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Do You Think Bionicle Should Have Ended Earlier?


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The title basically explains it.I personally think Bionicle should have ended in 2008. Although that year Teridax won at the very end, I don't care. It was the real conclusion of 8 years of storyline. Every event during those years had been in anticipation of this moment. Teridax's master plan, which I think was absolutely fantastic, finally came to an end. I think that after all that he deserved to win. Not to mention that he was a way more interesting character than the Toa, who had nevertheless achieved their 8 year-long mission (from our point of view, not theirs) too, to awaken the Great Spirit, even though Teridax had replaced him.2009 and 2010 basically seemed attached to the Bionicle theme without much real sense. No one had heard about them before the second half of 2008 and I think no one really needed them until they arrived.2010, however, is my second choice. The conclusion is great and it really seems like everything is over. Teridax is dead and when all the main characters (not exactly all of them, but that's the impression it conveys) come together to walk toward a new future it really conveys a feeling of finality.The serials that came after made no sense. If LEGO still had hope to revive Bionicle in the future, they could have easily revived the story later on, when they were sure they would be able to keep it going for at least some time. Instead, we got this, I must say, pitiful attempt to go on which resulted in many loose ends that were even more useless and unneeded than 2009 and 2010.What about the rest of you? What do you think?

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I agree 2008 was a great milestone (should have gotten a movie), but I think it would be a bad note to end on. Teridax was a great villain, but Bionicle follows the tradition of the good guys winning in the end, and I'm okay with that. I don't think letting the Toa and other characters we'd known for years suffer endlessly while Teridax is free to take over the cosmos would be well-received. As long as there was good new content, I would not mind if Bionicle kept going indefinitely. But if I could make it end a few years earlier or later, I'd make it end in 2011 or 2012, once the loose ends from the serials are resolved and everyone settles into life on Spherus Magna.

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I think it could have ended earlier, as I've said elsewhere, if some lessons hadn't required hindsight to learn. I don't see why you say the serials that went after don't make sense. Sure they do, and they would have worked if they'd been brought to closes. With a world as complex as Bionicle's, it wouldn't be satisfying to only tie up the main plot thread, and not give at least some insight into life on the reformed Spherus Magna afterwards.In fact, even with the serials remaining unfinished, I'm satisfied with how it went because we have both a better idea of Spherus Magna, and unanswered questions left to theorize about. ^_^If it was to end earlier, I don't think that would work to just cut it off at the big cliffhanger in 2008, no. I don't see how anyone would be satisfied with that. I would rather have many of the former years rearranged a bit to tell a tighter story, so some of the major events happened earlier, and 2008 or something would be the giant robot battle, which would be less rushed then. Because a lot of earlier story was "delaying" the end, and then when the end came it came very quickly, which a lot of people complained about. This idea probably could have worked, but again, it requires hindsight, so it didn't. :)Overall I think Bionicle turned out very good for fans. Sometimes it wasn't as ideal as it could have been, but that's an unrealistic expectation in this world. :)

The Destiny of Bionicle (chronological retelling of Bionicle original series, 9 PDFs of 10 chapters each on Google Drive)Part 1 - Warring with Fate | Part 2 - Year of Change | Part 3 - The Exploration Trap | Part 4 - Rise of the Warlords | Part 5 - A Busy Matoran | Part 6 - The Dark Time | Part 7 - Proving Grounds | Part 8 - A Rude Awakening | Part 9 - The Battle of Giants

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I wasn't too fond of the Spherus Magna stuff at the end, but I suppose it provided a reasonable way to kill Teridax without being too much of a deus ex machina (heh, it was deus est machina instead :P). However, random parts of the story seemed rather useless and contrived, and some of these are now the ones endlessly awaiting endings in serials, so I was less pleased with that part of the plot.~B~

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It definitely shouldn't have ended earlier. It probably could have gone on a little longer, yeah, but I personally don't think it should have ended earlier.Also, shouldn't this be a poll? :confused:

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I wish it would have continued longer, but ending it earlier would just take out the whole concept of a giant robot, which was the idea from the start

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I think they could've gone a bit longer, it would've been nice to have something like 2004 and 2005, where the turaga recounted their adventures as the Toa Metru. Maybe they could have done something about some other things that happened in the past? But as for the main storyline, I wasn't to impressed by the stars and all that, it seemed like a cheap way to tack on extra merchandising. Either they played that part out more, or they didn't at all, in my oppinion.

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BS01 once said that the story had been written up to 2011. Despite that, I wouldn't've complained if it ended in 2008 because it was indeed a good time to end it, win or lose.However, since it went beyond 2008 and I had already seen what I saw on BS01, I really wanted it to end in 2011 (set-wise) at the earliest.

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Could it have? Yes, it could have. Should it have? Maybe ...It all depends on personal preference. 2008 was an epic wrap up, and everything was kind of hinted that it would be the final year. "The Final Battle" was the name of the last '08 book, for instance. The Mata come back, the Ignika saga wraps up, Mata Nui awakens ... it was everything that any fan would think about when they thought about the end of BIONICLE from 2005 onwards.Then SUDDEN PLOT TWIST, TERIDAX TAKES OVER. Gasp shock horror. I learned later, as did all of us, that that twist was planned from the very beginning - but that doesn't stop me from thinking that 2009 and onward was tacked on like an appendix: had it been removed, the story would not have been significantly worse. In some ways I think 2009 was pretty good, but in other aspects, I think that the entire year could have been done better to give BIONICLE a better chance of continuing. They tried to give BIONICLE a reboot. Good idea; it evidently worked with Hero Factory, but not 2009. It was kind of a half-reboot: while you didn't really need to know the 01-08 story to follow and understand it, you still needed to understand at least a bit of Mata Nui's backstory for his spiel of "I was a giant robot but then some evil guy overthrew me because I took a big nap which aforementioned bad guy forced me to take" to make a shred of sense. (I just came to the realization that the concept is hilarious and borderline bizarre.)Then 2010 comes, and instead of getting this epic arc of Mata Nui's trek to rebuild the prototype robot and finally culminating in what became 2010's story in 2011, and we get six shrimpy sets. (Don't even get me started on the whole "golden armor" bit. That was an overused marketing trope that was force-fitted into the canon.) We got some good recolors, but I think everyone was disappointed in how 2010 turned out. (Personally, I was just happy we got a conclusion at all - a lot of these types of things are canceled by their parent companies despite pleas from fans to give it at least a half-decent send-off. We should be thankful that we didn't have to pester LEGO to give BIONICLE one.)I guess my (rambling) point is that 2008 was probably the best place for it to end, followed closely by the original plan to have BIONICLE go on and end in 2011. Some here hold the opinion that 2003 should have been the last year of BIONICLE, but I think that is much too early. I didn't particularly care for either 2004 or 2005, but that doesn't stop me from enjoying the rest of it and thus the parts that I do like.

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Save for the fact that 2009-2011 seemed a little...randomly contrived...I think Bionicle ended at a good point. Yes, other things could've been done better to make it end earlier, but overall it was it a relatively good length.

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I agree that if 2008 had been the ending, I would have enjoyed it. But now, knowing all that we now know, the ending as it is is the only way it could be (funny how things work that way, don'tcha think?) Enough rambling, this is how it's ending would have been best:- 2008: Exactly the same. Though it would have been satisfying to have Mata Nui rule again, having Makuta's master plan (which came about in Time Trap when Makuta became a real character) come to fulfillment was much more satisfying.-2008: Makuta wins. End. Of. Story. (Sort of.) Ending it on an evil note would be glum, but it would do exactly what a good ending should do: wrap up the past, and streamline the future. I would've loved it. So say Makuta wins, then Mata Nui does go to Bara Magna. This was planned in 2000, so I think that it's fair. Everything's exactly the same, even the little references to Spherus Magna within the serials.-2008: We're all sad, "Why LEGO, why?!"-2009-2011 Then LEGO does whatever the whatever it wants to do with Hero Factory for three years. Meanwhile, we wonder in suspense about Spherus Magna, "The three that must be one?"-2012: BAM! BIONICLE returns! It begins with Mata Nui's arrival on Bara Magna. There is no movie (it's no fun to half an entire half-year's story told in a 70 minute sitting.) First half of the year is about Mata Nui constructing the prototype robot, and learning his destiny. The second half is his battle with Makuta. (No stars.) The Nuva play a more major role in the battle. Makuta falls, Mata Nui recreates Spherus Magna, and BIONICLE is over. Forever. (No extra serials.)Think about it: if that had actually happened, we'd be getting ready for the final battle right now!

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I agree that if 2008 had been the ending, I would have enjoyed it. But now, knowing all that we now know, the ending as it is is the only way it could be (funny how things work that way, don'tcha think?) Enough rambling, this is how it's ending would have been best:- 2008: Exactly the same. Though it would have been satisfying to have Mata Nui rule again, having Makuta's master plan (which came about in Time Trap when Makuta became a real character) come to fulfillment was much more satisfying.-2008: Makuta wins. End. Of. Story. (Sort of.) Ending it on an evil note would be glum, but it would do exactly what a good ending should do: wrap up the past, and streamline the future. I would've loved it. So say Makuta wins, then Mata Nui does go to Bara Magna. This was planned in 2000, so I think that it's fair. Everything's exactly the same, even the little references to Spherus Magna within the serials.-2008: We're all sad, "Why LEGO, why?!"-2009-2011 Then LEGO does whatever the whatever it wants to do with Hero Factory for three years. Meanwhile, we wonder in suspense about Spherus Magna, "The three that must be one?"-2012: BAM! BIONICLE returns! It begins with Mata Nui's arrival on Bara Magna. There is no movie (it's no fun to half an entire half-year's story told in a 70 minute sitting.) First half of the year is about Mata Nui constructing the prototype robot, and learning his destiny. The second half is his battle with Makuta. (No stars.) The Nuva play a more major role in the battle. Makuta falls, Mata Nui recreates Spherus Magna, and BIONICLE is over. Forever. (No extra serials.)Think about it: if that had actually happened, we'd be getting ready for the final battle right now!

Er... it might have been nice if they had actaully done that. The problem is, starting HF in 2008 would have ticked off the Bionicle fanbase (and, after Exo-Force, would have reinforced a belief that Lego can't resolve their stories). They leave and don't move on to other Lego lines. HF comes in and is profitable. But after three years of that, why in the known universe would they want to go back to Bionicle? Most of the fans would likely have deserted, and Bionicle didn't do a good job attracting younger fans toward the end. Most of the 2009-10 story would likely never see the light of day.
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Zestanor, that idea might work if LEGO announced it would come back after a time to wrap up the story, but it's risky for a toy company to make such an announcement. What if the market research would turn it against that? We would be left thinking the bad guy wins, and that's exactly the opposite of the moral principles LEGO stands for. And you know a lot of parents wouldn't be online reading that announcement; they would just think LEGO had let a bad guy win permanently and might stop buying LEGO at all.And if they really didn't announce it as you seem to imply (saying we're asking "Why?"), it would be a catastrophe. If you think the uproar over it ending at all was bad... :PEdit:

HF comes in and is profitable. But after three years of that, why in the known universe would they want to go back to Bionicle? Most of the fans would likely have deserted, and Bionicle didn't do a good job attracting younger fans toward the end

Yeah, it probably would have had to wait longer than just three years to profitably come back anyways. The old fans might be angry enough about it not to help boost sales at all. Overall, a nice alternate fanfic scenario, but not a smart business plan. :)Really, IMO the only major problem with the end as we got it was that LEGO should have announced it would end much earlier, much like LOST did, so fans were prepared for it when it happened. Between the twist and the end, I don't think much time could be cut down, or the end would feel even more rushed, but when you think about it, knowing the end was there, it actually wasn't that fast at all.The real problem IMO is that so much of what populated story from the 2003 Kal to 2007 was "filler material" that made Bionicle seem to be about telling perpetual story. They spent so much time on things that didn't directly move the main plot forward about the Great Spirit. And that can be said a bit with 2009 too; they shouldn't really have done any 2009 story until Mata Nui arrived, and probably have we the audience explore this place from MN's point of view.If instead every year spent most of its time moving the main plot forward, coming to an end would feel more natural. (Again, like LOST, or countless other stories.) Edited by bonesiii

The Destiny of Bionicle (chronological retelling of Bionicle original series, 9 PDFs of 10 chapters each on Google Drive)Part 1 - Warring with Fate | Part 2 - Year of Change | Part 3 - The Exploration Trap | Part 4 - Rise of the Warlords | Part 5 - A Busy Matoran | Part 6 - The Dark Time | Part 7 - Proving Grounds | Part 8 - A Rude Awakening | Part 9 - The Battle of Giants

My Bionicle Fanfiction  (Google Drive folder, eventually planned to have PDFs of all of it)

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Well, the return would surely do as well as any other one-year line. They could even make it just a half year line if their budget was too tight. I like to think kids are smarter than you think, and that those who had enjoyed BIONICLE's story before the gap (but weren't BZPers that are sort of on the outside looking in) would remember it and be excited to see a return.[i'll insert my response to your post's update here:

The real problem IMO is that so much of what populated story from the 2003 Kal to 2007 was "filler material" that made Bionicle seem to be about telling perpetual story. They spent so much time on things that didn't directly move the main plot forward about the Great Spirit. And that can be said a bit with 2009 too; they shouldn't really have done any 2009 story until Mata Nui arrived, and probably have we the audience explore this place from MN's saga.

While I disagree with 2003-2007 being filler, (Mata-Nui vs Makuta taking backseat was necessary for the rest of the cast) I think I understand what you're getting at with the 'perpetual story' thing. Bionicle was meant to be a tight knit story broken into arcs, but the TV commercials and summary videos made the story seem episodic; almost Hero Factory-like. Remember the '2-minute retrospective?' That made the series seem like there were a bunch of random Toa who went around saving the day.end response.]But in all honesty, I structured this for a die-hard, not a :rolleyes: well meaning parent. Would they really flip out if the bad guy appeared to win? No longer supporting LEGO at all would be pretty harsh, don't you think? If in the last comic before the gap they promised a return, but then LEGO decided not to return to that cliffhanger... Would they really be that offended? Would they truly question the morality of the non-happy ending? Hey, Lego advertised Bio 2009 as a reboot, so any story-following parent should have assumed that Good lost in the 2008 wrap up. I can't remember a parent backlash back then.I believe that if had Lego included that Mata-Nui-inside-Ignika bit, "I will be back," in the final comic from 2008 before my proposed gap, they could at least sacrifice one more year to Bionicle down the line. Lego does one-shots all the time. Bionicle would surely be more popular than they. Edited by Zestanor

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I think Bionicle could've gone on for a couple more years. (Possibly until 2011, as originally planned.) I don't feel like the ending in 2010 was rushed. I thought that it was good, except for the fact that it was ending in 2010. :P

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While I disagree with 2003-2007 being filler

That's not what I said -- I said that so much of what happened between that time was filler. Specifically, the Kal (just rehashed the Bohrok plot, which was relevant), arguably the Morbuzahk, parts of 2005, and most of 2007 (just the mask switching hands over and over again).It's arguable how much is filler and how much is directly related to the core plot, though. 2005 is a good example; it was about keeping the Matoran imprisoned or getting them free, and eventually they'd need to repopulate the city for Mata Nui to rise, but we didn't know that at the time from anything stated in main plot, so it seemed to be just about heroes rescuing citizens, not about Mata Nui. That's why I didn't specify what exactly was filler and what was not. :)And many of the subplots, books, etc. were more about Toa and Matoran versus little bad guys on tangential issues. Which is fine with me, but I'm just saying it did create the impression that Bionicle was meant for perpetual story, rather than driving constantly towards a conclusion. That may have contributed to many people's bad reaction to the end (which I didn't share), but if the story was tighter and focused just on main plot, they might have complained less about that, even if it came earlier.That make it clearer what I'm saying? :) Edited by bonesiii

The Destiny of Bionicle (chronological retelling of Bionicle original series, 9 PDFs of 10 chapters each on Google Drive)Part 1 - Warring with Fate | Part 2 - Year of Change | Part 3 - The Exploration Trap | Part 4 - Rise of the Warlords | Part 5 - A Busy Matoran | Part 6 - The Dark Time | Part 7 - Proving Grounds | Part 8 - A Rude Awakening | Part 9 - The Battle of Giants

My Bionicle Fanfiction  (Google Drive folder, eventually planned to have PDFs of all of it)

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Yeah. :)I think I knew what you meant, but then I forgot, and typed what I did. I agree that Bionicle didn't seem to advertise that there would be an end, and so the end was a surprise. I've never really been able to express with words this thing that had happened to Bionicle... The TV commercials were designed for the lowest common denominator, and so unfortunately, they over-simplified any plot points in them. Same with BIONICLE.com. The site made the story out as year-by-year unrelated conflicts. Only if you have been following the story since the beginning is it easy to accept, which is why it died when it did. Bionicle was an experience that could only be experienced one way: by waiting 10 years. If you jumped in around 2005, and only read the comics, 2006 would seem like a reboot. So the story was really an all-or-nothing deal. Anything in between would be mediocre.On the other hand, the sets were timeless. They might as well have called Hero Factory, BIONICLE instead, with no story connection, and people would have bought. That's why if they brought BIONICLE back for a big finale years later, the niche that actually follows the all the story (BZPers) could have their epic ending, and average 10 year-old Joe could have another line of cool 'constractibles,' and follow nothing in the story. I kinda feel like that's how the story has worked ever since 2007; the extraneous plotlines became to complicated for average newcomer Joe 10 to follow, and so it and the toyline began to see a large rift in age demographic. Now don't mince my words; I'm not saying that it was impossible for a young'un to pick up the story from a middle year. I'm just saying that the story wasn't tailored to them. They could follow the comics (which were tailored to them), but I'll be done if they could pick up MNOG or understand a 2008 serial. The few that have done all that have made their way to BZPower by now. I hope that makes sense. :)

Edited by Zestanor

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UPDATE May 22 2013: Every is now color coded!

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In my opinion, Bionicle had a very good point to end at the climax of the 2008 story. It was an amazing plot twist that threw everyone off, and it would have worked to end the story, yet leave it open ended for fan-fiction and a possible reboot. At this point, Greg could've continued with the story serials in a diary-style account of events that conveyed an ongoing battle between Teridax and the resistance. Lego also could have wrapped up the story with sets of the members of the resistance against Teridax, and left the story somewhat open.After this point, the entire plot seemed rushed, with the revolt against Teridax largely being squashed, while on Bara Magna, Mata Nui is somehow able to magically get 4 tribes with huge disagreements to work together, just in time for a giant robot battle.Yeah. Definitely could've ended in 2008.

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Yeah, Zestanor, that makes sense. :)Paleo, I don't think it's definite at all. But I do agree it would have been nice for the sets to focus on the resistance, not go off to a different world. That is, a lot of people liked the idea of entering a new world at the outset, but it seems that few were nearly as satisfied with how it actually turned out, as with 2001's new world for example. And that might simply be because we were so emotionally invested in the main good guys, who were now facing their greatest threat ever. It was an amazing potential and yet LEGO just disconnected from it, setwise and story-focus-wise, right at the key moment. An odd decision, that maybe wasn't so wise.It felt like the people making the final decisions had started to panic and jump all over the map storywise, especially with the reboot, instead of just confidently continuing with the Nuva for two years at least, a formula that had worked before. That lack of confidence probably rubbed most fans, old and new, the wrong way. After all, newer fans had just become familiar with the Nuva in 2008.And perhaps the resistance could have left the universe, and explored Bara Magna, find the giant robot, and then have the final battle largely as it was. We might have connected better to such a thing.But just ending it with the bad guy winning, IMO, would be a huge no-no.

Edited by bonesiii

The Destiny of Bionicle (chronological retelling of Bionicle original series, 9 PDFs of 10 chapters each on Google Drive)Part 1 - Warring with Fate | Part 2 - Year of Change | Part 3 - The Exploration Trap | Part 4 - Rise of the Warlords | Part 5 - A Busy Matoran | Part 6 - The Dark Time | Part 7 - Proving Grounds | Part 8 - A Rude Awakening | Part 9 - The Battle of Giants

My Bionicle Fanfiction  (Google Drive folder, eventually planned to have PDFs of all of it)

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Paleo, I don't think it's definite at all. But I do agree it would have been nice for the sets to focus on the resistance, not go off to a different world. That is, a lot of people liked the idea of entering a new world at the outset, but it seems that few were nearly as satisfied with that as with 2001's new world for example. And that might simply be because we were so emotionally invested in the main good guys, who were now facing their greatest threat ever. It was an amazing potential and yet LEGO just disconnected from it, setwise and story-focus-wise, right at the key moment. An odd decision, that maybe wasn't so wise.And perhaps the resistance could have left the universe, and explored Bara Magna, find the giant robot, and then have the final battle largely as it was. We might have connected better to such a thing.But just ending it with the bad guy winning, IMO, would be a huge no-no.

Mostly agreed, but I think the story would have had to have focused on Mata Nui at some point. The big problem with 2009 story was that it didn't focus on Mata Nui at first and completely went off into unknown lands. "Hey, there's these resistance fighters hanging on for their lives against the major bad guy and trying to figure out a way to defeat him, and you're talking about the lives of some people who live in a desert. I guess we needed six months to calm down after that plot twist nearly gave us a heart attack." :lol: Have Mata Nui show up first, insert backstory later. Probably would have been better to run the stories of Mata Nui and resistance side-by-side (instead of shoving the resistance off into a serial) and actually have the resistance play a bigger part in defeating Makuta (frying Rahkshi with Mask of Life-given Golden Armor isn't enough, I'm sorry). That's the version of the story that would have catered to the older fans, and that obviously wasn't what they were going for.
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Yes. It was dying in 2008 - many (that would be the understatement of the century) would disagree with me when I say it should have ended either at the end of 2008 or at the beginning of the year. The prices were outrageous, sales were dipping lower - the storyline had reached its peak interest at 2007, and 2008 was where it began to deteriorate slowly, set-wise and story-wise.

On the day the wall came down / They threw the locks onto the ground

And with glasses high / We raised a cry / For freedom had arrived

 

On the day the wall came down / The ship of fools had finally run aground

Promises lit up the night / Like paper doves in flight

 

I dreamed you had left my side / No warmth, not even pride remained

And even though you needed me / It was clear that I could not do a thing for you

 

Now life devalues day by day / As friends and neighbors turn away

And there's a change that even with regret / Cannot be undone

 

Now frontiers shift like desert sands / While nations wash their bloodied hands

Of loyalty, of history / In shades of grey

 

I woke to the sound of drums / The music played, the morning sun streamed in

I turned and I looked at you / And all but the bitter residues slipped away

 

slipped away...

 

 

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I'm kind of torn on this... I think if it ended in 2008 with the plot twist I'd be more mad than anything... That had me on the edge of my seat to see what would happen next. While it would have been great, I don't think I would have been satisfied.

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I agree that if 2008 had been the ending, I would have enjoyed it. But now, knowing all that we now know, the ending as it is is the only way it could be (funny how things work that way, don'tcha think?) Enough rambling, this is how it's ending would have been best:- 2008: Exactly the same. Though it would have been satisfying to have Mata Nui rule again, having Makuta's master plan (which came about in Time Trap when Makuta became a real character) come to fulfillment was much more satisfying.-2008: Makuta wins. End. Of. Story. (Sort of.) Ending it on an evil note would be glum, but it would do exactly what a good ending should do: wrap up the past, and streamline the future. I would've loved it. So say Makuta wins, then Mata Nui does go to Bara Magna. This was planned in 2000, so I think that it's fair. Everything's exactly the same, even the little references to Spherus Magna within the serials.-2008: We're all sad, "Why LEGO, why?!"-2009-2011 Then LEGO does whatever the whatever it wants to do with Hero Factory for three years. Meanwhile, we wonder in suspense about Spherus Magna, "The three that must be one?"-2012: BAM! BIONICLE returns! It begins with Mata Nui's arrival on Bara Magna. There is no movie (it's no fun to half an entire half-year's story told in a 70 minute sitting.) First half of the year is about Mata Nui constructing the prototype robot, and learning his destiny. The second half is his battle with Makuta. (No stars.) The Nuva play a more major role in the battle. Makuta falls, Mata Nui recreates Spherus Magna, and BIONICLE is over. Forever. (No extra serials.)Think about it: if that had actually happened, we'd be getting ready for the final battle right now!

Incidentally, if BIONICLE had been replaced by Hero Factory after 2008, what incentive would they have to bring BIONICLE back at all? Sure, there'd be some dissatisfied fans, but we have those now and they're not proving to be a sufficient incentive for TLG to consider bringing BIONICLE back. So far, Hero Factory has proven plenty successful in its own right, and more recently TLG has released Ninjago which has been more successful than BIONICLE as far as anyone can tell. Just as it is today, bringing back BIONICLE would require working with the limitations the writers and designers had established with that theme rather than having full creative freedom with a new theme.Personally, I think there would have been no logic in ending BIONICLE earlier. Perhaps eliminating 2008's twist ending and awakening Mata Nui for real at the end of it could have worked, just as awakening him for real at the end of 2003 could have worked. But at both of those points the theme was selling well enough that they expected to make more money by continuing it than by ending it and replacing it with a newer theme. Ending it just because they thought the story had come to a good stopping point would have been foolish unless they had reason to believe the theme's profits would plummet if they continued it any further.With that said, if the story had been wrapped up with Mata Nui's true awakening in 2008, then I would have probably been just as satisfied as I was when they ended it in 2010. Sure, some questions about Mata Nui's origins would have been left unanswered, and some plot threads would not have been followed up on, but some fans who criticize the 2010 ending for these things fail to realize that when you create a whole story universe, it is impossible to answer all questions, and resolving all the plot threads just implies that the adventures conveniently come to a close all at once rather than hinting at a universe that will continue to be full of adventure even when the main story has been resolved.
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I don't think it should've ended earlier in the sense of chopping off the ending, but I do think it should've ended earlier regarding the story's length. Some sections (2006-8) should've been condensed, whilst others (the Kal, most/all of 2005) should've been ejected.I suspect the reason the story was so drawn out was that, following Bionicle's smash hit first two years, Lego assumed that profits would remain that way and Bionicle would be (or already was) a guaranteed success. So the storyline advanced extremely slowly to ensure Lego could squeeze every last drop of profit out of every last aspect of it.But what they didn't count on was the very slow but more or less steady decline (or at least flatlining) in profits that began from 2003 onwards. For whatever reason, Bionicle just didn't become an unassailable brand in the manner of Lego Star Wars. So Lego ended up cancelling the line at some point in 2008, just two years after the story had returned to its present and was moving again, and just two years away from the line's scheduled demise.This led to the strange situation of a large amount of increasingly dramatic storyline rendered in an increasingly shrinking and underfunded media outlet. This might explain the complaints about the ending feeling rushed or unsatisfying; the line's health and the amount of story being delivered weren't in proportion.

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They should have stick to the original plan on the new era as much as possible, and end it on 2012 with everything concluded. Now we've got serials that are there, unfinished. (Not that I can blame Greg much, I don't even know what's going on anymore here).

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As much as I love the Makuta organization, I'm glad that stuff in 2010 happened. I could have gone without 2009 though, definitely. It's all like: 2009-How is this Bionicle? Oh, hi Mata Nui!2008 definitely should have had a movie, and I'm kinda sad that it didn't. On the other hand, those movie writer people might have ruined it anyway.Kinda off topic. In conclusion, Bionicle never should have ended, 2009 stunk to high heaven, and movie writer people ruined the Bionicle movies.

They should have stick to the original plan on the new era as much as possible, and end it on 2012 with everything concluded. Now we've got serials that are there, unfinished. (Not that I can blame Greg much, I don't even know what's going on anymore here).
I believe that he said that he isn't writing the serials at the moment for two reasons.1. He has a baby to help take care of. He can't effectively type with one hand and hold, feed and change a baby's diaper with the other hand.2. He is getting no money for continuing the serials. I'm pretty sure that his contract for Bionicle ended some time last year, but I'm not sure when. So, he is pretty much doing it in his free time, which he doesn't have much of because of the reason stated above.

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I think it had to be wrapped up story-wise, but maybe, yeah, for the purpose of not rushing it. I'm okay with the way it was, though.

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Paleo, I don't think it's definite at all. But I do agree it would have been nice for the sets to focus on the resistance, not go off to a different world. That is, a lot of people liked the idea of entering a new world at the outset, but it seems that few were nearly as satisfied with that as with 2001's new world for example. And that might simply be because we were so emotionally invested in the main good guys, who were now facing their greatest threat ever. It was an amazing potential and yet LEGO just disconnected from it, setwise and story-focus-wise, right at the key moment. An odd decision, that maybe wasn't so wise.And perhaps the resistance could have left the universe, and explored Bara Magna, find the giant robot, and then have the final battle largely as it was. We might have connected better to such a thing.But just ending it with the bad guy winning, IMO, would be a huge no-no.
Mostly agreed, but I think the story would have had to have focused on Mata Nui at some point. The big problem with 2009 story was that it didn't focus on Mata Nui at first and completely went off into unknown lands. "Hey, there's these resistance fighters hanging on for their lives against the major bad guy and trying to figure out a way to defeat him, and you're talking about the lives of some people who live in a desert. I guess we needed six months to calm down after that plot twist nearly gave us a heart attack." :lol: Have Mata Nui show up first, insert backstory later. Probably would have been better to run the stories of Mata Nui and resistance side-by-side (instead of shoving the resistance off into a serial) and actually have the resistance play a bigger part in defeating Makuta (frying Rahkshi with Mask of Life-given Golden Armor isn't enough, I'm sorry). That's the version of the story that would have catered to the older fans, and that obviously wasn't what they were going for.
Actually, there is a simple, easy fix that could have been done along those lines: remember the comic with all of the Bara Magna people reacting to the Ignika crashing down to the planet? 2009 should have started with two pages of that, and then said "Six months earlier..." It would have connected the two storylines together AND teased a bit of the future, while still letting the story flow in a controlled, logical manner, the way it did.
Personally, I think there would have been no logic in ending BIONICLE earlier. Perhaps eliminating 2008's twist ending and awakening Mata Nui for real at the end of it could have worked, just as awakening him for real at the end of 2003 could have worked. But at both of those points the theme was selling well enough that they expected to make more money by continuing it than by ending it and replacing it with a newer theme. Ending it just because they thought the story had come to a good stopping point would have been foolish unless they had reason to believe the theme's profits would plummet if they continued it any further.
And this is the problem of BIONICLE and all other themes with heavy story emphasis: do you stay true to what's good for the story, or do you greedily suck every penny you can out of the franchise? Obviously, LEGO falls into the latter category, but we thought they fell into the former, which is where a lot of the disappointment came from.BIONICLE could have done with a LOT of compression; specifically, 2006 and 2007 should have been a single year, giving more time for the finale. Furthermore, I really wish that the functions and gimmicks of the sets hadn't been pushed so forcefully in the story; specifically, the way that the "hero-side" story was so far removed from the villain-side. I think the storyline should have shown us characters and their storylines even before the sets were available, even if the model had changes made to it before actual release; characters appear off-model in comics all the time, and I don't think the comics were ever marketed as "this is EXACTLY what your toys will look like/can do," so there shouldn't have been issue with it. (In particular, I have in mind the comic from 2008 in which Tahu, Gali, and Onua are conspicuously kept off-frame even though the other Toa Nuva specifically mentioned they were present--it just felt far too forced.)In the end, I do like where the line ended, but I also think we should have been told upfront that it was going to end, a year or so in advance. It's good to see that LEGO has learned from their mistake, though--they've been very open about the end of Ninjago, something I and many other Ninjago fans really appreciate. I only wish that they would have done the same thing for our beloved BIONICLE.

 

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And this is the problem of BIONICLE and all other themes with heavy story emphasis: do you stay true to what's good for the story, or do you greedily suck every penny you can out of the franchise? Obviously, LEGO falls into the latter category, but we thought they fell into the former, which is where a lot of the disappointment came from.
I wish people would not blanketly insult LEGO like this. They are a business and turning a profit is not greedy. They also did stay very true to the story throughout ten years, or what was believed to be true to it at the time. Let's face it, guys, it was the first line LEGO had ever done like this.Yes, they did make mistakes (seriously considering not returning to the Nuva again after 03 comes to mind) that were definitely profit driven, but you also have to keep in mind the decisions they think will earn more profit are also the ones they think will be best for the target audience. Although the logic may be shaky, you should not assume the worst motivation automatically. :) Sometimes I think people think "aging with the fans" would be "staying true to the story", but that is not nor was ever intended to be the case, as it's a toyline for kids. Edited by bonesiii

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While I dislike many story elements post-2004/2005, I did somewhat enjoy The Legend Reborn (not the voice acting or the script, unfortunately) and GregF's 2010 movie concept seemed very fitting. It's not so much that I feel Bionicle went on too long or not long enough, but moreso the lack of the story's execution in terms of appeal.

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While I dislike many story elements post-2004/2005, I did somewhat enjoy The Legend Reborn (not the voice acting or the script, unfortunately) and GregF's 2010 movie concept seemed very fitting. It's not so much that I feel Bionicle went on too long or not long enough, but moreso the lack of the story's execution in terms of appeal.
I agree, sorta. While id did get darker/gloomier, which definitely wasn't my favorite part of it. it gave it much more depth, and the the complexity of the storyline's details exploded following the original part of the saga.

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