As sad as it is to see, i’ve been noticing a decline in the use of CCBS (let alone native Bionicle parts) in Lego sets nowadays ever since CCBS sets got discontinued.
I remember back in the day when lots of themes like Exo-Force, Star Wars, and even Harry Potter borrowed miscellaneous pieces from Bionicle, often in rare colours too! Even with Hero Factory, Chima borrowed TONS of pieces and add-ons for their system builds, and I loved seeing the integration between the two building systems.
Nowadays however, themes are using CCBS sparingly, if at all, and I really hate the thought of these pieces slowly fading out into obscurity in the next couple years.
So i’d just like you folks to share current Lego sets that use CCBS/Bionicle to help prove me wrong, whether it be a Barraki eye, or a ball-socket build! Here’s an example: the Hulkbuster from last year has CCBS-built upper arms, and also the turret uses the Thornax launcher (i’m honestly surprised the design still survived for almost a decade now XD)
CCBS is still used quite a lot in Ninjago sets, with new CCBS-compatible pieces even being added from time to time.
For example, the newest Ninjago wave of sets introduced this new Transparent Sword pieces, which let’s face it… would pretty much count as CCBS.
Then that plenty equals five - the 2x2 socket, the 2x2 ball, the foot piece, the glatorian neck, and the friction extender.
I would hardly count pieces that aren’t part of the character creature building system, i.e. non-ball-and-socket pieces. The dragon and the mech both use the 2x2 ccbs bricks, but aside from that, there’s limited usage of it across the theme.
Much more common in recent themes, however, is the Mixel ball-and-socket system, which I’m happy to say is being used extremely frequently, and while LEGO may give up entirely on CCBS, the concept of self-assembly figures will continue to live on.
The spider crawlers introduced red and blue ifb fins. It’s foolish to focus so hard on any one system of parts since when you do that, you don’t realize all of the fun parts they’re using in system sets. Like the gold beard element they included in party metalbeard last year. It’s a really nice shaping element at certain scales. It’s not ccbs, but it’s a character building element. Or the minifig crash helmet they introduced in dark orange this year, which is backwards compatible with bionicle b/c of the color. Again, not constraction, but it still has applications in constraction.
The wave from last year also introduced a new CCBS part, those large Shirken Blade Pieces:
Those large sword pieces have been around since hero factory breakout in 2012. Bricklink classifies them under the category “Propeller” instead of “Hero Factory”.
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Those large sword pieces have been around since hero factory breakout in 2012. Bricklink classifies them under the category “Propeller” instead of “Hero Factory”.
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No, it originated in Ninjago first from early Winter.
Well, Spring Green is still a great color that I don’t see used very often in MOCs.
The Shuriken also came in Pearl Gold and Trans-Neon Green. It’s still a very useful part for me, regardless of the color.
Personally, I am happy with those parts as they are.
-but as it is, the bone-and-shell system, the backbone of CCBS, seems to have completely disappeared by 2019.
For instance, this easily could’ve used CCBS instead of the awkward chunky arms.
The mech here could use some rounder plates and actual arms.
And with the gaming aesthetic, that “new” star wars thigh piece could’ve been implemented on the legs for a sleeker “techno” aesthetic.
CCBS is dead, and that sucks, but at least the classic 10.2 ball will live on in larger action sets. A shame, too; the styles easily could’ve mixed with system to try to convey more organic or sleeker models, but as it is, there goes a failed batch of parts meandering through the last decade in seeking to strike gold in the shadow of a marketing titan.
On a lighter note, there are still three Han Solos and a beat-up Maul at my target, so I guess CCBS will never actually die.
Yeah, CCBS fits in effortlessly with system, sad to see it not being used. Chunks of system pieces like the awkward blocky arms you mentioned could just be replaced with a bone and a shell - and as a result cuts down part count costs!
I think part of its lack of usage is simply because new designers being hired are system purists and have little to no experience/exposure with using CCBS in their designs.
[quote=“Likus, post:6, topic:51090”]
