The Wall Street Journal recently released a video titled How Lego Built a Media Empire Beyond Bricks, outlining many of the high level changes the company has gone through over the years with a focus on media, storytelling, and franchises. Of course Bionicle played a huge part in that evolution, and receives some air time in the video! Go give it a watch to see what has made it the biggest toy company in the world.

We've almost hit the end of January already, and that means there's only a few more days left to enter the 2023 Member Raffle #1 for a chance to win LEGO Star Wars Buildable Figure 75525 Baze Malbus from Rogue One! Good luck to everyone who enters!

The Bionicle Gift With Purchase, 40581 Bionicle Tahu and Takua, will finally go live later this week on January 27th. Unfortunately, LEGO isn't exactly going to make it easy to get the set, as not only is there a price requirement of $100 in the US, but the qualifying sets must be from particular themes. If you haven't been following some of LEGO's other themes, there could be some confusion on just what you should buy. So I put together a list of some eligible products you can purchase that might be of interest to Bionicle fans. Read on to see the full list and begin to plan your purchases.  

Unfortunately technical issues have arisen again and we have to cancel our stream tonight. It looks like it might be a while before we can stream again, so consider Twitch Tuesday on hiatus until further notice.
We're getting really close to finishing LEGO The Incredibles, and will be heading back in tonight to inch towards 100% completion! Come by the BZPower Twitch channel starting at 7:30 PM Eastern as we tackle the last two levels in the game to collect minikits and achievements to check off our imaginary check boxes and get that wonderful endorphin rush when we succeed!

There's been some conflicting information floating around regarding the requirements to receive 40581 Bionicle Tahu and Takua when the promotion launches later this month. Today on the LEGO Ambassador Network, Jordan Paxton from the Community Team confirmed that you must spend 100 USD or EUR in the following themes to be eligible for the set: City, Monkie Kid, Ninjago, Friends, Classic, DOTS, or Creator 3-in-1. The amount you have to spend will vary in other countries, but as far as we're aware the theme limitations will remain. BZPower Reporter Xccj is working on a list of recommendations if you're interested in acquiring the set, so stay tuned for that!

One of my first thoughts when I saw Tahu in the Bionicle tribute set was "Where are the other Toa?" Tahu may be the most popular Toa, but the theme centered around six Heroes, not just one. So, this eventually led me to wondering if I could recreate the other Toa in this same style. But do the parts exist in the right colors? Read on for more details on this thought exercise.  

It appears that our technical difficulties of last week are behind us, so tonight we fully expect to return to the BZPower Twitch channel for some more LEGO gaming fun! We still have more of LEGO The Incredibles to get through, so we hope to see you there starting at 7:30 PM Eastern as we work our way back through the story to claim all the collectibles and achievements in sight!

It's finally here; the Bionicle anniversary / tribute / gift with purchase set. The set is 40581 Bionicle Tahu and Takua. Fans may disagree on if they like the style of the build, but we can all agree that it's a homage to a theme that's dear to many of us. And, of course, we're going to go full out for this review, with insights from Ta-Metru Defender, Dviddy, and Xccj. Read on to see all the details about the first full Bionicle set we've received in many years.  

Recently, as the Ambassador for BioniLUG, I was invited to a roudtable interview session with LEGO Designer Nick Vas, who was the lead designer on 40581 Tahu and Takua, and LEGO Designer Niek van Slagmaat. Joining me was Graham from Blocks Magazine, Eljay from The Three Virtues, Chris from DuckBricks, Aiden from BrickNerd, and Chris from Brick Fanatics. Nick started by giving us a presentation on the development of the set, followed by each of us taking turns to ask some questions. They were even kind enough to share some of the images from the slides for us to share with you. Read on to learn more about the design of this awesome tribute set!

 

I recently was sent a mysterious package from LEGO in my capacity as BioniLUG's Ambassador. We'll be opening the box tomorrow, January 16th at 9 AM Eastern over on the BZPower Twitch channel! Come join us to see what's inside. I promise it will be worth the early stream!