Bionicle 2015 Discussion

[Brickus]

What is the book called, does it come with anything?

[DuckBricks]

What is the book called, does it come with anything?

Island of the Lost Masks- it's just a regular Bionicle chapter book so no goodies

[Bbrink1996]

Anyone know if there is a kindle version of the book? I'd rather read it via the kindle than a physical copy.

[Aanchir]

Anyone know if there is a kindle version of the book? I'd rather read it via the kindle than a physical copy.

Yes, there is!

[MakutaOfWar]

Got MMvSG and Basher in the mail today. Loving them both already, especially Basher's function. And what's the stand in MMvSG for? The Protector's mask? Cause I'm not putting anything but the MoCr on Ekimu.

[TheDesuComplex]

And what's the stand in MMvSG for? The Protector's mask? Cause I'm not putting anything but the MoCr on Ekimu.

Yes, it's made for the MoCr, because both members of the set are going after it and because it is the big MacGuffin of the year and warrants a stand of some sort. I'm just gonna scrap the stand myself and toss the Protector mask in my small bin I already have going of extra masks.

[Refy L.S.]

Yes, there is!

Is it just me, or is the kindle version not available at the moment? I would have thought they'd release it alongside the physical copy.

[Mesonak]

Is it just me, or is the kindle version not available at the moment? I would have thought they'd release it alongside the physical copy.

It's definitely up; I got mine at midnight on the 25th. Here's a direct link, maybe that will work?

[MakutaOfWar]

Yes, it's made for the MoCr, because both members of the set are going after it and because it is the big MacGuffin of the year and warrants a stand of some sort. I'm just gonna scrap the stand myself and toss the Protector mask in my small bin I already have going of extra masks.

I was mainly joking about how great the MoCr looks, I knew the stand was for it. :S The Protector mask looks nice too, but I mean... the MoCr is amazing. Anybody hoping for an Ignika remake?

[DuckBricks]

After reading the full book, I have to say I'm a tad disappointed, as there was so much hype and it doesn't really even expand that much on the animations... I feel like the old Bionicle books were better.

[Dorek]

After reading the full book, I have to say I'm a tad disappointed, as there was so much hype and it doesn't really even expand that much on the animations... I feel like the old Bionicle books were better.

I prefer this and then subsequent novels (and other material) getting more breathing room to tell original stories. Rather than padding events we've already seen with material that would inherently be pointless, we've cleared the introductory hurdle and can look forward to fresh tales.

[Quisoves Pugnat]

I prefer this and then subsequent novels (and other material) getting more breathing room to tell original stories. Rather than padding events we've already seen with material that would inherently be pointless, we've cleared the introductory hurdle and can look forward to fresh tales.

Yeah. It's important to remember that the first three BIONICLE novels were expanded retellings of the first two-and-half years.

[Ikaatril]

Perhaps it's just me, but I always thought there was far too much stuff that was exclusive to the BIONICLE books in G1. Too much, if you ask me.

[Fulcrumfan91]

Can someone who has recently fimished reading the book quickly summarize it please? Important events and such, I don't want to read it, I'm just very curious. Spoiler tags obviously would be needed.

[Dorek]

I don't want to read it

And now I'm sad. If you don't want to read the books, we won't get any more of them. Seems pretty self-defeating.

Perhaps it's just me, but I always thought there was far too much stuff that was exclusive to the BIONICLE books in G1. Too much, if you ask me.

To a certain extent, but for a time they were basically the only actual story medium (aside from the comics, which is why you saw a lot of crossover between the two anyway), or at least the only ones where we'd see character interplay and not just plot points. People were expected to read them, but that expectation proved to be part of G1's undoing.

[MakutaOfWar]

I remember getting the first book back in 03... one of the only books I ever fully read, haha! Anyways, so the other Skull villains don't have more names?

[DuckBricks]

I prefer this and then subsequent novels (and other material) getting more breathing room to tell original stories. Rather than padding events we've already seen with material that would inherently be pointless, we've cleared the introductory hurdle and can look forward to fresh tales.

This makes sense. Especially since ROTSS won't be covered in animations, I'm even looking forward to that more. There were still a lot of parts of the book I loved, especially the humor, which was spot on and so referential to Gen1

[Quisoves Pugnat]

Perhaps it's just me, but I always thought there was far too much stuff that was exclusive to the BIONICLE books in G1. Too much, if you ask me.

It's not as if it all could have fit into the comics, is it? Perhaps if the LEGO magazine had been monthly, it could have. As it was, there was one issue every two months.

People were expected to read them,

See, I never got this impression. I always had this feeling that the books were part of the expanded BIONICLE universe. Events exclusive to them were almost never referenced in the comics or the website or the product descriptions. Just reading the comics was, for the most part, enough to figure out what was going on. Lariska, Karzahni, the Shadowed One, Takanuva popping between realities, etc. were never mentioned in them, yet (excepting years with a film) you could glean the central from them, without (with the possible exception of Inika-to-be's journey to Voya Nui,) getting the sense that you were missing something.

but that expectation proved to be part of G1's undoing.

If this is the case (and I know that LEGO employees have stated it is. I just have a hard time believing it,) then why didn't sales increase in 2009, a year with no returning characters, as such, and only a single book, which was most definitely a side-adventure. Surely, if the plot had been an alienating factor, then that year would have seen a horde of newcomers?

[Dorek]

See, I never got this impression. I always had this feeling that the books were part of the expanded BIONICLE universe. Events exclusive to them were almost never referenced in the comics or the website or the product descriptions. Just reading the comics was, for the most part, enough to figure out what was going on. Lariska, Karzahni, the Shadowed One, Takanuva popping between realities, etc. were never mentioned in them, yet (excepting years with a film) you could glean the central from them, without (with the possible exception of Inika-to-be's journey to Voya Nui,) getting the sense that you were missing something.

To a certain extent (and up until the later years, you could definitely tell what was side story material and what was "main" without as much cross-pollination). But the books, especially the ones from after they stopped doing movies, were crucial to understanding the plot; while Karzahni, for instance, may have been negligible as a side-character, that whole plot was necessary to figure out how the Inika got their masks, got their transportation, and figured out where the heck they were going.

Takanuva's dimensional escapades, to use another example, weren't directly related to what was going on (which is why they were primarily relegated to bonus supplementary material), but the fact that Brutaka and Helryx had sent him was a huge factor. The Toa Nuva getting to Artakha might have been a brief epilogue, but it justifies why the characters are the way they are going into 2008. Regardless of the serials or how you read everything, the books were very much required reading (which, as mentioned, wasn't necessarily helpful).

If this is the case (and I know that LEGO employees have stated it is. I just have a hard time believing it,) then why didn't sales increase in 2009, a year with no returning characters, as such, and only a single book, which was most definitely a side-adventure. Surely, if the plot had been an alienating factor, then that year would have seen a horde of newcomers?

Too little too late, really. Franchise fatigue was past the point of no return by then. Certainly they tried to soft-reboot the whole thing (lord knows why, really, since they very pointedly tied the latter half of the story back in) but the damage had been done.

[Frozen Assasin]

Got a question - am I the only one who's not buying the MMvSG ?

[MakutaOfWar]

Got a question - am I the only one who's not buying the MMvSG ?

Yes.

Okay, okay, why not?

[Iben]

To a certain extent (and up until the later years, you could definitely tell what was side story material and what was "main" without as much cross-pollination). But the books, especially the ones from after they stopped doing movies, were crucial to understanding the plot; while Karzahni, for instance, may have been negligible as a side-character, that whole plot was necessary to figure out how the Inika got their masks, got their transportation, and figured out where the heck they were going.

Takanuva's dimensional escapades, to use another example, weren't directly related to what was going on (which is why they were primarily relegated to bonus supplementary material), but the fact that Brutaka and Helryx had sent him was a huge factor. The Toa Nuva getting to Artakha might have been a brief epilogue, but it justifies why the characters are the way they are going into 2008. Regardless of the serials or how you read everything, the books were very much required reading (which, as mentioned, wasn't necessarily helpful).

To me that's extremely weird. Don't get me wrong, but I'm from Belgium, and the books just really weren't that easy to get hold of. Heck, even the comics were only in English. All me and my brothers had for years were the small story-tidbits you see in the catalogues. That was it. Nothing more, except for the comics we could see online. That's why it's so weird for us to understand that the lore was getting "too complicated to draw in new people", because we never had that. The small pieces of information, in combination with the occasional comics and videoclips, were more than enough for us to get the basics of the story. We never had any problems with adjusting to a new wave.

Because in the end, it didn't matter to us to know where they got their masks. Or the fact that the Toa Nuva went to Artakha even. The thing you got was that they got adaptive armour, and that's why they changed. it didn't matter who gave it to them or why, you didn't really need that to understand the story. That's what I tried to explain earlier. There are two storylines in G1. You have the overall story arc, with the Toa Mata until the Mata Nui /Makuta fight. And really, if you wanted to understand that story, the catalogue tidbits, videoclips and comics were more than enough. Of course, each individual year-storyline had their own story to tell, and then you have to flesh that out with more specific information which came in the books and other sources. In the grand total of things, it didn't matter that Artakha gave them adaptive armour, the only thing that mattered was that they had it and that's why they were different.

Perhaps it's because we were in that situation that we see it differently, but I have to agree with Quisoves. In the end, my brothers and I never got the impression that we missed a lot of important story matters because we didn't have the books.

-Iben

[Frozen Assasin]

Yes.

Okay, okay, why not?

The only one I truly wanted was Skull Warrior and that's the one I already got. After that I read an review by a guy who I (personally) like and respect in which he critisized the hell out of the set (Ekimu isn't that good of a Protector and Skull Grinder isn't that good of a villain neither - both have major construction and design flaws) and said that the only thing that the set is worth buying for is the Mask of Creation (if you are not a MOCer , that is). So, I decided that spending 30 euros on a Mask is a bit overkill and I can better buy Gali and Skull Crusher instead. Or, maybe even no Bionicles at all and save the money for a comic-book.

It's not as if it all could have fit into the comics, is it? Perhaps if the LEGO magazine had been monthly, it could have. As it was, there was one issue every two months.

Nope. It never could. At least not because that comic-books are a far worse medium to give (and leave ) and impression than a book (I can say that for sure, as I am an avid reader of both).

See, I never got this impression. I always had this feeling that the books were part of the expanded BIONICLE universe. Events exclusive to them were almost never referenced in the comics or the website or the product descriptions. Just reading the comics was, for the most part, enough to figure out what was going on. Lariska, Karzahni, the Shadowed One, Takanuva popping between realities, etc. were never mentioned in them, yet (excepting years with a film) you could glean the central from them, without (with the possible exception of Inika-to-be's journey to Voya Nui,) getting the sense that you were missing something.

You forgot that 3/4 of the "expanded " universe was only reachable trough the site - Bioniclestory. And BTW, did you actually never wonder why the hell Takanuva suddenly was a grey giant ?

If this is the case (and I know that LEGO employees have stated it is. I just have a hard time believing it,) then why didn't sales increase in 2009, a year with no returning characters, as such, and only a single book, which was most definitely a side-adventure. Surely, if the plot had been an alienating factor, then that year would have seen a horde of newcomers?

It had; They just went away after a bunch of 17-18 year old basement dwellers Bionicle fans said to them that they cannot be true if they don't read a helluva lot of books and web-series. And besides that, we also had Reign of Darkness on Bioniclestory, which also could only be read after all the books and comics and whatever. And futhermore we continued to have gigantic discussions on forums, into which you only could be invested if you learned 9 years of an extensive and convoluted history by hart (as I did).

Edited August 27, 2015 by Frozen Assasin

[MakutaOfWar]

The only one I truly wanted was Skull Warrior and that's the one I already got. After that I read an review by a guy who I (personally) like and respect in which he critisized the hell out of the set (Ekimu isn't that good of a Protector and Skull Grinder isn't that good of a villain neither - both have major construction and design flaws) and said that the only thing that the set is worth buying for is the Mask of Creation (if you are not a MOCer , that is). So, I decided that spending 30 euros on a Mask is a bit overkill and I can better buy Gali and Skull Crusher instead. Or, maybe even no Bionicles at all and save the money for a comic-book.

Well, if that's how you feel I suppose. Definitely look into as many reviews as possible if you ever contemplate buying it. My only criticism would be Ekimu, I see the shield as a bit pointless while his hammer is rather small length-wise, and the green eyestalk is a bit meh compared to a blue one.

[GK733]

It's definitely up; I got mine at midnight on the 25th. Here's a direct link, maybe that will work?

To me it says: "This title is not currently available for purchase"

but the paperback edition is available.

Edited August 27, 2015 by GK733