Building A Bionicle Collection!

[Munty]

Hi folks, welcome to my first significant thread here at BZP! Here I'm going to be sharing my journey of completion with anyone who's interested (and hoping that at least a few people are!) But first here's a bit of history and the reason for my sudden shopping spree!So Bionicle went live in 2000 for me as I fall into the European bracket (being British as I am!) It was advertised for 5-16 year olds according to Wikipedia so I would've been about 14 years old at the time, making it a very acceptable pastime! I can't recall the specifics of what happened in the following years but I do know I collected all 6 original Toa rather quickly and quite a lot of the collectable Kanohi too. I played the Mata Nui Online Adventure Game when it was still being released which was excellent but rather frustrating as I was continually stuck at impassable locations while the story was updated! (For nostalgia's sake I replayed this game a few days ago in one sitting! Still love it!!!)Anyway, my collection ended with a bunch of Toa Mata, Toa Nuva, Bohrok, Bohrok Kal, Bohrok Va and Turaga (along with the masks and Krana of course) I also came to have a Boxor and some Nui Rama at some point but being Titan kits I'm not going to concentrate too much on them as this thread progresses!So a few weeks ago I went to visit my Mum and helped her put some stuff up in the loft (attic for you Westerners!) And lo and behold there's a box of my Bionicle army! Of course I brought them down and had a play, loved them again instantly and brought them all home with me when I came! Sadly I couldn't find ANY of my extra Kanohi or a single Turaga so the collection is now slightly smaller than it once was but this is what I brought back with me from my mum's...Now, when I decide to do things I generally do them pretty big. So I spent much of my weeks holiday on ebay and came home about £150 worse off which was nice. I scored big on a bunch of Bitz from a very nice chap in London which I collected on my way home, saving a neat £30 postage I might add! I've since then recieved a whole bunch of other items and spent many hours trying to rebuild the Bitz I collected into complete kits. I've been rather successful and now have a whole bunch of extra sets which will shortly be sold to recoup some of my money (Not here though, please don't move my thread!) My collection of canister kits has now rocketed from about 15 to almost 60 and so as my collection continues to grow I wanted to share each step of the journey with anyone willing to listen.As they were the first kits ever released and I've had all six of them for more than a decade I think it's only fair to showcase the original Toa, later designated Mata, first and foremost! Each time I update this thread I'll post up the next stage of my collection (as it becomes complete) and I'll also catalogue my journey of discovery and how I manage to get my hands on each of the kits I need to complete the whole lot. I'd love to see some pics back from other members here of the sets that I'm displaying already. That means after you see my Toa Mata you could share an image of yours too. I know they'll all look the same so feel free to just write what you have after each update and tell us whether you[ve completed this set or not but if you have some neat Lego terrain or cool Toa hero poses that make your collection stand out then please share it! Otherwise, there's nothing wrong with pride and this thread isn't meant to be JUST about my collection but about collecting Bionicle in general so please share a pic or two if you want to! Just remember not to jump ahead (so no Bohrok or Toa Nuva until after I show my sets!)Without further ado here are my Toa! And no, mine don't have cool Lego terrain or Toa hero poses, that was just a suggestion for you guys My next post will have some images of the bits I bought from the chap in London and what I managed to make them into. I'll also be unboxing some goodies I've just got from BrickLink but I'm still waiting for more from them so will probably be a while before that happens. Either way please post with info or pics of your Toa Mata, make them custom if you like, just ensure they're still Toa Mata :biggrin:Thanks for looking and hopefully contributing, Tim

[Makuta_of_Oz]

This collection of older sets is certainly nostalgic!Since there are more posts to come, why not buy premier membership and make a blog about it?And no I'm not an adbot or a fraudster.

[T.B.O.C]

I love this! I'm currently trying to finish my collection as well... if only I had the time and money to do so very quickly...Good luck on the rest!

[Zarohum]

Yeah, good luck. I've got about half the sets, but most of the ones I'm missing are early on or expensive, so I'll probably never get a complete collection.

[Reya]

This makes me want to go find my Toa and build them. They look so awesome. :DI love nostalgia.

[Munty]

Thanks for the interest and encouragement guys! And Zarohum I have plenty of duplicates of the early sets so take a look at my B/S/T thread and you might find some that you need!Today is a happy day for me though as my family is gone for the weekend and the last of my BrickLink bitz arrived so it's rebuilding time! First off here are the bitz I got;http://i1198.photobucket.com/albums/aa460/Tim_Munt/Bionicle/BrickLink2.jpghttp://i1198.photobucket.com/albums/aa460/Tim_Munt/Bionicle/BrickLink1.jpgAs you can imagine, these bits should help to complete a lot of sets! Here's a list of the ones I'm going to try to complete today...1x Turaga Vakama1x Turaga Nokama1x Turaga Matau1x Turaga Onewa1x Turaga Whenua1x Turaga Nuju1x Kohrak Va1x Rahaga Norik1x Rahaga Pouks1x Matoran Kopeke1x Matoran Kazi1x Tahu Mata1x Pohatu Mata1x Rahkshi Guurahk1x Rahkshi Kurahk1x Piraka Hakann1x Piraka Reidak1x Nui Rama (pair)1x BoxorSo quite a bit to do but each set is only missing a few pieces. I have a Muaka (or Kane Ra, it's the Yellow one!) that is also getting some running repairs today but will remain a long way off complete when they're finished!Now let's take a look at some before and afters shall we? There's a lot to get done!First up are the rather sorry looking Turaga of Mata Nui. They've had a ###### of a time haven't they? Morbuzakh, Makuta, Dark Hunters, Visorak, and after all of that they become the poor leprous old bunch we see here today...http://i1198.photobucket.com/albums/aa460/Tim_Munt/Bionicle/P2110041.jpgYep, some of them have fared better than others (I actually made every single one of these Turaga from my London Box of Bitz!) but only Whenua has the correct coloured face and his weapon is missing too! Here they are feeling better after a refit with the correct coloured pieces and a few extra feet!http://i1198.photobucket.com/albums/aa460/Tim_Munt/Bionicle/P2110051.jpgHaving just watched all of the Bionicle movies for the first time (Meh by the way...) I think it's interesting how the Matoran keep changing shape due to 'time ion the spheres' and the 'kini-nui rebuilding' but the Turaga seem to be a pretty basic shape through all of the films. Why aren't they changed in the rebuilding like the other Mata Nui Matoran?Anyway, speaking of Mata Nui lets give Pohatu and Tahu a quick patch up. Must've been a good night out or a bad days teambuilding as this guy is legless!http://i1198.photobucket.com/albums/aa460/Tim_Munt/Bionicle/P2110044.jpgTahu only needs a new mask, Pohatu recieves a nice prosthesis and some finger replacements though. Soon all is done and as they're only Mata there is no after image...Time for some quick Titan repairs now as the Boxor and Nui Rama need some brief attention. I actually scratch built this Boxor from the Bitz Box as well which I'm pretty chuffed about! Sadly he has some incorrect pieces and a few missing parts so time to remedy that... (Actually the only reaon the Nui Rama is missing parts is because I used them to finish this Boxor anyway so it's only right that they're finished together!)http://i1198.photobucket.com/albums/aa460/Tim_Munt/Bionicle/P2110042.jpgA new mask for the driver and orange pieces all round bring these two back to perfect health. The change is minimal so no after pic here either but the Matoran assures me he is most grateful...Oops! Seems I didn't order a replacement Rahi mask for the Nui-Rama so he won't be flying for a while Will add it to the list for next time!Anyway, it must be time to finish off the other little guys by now, got two Rahaga, a Bohrok Va, Mata Nui's Kopeke and a Voya Nui's Kazi to deal with! Here they all are with bits wrong and missing! Let's get fixin'! (missed the Va from pic somehow...)http://i1198.photobucket.com/albums/aa460/Tim_Munt/Bionicle/P2110043.jpgKazi was a recent purchase that had bits missing, not all of which I had in my Box, so he gets a new leg but still lacks a final chest piece to finish him. Korahk Va is a myriad of incorrect pieces but can now be restored to 100% completion as can Kopeke after a new mask and hands! Rahaga Norik swaps two light red pieces for the correct Dark red shade and fixes his staff before being declared complete and Pouks attempts to do the same but fails. He needs a new disk and an internal piece for his head but it seems the shoulder parts which I'd assumed were wrong (appearing light brown rather than dark flesh) are actually correct. The colour simply clashes with other dark flesh pieces in the model, strange but apparently the norm! Once he fixes his staff he potters off to join Norik. Here are all the little guys back in their prime!http://i1198.photobucket.com/albums/aa460/Tim_Munt/Bionicle/P2110053.jpgNow it's the turn of our two Rahkshi subjects who are in very poor shape. Guurahk and Kurahk are in a sorry state with feet, weapons and even most of a head missing! Luckily all of their replacement parts arrived today so we can get them back in order!http://i1198.photobucket.com/albums/aa460/Tim_Munt/Bionicle/P2110045.jpgAnother Whoopsie here as it seems either I ordered or was sent the wrong spine piece for Kurahk! That means he'll stay incomplete for now... I also ordered a pair of new weapons for him which are oddly different colours despite being from the same seller. One is light gray and the other is pearl gray which is a shame as I can't rememdy this without re-ordering. Of course I'll need to do that anyway and this one is definitely the vendor's fault so might be ok, we'll see... Anyway here they both are feeling a bit better, though Kurahk will for now at least, not be joining his friend in the for sale box!http://i1198.photobucket.com/albums/aa460/Tim_Munt/Bionicle/P2110054.jpgOnto the last repair now and it's the poor poor Piraka's up next! Both of these guys are only about half complete and I only decided to repair them because I had the more valuable pieces already (spines, torsos etc.) So here they are in almost snake form!http://i1198.photobucket.com/albums/aa460/Tim_Munt/Bionicle/P2110046.jpgLuckily I managed to get all the pieces needed to repair these chaps (and some were already in the boxes before I ordered to save some pennies!) So Hakann was an easy job with his feet, shins and weapon already waiting for the new arm pieces to arrive. Reidak was a mess though, the only bits I already had put aside were his shins and nice shiny gold gun! Even that was incomplete though so it took a fair bit of work to get him looking like this again!http://i1198.photobucket.com/albums/aa460/Tim_Munt/Bionicle/P2110055.jpgI almost forgot that I also bought some parts to ocmplete the guys in my current lineup! These consist of two Toa Metru and two Vahki. One Vahki only needed a weapon so that's been done 'off camera' but the others need rather more attention! Below are the headless Vahki Nuurakh and the Toa Vakama and Onewa who are missing face and arms respectively!http://i1198.photobucket.com/albums/aa460/Tim_Munt/Bionicle/P2110048.jpgFairly minimal work was needed to put these three in order once donors were found so they're all now back in the lineup!http://i1198.photobucket.com/albums/aa460/Tim_Munt/Bionicle/P2110056.jpgThe only other bits I have are for my Muaka (I checked, that's the yellow one!) but I only bought these to fill up my trolley at BrickLink and there isn't enough to finish it! The Muaka itself was part of my London Bitz Box and consisted of a head and neck assembly and the track assembly. Both were completely wrong so I stripped it down and managed to rebuild about half of the model. Here's what it looks like before any repairs...http://i1198.photobucket.com/albums/aa460/Tim_Munt/Bionicle/P2110049.jpgAlthough it doesn't look like it in this next picture, this guy has actually had quite a lot of work done! Mostly incorrect colours being rectified but some structural work as well. I took away his left arm to make his right shoulder instead and have also counted up what further pieces are needed to complete this set. It's fairly minimal so I've added what I need to my BrickLink wanted list. Next time I order I'll finish him off too!http://i1198.photobucket.com/albums/aa460/Tim_Munt/Bionicle/P2110057.jpg(I need 2 infected masks for this if anyone can help me out! Please pm me as this is NOT a trading thread!)That's me pretty much done for today, been pretty successful from where I'm sitting! I now have 3 new canister sets for sale as well as 6 more that have been added to my core collection (2 Metru, 2 Piraka and 2 Vahki) On top of that my small set collection has grown thanks to the completion of all six Mata Nui Turaga (save for Onewa's drill!) 2 Rahaga and one more Kolhii player. Bargain! Got the Boxor finished as well and seeing as I now have two of these sets assembled (one in each form) I may or may not part with one of them.So yes, successful day! I'll post again with my next canister set soon but in the meantime please keep posting about what you have, or as has been happening what from each set you need. It would be nice to inspire a few other people to begin collecting again while I share my growing selection with you all. For now, I've spent quite enough time typing, going to see if I can build anything else from the Bitz Box! Currently got half of Brutaka in there but not got much hope of saving him sadly...(EDIT - Turns out Brutaka has fared remarkably well! Got well over half of him reassembled but still missing a bunch of his bling which sadly includes his mask!)Thanks for reading, T

Edited February 12, 2012 by Black Six

[Black Six]

If you're going to be posting an image larger than 100KB, especially a lot of them, please link to them rather than displaying them.Also, this seems like it would be better suited for a blog entry - there's no discussion going on here, just you logging your progress. So I'm going to have to close this up.