I do not think the fire plane was at all what any one expected.

No new mask for Tahu?

man, am I the only one here who thinks the bionicles look great? I mean, they could be better, but that's been the case with most.

Wow. Bionicle looks great! Can't wait to get some Skull Warriors! :-D

@ Sprinkle-Otter: There may be another set we know nothing about at the moment. Or maybe the Mask of Creation will be for Tahu. :-o

Wow. Bionicle looks great! Can't wait to get some Skull Warriors! :-D

@ Sprinkle-Otter: There may be another set we know nothing about at the moment. Or maybe the Mask of Creation will be for Tahu. :-o

@thehornedrat: They're reanimated skeletons, their hips are SUPPOSED to look bony. :P

And yeah, I'm really impressed with these new BIONICLE sets! Very creative color schemes, and a lot of diversity even with the unified "skeleton" theme. The box art looks pretty gorgeous as well!

The boney- bones look nice, but I'm wondering how useful they will be for MOC-ing anything that isn't a skeleton thing.

@SprinkleOtter: I don't see a new mask for Gali, either.

Wow, that fire plane was quite unexpected for me. Love it! Must have.

Bionicle still doesn't do anything for me, but I've got a feeling that the comments on this article will mostly concern those sets...

The mask maker (looks like a protector) LOOKS EPIC

@Stubborn Virus: I can't help but wonder if part of the reason those bone pieces were introduced is for bony Star Wars droid and cyborg characters like Grievous.

I will admit, as a fan of the original Bionicle saga, I was really excited when I heard they were coming back. Sure it was a bummer that they are rebooting the story, and that they're using the simple Hero Factory build style, but when the images of the Toa (or Masters as they're called now) came out I was really impressed with them, especially Tahu, Kopaka and Gali. The other three I feel like something is off, and the Protectors look too similar for me to have any interest in. Then the Lord of the Skull Spiders. This bummed me a bit, because he was at first the only opponent that stood a chance against a single Toa. Then came these villains, and I'm like, "Whoa, what happened?" Skull Slicer looks like his armor on his forearms got torn off, and his bulky body doesn't match his tiny limbs. Skull Basher looks like he's missing a good deal of shoulder, Skull Scorpio his tail wasn't originally his, and they share the same mask, making me wonder about how much time was spent designing their mask. The only ones I like are Skull Warrior and Skull Grinder. At least they have original masks. What maked the original Bionicle so great, and even Hero Factory, was the large assortment of new, unique masks that each hero and villain had. This even brings the Skull Spider down on my rankings because he doesn't even have a mask. But, that's just my opinion. What's yours?

"Apparently the Merc truck and crawler crane were not on show which probably means they won't be sold at retail in the USA."

Hm, that's a bit strange, isn't it?

take a closer look at the leg armor for the skull grinder in the big set. Is it just me, or does I closely resemble the mouth of sauron's helmet? I think lego is going to make large scale LOTR figures because of that.

It's not unusual for the 2nd half Technic sets to not be on display at the New york Toy fair show... In 2012 there weren't any 2nd half Technic sets on display...

Do I spy a trans blue 6-shot gatling cannon as part of Ekimus hammer? What happened to Tahu and Galis masks, and what happened to the skull spiders? It wouldn't make much sense in the context of the sets, but I wanted to see more colors of skull spider this time around.

I love the Fire Plane. Not at all what I expected when I first read about it. Is it a de Havilland Canada DHC-2 Beaver?

i love the fire palne, but am i the only one who thinks that it can't be 999 pices.

@dragonboy1 The trans-blue six-shooter is also present on Skull Warrior. As to Tahu's and Gali's masks, I doubt they will show up; if they do, it will either be in a retailer exclusive set (unlikely?) or a polybag like the Hero Pack (what I am personally hoping for).

These 'Skull Army' sets are looking better and better, and I am a fan of the half-rotten, bony look by now. The artwork on the boxes really helps them look awesome as well. Of course, I will be getting all of the sets. Also, the $30 price tag on Mask Maker VS Skull Grinder is perfect and on par with what I was expecting.

One neat thing I noticed: if you look on the boxes for the new Bionicle sets, you can see hands reaching for the golden masks that the Skull villains seem to have claimed. Perhaps the Skulls stole the masks of the Toa and they're trying to get them back?

@legoverslinder: It is indeed a place-holder, it would suggest about 550 pieces as it is $50, though the S-D sets had XXX for the piece count, along with one of the Sw sets.

The mask maker is of the same type as the protecters...

The merc truck and crawler were immediately on my must have list so let's hope available in US

=/ The bionicle don't really appeal to me... they don't seem very well made, especially the Skull Scorpio... oh well. :P

^^They are just store exclusives to LEGO Store IMO them or they weren't ready to be seen yet.

Everyone was talking about Tahu not having a new mask piece- what about Gali? Am i missing something?

Apologies that this has almost nothing to do with this article, but I have unearthed fresh news about the Bionicle 2015 storyline.

Huw, in your review of the Bionicle Hero Pack, you placed in a few paragraphs about the storyline that Aanchir sent you. On that I have fresh news. Aanchir said that what the Skull Spiders intend to do with the masks is still a mystery. On the shop.lego.com Bionicle page, it becomes apparent that the Mask-Maker that created the Mask of Ultimate Power (see the video "The Legend" on the LEGO Bionicle website) wants the masks in a battle against his brother (Ekimo), the Protectors and the Toa. This is apparently his way of sending his anger and jealousy upon Ekimo. (This anger and jealousy will become apparent in "The Legend".)

So the Skull Warriors of this year's summer sets must be some sort of zombie warriors that he has brought to life again. (Look at Aanchir's comment on this article.) Remember that the Toa must now battle an "ancient evil"? This is an ancient attack. Now the story is getting interesting... :-o