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Why new characters in G2 and not the old G1 ones?


Lenny7092

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Hi, guys.:) I have been wondering about the G2 characters. We know that the Toa Mata are recycled as the Masters while Makuta Teridax as Makuta, but there are so many new other characters introduced in G2. So, my question is this: why there are the new characters? Why not the old ones?

Usually, when I see reboots, they recycle protagonists, their friends/allies, and main antagonists. Examples include The Amazimg Spider-Man movies, Spider-Man TV shows, The Incredible Hulk in 2008, Captain America movies in 2011-2016, Teen Titans Go! TV series, this year's The Powerpuff Girls, and the Transformers TV shows. Some of them also recycled old villains and some introduced new ones.

Bionicle G2, however, is one of a few reboots that I know that only recycled the main protagonists and main antagonist, not the heroes' friends/allies. This reminds me of Transformers' Beast Wars and Beast Machines TV shows, and this year's new Ghostbusters movie. Bionicle G2 also is like a reboot mixed with how Indiana Jones: Temple of Doom has all-but-one-characters-are-new idea (the character, Indiana Jones, is the only recycled character in the movie and his not-rebooted-at-all franchise).

I know that Lego is trying to make new stories for Bionicle, but why put new characters that we are not familiar with from G1?

Some of these new characters, however, remind me of some old G1 characters. Here a list:

1. The Protectors - the Turaga of Mata Nui

2. Ekimu - Mata Nui (being), Artakha, and Takanuva

3. Skull Spiders - Visorak (mixed with Infected Kanohi and Krana)

4. Lord of Skull Spiders - Fenrakk

5. Skull Slicer - Nocturn and the Glatorian

6. Skull Scorpio - the Nui-Rama and the Skopio X-V1 (the name)

7. Skull Basher - Kane-Ra

8. Kulta - Brutaka (the whacking-all-six-Toa-in-one-hit action)

9. The Elemental Creatures - the Rahi and Element Lords

10. Umarak the Hunter - the Dark Hunters

11. The Elemental Beasts - the Bohrok

12. People from Okoto - the Matoran and Agori

 

So, why didn't Lego use the old supporting characters as well? Would it have made a difference for G2? Imagine the Turaga helping the Toa get the Golden Masks while going commando on the Visorak instead? Toa fighting the Fenrakk at the City of the Mask Makers? Toa awakening Mata Nui the being (not the giant robot form and just a Toa-sized form) or Artahka in the City?

 

So, what do you think? Got any ideas about why the new characters in G2 replaced the old ones in G2?

Edited by Lenny7092

I like Lego, Bionicle, and Hero Factory!:)

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In a nutshell, while LEGO did want some connecting threads between the G1 and G2 stories (such as the names and designs of the Toa), they didn't want to simply retread old ground, nor to be shackled by people's expectations of how all the G1 characters should look and act, nor to create needless confusion.

 

For instance, if the Elemental Beasts had been called Bohrok, people would have complained that they looked nothing like Bohrok and were not faithful to the Bohrok concept. If the Protectors had been called Turaga, it'd be easy for people who knew the G1 story or new fans who were searching online for story details to make the mistake of thinking that automatically meant they had once been Toa. The LEGO Group didn't want to invite those kinds of comparisons except in instances like the Toa where the G1 and G2 characters' similarities were direct and deliberate.

 

There are also other instances where LEGO might have just wanted to avoid unnecessarily complicating things with G1 terminology. The only advantage to calling the Elemental Creatures "Rahi" or the Elemental Beasts "Bohrok" would have been to pander to nostalgia — it would not have made the story any clearer to its audience, and in fact might have confused old fans and new fans alike by implying a more direct connection than was actually there.

 

Particularly with concepts like the Skull Spiders that were composites of several disparate G1 concepts (Visorak, Fikou, Infected Kanohi, Krana, etc), it would have been profoundly misleading to identify them with a singular G1 counterpart. Equally so with cases like Skull Basher, whose similarities to Kane-Ra are tenuous and might have even been pure coincidence. Emphasizing these indirect connections would have prioritized the things that made the characters feel familiar over the many things that made them new and different.

Edited by Aanchir
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I look at all the complaints about the characterization of the Masters and think they didn't separate the two generations enough. The main moment that sticks in my mind is Tahu Master running from the overwhelming legions of skull spiders before acquiring his mask. A number of members remarked on how "Tahu would never do that" and claiming the new story team was doing something wrong on the basis of Tahu Nuva's established arc. Now this is the equivalent to claiming that a bookish child named Dave Beckham is "doing something wrong" because he's not playing soccer like an older namesake.

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:r: :e: :g: :i: :t: :n: :u: :i:

Elemental Rahi in Gen2, anyone? A write-up for an initial video for a G2 plot

 

I really wish everyone would stop trying to play join the dots with Gen 1 and Gen 2 though,it seems there's a couple new threads everyday and often they're duplicates of already existing conversations! Or simply parallel them with a slightly new 'twist'! Gen 2 is NEW, it is NOT Gen 1 and it is NOT a continuation. Outside of the characters we already have I personally don't want to see ANY old characters return. I think it will cheapen the whole experience to those of us familiar with the original line...

 

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Honestly, having old characters in G2 would not have made it better at all. In fact, I'm kinda glad they didn't use them because I wouldn't want to have to watch what was done to the Toa done to them.

 

If G2 hadn't sucked, I would be totally open to old characters and it probably would've actually elevated the theme just a little bit more for me, but a good story is what always comes first.

 

And I don't see a reason as to why not call the animals rahi, or why not make a supporting character an old one, like a Brutaka or Nocturn or something (BTW I totally hadn't realized the similarities between Skull Slicer and Nocturn and now that you point them out it's totally my headcanon). If it fits or works in the story, they only elevate things. It's like how in Rogue One this year they're putting Saw Garrera from The Clone Wars tv show into the movie, which is awesome and still makes sense. Calling the beasts Bohrok when they're not is an example of a case where it doesn't work.

 

The real problem though is that they couldn't do it well with G2 because it didn't even have supporting characters. Yes, it sort of technically did. There was Umarak or whatever, some villagers I'm sure were named. The protectors or whatever. But they're all so uninteresting that you couldn't even put the skin of an older character on them to make them work, in fact you'd just be tarnishing our memory of the old character. The story doesn't even think to get complex enough to include other important characters to help challenge our understandings of the story and main characters.

 

If LEGO does a G3, and if it's another reboot, they should bring back old characters if it makes sense and is done well (and if the story as a whole is good). G2 didn't really do anything so it's pretty much an off brand "Bio-Warriors" or something. Aside from the main toa, nearly nothing connects it to the original, whether it be characters, settings, or story. If at least the story felt like Bionicle everything else could be excused, but even that was shlubbed.

Edited by Banana Gunz
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The only G1 characters that really need to appear in any future generations of Bionicle are the OG Toa and Makuta. IMO, Takanuva should join their ranks, but that didn't happen because of reasons. A reboot is fun because it's a new vision of an old work. Taking out the "new" aspect defeats the whole point and sucks all the fun out of it.

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Hard to say why some old G1 characters weren't in G2; but now that it is over we will never know if Lego was planning to bring any of them back. 

 

I think part of it was the creative team was trying to avoid the baggage of the older stories, or maybe they felt a focus on the main characters would make it easier to follow. I do agree though that the narrow focus on the main characters did make the story more bland and might have been a factor in its downfall.

 

Now that Bionicle is over again, I am still debating if I even want a G3 to come and bring back the old characters or if Bionicle should stay done for good. It seems my interest in Bionicle is declining slowly now that I know nothing more is coming from it.  <_< Still if G3 was ever to become a thing I would love to at least see Mata-Nui, Takua, the Turaga/Metru, and the Inika reintroduced as the story played its course. If G3 became a thing I'd even want to see Ekimu reintroduced somehow to! I feel it is characters like Lariska, The Shadowed One, the dozens of Makuta and what not were what gave G1 way to much baggage. Unless Bionicle somehow rises to Star Wars levels of popularity (which I doubt would ever happen) I don't think it needs as large of an extended cast that G1 had.

Edited by Xboxtravis

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I feel like G2 might have fared better if it hadn't directly included any G1 material at all. We had a fairly interesting new, a host of new characters and locations to explore, some decent lore... 

 

...and then they went and crammed a bunch of weirdos into it who shared the names of G1 characters, but acted nothing like them. 

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  • 2 weeks later...

I feel like G2 might have fared better if it hadn't directly included any G1 material at all. We had a fairly interesting new, a host of new characters and locations to explore, some decent lore... 

 

...and then they went and crammed a bunch of weirdos into it who shared the names of G1 characters, but acted nothing like them. 

They tried switching the focus to an entirely new cast of characters in 2009 and it didn't work at all. In my opinion, Tahu & Co. were an important part of Bionicle's identity (being the most iconic Toa in the whole story, as well as having the most set forms) and I'd like to see them again in any hypothetical reboot of the franchise. All-new universe populated entirely by unrecognizable characters would possibly feel like a Fan Fiction (with only OCs) or a different Lego theme altogether.

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