Return of Bionicle Covered by Fortune

[Hapori Tohu]

Of all the places I expected to see the reboot of the LEGO Bionicle line mentioned, Fortune Magazine was not very high on the list. And yet here it is! There's two tidbits of information I found interesting. First, Mike Moynihan, Lego's U.S. vice president of marketing, said LEGO always intended to bring back Bionicle, which contradicts with what we heard in the past. Second, Cerim Manovi, who BZPower interviewed as well, stated that the design team made heavy use of 3-D printing in the design stage. Nothing earth-shattering, but it's great to see such a high profile periodical taking note of Bionicle's return!

 

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[Aanchir]

Of all the places I expected to see the reboot of the LEGO Bionicle line mentioned, Fortune Magazine was not very high on the list. And yet here it is! There's two tidbits of information I found interesting. First, Mike Moynihan, Lego's U.S. vice president of marketing, said LEGO always intended to bring back Bionicle, which contradicts with what we heard in the past. Second, Cerim Manovi, who BZPower interviewed as well, stated that the design team made heavy use of 3-D printing in the design stage. Nothing earth-shattering, but it's great to see such a high profile periodical taking note of Bionicle's return!

 

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I don't think the idea that LEGO always intended to bring back BIONICLE totally contradicts what we've heard in the past. I'm guess you're talking about statements like "There are no plans to bring back BIONICLE at this time", but I think that more refers to "we aren't working on bringing it back yet", not "we never plan to bring it back". They were quite clear about keeping the option of bringing it back on the table.

[Hexann]

said LEGO always intended to bring back Bionicle, which contradicts with what we heard in the past. 

Interesting, I'm not sure how the bring back Bionicle petitioners will feel about that (though imagine they'll be happy any way), knowing that they pretty much got what they wanted before that petition even started.  XD

 

Not gonna lie though, I do believe they intended to bring it back, or at least as a possible life saver for business.  Personally I found Bionicle's return to be somewhat obvious.  It was a dead give away when Greg would say that he could not reveal future story line.  I interpreted this as that Lego was still holding onto Bionicle for possible future use.

[Kyori]

I feel so vindicated for all those times as a kid where I felt disappointed about Bionicle not showing up in mainstream press, and those times I feel like Bionicle has already been forgotten for its innovativeness and role in saving Lego.

Now years later it’s on Fortune magazine. I’m so proud. ;w;

Edited October 15, 2014 by Kyori

[Zeddy]

“We think the storyline has some legacy,” Moynihan said. “A latent group had been waiting for resurgence. We thought that now was a good time to respond and bring it back to them.”

 

That sounds a lot like us, guys!

 

Also, I didn't know Bionicle was keeping Lego afloat in its early years (Bionicle's, that is). Good to know it was doing so well. Not so good that Lego was reporting losses, of course.

[bonesiii]

First, Mike Moynihan, Lego's U.S. vice president of marketing, said LEGO always intended to bring back Bionicle, which contradicts with what we heard in the past.

Not exactly -- what we heard in the past was that certain employees weren't aware of plans to bring it back. A lack of knowledge of plans isn't the same as no plans. Although this guy could simply be mistaken too.

 

 

Anyways, great to see what we were told originally playing out in such an impressive way (the "new factor", and indeed the "return factor", gets better marketing than an "old" (continuous) line -- getting magazine features was in fact the example given, although such a famous magazine wasn't). Hope it works!

[Lyichir]

 

“We think the storyline has some legacy,” Moynihan said. “A latent group had been waiting for resurgence. We thought that now was a good time to respond and bring it back to them.”

 

That sounds a lot like us, guys!

 

Also, I didn't know Bionicle was keeping Lego afloat in its early years (Bionicle's, that is). Good to know it was doing so well. Not so good that Lego was reporting losses, of course.

 

Yeah, Bionicle wasn't Lego's sole saving grace but it definitely had a big role (especially in 2003, when the lack of a new Star Wars or Harry Potter movie meant that both themes underperformed). You can read a lot about it in Brick By Brick: How Lego Rewrote the Rules of Innovation and Conquered the Global Toy Industry, which is all about Lego's fall and subsequent rise and devotes a whole chapter to Bionicle, due to it serving as a major example of what Lego would do to turn their situation around.

[Ektris]

This is definitely some nice exposure for the new line.

 

~|ET|~

[Toa Smoke Monster]

I, too, wouldn't expect a mgazine like this to cover Bionicle's return.

 

Though its really cool that it did. Who knows where else Bionicle 2015 info will show up.

[Prime Axiom]

Moynihan said Lego always intended to bring back Bionicle, noting that while some of the rebranding in the “constraction” segment haven’t worked out as well as the company hoped, Lego still believes that form of play is relevant.

 

See, I interpreted this with one of two theories:

 

1) Lego always intended to bring back Bionicle. The storyline was getting convoluted, so lego needed reboot. But they couldn't do it right away, as the Spherus Magna storyline was in full motion. So they decided to take drastic action, and cancel it for a few years. This would allow potential new fans the ability to see it as a new product, and old fans to drool at the nostalgia. Hero Factory was basically a distraction. It was a nice way to generate revenue. It was also a good way for lego to test out new building system, without having the flaws of said system influencing how fans perceive Bionicle. The statements about how there were no plans to revive Bionicle, and how buying HF sets will prove to lego there was still an interest in constraction sets, was basically to get us to get invested in HF. It was simply a good marketing move. 

 

2) Lego tried to drop Bionicle for Hero Factory. Hero Factory was meant to be sustainable on its own for the foreseeable future. Hero Factory didn't do as well as they would have hoped - And let's face it, they hoped for Bionicle-standards. No company wants to lose revenue of a line. Don't get me wrong, the company overall did very well. 2012 and 2013 were arguably their most successful year...but they owe that to other lines. HF simply wasn't Bionicle-worthy. And lego would like that level of success. Lego is now trying to act as if Bionicle's return is a planned event, making it look like it was a move of marketing genius. 

 

Edited October 16, 2014 by Prime Axiom

[Gatanui]

I'd say LEGO attempted to redefine its constraction range, possibly wanting to have several constraction themes at a time but Hero Factory and the ultrabuilds didn't prove succesful enough, so LEGO is now trying the story approach once again that proved succesful with BIONICLE, Ninjago and Chima.

 

-Gata

[Eclipsed]

I always hoped that they're planning on bringing it back, but never thought it was going to happen.

anyway, i like how the 2015 release is such a big deal it's actually on the media.

[Toa Green Ninja]

So very happy to see the return of BIONICLE being covered so much in the news! Here is hoping it does well.

[Nidhiki of the Shadows]

Haha, I did not expect Fortune to cover Bionicle's return either. That's awesome! Glad that Bionicle getting rebooted is so widespread in terms of media coverage.

 

Also, yeah, I didn't realize till now but 3D printing really must help LEGO when it comes to prototyping. Never thought of that, but a good use of great technology.

 

-NotS

[Hitoshura]

Lego intended to bring it back? Not surprised there.