Favorite change in BIONICLE?

[Aanchir]

Change is not something fandoms in general tend to remember favorably. In the BIONICLE fandom, it was common for people to wish things would go back to the way they were before this change or that change. Most changes were not popular among older fans, for various reasons.

 

But I wanted to ask about the opposite. What change did you like BEST? What change do you think improved the theme the most, or at least hurt it the least? It can be set-related (e.g. the Rahkshi's introduction of knee joints), story-related (e.g. the change of setting in 2004 that greatly expanded the scale of the BIONICLE universe), or media-related (e.g. the introduction of chapter books as the theme's core media in 2003).

 

My favorite change was the shift away from clone sets in 2007. The Barraki proved that canister sets didn't need identical builds, or specialized torso beams and gearboxes of any kind, for that matter. And the Toa Majri extended this same variety to Toa. These sets also started a trend of using existing parts in new and creative ways. 2007 was a revolution in set design, and while it was a bit jarring at first, in hindsight it stands out as a change for the better.

[BrickPharaoh]

Set-wise: The best change I think happened was the introduction of axle connections to the Kanohi. I think they found out that knocking Kanohi off the Rahi wasn't really an appealing play feature, and they have thus decided to retract it.

 

I'd really have to give this a bit more of thought to determine what my favorite story-wise change was.

 

[Toa Smoke Monster]

Set-wise: Not making all the canister sets clones starting in 2007. Making each one unique made each one special and not a different-colored copy of another set.

 

Story-wise: The introduction of the web serials. They allowed characters to remain in the story even if they didn't have a set that particular year. They had some of my favorite story moments in them.

[fasggbfrfesv]

Swiveling heads.

Body pieces with built in joints, unlike the original black cup shape piece things.

Edited April 2, 2014 by dragonzrmetal

[sunflower]

The introduction of the GSR/Bara Magna/Everything That Happened Before. I like how it expanded the Bionicle universe, giving some backstory as to why everything that we had seen previously was going on, allowed Teridax to achieve his goal, and generally brought a whole new level to the series as a whole.

 

Set-wise? Probably the introduction of the ball-and-joint, well, joints, introduced with the Rahkshi and such.

[TERIDAX941]

Set wise? definitely making the sets not clones of each other. That and introducing more masks in 2006 onward, I always enjoyed collecting newer masks.

 

Story wise? Making the Piraka not one in a thousand villains like the visorak and bohrok. They actually developed the characters and gave them personalities and made them the villains I love to hate.

[Katuko]

Proper knee and elbow joints is a major one, as well as the ability to turn the character's head. Going away from clone sets was also good. I agree with Iron_Man5 that having less uniform villain personalities made for better stories as well.

 

Apart from that I don't know. Less focus on having to collect an insane amount of slugs/disks seems like a plus as well, despite Kanohi masks being nice to have in different colors.

[Hitoshura]

MOving joints and heads, and the not cloning.

 

Story, I don't really know.

[Sir Kohran]

The introduction of knee and elbow joints is about the only change I can say I liked.

 

 

 

Set-wise: The best change I think happened was the introduction of axle connections to the Kanohi. I think they found out that knocking Kanohi off the Rahi wasn't really an appealing play feature, and they have thus decided to retract it.

 

I think this may have been due to fans seeing the Kanohi more as the character's fixed faces than often-changing masks.

[fasggbfrfesv]

Personally I prefered the cloning type sets. I think giving the piraka personalities took away some of the specialness of the main villains, and the clone builds encouraged collecting them all. The clone type builds were more "epic", like a massive army.

[BrickPharaoh]

The introduction of knee and elbow joints is about the only change I can say I liked.

 

 

 

Set-wise: The best change I think happened was the introduction of axle connections to the Kanohi. I think they found out that knocking Kanohi off the Rahi wasn't really an appealing play feature, and they have thus decided to retract it.

 

I think this may have been due to fans seeing the Kanohi more as the character's fixed faces than often-changing masks.

You know I kinda forgot that they would change masks at all!

 

[fishers64]

I would have to say 2008. I really liked both the "flying" sets and all of the story changes made that year. The serials, the twists, the big reveals, the final battles, all that good stuff.

 

I got into Bionicle after the big change in 2004, and I have to say I liked that change, but it was post-entry and I really didn't feel the big impact of it. 2008 was a bunch of positive changes after 2 years which changes I didn't like that much - 2006-07, so it was refreshing.

[Pomegranate]

Two words, my friends:

Elbow Joints

I was never, ever discontent with a set after the Toa Metru happened

Edited April 2, 2014 by Pomegranate

[Just A Dot]

Knees and elbows, 2004's darker and more complex story, 2007's lack of clones, 2005's playsets (improved greatly in 2006), more books in 2004-onward

[Wazdakka]

Set-wise: Bigger titans, the ones that came into existence thanks to pistons or to additional micro-limb connectors anchoring the legs to the torso.

 

Story-wise: Definitely the major revelation that Mata Nui (the Great Spirit Robot) was the universe and when that portion of Bionicle's story arc was brought to a close by awakening him. However, the shift to underwater in '06-07 and air in '08 were simply amazing to me.

[TERIDAX941]

 

Set-wise: The best change I think happened was the introduction of axle connections to the Kanohi. I think they found out that knocking Kanohi off the Rahi wasn't really an appealing play feature, and they have thus decided to retract it.

 

I think this may have been due to fans seeing the Kanohi more as the character's fixed faces than often-changing masks.

Well, the axle connections in Kanohi started with the Avohkii and the Kraahkan, so they officially started after the Bohrok-Kal. I'm betting they did it because the main function of the Rahi/Bohrok/Kal were so that the villains could knock off the heroes masks, especially with the Bohrok's case replacing them with Krana. The Rahkshi didn't use said function so it was alright afterwards to have masks that didn't come off so easily.

[Jam Pot Studios]

Set-wsie, 2004's shift. I loved the knee and elbow joints, and the Metru are still my favourite Toa build.

 

Story-wise, it'd have to be the end of 2008. At the time I was still into BIONICLE's story but not buying the sets, and then the whole shift to Bara Magna, not to mention the magnificent twist of having Makuta win for a while, got me hooked again (though I still didn't buy any sets until the end of 2009, with Ackar and Tarduk).

[Sir Kohran]

 

 

Set-wise: The best change I think happened was the introduction of axle connections to the Kanohi. I think they found out that knocking Kanohi off the Rahi wasn't really an appealing play feature, and they have thus decided to retract it.

 

I think this may have been due to fans seeing the Kanohi more as the character's fixed faces than often-changing masks.

Well, the axle connections in Kanohi started with the Avohkii and the Kraahkan, so they officially started after the Bohrok-Kal. I'm betting they did it because the main function of the Rahi/Bohrok/Kal were so that the villains could knock off the heroes masks, especially with the Bohrok's case replacing them with Krana. The Rahkshi didn't use said function so it was alright afterwards to have masks that didn't come off so easily.

 

 

What I was saying is that it probably didn't occur to many players to try to knock the masks off because there wasn't much in their appearance that suggested they were removable. Sure, technically the Toa's faces were the grey triangular head pieces. But these were almost never shown in the storyline, and the masks were the same colour as the rest of the Toa's bodies, so in many people's minds the Toa's faces were simply the masks they wore. Plus the masks (even before the axle connections) didn't come off all that easily in the first place. So overall, the notion of knocking off masks didn't take off in the early years and subsequent masks had the axle connections introduced in recognition of this.

 

The Bohrok and Rahkshi both had functions that would eject their 'brain' collectible - pressure to the Bohrok's eyes and the Rahkshi's head. From the mid-00s onwards, however, villains featuring collectibles within their anatomy were abandoned.

[Aanchir]

 

 

 

Set-wise: The best change I think happened was the introduction of axle connections to the Kanohi. I think they found out that knocking Kanohi off the Rahi wasn't really an appealing play feature, and they have thus decided to retract it.

I think this may have been due to fans seeing the Kanohi more as the character's fixed faces than often-changing masks.

 

Well, the axle connections in Kanohi started with the Avohkii and the Kraahkan, so they officially started after the Bohrok-Kal. I'm betting they did it because the main function of the Rahi/Bohrok/Kal were so that the villains could knock off the heroes masks, especially with the Bohrok's case replacing them with Krana. The Rahkshi didn't use said function so it was alright afterwards to have masks that didn't come off so easily.

 

What I was saying is that it probably didn't occur to many players to try to knock the masks off because there wasn't much in their appearance that suggested they were removable. Sure, technically the Toa's faces were the grey triangular head pieces. But these were almost never shown in the storyline, and the masks were the same colour as the rest of the Toa's bodies, so in many people's minds the Toa's faces were simply the masks they wore. Plus the masks (even before the axle connections) didn't come off all that easily in the first place. So overall, the notion of knocking off masks didn't take off in the early years and subsequent masks had the axle connections introduced in recognition of this.

 

The Bohrok and Rahkshi both had functions that would eject their 'brain' collectible - pressure to the Bohrok's eyes and the Rahkshi's head. From the mid-00s onwards, however, villains featuring collectibles within their anatomy were abandoned.

 

Personally, I think it was sort of related to what you're saying, but I don't think kids didn't realize the masks were merely masks. I think it's more that kids preferred to think of the characters as figures in role play than as part of a competitive "game". And for role-play purposes, masks that fall off even with a gentle nudge are an inconvenience, not an asset. If you want the mask to come off during character-driven role-play, you can take it off manually.

 

I've heard somewhere (maybe the Ask Greg back in the day?) that the LEGO Group sort of gauged BIONICLE's audience wrong in the beginning. They expected it to appeal to LEGO Technic fans who were interested in dynamic action features and competitive gameplay, similar to the Cyber Slam/Competition theme a couple years prior. But instead they found that most of the fans that the sets and story attracted preferred to role-play with the characters. This is part of why action features were reduced in favor of greater articulation in the years to come, and the competitive aspect of the action features was almost entirely eradicated (though years later, it did come back in a slightly more strategy-based form with the "BIONICLE Action Figure Game"). Perhaps the change to masks that stayed on more easily was another part of that overall shift towards "role-play" and away from "action play".

Edited April 4, 2014 by Aanchir: Rachira of Time

[That Matoran with a Vahi]

Story wise? Making the Piraka not one in a thousand villains like the visorak and bohrok. They actually developed the characters and gave them personalities and made them the villains I love to hate.

 

Seconded; I remember being very happy when we first got canister-villains with individual personalities, rather than ones who were just part of a massive swarm of some form or another.

[Aanchir]

 

Story wise? Making the Piraka not one in a thousand villains like the visorak and bohrok. They actually developed the characters and gave them personalities and made them the villains I love to hate.

Seconded; I remember being very happy when we first got canister-villains with individual personalities, rather than ones who were just part of a massive swarm of some form or another.

 

I wasn't so fond of the Piraka myself. They had individuality as characters, but still not a whole lot of individuality as sets. And in terms of their story roles, they had a lot of complex powers without any kind of unifying theme or motif to help you keep track of them. Toa powers tended to be simpler and easier to remember, in part because there were textual and visual cues to help remind you. You can remember mask powers by their shape, their Matoran name, or their three– or four-word English names.

 

Only the Piraka's elemental and vision powers had any simple textual cues like that, and only the former had visual cues. Even the elemental powers were more complex than the Toa's elemental powers: they had to be used in tandem with another Piraka, because... who knows? I suppose it gave the disagreeable Piraka an excuse to continue working together, but since none of them actually ended up going solo it was a rather pointless qualifier.

 

Of course, a lot of changes do overadjust before correcting things later on. A good example in LEGO is the shift away from minifigure expressions based on the "two dots and a generic curved mouth" template. Some of the first faces to break from this template were in the Western theme, and they ended up looking like offensive racial caricatures: all of the Indians and one of the bandits had narrowed eyes with sclerae (whites), wide mouths, and oversized noses (yep, noses). Contrast that with the Western figs from the Collectible Minifigures. They have diverse facial expressions, but they follow the same standards as other modern-day minifigures, and there are no noses in sight.

 

The Barraki in 2007 did a great job correcting for the Piraka's convoluted range of powers. They had far fewer special powers, and most of those they did have were based on the animals they plainly resembled. Ehlek (an electric eel) could deliver electric shocks. Mantax (a ray) was venomous and could camouflage with the sea floor. Pridak (a shark) could detect electrical fields. Takadox (a mantis shrimp) could hypnotize with eye contact and glowed in the dark. Carapar (a crab) had thick armor plating and great strength. Kalmah (a squid) could regenerate body parts and sense movement with his tentacles. These sensible powers not only were easier to remember based on the names and character designs, but they added real significance to the names and character designs.

 

It's just one more way that 2007 helped refine and improve upon the changes that took place in 2006. Instead of characters being defined by arbitrary appearances, nicknames, personality traits, and trivia points, their appearances, motifs, personality traits, and abilities became neatly integrated. The shift away from clone sets still takes higher priority for me, but this is another reason 2007 was so great for me.

Edited April 4, 2014 by Aanchir: Rachira of Time

[Matoro Zeliph]

Set Wise: Some peeps my disagree with me on this one. But my favorite changes with Bionicle, is when they introduced brick-by-brick building sets in 2005, then finally made decent Toa mini-figs by 2006-2007.

Story Wise: The introduction of Metru Nui. Although, I wish that we got more side-stories from the matorans point of perspective before the whole "Toa Metru is evil according to Turaga 'Dume'" incident. I mean its set in a cyber-punk theme! How cool is that?

Edited April 4, 2014 by Matoro1992

[Primis]

Set wise: When they started using pistons in the larger sets. It made posing them a lot easier.

 

Story wise: Legends of Metru Nui onwards. When actual plot, characterization and world-building started to emerge, instead of the same recycled "Collect the MacGuffins, defeat the villain" plot we got for three-and-a-half years.

[Pomegranate]

Set wise: When they started using pistons in the larger sets. It made posing them a lot easier.

 

Story wise: Legends of Metru Nui onwards. When actual plot, characterization and world-building started to emerge, instead of the same recycled "Collect the MacGuffins, defeat the villain" plot we got for three-and-a-half years.

I thought the whole Rahkshi and Mask of Light deal had actual plot and characterization and avoided the macguffin collection! Doesn't that at least count?