Despite only getting into Bionicle and owning the sets in 2018 (I was a born in 2005), I had Legends of metru nui as as DVD and I always liked it. So it was a pleasant surprise when my mom came across a bionicle listing on Facebook of Battle of Metru nui, ultimate dume, and some other random stuff for abou 35€ if I recall correctly. Those were my first bionicle sets other than the Axalara t9...and the ones that brought me down the rabbit whole. I now own about half of all the Bionicle sets. Vakama is easily my favourite. My favorite toa canister set. My favorite character after reading the books. And my favorite out of of what nostalgia a fan who came late to the party like me can have
2004 will always be my favourite year, both lore and set wise, with Vakama being my favourite character as a whole. It was also the only time I got almost all the yearly sets, except for one Vahki and a bunch of Matorans. Fast forward 20 years, it's January 2024, I've just submitted my Master's thesis and to celebrate both this milestone and the 20th anniversary of Metru Nui, I've finally decided to get these leftovers. Thankfully bricklink prices are fair for 2004 tbh. So, yeah, remembering Vakama's words:"may the heart of Metru Nui live forever", I'll always honor this statement, even 20 years later. Guess you can say I did travel back in time for a bunch of sets for once.
That's such a great story about you getting Krekka and Nidhiki. A similar thing hapoened with me getting Axonn and Brutaka. Nuju and Whenua I got together and were my first ever Toa sets. Easily my favourite year of the franchise.
I have such a soft spot for Bordakh, not only was he my first bionicle I remember getting, but I actually managed to find a sealed boxed bordakh for £1 in a charity shop back in December who's still sitting on my shelf now
I know number one for me would be Vakama, because he's the one you see at the beginning of the video "Bionicle Boulevard of Broken Dream" (with the Piraka logo for the thumbnail) and I remember listening to that as a kid quite a bit, and I think I like, was into Bionicle in a sense, though I never had any of the sets, my very first constraction style set was Bulk 3.0, I do know I always liked the Rhakshi the most, still, that beginning of the video, the lava pouring, how Vakama turns to the camera, then jumps down that lavalfall on that rock - SO iconic/nostalgic to me
I hope one day getting all the sets from 2004, cause all the sets are great (even Krekka). I already got the Toa and Matoran sets, but my holy grail is Lhikan & Kikanalo.
Hey Ben ! The first one you picked out ,I already have ,SoI would get something else .But every thing else ,I would be right behind you getting the same stuff . Great choice .take care
Honestly my picks are pretty close to this. Loved Krekka as a kid but never got him, until about 10 years later. Lhikan and Kikanalo I remember absolutely loving though as well as all of the Vahki i got [Keerakh being my fave.] Vakama ftw too!
My collection is ever growing, to the dismay of my wallet, lol. Of this wave, I have all the Vakhi, Toa Vakama, and Nokama with Whenua and Nuju on the way. And two of the matoran (don't remember the names, the black and the brown ones). In a random pound of Bionicle, I got one of Lhikan's blades and the head of the Kikanalo as well.
Ben on Christmas 2004: Nyuuuh... Nidhiki? Get Nidhiki... And so with tradition, I now talk about something completely different. 2004 in LEGO Star Wars was a bit of a gap year. The Attack of the Clones spillover had kind of haulted and we were all just waiting in anticipation for Revenge of the Sith and the epic sets that were about to come from that. 2004 almost exclusively focused on the Originial Trilogy, which is fine, but believe it or not, a lot of these are just rehashes in some form or another. In just Star Wars' fifth year as a LEGO theme, they were remaking sets or mostly just reissuing the same sets again with a few slight tweaks. However, if I were to go back in time I'd absolutely pick up the sets I didn't get because I'd like to have a complete collection of the first 5 years of LEGO Star Wars. There's a UCS Y-Wing (10134), a TIE Fighter Collection (10131) that does include a TIE/d to entice you to buy sets you already owned and then the three polybags of Mini Sets that I did see on shelves once, but we weren't at Toys R Us for me that day, or if we were, I only had just enough money for the set I was there to buy, not these guys. Besides, 6963 is just the same X-Wing as the one from 4484 but without the TIE Advanced, 6964 is a recolored Slave I from 4487 (although there is an exclusive print so I should have gotten it), there wasn't much new value I felt was being gained at the time. But then there was 6965, a mini TIE Interceptor, and man, I should have at least gotten that one because that's the best TIE Fighter, it looks great, and it was the first time the ship had been rendered in LEGO form. One day I will get these Minis, I've regretted not getting them for nearly 20 years. Okay, but what about the Top 5? *5. 4500 Rebel Snowspeeder* Eh, it's a Snowspeeder. I am grateful my Grandma gave it too me, it's certainly more accurate than the original version, but I like the gray coloring of that original Snowspeeder from 1999, and I honestly just like the way it looks more, too. Even the Mini version was in gray, Snowspeeders are gray not only in my mind, they appear a bit more gray in Empire Strikes Back, too, in order to help them stand out enough to be seen on screen. *4. Series 3 of the Mini Sets* 4492 Star Destroyer is okay, but there's a bit too much Dark Bluish Gray on it for me. Unlike the AT-AT from 2003, adding more gray to enhance certain features did not really work in this set's favor. 4493 Sith Infiltrator is also just okay. It can technically fold its wings and there's retractible landing gear, but to be honest, this ship really isn't all that memorable, and I love 7151 from 1999 despite how much hate it gets. LEGO seems to really love this ship, but it just isn't all that exciting at this scale. 4494 Imperial Shuttle is pretty fun, it translates really well. But the best of these is 4495 AT-TE with it's unique shape, wonderful prints, the legs and feet are able to be clicked into different positions, and just like the movie, there's those great Trans-Neon Green windows. There's also a ton of antennas to position and even the main cannon pivots, too. Unfortunately though, unlike Series 1 and 2, these guys didn't provide a combiner model for getting all 4 sets. I'm guessing it didn't test well. I'd have loved a combiner model of something from the Prequels like a Republic Frigate or an AAT. Oh well. *3. 4504 Millennium Falcon* Aesthetically it's way better than 7190, but boy is this thing a little fragile. It came out at just the right time though because although 7190 was gone, it had already increased quite a bit on the aftermarket, my dad and I were shocked what it was going for on eBay. 4504 was something my dad bought for himself, but we were going to share the building experience. This is the set that comes with the Kohrak-Kal weapon in Dark Orange for the Hyperdrive, so that was pretty cool. The base is pretty sturdy, but the top part, although great looking to have all the flaps open for inside access, it not something I'd ever want to have for play of it flaying around. I'll take the giant printed panels of 7190 for their stability over these spokes. I do find that being based off Empire Strikes Back is a bit of a plus though. Made me imagine that the next time they made a Millennium Falcon that it would be based off of Return of the Jedi and you'd get Lando and Nein Nunb, and the radar dish would be attached with a magnet so you could easily smack it off just like in the movie. That never happened though, and instead, each version of the Millnnium Falcon got uglier in my opinion, and not in a good way since the Falcon's not suppose to be a pretty ship to begin with. Things got much gappier as this spoke design was forced to flatten out until 2019 redid everything into 4 larger panels that flip open, which is a version I am interested in, but it's just too expensive for me to justify the price. I don't have a Rise of Skywalker set yet, but I think I'd also rather have a Falcon with a cast of characters I care more about, no matter how pretty the Falcon may look. Continued in reply...
*2. 4501 Mos Eisley Cantina* First time and they crushed it. No, we don't have everything you could ever want, but we have Han vs. Greedo, we've got Sand Blue and Dark Red stripes on the walls, we've got a ton of Sand Red... We've got the required elements to make a minifig scaled Landspeeder in Dark Red with some superficial Sand Red pieces that makes you think it's all Sand Red, and we have a Dewback making use of the Dinosaurs parts which look way better than the all moleded one in recent years. This set's fantastic, I don't care what anyone says. Yes, no band, no Wuher, not even Chewbacca, R2 and 3PO, and any other folks to fill up the bar, but we have plenty of minifigs to have the important story beats to recreate iconic moments on Tatooine, and it all came at a great price. The price per piece ratio may be seen as outrageous today for what you get, but I'm telling you that with the weird colors, the larger pieces, and a few new elements made for the Dewback and Greedo in minifig form for the first time, it was worth it. Greedo even comes with printed arms! I love this little set. And finally... *1. 4502 X-Wing Fighter* This was my first X-Wing, I never got the one from 1999 until almost 20 years after it was released, and I have to say, this is how you revamp a set. For years, this was the gold standard to copy any time LEGO wanted to make an X-Wing. I bought Poe's X-Wing and it was mostly the same concept. But what really makes this one special is that it includes Yoda and his hut on Dagobah. You even get little seaweed pieces to cover the X-WIng after it sinks into the swamp. And the best part, this one snuck in just before LEGO changed the colors! That's right, Old Grays and Old Browns reign supreme! They look exelent on an X-Wing, and then Yoda's hut is suitably dirty, too. They use Dark Orange for the floor, and then on the walls there's this Green that's used for hinges on the tan and brown bricks, and I have to say, it feels very retro, like he's got some shag carpeting and gaudy 70s decor, but I love it. He's got a bed, a pot on some fire, a little table, it's very cozy. And the whole top of Yoda's hut hinges, and that top is a big brown dish with tree roots printed all over it, it's amazing. Oh and let's not forget Yoda! He was a rare thing to get back in the day, he was always welcome. Luke even sports a new outfit and even comes with a backpack that's a printed tile of something rolled up, so it's not really a backpack, but he's got something to carry on his back, that's what's important. In theory, you could even clip Yoda to it because there's a 1x2 plate with bars to hook onto, but that would make Luke very unstable. Still, it can be done. If this set were just the X-Wing, it would still be great, but having it be on Dagobah with Yoda's hut made it all the better. Best Star Wars set of 2004
To be fair, I don’t think we can consider the vahki themselves to be evil, given that they’re mindless robots. Pretty sure they were designed to protect Metru Nui from rahi at first, then folded into law enforcement to bolster their manpower, and only THEN were they given a “refit” by Teridax that included mind-control weaponry. Though I admit, calling them EEEEEEVILLL is significantly more fun and rolls off the tongue a lot better than “minions of Makuta.”
A while back, I got a bunch of CCBS and a bit of Bionicle pieces, (mainly from HF 1.0) and in all that there are I think 10 or 12 of those blade pieces that Nidhiki has, and because of your videos, seeing as (at least I think so) you mostly refered to Nidhiki as for where that piece can be found, I now call those "Nidhiki blades" Also, at first, I thought Nidhiki was a woman, and I still think it works quite well if it was so (it's not of course, but not knowing the story, that, to me, makes for a real good female villain)
Ok, now I REALLY wanna get Bordhak, and I know I can, the same person who I bought Toa Nuva Lewa from has him, just without the disc Plus, I built a fully black Vahki-like character with Nidhiki blades (function included), and I really like it, so a real one would be nice, plus, I'll be buying a bunch of Bionicle from this person that I bought Jaller and Avak (among other things) from, and in that there's most of the parts for Gadunka, so MOC-wise, that's more dark blue
@@Bionickpunk Yeah that's the tough thing with that video, I'd hate to just ignore one haha I'll have to think about doing it though, The Stars sets were awesome, but currently I don't think I will make a top 5 video on them. But I have a LOT more top 5 videos planned. Currently 4 are in the works
Ultimate dume.... yeah, i remember building it, trying to pose it but the joints werent strong enough to hold the weight of the damn thing, being like, ok, now i build my own thing and destroyed it XD
Despite only getting into Bionicle and owning the sets in 2018 (I was a born in 2005), I had Legends of metru nui as as DVD and I always liked it. So it was a pleasant surprise when my mom came across a bionicle listing on Facebook of Battle of Metru nui, ultimate dume, and some other random stuff for abou 35€ if I recall correctly. Those were my first bionicle sets other than the Axalara t9...and the ones that brought me down the rabbit whole. I now own about half of all the Bionicle sets.
Vakama is easily my favourite. My favorite toa canister set. My favorite character after reading the books. And my favorite out of of what nostalgia a fan who came late to the party like me can have
The Lhikan set has to be one of my favorite sets ever. Such a good design and the kikanalo parts have been a neverending gift for my mocs
2004 will always be my favourite year, both lore and set wise, with Vakama being my favourite character as a whole. It was also the only time I got almost all the yearly sets, except for one Vahki and a bunch of Matorans.
Fast forward 20 years, it's January 2024, I've just submitted my Master's thesis and to celebrate both this milestone and the 20th anniversary of Metru Nui, I've finally decided to get these leftovers. Thankfully bricklink prices are fair for 2004 tbh.
So, yeah, remembering Vakama's words:"may the heart of Metru Nui live forever", I'll always honor this statement, even 20 years later. Guess you can say I did travel back in time for a bunch of sets for once.
Heck yeah man, that's awesome!
What was your thesis about?
@@conorandkanohi Latin Philology, a bunch of poems written by Seneca
I was late to the party because i was to busy playing a minecraft clone
Craft blox or mine block
That's such a great story about you getting Krekka and Nidhiki. A similar thing hapoened with me getting Axonn and Brutaka.
Nuju and Whenua I got together and were my first ever Toa sets. Easily my favourite year of the franchise.
I always always always wanted Lhikan. Was my favorite the moment I saw him. I finally got him last year!! Deserves all the love
I have such a soft spot for Bordakh, not only was he my first bionicle I remember getting, but I actually managed to find a sealed boxed bordakh for £1 in a charity shop back in December who's still sitting on my shelf now
I know number one for me would be Vakama, because he's the one you see at the beginning of the video "Bionicle Boulevard of Broken Dream" (with the Piraka logo for the thumbnail) and I remember listening to that as a kid quite a bit, and I think I like, was into Bionicle in a sense, though I never had any of the sets, my very first constraction style set was Bulk 3.0, I do know I always liked the Rhakshi the most, still, that beginning of the video, the lava pouring, how Vakama turns to the camera, then jumps down that lavalfall on that rock - SO iconic/nostalgic to me
The only one I need is the Titan bird with turgaga dume.
Poor Onewa, ha. “Yeah, my 5th favorite is Vakama, I got him and Onewa was also there”
Always liked his mask, very unique
I don’t know how they did it but somehow they made it nearly impossible to not have the vahki in a dynamic pose
I still wish we could have gotten an official pre-mutation Nidhikki.
I hope one day getting all the sets from 2004, cause all the sets are great (even Krekka). I already got the Toa and Matoran sets, but my holy grail is Lhikan & Kikanalo.
Hey Ben ! The first one you picked out ,I already have ,SoI would get something else .But every thing else ,I would be right behind you getting the same stuff . Great choice .take care
Honestly my picks are pretty close to this. Loved Krekka as a kid but never got him, until about 10 years later. Lhikan and Kikanalo I remember absolutely loving though as well as all of the Vahki i got [Keerakh being my fave.] Vakama ftw too!
My collection is ever growing, to the dismay of my wallet, lol. Of this wave, I have all the Vakhi, Toa Vakama, and Nokama with Whenua and Nuju on the way. And two of the matoran (don't remember the names, the black and the brown ones). In a random pound of Bionicle, I got one of Lhikan's blades and the head of the Kikanalo as well.
good video again
Wenua was my 1st bionicle ever,still top spot in hearth
Ben on Christmas 2004: Nyuuuh... Nidhiki? Get Nidhiki...
And so with tradition, I now talk about something completely different. 2004 in LEGO Star Wars was a bit of a gap year. The Attack of the Clones spillover had kind of haulted and we were all just waiting in anticipation for Revenge of the Sith and the epic sets that were about to come from that. 2004 almost exclusively focused on the Originial Trilogy, which is fine, but believe it or not, a lot of these are just rehashes in some form or another. In just Star Wars' fifth year as a LEGO theme, they were remaking sets or mostly just reissuing the same sets again with a few slight tweaks.
However, if I were to go back in time I'd absolutely pick up the sets I didn't get because I'd like to have a complete collection of the first 5 years of LEGO Star Wars. There's a UCS Y-Wing (10134), a TIE Fighter Collection (10131) that does include a TIE/d to entice you to buy sets you already owned and then the three polybags of Mini Sets that I did see on shelves once, but we weren't at Toys R Us for me that day, or if we were, I only had just enough money for the set I was there to buy, not these guys. Besides, 6963 is just the same X-Wing as the one from 4484 but without the TIE Advanced, 6964 is a recolored Slave I from 4487 (although there is an exclusive print so I should have gotten it), there wasn't much new value I felt was being gained at the time. But then there was 6965, a mini TIE Interceptor, and man, I should have at least gotten that one because that's the best TIE Fighter, it looks great, and it was the first time the ship had been rendered in LEGO form. One day I will get these Minis, I've regretted not getting them for nearly 20 years.
Okay, but what about the Top 5?
*5. 4500 Rebel Snowspeeder*
Eh, it's a Snowspeeder. I am grateful my Grandma gave it too me, it's certainly more accurate than the original version, but I like the gray coloring of that original Snowspeeder from 1999, and I honestly just like the way it looks more, too. Even the Mini version was in gray, Snowspeeders are gray not only in my mind, they appear a bit more gray in Empire Strikes Back, too, in order to help them stand out enough to be seen on screen.
*4. Series 3 of the Mini Sets*
4492 Star Destroyer is okay, but there's a bit too much Dark Bluish Gray on it for me. Unlike the AT-AT from 2003, adding more gray to enhance certain features did not really work in this set's favor.
4493 Sith Infiltrator is also just okay. It can technically fold its wings and there's retractible landing gear, but to be honest, this ship really isn't all that memorable, and I love 7151 from 1999 despite how much hate it gets. LEGO seems to really love this ship, but it just isn't all that exciting at this scale.
4494 Imperial Shuttle is pretty fun, it translates really well.
But the best of these is 4495 AT-TE with it's unique shape, wonderful prints, the legs and feet are able to be clicked into different positions, and just like the movie, there's those great Trans-Neon Green windows. There's also a ton of antennas to position and even the main cannon pivots, too.
Unfortunately though, unlike Series 1 and 2, these guys didn't provide a combiner model for getting all 4 sets. I'm guessing it didn't test well. I'd have loved a combiner model of something from the Prequels like a Republic Frigate or an AAT. Oh well.
*3. 4504 Millennium Falcon*
Aesthetically it's way better than 7190, but boy is this thing a little fragile. It came out at just the right time though because although 7190 was gone, it had already increased quite a bit on the aftermarket, my dad and I were shocked what it was going for on eBay. 4504 was something my dad bought for himself, but we were going to share the building experience. This is the set that comes with the Kohrak-Kal weapon in Dark Orange for the Hyperdrive, so that was pretty cool. The base is pretty sturdy, but the top part, although great looking to have all the flaps open for inside access, it not something I'd ever want to have for play of it flaying around. I'll take the giant printed panels of 7190 for their stability over these spokes. I do find that being based off Empire Strikes Back is a bit of a plus though. Made me imagine that the next time they made a Millennium Falcon that it would be based off of Return of the Jedi and you'd get Lando and Nein Nunb, and the radar dish would be attached with a magnet so you could easily smack it off just like in the movie. That never happened though, and instead, each version of the Millnnium Falcon got uglier in my opinion, and not in a good way since the Falcon's not suppose to be a pretty ship to begin with. Things got much gappier as this spoke design was forced to flatten out until 2019 redid everything into 4 larger panels that flip open, which is a version I am interested in, but it's just too expensive for me to justify the price. I don't have a Rise of Skywalker set yet, but I think I'd also rather have a Falcon with a cast of characters I care more about, no matter how pretty the Falcon may look.
Continued in reply...
*2. 4501 Mos Eisley Cantina*
First time and they crushed it. No, we don't have everything you could ever want, but we have Han vs. Greedo, we've got Sand Blue and Dark Red stripes on the walls, we've got a ton of Sand Red... We've got the required elements to make a minifig scaled Landspeeder in Dark Red with some superficial Sand Red pieces that makes you think it's all Sand Red, and we have a Dewback making use of the Dinosaurs parts which look way better than the all moleded one in recent years. This set's fantastic, I don't care what anyone says. Yes, no band, no Wuher, not even Chewbacca, R2 and 3PO, and any other folks to fill up the bar, but we have plenty of minifigs to have the important story beats to recreate iconic moments on Tatooine, and it all came at a great price. The price per piece ratio may be seen as outrageous today for what you get, but I'm telling you that with the weird colors, the larger pieces, and a few new elements made for the Dewback and Greedo in minifig form for the first time, it was worth it. Greedo even comes with printed arms! I love this little set.
And finally...
*1. 4502 X-Wing Fighter*
This was my first X-Wing, I never got the one from 1999 until almost 20 years after it was released, and I have to say, this is how you revamp a set. For years, this was the gold standard to copy any time LEGO wanted to make an X-Wing. I bought Poe's X-Wing and it was mostly the same concept. But what really makes this one special is that it includes Yoda and his hut on Dagobah. You even get little seaweed pieces to cover the X-WIng after it sinks into the swamp. And the best part, this one snuck in just before LEGO changed the colors! That's right, Old Grays and Old Browns reign supreme! They look exelent on an X-Wing, and then Yoda's hut is suitably dirty, too. They use Dark Orange for the floor, and then on the walls there's this Green that's used for hinges on the tan and brown bricks, and I have to say, it feels very retro, like he's got some shag carpeting and gaudy 70s decor, but I love it. He's got a bed, a pot on some fire, a little table, it's very cozy. And the whole top of Yoda's hut hinges, and that top is a big brown dish with tree roots printed all over it, it's amazing. Oh and let's not forget Yoda! He was a rare thing to get back in the day, he was always welcome. Luke even sports a new outfit and even comes with a backpack that's a printed tile of something rolled up, so it's not really a backpack, but he's got something to carry on his back, that's what's important. In theory, you could even clip Yoda to it because there's a 1x2 plate with bars to hook onto, but that would make Luke very unstable. Still, it can be done. If this set were just the X-Wing, it would still be great, but having it be on Dagobah with Yoda's hut made it all the better. Best Star Wars set of 2004
To be fair, I don’t think we can consider the vahki themselves to be evil, given that they’re mindless robots. Pretty sure they were designed to protect Metru Nui from rahi at first, then folded into law enforcement to bolster their manpower, and only THEN were they given a “refit” by Teridax that included mind-control weaponry.
Though I admit, calling them EEEEEEVILLL is significantly more fun and rolls off the tongue a lot better than “minions of Makuta.”
My favourite Metru sets:
1. bordhak
2. Krekka
3. toa lhikan and _Kikanalo_
In no particular order
Honourable mention to Nokama and Vhisola!
A while back, I got a bunch of CCBS and a bit of Bionicle pieces, (mainly from HF 1.0) and in all that there are I think 10 or 12 of those blade pieces that Nidhiki has, and because of your videos, seeing as (at least I think so) you mostly refered to Nidhiki as for where that piece can be found, I now call those "Nidhiki blades"
Also, at first, I thought Nidhiki was a woman, and I still think it works quite well if it was so (it's not of course, but not knowing the story, that, to me, makes for a real good female villain)
8:53 my bro
Ok, now I REALLY wanna get Bordhak, and I know I can, the same person who I bought Toa Nuva Lewa from has him, just without the disc
Plus, I built a fully black Vahki-like character with Nidhiki blades (function included), and I really like it, so a real one would be nice, plus, I'll be buying a bunch of Bionicle from this person that I bought Jaller and Avak (among other things) from, and in that there's most of the parts for Gadunka, so MOC-wise, that's more dark blue
I have nuhri's chest armor,idk if it's rare or not
Video on thornraxx from breakout someday? 👉👈
For sure will happen!
quite sad to see this be the last top 5 best bionicles.
unless you make a top 5 on the stars.
Lewl, which one of the only 6 Stars sets will be ignored from the list. Could be a good idea for April Fool's next year.
@@Bionickpunk Yeah that's the tough thing with that video, I'd hate to just ignore one haha
I'll have to think about doing it though, The Stars sets were awesome, but currently I don't think I will make a top 5 video on them.
But I have a LOT more top 5 videos planned. Currently 4 are in the works
Ultimate dume.... yeah, i remember building it, trying to pose it but the joints werent strong enough to hold the weight of the damn thing, being like, ok, now i build my own thing and destroyed it XD
#justicefornuju
I’ve seen many call Kreka one of the worst sets and I’ve never understood it, yeah his arms are a little… crap, but he’s decent
Nuju