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I'm more concerned about the way those things are discussed rather than what is discussed. For instance, suppose gender-exclusive tribes are still around and the male tribes still vastly outnumber female tribes. A talk about why that is can only be expected, and so long as people keep discussion on an amiable and easy-to-understand level for kids, that can turn out to be a very good topic. The issue we've had in the past discussing gender stereotypes in Toa Orde's backstory might have been a little too heavy, but the main problem is undoubtedly how angry several members got at other members during that time. I remember several members displaying anger towards Greg Farshtey over the issue, though I don't remember if COPPA had been around yet to keep him from personally interacting with BZPower yet.

 

The most important thing I think is for the community to go out of its way to be more welcoming to new members and to provide an atmosphere where kids can talk about BIONICLE without being confused, alienated, or repelled by the established community. At the same time, BZPower ought to remain a haven for the old guard just as it always has. BZPower has gone on for almost half a decade now with an almost exclusively AFOL/TFOL member base, which results in a much different atmosphere than we once had before the Dataclysm.

 

One thing I am certain of is that the blog's anger cycle has got to end. I don't know if it has done so already, since I haven't been around, but that's something that the community just needs to learn to let go. I would hate to see kids visit BZPower for the first time and see its members engaged in regular periods of hatred towards one another about things that both sides could just decide not to discuss and thus avoid sparking the cycle again. I hope that in the time I've been gone, that the problem has been solved.

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This is kind of a touchy subject, especially since we have no way of knowing if Bionicle is coming back next year, if at all. But I do agree with almost everyone that's commented on this topic. Personally, I think a new storyline set many years after the end of the storyline as we know it would be best. It would allow the new people working on the theme, and fans old and new, to get a fresh perspective on the series and get away from the confusing, muddled arcs that sprouted up near the end, while working off the main pillars that characterize it. 

 

If not, a decent clean-up is in order. Lego will have to tie up, clarify, or summarize the many events the rocked the Bionicle universe in just ten years. I imagine it'll be like entering a mess of a room, evidence left behind after a quick exit: chairs overturned; papers and general clutter strewn around; a few stubborn cobwebs; and a fine layer of dust concealing its true nature. The room was all but abandoned by Lego, and loyal fans like those of us at BZPower couldn't bear to leave it behind it.

We've tried to keep the room as orderly as possible, but some messes are just too big to handle alone. And some stains can only be removed by the creators themselves.

 

I don't know if Farshtey is the man to do it. Maybe it's best they keep him on as a consultant or something, and bring in some fresh faces to work on the story.

 

But I digress. Whatever happens, I hope that BZPower stays the same, continuing to be the welcoming and generous community it is. New fans should be welcomed as every fan was. Why should anything change? At its core, the site should be the same as it was when it started.  
 

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I believe it's our responsibility, as a community, to welcome BIONICLE's newcomers with open arms, because they are the future of this toy line. If I see another Bonkle/HF schism developing, I'm going to write you all a very angry letter with lots of caps and exclamation points.

 

- Heir

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Another concern is whether the existing community will react well to any changes made to BIONICLE. Suppose it's a hard reboot or a reboot a la Disney's Star Wars where only the movies (or in this case, comics are more likely) count? While I still believe that most of what I dubbed "hero haters" back in the day only despised Hero Factory because it succeeded BIONICLE as LEGO's main constraction line, there were many who simply hated the kid-oriented story and characters. If BIONICLE comes back, I suspect that there will be far more of that in the new story, and will people react well to that? I'm concerned about whether we'll have more of our own version of genwunners than we expect right now.

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It depends on how the story is different, to be honest. If it's a good story but different, then there could be the nasty kind of genwunners that pokemon and transformers gets. But if we get a terrible story, like the Transformers movies, then I'd say it'd only be reasonable that people would complain, and probably say they prefer the original story.

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Another concern is whether the existing community will react well to any changes made to BIONICLE. Suppose it's a hard reboot or a reboot a la Disney's Star Wars where only the movies (or in this case, comics are more likely) count? While I still believe that most of what I dubbed "hero haters" back in the day only despised Hero Factory because it succeeded BIONICLE as LEGO's main constraction line, there were many who simply hated the kid-oriented story and characters. If BIONICLE comes back, I suspect that there will be far more of that in the new story, and will people react well to that? I'm concerned about whether we'll have more of our own version of genwunners than we expect right now.

I don't think that they're going to declare huge chunks of the media non-canon. Not only is Bionicle miniscule compared to the amount of Star Wars EU stuff, Lego also had a lot more direct control than Lucasfilm did with the EU.

 

Not to mention that a lot of Bionicle media was interconnected with other parts, so it would be much harder to disconnect one part from another. The reason it could work with Star Wars was that the movies were mostly independent from the EU.

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I hope they don't dumb down Bionicle too much. I think that's part of the reason HF hasn't been doing too well. Bionicle was a slightly more advanced theme, in that it had a darker, more complex and meaningful storyline, especially in later years, but it was lightened up by comedic elements as well. I hope they keep that, and I have a feeling that they might. I always felt that the Bionicle story and sets were tailored more towards teens/young adults rather than younger children. If kids want childish storyline and construction toys, they should look to any one of the other story-based Lego themes like Chima, Ninjago, etc.

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Embers - a new Bionicle Epic - Coming 2024 

Class Is Out - A Farewell To Corpus Rahkshi - Chapters/Review

BZPRPG Characters - Minnorak, Kain, T'harrak, Savis, Vazaria, Lash

BZPRPG Mercenary Group - The Outsiders - Description - History - Base

Ghosts Of Bara Magna - Ash Tribe - Precipere - Kehla, Somok, Skrall, Gayle, Avinus, Zha'ar

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I hope they don't dumb down Bionicle too much. I think that's part of the reason HF hasn't been doing too well. Bionicle was a slightly more advanced theme, in that it had a darker, more complex and meaningful storyline, especially in later years, but it was lightened up by comedic elements as well. I hope they keep that, and I have a feeling that they might. I always felt that the Bionicle story and sets were tailored more towards teens/young adults rather than younger children. If kids want childish storyline and construction toys, they should look to any one of the other story-based Lego themes like Chima, Ninjago, etc.

 

I agree completely. The problem is, Lego wants their products to be bought by children (at least mostly). That's why the current themes are so light. But yes, I enjoyed the small snippets of humor we got in Bionicle.

 

Ah, Vezon... good times, good times.

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I hope they don't dumb down Bionicle too much. I think that's part of the reason HF hasn't been doing too well. Bionicle was a slightly more advanced theme, in that it had a darker, more complex and meaningful storyline, especially in later years, but it was lightened up by comedic elements as well. I hope they keep that, and I have a feeling that they might. I always felt that the Bionicle story and sets were tailored more towards teens/young adults rather than younger children. If kids want childish storyline and construction toys, they should look to any one of the other story-based Lego themes like Chima, Ninjago, etc.

 

I agree completely. The problem is, Lego wants their products to be bought by children (at least mostly). That's why the current themes are so light. But yes, I enjoyed the small snippets of humor we got in Bionicle.

 

Ah, Vezon... good times, good times.

 

 

Exactly. Good old Vez. The fact is, Lego has so many themes tailored to younger audiences that they sort of need one for older ones. That's what Bionicle was, at least to me. Hero Factory didn't have that. 

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Embers - a new Bionicle Epic - Coming 2024 

Class Is Out - A Farewell To Corpus Rahkshi - Chapters/Review

BZPRPG Characters - Minnorak, Kain, T'harrak, Savis, Vazaria, Lash

BZPRPG Mercenary Group - The Outsiders - Description - History - Base

Ghosts Of Bara Magna - Ash Tribe - Precipere - Kehla, Somok, Skrall, Gayle, Avinus, Zha'ar

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I hope they don't dumb down Bionicle too much. I think that's part of the reason HF hasn't been doing too well. Bionicle was a slightly more advanced theme, in that it had a darker, more complex and meaningful storyline, especially in later years, but it was lightened up by comedic elements as well. I hope they keep that, and I have a feeling that they might. I always felt that the Bionicle story and sets were tailored more towards teens/young adults rather than younger children. If kids want childish storyline and construction toys, they should look to any one of the other story-based Lego themes like Chima, Ninjago, etc.

 

I agree completely. The problem is, Lego wants their products to be bought by children (at least mostly). That's why the current themes are so light. But yes, I enjoyed the small snippets of humor we got in Bionicle.

 

Ah, Vezon... good times, good times.

 

 

Exactly. Good old Vez. The fact is, Lego has so many themes tailored to younger audiences that they sort of need one for older ones. That's what Bionicle was, at least to me. Hero Factory didn't have that. 

 

 

I agree, of course.

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This topic's more for what BZPower would or should be like going forward. For Bionicle specifics, we have this crazy thread.

 

Ah, good point. I live on "that crazy thread". 

 

Okay, back to the original point of this conversation, we should try our hardest not to cause a divide between B1 fans and B2 fans. We're all one community, and we should celebrate the thing that created our community: Bionicle. No matter what form it comes in. 

Embers - a new Bionicle Epic - Coming 2024 

Class Is Out - A Farewell To Corpus Rahkshi - Chapters/Review

BZPRPG Characters - Minnorak, Kain, T'harrak, Savis, Vazaria, Lash

BZPRPG Mercenary Group - The Outsiders - Description - History - Base

Ghosts Of Bara Magna - Ash Tribe - Precipere - Kehla, Somok, Skrall, Gayle, Avinus, Zha'ar

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This topic's more for what BZPower would or should be like going forward. For Bionicle specifics, we have this crazy thread.

Lol that "Crazy Thread" can't even decide what it is most of the time.. 

 

 

Probably because a certain policy isn't letting us discuss anything...

 

So if we're discussing Bionicle's and BZP's future, I think we should be talking about tweaking the leaks policy, which also has its own topic. 

Edited by NatoGreavesy
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Embers - a new Bionicle Epic - Coming 2024 

Class Is Out - A Farewell To Corpus Rahkshi - Chapters/Review

BZPRPG Characters - Minnorak, Kain, T'harrak, Savis, Vazaria, Lash

BZPRPG Mercenary Group - The Outsiders - Description - History - Base

Ghosts Of Bara Magna - Ash Tribe - Precipere - Kehla, Somok, Skrall, Gayle, Avinus, Zha'ar

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This topic's more for what BZPower would or should be like going forward. For Bionicle specifics, we have this crazy thread.

Lol that "Crazy Thread" can't even decide what it is most of the time.. 

 

 

Probably because a certain policy isn't letting us discuss anything...

 

So if we're discussing Bionicle's and BZP's future, I think we should be talking about tweaking the leaks policy, which also has its own topic. 

 

 

...Aaaand, this is where we back up slowly and take Windrider's advice/command...

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Yes, okay. Focus on Bionicle and BZ's future.

 

We're already getting a lot of new members, but I think that's mostly old fans joining up in response to the recent rumours. So if and when we start getting new members, what measures do we need to take to integrate them into the community? I think we should put a sort of story timeline recap thingy on the frontpage, explaining that Bionicle has existed before 2015, so new fans understand that this is a ancient and powerful community, whose exploits are the stuff of legend... 

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Embers - a new Bionicle Epic - Coming 2024 

Class Is Out - A Farewell To Corpus Rahkshi - Chapters/Review

BZPRPG Characters - Minnorak, Kain, T'harrak, Savis, Vazaria, Lash

BZPRPG Mercenary Group - The Outsiders - Description - History - Base

Ghosts Of Bara Magna - Ash Tribe - Precipere - Kehla, Somok, Skrall, Gayle, Avinus, Zha'ar

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Yes, okay. Focus on Bionicle and BZ's future.

 

We're already getting a lot of new members, but I think that's mostly old fans joining up in response to the recent rumours. So if and when we start getting new members, what measures do we need to take to integrate them into the community? I think we should put a sort of story timeline recap thingy on the frontpage, explaining that Bionicle has existed before 2015, so new fans understand that this is a ancient and powerful community, whose exploits are the stuff of legend... 

 

I agree... I think.

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Yes, okay. Focus on Bionicle and BZ's future.

 

We're already getting a lot of new members, but I think that's mostly old fans joining up in response to the recent rumours. So if and when we start getting new members, what measures do we need to take to integrate them into the community? I think we should put a sort of story timeline recap thingy on the frontpage, explaining that Bionicle has existed before 2015, so new fans understand that this is a ancient and powerful community, whose exploits are the stuff of legend... 

 

I agree... I think.

 

Maybe we need some sort of bionicle history page for new fans to refer to

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Yes, okay. Focus on Bionicle and BZ's future.

 

We're already getting a lot of new members, but I think that's mostly old fans joining up in response to the recent rumours. So if and when we start getting new members, what measures do we need to take to integrate them into the community? I think we should put a sort of story timeline recap thingy on the frontpage, explaining that Bionicle has existed before 2015, so new fans understand that this is a ancient and powerful community, whose exploits are the stuff of legend... 

 

I agree... I think.

 

Maybe we need some sort of bionicle history page for new fans to refer to

 

 

That's basically what I meant. I was just trying to make it sound cooler than that. I may have gone a tad overboard. Or a lot. 

 

I think updating the website's main page has already been discussed, but that needs to be done, and some sort of history article either tacked onto the front page, or linked directly to it for ease of access. 

Edited by NatoGreavesy
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Embers - a new Bionicle Epic - Coming 2024 

Class Is Out - A Farewell To Corpus Rahkshi - Chapters/Review

BZPRPG Characters - Minnorak, Kain, T'harrak, Savis, Vazaria, Lash

BZPRPG Mercenary Group - The Outsiders - Description - History - Base

Ghosts Of Bara Magna - Ash Tribe - Precipere - Kehla, Somok, Skrall, Gayle, Avinus, Zha'ar

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I haven't been active on the forums in the years since Bionicle ended, and probably never will be again, but I must agree with pretty much all the previous responses in this thread regarding the future of BZP as a community. The front page needs an update pretty badly (it has needed an update for a while now) and the community needs to avoid the kind of irrationally aggressive schism that formed after HF replaced Bionicle. The forums weren't the most pleasant place to be during that time and we don't want that turning future members away. I wouldn't be surprised if much of the old guard will prefer the original line due to nostalgia at the very least (I probably will), but keeping the discussion civil needs to be a priority. And if I do come back here even as a lurker, I want to see this place in good condition; I have a lot of good memories of BZP.

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Okay, back to the original point of this conversation, we should try our hardest not to cause a divide between B1 fans and B2 fans. We're all one community, and we should celebrate the thing that created our community: Bionicle. No matter what form it comes in.

 

Basically, this. In regards to BZP, I agree with everyone else who has said the front page needs a revamp because, well, it does. Not even a revamp- just an update. It'd be great to have the hot topics list and the member spotlight actually working again.

 

- Heir

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Yes, okay. Focus on Bionicle and BZ's future.

 

We're already getting a lot of new members, but I think that's mostly old fans joining up in response to the recent rumours. So if and when we start getting new members, what measures do we need to take to integrate them into the community? I think we should put a sort of story timeline recap thingy on the frontpage, explaining that Bionicle has existed before 2015, so new fans understand that this is a ancient and powerful community, whose exploits are the stuff of legend...

 

 

I agree... I think.

Maybe we need some sort of bionicle history page for new fans to refer to

 

That's basically what I meant. I was just trying to make it sound cooler than that. I may have gone a tad overboard. Or a lot. 

 

I think updating the website's main page has already been discussed, but that needs to be done, and some sort of history article either tacked onto the front page, or linked directly to it for ease of access.

Could call it the wall of history. Accurate and it ties into the story.
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Okay, back to the original point of this conversation, we should try our hardest not to cause a divide between B1 fans and B2 fans. We're all one community, and we should celebrate the thing that created our community: Bionicle. No matter what form it comes in.

 

Basically, this. In regards to BZP, I agree with everyone else who has said the front page needs a revamp because, well, it does. Not even a revamp- just an update. It'd be great to have the hot topics list and the member spotlight actually working again.

 

- Heir

 

I remember as a kid I always checked the hot topics because they stood out and were the most interesting. I really hope they bring it back.

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[...]

Whatever happens, I hope that BZPower stays the same, continuing to be the welcoming and generous community it is. New fans should be welcomed as every fan was. Why should anything change? At its core, the site should be the same as it was when it started.  

 

Although I could now go ahead and type all the paragraphs I had in mind, this sums it up best IMO. An influx of new, younger members should not be regarded as something bad, something that will only "bring down the general maturity of the site" or "lower the standards in the creative section".

 

In fact, I think it would do wonders for GA, as the last time I checked there wasn't that much new material around (compared to the old days, anyway). Many older members just don't do that much art anymore (guilty of that myself, too), so I guess new ideas and concepts would be a great thing.

This topic means particularly much to me, since it was Bzpower and GA that actually motivated me to draw regularly and improve my skills. And it would be wonderful if it could be the same for a new generation of fans.

 

...

that last line was incredibly cheesy and makes me feel old. Now excuse me while I go and sulk about how I'm not 15 anymore =D

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There could be a new BZPRPG or something that's smaller scale and slower paced so newer folks can get in on the fun without having the worry about catching up on all this stuff and missing out while they're in school; not to segregate the old and new players, I mean, just give them more options. If there's too many people RPing at once it could be really hard to keep up and wade through maaany pages of new stuff every hour. I have had this experience, it's not particularly fun :P

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I believe it's our responsibility, as a community, to welcome BIONICLE's newcomers with open arms, because they are the future of this toy line. If I see another Bonkle/HF schism developing, I'm going to write you all a very angry letter with lots of caps and exclamation points.

 

- Heir

 

I'd like to stay open-minded about the possible new sets, and the new fans they'll bring. Yet I know myself too well to know that I'll probably quite vocally prefer the originals, as I have with other reboots/remakes of other franchises. The nostalgia is strong with me, and I imagine this will be true for many members.

 

As a community, we're going to have to put in a lot of effort to not be those kind of fans (Transformers genwunners being the quintessential example!)

 

Besides, it's a new world and Lego has its own message boards, so we have competition! If we're going to attract new ideas for the boards and new talent for the creative outlet, we're going to have to be forward-thinking and inviting.

Edited by Airoski
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I believe it's our responsibility, as a community, to welcome BIONICLE's newcomers with open arms, because they are the future of this toy line. If I see another Bonkle/HF schism developing, I'm going to write you all a very angry letter with lots of caps and exclamation points.

 

- Heir

 

I'd like to stay open-minded about the possible new sets, and the new fans they'll bring. Yet I know myself too well to know that I'll probably quite vocally prefer the originals, as I have with other reboots/remakes of other franchises. The nostalgia is strong with me, and I imagine this will be true for many members.

 

As a community, we're going to have to put in a lot of effort to not be those kind of fans (Transformers genwunners being the quintessential example!)

 

Besides, it's a new world and Lego has its own message boards, so we have competition! If we're going to attract new ideas for the boards and new talent for the creative outlet, we're going to have to be forward-thinking and inviting.

 

 

Ugh... geewunners... be careful whenever you visit TFW2005, boys and girls.

 

But I agree. I don't want there to be clashing between "oldies", "newbies", and the "exceptions" (my loving name for the HF community :P). There are many friends that can get along even when preferring different themes - heck, Mesonak from TTV is a big HF fan, and nobody bashes him for that! We definitely need to be a united community here.

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I don't think that they're going to declare huge chunks of the media non-canon. Not only is Bionicle miniscule compared to the amount of Star Wars EU stuff, Lego also had a lot more direct control than Lucasfilm did with the EU.

 

Not to mention that a lot of Bionicle media was interconnected with other parts, so it would be much harder to disconnect one part from another. The reason it could work with Star Wars was that the movies were mostly independent from the EU.

 GregF had trouble remembering even the stuff he came up with on his own. I doubt that whoever is involved on the story team if it comes back will be able to do so either. They'll likely need to find some way to make it easy to follow for the story team as well, which would probably result in either much of the past story being scrapped or made irrelevant to the new story. 

 

 

Exactly. Good old Vez. The fact is, Lego has so many themes tailored to younger audiences that they sort of need one for older ones. That's what Bionicle was, at least to me. Hero Factory didn't have that.

 TFOLs are heavily in the minority of LEGO fans. BZPower is an anomaly in that we are mostly TFOLs. TFOLs aren't a large enough market to sustain a theme, which is one of the reasons BIONICLE was cancelled in the first place, It's simply not good business for LEGO to make a theme aimed towards teens.

 

Maybe we need some sort of bionicle history page for new fans to refer to

We used to have one of those. In fact, we had an entire forum called the BIONICLE Reference Center, and an entire division of staff to maintain it, of which I was part. However, due to many reasons, the BRC and the Reference Team was shut down. The BS01 Wiki serves as a very effective source of BIONICLE history, and it always outshone BZP's BRC, in my opinion.

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a few days ago we were talking about a nikname for old and new BIONICLE and in my opinion the newer BIONICLE sets should be niknamed "BIO Factory" cause they r using Hero Factory build so..... yeah thats what ill nik name them. this is my document>  :lookhere:


so thats how ill talk about it with people about newer BIONICLE so new people won't think im talking about the old BIONICLE.

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Pink squids are royalty.

 

 

 

 

 

i kind of made this when i was bored hope you guys like it

 

didn't you know!?!

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There is one thing worrying me about the discussion I've seen; there's already this massive force against potential Bionicle "genwunners", which makes me wonder if there will instead be an opposite force, people so convinced that disliking the new line is done merely out of nostalgia, they crush any attempts to say otherwise. Something like this happened with Hero Factory occasionally; my complaints about its terrible story and sets I found terrible would be met with a huge backlash, almost always comparing my complaints to similar issues with Bionicle when I hadn't mentioned it whatsoever, because people were so hooked on the idea that the ONLY PEOPLE who hate Hero Factory are nostalgia-ridden fools, and no one could truly have their own reasons to dislike it.

 

If new Bionicle ends up sucking terribly in the story department, I'm worried that saying so will have a similar effect.

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There is one thing worrying me about the discussion I've seen; there's already this massive force against potential Bionicle "genwunners", which makes me wonder if there will instead be an opposite force, people so convinced that disliking the new line is done merely out of nostalgia, they crush any attempts to say otherwise. Something like this happened with Hero Factory occasionally; my complaints about its terrible story and sets I found terrible would be met with a huge backlash, almost always comparing my complaints to similar issues with Bionicle when I hadn't mentioned it whatsoever, because people were so hooked on the idea that the ONLY PEOPLE who hate Hero Factory are nostalgia-ridden fools, and no one could truly have their own reasons to dislike it.

 

If new Bionicle ends up sucking terribly in the story department, I'm worried that saying so will have a similar effect.

I agree with you. That kind of attitude is something we definitely don't need here, and I have a feeling that there will be a larger need for moderation in the future (not saying that there isn't any now). Edited by Jakura Nuva
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I hope they don't dumb down Bionicle too much. I think that's part of the reason HF hasn't been doing too well. Bionicle was a slightly more advanced theme, in that it had a darker, more complex and meaningful storyline, especially in later years, but it was lightened up by comedic elements as well. I hope they keep that, and I have a feeling that they might. I always felt that the Bionicle story and sets were tailored more towards teens/young adults rather than younger children. If kids want childish storyline and construction toys, they should look to any one of the other story-based Lego themes like Chima, Ninjago, etc.

Hero Factory hasn't been doing too well? Where did you hear that? I think any story-driven LEGO theme that can last four and a half years is doing pretty well for itself.

 

And the BIONICLE sets were targeted towards kids ages seven to sixteen, which isn't much different than the target audience for Hero Factory or Ninjago. The largest sets like Axalara T9 were aimed at ages 10–16, but they were not the backbone of the theme by any stretch of the imagination. The story may have skewed slightly more towards the older end of that age range, at least in the later years, but not by a whole lot, and it was certainly never aimed at young adults ages 18 and up.

 

Exactly. Good old Vez. The fact is, Lego has so many themes tailored to younger audiences that they sort of need one for older ones. That's what Bionicle was, at least to me. Hero Factory didn't have that.

They don't really need a theme for older audiences because older audiences generally don't buy as many toys to begin with. LEGO has plenty of products aimed at older audiences including the Technic line, the Mindstorms line, the Creator Expert line, and certain individual products in themes like Star Wars and Super Heroes. None of these but the licensed themes are story-driven, of course, but that's only natural — most older LEGO fans aren't looking for quality storytelling from a toy company. We fans who followed the BIONICLE storyline and other LEGO storylines well past our teens? We're outliers.

 

Now, that doesn't mean we should be ashamed of liking BIONICLE, but when BIONICLE comes back we'll have to keep in mind that we're not typical fans. For those of us who are already more than sixteen years old, we won't be the intended fans of the new BIONICLE to begin with. So as much as we might want to complain about the new BIONICLE not meeting our expectations, it's important to keep that sense of perspective. I hope that we DO see an influx of newer fans so that they can act as a reminder of just WHO the new BIONICLE is meant to serve. Back when BIONICLE was still around, people would complain about the seven-year-olds in the focus groups ruining what we loved about the older sets. That's not an attitude we can afford to have with the new BIONICLE.

 

Some things about the theme WILL seem childish to us. But do you know what? It's a kids' toy line, and it always has been. Childishness is a part of its DNA, and it would never have been so successful in the first place if it wasn't. The fact that many of us are still fans so many years later shows that there's a certain amount of childishness that we embrace and appreciate. We love the bold colors, the archetypical characters, and the simple messages and values that the heroes enshrine. We aren't so pretentious and elitist that we consider these things beneath us just because we're well outside the theme's target demographic.

 

But sometimes, we forget. We start to think that kids, or the LEGO Group in general, had higher standards back in OUR day. And eventually it gets to the point where we start thinking that kids and designers today are stupid or out-of-touch. We can't go down that road if we want new users here to feel welcome. We can't raise the bar for new users and expect them to be much more mature and sophisticated in their tastes than we were when BIONICLE first called us here.

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Ninjago.

 

That is all.

 

I've said this time and again, but if there was a new Bionicle show and it was at least as mature and... well, tactful as Ninjago, as opposed to, say, Chima, then great! That's all I need it to be, and there's no reason we shouldn't EXPECT it to be that good, or be sorely disappointed if it isn't, especially considering that, well, Ninjago is ultimately "just" a kid's show, too.

Edited by NickonAquaMagna
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the_toa_sig_by_nickinamerica-dbn0wau.png

The Toa- A Bionicle Retelling by NickonAquaMagna http://www.bzpower.com/board/topic/25275-the-toa-a-retelling-of-bionicle/

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