Aanchir

I can understand the diversity complaints, which doesn't really bother me since I'm not going to get a lot of the sets this year due to budget issues, but I'm not really understanding the coherent or purposeful complaints. I think Tahu 2016 looks way better than 2015, if anything his 2015 incarnation was way less coherent with the ugly exposed ball joints, gappy use of torso shells as shin armor (not a fan of that), and how the majority of his parts were reused CCBS stuff which I found really boring and made him lack character. Also you could see his gear box from the front view which looked pretty bad.  All the new parts  and use of technic pieces like bohrok eyes to fill out his silhouette really look great and give him a more coherent "robotic fire guy" look that fits in with the bionicle line better to me.

You definitely don't seem to understand what I mean by "coherent". The definition of "coherent" is "unified, sticking together" or "orderly, logical, and consistent". The 2015 Tahu wasn't flawless in my book (in fact, he might've been my least favorite of the 2015 Toa), but he was definitely more coherent than the 2016 version. He used consistent textures, colors, and motifs which were spread out effectively throughout his design. By contrast, the 2016 Tahu has a different texture on pretty much every part of his body. The texture on his thighs is different than the texture on his lower legs, which is different than the texture on his shoulders, which is different than the texture on his forearms (the last of which is the only thing that really stayed consistent from 2015 to 2016 versions, aside from him being taller than all the other Toa).

Color-wise, the new Tahu uses only three Bright Red pieces — the mask and the shells on his shins. His hands, feet, and head are all entirely different colors, not the same silver color like they were in this year's version, which I felt reinforced the robot look way more than a bunch of extraneous textures do. Because real robots aren't cluttered with useless detail — just look at Robonaut or Asimo.

What's more, 2015 Tahu felt very purposeful to me. The flared armor on his shoulders and legs, while it did make the back of his legs gappy, resulted in a loose, angular look that contrasted with the tightly bundled-up look seen on Kopaka, mirroring the contrast in their environments. He wasn't just using a bunch of different greeble parts because they were available, but rather using parts selectively because they fed into a look that was a lot more specific than just "robotic fire guy".

Things like the exposed ball joints on the sides of the torso really have nothing to do with how coherent a model is. And personally, those didn't even bother me that much, because unlike on the Creature of Fire where the exposed ball joints stick out, the exposed ball joints on Tahu didn't stick out markedly further than his chest plate. Instead, they actually helped fill the space between his chest plate and shoulders that would have otherwise been empty. The 2016 Tahu attempts to use Bohrok eyes to perform a similar function, but from what I've seen it's possibly even less effective. Unlike the ball joints, these Bohrok eyes DO stick out awkwardly from the sides of the chest, and don't even fully close up the gap between his chest and shoulders from front view.

In my opinion, the new Lewa and Gali are the epitome of the 2016 Toa designs, with tastefully organized color schemes, fairly consistent textures, and a number of creative design flourishes that actually help them stand out. Conversely, Tahu really exemplifies a lot of what I dislike about the 2016 Toa. Though, to his credit, he does have those Dark Azur accents that look really nice — I wish Lewa had more Bright Yellow in his color scheme so he'd have a nice contrasting color like that.

I'm most excited for Lewa, Gali, and their creatures. Lewa is my personal favorite of the 2016 Toa designs due to his coherent , but I can't help wanting Gali because she was my favorite of this year's Toa, and the 2016 version seems to make so many great design decisions.

The creatures are probably more equal to one another as stand-alone models, but in addition to Lewa and Gali having the best new designs in my book, they also have what I'd consider the best "unity" modes with their creatures. So that elevates them above the others for me. Uxar in particular gets high marks for an exciting function and some really creative use of Technic, CCBS, and even LEGO System elements. The Bright Yellow accents on Uxar also look divine and are something I think Lewa could've benefited from more of in his own color scheme.

I think the new chest plate looks alright, especially with the new decorations. But it's definitely way more specialized than this year's chest pieces, and while I'm fine with pistons, 20 of them might be overkill. Piling more and more pistons onto a piece makes them feel less like classic Bionicle in my eyes, not more.

Many of the best G1 Bionicle parts in my opinion were the ones that used pistons in sensible ways where they actually seemed to perform a useful function, not ones that just used them as meaningless decoration. More like the armor from the Protectors' and creatures' torsos than like the new shells on the Toa's torsos.

Overall, while there are some of the new sets I really like (particularly Lewa, Gali, and their creatures), I can't disagree with many of the criticisms leveled at the new Toa in general. They do feel less diverse, coherent, and purposeful on many levels than the 2015 Toa.

BS01 has a really nice Lewa review!

I absolutely love Lewa's design! It's so coherent and uses some really creative techniques for the upper arms and lower legs. I do think that he could use more yellow (which makes for a great accent color on Uxar), because his color scheme doesn't "pop" quite as much as Gali's or even the 2015 Lewa's, but other than that he's a stellar design, probably my favorite of the new 2016 Toa.

What changed, behind the scenes? Because between this wave and the Summer one, I'm actually really liking Ninjago. It's actually bothering to do aesthetic pastiches, as opposed to the "Skeleton-thing! Snake-thing! Generic high-tech vehicle!" approach.

I don't think there were any big dramatic changes behind the scenes, other than the theme getting recognized as an evergreen theme this year. At least one new designer (Nick Vas, a.k.a. Brickthing) joined the team, his first set to reach shelves being Master Wu Dragon, but I don't think that's the root cause of the sets getting more sophisticated.

Personally, I'd say what we've been seeing is a gradual change towards more sophisticated sets, but it felt abrupt because the designers didn't have as much time to work on the 2014 sets as other years. So the quality dipped a bit that year before getting back on track.

Man, seriously? That one big playset comes with ghost Cole and Nya in her new outfit, but the two smallest sets that also come with those characters have a human Cole and Nya in her 2015 duds for no discernable reason. So if you want the new stuff you have to buy the bigger set. That's actually pretty ###### from Lego's part.

I sort of feel the same way, but on the other hand, I've seen some comments from people who are quite happy about this year's version of Nya being in the Ninja Bike Chase set, since the only sets that included her this year were the $120 Final Flight of Destiny's Bounty and the $200 Temple of Airjitzu. So having her available in a set that probably costs $20 or so makes this version much easier to obtain.

And Tiger Widow Island isn't actually that expensive, judging from what I've seen. Judging from the Toysrus.ca listings from earlier this year, it's only going to be $50 or $60. Not to say that's not expensive, but it's cheaper than any of the sets Nya came in this year (aside from the LEGO Dimensions fun pack that had her in her samurai gear).

Looks like it a Kaukau Nuva that somebody tried to customize. However the mold stamp on the nose, and some other asymmetry could mean its a knockoff.

Maybe it's both — could be that somebody bought a knock-off set that had a brownish-red Kaukau Nuva, then tried to paint it so that it would look more like Gali's official mask. Of course, not knowing what kind of knock-off it might be, it's just as possible that it was painted like that when it was bought.

You'd think that the ninja would have gotten better at beating villains by now, and might realize that taking valuable objects frequently means that the villain of the season will manage to steal them.

They have gotten better at beating villains, I think, it's just each set of villains is different, and the techniques the ninja learn for fighting one set of villains might not be effective against the next. The ghosts exemplify this, in that they were only really vulnerable to water or deepstone, so things like Spinjitzu, Nya's Samurai Mech, or conventional martial arts weren't really effective against them.

What's more, the fact that the ninja's victories against the enemy prior to the season finale don't often last doesn't mean the ninja shouldn't at least try to stop their enemies. Even if the enemy does win back whatever plot trinket they're after, the ninja will have managed to stall them. Plus, it's not like the ninja know which of their battles is going to be a decisive one, or which of their adventures is a "season finale". They just have to try their best in each one and hope it makes a difference.

What's the alternative? Just wait around and let the bad guys get what they're after without a fight? Destroying whatever it is the bad guys are trying to get to win the day isn't always an option, and when it has been, the ninja have often attempted that (examples: trying to take the Fang Blades to Torchfire Mountain in Season 1, smashing Chen's Staff of Elements in Season 4).

These are some amazing sets; the only one I don't like is Misfortune's Keep, but it has Jay with an eyepatch, so it is quite tempting. Man, just what I need, another year where I want ALL the Ninjago sets!

 

True! Between the set designs, the minifigures, and the collectible "djinn blades", LEGO has made it very difficult to skip any of these sets. Fortunately, this is a much smaller wave than either the "Tournament of Elements" or "Possession" waves from this year were. Just seven sets and 15 or so new minifigures (not counting the Juniors sets).

Unless I looked at it wrong, it doesn't look like there will be a ghost Cole in these sets. I was kind of looking forward to that figure .

 

The sets do look really cool though. I'm digging those new shoulder pieces some of the ninja have.

Ghost Cole comes in Tiger Widow Island. Kind of a shame that Cole's Dragon just has the regular yellow face, though. Makes the ghost face that much more difficult to obtain.

Then get rid of the Ninjago subforum. If it's "struggling", why keep it around?

 

The media subforum could be split into "Bionicle" and "Everything Else".

 

People would probably only talk about Ninjago and Chima in "Everything Else" anyway.

Well ideally, I'd like BZPower to continue working to draw more Ninjago fans to the site, considering that the Ninjago theme continues to be one of the most successful LEGO themes out there, and is thriving in ways we only wish Bionicle could. Plus, the Ninjago subforum is not getting a lot of activity right now because we're both between seasons and between new waves of sets, but in the midst of each new season of the show it tends to get much more activity.

I agree with Lyi that it's probably counterproductive to divide up Bionicle and LEGO discussion more than they are already. Already, the distinctions between Bionicle Discussion and Bionicle Storyline & Theories are kind of muddled because the storyline of Bionicle is so intertwined with the sets and media. Creating a Bionicle Media subforum separate from both of those other subforums would only compound the confusion.

Eurobricks, another site I use a lot, has separate forums for LEGO Media and LEGO themes, sets, and MOCs. Over there, people are CONSTANTLY being told to keep Ninjago TV show discussion in the TV show topic and Ninjago set discussion in the sets topic, but the more it happens, the more futile it seems — the sets and show are related in so many ways that discussion of the sets naturally feeds into discussion of the story and vice-versa. I don't want BZPower to go down that same road, with productive discussions having to be interrupted all the time so they stay divided up in neat little boxes.

As for why Nuva masks seem worse... Well, to explain that, it's best to see this image from the G2 concept art (and this shows a problem I have with G2 as well)... We could have had masks that actually "coolified" the original shapes; we could have had something that made us go "MUST BUY!"... we could have had... this:

 

http://www.brickshelf.com/gallery/bonesiii/Bionicle/tahu_concept_art_cropped_6.png

I'm actually quite grateful we didn't have that. Not only does it barely look anything like the Toa we know and love, it barely even looks like a solid mask. It looks like disconnected bits of armor wrapped around an alien face.

In general I feel like the 2015 and 2016 masks are a good example of mask design done right. They take obvious cues from the masks that came before them (much more obvious than the old Nuva masks did, but again, that's something LEGO has gotten much better at as they've gotten more practice), but they still feel really coherent and solid and practical, not piecemeal and overdesigned.

I've kind of got mixed feelings on the Kanohi Nuva. Like, on the one hand, they became fairly iconic in their own right, especially after featuring in Bionicle: Mask of Light. And like many even more hated masks, I warmed up to them after painstakingly analyzing them to find out just what commonalities they had with the previous versions of the mask (because many of those commonalities aren't obvious).

On the other hand, there are many things that bothered me about them even when they were new. Why is the Akaku Nuva more Hau-shaped than Akaku-shaped, and why does it have a microphone? Why do the Kakama Nuva, Miru Nuva, and Kaukau Nuva have so little in common with the Kakama, Miru, and Kaukau? Why do they look so fleshy and organic? Why are they all so huge?

In general, G1 Bionicle didn't handle mask upgrades all that well, though it started to get better about it in 2008, and I think they finally started to master it around 2012 or 2013 in the Hero Factory theme. I think the G2 masks really exemplify how far LEGO has come. You don't have to stretch your brain so much to see the similarities with the masks they're based on. The 2015 masks of Fire, Ice, Earth, and Stone are all instantly recognizable for what they're based on, the Masks of Water and Jungle only slightly less so. And the 2016 versions, in turn, closely resemble the 2015 versions, but with new unifying motifs like the crystal patterns on the foreheads or the Nuva symbol runes.

I wasn't talking about how different they are as individuals, though. What I'm asking is "Would people rather have a second wave of what are essentially more protector figures?" You know, like getting a subsequent wave of Matoran. Not that I wouldn't like that anyway, but hey, the variety of these is still appreciated in my book.

Ah, alright, I get what you're saying. To be honest, I wouldn't mind if we get some regular, Protector-esque villagers as future $10 sets, but I definitely agree these creatures offer more variety than getting those sorts of figures two years in a row.

I also feel the need to mention, the "if I wanted Technic sets, I'd buy Technic sets" attitude neglects that even when they're built with Technic parts and building techniques, a Technic-based Bionicle or Hero Factory or Racers or Mindstorms set is usually much different from anything available in the Technic theme. The Technic theme, these days, is extremely grounded in real life. Gone are the days of wild and crazy subthemes like Competition/Cyber Slam. So if you want a set with that complex (and yes, for some people, tedious) Technic building experience but with more sci-fi or fantasy subject matter, you are obligated to look to other themes.

I think the silver on the regular masks is a nice throwback to the Nuva Story arc (not to mention the Nuva symbols themselves), but on the gold masks, I feel that the transparent colors are there just to be there. The blended gold masks that came with the skull villains had purpose; the villains stole the masks and drained the power. The blended gold masks with the new toa...we don't know the purpose just yet, but I still just can't help but question the choice to do it.

Maybe something else LEGO could have done for these sets' gold masks is done gold masks with a silver top, or silver masks with a gold top? Either of those things could have been cool while still maintaining the two-color pattern that complements the crystal pattern on the foreheads.

I'm not sure I'd call that formulaic. It's certainly not as formulaic as the first five or so years of Bionicle, in which at least one story arc per year would come down to all six Toa using their powers in the same way at the same time (and more than half of those story arcs ended underground). Makuta in 2001? Everybody shoot at him! Bahrag in 2002? Everybody shed your armor and shoot at them! Bohrok-Kal in 2003? Everybody channel your energy through your Nuva symbols! King Root in 2004? Let it pull you close, then everyone shoot at it through your disks at the same time! Makuta in 2004? Once Vakama and Lhikan are done stalling, everybody shoot at it at the same time! Roodaka in 2005? Now that Vakama's back with the team and has disbanded the Visorak, everybody shoot at her at the same time! Takanuva's victory in Mask of Light is the ONLY time during those first five years that a story arc didn't conclude according to this formula. (Bonus: The Cord in 2007? Everybody shoot at it!)

Ninjago is different. In the pilot, there was no last-minute save. Samukai was defeated by his own arrogance when he disarmed Wu but chose to take up all four Golden Weapons against Garmadon.

In Season One, yes, Garmadon had to defeat the Great Devourer, but it was a very different scenario than any of the other season finales because 1) all the ninja had to use their own skills independently to immobilize the Great Devourer to create a situation in which Garmadon could attack it, and 2) Garmadon was not, at this point, a trusted member of the team. Not only was it hard for the ninja to trust him with the golden weapons, but after destroying the Devourer he betrayed that trust.

The only two subsequent season finales that I'd consider extremely alike are the second and fifth seasons, both of which end with a character unlocking their true potential by learning to let go of their fear and thereby single-handedly defeating the enemy. Otherwise, the only consistent formula I see here are 1) the main bad guy is defeated at the end of the season in some way (which pretty much goes without saying), 2) no victory for the heroes prior to the season finale is a final victory (again, goes without saying, otherwise the story arc would come to a premature close), and 3) a specific character gets to play the key role in the victory.

What I'm trying to figure out is why it's disappointing. Would they really rather have another set of Protectors, with barely any changes from the last set? I thought people would LIKE the increased focus on classic technic greeble an' whatnot, but it seems to be turning them off. Very strange.

I think it's a bit unfair to say the Protectors had barely any changes from each other. The only two Protectors that I'd say had barely any changes were the Protector of Jungle and Protector of Stone, and even then, they had very different weapons (which were a big part of those sets). The Protectors of Fire, Ice, Earth, and Water all felt pretty different to me.

And in general, different people like different things. I'm sure there are a lot of people who really like Technic-based building, but that doesn't mean they're guaranteed to like all Technic-based sets. Just look at how much hate there's been for Lord of Skull Spiders and Skull Scorpio, some of last year's villain sets that used the most Technic.

In Logan McOwen's case, he apparently believes Akida's build could've been more streamlined and lifelike if it had used a more CCBS-based build, and that the Technic components of the set could have been put to use for a more interesting function rather than just being structural. Which is probably true, although I'm not as bothered by that as he is.

It's the one I'm mostly likely to get (maybe Terak or Uxar), but I would have liked if it had a shell piece. Maybe use a longer by 1 bone piece for the first part of the tail, put one of the 4-length azure shells Gali has on it, and use a 4-axle with a stop on the final time of the tail instead of a 5-axle (and remove the bushing there). I know this would require more types of pieces, but still.

I agree, this could have made for a much nicer tail design. Currently one of the set's biggest aesthetic faults in my eyes is how bony the tail is.

This to me feels like this theme's LoSS equivalent. The focus of the set's build feels like it's totally on the function rather than the figure, and design-wise it really suffers for it - like LoSS, it's another big clump of Technic with a couple of poseable bits tacked onto it to justify its listing as an action figure, when really it's just a gadget.

I'd agree that this is basically this year's equivalent to the Lord of Skull Spiders, but I think it's an excellent design for many of the same reasons LoSS was. It offers an amazing value in parts, a very unique creature design, a satisfactory amount of posability for the type of set it is, and a building experience that is very different from any other set its size (though I'm not sure if this set's action feature will be anywhere near as fun as Lord of Skull Spiders' grabbing function). I would definitely not mind getting a new set each year that meets all those qualifications, even if it's always the "odd set out".

When connected to Gali, it doesn't add much to her. The only significant thing really is the guns, which is pretty pitiful compared to the wings Lewa and Tahu get.

Gotta disagree there. From the picture on the LEGO.com cache, the fins and helmet make Gali look even faster, more powerful, and more graceful than she looks by default. And compared to Tahu, Gali's already a good-looking set on her own, so you don't have the creature's assets having to make up so much for the base Toa's faults. I do agree that Lewa and Uxar are easily the best Toa and creature this year, as well as the best Toa–creature combo, but I think Gali and Akida are a close second.

All in all, I feel like most people are only giving this set credit because "Wow look a Technics!!!!", which I feel is somewhat contrived. I personally would've preferred another XT4 frame-based figure with a mechanism that swings its tail, similar to this. That way it could've been more poseable, it would be in-keeping with the rest of the creatures, and would have actually had some aesthetic appeal beyond its colours.

In my opinion, the Technic-based build is a very small part of what makes Akida interesting. More interesting to me is the fact that it is a unique type of creature, not just a typical biped or arthropod, and the fact that it adds so much to the Gali set in the "power up" mode. Not to mention its awesome colors. In spite of being Technic-based, its design is very sleek and expressive, and I don't think the Technic construction severely hampers its form factor (though the Jawblade set from Hero Factory did have a much better tail). I can't say Akida epitomizes what makes the creature sets or the 2016 range as a whole great, and it's certainly not my favorite of the new sets, but sometimes it is nice just to have something unique.

Your fish-tail mechanism is pretty awesome and could have made a set like this even cooler, but I don't think it's a poor set just because it doesn't have a function like that. I hope that in spite of your frustrations with the set, you do end up getting Akida and revamping it, because with your skill with both coherent CCBS building and creative Technic functions, I'm sure you could come up with something incredible.

A land of small mechanical islanders was once a peaceful place before Makuta's jealousy of his honorable brother resulted in a great cataclysm that radically altered the land's status quo, reducing the islanders' once-great civilization to scattered, desperate villages, remote temples, and eerie abandoned ruins. The evil forces of Makuta are now rising once more, threatening the island's villagers and creatures, and six tall elemental heroes with no memories of their past descend from the heavens to save the day, as was foretold in the island's prophecies. To do so, they have to seek wisdom from the chieftains of the island's six tribes and go on a quest to find magical masks that will grant them even greater power, while avoiding having their own masks taken from them. Along the way they must learn to work together as a team and fight to awaken Makuta's sleeping brother.

With the associated range of colorful, highly posable building sets aimed at ages six and up, kids and adults can create the key players in this story, and use the sets' exciting action play features (like gear-driven movement, shooters, pop-off masks, and dual-function weapons) to bring them to life. There are many characters and masks to collect, and certain characters can be combined for even greater power. The system of interlocking parts can also be used to create any number of original creations. Fans can experience the story through multiple channels such as online animations, chapter books, graphic novels, and online games.

Sounds to me pretty quintessentially Bionicle. If another company released a series like this with another name, it'd be hard to deny what they based it on. In general, I'd say there's more connecting G2 Bionicle with G1 than there is connecting G4 My Little Pony with the generations that preceded it.

While this review has certainly improved my opinion of the set overall, I still don't like the head. Not because its the same as all of the other beast heads, or because of the gap underneath, but because of the colours.

 

There's no silver anywhere else on the set, and the trans blue is a lot darker than any of the other blue shades used in the set. It looks like they've taken the head from something else entirely and just slapped it onto Akida's body.

The "chest" of the set is silver, and in these photos the Tr. Blue doesn't look much darker than the regular Bright Blue Technic elements used on the top and sides. I don't think the head looks out-of-place at all. Granted, it would've been cool if the set used some of the same blended crystal add-ons Gali uses, but I'm not sure where it could use those that they wouldn't look out-of-place.

Good review! Akida has a pretty incredible value, I've got to say. 120 pieces for $10? I can count the number of Bionicle sets with a better price per piece than that on two hands (two are Vezon & Kardas and Voporak, and the rest are all bulk parts buckets). Even if you deduct the ammo for the stud shooters, that's still 96 pieces for $10! Most G1 canister sets cost $8–10 for less than HALF that many!

I was a bit unsure how much I liked Akida, but after reading/watching this review I definitely think it's a great set. Beautiful color scheme, creative build, and an authentically fishy look (though I think Jawblade had a better tail). I look forward to adding Akida and Gali to my collection! And of course, I look forward to your Gali review!

However, I am very pleased to see the fin piece from 2008 return! Are those in medium blue or azure? I'd presume azure, but it's hard to tell directly from the photos.

According to the text review they're Dark Azur. This may be the piece's return to Bionicle, but it appeared in Hero Factory as recently as 2012, and in the past two years it's been used in White in both City and Technic.

I like the solid-colored masks with Silver Metallic highlights. Silver Metallic is a nice neutral color, and goes with just about anything. One piece is generally not enough silver to overcome any model's color scheme IMO. Now, I do wish we had some more non-evil masks that were entirely silver metallic, but those would be better as a "treasure" mask like the gold ones than a default mask color for a team of Toa.

The Warm Gold masks with transparent highlights also look nice, although they could be a bit confusing for some people since those color schemes were just used this year to represent power-drained versions of the Toa masks. Still, they look really incredible and create a great focal point on the three smaller Toa, who otherwise don't use any gold parts.

The crystal texture on the forehead definitely adds a lot to both versions of the new Toa masks. They match the texture of the new add-ons and weapons, and generally feel like more of an "upgrade" than the fleshy, organic look of so many of the 2002 Kanohi Nuva. When the first Kanohi Nuva pictures surfaced, people called them "Kranohi" due to their organic, Krana-like textures, and some thought the Toa Nuva would be a team of evil or corrupted Toa (it doesn't help that the first pics of the Toa Nuva wearing these masks were super-preliminary and had the masks in a grody whitish-pink blend, but I think people might have been confused even by the final, colored version of the masks). These new mask upgrades not only more closely resemble the masks they're based on, but the magical crystal motif makes it look like they're brimming with power.

Was the topic title supposed to say "real estate available"?

I've honestly never given much thought to this question, and thinking about it now, it's a tough one. The Bionicle universe as a whole is not known for its creature comforts, unlike, say, Elvendale or Heartlake City. Some locations have perks like picturesque scenery or thriving commerce, but a lot of others are quite perilous or at least have a dark side to them.

On Mata Nui, Ga-Koro and Le-Koro are pretty nice. They're picturesque, reasonably well protected from outside threats, have a mild climate, and have reliable access to resources like food and water (though in real life, I suppose I'm not too fond of eating fish). They have been attacked a couple times, but I can't think of many Bionicle locations that haven't been. Some things Le-Koro has that Ga-Koro doesn't are a thriving music scene and a really strong military. The former is pretty nice, though hopefully the parties wouldn't last late into the night. The latter is good so long as they don't have a draft... but Tamaru was able to avoid serving in the Gukko Force on account of his fear of heights, so I suppose that's not too great a concern. I think I'd still lean more towards Ga-Koro, though. I like the atmosphere there.

On Metru Nui, hmm, hard to say. Pre–Great Cataclysm, Metru Nui was heavily focused on industry, not so much on the arts. Ga-Metru is nice as a center of learning and study without feeling as sterile and lonely as Ko-Metru tended to be. So probably Ga-Metru.

Post-2004 locations were generally either extremely perilous or not very well fleshed out to begin with. Sadly this also includes G2 locations — what little we know about them makes them all seem like not very nice places to live. Still kinda leaning towards the region of water, though! The other regions seem way too dangerous for my liking. The Ancient City was probably pretty nice pre–Great Cataclysm, and might become nicer once more now that Ekimu's been restored to life and the Skull Army has been pushed out.

anyway, i hope we get a non-turntable armless-torso beam, for use with the gearbox n whatnot. (if what i've seen is correct, Star Wars constraction is keeping the gearbox mold warm while Bionicle tests this new function out. u: )

The Star Wars sets that use last year's gearboxes also also introduce a new torso beam that's pretty much just what you're asking for. Other than the lack of a turntable, its main difference from the 2016 Bionicle torso beam is that it doesn't have a built-in neck joint.

Also, thank you for making that point about the G1 Toa sets, because it frustrates me when people use Technic as a catchall term for anything they liked about G1 that they don't like about G2, when really the G2 sets use plenty of Technic — The 2015 Lewa, Gali, Onua, and Kopaka all have more Technic pieces than their 2001 counterparts had pieces in general! And the 2016 sets use at least as much Technic if not more!

I still haven't gotten an answer to my question about the new torso shell, though — can it attach to the previous styles of CCBS torso beam?