Bionicle Dysphoria

[Toa Nekar]

I know a lot of people on here are very open about their hobby(Bionicle of course), and it may be different in college, because form what I've heard, college is way less judgmental than high school, but doesn't anybody feel uncomfortable telling people that they like Bionicle? I personally have a Bionicle-Themed Instagram account, and haven't told anybody except for my friends that also like it. For me it is mostly the connection with a toy theme that leads me to not tell anyone, despite the extremely complex and mature storyline. What are other people's experiences with being open or closed about their Bionicle hobby?

(If this is the wrong forum, I'm sorry, it didn't seem to fit into any others)

[bionicleFanatic]

Nah, I'm fine with telling people about it 8D Bonkles rule, OK? []

 

Mind you: I never actually get to talk to people at all, really. [] So, I wouldn't really know []

[fishers64]

In college, nobody cares. I made Bionicle pictures in Photoshop class and people thought they were cool. Obviously I don't walk around college with my sets or anything, because that would be weird.

 

You'll probably find that people in college in general are more accepting of other people's quirks, because everyone is now trying to discover their own passion in life and what they want to do with it...and when you're trying to do that, you tend to accept that everyone is trying to do that too, I guess. (Unlike in high school where everyone is shuffled into interest categories that don't really fit people anyway and stifle individuality.)

 

Still can't talk to my parents or brother about it at all though. They find the idea that I like a kid's toyline to be immature and embarrassing. (Their idea of maturity needs help, but that's their problem. Get off my lawn. XP)

[SPIRIT]

I'm the same way.  It doesn't normally come up anyway and it would probably require a fairly lengthy explanation.  Best to avoid the subject altogether, I've found.

 

 

Conceal, don't feel.  Don't let them know.

Edited October 18, 2015 by SPIRIT

[Ford]

I'm the same way.  It doesn't normally come up anyway and it would probably require a fairly lengthy explanation.  Best to avoid the subject altogether, I've found.

^Pretty much summed up my thoughts!

 

While I have brought it up to some people, others, like my parents, still think it's immature. At least my sister somewhat partakes in my liking of the hobby. She did get me a few sets this year, as well as tickets to Art of the Brick!

[sydorack]

My girlfriend is supportive of it.  A lot of my friends bust my stones about it, but it doesn't bother me.  I have a second instagram account as well for mainly bionicle stuff.  I wish I had just one IRL friend I could talk to about it.  I love being able to post here and in other places, but it would be nice to have someone I can face to face talk bonkle with.  

[aldero]

I've never seen or heard someone outright mock me for following a children's toy line, but I can guarantee that I've gotten one suspicious glare. It's not that I'm afraid to tell them about the hobby that I have spent most of my life obsessing over, but only a handful of people that I know are fully knowledgable about my adoration for the wonderfully-moulded ABS. People don't really seem to care that much about it, and they just shrug it off as being another hobby. 

 

No one's really supportive of it, though. I only know of one other friend that likes the line, and even then, he's primarily invested in the Star Wars line and nothing else. I've never really had someone I could talk to about the recently-revealed Brick Bank or season five of Ninjago. 

Edited October 19, 2015 by Professor Turnip

[Ta-metru_defender]

I've made a reference or two casually, but Lego proper has always been my First Love and all my friends know it here.

[Sergei Rahkmaninoff]

Not that I actively seek to tell everyone about it, but I don't hide it either. Thankfully my family and friends are all super supportive, and if someone else criticizes it, I'll defend it as a valid art form. And if they're the (rare, so far) sort of judgmental person that still mocks me for being childish or immature, their opinion isn't worth much to me anyways and they can pretty much be ignored.

[Bonkle]

I don't go around saying. "HELLO I LIKE BONKLES BE MY FRIEND", but honestly I'm an open person and I don't care what others think of me.

[The 1st Shadow]

Well, I obviously don't walk around campus with "I<3 BIONICLE" on a tshirt, but I do have a lot of BIONICLE-related stuff on my computer. Any of my friends that I hang out with see that and know it well enough.

 

Although, there was this one day this past spring when I bought Onua on my way to class, and then afterwards, I went to the student lounge and just built him right there in the middle of the room. A couple people commented on it, and a guy I knew from high school came up and got interested for a few minutes. But that's about it.

[MrSciFiGuy]

Dont hide it, its fun and you'll meet someone sometime who shares the same interest. Heck, I even got Bionicles on my desk at my office

[aldero]

I don't go around saying. "HELLO I LIKE BONKLES BE MY FRIEND", but honestly I'm an open person and I don't care what others think of me.

 

Ditto. I just treat my hobby, as, well... a hobby. It's a dot point in my personality, not the entire focus. I try my best not to make a huge deal about it.

[Regitnui]

Dont hide it, its fun and you'll meet someone sometime who shares the same interest. Heck, I even got Bionicles on my desk at my office

Don't have an office, but I have the Hannah crab sitting on my laptop over the camera, silently judging... I took my MoC to use in displays at a library I worked at, the giant dragon in the dinosaur display. The Sea Sled and To a for a vehicles display, etc.

[Logan McOwen]

I read that title and thought this would be about Bionicle otherkin.

[McNugget]

I know very few people, and when I try to explain the Bionicle Story I can't stop and I confuse them alot.

 

So I just find it better to not say anything.

 

There is one person I know from My Boy Scout Troop who had Hero Factory Sets, and they saw one of my MOCs and thought it was really cool though.

[You just lost the game]

95% of my friends know I have a large Lego collection. (Not just Bionicle)

Only about 90% of them have seen it. lol

I never really talk to anyone about my Lego's, but if the subject comes up, I'm all for it!

 

Being open about your hobby/pass-time/addiction is only a problem if you make it one, IMO.

I'd recommend holding off on starting up a conversation about Lego in RL though.

It's better you let them ask first. lol

Edited October 19, 2015 by You just lost the game

[Wrinkledlion X]

I desperately hid it all through late elementary/middle school, and though my interest waned in high school, I was still embarrassed to bring it up.

 

Now that I'm in an art college, though, no one cares. Everyone loves to talk about their childhood interests, so if I bring up Bionicle, everyone's happy to reminisce. It's really nice. 

[bionicleFanatic]

I don't go around saying. "HELLO I LIKE BONKLES BE MY FRIEND"

I do 8)

 

No, but seriously, I have a "Keep calm and haz Bionicle" teeshirt, with a grayscale Phantoka Miru on the front []

Edited October 20, 2015 by bionicleFanatic

[Toatapio Nuva]

Generally I never talk about it, but that doesn't mean I wouldn't if the topic came up.

 

I did tell one friend of mine at university when he spotted a Bionicle picture on my computer. Minutes later we were watching Mask of Light on my laptop... that's the only example though.

[Xboxtravis]

I desperately hid it all through late elementary/middle school, and though my interest waned in high school, I was still embarrassed to bring it up.

 

Now that I'm in an art college, though, no one cares. Everyone loves to talk about their childhood interests, so if I bring up Bionicle, everyone's happy to reminisce. It's really nice.

Yeah, same happens to me. A lot of friends like to talk about Pokémon as a kid, and after I tell them I wasn't into Pokémon they look shocked. That's when I tell 'em about good old "Bonkle." Works every time. Edited October 20, 2015 by Xboxtravis

[masterchirox580]

I don't really talk about it much. Most of the people I know didn't care for it growing up so what's the point of bringing it up. 

[Protodite Karzahni]

I keep it to myself, because nobody needs to know. If anyone visits my house and sees them then that's fine. I obviously trust them enough to let them near my place, so there's no point keeping small hobbies like this a secret for much longer. 

 

Still, I suppose there might be an element of shame in there too. Not in the hobby of collecting Lego by itself, but in just how shelves upon shelves of the things are telling of an obsession. 

[Chip Wiseman]

Since I pretty much grew up with BIONICLE (from my 7th birthday, in fact, when I got Nokama Metru) it's become something that I just accept as part of normal life, and my friends and family have been totally cool with it too. I honestly have no problem keeping the novels sitting proud on my shelf and a Tahu picture as my desktop background, and no-one else seems to have an issue with it either 

[Kopekemaster]

My family has been generally accepting of them, though they think my massive collection is a little extensive. XP

Coincidentally, most of the friends I've had in the past have actually been into Bionicle (or LEGO, at least), so they've been pretty cool with it too.

At college? Well... when it's online... kind of N/A.

[Shadow Destroyer]

I'm in college now, and things are very laid-back compared to high school when it comes to peoples' interests. Everyone has something that makes them happy, whether it be Bionicles or fixing automobiles. Keep being you!

[LewaLew]

Teenagers want nothing more than to be grown-up. Once they actually are, they wish they could enjoy their old hobbies again instead of spending money on bills. Therefore, in high school, people think it's weird; but in college, everybody knows that feel.

[bionicleFanatic]

Teenagers want nothing more than to be grown-up. Once they actually are, they wish they could enjoy their old hobbies again instead of spending money on bills. Therefore, in high school, people think it's weird; but in college, everybody knows that feel.

Yes Sensei []

[Aanchir]

I've generally been pretty open about liking Bionicle. I don't like going out of my way to hide any of my interests. It doesn't feel honest. Obviously, I'm not going to wear a Bionicle T-shirt or cap to a job interview, because it wouldn't be professional. Nor do I try to bring Bionicle up in conversation unless it's relevant to what's being discussed. But if I'm just walking around town, I'm not afraid to wear a Bionicle T-shirt. I never hesitate to share my Bionicle drawings and creations on Facebook or Twitter, or even as part of my creative portfolio.

 

During my first semester at college, some fellow students did tease me about Bionicle. My mom managed to convince me I'd make more friends at college if I left the door to my room open. One day while my brother and I were looking at something Bionicle related on my computer, a dude walks by and asks "Hey, you looking at *insert thing I shouldn't be discussing on BZPower*?". Being honest, I said, "No, I'm looking at Bionicle discussion". This jerk walked off laughing, and then he and his circle of friends made a habit of shouting "Bionicle!" any time they walked by my room or I walked by the area outside the dorm where they liked to stand around and smoke. After a while I decided it would be better to keep my door closed most of the time, and to use the other exit to the building when possible.

However, I feel like they were really just trying to make me uncomfortable any way they could, because they knew I was socially awkward and thus an easy target. That much was obvious from the way the whole debacle started, with one of them asking a really intrusive question. If they hadn't known I liked Bionicle, they'd have found something else to tease me about in a heartbeat. Even something as insignificant as the way I dressed. Or they'd have even made something up to make fun of me for, like how some bullies in high school wrote obscene (yet completely untrue) stuff about me and my relatives in my physical science notebook in the eighth grade.

 

Remember, being a victim of bullying or harassment usually doesn't mean you've done something wrong or have something to be ashamed of. Just that somebody else has chosen to make themselves feel powerful at your expense.

Edited October 23, 2015 by Aanchir

[sydorack]

I tried to talk to a Lego store employee about bionicle a couple of days ago. I asked him what he thought of the reboot and he said "I like the new sets way more, mostly because they actually have bad guys to fight. In the original, it took forever for bad guys to come out."

 

I laughed nervously and changed the subject........

[LewaLew]

Where did he get that idea? Usually the bad guys were out first, and it took forever for the heroes to come out.

[sydorack]

Where did he get that idea? Usually the bad guys were out first, and it took forever for the heroes to come out.

 

He obviously had no idea what he was talking about, and was just trying to engage a customer (me).  Little did he know........

 

I think he was just trying to be nice and have a conversation with me.  I've talked to him before and he's a really nice, but always very nervous, dude.  He's definitely a big gamer, and I assume he suffers from a similar amount of social anxiety all nerds like us tend to feel at times.  

[Alyska]

Haven't told a soul. 

 

If I was going to consciously choose a thing to get obsessed with in my childhood that I would continue to like well into adulthood, I wouldn't have chosen Bionicle. I was never in the target demographic, I know nobody else in real life my age that likes it, it doesn't seem to have much nostalgia value (yet), children these days who buy the sets seem to care little for the story, and it's looked down on even by other Lego fanatics. G1 was sexist as heck, much of the later media and marketing was poorly executed, the later serials were a mess, and most of the sets after about 2003 lacked the charm and appeal of the originals, at least for me... and yet I loved it. It makes so little sense. 

 

I've only recently started collecting the books, acquired from second hand bookshops and school fetes. I might start using Abebooks if I get desperate, but it feels like more of an adventure if I have to hunt for them. I camouflage my collection under a mountain of other children's books I have no intention of reading, but are socially acceptable for me to own since I work with kids. They're worth the effort, and I wish I had started sooner. I hope they make a theatrical Bionicle film one day, just to get it into the public consciousness. It'd be nice to be able to have a real-life conversation about Bionicle...

[Crezdonn]

Everyone knew I loved Bionicle in elementary school.

 

Everyone knew I loved Bionicle in high school.

 

I'm in college now, and everyone still knows I love Bionicle. People made fun of me for it sometimes, but I've never really cared about what other people think of me, why the heck should I change myself to please some random loser? Those people are just the obvious ones that shouldn't be a part of your daily life. Most of my friends actually took some degree of interest in it when I showed them some of the mocs I made or shared an interesting story plot.