Bionicle Really Did Used To Be Cool
So I started re-watching the old Bionicle flash episodes today, you know from 2002 and early 2003.
Honestly I was expecting to not be very impressed. I was younger when I liked them, and I've thought for a while that the reason I really couldn't stand the Bionicle story these past five years or so was just because I had outgrown it - that it wasn't Bionicle that had changed, but me instead. I was kinda expecting to discover that Bionicle had always been about the same level of quality, and I was just younger back then and thought differently.
So imagine my surprise when I find out these old flash episodes and the MNOLG are even better than I remembered.
They're really great! The characters are fun, the plots are entertaining, and the dialogue is cute and well-delivered. The animation is smooth and the art is crisp, and the music is really rad (not to mention fitting). Moreover, I'm really impressed by the pacing of everything - whoever was directing these little shorts did a great job.
What I also find really neat is the story itself, which has so much character! It's a complete fantasy epic, yet it doesn't play to the tropes of any fantasy genre. Heck, there's no Tolkien influence in sight. Call me crazy, but the Bionicle storyline in these short cartoons was something unique.
I really dig how tribal it all is: even as late as 2003, Vakama is consulting 'mystical fires' for answers to things. All the Tohunga speak of 'great dances' and 'spirits.' There's not much in the way of technology, but there is much in the way of of magic and superstition. You're immersed in this rich culture, and it's all really cool. Another thing I really liked was that the Tohunga acted like adults! Check out Takua and Nuparu having a war briefing with Kongu and Tamaru in this episode. They're definitely not the child-like figures that mid-2003 and onward portrayed the Matoran as!
And I see now, sadly, that it really was Bionicle that changed after all. It waltzed away from fantasy and tribal mysticism and instead transformed to sci-fi superheroics. Suddenly there weren't any more sacred fires, or mythic legends, or unseen spirits. The wild animals became test tube babies. The magical masks became just commonplace pieces of technology. Even the great evil spirit became just an average Joe with an attitude problem. As the years wore on, Bionicle grew more and more to resemble other things, and looked less and less like its own, original story.
Honestly, it makes me kinda sad inside.
I know I'll probably get a ton of people in here who will write huge walls of text explaining how I'm wrong, and the Bionicle story just got better and better, and that I'm inferior because my opinion is different, or whatever. But that's okay - I think comparing these episodes to the books and comics and movies of the later years really speaks for itself. And I for one and just going to choose to remember Bionicle for its great two-and-a-half year run. Because it was really fantastic.
BIONICLE: 2001-2003. It was a great, fun story.
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