How to Improve G2 Bionicle

LEGO BIONICLE
1

I love that Bionicle was rebooted, but I wish it was handled slightly better. These are some areas I believe could be improved upon where the physical sets are concerned.

Number of Sets
Though both the Winter 2015 and Winter 2016 waves were a decent size, I think the Summer 2015 wave was heavily lacking. There were only five sets. Granted, there may be a reason there aren’t as many sets, such as the line not being as popular.

CCBS
Hold on, let me preface this by saying I in no way dislike CCBS as a building system. It has many upsides and uses. One issue I have is that the some CCBS pieces have too long of a lifespan. This may be cheaper for Lego, but the main limbs, torsos, and clip on armor have been in circulation too long in my opinion. The way Lego uses CCBS makes the system out to be too simplistic. It has so much potential, but Lego is playing safe. CCBS should be combined with Technic the way old Bionicle was. As Eljay explained in his video comparing G1 Bionicle to CCBS, the older parts were weak and broke quite often whereas CCBS parts are sturdy. I wish the old limbs with the three pin holes down the center could be brought back, but this time made the way the CCBS joints are so that they would not break. As good as CCBS is, I think old Bionicle was better where complexity is concerned, and that is in large part to the Technic nature of many of the pieces.

Titans
I want to see more “Witch Doctor” and “General Grievous” like sets that combine CCBS with Technic. We have arguably not received any titan sets in G2 Bionicle, and I think that is a shame. The most expensive sets (“Mask Maker vs. Skull Grinder” and “Kopaka and Melum Unity”) are just compilations of characters that could have been released individually. I like the existence of more expensive sets for hardcore collectors like myself. I’m not saying we need a $90 Scopio, but I think some $40-$50 sets would be really interesting.

Villain Elements
This is the area that only slightly bothers me, and doesn’t really change my views on G2 Bionicle that much. I wish with the Summer 2015 Skull Villains, we could have gotten six elementally themed villains and then a titan Skull Grinder to top it off.

Conclusion
We still have at least one and a half years (I’m hoping for more) of unreleased sets to go in the reboot. That means that some of the areas I have mentioned here could very well end up being implemented. I guess we will have to wait and see. For now, let’s enjoy the sets we have been presented with.

I am interested to get a community opinion, so post your ideas.

3 Likes
2

Subjective opinion on how Bionicle G2 could be better?

Eh

isn’t there already a topic?

3

this I don’t actually mind, I’m fine with the amount of sets we get

can kinda see where you’re coming from, but I like this different style they’re going with currently

I think the mix of technic and CCBS is great for the 2016 sets, as these are the most complex toa sets we’ve ever gotten

betting on Umarak the Dstroyer being a titan, but I see where you’re coming from here

3 Likes
4

I ordered all of the 2016 sets yesterday online, so I look forward to seeing how complex they are and the technic they integrate first hand rather than via catalog images. Maybe the villain element thing was just my G1 nostalgia. I apreciate the opinion.

1 Like
5

Pretty sure this has been tackled before… but going to address these in response to your points.

The number of sets is reduced in Summer is most likely due to the selling of more expensive sets such as Mask Maker Vs Skull Grinder. Chances are the Summer wave will eventually become more titan-based as the line grows more popular. At the moment while i admittedly think we could benefit from 6 sets in the summer (4 Toa-sized villains, 1 Toa-sized set that is either hero or villain and 1 titan-sized villain set or two-in-one set)

You prefer the older more technic based system, and honestly, so do Lego. If you’ve seen the sets nowadays they are constantly adapting the CCBS system for the body and armour. While admittedly some of the bone pieces remain mostly for arms and legs, they are trying to experiment more with finding a nice blend between the two. Umarak is an example of where the mix of CCBS and Technic work, same with LoSS to a lesser extent.

Titans are coming… just slowly due to Lego’s worry about the popularity of CCBS (Star Wars gets a pass in this regard as its a popular licensed theme - more popular than Bionicle)

Umarak the Hunter is 172 pieces priced at the same price as a medium Toa. In summer we get Umarak The Destroyer who will likely have a higher piece count. Kopaka and Melum is Lego testing the audience to see whether they would buy higher priced sets by using their second most popular Toa as the selling point. They tried it previously with Mask Maker Vs Skull Grinder and now they are trying again with Kopaka to secure results.

$40-50 seems a little much, however Umarak The Destroyer or the inevitable Makuta set i could honestly see getting fairly close to the price range of General Grevious ($34.99)

We ended up getting roughly 6 villains last year (Skull Grinder, Skull Basher, Skull Scorpio, Skull Slicer, Skull Warrior and LoSS) I can honestly see them sticking with that idea. I think as long as we get one titan-sized villain each year I’d be happy with the balance between the sides.

As for elemental theming, i kind of get the vibe that they are trying this (The skull villains all had different coloured ribs) however they are testing the waters, similar to how they are unsure how the fan base will react to titan sets.

We have one and a half years left of the planned storyline, chances are the line will continue after. Though i think I’m honestly ‘ok’ with how the line is progressing, even though i feel Lego missed out on a lot of good aspects

3 Likes
6

Thank you for providing in depth reasons for Lego’s decisions. Some of these things I have never thought of. I agree with many of your points. Don’t get me wrong, I am happy with the progression of Bionicle too. Maybe I’m wanting things to happen a little too fast.

7

Remember back in the Good Ol’ Days of HF when we got 5 sets a wave every wave? I sure do miss that.

Seriously, at least we’re getting as many sets as we are.

I agree, and it’s nice to see LEGO is finally experimenting with CCBS after 5 years of the same boring bone pieces in new shades of grey.

WD was an overrated, ugly monstrosity. Grievous was great, despite some flaws. I agree.

We did technically get six villains. One for each element, counting Loss. I’ll admit, though, that LOSS wasn’t really water-ish.

~W12~

2 Likes
8

The people above me summed it up pretty well, I just wanted to add that we are still in the second year of G2, I’m pretty sure the line will continue well beyond 2017, so by then a lot of things will have changed. Time will tell.

A little, but I don’t blame you :wink: I thought that way but we have a long run of bionicle ahead of us, just enjoy the ride :slight_smile:

1 Like
9

Allow me to use the Inika limb piece as an example for this.

####bionicle
Limb piece + Technic pin + armor shell = Full thigh/upper arm

####ccbs
Limb piece + armor shell + armor add-on = Full thigh/upper arm

Literally the same in the basic sense of complexity, that being the number of parts that comprise a given construction. So I don’t really get why people say Bionicle was more complex than CCBS.

Do they mean pistons? Details? Why does that matter at all? If anything we’ve seen that LEGO isn’t amazingly good at properly detailing parts consistently over time. We had the basic 01 aesthetic, but as new G1 pieces got added the textures clashed and got really hyper-detailed and specialized. In G2 we had the wonderful compromise with the piston add-on, then the somewhat clashy Skull villain armor, then the super-pistoned, busy, and uselessly detailed 2016 torso shell. It doesn’t matter how much stuff is crammed onto an armor shell, but the build that matters. I’d say Bionicle of now is much more complex than nearly anything G1 has, save the Titans and Rahi.

I didn’t find it too much of a problem. Maybe it was the price to produce Skull Grinder vs Ekimu’s, or maybe some of their budget went to the solid gold masks? Not sure. Maybe like, one more Skull Villain would have been nice.

Here’s hoping for Umarak the Destroyer!

Kind of my view on the Set Numbers thing.

3 Likes
10

Which every limb had. + the occasional armor add-on.

which not every limb has.

It’s more like this:

CCBS

Bones + armor + an add-on sometimes.

Technic

Bones + pin + armor + an add-on sometimes

1 Like
11

It’s not just limbs, though. Compare the torso builds of a G1 Inika build (the most common build of G1) to that of the 2015 Toa, the currently most widespread build for G2:

####Inika

Torso piece + 4 max Tehcnic pins + 1 blue pin + 1 hand piece + Waist piece + torso shell = full torso == 9 pieces

####2015 Toa (Pohatu, the simplest)
CCBS torso piece + 2 Technic pins + Gearbox piece + 1 blue pin + 2 small gears + 3 4 toothed gears + 3 Technic axels w/stopper + 3 bushings + 2 ball joints + arm lock piece + torso shell + Super chest = full torso == 21 pieces

The core construction of nearly any given G1 canister set is comparatively simpler than the 2015 Toa, or even 2016 Toa, who are just as complex without the back gearbox.

3 Likes
12

With the 2016 Toa, Lego seems to be addressing many of the complaints I had with CCBS. Maybe it was the asthetic appearance of the pieces I disliked more than the complexity.

In the past, with CCBS, legs and arms would be built usually by having 2 “bone + shell + an occasional armor add-on” connected to each other. However, in old Bionicle, there was usually one “bone + pin + armor” connected to one of many different limbs that had a ball joint on both ends. This lead to more unique looks as far as the designs Lego produced are concerned. Another few CCBS pieces that bother me are the small number of different foot pieces. I wish Lego would introduce some new ones to freshen it up. All the protectors had the same feet, and all the the 2015 and 2016 Toa, save Onua, had the same feet. There was a better variety with the Skull Villains though. In G1 Bionicle, the was a large variety of different foot pieces and a good mix of use on the sets. Granted CCBS has only been around about 5 years compared to G1 Bionicle’s 10, but I would like to see some newer foot parts introduced. I would also like a new CCBS base armor shell, but at least there is a good variety of armor add-ons.

Also, in the past, in my opinion, CCBS sets looked more incomplete on the back than the old Bionicle system. This isn’t nessisarily a problem with CCBS as it is the way Lego uses CCBS on their official sets.

But like I said, the 2016 sets are fixing many of my initial problems with the CCBS system. It will only get better from here I would think.

13

I think they are doing a good job with 2016. Of course it could have been done better but I still like the direction they went with the Toa.
They should definately keep the transluscent pieces! they really contribute a lot to the magical, elemental flair.
The gears should also return! I’m pretty impressed how they put a gear system on every set of this wave (even the creatures!)
The Mix of Technic and CCBS is good IMO but it could have been done a lot better!
What I want to see from Bionicle G2 is more personality of the characters! 2015 did a great job but I’d like to see that idea of individuality pushed to the extreme! Like Onua being that gigantic, buff and muscular guy like in the concept arts. or Gali being really feminine not too much but just like a female warrior. And so on with the other Toa…
What I think would be amazing (but not possible in any way I guess) is a movie for the new Toa. Something like James Camerons Avatatar. introducing a whole new fascinating world, an interesting new culture etc… BIONICLE HAS SOOO MUCH potential!

2 Likes