Did Slizer Foreshadow the Core War and the Shattering?

[Master Inika]

Awhile ago, I posted a headcanon on the usage of "Slizer" and "Throwbot" in-universe. Well, I'm back dissect BIONICLE's obscure forerunner once again. For the uninitiated:

 

The line had two different storylines. In Europe and Australia, the story was about a planet with seven continents and a "Slizer Dome" on the north pole. In this version, the different factions were all at war. In North America, the story was of seven different planets whose inhabitants met on the eighth, the Judge Dome, to settle disputes. Now, "settle disputes" is quite vague, but it implies something more civilized than all-out war. Both stories ended with a meteor striking the planet (or presumably the Judge Dome in the North American storyline) and causing mass destruction, leading to the poorly-defined 2000 storyline.

 

This next part is, admittedly, more headcanon from myself. It seems reasonable that the meteor strike happened at the end of the European storyline, and the meteor fragmented the planet into the many planets in the North American storyline. So, it's as follows:

 

1. Single planet with many sides fighting a war.

2. Cataclysm happens, resulting in multiple planets.

3. Former soldiers use a more tempered system of combat now.

 

Does anybody else see the ties to the story of the Core War and the Shattering? I believe Greg confirmed that, at the beginning, the only thing planned was the Great Beings building Mata Nui as a universe-housing robot, and the parts about the Glatorian and Bara Magna were added when it was decided to "refresh" the BIONICLE story. Think anyone working at LEGO took inspiration from BIONICLE's ill-fated predecessor?

[Chro]

It's possible.

 

I would think that the idea for the Core War and Spherus Magna's Shattering came about relatively early on. They had to have a reason for the giant robot, right? (You could argue that they didn't need to have a reason, but I would like to believe that at least some planning went into the backstory for that other than "they were all in the robot the entire time"). Perhaps with Throwbots/Slizers, the one story concept that they really really liked was the shattering planet and the combat thing, and when that line ended they decided to adapt the specific concept for Bionicle - so they decided that the robot existed to reform the planet, then the Glatorian arena-battle aspect came later?... maybe that's a bit of a stretch, I don't know.

 

But please, just refer to my first sentence if all of this is being worded poorly.

Edited August 23, 2014 by ChroXumo

[Jakura Nuva]

First of all, wow; I've never thought about like that.

 

Secondly, while I see the similarities, I can't say for sure that Lego did that on purpose. This idea isn't isolated here in Lego - a very similar story was developed for Hasbro's Transformers toyline. It's a very common idea, I think; so, I would assume that even if Throwbots didn't use that plot, Bionicle would have anyway.

 

But that's just my opinion

[Space: Ocean of Awe]

There really are similarities. It doesn't seem altogether unlikely (at least to me, though I am exceptionally unlearned in the slizers storyline) that it could have been the inspiration for the Glatorian stuff, but as Chro said, it would be weird if they didn't have some vague idea of why the Mata Nui robot would be necessary. I suddenly feel the urge to write a crossover story...

 

=)

[~Shockwave~]

That sounds like a reuse of a plot device which is not foreshadowing, especially considering Bionicle was probably either nonexistent or in early development at that time, probably with little story.  

 

And Lego seems to do this a lot in stories. Bionicle wasn't foreshadowing HF or Ninjago in any way, but they do share elements.

Edited August 23, 2014 by ~Shockwave~

[Aanchir]

I think you're taking this a bit far. The meteor strike in the European storyline did not split the planet into multiple planets — rather, it literally blew up half the planet while leaving the other half perfectly intact. The new Slizers emerged from the crater to do battle with the older ones, and it's implied that the three other than Millenium Slizer (who arrived on the meteor) might be "mutated" versions of the Slizers from the half of the planet that was destroyed in the impact. Spark Slizer shares Energy Slizer's color scheme, and Blaster Slizer's faceplate is literally half of Jungle Slizer's and half of Judge Slizer's.

 

There is definitely some similarity between the American Throwbots storyline and the Glatorian arena system, but that's not foreshadowing, it's coincidence.

[Nidhiki of the Shadows]

Slizer vs Bionicle confirmed

 

-NotS

Edited September 18, 2014 by Nidhiki of the Shadows

[Wrinkledlion X]

I wrote a post in my blog about this quite some time ago, and I know other people have brought up the parallels.

 

I'm not sure how old the story concept of The Shattering is, but it's certainly possible that it was inspired by Slizer. I think that LEGO themes were more "permeable" in the 90s/early 2000s than they are now, since there used to be a lot of concepts that existed across multiple themes. Everybody seemed to be collecting energy crystals, of which Bionicle's lightstones and heatstones were just one example. And the Vatuka certainly looks a lot like a Rock Monster from Rock Raiders: 

 

 

So who knows? They were pretty lax about borrowing ideas at the time.

[Adventurer]

I think around that period where Lego was experimenting with the multiple lines with similar thematic elements, they must have had an original concept at some point they wanted to develop into a flagship line. The mechanical/Technic element, the lore and story to accompany it and the multimedia promotion and expanded universes. These were all elements held in common by Roboriders, Slizers and to a lesser extent Rock Raiders. As a result I think that's probably where the carry over came over. Every time they decided one of these lines would be discontinued and replaced they probably revised the core concept, correcting what they determined needed changing to be more successful. Story elements like that may have survived or drawn upon the same original conceptual plans. Well that's what it seems like to me anyway.

[Wrinkledlion X]

I recall that the Insectoids were originally intended as enemies for the Rock Raiders, but for whatever reason that never panned out. So a lot of this permeability seems to have trickled down from the Space line... I wonder if the Slizer planet was meant to vaguely coexist with the Space universe?

 

And another big parallel to consider: the plot to Roboriders revolved around a virus being released, and six elemental robots being created to stop it. 

[Adventurer]

I recall that the Insectoids were originally intended as enemies for the Rock Raiders, but for whatever reason that never panned out. So a lot of this permeability seems to have trickled down from the Space line... I wonder if the Slizer planet was meant to vaguely coexist with the Space universe?

 

And another big parallel to consider: the plot to Roboriders revolved around a virus being released, and six elemental robots being created to stop it. 

 

Definitely seems like in the 90's and early 2000s the design process for the new lines involved reiterating some core elements and changing the variables. It seems very methodical in many ways, seeing which combination of elements (which were determined based on market research probably) would be a hit. They probably still do that but in a less noticeable way I guess? (Like so instead of story spill over, spill over in terms of the way the expanded universes and multimedia elements for certain lines are developed perhaps?)

[Aanchir]

Definitely seems like in the 90's and early 2000s the design process for the new lines involved reiterating some core elements and changing the variables. It seems very methodical in many ways, seeing which combination of elements (which were determined based on market research probably) would be a hit. They probably still do that but in a less noticeable way I guess? (Like so instead of story spill over, spill over in terms of the way the expanded universes and multimedia elements for certain lines are developed perhaps?)

They definitely still base their themes on what has proven successful in previous themes, which is why I always find it ridiculous to see people complain about Hero Factory storylines being too similar to BIONICLE storylines. The reason why BIONICLE and Hero Factory had plot devices that turned good characters and creatures evil time and time again isn't that it was a new or unique idea that the BIONICLE theme invented and Hero Factory "ripped off". It's because like a lot of the concepts that made BIONICLE what it was, the appeal of that sort of idea for kids was archetypical and timeless. It's the same reason so many LEGO themes have always used the color gold to symbolize important and mystical treasures.