Bionicle 2016 Story Discussion & Rumors

[Fulcrumfan91]

I would like to point out that we haven't been "guaranteed" anything. While I would love to see Bionicle to continue (and what we will or won't be getting in 2017 is still an open question), an initial three-year plan in no way a guarantee that the theme will in fact last that long. Just like how a theme can be extended if it proves to be successful, it could just as easily be ended prematurely if sales are truly abysmal. Nothing is set in stone.

That's a fair point and I would also have to agree with you on that, I guess I'm trying to be more optimistic about this.

Edited June 10, 2016 by lambda_cla3391

[Kalhiki]

That's a fair point and I would also have to agree with you on that, I guess I'm trying to be more optimistic about this.

On a lighter note, UtD and Ekimu are both sold out (or backordered... Whatever) on the US Shop@Home site. So there's at least some demand for Bionicle. I would honestly be surprised if Bionicle didn't make its projected 3-year run.

[Fulcrumfan91]

On a lighter note, UtD and Ekimu are both sold out (or backordered... Whatever) on the US Shop@Home site. So there's at least some demand for Bionicle. I would honestly be surprised if Bionicle didn't make its projected 3-year run.

Yeah...I really have to think that they'll make at least something for 2017. We'll have to see in the coming few months.

[MrHerofan]

There is no real question as to if we will receive sets in 2017. The really question is how much we will receive. One wave or two? I hope we at least see Makuta, and some sort of vehicle. The G1 fan in me though really wants to see Takanuva. I know Ekimu has pretty much taken this role, but to me Takanuva became part of the toa team as much as Tahu or Kopaka. So even if he is shoe horned into the story I'd just immediately buy him up.

[ToaDraco]

I would almost bet money that we will get Makuta and the Mask of Time will be the mcguffin next year. We'll likely get new, ultimate forms for the Toa, perhaps some G2 Rahkshi( one can dream!) likely called lizard men or some such. The real question would be the small sets (assuming the third year will follow the same pattern as the first 2). I imagine we might get another Ekimu in some capacity. I doubt very much that we won't get another year of sets as they would have had a void in the constraction lineup. I wonder if they already have a new theme planned or maybe Bionicle is doing okay enough that they'll just keep going with it. There's no way to know for sure but my guess is it's doing what it needs to to meet constractions standard sales at LEGO. They may not be amazing sales but they aren't losing money on it.

[Kalhiki]

Gonna de-rail the conversation for a bit, but I just realized something. Do the Toa seem... Kinda weak to anyone else?

I mean, they get to the Ancient City, fight Kulta, and get knocked out. Then Ekimu comes and save the day.

And judging by the MoCo Game's ending comic, Umarak escapes, Ekimu comes, and saves the day.

So not only does it seem that the Toa are incapable, but Ekimu is the real hero since he's the one who manages to defeat the final boss.

Very curious to see if he'll deliver the finishing blow to Makuta.

[Fulcrumfan91]

Gonna de-rail the conversation for a bit, but I just realized something. Do the Toa seem... Kinda weak to anyone else?

I mean, they get to the Ancient City, fight Kulta, and get knocked out. Then Ekimu comes and save the day.

And judging by the MoCo Game's ending comic, Umarak escapes, Ekimu comes, and saves the day.

So not only does it seem that the Toa are incapable, but Ekimu is the real hero since he's the one who manages to defeat the final boss.

Very curious to see if he'll deliver the finishing blow to Makuta.

I don't think he should actually....and I'm not sure how they'll go about the summer wave. I really hope it's not the case that Ekimu saves the day...because the Toa should experience some growth..then again I wouldn't be surprised if they do end it that way. Ekimu could transform into big Ekimu just to give the Toa time to regroup, so they finish off Umarak and the beasts.

[Aanchir]

Gonna de-rail the conversation for a bit, but I just realized something. Do the Toa seem... Kinda weak to anyone else?

I mean, they get to the Ancient City, fight Kulta, and get knocked out. Then Ekimu comes and save the day.

And judging by the MoCo Game's ending comic, Umarak escapes, Ekimu comes, and saves the day.

So not only does it seem that the Toa are incapable, but Ekimu is the real hero since he's the one who manages to defeat the final boss.

Very curious to see if he'll deliver the finishing blow to Makuta.

Ekimu was only able to save the day in 2015 with the Toa's help. The Toa bought him enough time to finish constructing the Hammer of Power. It was decidedly a team effort. It might very well be the same this year, considering that the Mask of Control Game's mini comics are an extremely condensed and simplified version of the story.

Honestly, I feel like two G2 complaints I keep on hearing from different people are "The G2 Toa never struggle with anything" and "The G2 Toa are too weak and keep losing battles". They can't BOTH be true.

If Ekimu DID deliver the final blow to Makuta, though, it wouldn't really be much different from G1, in which Mata Nui was the one to ultimately defeat Makuta, and the Toa were merely ground support.

[YellowCorvette]

Ekimu was only able to save the day in 2015 with the Toa's help. The Toa bought him enough time to finish constructing the Hammer of Power. It was decidedly a team effort. It might very well be the same this year, considering that the Mask of Control Game's mini comics are an extremely condensed and simplified version of the story.

Honestly, I feel like two G2 complaints I keep on hearing from different people are "The G2 Toa never struggle with anything" and "The G2 Toa are too weak and keep losing battles". They can't BOTH be true.

If Ekimu DID deliver the final blow to Makuta, though, it wouldn't really be much different from G1, in which Mata Nui was the one to ultimately defeat Makuta, and the Toa were merely ground support.

But hthis also opens a new question: "Why Skull Grinder didn't just finish Ekimu and the others first before complete his mission or calling more support from the Skull spiders or Skull Warriors?" There's little to no reason for Kulta to ignore Ekimu while finishing his mission.

[Fulcrumfan91]

But hthis also opens a new question: "Why Skull Grinder didn't just finish Ekimu and the others first before complete his mission or calling more support from the Skull spiders or Skull Warriors?" There's little to no reason for Kulta to ignore Ekimu while finishing his mission.

Petty sure it's two reasons: 1. Pride, he was wearing the Mask of Creation which gave him an insane power boost, thus he thought he would be strong enough to finish them, 2. Ekimu wasn't necessarily recognizable...he wore a protector mask, not his own mask....maybe he mistook Ekimu for a normal protector? Or he maybe thought that Ekimu, once recognized, was powerless without his mask of creation?

[TwistLaw]

The G2 Toa never lose in the sense that they face mostly ridicously weak enemies, and the rare times they battle villains worth of their names they just can't do it on their own.

Most of the mistakes G2 made have already been listed, but I feel the need to emphasise the fact that they're caused mostly by LEGO itself, who treated BIONICLE like a low tier theme. HF being mediocre at best is not an excuse for this: BIONICLE had a strong legacy worth of LEGO's time and money. What we got was just saddening,at least the way the theme was treated.

At this point I'm just waiting for the guy that says "stop with this doom and gloom, you're making me disaffected to the theme :((". G2 failed, that's becoming harder and harder to deny, and all because constraction as a whole is a relic of the past that LEGO is not interested in making powerful again. Mind you,tthe licensed CCBS sets are great for making the system profitable, not recognised nor worth of being compared to brick based themes.

[MrHerofan]

It is harder to swallow the fact that G2 is not the most successful thing out there. Constantly there were reports of store not stocking the theme or putting it on deep discounts. Now as a mocor or a fan who is tight on money that is a good thing. Though that also says plenty of stores are not willing to sell the sets at full price.

It does suck how little love constraction is getting. While there is still a fanbase out there I feel that the whole build able action figure thing reached its prime many years ago.

[xboxtravis7992]

It is harder to swallow the fact that G2 is not the most successful thing out there. Constantly there were reports of store not stocking the theme or putting it on deep discounts. Now as a mocor or a fan who is tight on money that is a good thing. Though that also says plenty of stores are not willing to sell the sets at full price.

It does suck how little love constraction is getting. While there is still a fanbase out there I feel that the whole build able action figure thing reached its prime many years ago.

That last phrase I highlighted on your quote reminds me of this David Bowie song for some reason:

But yeah, changes might be a reality that has affected Bionicle hard. I know myself that I have changed a lot since G1 happened especially in my Lego interests; Creator Expert sets, Trains, and cool licensed sets interested me a lot more than the last years of Bionicle or the run of Hero Factory did. In fact I think the only reason I have invested so much in Bionicle G2 was not because of the themes strong points but the nostalgia factor that when I bought a G2 set in 2015 it had been eight years since my last Bionicle set, and my amazement that the theme which had been infamously cancelled had been revived. Doing the thought experiment in mind, had Bionicle not been cancelled in 2010, I doubt I would have cared for it in 2015.

So sure there are some nostalgic persons in the community like me willing to give G2 a shot, and enjoyed the new CCBS system. But there are also people who didn't. And possibly kids who couldn't care less. The world has changed, and maybe Bionicle just can't find a place anymore in it.

Still... Nostalgia can be a strong thing. What is not to say that in 20 years some Hollywood big-shot will pitch a Bionicle film to Lego that will reboot the franchise in a massive way. If that happens all I hope for is the film isn't directed by the likes of Michael Bay

[ToaDraco]

That last phrase I highlighted on your quote reminds me of this David Bowie song for some reason:

But yeah, changes might be a reality that has affected Bionicle hard. I know myself that I have changed a lot since G1 happened especially in my Lego interests; Creator Expert sets, Trains, and cool licensed sets interested me a lot more than the last years of Bionicle or the run of Hero Factory did. In fact I think the only reason I have invested so much in Bionicle G2 was not because of the themes strong points but the nostalgia factor that when I bought a G2 set in 2015 it had been eight years since my last Bionicle set, and my amazement that the theme which had been infamously cancelled had been revived. Doing the thought experiment in mind, had Bionicle not been cancelled in 2010, I doubt I would have cared for it in 2015.

So sure there are some nostalgic persons in the community like me willing to give G2 a shot, and enjoyed the new CCBS system. But there are also people who didn't. And possibly kids who couldn't care less. The world has changed, and maybe Bionicle just can't find a place anymore in it.

Still... Nostalgia can be a strong thing. What is not to say that in 20 years some Hollywood big-shot will pitch a Bionicle film to Lego that will reboot the franchise in a massive way. If that happens all I hope for is the film isn't directed by the likes of Michael Bay

Blasphemy sir! For the countless crimes he's committed on the Transformers name, he is condemned to never do another movie about another franchise ever again! Except TMNT, which is almost as bad...

[Ikaatril]

The G2 Toa never lose in the sense that they face mostly ridicously weak enemies, and the rare times they battle villains worth of their names they just can't do it on their own.

Most of the mistakes G2 made have already been listed, but I feel the need to emphasise the fact that they're caused mostly by LEGO itself, who treated BIONICLE like a low tier theme. HF being mediocre at best is not an excuse for this: BIONICLE had a strong legacy worth of LEGO's time and money. What we got was just saddening,at least the way the theme was treated.

At this point I'm just waiting for the guy that says "stop with this doom and gloom, you're making me disaffected to the theme :((". G2 failed, that's becoming harder and harder to deny, and all because constraction as a whole is a relic of the past that LEGO is not interested in making powerful again. Mind you,tthe licensed CCBS sets are great for making the system profitable, not recognised nor worth of being compared to brick based themes.

tl;dr: "It doesn't appeal to me, therefore it failed. Please understand this: your opinions are not facts.

[Aanchir]

Most of the mistakes G2 made have already been listed, but I feel the need to emphasise the fact that they're caused mostly by LEGO itself, who treated BIONICLE like a low tier theme. HF being mediocre at best is not an excuse for this: BIONICLE had a strong legacy worth of LEGO's time and money. What we got was just saddening,at least the way the theme was treated.

So "low-tier theme" to you means:

• Devoting their entire NYCC presence in 2014 to Bionicle
  
• 27 new molds in the theme's first year and 23 in its second, not counting general Technic elements (for comparison's sake, Ninjago has only about nine new molds this year, some of which easily qualify as general System elements)
  
• A special insert in the January 2015 LEGO Club Magazine
  
• A dedicated Facebook page which routinely releases exclusive content
  
• Sending a Bionicle designer to a U.S. LEGO convention to discuss Bionicle
  
• Inviting representatives of Bionicle fansites to Billund to discuss Bionicle
  
• Ten designer videos (G1 Bionicle had none)
  
• Three heavily advertised contests with highly desirable prizes
  
• A graphic novel series, chapter book series, magazine, 18-part web series, and 4-part Netflix series
  

I'll admit LEGO hasn't invested as much in Bionicle as they have in, let's say, Nexo Knights. But the investments they've made in Bionicle are hardly insignificant. And when other new themes last year like Elves, Jurassic World, and Scooby-Doo got less promotion, fewer sets, fewer new molds, and less original animation, yet still managed to rake in lots of money, is investing more heavily in Bionicle really justifiable?

There's no doubt the constraction category has been declining steadily since 2002. You seem to think this is because LEGO is "not interested" in making it powerful again. But I say that's hogwash. LEGO isn't solely responsible for the popularity of any given theme. The buyers share that responsibility. Look at LEGO Legends of Chima, which easily had every bit as much invested in it per year as LEGO Ninjago, maybe more so, but didn't last as long. It's wrong to say it "failed" — it sold respectably and lasted a good three years — but it didn't succeed as strongly as LEGO Ninjago did, and you can't blame that on LEGO not caring. The concept just didn't resonate with kids the way Ninjago did, and throwing more money at it wouldn't change that.

Something I got curious about and looked into today: is the decline of constraction an isolated phenomenon? In the context of LEGO, it surely seems to be, with other LEGO themes rising higher and higher in popularity. But what about in the context of action figures? Well, hang on, would you look at that — it turns out that action figure sales have been steadily declining since at least 2007. If you recall, the reason constraction themes came about in the first place was in response to an explosion in the popularity of action figures in the late 90s. It's no surprise that a buildable action figure brand could find an audience back then. But as this article shows, that explosion in popularity has ended. Even just looking at Transformers, the movies have brought in increasingly more box office revenue, but less and less of that has translated into increased toy sales.

If kids today just don't care for action figures like they used to, all the marketing and media support in the world isn't going to reverse that trend. LEGO could do everything right with Bionicle and it still wouldn't make it the powerhouse it was in 2002. So no, I'm not going to fault you for a doom-and-gloom outlook. I don't think the prospects for constraction look all that bright. It is niche, and unless action figures explode in popularity again, it might very easily remain niche. However, it makes no sense to blame LEGO for not investing more in Bionicle when they've already invested a lot in it and are still not seeing really impressive returns on that investment.

Edited June 10, 2016 by Aanchir

[Kalta the Noble Mind]

I have to agree. I feel like the story is what is severely lacking in G2 and the way they have gone about presenting it. G1 definitely had the right idea in how it was presented and they should have taken more cues from that. The advertising for G2 has been dreadful quite frankly. What little of it exists that is. They did not do a good job of understanding and encapsulating what made Bionicle a success in the first place and it is to the detriment of the line. While the sets are great, there is almost no substance to who the characters are and what the world is about giving us little reason to become invested or care. I feel like they really could have done a more in depth, streamlined story that didn't get needlessly over-complicated but instead, they went with the bare bones approach. What we have is serviceable but it's just that, serviceable. With G1, you could see and feel the passion of the creators in every story tidbit and every animation and commercial, this time around the only passion we see is from the sets themselves and their design. The webpage has no heart, no passion, the animations do not have that same drive and sense of mystery or heart. It has all just felt very systematic and churned out. TJtO was the first instance that I felt some little spark of what G1 was, a small sense of mystery and heart in the story that unfolds in a mystical land. It was far from perfect but it was a step in the right direction. I'm just worried that it was too little too late. That being said I am doing my best to enjoy what we have and focus on how great the sets themselves are. I do hope Bionicle extends past 2017, as unlikely as it may seem to most. Until we have more info on the line's success we have no real way of knowing how well it's doing aside from guesses and assumptions.

while it certainly helps passion from the content generators wasn't the key but a constant and consistent brand identity used across the campaign. the concept of narrative was explicitly referred to as "Legend" while refernce to the plot was regarded as "destiny" and any ability or collectible featured were enphised as "powers" ect. insisistant terminology that painted a specific picture about the toy. hell, i recall them even having a style guide that shown visual motifs that should or should not be used in promotional material and the "dreaded" reuse of the same artwork in every ad was done so to keep the association of those images tied to the toyline. everything was designed to be instantly recognizable with their uniqueness while being familiar in a sense via repetition of those same designs across vastly different media.

but with G2 they were dangerously generic with the whole campaign. the commercials were written in the same style as the evergreen themes like city,where the concepts of firefighting and catching criminals are so universal you just need a bare-bones excuse plot to engage the audience. to apply that approach to an action fantasy makes it look like every other action fantasy on the mrket with the dded detriment of lacking a place in the cultural zeitgeist like the power rangers or the marvel/dc superheroes have that acts as the universal concept city life has. if i make sense. everyone knows what a policeman looks like or a knight or ho batman and superman and spiderman and the hulk are but nobody knows who that red guy with the swords is or the white guy with the eye lenses outside of the small batch of 20-somethings who followed the old series. and even they dont know who the horned skull people are orwhy that green elk person wants that gold mask due to them being unique editions to the new series.

humans are creatures of habit and will gravitate towards brands they know over new things they encounter unless the new thing offers something the familiar brand doesnt. and lego was fully aware of this fact hence the excessive and agressive lore drenched ads i mentioned. got the audience familiar with the story and therefor familiar with the brand and shows they were doing something no other toy was doing.

[Fulcrumfan91]

Something I got curious about and looked into today: is the decline of constraction an isolated phenomenon? In the context of LEGO, it surely seems to be, with other LEGO themes rising higher and higher in popularity. But what about in the context of action figures? Well, hang on, would you look at that — it turns out that action figure sales have been steadily declining since at least 2007.

If kids today just don't care for action figures like they used to, all the marketing and media support in the world isn't going to reverse that trend.

This is what I was pretty much suspecting....I don't think kids are as into action figures in the modern day than they were in the past few decades.

[Anthony12901]

This is what I was pretty much suspecting....I don't think kids are as into action figures in the modern day than they were in the past few decades.

I know a couple younger kids, and they aren't into action figures. I mean, 1/10 kids know the Bionicle franchise.

[The Outsider]

Blasphemy sir! For the countless crimes he's committed on the Transformers name, he is condemned to never do another movie about another franchise ever again! Except TMNT, which is almost as bad...

Actually, he's still directing The Last Knight (hopefully it's his last Transformers film, and Sir Hopkins might salvage some of it) and these films have mostly been financial hits. Just be glad it isn't Uwe Boll...

Besides, unless either Hollywood stops pitching only human-centered adaptations or LEGO concedes in bringing a human to the BIONICLE world, direct-to-DVD films like for G1 is all we're going to get.

This is what I was pretty much suspecting....I don't think kids are as into action figures in the modern day than they were in the past few decades.

I seem to remember Hasbro mentioning in a recent convention (can't find the page right now, but I think it's on seibertron.com or tfw2005.com) that their action figures were making far more money than their other brands, so I guess they're only popular when attached to a cartoon series or franchise.

Then again, Hasbro has far more action figure brands than LEGO.

Edited June 11, 2016 by The Outsider

[FordianL]

I got to read the first chapter of Escape from the Underworld as part of an iBooks preview. The preview included a full list of chapters for the book, which I've taken a screenshot of.

[Bigger Fish]

Oh Boy! I can't wait to see the dramatic twists and turns that the Copyright Chapter brings! Maybe 2017's villains will be robot lawyers!

[DuplexBeGreat]

Gali's Challenge

Character development. IT'S HAPPENING.

[Dorek]

Oh, nice, it actually does focus on the Skull Army, thought that was a rumor. Very cool.

[Bbrink1996]

Holy sh*t, it's about the Skull Army! I'm so excited, this is all I ever wanted!!!

Edited June 18, 2016 by Bbrink1996