Was G2 just Ninjago?

[Tuuli]

Hello friends I noticed recently that a few people have said that G2 Bionicle was just ninjago reskinned, and it may be true because I did some looking into of Ninjago characters and discovered that Kai was the master of fire. I just wanted to know if Bionicle ripped off Ninjago, or if there were any similarities, can someone tell me if they've noticed any? Thank you.

[Iruini Nuva]

Don't have a lot of familiarity with Ninjago, but I mean, they both follow general Western storytelling patterns, yes? Good vs. evil, etc. Both use common elemental archetypes to represent different values and characters in a way that's viscerally relatable (i.e. shadow = evil). Did you have more direct examples in mind?

Edited September 13, 2016 by Iruini Nuva

[Toa Imrukii]

*reads title*

 

 

 

Ugh.... *rubs temples*

 

In all seriousness they're both just LEGO Themes. I'm sure LEGO would base some of a theme that is already popular and selling well and apply to one of their older themes coming back, But the word 'Ripoff' is an incorrect usage to describe the similarities. A ripoff entails that something has been stolen, to be riped-off means to be stolen or fooled. 

 

Yes there are similarities with G2 and Ninjago, but not enough to call G2 say a clone. It was very big and was sort of all over the place in it's lore, mostly because much of it was lost in translation from publication to publication of information. Even between the books and say the information on the website conflicts. But certain terms like 'Master of ____' isn't a "ripoff", they explicitly used the word Master instend of Toa in order not to confuse kids, but in the end it hurt the theme. Kids weren't enthralled and curious enough to glance back at it. Say with something like Ninjago that sticks with kids, because "hey! these are Ninjas! and Ninjas are cool!", then with BIONICLE you have these sort of robot dudes and there isn't much else than that for kids. The reason BIONICLE originally sold was because of terms that interested and caught the eye of kids, but the story became overly complex in the end.

 

But regardless of all of that, no G2 wasn't a "ripoff" of Ninjago. If anything you could use that same logic to say that Ninjago is a ripoff of G1, but really in the end even the legitimacy of that argument is null when you really look into it. NInjago compared to G1 were completely different beasts entirely. So to say that G2 is a ""Ripoff"" of Ninjago is just entirely stupid and foolish. A word of advice in the future, research this sort of stuff for yourself dude, it will save you the trouble of miswording something and having it have an unintended catastrophic impact. Not to say that, that has happened here, but it will certainly help in the future.

 

 

*sighs*

Edited September 13, 2016 by Toa Imrukii

[Tuuli]

Well it's not that I'm angry about it I was just curious how many similarities Bionicle shared with Ninjago, both are decent stories, I've only watched a couple of episodes of Ninjago ever on its first CN airing.

[Aanchir]

"Master of Fire" is just a description, and one that could just as easily describe G1 Tahu as Kai or G2 Tahu. I'd file that under "coincidence".

 

That's not to say G2 Bionicle can't have taken any cues from Ninjago, because LEGO themes take cues from each other all the time, particularly from each other's proven strengths. But many of the most obvious things G2 Bionicle had in common with Ninjago (elemental powers, magical golden artifacts, ancient temples, mysterious prophecies, a villain representing darkness and destruction, an origin story involving two feuding brothers, etc.) are things that Ninjago already had in common with G1 Bionicle. And for the most part, they are pretty common tropes, so I don't think it makes any sense to say either story "ripped off" the other by sharing them.

 

The only especially Ninjago-ish trait of G2 Bionicle I can think of that wasn't present in some form in G1 Bionicle was the use of skeleton-themed villains, but even then, LEGO Castle used those before either Ninjago OR Bionicle did.

[Taria Pakari]

There were no ninjas, so no.

[Bfahome]

Interesting point.  I also decided to look into it, and it turns out G2 has a lot in common with previous LEGO themes.  One in particular stood out, and it dates back to fifteen years ago!  Talk about unoriginality.  And both of the fire characters are named "Tahu".  Did they really think we wouldn't notice?

 

I dunno if anyone else feels this way, but I think G2 was just BIONICLE reskinned.

[Sybre]

The only similarities I can spot are the elemental stuff, a shadowy figure as a main villain, the gold guy being super special, maybe a few comparable personalities, and a skeleton army. Even I could take all of these features and make two separate stories that only have said features in common. If I could pull it off, so can LEGO.

 

Interesting point.  I also decided to look into it, and it turns out G2 has a lot in common with previous LEGO themes.  One in particular stood out, and it dates back to fifteen years ago!  Talk about unoriginality.  And both of the fire characters are named "Tahu".  Did they really think we wouldn't notice?

 

I dunno if anyone else feels this way, but I think G2 was just BIONICLE reskinned.

It's almost like somebody said, "BIONICLE started fifteen years ago and then ended five years ago. Pretty long run that ended long ago; I doubt anyone's gonna notice." Ha, what do you take us for, LEGO? People who don't read into stuff?

[Lenny7092]

And I thought that Ninjago got some ideas from Bionicle G1 when it started in 2011 (Wikipedia mentioned it a long time ago, too, unless it got edited).

Anyway, I can see that Bionicle G2 and Ninjago are similar in some ways. Elements, shadow=evil, and light=good, are some common things, but there are more bigger things, too. Here's the list:

1. Toa=Ninja (both are called Masters with elemental powers and wear masks)

2. Ekimu and Makuta=Wu and Garmadon (brothers on opposite sides who caused the main events to happen and are used to act like friends). Ekimu is like Wu while Makuta is like Garmadon.

3. Army of evil skeletons and skull-based spiders. They include lieutenants and four-armed skeletal villains who use four weapons and have a sense of leadership. Top leaders of the skeletal armies are also defeated at the end of the first story arc. The skeletons serve for the main bad guy, too

4. Searching for magical golden stuff that are used for battle

5. Set on islands

6. Main antagonists, who can shape-shift, have gas-like forms and shadow powers, and represent darkness and destruction, turning others below them into bigger and spiky-er monsters and then control them to finish their evil tasks. They also threaten to take over the world and can lead large armies of powerful evil beings

7. Makuta and Garmadon had normal forms long ago, but after a fight with their brother, they turn into evil and dark-and-abnormal looking villains who got trapped in a dark place

8. Involve inter-realm travel and abnormal and dark realms where bad guys reside and are trapped while good guys get imprisoned in there

9. Both Lego themes are called successful on record

10. Both have TV shows

11. Prophecies

12. Gold heroes being very special

13. Tahu=Kai by Fire powers and personalities

14. Kai and Pohatu have stubborn personalities

15. Gali=Nya by Water powers

16. Lewa and Jay have funny personalities

17. Kopaka=Zane by Ice powers

18. Onua and Pohatu=Cole by rock-based powers and super-strength

19. Masked protagonists having elemental creatures on their side and assist them

20. Protagonists are also trained by old, wise, and heroic masters

21. Element-related families that reproduce and have generations of element-related offsprings.

 

I must say, G2 and Ninjago are surprisingly that similar.

To be honest, in my opinion, I thought that G2 is more similar to The Amazing Spider-Man movie series than Ninjago. I made a topic about this here: http://www.bzpower.com/board/topic/23229-bionicle-g2-and-the-amazing-spider-man-movies-are-alike/?do=findComment&comment=1089005

Also anyway, G2 ripping off Ninjago? I don't think so. It's just a coincidence. I think that since Ninjago became successful in 2011, Lego is trying to make G2 interesting by putting some similar and inspired things, but Bionicle is Bionicle. No ripping off anywhere.

Edited September 13, 2016 by Lenny7092

[Mask Maker Takuna]

Actually, the "Master" terminology didn't appear until the Tournament of Elements storyline, which happened about the same time as BIONICLE's first new wave. I did think it was interesting at the time, and that it might have been a way to promote a thematic 'consistency' which would make it easy for fans of one line to go to the other. Remember, a big motive of the reboot was to make the story simpler and more accessible; even if Ninjago and BIONICLE don't share a continuity, if Lego consistently builds the concept of an Elemental Master, they can make it easier to use that concept in other, novel themes and stories. I don't think we've seen the last of the Masters.

 

But, ultimately, I think similarities between G2 and Ninjago are because they both draw heavily on G1. When Bionicle ended, Hero Factory took its place in the set lineup while I feel Ninjago took over the storyline and collectible aspects. It was able to conquer some of the issues G1 had (like how to keep a consistent team with a need for varied sets every year, or how to have out-of-the-box playability by including both heroes and villains in a single set) due to the differences between Technic (and later CCBS) and System.

[NickonAquaMagna]

Tsk, I WISH G2's story was treated as well as Ninjago.

[Aanchir]

Actually, the "Master" terminology didn't appear until the Tournament of Elements storyline, which happened about the same time as BIONICLE's first new wave. I did think it was interesting at the time, and that it might have been a way to promote a thematic 'consistency' which would make it easy for fans of one line to go to the other. Remember, a big motive of the reboot was to make the story simpler and more accessible; even if Ninjago and BIONICLE don't share a continuity, if Lego consistently builds the concept of an Elemental Master, they can make it easier to use that concept in other, novel themes and stories. I don't think we've seen the last of the Masters.

Kai was referred to as "The Master of Fire" on a few instances prior to 2015. For instance, the ninja handbooks published in Europe had a short story for each of the four ninja titled "The Master of (ninja's element)". Also, Wu addresses Kai as the master of fire (and the other ninja as masters of their respective elements) in the pilot episode "The Way of the Ninja"/"The Golden Weapon", immediately after he grants them their color-coded ninja costumes. However, that's just one of the various titles/descriptions he goes by over the course of the series — other media refers to him as the Ninja of Fire or just the Red Ninja.