Aanchir

old and new fans alike plus with extending its run after we eventually deal with the mask of ultimate power so we don’t have to pull another cliché villain out of the cliché bag like ninjago and chima had to do to keep themselves alive

Which Ninjago and Chima villains are you thinking about specifically? I can't think of a lot who are inherently more cliche than most major G1 Bionicle villains like Makuta Teridax or The Shadowed One... except maybe the Overlord, who's a lot like the "ancient force of darkness" image Makuta Teridax had before he lost so much of his mystery in favor of a "scheming megalomaniac supervillain" persona.

Lewa's arms are comically short. Aside from that, he and the rest are good.

Lewa's arms are the same length as most of the other Toa's arms, aren't they? The only Toa who actually has longer arms than any of the others is Kopaka. Arguably Lewa's should be a bit longer than Tahu's or Onua's since his shoulders appear to be raised higher, but the same goes for Pohatu and Gali.

Really, I'd say the bigger problem is that the Toa's torsos are too long, which on some of them throws off the proportions of both the arms and the legs. Previously the Toa's torsos were nine modules long, now they're eleven modules long. Yet the Toa's arms have mostly stayed the same length as this year's, and Lewa's legs and arms have actually gotten shorter

 

How is that a mistake? It seems to me like the same thing most successful toy lines (and storylines) do. My Little Pony and LEGO Ninjago have both stuck with the same team of protagonists for five years and five seasons, and yet both those series are still wildly successful — probably more successful than Bionicle has been in over a decade. Do you really think Tahu and his team are too boring to carry the Bionicle theme for more than ONE year? Because if so, you must not think very highly of Bionicle...

Remember when we'd get introduced to a new team every now and then ? Why would you NOT want to see that ? why would you NOT want to see old allies or new coming members ? It'll be an opportunity to create some diversity : get some different genders going on ; make different styles to match different personalities ; have new colors and entirely different mask .Tahu and his group have been present for "ONE year" obviously , but I HOPE Bionicle switches it up every now-and-then . How would that not be exciting ?

 

Ninjago and MLP are not the same thing as Bionicle . I know it was an example , but it's a different audience focused on an entirely different branch . Hero factoroy did this and i've met a lot of people who have gotten got sick of seeing the same characters over and over ... probably because Hero Factory had less interesting characters ... but still .

 

I don't have any issue with introducing new characters into the story. Ninjago and My Little Pony do it all the time with characters like Dareth, Misako, the Overlord, Discord, Princess Cadance, and Sunset Shimmer. My issue is with introducing new characters to the story in place of the current lead protagonists. I don't want to spend two or three years getting to know and love Tahu and his team only for them to be demoted to bit-part side characters for the next two or three years. Unfortunately, as we saw with G1 Bionicle, that's what tends to happen in a merchandise-driven series when you introduce a whole new team of protagonists, because there's no sense in having characters from discontinued sets stealing the spotlight from the current sets that are actually keeping the theme alive. And no matter what its audience, Bionicle is just as merchandise-driven as Ninjago or My Little Pony.

 

That could describe... more or less every single LEGO theme ever, excluding utter failures like Znap and Galidor. The entire POINT of a building system is to keep using it over and over again. If you have to introduce a new building system every few years, you've failed at creating a worthwhile building system in the first place. You don't see people complaining about the LEGO brick or Technic pin needing to be replaced, do you?

The Inika system : people have gotten sick of it after the Mahri build . That sounds completely idiotic , but it's true . Bionicle had a few building systems and styles to offer and that is what made it exciting and tempting for many . One thing a lot of us Bionicle fans looked forward to every wave was something new . maybe not even a new system , but just new parts that'll change a lot , like how the Phantoka wave introduced three new torsos.

 

The "Inika system" was not a complete building system in its own right. It is literally just a term for sets that used a handful of particular torso pieces (like Toa Inika upper torso beams, Piraka upper torso beams, and Toa Metru lower torso beams). CCBS, on the other hand, is a complete building system. Some sets like Thornraxx do not use conventional CCBS builds at all, but they are still unmistakably CCBS sets.

now , eventually , CCBS is going to get old (it's been going on for 5 waves and 2016 will make it 6) . There's no arguing this . My boy , it looks like Hero Factory was running low on ideas rather quickly . Same characters , build systems , techniques , and colors is not necessarily what made Bionicle Bionicle . Diversity is the key . I'm not saying create an ENTIRELY NEW SYSTEM , but geez , CCBS needs some spice ... But actually , looking at the new sets, it seems as if Bionicle is in fact adding a lot of changes and new things to CCBS , so I'm not complaining at all unless they plain to use the same stuff over and over and over . Infact , I'm not complaining about anything , actually . I just don't want bionicle to make mistakes.

If you've been paying attention, CCBS has been introducing lots of changes since well before the Bionicle reboot. Just look at the 2012 Hero Factory sets which broke away from the "small heroes, big villains" release pattern, resulting in some of the most creative heroes and villains to date, or the 2013 Hero Factory sets, which started to reintroduce non-launcher-based action features to sets, or the 2014 Hero Factory sets, which completely re-imagined the subject matter of the sets, going from conventional humanoid heroes to considerably less humanoid monsters and battle machines. And every year CCBS has been around we've seen brilliant new building techniques, some of which don't even REQUIRE new pieces. Just look at the torso of Toxic Reapa, or the arms and legs of Lewa - Uniter of Jungle. These are brilliantly creative building techniques, yet they generally don't require the use of new pieces.

I don't think Hero Factory was "running out of ideas" one bit as far as sets were concerned, and I don't see that happening with Bionicle either, especially if it continues to use the CCBS.

While the Bionicle theme's transmedia storytelling was good for it at the time, I do think it had a number of drawbacks. For instance, it made it that much harder for new fans to "catch up" on older stories they missed. If you want to catch up on the Ninjago storyline, you mostly just have to watch the TV series, which is not too hard in this era of full-season DVD collections, digital download services like iTunes and Google Play, and streaming services like Netflix. If you want to catch up on the Bionicle storyline, on the other hand, you have to play through the Mata Nui Online Game AND watch a bunch of webisodes AND read the books AND read the serials AND watch the movies... it got mighty complicated by the end. I think part of the reason the books became a near-comprehensive medium for the storyline starting in 2003 was to help compensate for the difficulty of playing "catch-up" with a storyline that was so incredibly non-linear, but that started to come undone in 2005 with the whole "quest for the Mask of Light" story arc that didn't feature in the books at all.

With Bionicle G2, so far, things have been a lot more streamlined. You can understand the overall storyline fairly well from the webisodes alone. The online/mobile game does not introduce any new continuity and the one book we've gotten has been more or less supplemental, just filling in further details about the events and characters depicted in the webisodes. As for how long they can keep the story linear, or whether that is even their long-term intent, that remains to be seen.

Oh thank goodness, it's not terrible. Dunno if you could call it super great, but it works fine. I guess the PR people are just bad at making trailers.

I've noticed that trailers for kids' properties often seem to try and upsell the goofiness/cheesiness. For instance, the trailers for "Up" understandably focused on the goofy dog and bird moreso than the heartfelt bonding story between a grumpy old man and eager boy scout. Trailers for some TV shows like Gravity Falls and Steven Universe are notorious for making even the most serious episodes sound like they're just going to be goofy, lighthearted filler. I don't know if this is a marketing strategy that genuinely works with kids, or if it's just some "conventional wisdom" that ad agencies have decided on, but I've basically come to expect it at this point.

Glad you liked this webisode! To be honest I felt like it could have stood to be a bit shorter, but that perception might have been colored by the fact that I was in a bit of a hurry to get the news story posted before going to see Santa with my younger cousins. The Ninjago webisodes from 2011 were just two minutes each, and the Elves webisodes from this year were three to four minutes each, so five minutes is longer than I was expecting or accustomed to.

Regardless, if this is just a free webisode, I've got high hopes for the actual TV series, which will surely be able to dig a bit deeper into characterization (TTV interviewed some of the creators during NYCC and it's clear from the video that they have a LOT of ideas for directions they want to take the characters).

•the other toa teams or just not the SAME TEAM EVERY WAVE (hero factory's mistake)

How is that a mistake? It seems to me like the same thing most successful toy lines (and storylines) do. My Little Pony and LEGO Ninjago have both stuck with the same team of protagonists for five years and five seasons, and yet both those series are still wildly successful — probably more successful than Bionicle has been in over a decade. Do you really think Tahu and his team are too boring to carry the Bionicle theme for more than ONE year? Because if so, you must not think very highly of Bionicle...

•A building system NOT RECYCLED FOR FOUR WAVES (hero factory again)

That could describe... more or less every single LEGO theme ever, excluding utter failures like Znap and Galidor. The entire POINT of a building system is to keep using it over and over again. If you have to introduce a new building system every few years, you've failed at creating a worthwhile building system in the first place. You don't see people complaining about the LEGO brick or Technic pin needing to be replaced, do you?

Now that Black Friday and Cyber Monday are coming up, are there any good deals on Bionicles?

The Brick Fan has the ones for LEGO.com listed: http://www.thebrickfan.com/lego-black-friday-2015-and-cyber-monday-deals/

The BZPower front page has a story that links to a list of other stores' deals, but I haven't had a chance to look at all of them so I don't know if there are any good BIONICLE offers.

This is supposed to be a trailer for Lego Duplo, right? They don't think the average kid is actually this stupid, right?

 

Right?

Or maybe they just expect kids ages 7–14 to have a better sense of humor than the typical BZPower member.

It's a cartoon, people. Let's not forget how downright goofy the original Ninjago TV special and webisodes in 2011 were ("This rock is shaped like a donut! I wonder if it TASTES like a donut!"). Even this year's Ninjago webisodes with Master Chen and Clouse were pure slapstick. But today, Ninjago is one of the most beloved LEGO storylines out there. A series doesn't have to take itself completely seriously to be entertaining.

 

 

 

Edit: I just have to add this picture here, what in darn blazes is lego thinking with randomly creating yellow 3 length pins? I knew light gray was a good strategy in 2003-2004 and onwards but now a prototype variety of yellow pins being used for pins in leg building sticking out like bruises!

I dont like their strategy one bit, these pins look like something mega blocks would do.

http://cache.lego.com/r/dynamic/is/image/LEGO/71305_alt3?op_sharpen=0&resmode=sharp4&wid=4000&fit=constrain,1&fmt=png-alpha

 

Yeah, that's pretty disappointing. Luckily I have a ton of spare black ones that I can swap out, but it's still inconveniant.

 

The yellow cross axles first showed up in the Wall-E set, but now some sets seem to be using yellow cross axles as an alternative to grey in a number of sizes. They don't, however, appear to be entirely replacing the grey ones, as there are plenty of Technic and Bionicle sets still using the grey ones. So perhaps they'll just become an alternate color, kind of like how both blue and grey half-pins are still in circulation.

 

Personally, I think they look GREAT on Lewa and Uxar, and actually wish Lewa used more Bright Yellow accents throughout his build. It'd be a great accent color for him just like the Bright Orange is for Gali or the Dark Azur is for Tahu. It's kind of weird, because he did use contrasting yellow parts extensively in the 2015 version, but his 2016 color scheme is a lot more tame.

 

Tahu has dark azur, not bright blue?

 

I'm not 100% sure, but I think so...

Don't you just love how the Toa are wearing their newfound pets like clothes?

Yeah, it's quite amusing. Though I think it ends up working out a lot better than the Matoran piggyback rides from 2008. You can really tell that Tahu or Lewa or Gali are more powerful with their creature than without it, whereas in 2008 it just ended up looking peculiar or awkward, like the Toa and Makuta were burdened with having to carry the extra weight of a Matoran.

Ikir's combination feature gives me a bit of a Banjo Kazooie vibe, to be honest!

 

Edit: I just have to add this picture here, what in darn blazes is lego thinking with randomly creating yellow 3 length pins? I knew light gray was a good strategy in 2003-2004 and onwards but now a prototype variety of yellow pins being used for pins in leg building sticking out like bruises!

I dont like their strategy one bit, these pins look like something mega blocks would do.

http://cache.lego.com/r/dynamic/is/image/LEGO/71305_alt3?op_sharpen=0&resmode=sharp4&wid=4000&fit=constrain,1&fmt=png-alpha

 

Yeah, that's pretty disappointing. Luckily I have a ton of spare black ones that I can swap out, but it's still inconveniant.

The yellow cross axles first showed up in the Wall-E set, but now some sets seem to be using yellow cross axles as an alternative to grey in a number of sizes. They don't, however, appear to be entirely replacing the grey ones, as there are plenty of Technic and Bionicle sets still using the grey ones. So perhaps they'll just become an alternate color, kind of like how both blue and grey half-pins are still in circulation.

Personally, I think they look GREAT on Lewa and Uxar, and actually wish Lewa used more Bright Yellow accents throughout his build. It'd be a great accent color for him just like the Bright Orange is for Gali or the Dark Azur is for Tahu. It's kind of weird, because he did use contrasting yellow parts extensively in the 2015 version, but his 2016 color scheme is a lot more tame.

OK, point taken. They just feel disproportionate to me, and I guess I didn't read much further than that.

I understand! And I hope it didn't seem like my post was trying to beat you into the ground. I just thought it was a good opportunity for me to do some analysis of my own and see just how the proportions had changed from last year, other than just the general idea that the torsos became longer.

I actually might be less interested now. The Masters were nicely smooth with clean lines, but these guys look like the inika proportions returned, bringing with them extremely overdesigned armour. I'm not saying i won't get these, but I'm definitely not looking forward to these as much as the last wave.

I'm not sure what you mean about "The Inika proportions returned". I'd almost consider many of these figures as UNLIKE the Inika proportions as possible. The only thing that made the Toa Inika proportions significantly different from the Toa Metru proportions that preceded them was that they had exaggeratedly long arms and legs compared to the length of their torsos. Whereas these characters' arms and legs are generally quite short, some of them arguably TOO short for their new torsos.

For instance, the new Pohatu's legs are 12.5 modules long from the base of his foot to the center of his hip joint, whereas the rest of his body appears to be about 13.5 modules long (counting his mask). Generally, you'd want the legs to be the same length or longer than the rest of the body. Fortunately, the rest of the Toa's leg proportions move in a slightly more sensible direction. Lewa's legs are 13 modules long. Gali's and Onua's are 13.5 modules long, Kopaka's are 14.5 modules long, and Tahu's are 15.5 modules long.

Their arms also generally seem to be a tad bit too short for their torsos. Generally, you'd want the wrist joint level with or below the hips (but not, as with the Toa Inika, level with the knees). The wrists of the 2016 Toa generally don't quite reach the hips — they're about nine modules from the center of the shoulder to the center of the hip, but eight modules from the center of the shoulder to the center of the wrist.

In terms of overall height, Lewa gained about one and a half modules from this year to next year, Pohatu gained about three modules, Gali, Tahu, and Kopaka gained about two modules, and Onua gained about four modules. The overall 2016 Toa height range for next year is 26 to 29 modules tall (average: 27.25 modules), whereas the 2015 Toa height range was 23 to 27 modules tall (average: 24.833 modules). On average, each Toa gained 2.417 modules in height, and eighty percent of that growth was in the length of the torso alone.

ehhhhhh, Gali has waaay too much silver, why does Lego hate blue?

I'm not sure what you mean exactly? Seems to me she generally has more blue than this year's version. Blue shells on all but one of her limb joints, blue beams for her lower legs and arms, blue printing on her torso shell, blue accents on her back, both her masks and her weapon are blended with blue, and even the shell details on her right thigh and left shoulder are blended with blue. Other than her weapon, that's eleven all-blue pieces and three half-blue, half-silver pieces versus just five silver pieces. They're not all the same SHADE of blue, but that's a lot of blue regardless. I'd say that's about as much blue as Toa Inika Hahli had, if not more! (Hahli had just six all-blue pieces and six half-blue, half-white pieces versus nine white pieces).

Pohatu has a similar problem, transparent green on his leg armour and staff, but fluorescent yellow on his arms and gold mask.

I'm going to go ahead and hazard a guess that they're the same color, but for some reason the LEGO Group's rendering software handles it differently for blended parts than it does for solid-colored parts. Same with the crystal pieces on Onua. In both cases, I feel like the blended crystal pieces look more like what the solid-colored pieces SHOULD look like. On the box pics the differences are still present but a lot less exaggerated.

Meh, sets have got really boring since the Hero Factory 2.0 build came around.

I can't tell if that's sarcasm or if you're not paying attention, but these sets don't use the "Hero Factory 2.0" build. They have custom torsos built around a brand-new torso beam/turntable element, and some of them even have custom leg joints. Calling that a Hero Factory build is as nonsensical as calling Toa Inika Jaller a Toa Metru build.

The only "boring" thing about these sets that could be considered a holdover from Hero Factory is that they all have the same torso shell and feet as one another (except Onua, who has different feet), but that's really no different than the Toa Nuva, Toa Metru, or Toa Hordika.

Opinion time!

Lewa looks great, possibly the best of the Toa. His back is a little bare-bones, but he uses some very creative techniques very creatively for his arms and legs. Lewa's new mask looks awesome, though it's surprising a lot of people consider it more authentic to his classic mask than the 2015 version was, since most of the similarities to the classic mask were present in both versions. I do wish Lewa had a more contrasting color like Gali and Tahu do. Even Flame Yellowish Orange like this year's version used could look quite nice.

Pohatu generally looks alright, but his color scheme is not as coherent as Lewa. I think he'd be much improved if he used 4M Silver Metallic shells on his forearms instead of 3M Tr. Flu. Green ones. Maybe also if he used Dark Orange shells on his upper legs rather than Sand Yellow ones, though I know many people would be upset to miss out on a new recolor, particularly in such a rare color. His weapon is one of the weirder ones, as is his "Power Up" form with the Creature of Stone. His mask is very nice, though!

Gali might be my second-favorite of the Toa, after Lewa. Her design is now asymmetrical, yet well balanced (so she sort of takes Pohatu's place as the asymmetrical team member). Her weapon is similar to Pohatu's, but I generally like hers more. Her color scheme is very dynamic, with orange accents taking the place of the previous version's yellow ones and Tr. Dark Blue taking the place of the previous version's Titanium Metallic. The "powered up" form looks great. The artists creating these renders chose some excellent poses for her. And her mask is a great update of the current version.

Tahu's proportions are not as weird as I expected them to be since his lower legs are actually 6 modules rather than 5 — which means we get a nice new recolored shell and recolored beam as well. I think his upper legs could stand to be a module shorter, though. His combination with the Creature of Fire is excellent and makes for a particularly majestic upgrade. I'm still not totally digging the way he uses so many different textures. Maybe the crystal element from his lower legs would have been a better fit for his lower arms as well. Like the others, he's got a good mask, and I love his Dark Azur accents!

Onua... oh dear, what to say about Onua. He's definitely a coherent design with a well-coordinated color scheme, but I do not think this design suits the character nearly as well as his design from last year did. I miss his clawed feet and his short stature and his muscular chest. I'm not as thrilled with his mask as many of the others (though it's a better upgrade than the Pakari Nuva in 2002 was), and I'm not 100% sold on the "Power Up" form with the Creature of Earth. The weapon also lacks the crystal motif of the others, which is a bit of a shame, but at least it's creative.

I had already seen some details of the Kopaka and Melum Unity Set at BrickFair New Jersey, so it's not as new to me. Kopaka looks nice, although his color scheme would probably feel a lot more balanced if his shoulder shells were Warm Gold instead of Silver Metallic. I guess it just wasn't in the budget. His design does nicely evoke the feeling of a lean character in heavy padded armor. I like his new sword a lot more than his new shield, but maybe it will have some stickers to spice it up a bit. He was cool when he had a spear, but since Pohatu and Gali now both have spears a sword offers more variety. And it does feel distinct from Tahu's.

The Toa in general have longer torsos than they did previously, and I'm still not 100% sure how I feel about that. I definitely am not too fond of how all the characters use friction joints in their ankles, because in my opinion it messes up the proportions of the foot. I understand why they did it, but perhaps a newer foot with a shorter ankle (2M rather than 3M) would have been a good idea. The new eyestalk looks good, but makes me wish the Toa's eyes were green like the "good guy" eyes in 2006 and 2010. Because not only was that an generally sound decision even back then, but a fluorescent color would probably glow a lot better with the new truncated eyestalk. The elemental crystal motif of the armor and masks is a much nicer update in my opinion than the extremely organic look of the Kanohi Nuva from 2002.

On to the creatures!

Uxar is an awesome bug design with some good recolors and tasteful use of System. The Jungle shadow trap gives a good idea of what to expect with the others: a bear-trap with element-specific legs and possibly a tail. The yellow accents look gerat with the green, and are the sort of thing I'd have liked to see more of on Lewa. The flapping wings function seems nice, and is a great addition to Lewa in "power up" mode.

Ketar has a cool slashing function that sets it apart from past scorpion creatures. I wonder how Pohatu's previously expressed hatred of scorpios might affect his bonding with Ketar. I wish the tail were mounted a bit lower on the body, and I'm not sure why a new recolor for the Vorox shell was necessary for just this set (Pohatu uses it in Silver). The shadow trap is simple, but I like its "stinger".

Akida is definitely one of the most unique creatures. Instead of a gear function it has launchers that change direction with the angle of the fins. Bit awkward that you can't spin the propellors without firing the blasters, though. The color scheme suits Akida as well as it suits Gali. The shadow trap is nice, though maybe more organic-looking tentacles or fins might have suited the environment better than legs.

Ikir really has what it takes to be the "poster child" of the Great Elemental Creatures. Good posability, a unique avian design, and a cool color scheme. I don't know if the Hero Factory flames really suit the design or go well with the new crystal blade pieces on the wings. The wings flap when you press the tail, which is a nice function. Great talons! Ikir's Shadow Trap is maybe the most mundane, though.

Terak is a nice design. Its "digging" function when you press the tail is quite nice! It has some great new recolors too. I mentioned already I'm not super thrilled with its "power up" function with Onua, in part because it doesn't add extra functions the way Uxar, Akida, and Ikir's combinations do. And Onua's shoulder armor didn't really need beefing up. The drill legs on the Shadow Trap are nifty!

Melum is a bit plain as creatures go, and similar structurally to Terak, but its "bear hug" function seems interesting. Its combination with Kopaka makes a bit more sense than Onua's with Terak, since Onua already has pretty beefy shoulders while Kopaka's are a little leaner. It also does a nice job balancing out Kopaka's color scheme. Bit of a shame that this set doesn't include a Shadow Trap, but it'd be easy to rig up a custom one!

Finally we come to Umarak. They really want to push that Umarak can combine with any of the creatures, judging from all the different "Power Up" pics. The Creature of Jungle matches Umarak's color scheme best, but I actually like the other ones' contrast. Feels a bit more evil and unnatural. Umarak's antlers are awesome, and it's great to have the segmented leg/tail pieces in the same color at long last! The bow and sword are both nice weapons, if ones we've seen a lot in this year's sets.

Umarak's color scheme is a lot more dynamic than the typical red and black we see for villains. It almost feels like camouflage, which suits a hunter character. Some people have criticized Umarak's leg construction, but I feel like it's fairly coherent and quite creative. Umarak's mask is nice and spooky, and the Mask of Control looks excellent, every bit as ornate as Ekimu's but a bit more stern. My biggest criticism of Umarak is that the area above his shoulders feels a bit gappy.

Overall, my opinion of the new sets since seeing these new, highly-detailed pictures has generally improved. I look forward to getting some story info on more of these characters!

Taking a look at the LEGO Cache images in front page, looks like the Nuva symbols are back and are featured on the designs. Mah gawd.

 

To clarify: Look at the chests of the Toa. Use the "Alt 4" image to see a clear front look of them.

They're on their masks too!

I thought Dark Green appeared on Chi Cragger, but that could have been Metru Green, not Mata Green. 

 

In any case, I think darker green is still a thing. 

Yeah, both versions of CHI Cragger used Metru Green (Earth Green). It's kind of confusing because the Bricklink name for Earth Green is Dark Green. But the official LEGO name Dark Green refers to Mata Green (which Bricklink just calls "green").

The last time Mata Green / Dark Green (TLG) /"Green" (BL) showed up in a constraction set was the head and Hero Core of Nex 3.0. But it's been in Technic sets as recently as last year (http://brickset.com/sets/42030-1/Volvo-L350F-Wheel-Loader).

Nice survey! I enjoyed filling it out. Only error I saw was that you spelled "Pinterest" wrong.

From the description of the video:

 

 

 

LEGO had the wish to visualize the content of their boxes in a new and innovative way. In the retail stores is it a challenge to present the good LEGO experience to the children. Presentation videos may give inspiration but it is without interacting with the children. This resulted in a cooperation with CAVI and Alexandra Institute which started in 2006 with a design workshop that ended up with the concept LEGO out of the Box: When a box with a LEGO Bionicle figure is placed on the glass plate, a camera reads a unique graphical pattern (Reactivision technology) . Hereby the model’s identity and location is recognized and a 3D Bionicle model is shown on a screen in a true Bionicle universe. If the box is moved, the Bionicle figure will walk or fly along with the movement. If more boxes are moved close to each other the Bionicle figures will interact – if they are a pair, they will connect, if they are enemies they will fight. The computer generated animations are based on the 3D models which LEGO uses in the marketing and promotion of the products. CAVI had a contact with the shopping mall, Salling, located in Aarhus, Denmark, where the project was set up in six weeks around spring 2008. The developed prototype and concept is the direct foundation for a similar system that LEGO uses in 67 LEGO brand stores worldwide.

 

So, this was intended to be used in stores as a way for customers to interact with the sets, but was never moved out of the prototype stage.

Technically, it was, but not for Bionicle. As it says, this prototype became the foundation for the "Digital Box" system that LEGO uses in many of their stores, where there's a screen with a camera that you can hold the box up to to see the 3D set built and animated. I've used this in the past, and it's very neat (but generally only works with certain sets, especially larger ones like castles, pirate ships, and police stations). Now LEGO even has a "3D Catalogue" app for smartphones in some countries that lets you scan a LEGO catalog with your smartphone's camera for a similar 3D animated effect.

See this video for an example.

 

 

Whole bunch of concept art and prototypes of the Skull Gang (among others) over on the BZP Instagram!

 

Man, I hope they release an artbook of this someday.  And it's cool to see how many other Skull concepts they came up with.

I've never had a legitimate reason to get an Instagram account before. Now I'm really considering it.

 

Anyways, This is some really cool artwork. The Skull Villains look great here. It makes me wish that their set forms looked more like them. 

 

I second that notion for an art book. I would buy it in a heartbeat if one was ever made.

 

 

I don't remember any toylines ever getting artbooks...

 

Maybe Transformers?

 

I see it as exceedingly unlikely. 

 

Transformers has apparently had several art books: one of the toy packaging, one of the video game Fall of Cybertron, one of the TV series Transformers Prime, etc. This year My Little Pony got an art book of the generation four series and characters, and next month it's getting one of the generation four comic book series. There's also been an art book for He-Man and the Masters of the Universe, so it's not just a Hasbro thing.

Most of these art books are media-focused (besides the toy packaging one I mentioned at the beginning), but of course, these are media-driven franchises we're talking about, and the same goes for Bionicle. I think Bionicle is a prime candidate for an art book if the LEGO Group ever wanted to get into that sort of thing.

Kinda interesting that the sets that seem to be garnering the most interest. I suppose it's not too surprising for Bionicle fans to like Technic since that's ultimately the system it's built around, but I feel like you don't see a whole lot of purely Technic (as in, non-constraction) MOCs in this community. And even the constraction MOCs often tend to have fewer Technic functions than you tend to see in constraction sets.

Naturally, I'm as guilty of this as anyone. I love the intricate, challenging building process of larger, modern-day Technic sets, and yet at the same time, I have little interest in MOCing real-world vehicles like most Technic sets depict, and very little of the engineering know-how it takes to come up with complex and wholly original Technic action features for my constraction models. In dedicated Technic discussion forums in other communities like Eurobricks, I feel completely out of my depth, lost amidst discussions of torque, tension, and gear ratios. If I did want to make a Technic model of a real-world vehicle, I'd hardly know where to begin.

I suppose constraction, with its more clearly defined scale and imaginative characters, is just a better fit for my style as a builder. But I do hope I can one day get enough experience with Technic to create models with more elaborate functions than the simple flapping wing or swinging arm functions I'm so used to.

Random note for those who are curious: Teal (Bright Bluish Green) actually came back this year! But not in plastic bricks — rather, in a textile element from the Edna Krabappel minifigure from The Simpsons Series 2.

Might it show up again? Who knows? I certainly wasn't expecting it to show up again even in this capacity!

I hope they bring back Mata green instead of bright green for Lewa.

Personally, I much prefer Bright Green. In general I'm quite happy with the primary colors of the 2015 Toa and don't wish for them to change. I'm open to the possibility of new secondary colors, but I feel like the colors of the 2015 Toa and Protector masks look very good together, possibly better than the colors of the 2001 Toa masks did.

It's worth noting that these listings are for different countries. That edition of Nexo Power Rules! is published in the UK by Ladybird — the listing for the U.S. edition is here. Those editions of Fright Knight!, The Power of the Fortrex, and The Book of Monsters are published in the US by Scholastic. The UK edition of The Book of Monsters published by Ladybird is listed here (and interestingly, this edition will be released in February, four months earlier than the US release).

There's no news on whether there will be UK editions for Fright Knight! or The Power of the Fortrex, but judging from previous Scholastic chapter books and readers for themes like Bionicle or Ninjago, there may not be.

The article also makes no mention of this currently untitled Nexo Knights mini-guide that Scholastic is publishing in February, or of the Scholastic chapter book Graduation Day which launches the same day as Fright Knight!.

But there is a deep and philosophical question which we all must ponder. What makes G2 Bionicle really Bionicle? It's not a continuation of the G1 storyline, and many of the characters have gone missing, and the personalities, motivations  of those who have survived - as well as the settings - have changed a fair deal.  What makes G2 Bionicle?

 

That is a deep question which we all must ponder.

Is that really a deep or philosophical question? G2 Bionicle is unmistakably Bionicle. It is the fresh start of a new saga, just as G1 Bionicle was in 2001. But most of the core story elements are still there: six powerful elemental heroes called Toa using teamwork and seeking out magical Masks of Power to protect less powerful island villagers from the forces of the evil Makuta.

You might as well be asking "What makes G4 My Little Pony really My Little Pony?" After all, G1 Applejack is a lot different from G4 Applejack. G1 Ponyland is a lot different than G4 Equestria. G1 Tirek is a lot different from G4 Tirek. One of the most important characters in G1 My Little Pony, the human girl Megan, does not exist in G4 My Little Pony, just as the Great Spirit Mata Nui does not exist in G2 Bionicle. G4 My Little Pony introduced entirely new central characters like Princess Celestia, just as G2 Bionicle introduced the new character Ekimu. And G4 My Little Pony is not a continuation of any of the previous generations: like G2 Bionicle, it is a complete reboot.

2001 Bionicle, the start of the original Bionicle saga, was "really Bionicle" even though it didn't continue from or exist in the same universe as any previous story. So what makes 2015 Bionicle, the start of a whole new Bionicle saga, any different?