It works with all of the 2001 Kanohi, with the exception of the Kakama; there’s a tiny bit of clipping just above the eye (and even then, you could probably get it to stay on there well enough):
You may also be able to cram a krana on there, but it definitely wouldn’t be a full connection.
This construction uses entirely currently-used pieces in existing colours, with one exception; the minifigure ring from Lord Of The Rings has been recoloured in Light Bluish Gray .
the ammount of retired parts used aside, I also feel like the style of limb construction used on the thighs and upper arms wouldn’t look as nice in practice given that LEGO would most likely use red axles to hold those together.
Very true, this build alone uses 6 “new” molds, if we extend that to the weapons and masks for all of the other toa mata, that’s a total of 16, 17 if you want to include the slizer/mata claw for the toa that use that. While I agree that things like the short CCBS bone could still be useful (some of the medium sized ninjago mechs would benefit from those) the bulk of those parts, specifically the masks and weapons, are very character specific.
I can’t say for sure, since I built it in stud.io, but I’m pretty confident in it. Everything’s held together by at least one stud (except for the “nose”), and all possible points of rotation are locked by adjacent parts. Obviously it’s not the most sturdy structure out there, but it should be able to support a mask and stand up to reasonable handling. The only possible issue might come when removing the mask, since it’s also held on by a single stud; the mouth area might just come off with it.
Here’s some additional angles if anyone wants to try it with physical parts:
While I understand the concern, I frankly don’t think producing that amount of new molds is really as unrealistic as people might be led to be believe. Monkie Kid, the most recent original theme, for instance, got at least one new mold for almost every new character, on top of a few new smaller “utility” molds as well.
Just looking at the first wave alone, we have one big Sandy bigfig, Monkie Kid’s hair, Mei’s Hair, Pigsy’s head, Red Sun’s hair, and Lady Iron Fan’s hair. That’s six new character-specific molds in the first wave of the theme alone.
Assuming that producing a new mask mold would cost about as much as producing a new Minifigure hair mold, I think getting six new mask molds at the very least is a fair bet.
Remember, if Bionicle came back, expecting it to introduce some new molds too is pretty much a given. Every new LEGO theme does that, even if they are small low budget “one and done” themes.
Expecting LEGO to bring back an entire building system and all the parts associated with it was the actual problematic part. And since my MOC has more or less resolved that issue, I don’t think we should worry about it anymore.
While it’s true that the more character specific molds would be required either way, system builds wouldn’t need to reintroduce those more generic retired parts. Which leaves more room in the budget for the more character specific ones.
I’d go so far as to say that system could probably get 95% of the way there with existing pieces. Which is partially because, again, LEGO is already leaning in the direction of system constraction. Even if the concept hasn’t developed enough to support a theme on it’s own I think it’s come too far now for LEGO to jump ship to a completely different system.
Whatever direction LEGO takes with constraction I think they would want to do it in a way that can support a wide variety of IPs and aesthetics (similar to what they were going for with CCBS.) Technic would lock them down to only the skeletal mechanical look of G1-esque builds.
I’m not opposed to some technic being included in modern constraction builds. (I’ve built in that style myself) but I don’t think primarily technic is the way to go.
It’s not just about whether or not to bring back an old building system, it’s about being reasonable within the modern era and the wider LEGO sphere. Parts budgets are just one facet of that.
You don’t get to decide that the discussion is over just because you made one moc that some people generally seem to like. In all fairness it is a cool moc, and I don’t mean any of this criticism as a slight against your creative ability, but claiming that it alone “resolves the issue” just comes off as arrogant imo.
Please note that I said “more or less”. This by default means I have not definitely solved the issue or ended the discussion. Have I? Of course not. This was just my answer to what I personally perceived as the obstacles to Constraction returning, and what I would personally like a “realistic” reboot of Bionicle to look like. Of course, there are a lot of factors to consider, and the discussion is indeed very nuanced, but please, I don’t think it was really fair to call me “arrogant” just for that.
Even if Constraction would return as a full blown theme in System, it is pretty much expected that we’ll get new “generic” molds too either way in order to support the new building style. Longer, recolored, or modified Mixel joints are to be expected to come up eventually in such a scenario. Which budget-wise would be pretty much the equivalent to re-introducing older retired Technic Bionicle parts. (As a matter of fact, reintroducing an older mold might actually be significantly cheaper than designing one from scratch, but I don’t have any confirmation of this, so don’t quote me on that).
So I think it kind of goes both ways, to be honest.
I don’t see how that’s to be expected? We know for a fact that they can’t be recoloured, and longer or modified joints seem useless considering that you can just make longer joints by using regular parts and putting connectors on each end. Making such hyper-specific parts doesn’t seem cost effective or useful at all.
Yes, but LEGO has reason to make things like that currently, despite no current full constraction lines being on shelves, because of how prevalent mechs are. As I’ve been saying, LEGO already has a head start in this direction. Unlike with technic, where they would effectively need to start from scratch.
also I feel like we should move back to the thread where this started
Calling you arrogant was probably a bit excessive, but that initial statement still reads to me as an attempt to shut down further discussion. If it wasn’t intended that way, fair enough.
yeah, in my personal experience, some of the ball pieces have been made in other colors and they do seem to have notably less friction. Obviously can’t comment on recolored sockets though
The CCBS ball joints are big enough to be able to be recoloured without too many issues. The mixel joints are colour locked due to their tiny size and subsequently more delicate nature.
they were also used as hips in the cancelled versions of the 2022 marvel mechs, you can still see the original hip design in promotional images. To my understanding this design was dropped because the bars were too loose, causing the mechs to fall forward easily.
