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Latest LEGO Ideas Results Reveals the Fate of BIONICLE


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We've all be holding our breath awaiting to hear if the LEGO Ideas submission celebrating 20 years of BIONICLE will bring our favorite mythology into the limelight again with a System twist. Today you can see the results on the Ideas Blog for the results from the latest 10K vote submissions. Spoiler alert: BIONICLE didn't win. But you can watch the designers talk about the three winning entries: Home Alone, Typewriter, and Seinfeld. Congrats to those three sets which we'll see on the toy store shelves soon, and hopefully another BIONICLE Ideas submission will rise in the ranks to keep our spirits high.

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I guess Big Bang Theory and Friends sold well enough to justify doing another sit com room diorama. I think the results this round are incredibly boring, but hey, when it comes to Ideas there's something for everyone and it just so happens that in this wave they aren't for me. For those excited by these results, I hope they enjoy the final sets.

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Unfortunate, but that's how it goes sometimes. The nice thing about LEGO is that we can still emulate the idea without an official set. I'm now considering making a Ta-Wahi beach MOC at some point, something I wouldn't have thought to do if this project had not come to light.

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I’ll post here what I replied to someone in the LEGO Ideas page, I think it’ll add to our discourse.

Look at it from an insular perspective: People wanted Bionicle back, so they gave us gen 2. It bombed for many reasons, but all you see in a corporate standpoint is your product fail to be profitable, even worse than when it was discontinued the first time. The idea forms that the fan base has aged out of spending money on this product, and logically so. I stopped buying every Bionicle set in ‘05 because I stopped having disposable income, and all I cared about anyway was the Toa. Consider what I bought in ‘09. Additionally, consider that this idea would require a lot of printed pieces to maintain a standard of quality, and that would have jacked up the price by necessity. It may have been believed that the price would turn away many of the backers and additional buyers. That would be the third time the Bionicle brand was unprofitable for retailers, remember: Walmart, Target, etc. buy these sets, and aim to make their money back, and when a brand name consistently doesn’t do that, why would they buy any of it? Especially if they try to revive the property in the future. I do not support this decision by a long shot. Frankly, I’m very sad, and a little angry. But logic dictates that those in power had to have (in their eyes if no one else’s) logical reasons to reject it. LEGO and people within LEGO have been and still are supportive of Bionicle, let’s not forget that. And even if corporate LEGO does hate Bionicle (which I doubt they actually do), so what? Our community is more alive now than in the last five or more years. WE are carrying on the legend. There’s the Biomedia project STILL finding new Bionicle content to archive, there’s the Legend of Mata Nui Rebuilt, The Quest for Mata Nui, Team Kanohi’s game, the other Bionicle LEGO Ideas, and the Greg Farshtey mediated Appearance Canonization contests running on the TTV Message Boards.
We are alive, and now we’ve let LEGO know as much. I for one am going to brush myself off and go vote for what Toa Helryx looks like.

Edited by tealc

"Life is a tragedy to those who feel, but a comedy to those who think," Unknown

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12 minutes ago, tealc said:

I’ll post here what I replied to someone in the LEGO Ideas page, I think it’ll add to our discourse.

Look at it from an insular perspective: People wanted Bionicle back, so they gave us gen 2. It bombed for many reasons, but all you see in a corporate standpoint is your product fail to be profitable, even worse than when it was discontinued the first time. The idea forms that the fan base has aged out of spending money on this product, and logically so. I stopped buying every Bionicle set in ‘05 because I stopped having disposable income, and all I cared about anyway was the Toa. Consider what I bought in ‘09. Additionally, consider that this idea would require a lot of printed pieces to maintain a standard of quality, and that would have jacked up the price by necessity. It may have been believed that the price would turn away many of the backers and additional buyers. That would be the third time the Bionicle brand was unprofitable for retailers, remember: Walmart, Target, etc. buy these sets, and aim to make their money back, and when a brand name consistently doesn’t do that, why would they buy any of it? Especially if they try to revive the property in the future. I do not support this decision by a long shot. Frankly, I’m very sad, and a little angry. But logic dictates that those in power had to have (in their eyes if no one else’s) logical reasons to reject it. LEGO and people within LEGO have been and still are supportive of Bionicle, let’s not forget that. And even if corporate LEGO does hate Bionicle (which I doubt they actually do), so what? Our community is more alive now than in the last five or more years. WE are carrying on the legend. There’s the Biomedia project STILL finding new Bionicle content to archive, there’s the Legend of Mata Nui Rebuilt, The Quest for Mata Nui, Team Kanohi’s game, the other Bionicle LEGO Ideas, and the Greg Farshtey mediated Appearance Canonization contests running on the TTV Message Boards.
We are alive, and now we’ve let LEGO know as much. I for one am going to brush myself off and go vote for what Toa Helryx looks like.

To be honest with you, dude, I saw your post in Lego Ideas. It’s me, Lenny the Bionicle Lover. Of course people want Bionicle, and we still do. I am just scared that Bionicle’s legacy is fading away, like Thanos from the Avengers movies disintegrating it. It wasn’t fair that Lego cancelled it twice. Bionicle had a good future planned, but things were never the same since its first cancellation. Bionicle never deserve these awful cancellations. I have no idea if Lego has any plans for Bionicle’s 20th anniversary, but I am trying to let Lego know that fans like me want it back, and I believe Sodoka’s project would have been a key to get Bionicle back, so I supported it. However, we were so close, as it was never approved. Lego kept focusing on other things in Lego Ideas, like those buildings and a sitcom. Bionicle saved Lego from bankruptcy, so that is not a good way to thank it. Bionicle is as good as Ninjago, maybe a little better. Bionicle is one of the greatest themes there is, and I always say to my fellow Bionicle fans, even ones in Lego Ideas. Bionicle fans have been miserable without Bionicle for 4-10 years, even including the fact that the G1 story hasn’t been finished. That’s one ridiculous fate, I tell you. 
 

Why don’t Lego ask people to vote for a certain project to happen or if the projects has been chosen, Lego could have put the other choices on later times? Runner-ups should be fine. 
 

I don’t see anything wrong with printing. It’s fine with me because I hate stickers. Play sets is not Bionicle’s strong point because it’s not what Bionicle is, but the diorama sounds cool. Of course, there are other Lego Ideas projects that we could support and look at. There is that Toa Temple project that is getting the most supporters. It’s up to that project, and I told the creator of it an advice on how to tell more supporters. I hope this guy would be inspired by Sodoka. I feel terrible for Sodoka. He’s a dedicated Bionicle fan who worked so hard on his project. Maybe he could make another one as good as the old one. 
 

Plus, does Lego look at what the fans are nowadays? I hope so, so it should be convinced to bring Bionicle back because it’s what the fans want back. I am impressed that the fans are doing the things that you mentioned (Bionicle is of course a fan cult thing, like Boba Fett from Star Wars), but what about Lego and Faber’s 3IO and Biovival stuff? 
 

We were this close. THIS close. Dangnabbit. :(

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

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25 minutes ago, Lenny7092 said:

To be honest with you, dude, I saw your post in Lego Ideas. It’s me, Lenny the Bionicle Lover. Of course people want Bionicle, and we still do. I am just scared that Bionicle’s legacy is fading away, like Thanos from the Avengers movies disintegrating it. It wasn’t fair that Lego cancelled it twice. Bionicle had a good future planned, but things were never the same since its first cancellation. Bionicle never deserve these awful cancellations. I have no idea if Lego has any plans for Bionicle’s 20th anniversary, but I am trying to let Lego know that fans like me want it back, and I believe Sodoka’s project would have been a key to get Bionicle back, so I supported it. However, we were so close, as it was never approved. Lego kept focusing on other things in Lego Ideas, like those buildings and a sitcom. Bionicle saved Lego from bankruptcy, so that is not a good way to thank it. Bionicle is as good as Ninjago, maybe a little better. Bionicle is one of the greatest themes there is, and I always say to my fellow Bionicle fans, even ones in Lego Ideas. Bionicle fans have been miserable without Bionicle for 4-10 years, even including the fact that the G1 story hasn’t been finished. That’s one ridiculous fate, I tell you. 
 

Why don’t Lego ask people to vote for a certain project to happen or if the projects has been chosen, Lego could have put the other choices on later times? Runner-ups should be fine. 
 

I don’t see anything wrong with printing. It’s fine with me because I hate stickers. Play sets is not Bionicle’s strong point because it’s not what Bionicle is, but the diorama sounds cool. Of course, there are other Lego Ideas projects that we could support and look at. There is that Toa Temple project that is getting the most supporters. It’s up to that project, and I told the creator of it an advice on how to tell more supporters. I hope this guy would be inspired by Sodoka. I feel terrible for Sodoka. He’s a dedicated Bionicle fan who worked so hard on his project. Maybe he could make another one as good as the old one. 
 

Plus, does Lego look at what the fans are nowadays? I hope so, so it should be convinced to bring Bionicle back because it’s what the fans want back. I am impressed that the fans are doing the things that you mentioned (Bionicle is of course a fan cult thing, like Boba Fett from Star Wars), but what about Lego and Faber’s 3IO and Biovival stuff? 
 

We were this close. THIS close. Dangnabbit. :(

Well, how about that, it’s a small community after all!

 Nice to meet you, dude. 
I agree with a lot of what you said. Bionicle saved LEGO as we know it. Whether LEGO likes it or not, they were saved by a series of action figures, and they should show it some respect. That said, I think my point still stands, Bionicle was canceled both times because the toys were becoming unprofitable, and it was a measure to save face for themselves and the Bionicle brand in the eyes of retailers. If we don’t buy, retailers don’t earn, and if retailers don’t earn, they don’t buy.
If (and I know it’s a big if) LEGO decides to roll out Bionicle for a third time, they must do it CAREFULLY, and one single set selling for hundreds, with an ‘s’, that the fans may not have to spend, especially given recent events, is not a very careful investment. 
i really really really wanted this to happen, please don’t misunderstand me. But I’m trying to find the logic in the decision. Granted, I don’t think there’s anything logical about picking a stupid Seinfeld set, and from what I've seen around, the typewriter was made by a someone LEGO has used before. What I’m trying to say is I don’t think it was malicious, just a business trying to do good business.
again, I like printed pieces SO much more than stickers, I can never get them straight. But consider that it costs extra to make those printed pieces, and likely there are misprinted lots that are thrown out: more money spent. And consider how many different ones are in that set, and how many hundreds of each would have to be made. Then consider that whatever price they seek to retailers, the retailers have to mark them up to make a profit. That sounds like a pretty high price tag to me, on top of the fact that LEGO sets are expensive to begin with. 
 

as to Sokoda, I agree completely. All the work he put into that set, and it is a shame it didn’t happen. I feel for him, I really do. But again, I don’t think it was with malice that his idea was rejected. I say, keep flooding LEGO Ideas with Bionicle Ideas. I just saw another one recently, an Amaja Circle: https://ideas.lego.com/projects/7df8a5e2-518b-473d-8c4a-056db1d754bc

Lets try again, why don’t we?

"Life is a tragedy to those who feel, but a comedy to those who think," Unknown

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3 hours ago, tealc said:

Well, how about that, it’s a small community after all!

 Nice to meet you, dude. 
I agree with a lot of what you said. Bionicle saved LEGO as we know it. Whether LEGO likes it or not, they were saved by a series of action figures, and they should show it some respect. That said, I think my point still stands, Bionicle was canceled both times because the toys were becoming unprofitable, and it was a measure to save face for themselves and the Bionicle brand in the eyes of retailers. If we don’t buy, retailers don’t earn, and if retailers don’t earn, they don’t buy.
If (and I know it’s a big if) LEGO decides to roll out Bionicle for a third time, they must do it CAREFULLY, and one single set selling for hundreds, with an ‘s’, that the fans may not have to spend, especially given recent events, is not a very careful investment. 
i really really really wanted this to happen, please don’t misunderstand me. But I’m trying to find the logic in the decision. Granted, I don’t think there’s anything logical about picking a stupid Seinfeld set, and from what I've seen around, the typewriter was made by a someone LEGO has used before. What I’m trying to say is I don’t think it was malicious, just a business trying to do good business.
again, I like printed pieces SO much more than stickers, I can never get them straight. But consider that it costs extra to make those printed pieces, and likely there are misprinted lots that are thrown out: more money spent. And consider how many different ones are in that set, and how many hundreds of each would have to be made. Then consider that whatever price they seek to retailers, the retailers have to mark them up to make a profit. That sounds like a pretty high price tag to me, on top of the fact that LEGO sets are expensive to begin with. 
 

as to Sokoda, I agree completely. All the work he put into that set, and it is a shame it didn’t happen. I feel for him, I really do. But again, I don’t think it was with malice that his idea was rejected. I say, keep flooding LEGO Ideas with Bionicle Ideas. I just saw another one recently, an Amaja Circle: https://ideas.lego.com/projects/7df8a5e2-518b-473d-8c4a-056db1d754bc

Lets try again, why don’t we?

Well, there are others: 

1. https://ideas.lego.com/projects/b68c92b0-6a0c-4264-a2dc-d4dd6ffba149 - It’s a statue of 2001 Tahu. 
2. https://ideas.lego.com/projects/76618127-4e4d-4d8f-a6f9-2d53a2618f33 - It’s the Toa Mata in brick form. 
3. https://ideas.lego.com/projects/b2d13635-4c8d-41a8-930d-15b40e98293b - It’s the Toa Mata as Brickheadz. 
4. https://ideas.lego.com/projects/37e80913-962b-47c3-9d57-464c4b358030 - That’s a revamp of 2010 Takanuva, whose has a gear system. 
5. https://ideas.lego.com/projects/4fe87789-0310-4955-bee8-109a7d7034ff - A temple with Toa and Matoran. 
6. https://ideas.lego.com/projects/8b81cdb6-59de-4eb0-9245-8db1b1789b2b 

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

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1 hour ago, Lenny7092 said:

Well, there are others: 

1. https://ideas.lego.com/projects/b68c92b0-6a0c-4264-a2dc-d4dd6ffba149 - It’s a statue of 2001 Tahu. 
2. https://ideas.lego.com/projects/76618127-4e4d-4d8f-a6f9-2d53a2618f33 - It’s the Toa Mata in brick form. 
3. https://ideas.lego.com/projects/b2d13635-4c8d-41a8-930d-15b40e98293b - It’s the Toa Mata as Brickheadz. 
4. https://ideas.lego.com/projects/37e80913-962b-47c3-9d57-464c4b358030 - That’s a revamp of 2010 Takanuva, whose has a gear system. 
5. https://ideas.lego.com/projects/4fe87789-0310-4955-bee8-109a7d7034ff - A temple with Toa and Matoran. 
6. https://ideas.lego.com/projects/8b81cdb6-59de-4eb0-9245-8db1b1789b2b 

Exactly. 
But let’s use this to illustrate another point. Sokoda’s idea hit ten thousand on I think less than a month. How long have most of these been in the hundreds? Sokoda’s Project was a rally point, but I think it’s obvious the Bionicle community put all its eggs in one basket. I hope Sokoda reposts his idea for Fall, but I really wish this community would get together and push these ideas through. One Bionicle idea making it to the top is an exception. Multiple Ideas making it will rapidly prove a rule. And if these ideas consistently make it to review, the Ideas Review Board, the corporate mavens, everyone who pays any attention to the Ideas department will say “... you know, we may still have something here.”

 

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"Life is a tragedy to those who feel, but a comedy to those who think," Unknown

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1 hour ago, tealc said:

Exactly. 
But let’s use this to illustrate another point. Sokoda’s idea hit ten thousand on I think less than a month. How long have most of these been in the hundreds? Sokoda’s Project was a rally point, but I think it’s obvious the Bionicle community put all its eggs in one basket. I hope Sokoda reposts his idea for Fall, but I really wish this community would get together and push these ideas through. One Bionicle idea making it to the top is an exception. Multiple Ideas making it will rapidly prove a rule. And if these ideas consistently make it to review, the Ideas Review Board, the corporate mavens, everyone who pays any attention to the Ideas department will say “... you know, we may still have something here.”

 

These guys may be in hundreds for months and months, but the fan community shouldn’t give up. We have some things, like these guys, so yeah. 
 

Anyway, I hope that Sodoka could think about making a Bionicle project in the Fall. His old project was magnificent. The guy who made the temple is second to best judging by the number of supporters.

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

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Dang. Well, I'll choose to take Samuel Johnson's words earlier in the video as a clue that maybe they won't release a Bionicle Ideas set because they're planning to do more Bionicle in the near future. We did hear rumblings of teases from Faber about new Bionicle stuff last year, so maybe that's coming to fruition soon.

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