“It is said that all endings are merely beginnings, waiting to be born” This was the quote I used when we learned my BIONICLE ideas project didn’t pass the review. I never would have thought how true these words would be…
I’m extremely excited to share with all of you, that I’ve been given a second chance for “The Legend of the Bionicle” via the Brick Link Designer Program.
With this program we might be able to celebrate the 20th anniversary of Bionicle and its amazing story with a special set!
The renders on the BrickLink page right now show a redesigned version of the model, working within the limitations of this program. I’m still working on it and it has to go through a build-test, so this is not the finished product yet, and I’d love some community input.
Once again thank you all, without the support on ideas this would never have been possible and I’m very excited to see what the future holds for this project!
This looks just as good as it did before. I can’t wait to vote for it again.
(Is that how this works? Do we still vote?)
What are the limitations of the program?
The biggest changes I’m noticing are the changes in the cloud and sky details, as well as the replacement of the Matoro minifigure with a larger figure. Is there some kind of rules about prints and/or recolours?
Despite these changes, the figures and backgrounds are still easily recognizable, and I am very excited that this is getting a second chance.
The new Matoro looks really swell! It’s a shame that there’s (presumably) some limitation around a better Mask of Life or Tryna, but the rest of him looks fantastic
I don’t think I can tell all the details, there is a lot to consider
It will go into a crowdfunding stage. Where we will need a certain amount of preorders to get the set produced, if it doesn’t reach that goal digital instructions will be sold. The crowdfunding will start in June
I don’t know exactly how payment will work
Thank you, yeah I’m doing what I can within the limitations, feedback on the changes is very much appreciated, while I can still make alterations
I must confess, I have mixed feelings on this. It’s awesome that we may yet see Sokoda’s amazing set produced after all, but the charm of Minifigure Matoro and Tiny-Bohrok were big selling points to me, so there is some slight disappointment, too…
In that case, I will also second the notion that if you can figure out a way to improve on the mask, it would make a world of difference. I can’t imagine how tricky it would be to figure out something at that scale, but you’ve done a fantastic job with the rest of the brickbuilt figure and a recognisable mask would be the cherry on top.
Aside from that, the other changes I’m seeing (with the red star, sea creatures, and other print substitutes) are in some cases improvements on the original design, and I feel like you’ve done a fantastic job adapting to the limitations. All I will say is that if the “red star stud” could be transparent-red, that might potentially look better than an opaque piece.
Looks great! The buildable figure of Matoro especially looks great, captured the body perfectly! If possible, it would be cool to see if the other three figs in the 9000 support update could work at Matoro’s new scale as well, though with the mask limitations definitely understand if they just wouldn’t work well.
Is there some sort of rules that say you can’t include any minifigures in this set? To be honest, I am not a big fan of the Brickbuilt Matoro figure, it looks like something I could easily build myself with my own parts.
Additionally, how much will pre-ordering the set will cost? I assume its gonna be quite expensive if this is a crowdfunding project.
I’ve heard that they might be stickers instead of prints; stickers don’t go on minifigures anymore.
This would also explain why the “printed” 2x2 Aqua Magna tile is still there, but the Bota Magna radar dish got replaced.
Also, @Sokoda, I just noticed the 2007 jellyfish is gone.
Was this an intentional decision, or something with the rules? Because I always thought that was one of the cooler references in the set, so it would be too bad to see it go.
What I’m taking from this is that we won’t be getting bionicle as the 90th anniversary set.
What I mean is that LEGO is making sets of the finalists in the anniversary poll. Pirates got Barracuda Bay, Castle got the Medieval Blacksmith, and Bionicle is getting this. While us getting an afol designer program set of Sokoda’s model would be great, it would destroy the chances of us getting a 90th anniversary set for bionicle.
We can’t have 2 sets for Bionicle? Why would the release of a fan-designed set through an invitation program exclude the possibility of Bionicle winning a completely separate, entirely LEGO designer-run contest?
cough cough Not to mention if Sokoda’s set makes it through the pre-order phase, that shows LEGO there are enough people willing to buy Bionicle sets. cough cough
Ok, I shouldn’t have said destroy, because that’s a little too harsh. My thought process was that lego has made/ will have made sets for every theme except space, so space would be what they make for the anniversary. Though, I can see here you’re coming from. Lego could be doing this to see if bionicle is still profitable, while not putting out an official set.
That and it was one of the more popular Ideas entries on the platform. I would also most certainly have invited Sokoda to this resurrection sort of program.
I see why you would think that, but it’s not like LEGO has an internal quota they need to meet that requires them to release a set for each of those themes.
Remember, these are (practically speaking) all officially dead themes. LEGO doesn’t have a “Castle” theme or a “Pirates” theme or a “Space” theme anymore than they have Bionicle. Not to mention that Ideas sets and their subject matter are entirely dependent on the fan designer and not LEGO themselves, and their selection (as is evident by last year’s less than ideal winning theme) doesn’t appear to be motivated at all by the actual contents of the Ideas project.
What I mean to say is that LEGO has a company mentality and not a fan one. There isn’t a situation where they’re saying to themselves “Hey, we’ve already released a Pirates set and a Castle set in the last few years. I guess we gotta stop making those and give some love to Space before we do anything else.”
And I definitely don’t think a mostly Bricklink run program would have much sway in the Ideas contest. The Designer Program is for former Ideas projects, and my guess is that the LEGO Ideas team is only involved so much as they need to approve projects from their platform.
I do see it, however, as a more than fantastic backup option in case Bionicle doesn’t end up winning that contest. This set is what we wanted in the first place, and people were definitely beyond willing to shell out money for it then. Now we actually have a shot again of being able to purchase this set from an official LEGO source, and if we only need 30% of the people who voted for it on Ideas to actually fund it, that’s the easiest thing in the world for this community to do.
