than the average Bionicle pin-based shell was. and how that can become a downside at times. :0

[Aanchir]

 

 

Yeeeah, aanhir, most people don't consider Bionicle lower limb pieces as "beams". :t

Well, that's what they are. Beams. Even with armor built into the piece, that doesn't change the identity of the part itself, any more than a brick with molded detail on the sides ceases to be a brick.

 

IMO, the fact that the CCBS has fewer instances where it makes the armor and beam the same piece, and instead makes shapes, sizes and details completely interchangeable, is one of its strongest assets. In BIONICLE, if you wanted a character's lower leg to have different length, different motifs, or different outlines, you'd often have to change all three, because they were all specific to a particular piece. But by separating every part of a character's body into shells, beams, and detail elements, the CCBS gives greater control to builders. Want to use the same armor shape on a character's lower legs as on their torso, or the same texture and motifs on their upper legs as on their shoulders? You can, even if all those parts of the model have different proportions!

 

 

yeah, but most people still don't refer to them when the say "beams". :u

 

also, i'm not ragging on the new system or anything, it's pretty cool. but you've got to admit the new shells are indeed thicker at base than the average Bionicle pin-based shell was. and how that can become a downside at times. :0

 

Which BIONICLE shell would you consider "average", then? The Toa Metru thigh shell is the only one I can think of that was less than three modules wide at its widest point. Well, that and this one, I guess. The shells from Kalmah, Takadox, the Toa Inika, and the Piraka (as well as both styles from the BIONICLE Stars) are all three modules wide, same as most Hero Factory shells. The shells from Carapar, Toa Mahri Matoro, and the shoulders of the Toa Inika are all four modules wide. The shell from Skrall and Vorox is five modules wide. I'd say considering all of those, three modules wide stands out a pretty typical shell size even in BIONICLE.

 

If you want a certain part of a character's body to be thinner than three modules, you can always use a shorter beam without any shell at all. Thanks to the ball joint in the center giving them some volume, you can do this without the resulting figure looking too scrawny — in fact, I personally feel like the bulge of the ball joint helps give a limb like this the suggestion of lean muscle. Making a custom limb is also still totally possible — parts like the basic Y-joint and ball joint with through hole are still totally available in CCBS-based sets, as are Technic half-beams. All things considered, I don't think the size of Hero Factory shells really limits one's options that much.

[Rahkshi Lalonde]

 

 

 

Yeeeah, aanhir, most people don't consider Bionicle lower limb pieces as "beams". :t

Well, that's what they are. Beams. Even with armor built into the piece, that doesn't change the identity of the part itself, any more than a brick with molded detail on the sides ceases to be a brick.

 

IMO, the fact that the CCBS has fewer instances where it makes the armor and beam the same piece, and instead makes shapes, sizes and details completely interchangeable, is one of its strongest assets. In BIONICLE, if you wanted a character's lower leg to have different length, different motifs, or different outlines, you'd often have to change all three, because they were all specific to a particular piece. But by separating every part of a character's body into shells, beams, and detail elements, the CCBS gives greater control to builders. Want to use the same armor shape on a character's lower legs as on their torso, or the same texture and motifs on their upper legs as on their shoulders? You can, even if all those parts of the model have different proportions!

 

 

yeah, but most people still don't refer to them when the say "beams". :u

 

also, i'm not ragging on the new system or anything, it's pretty cool. but you've got to admit the new shells are indeed thicker at base than the average Bionicle pin-based shell was. and how that can become a downside at times. :0

 

Which BIONICLE shell would you consider "average", then? The Toa Metru thigh shell is the only one I can think of that was less than three modules wide at its widest point. Well, that and this one, I guess. The shells from Kalmah, Takadox, the Toa Inika, and the Piraka (as well as both styles from the BIONICLE Stars) are all three modules wide, same as most Hero Factory shells. The shells from Carapar, Toa Mahri Matoro, and the shoulders of the Toa Inika are all four modules wide. The shell from Skrall and Vorox is five modules wide. I'd say considering all of those, three modules wide stands out a pretty typical shell size even in BIONICLE.

 

not wide, thick. i'm reffering to the base depth factoring in the socket required. as was bioniclepluslotr when they said they stick out weirdly from most beams. (plain techinc beams, like 2004 titans used.)

[Aanchir]

 

 

 

 

Yeeeah, aanhir, most people don't consider Bionicle lower limb pieces as "beams". :t

Well, that's what they are. Beams. Even with armor built into the piece, that doesn't change the identity of the part itself, any more than a brick with molded detail on the sides ceases to be a brick.

 

IMO, the fact that the CCBS has fewer instances where it makes the armor and beam the same piece, and instead makes shapes, sizes and details completely interchangeable, is one of its strongest assets. In BIONICLE, if you wanted a character's lower leg to have different length, different motifs, or different outlines, you'd often have to change all three, because they were all specific to a particular piece. But by separating every part of a character's body into shells, beams, and detail elements, the CCBS gives greater control to builders. Want to use the same armor shape on a character's lower legs as on their torso, or the same texture and motifs on their upper legs as on their shoulders? You can, even if all those parts of the model have different proportions!

 

 

yeah, but most people still don't refer to them when the say "beams". :u

 

also, i'm not ragging on the new system or anything, it's pretty cool. but you've got to admit the new shells are indeed thicker at base than the average Bionicle pin-based shell was. and how that can become a downside at times. :0

 

Which BIONICLE shell would you consider "average", then? The Toa Metru thigh shell is the only one I can think of that was less than three modules wide at its widest point. Well, that and this one, I guess. The shells from Kalmah, Takadox, the Toa Inika, and the Piraka (as well as both styles from the BIONICLE Stars) are all three modules wide, same as most Hero Factory shells. The shells from Carapar, Toa Mahri Matoro, and the shoulders of the Toa Inika are all four modules wide. The shell from Skrall and Vorox is five modules wide. I'd say considering all of those, three modules wide stands out a pretty typical shell size even in BIONICLE.

 

 

not wide, thick. i'm reffering to the base depth factoring in the socket required. as was bioniclepluslotr when they said they stick out weirdly from most beams. (plain techinc beams, like 2004 titans used.)

 

I guess? But that's an argument that cuts both ways. A CCBS shell has to stick off of a basic Technic beam a great deal from a Technic beam (assuming you attach it by a ball joint — flick missile pieces are another easy way to connect a Technic pin hole to a CCBS shell, which leaves less of a gap). But likewise, a BIONICLE shell often has to stick just as far off a CCBS beam, since the inner cavity of the shell usually isn't wide enough to accommodate the center ball joint. Some people try to blame the CCBS for BOTH of those faults, but when two parts are hard to connect to each other, it's not exactly fair to pile all the blame on just the newer of the two pieces.

[Rahkshi Lalonde]

all i said was the socket-required minimum depth was a downside the system presents when trying to stick the shell anywhere but one of the custom-molded limbs, is the system not allowed to have a downside? :0

[Aanchir]

all i said was the socket-required minimum depth was a downside the system presents when trying to stick the shell anywhere but one of the custom-molded limbs, is the system not allowed to have a downside? :0

Of course it is. I was just pointing out that earlier shells have just as much of a downside. You can't put a CCBS shell directly on a beam without an integrated ball joint, just as you can't put a BIONICLE shell directly on a beam with an integrated ball joint, or for that matter, directly on a ball joint. Both types of shell are designed with a specific type of connectivity in mind.