A look back at Znap
Posted by Huw,
Znap was a building system introduced in 1998 in response to a perceived threat from K'Nex, which at the time consisted primarily of coloured rods and a range of connectors to join them at angles.
19 sets were produced over a 2 year-period before the system was abandoned as a failure. Unlike Scala, which suffered the same fate a few years later, Znap had no redeeming features at all.
In this article I'll take a look at one of three models I own, 3531 Tri-Bike, the parts used in the sets and how they connect together, and the theme's legacy which, I can tell you now, is negligible.
3531 Tri-Bike was one of the first sets to be released in 1998. It contains 29 pieces from which several models could be made, including the main one, a three-wheeled bike. I've just looked up the instructions at LEGO.com so I could link to them but, interestingly, the search yields a booklet for a set that was never released!
It's actually quite large for a set with so few pieces and I guess if you squint it looks a bit like a trike...
One unique selling point of the system was that the joints could be rotated 90 degrees easily so on this model the rear end of the trike can be twisted first by 90, and then by 180 to form another trike configuration without any disassembly.
The Znap system consisted of two types of parts: beams and connectors. Beams were straight, curved, angled or downright weird. They were made from a slightly pliable plastic to enable them to be snapped onto the connectors. When you do so, they emit a satisfying 'snap' sound which perhaps inspired the name.
The next two photos show all the shapes and sizes introduced in the firsts sets released in 1998. Two more were produced for the 1999 sets but I don't have them.
The beams are square and the same dimensions as modern studless Technic beams. The holes suit Technic pins and axles, and are spaced at double the standard pitch.
The purple piece below was the most common connector, which could join up to four beams at right-angles.
The black and yellow one could be used to connect beams at random angles: the two black pieces rotate around the yellow core independently so can be adjusted to form angles between 90 and 270 degrees.
The straight grey piece fits inside the purple one to form a 6-joint connector.
Znap beams can fit snugly through the hole, too, as can modern Technic beams.
Wheels/propellers of two sizes were produced and two of the larger one can be connected back-to-back to form a wider one.
The sets contained a few Technic pins and axles, and some came with a 9v motor and a special housing to mount it into the model.
Znap introduced one piece which is still in use today: the 5.5l axle with stop, which were white in the sets but nowadays are dark grey. Not much of a legacy, then, although it is still the only axle that is not an integer length.
The theme also introduced this piece which sadly died with it, but which is extremely useful: the 26l flexible axle. The black section is made from a multi-core metal cable and, as the name suggests, is flexible. I find them useful in GBC modules.
I think Znap's problem is one shared by K'Nex. The models are just too abstract and look nothing like what they are supposed to be. It strayed too far from LEGO's core system, so much so that it was unrecognisable as LEGO and is largely incompatible with it, too.
K-Nex went onto become the construction toy of choice for building elaborate roller-coasters but Znap was killed off after just two years and I somehow doubt that the development costs were recouped. In the UK the sets could not be given away: they were always reduced in Woolworths, which is where I got mine, and most can be bought for less than their retail price at BrickLink should you fell the need to see how awful they are for yourself.
Like Galidor, this is a chapter of LEGO's history that is best forgotten...
173 likes
85 comments on this article
Honestly hadn't heard of Znap at all
Oh my. They look like giant Kinder Egg toys.
If they'd given it a backstory & a cartoon, it could be as fondly remembered as Bionicle!
That was really interesting! I'd never heard of Znap before. Can you do another article about Galidor?
same, never heard of it. oddly enough found some parts in a job lot and never could work out where their were from, now i do so thanks. another good article @huw keep them coming
I'm not even sure how I heard about it, as I don't recall ever seeing it in UK shops. It doesn't even have semi-interesting characters to reference like Galidor does.
Hey now, people do cool stuff with Galidor parts all the time. Dont go lumping it in with Znap
I had a few of these back in the day. Definitely very strange sets.
I remember seeing the larger parts used for box girder style train bridge MOCs before.
Probably in the minority here but I actually quite liked Znap. I liked the very Meccano, industrial construction feel of the completed models and when Lego started making Star Wars sets I often used znap creations to bolster the forces of my similarly skeletal looking battle droids
Just out of interest (maybe), KNEX actually still sells pretty well in my shops
Yes, I think you are right. K'Nex has found its niche with large roller-coasters and Ferris wheels and there are some excellent ones available.
This seems like a good idea but terrible implementation.
Huh, I've got one of those flexible axles! Twas in a bulk lot of used parts from ebay years ago. Not sure I've ever used it. I didn't even know if it was genuine LEGO until now...
So what's next? Jack Stone?
Sets aside, the whole world needs to experience the magic that are the Jack Stone animations.
Another fascinating article! I remember Znap from the Lego catalogues of the time, but I never owned any of the sets. It was possibly too radical a departure from traditional Lego, and a little too close to Knex, but a very clever system nevertheless.
I don't think it's useless. It's compatible with Technic, as mentioned before, you can use them for girders, bridges and other engineering works. It just doesn't work for vehicles or animals and such.
It has its place, and I like when Lego experiments like this. It's definitely not in the same terrible league as Galidor.
A couple of the larger Znap sets (3571 and 3591) used the same motor that was included in Technic models at the time. I remember a local toyshop selling the sets off for £1. I bought a bunch just to get the motors (although I did feel a bit sheepish buying a stack of massive Znap sets) and gave the Znap parts away.
Like someone else mentioned I do recall seeing some clever people using them to create scaffolding and girder type bridges in city/train layouts.
No.
Nonono.
Hell, no!
@Huw thank you for this article, and Scala series as well! Very nice look into not well known Lego products.
More articles like these please! For example one thing that has been bugging me lately: why are there Castle themes Lion Knights and Crusaders, when they use same shield/faction logo? Why not only one theme name :)
I had never heard of Znap, so this article was very informative. Thank you for this LEGO history lesson!
Does the final paragraph hint at a Galidor article next? Wouldn't mind one, as that is another theme I know (almost) nothing about.
Znap is at the bottom of the alphabetized list for a reason./
Little adittion, another set of wheels, that was introduced with Znap and can be found in sets like 3520 forklift , met the end of it's life with 4095 , which was released in 2003.
I reviewed the two Galidor sets I have a few years ago but perhaps I'll resurrect them seeing as you're all so keen to read more about the theme!
@Huw said:
"I reviewed the two Galidor sets I have a few years ago but perhaps I'll resurrect them seeing as you're all so keen to read more about the theme!"
Let me know if you need some more, I have a carrier bag full! ??
The advantage of Znap was it became very easy to construct models of an enormous scale very quickly so as a kid you felt you had something MASSIVE. Not detailed, but enormous = impressive in the eyes of an average 6-8 year old. Add the remote control, and you had a car to drive (but not steer). The instructions books showed a picture of a kid sat inside a real life sized version of a formula one car made from znap parts. That was impressive. I still have most of the sets that were issued, including the one in the collector storage case and the ones with motors.
At a pinch you could argue that the new frame pieces (with holes on adjacent sides) are derived from the beams above with their holes that are spaced at double the standard pitch....? There is also the older frame piece 55767 that has lattice beams
@krysto2002 said:
"So what's next? Jack Stone?"
I'm supporting this!
It looks to me like this had tons of potential, especially if they had ever made pieces connecting Technic to Znap... Because there's a lot of very original piece shapes in there! It's a bit like classic Lego: quite ugly first iteration by modern standards, but give it a few years and they'd have found good design space. Only a few of the bigger sets seem worth it so far, our of all the range.
@Shropshire said:
"Honestly hadn't heard of Znap at all"
If you haven’t already... it’s better if you don’t know at all.
Certain sealed Znap sets are a cheap way of getting Lego motors on Ebay, as well as axles and some other Technic parts. Amazingly, I do sell some Znap parts occasionally on my BO store, though like most people I personally have never seen any use for the pieces.
Fun fact: Joel Glickman, the creator of Knex, approached Lego to see if they were interested in his idea, but was turned down. Looks like Lego had second thoughts when they create Znap.
@aleydita said:
"Certain sealed Znap sets are a cheap way of getting Lego motors on Ebay, as well as axles and some other Technic parts. "
I found that all my 9v motors from that era seized up years ago.
Wasn't this the era where Lego fans also had to deal with Town Jr.?
The late 1990s seems to be kind of a dark chapter in Lego history, I'm beginning to think.
@The_Brickster_:
It followed K’Nex by about six years, so what market existed had been pretty much nailed down before they showed up. It was about as head-scratcher of a decision as they could have made, short of abandoning the entire LEGO System to pursue it.
@myth:
Black Knights and Dragon Knights have the same logo but in different colors, which in terms of heraldry makes them completely different coats of arms. Also, if there’s a gap between the two runs, they often get treated as unrelated themes except in cases where it’s clearly a throwback to the earlier theme.
@Huw:
I got sent a full set of the first wave of characters to review back in the day, and I didn’t even bother to open them. They’re in a random box somewhere (possibly the one they were shipped in).
I've found a few of these in used lego lots, have been throwing them away (I'd guess 6 random pieces). Didn't even realize they were made by LEGO.
Had recently found some of my old Znap sets likely purchased in the bargain bins that I had stored away, with reason. I recall being so disappointed with them and their lack of quality, and not fitting in with the quality of my Lego Technic and Lego set itself that I just grouped them all together and put away like a time capsule in the bins of Lego blunders past.
Have to admit was cool finding them again, but I've put them away again for a few more decades so some future advanced civilization can find them and find a use for them. LOL.
The thing is if it weren't for their garish colors, ZNAP would make an interesting parts choice for greebling or industrial details on MOCs. They have some cool shapes, but it seems they require some transition connectors to traditional Lego System.
Its interesting to me how after all these weird building systems of the 90's and early 00's how Lego ultimately consolidated them back into System over the years. Slizer which went on to become Bionicle's system could only connect to Technic pieces until Lego introduced a brick based adapter, and now its common to see the ball joints and sockets from the later CCBS system sneaking into normal Lego sets (the early Hulkbuster sets that had a pure CCBS segment for the upper arms, the ISS uses the brick based ball and socket connectors for its solar panel array, etc). Galidor socket joints, originally exclusive to Galidor by the end of 2002 had a Technic based adapter then eventually they got a brick based one too (the Galidor sockets now a staple of mech and dragon builds). Obviously Technic has had stud compatible bricks since day one of that theme too, same with Duplo being cross compatible with Lego since its inception. I find it interesting how all these different design methodologies have either from outright design to eventual adaptation have all become easy to use with normal Lego, making ZNAP sort of the odd one out with Technic being its only way to cross interface back to System (there is no direct ZNAP brick converter).
When even Galidor has been made cross compatible with normal Lego sets, you have to wonder... what ZNAP did so wrong?
If @Huw were to revisit Galidor actually that would make an interesting thesis of the article, finding the ways Lego's non standard System was slowly brought back into well, System. I know from experience that all Galidor feet (including the Happy Meal toys) will fit over a regular baseplate studs. It takes some tricky aligning but once set up right they slide onto a studded surface easily, and its almost bizarre how considering their non standard Lego look with zero studs themselves, Lego took the time to make sure their feet of all things were stud compatible.
Another interesting case is how Lego tried to bring Bionicle parts into System based themes early on like with Alpha Team, Exo-Force and Vikings. Unlike Galidor, since Bionicle was Technic based already it had an easy time interfacing with normal Lego sets... but stylistically it takes me out of looking at an old set and suddenly seeing Pohatu Nuva's climbing claws just sticking out of a corner, but that was very common practice for Lego at the time. Its less a debate about mechanical compatibility, and more a debate about aesthetic compatibility (one that is alive even in the Bionicle fandom itself debating the stylistic variants between CCBS, the Inika build, the Metru build and the early Mata and Slizer builds).
@Huw said:
"I reviewed the two Galidor sets I have a few years ago but perhaps I'll resurrect them seeing as you're all so keen to read more about the theme!"
That will be good!
@Phoenixio said:
"It looks to me like this had tons of potential, especially if they had ever made pieces connecting Technic to Znap... "
It might have had. But (unfortunately?) ZNAP was using odd size (stud) distances. Therefore it wasn't straightforward to connect it to normal technic beams that were mostly even lenght bricks at that time.
Building actually was fun because large structures were easy to create (https://brickshelf.com/gallery/rothw/bridges/dcp_0348.jpg). Taking it apart however turned out to be painful as the pieces were connecting tightly.
Most common colour is black. I think all parts made are available. Other colours are green, red, and yellow. These were more difficult to collect.
I recall picking up a copy of 3571 Blackmobile for less than half price at a Toymaster in 1999 or 2000 - a very cheap way to get a 9-volt motor at the time. I managed to use some of the large black curved pieces as the main structure for a Ferris Wheel once, but, other than that, the motor is the only piece that I've used in my MOCs.
I bought one of each of the motorized Znap sets when they were reduced to something like $5.90 to $1.90 each at Toys R Us, intending to use them for... something. They're still in the blue 1000 piece tub I placed them in after sorting them 20 years ago. I still haven't used any of it.
@bric_2roc said:
"i am going to look for the znap pieces wish me luck"
Good luck!
As someone who likes playing around with obscure LEGO parts, I personally see a lot of potential with those Znap parts. Their industrial aesthtic looks like it could fit in all sorts of unique builds, like bridges, for example.
I always thought of Znap as taking on Meccano Junior , where Lego realized that with the clever purple connector kids wouldn't need to nut and bolt everything together so should be a hit. However, as mentioned the limited rods, plates and not very realistic models meant it was not going to appeal.
Although interesting that large beam frames are now in vogue with the latest large Technic sets and Spike, suggesting that maybe Znap was trying too hard, and they should have just produced smaller Lego city bridge girders like part 55767.
There was a Znap set with the Technic 9V motor. When Znap went on clearance sale I got a good few of those motors (and some of those nice flexi-axles) for next to nothing. Can't remember what I did with the rest of the pieces. Probably gave them away...
I owned one set. I worked for Woolworths back then so bought it out of curiosity. I don't know where it went though. Probably to a charity shop where it disappointed a knex collector.
Well, the development of Znap paved the way for modern stud-less Lego Technic. So quite a legacy.
@LegoRobo:
Consider the context. This was 1998. LEGO Star Wars was a year away from launching, Germany still bought more total product than the entire United States, and I don’t think they were even in the top three for largest toy manufacturers. K’Nex had been out for six years, and they must have perceived a loss of market share that they attributed to that brand, or they wouldn’t have cloned it. Five years later, it probably never would have happened.
@xboxtravis7992:
Galidor’s joint system had a huge advantage in that every previous system they developed sucked hard, and was really only designed for semi-permanent construction. Galidor needed one that could handle repeated exchanges, or the “glinching”(?) would break the parts.
I was aware of Znap, but I'm not sure I've ever actually *heard* of it audibly.
So how is "Znap" pronounced? Is it one syllable, like "snap" with a Z sound? Or is it Zee-nap? Or do British people call it Zed-nap?
@PurpleDave said:
" @myth:
Black Knights and Dragon Knights have the same logo but in different colors, which in terms of heraldry makes them completely different coats of arms. Also, if there’s a gap between the two runs, they often get treated as unrelated themes except in cases where it’s clearly a throwback to the earlier theme.
"
Thank you, makes sense a bit now :)
@chrichrichri said:
"Well, the development of Znap paved the way for modern stud-less Lego Technic. So quite a legacy."
The first studless beams appeared in 1996 so pre-dated znap by a couple, so the two systems would have been developed concurrently.
I only have one Znap set, 3551, which I picked up at a yard sale.I think I only played with it once or twice. I remember it being decent fun, but nowhere near regular lego. I still have it somewhere, though.
@Lordmoral said:
"This seems like a good idea but terrible implementation."
I have the feeling it is rather the opposite. They look well executed and quality gear, but there seems to be too little thought put into the concept.
Maybe it could have been a viable idea with a more specific goal: large skeletal structures that would have been impossible (or too costly) to make with regular LEGO bricks.
[edited]: Apparently like K'nex found its niche.
@Briguy52748 said:
"Wasn't this the era where Lego fans also had to deal with Town Jr.?
The late 1990s seems to be kind of a dark chapter in Lego history, I'm beginning to think."
They were in many ways, and it's no coincidence that that was the time they were getting dangerously close to bankruptcy.
I actually have a few of these sets!
@Rob42 said:
" @Briguy52748 said:
"Wasn't this the era where Lego fans also had to deal with Town Jr.?
The late 1990s seems to be kind of a dark chapter in Lego history, I'm beginning to think."
They were in many ways, and it's no coincidence that that was the time they were getting dangerously close to bankruptcy. "
It was kind of a vicious circle, wasn't it? From what I've gathered, at least: the closer they got to bankruptcy, the more they tried these new and strange things in an attempt to capture a new market and pull themselves back from that brink; which for the most part backfired and only pushed them closer instead. So they tried even *more* desperate things...
The only 'strange thing' that actually paid off was the Bionicle system which, surprisingly, found itself a very popular niche with the generation of the time and was one of the very few factors (along with licensed themes like Star Wars and Harry Potter) that kept Lego barely afloat into the 2000s until they could actually stop, work out what the heck they were doing wrong, and make plans to get back on their feet.
That said, three of my favourite themes were the product of that late 90s period, so from my point of view Lego was doing at least *something* right, even amongst all their other chaos xD
@LegoRobo said:
"Wait, Knex was considered a threat?! I have one of their basically LEGO sets. It’s so unstable that I’ve never been able to fully build it. Not to mention that horrifying “minifigure...”" sounds like you have one of the sets Knex made to try and capitalise on Lego‘s success. Early Knex didn‘t include figures at all, nor bricks. It was purely beams (rods), connectors and wheels. Just fancy that... Lego saw Knex as a threat and tried to copy them but later Knex tried to copy Lego... and in each case the company should have just stick to what they did best
The small sets are really ugly, but I can see the appeal of the larger sets. The same with K'nex. In fact, if I could give K'nex a hint, they could make a GBC set...
Znap did have one redeeming feature - some of the sets included the excellent old 9V motor, which I still use to the present day. Those old motor bricks were more useful than most of the motors I can buy today.
The K'nex system is far more elegant- it had, like, 20 different pieces. The Znap pieces are crazy specialized shapes that could just be built from smaller K'nex pieces. Lego probably had to make Znap so stupid and juniorized compared to K'nex to avoid a lawsuit. Ironic Lego was able to create such a great brick system but did the opposite here.
I loved it for the cheap 9V motors that were included in certain sets on sale at the time.
(And the flex axles).
Yes, quite right, the flex axles. Very useful.
GameBoy Color modules?
These look like something you’d get for free at a gas station. Interesting article! I’d never heard of Znap before.
@myth said:
" @PurpleDave said:
" @myth:
Black Knights and Dragon Knights have the same logo but in different colors, which in terms of heraldry makes them completely different coats of arms. Also, if there’s a gap between the two runs, they often get treated as unrelated themes except in cases where it’s clearly a throwback to the earlier theme.
"
Thank you, makes sense a bit now :)
"
While this could definitely be a perfectly good explanation for a name change, I can very well imagine Lego also abandoned the name Crusaders because of its religious connotations. After all, in the Middle Ages, Crusaders fought a war in order to conquer the Holy Land from Islamic reign. These Crusades were often romanticized in western art, literature, and media, but by the early '90s some companies appeared to realize that a huge part of the world isn't Christian, and they could lose potential customers by having products that somehow sold the idea of glorifying a religious war. That's how we got Nasir in the TV series Robin Of Sherwood and Azeem in the movie Robin Hood: Prince Of Thieves; as a way to portray the Saracens more favorably than in previous depictions.
Ah yes, the pseudo-technic mishap that is Znap. Like some of the other commenters here I first learned about these parts after sorting an eBay bulk purchase. I was lucky enough to obtain a manual that showed the mystery objects alongside the familiar LEGO logo, so it was not an unanswered question for as long as other folks. The little amount of Znap parts I do have are tucked away in one of my smallest containers waiting for a truly revolutionary MOC application.
Znap, along with Town Jr. and Jack Stone, compose the late '90s early 2000s tribunal of Lego's solvent-huffing era, when the entire company would gather at the company cafeteria in the mornings and just pass around an open container of styrene used in the ABS process, occasionally mixing it up with some computer duster and diethyl ether. At lunch, they would do shots of the cheapest akvavit they could find and the last person still conscious had to design the sets.
As a K'Nex competitor, are Znap pieces compatible with K'Nex? I doubt it, but you never know. I mean, K'Nex took some pretty remarkable steps towards making their products compatible with LEGO in recent years, releasing K'Nex bricks that appear to be compatible with the LEGO System as well as connecting to K'Nex rods, and even releasing K'Nex minifigures which look remarkably like LEGO ones!
I remember seeing a motorized Znap set in Toys "R" Us or somewhere once. I noticed that the motor appeared to be connected to a battery box which I thought had only been intended for lights. So I connected a 9V motor to a non-directional 9V battery box. Didn't work. Burned out the motor. Then I tried connecting a 9V fiber-optic light brick to a directional battery box because methought that, at some point, I had seen a picture of a 9V two-lamp lighting brick connected to one, with the lights obviously alternating. Burned out the fiber-optic light brick!
It's not clear why this series of constructors failed. For many years there has been a Cypriot company Engino on the market with almost the same design principle, which is alive and well, and even supplies sets to schools. But they took a more correct path - they minimized the number of basic elements. They also have kits with electric motors, gears and even solar panels.
@BrandonG_256 said:
"As a K'Nex competitor, are Znap pieces compatible with K'Nex? I doubt it, but you never know. I mean, K'Nex took some pretty remarkable steps towards making their products compatible with LEGO in recent years, releasing K'Nex bricks that appear to be compatible with the LEGO System as well as connecting to K'Nex rods, and even releasing K'Nex minifigures which look remarkably like LEGO ones!
I remember seeing a motorized Znap set in Toys "R" Us or somewhere once. I noticed that the motor appeared to be connected to a battery box which I thought had only been intended for lights. So I connected a 9V motor to a non-directional 9V battery box. Didn't work. Burned out the motor. Then I tried connecting a 9V fiber-optic light brick to a directional battery box because methought that, at some point, I had seen a picture of a 9V two-lamp lighting brick connected to one, with the lights obviously alternating. Burned out the fiber-optic light brick!"
That's weird, because they were just regular Technic 9V motors and 9V battery boxes. Never had any problem with them.
On a different note, I think that Lego was more or less forced to do Znap at the time, since Knex was just becoming too popular. Creating Znap was something TLG could do in the short term.
Building up the brand image again takes more time.
I would definitely like articles based on Galidor and Jack Stone, and also any other short lived or just bad Lego products.
Don't use Harry Potter wands a similar type of connector or are they a different size? You could call that a legacy.
@bananaworld said:
"
If they'd given it a backstory & a cartoon, it could be as fondly remembered as Bionicle! "
Backstory & cartoon does not equal a massive fanbase if the product is bad. Galidor had both, but aside from MOCers who like to challenge themselves to find uses for the parts, I don't know of anyone who loves it like Bionicle.
Oh, look, it is a Znap attack!
I have thousands and thousands of Znap parts in my collection. They are extremely useful for making large technic compatible framework to build off of. If anyone has any znap they would like to sell off please contact me and it’s a done deal. Philipeudy @gmail.com
I have an interesting opinion regarding these sets but I don't think that it's appropriate for this kid-friendly website.
Out of curiosity, does a GBC ball fit through the gaps in those wheels, @Huw?
@fakespacesquid said:
"Out of curiosity, does a GBC ball fit through the gaps in those wheels, @Huw?"
Good question! I have those wheels and if anything they would fit through the larger ones, remind me to check sometime later.
LEGO back in the day diversified to much.
KISS
Give the people what they want.
But then, without innovation there is no progress. Oh well.
I think that in the end, even these sets become more valuable and collector items, in a series of un-LEGO-like Sets. So let's not underestimate it :D
I have collected a small amount from mixed lots of LEGO and even a bag of K'nex a colleague gave me. It was satisfying to build a small bridge with it. Actually: Hot Wheels track fits perfectly on the rectangular bracket pieces.
I can see some uses in MOCs, but in 1998 I wanted Alpha Team, Slizer and Rock Raiders!
@Huw :
Beam geometry is pretty much just stripped-down Technic brick geometry, so regardless of whether or not they were developed concurrently, the beams should have ended up the same in the end. Since it's a subtractive design, there's nothing that was specifically added to create Znap compatibility that I can tell. It's just a string of pin holes linked together, with mass reduction to prevent dimpling.
@ThatBionicleGuy :
It was a bit like drilling holes in the hull of your boat to reduce its weight so it will stop sinking. The Bionicle system, though, was more than just the sum of its parts. Sure, the Throwbot/Roborider designs were pretty terrible by comparison, but there were some problematic pieces the early days of Bionicle as well. Not only did some of the original Toa use the old Throwbot L-shaped limb, but the weapon arm was pretty bad, and the Nuva limb was perhaps the first glimpse at the shells from CCBS. In terms of Toa design, I think the epitome for me would be the original Toa bodies with Turaga heads, the Nuva arms, and the sculpted hands that were introduced much later.
No, what made Bionicle so successful was the incredibly deep story. The previous two attempts had "stories" that could basically be conveyed in no more than a page each. Bionicle's story took ten years to tell, and the basic flow of that story was put to page before the first sets were developed. You can see how much of an impact Bionicle has had on the entire company when the City line is full of sets with named characters that tie into a TV series.
@Anonym :
It's similar, but not the same. Not only are they different scales, but they're different shapes as well. This is more of a mushroom shape, designed to clip into the Znap hooks from the end only. The HP wand is designed for a minifig hand, which has a circular shape and no hooks. It's designed to be able to be held as a bar, but also to be able to rotate within that grip with a full 180 degrees of motion (possible a little more). There's apparently a term for the gemetric shape used for the HP wand (or at least someone in another comment section claimed to recognize it), but I don't know if there's one for the Znap bulb.
@ToysFromTheAttic :
That's certainly possible. There are three ways you can be inclusive. The hardest is to try to incorporate everyone and everything into your design. The worst is to feign "inclusivity" by trying to forcefully exclude anyone who don't think fits that ideal. The most effective is to simply be welcoming and try to offend as few people as possible, which is the method The LEGO Company has embraced.
@BrandonG_256 :
I have no idea what you mean by "directional" and "non-directional" battery boxes. Do you mean DC vs AC? I know that was a problem with the original RCX, which had a power jack that was designed to accept 9v AC. Since the AC adapter sold on S @H was so expensive, people opted to just buy an adapter from Radio Shack, not realizing they were hooking a DC adapter up to an AC jack. A lot of people burned out the power busses on their 1.0 RCX bricks because of this important distinction, which is why the only notable change made to the 1.5 RCX was to remove the jack. They corrected this problem with the NXT, which had an optional Li-Poly battery pack. You could run the NXT off the pack while charging the pack with an adapter, and you once again had the ability to run a Mindstorms brick off wall power...though if you were maxing out the NXT's power consumption, it exceeded the rate at which the pack would charge, and you could still have it shut off due to the battery being depleted.
@gylman:
There were two eras of the 9v motor, with the older ones lasting pretty much forever, and the newer ones failing pretty quickly. Weren't Znap sets released during the latter group?
@goldenguy880:
The irony is that the core functionality of Bionicle was borrowed from Throwbots and regular Technic, and there doesn't seem to be any new functionality that was created for Bionicle that is still going strong today (CCBS is a failed system). Galidor, on the other hand, gave us a very robust new hinge system that is still finding new uses even now. The flip side of that is that there's really no Galidor elements that are still around, while a handful of Bionicle parts are still kicking around.
@peppermintmecha:
That's...bizarre. K'Nex was an independent brand up until three years ago, and I don't even recognize the company that bought it. If it had been under the Mattel umbrella, it would have made sense for them to be compatible with each other.
I've never looked closely at Znap sets before and (say what you will) those larger elements look great for greebling. Slap one on the side of a building and you got a lattice of support struts!