The above shots were taken right after my initial Toy Fair BIONICLE™ van appointment on Sunday, though I was unable to take any photos inside the van until Tuesday evening.

The first thing that Lincoln (BIONICLE™ Brand Manager) did when I entered the van was thrust this mocked-up KRANA box at me and ask me to reach inside and try to pull out one of the silver ones. (Those who saw one before might recognize this as one of the boxes used at a previous TRU event, with KRANA-KAL graphics glued on the sides) I spent a while feeling around, thinking I might be able to pick out a different texture or something, but they all felt like rubber. It turns out the silver KRANA in the box were just regular KRANA that had been painted silver. Regardless, I was then given a “white metal” (think gaming miniatures) KRANA XA-KAL with a 1-of-5000 certificate in a small velvet bag. I will be posting images of that once I get home and can get it in my home photo studio.

All along the outside walls of the van, they had little sections with elements of the history of BIONICLE™ laid out in a short timeline on one side (see above), and various peripheral products on the other side (see below). The timeline was divided up into six sections, running from right to left. At the far left was the 2001 TOA section, followed by the 2002 BOHROK, the 2002 TOA NUVA, the 2003 RAHKSHI, the 2003 TAKANUVA, and the 2003 MASK OF LIGHT movie. Unfortunately, TAKANUVA was officially off-limits for photography (hence the reason he wasn’t in the showroom with the rest of the 2003 product) and they covered the wall display with a velvet curtain before I was allowed to start shooting photos. While I was technically allowed to take a photo of the MoL section, there wasn’t much point since the liner had been stripped from the DVD case and the VHS tape had been flipped around, both prior to my first visit to the van. Evidentally they don’t want the MoL cover artwork to get out quite yet.

On the other side of the van, there were sections for the video and board games, comic books, calandars, posters, CCG cards, pens, watches, clocks, and the two highly prized 2002 Toy Of The Year awards (Best Boy Toy of the Year, and Most Innovative Toy of the Year).

Finally, in addition to the KOPAKA, TAHNOK, GALI NUVA, NUHVOK-KAL, TURAHK, and TAKANUVA models that were attached to the timeline wall, there were also loose copies of all six RAHKSHI, MAKUTA (sans MASK), and the full TAKANUVA set. Unfortunately, prior to giving the go-ahead to start shooting photos, the TAKANUVA set had to be stowed away out of sight. It’s too bad, too, since there were a few notable changes made to it since the retailer catalog shot first surfaced. I won’t go into lots of detail, but there were no gold hip-joints (and I was so looking forward to them). More surprisingly, there was a new dark-grey HAU to collect. You’ll just have to wait to see how that fits in, however.