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The Original BIONICLE Fandom are all adults


JMSOG

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Apologies if this is slightly confusing or incoherant.

 

So, I've been listening to this song over and over for months after finding it on Spotify:

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IWB3-6MZ_UE

 

I find it fascinating, and really like it, in a very precise, specific, probably almost nitpicky way.

 

It's clear the narrator in the song (whether he's supposed to be Ethan Wood himself, doesn't matter) spent his childhood with bionicle. Seeing as he's showing specifically Tahu Mata, and the fact that he still has the original set with the original canister, it likely mattered to him through his childhood, teenage years, and now adulthood.

 

Now, he's an adult dealing with adult problems...he clearly is approaching the end of a relationship, which is a difficult and confusing thing for anyone to go through.

 

So, how does he try to make sense of his emotions in that moment? He relates it to Bionicle, something that's been a part of him since he was small. He expresses vulnerability in the confusion of this moment by essentially showing something pure from his childhood. In doing that, he expresses at the core who he is, as expressed in the line "what you see is what you get".

 

That may be reading in too much...but really, this resonated with me in a big way. The narrator in the song clearly had hopes for everything in his life to go well when he grew up, and when something didn't, he calls back to his childhood in an effort to make sense of it. This isn't a new idea, but to my knowledge, this is the only song to do something like that with specifically bionicle...Bionicle was one of the biggest parts of my development as a child, so this resonated with me in a big way in particular.

 

So, bringing attention to that song is one thing...but, there's a second thing that it made me realize. All the original fans of bionicle, who were old enough to be there for 2001 and experienced the story as it unfolded until 2011, are adults now. There's an entire population of people who were influenced by Bionicle as much as the singer in that song, all of whom are entering their respective industries right now, if they haven't already.

 

For star trek, so many of the people who saw it in theaters were so inspired by it that they took jobs in specific scientific fields, changing what technology is available today. Some went into film, creating some of the most well-known movies and shows. Some got jobs in the government out of optimism to try to create the future. Many of those people lived their lives in a way that were shaped by what they took away from star trek. Many of them brought unique insights to their careers that were inspired by star trek. Many of them changed the course of the world in some way, influenced uniquely by star trek. This isn't at all unique to star trek, it just so happens that Star Trek's influence is well documented.

 

Well, Bionicle's influence begins now. Obviously, the song I showed is not well known at all, but it is deeply unique and could only have been made by someone who grew up with bionicle. I think that some of the media, technology, and policy that emerge soon may begin to be influenced by the bionicle fans who contributed to them, even if it's in small ways. I think, statistically, that at least a handful will make a massive impact in the world, influenced by their experiences with the bionicle story and sets. I have no idea what the specifics of that will look like, but I believe that that will begin around now...and that's really cool to me.

 

Again, maybe I'm reading too much into it. but it's definitely something I've been thinking about for a few months.

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The Original BIONICLE Fandom are all adults

True. I was 14 when BIONICLE started and also when I joined BZPower (then BZCommunity), which means I am 31 now.

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Perhaps a bit late to reply, but Bionicle (and BZP) significantly influenced my own career trajectory. I build directly upon the skills I picked up on this side of the internet every single day. :)

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