Future Constraction Sets?

[Nuju44]

On 4/6/2020 at 11:42 AM, Leewan said:

It's not the same plastic. You can read more about it here : http://www.newelementary.com/2018/07/sustainable-lego-plants-made-from-sugarcane.html

The plastic made from sugarcane is polyethylene, the plastic used by constraction parts is polycarbonate. Polycarbonate is made from Bisphenol A, which may be an endocrine disruptor. Hence Faber's concerns, I guess.

With that being said, there are still plenty of non-constraction parts made from PC, so Lego hasn't completely stopped using it. Perhaps, once they find a suitable replacement, constraction parts could come back ? I don't have a lot of hope for that, though, and I think that the chances that Faber manages to effectively launch his 2020 version of BIONICLE are higher than the chances of seeing a new constraction theme.

I would really like to see bionicle back, but after the bionicle reboot was canceled, lego might won't try it again in the near future. Maybe the lego ideas projects about bionicle will encourage lego to start bionicle again, but I fear it won't happen. 

Maybe a new line would give lego enough trust in ccbs again to bring back bionicle one day. 

 

On 4/6/2020 at 12:01 PM, Lego David said:

 

Just curious, are the CCBS parts already completely out of production? Or do they still keep the molds for when thy might need them? A few recent system sets still used CCBS pieces (with Ninjago, especially), so perhaps the molds aren't completely retired yet. 

I think that they kept the molds, at least some of them, because they are still used sometimes, also I think they put a lot effort into designing the ccbs pieces and the pieces work very good. 

Edited April 6, 2020 by Nuju44

[Lego David]

1 hour ago, Nuju44 said:

Maybe a new line would give lego enough trust in ccbs again to bring back bionicle one day. 

To be fair, if I had to choose between a new completely new Constraction theme and Bionicle G3, I would much rather choose a completely new Constraction theme. 

[Nuju44]

2 hours ago, Lego David said:

To be fair, if I had to choose between a new completely new Constraction theme and Bionicle G3, I would much rather choose a completely new Constraction theme. 

Maybe a fresh new theme would appeal to a lot of fans. 

But the new theme shouldn't be handled like the bionicle reboot. They should promote it a lot more and they should launch a TV series or something like that. 

[Leewan]

11 hours ago, Lego David said:

Just curious, are the CCBS parts already completely out of production? Or do they still keep the molds for when thy might need them?

If we don't see them in sets, it's safe to assume they're out of production, but that doesn't necessarily mean they got rid of the moulds. 

10 hours ago, Nuju44 said:

Maybe the lego ideas projects about bionicle will encourage lego to start bionicle again, but I fear it won't happen. 

I wouldn't count on that either. I'd just be happy if this set gets made. If there's more after that, good, if not, I won't be mad.

5 hours ago, Nuju44 said:

But the new theme shouldn't be handled like the bionicle reboot. They should promote it a lot more and they should launch a TV series or something like that. 

Bionicle G2 did have that. They can do whatever they want and spend an infinite amount of money on advertising, if no one wants to buy constraction sets, it will be useless. Now perhaps the Innovation Intake Portal could be a good way to let Lego know there's still demand for more constraction ? Perhaps crowdfunding (like Forma or Bricklink's AFOL Designer Program) could be a way to make sure they could do constraction sets and actually make money from them ?

But are there enough constraction fans left anyways ?

 

 

[Lego David]

7 hours ago, Leewan said:

But are there enough constraction fans left anyways ?

Yes, there are. Sokoda's Bionicle project on LEGO Ideas got to 10.000 supporters in less than a mouth (now holding the record as the fastest Ideas project to reach 10.000 supporters)

So with that, I think it's safe to assume that there at least 10.000 Bionicle fans (if not more) left, which I think it's enough for a crowd funded projects. 

Sokda's project has proven that if we come together as a community, we can still achieve our goals.

[Nuju44]

On 4/6/2020 at 11:42 PM, Leewan said:

Bionicle G2 did have that. They can do whatever they want and spend an infinite amount of money on advertising, if no one wants to buy constraction sets, it will be useless. 

Yes, G2 got a TV show, but by then it was already too late. They should have launched a TV show right when the theme started (in the first year they only had this short clips on YouTube, which weren't that bad, but the lack of a proper TV show in the first year didn't help). 

Another problem is that the TV show only was available on Netflix, they should at least put it also on YouTube to reach more people. 

While bionicle G1 hat a lot of well made commercials which I saw sometimes on TV , I never saw a commercial from G2 in TV. 

On 4/6/2020 at 11:42 PM, Leewan said:

But are there enough constraction fans left anyways ?

I think so. A lot of people have good childhood memories with constraction, with the Slizers, Roboriders, Bionicle and Hero Factory. 

A lot of them (me too) want to have it back not only for themselves but also for future generations to enjoy it.

 

On 4/6/2020 at 2:40 PM, Lego David said:

To be fair, if I had to choose between a new completely new Constraction theme and Bionicle G3, I would much rather choose a completely new Constraction theme. 

Maybe it is now better to move on, at least for now, after the ending of G2 almost ruined the whole story of the reboot.

Also the all information about G3 isn't very clear or informative at the moment and I am sure lego won't reboot it again in the near future.

And when G3 should be something virtual, a video game or so, I don't know if it would be successful, and the bionicle story is at least partially owned by lego, so I doubt that Faber could start it without their permission. But I don't know whether this is true or not, because there is no explicit statement about this. 

 

I think the innovation intake portal could be a great way to get Legos attention for a new constraction concept. When it would be a promising concept, Lego would maybe consider to star it or something similar. 

[Lego David]

2 hours ago, Nuju44 said:

Yes, G2 got a TV show, but by then it was already too late. They should have launched a TV show right when the theme started (in the first year they only had this short clips on YouTube, which weren't that bad, but the lack of a proper TV show in the first year didn't help). 

Another problem is that the TV show only was available on Netflix, they should at least put it also on YouTube to reach more people. 

While bionicle G1 hat a lot of well made commercials which I saw sometimes on TV , I never saw a commercial from G2 in TV.

I think the lack of a proper TV Show in the debut year of G2 is one of the reasons the line failed. If it would have gotten the Netlfix show in 2015, I'm pretty sure the sales would have been a lot better. But, for whatever reasons, 2015 only got the web shorts, and by the time the Netflix show came out, the line was already close to ending. 

Also, I don't understand why they made the show a Netflix exclusive... All the other LEGO themes that got TV Shows had them actually air on television, where all the kids could see them. 

So yeah, with all those factors combined, there is no wonder the line failed. I really hope LEGO has learned from those mistakes and won't repeat them next time they try out a theme like this.

 

[Nuju44]

20 hours ago, Lego David said:

I think the lack of a proper TV Show in the debut year of G2 is one of the reasons the line failed. If it would have gotten the Netlfix show in 2015, I'm pretty sure the sales would have been a lot better. But, for whatever reasons, 2015 only got the web shorts, and by the time the Netflix show came out, the line was already close to ending. 

Also, I don't understand why they made the show a Netflix exclusive... All the other LEGO themes that got TV Shows had them actually air on television, where all the kids could see them. 

So yeah, with all those factors combined, there is no wonder the line failed. I really hope LEGO has learned from those mistakes and won't repeat them next time they try out a theme like this.

 

Yes, a new constraction line definitely would need a TV show right from the start. 

[Lego David]

1 hour ago, Nuju44 said:

Yes, a new constraction line definitely would need a TV show right from the start. 

Ninjago, Chima and Nexo Knights got a TV Show right from the start, and I don't see why they couldn't do the exact same thing with a new Constraction theme.

[Leewan]

On 4/7/2020 at 7:06 AM, Lego David said:

Yes, there are. Sokoda's Bionicle project on LEGO Ideas got to 10.000 supporters in less than a mouth (now holding the record as the fastest Ideas project to reach 10.000 supporters)

It's not the same thing. I should have been more precise perhaps. I rather wondered if there were enough constraction fans that would buy several sets from a constraction theme and make it profitable. Among the 10000 people who voted for Sokoda's project, some may not care for constraction in general, but only Bionicle. And those people supported one single system model, which they may not even buy if it becomes a set. Sure, it's promising, it means there are still people who care for Bionicle. But I don't think it means a new constraction theme would be successful, unfortunately. And, side note, although it was still CUUSOO at the time, the fastest project to get 10k was Purdue Pete. 

5 hours ago, Lego David said:

Ninjago, Chima and Nexo Knights got a TV Show right from the start, and I don't see why they couldn't do the exact same thing with a new Constraction theme.

Ninjago only had two pilot episodes in its first year. On the other hand, Hero Factory had a TV show in its first year. I don't know how much it helped. But anyway, I think you and @Nuju44 give too much importance to advertising (that's what the TV shows are, sure they tell a story, but they're here to sell sets above all) and forget that the issue may simply be that people don't care enough for the product itself.

[Lego David]

4 hours ago, Leewan said:

It's not the same thing. I should have been more precise perhaps. I rather wondered if there were enough constraction fans that would buy several sets from a constraction theme and make it profitable. Among the 10000 people who voted for Sokoda's project, some may not care for constraction in general, but only Bionicle. And those people supported one single system model, which they may not even buy if it becomes a set. Sure, it's promising, it means there are still people who care for Bionicle. But I don't think it means a new constraction theme would be successful, unfortunately. And, side note, although it was still CUUSOO at the time, the fastest project to get 10k was Purdue Pete

People still do care about Constraction in general (the MOCing community especially). Amazing new MOCs get posted online pretty much every day, and there are still a lot of MOC competitions being held with lots of participants (Biocup being the biggest one). If anything, Constraction MOCing has continued to evolve even after Constraction got discontinued, and it's still evolving to this day. 

So yes, I think it's safe to say that there are still enough people interested in Constraction in general, even if it isn't Bionicle.

Edited April 8, 2020 by Lego David

[Nuju44]

On 4/4/2020 at 1:50 PM, Lego David said:

As a Constraction MOCer myself, I would be willing to help you with some MOCs if you want my help. But I'm curious, is there any actual way to pitch ideas for new product lines to LEGO? 

That would be very nice and helpful, thanks :) 

Edited April 9, 2020 by Nuju44

[Zarkan]

On 4/8/2020 at 2:31 AM, Lego David said:

Ninjago, Chima and Nexo Knights got a TV Show right from the start, and I don't see why they couldn't do the exact same thing with a new Constraction theme.

For all we know, they might have with Bionicle G2, if Ninjago hadn't cannibalized it's marketing budget before the theme even launched.

Yeah, this was a thing, according to former Lego Ambassador and Eurobricks member Deevee/Dviddy/Darth Vader. The story goes that after lego quickly uncanceled Ninjago due to an overwhelming deluge of complaints from parents with furious children, they rushed out the Rebooted wave in 2014, and then in 2015, they launched two subthemes with two corresponding seasons of the TV show for the first time. That money needed to come from somewhere, and unfortunately, it was taken from Bionicle G2 (as well as the final year of Legends of Chima, which is likely why the fire/ice theme was rehashed.)

The Bionicle team seemed super pissed about this, according to Deevee's account. And it makes sense, given that Ninjago's cancellation happened precisely because Lego learned the wrong lesson from Bionicle G1's declining sales. They were convinced that G1's sales dropping off a cliff after the first three years was proof that NO story-focused theme was viable past three years. This is why they introduced their now infamous "big bang theme" strategy. They legitimately thought kids would be tired of Ninjago after thee years, and ready for whatever new story-based theme Lego was cooking up. They were wrong, and it cost them dearly, with Chima and later Nexo Knights both underperforming.

And with Ninjago reaching it's tenth year, and kids still being as invested in the the lore as ever (to the point that Lego introduced the Legacy subtheme so newer fans who missed out on notable vehicles/locations/etc the first time around could own new versions), it's completely disproved Lego's hypothesis regarding the longevity of story based themes. Same Bionicle G2 had to die so Ninjago could live again. And it's a real irony that Bionicle G1's cancellation was partially responsible for it's reboot's more abrupt cancellation.

Edited April 18, 2020 by Zarkan

[Lego David]

On 4/18/2020 at 5:54 AM, Zarkan said:

[...]

Very good points... The picture has just gotten more clear.

LEGO really needs to improve upon their marketing strategy for their original themes going forward, otherwise everything they will release will just end up failing or underperformig.

 

[Nuju44]

On 4/18/2020 at 5:54 AM, Zarkan said:

[...]

It is sad that G2 didn't really had a chance to develop its full potential. I believe that the bionicle G2 team was pissed off and I can understand why: they surely put a lot of effort into it, but then g2 had a bad start and was canceled very soon. 

Bionicle hadn't a TV show or a movie in 2001(but there were comics and of course mnog) , but it was another time. Today it just don't work like this.

[MatthewRC]

On 4/18/2020 at 8:43 AM, Nuju44 said:

It is sad that G2 didn't really had a chance to develop its full potential. I believe that the bionicle G2 team was pissed off and I can understand why: they surely put a lot of effort into it, but then g2 had a bad start and was canceled very soon. 

Bionicle hadn't a TV show or a movie in 2001(but there were comics and of course mnog) , but it was another time. Today it just don't work like this.

Still wish a Japanese anime adaptation would happen. I made a Tweet about this idea on Twitter.

https://twitter.com/MtthwClmn/status/1068207759664009222?s=20