The Dark Age/Great Depression of Constraction

[Lenny7092]

Hi, guys! We all know that Bionicle ended last year and there is no constraction theme with an original story by Lego this year for some reason. So, what I am going to say is this: is this a Dark Age/Great Depression for the Constraction category?

 

First, I would like to talk about the history of Constraction. In the 1990's, Lego was suffering money problems that involve bankruptcy and it wanted to have its own action figure line(s), so we got Slizers/Throwbots on 1999-2000. That theme was the first constraction theme (constraction is an action figure that is made by Lego as it is made of Lego pieces. Also, the word "constraction" comes from "construction" and "action"). Then, we got RoboRiders on 2000, which replaced Slizers/Throwbots. Sadly, these two themes did not do well and probably never helped Lego with its bankruptcy problem.

However, Lego introduced the theme that we know and love, Bionicle on 2001, and that theme saved Lego from bankruptcy. It went from 2001 to 2010, as it became popular, had a lot of sets, a large and excellent story, and a lot of media to promote the sets. The theme was beloved by many, including us. Bionicle had became famous and one of the longest Lego theme runs on record. Lego was going to continue the line to 2011 or so, but it suffered problems with Bionicle for some reason (probably money) in 2009, so it had to cancel Bionicle on the first half of 2010. We complained about it. However, Greg Farshtey, the writer of Bionicle books, comic books, and online serials, continued the story up to the first half of 2011 with two unfinished serials, which lead to an unresolved cliffhanger, which upset us.

Also in the early half of 2010, we got Ben 10 constraction figures, which ended on the same half for some reason.

On the second half of 2010, Lego released Hero Factory, the second-best constraction theme we got, as it replaced Bionicle, but it did cheer us up for the loss of Bionicle.

On 2011, Hero Factory introduced us to CCBS, which stands for Character and Creature Building System. This new system influenced other System-based themes, like DC Superheroes, Marvel Superheroes, Legends of Chima, and Star Wars, to use it to have their own constraction figures for generations to come.

Back to Hero Factory, the theme got the constraction theme's first TV show. Sadly, the theme is decreasing gradually in value until it ended on 2014.

And that's where Bionicle returned on 2015, and it replaced Hero Factory. Bionicle's return made us super-happy (I cried in tears), since, you know, we love Bionicle. This time, it rebooted into G2, as it got a new story. This ran from 2015 to 2016. Along the way, Bionicle was adapt to CCBS, and got its first TV show, Bionicle: The Journey to One. Very sadly, Lego cancelled Bionicle again for some strange reason. Lego never said why. This cancellation broke our hearts and upset us again. Boy, what an outrage. I felt like that it is like The Amazing Spider-Man movie series in 2012-2014 all over again. (Here's the link: http://www.bzpower.com/board/topic/23229-bionicle-g2-and-the-amazing-spider-man-movies-are-alike/ )

However, from 2012 to this year, Greg was revealing a lot of secrets and resolving some things in Bionicle's G1 story after he stopped updating new chapters in the unfinished serials. Sadly, he never re-continued it.

Since Bionicle G2 abruptly ended on 2016, there is no constraction theme with an original story by Lego right away this year. Hero Factory replaced Bionicle G1 right away, but why not there a theme replacing Bionicle G2 this year? The only constraction sets that we are getting this year are a few Star Wars ones.

Interesting about Bionicle, again, is that it was featured in The Lego Movie on 2014 and this year's The Lego Batman Movie as cameos. It seems that Bionicle is remembered due to its popularity in its G1 years.

 

It's interesting that we are usually getting less and less constraction-related sets and media in general every year gradually. Bionicle G1 had the largest amounts of them each year until 2010. This year has the least amount of constraction stuff in general. So, I have a question that might go to everyone's minds: Is constraction failing in this decade?

 

Well, I could think of a couple reasons how is that happening:

1. Lego is focusing on certain themes, like Marvel, DC, Star Wars, Ninjago, Nexo Knights, and The Lego Movies, lately. They put a lot of stuff in there, like NK's scannable Nexo powers and minifgure-controlled mechs. These themes' huge popularity apply there, too. Lego is focusing on these themes more often than the constraction category.

2. The low budget on constraction for some reason.

 

So, what do you think guys? Are we encountering the Dark Age/Great Depression of constraction? For me, I'm afraid I think so.

[Toa Imrukii]

I feel it was inevitable in-time that constraction would reach an all-time low, that time is now. But, I do not think that constraction is completely off the table, if LEGO ever decides to make a new constraction theme, than it would return, of course. But, right now it's just in a rut, a deep one at that, but just a rut. I am sure constraction will return someday in full force, just maybe not someday all too soon.

 

 

With that being said, I myself am not a fan of bricks, and I am not too big a fan of technic either, but I myself certainly like technic more than bricks. I myself just hope that I do not lose interest ing LEGO alltogether simply due to a lack of anything constraction. But who knows, here's hoping constraction is rejuvenated at some point in the future.

[Wiriamu]

Or they could, I don't know, do more with the Star Wars sets; six uniformly sized sets per wave is a bit dull.

[Pohaturon]

Lego have stated in the past that they're quite committed to Constraction. Thing is, historically they rarely had multiple lines running concurrently. It was mostly just Bionicle, with Galidor popping in for a year and then Knights Kingdom later on, but it was usually just Bionicle. Then with CCBS they had HF, Chima and the two brands of Super Heroes going simultaneously, then it was Star Wars and Bionicle G2 at the same time, and all of this in a shorter time period than all of G1. I think they kind of burned themselves out and need to recuperate. I personally still see much potential for improvement with CCBS, but I wouldn't be surprised if we got a minimal number of CCBS Star Wars sets for another ~2 years after which Lego drops a whole new constraction building system with either an entirely new IP or Bionicle G3. 
That said, I'm pretty sure both Nexo Knights and Ninjago (ugh) constraction sets would sell like crazy and I'm baffled why these aren't a thing yet, but I guess all the people at the company who know their stuff better than I have good reasons why they aren't. 

 

Basically I'm just never giving up hope for G3, and in the meantime, I'm happy to add to my G1 and G2 collections while maybe grabbing one or two SW sets (I really want K2, and that scout trooper on the speeder bike looks really really good).

 

[Imnotactive]

LEGO is likely taking a break to really think out their later lines, looking closely at why G2 failed so that for G3, or any new line, they don't make the same mistake.

 

 

and the star wars stuff is always gonna sell because star wars.

[Lyichir]

To be honest I'd wait until at least next year before any sort of long-lasting "dark age" is declared. New themes take several years to bring to market, and it's quite evident that Bionicle G2 was not originally intended to end so soon given their three-year plan. And Jørgen vig Knudstorp said in an interview as recently as last year that the future of the CCBS is important to Lego going forward. So the likelihood that another major constraction theme is in development is quite high; it most likely just wasn't ready to be brought to market a mere two years after Bionicle G2's launch.

[Master Inika]

It's difficult to say when the Dark Age really started. Signs of decay appeared as early as 2009 with the Bara Magna soft reboot, which LEGO had to do because BIONICLE (the only constraction wave) wasn't selling well. The reboot failed and it got canceled, but LEGO gave construction two more chances.

 

LEGO Ben 10 was a non-entity, but Hero Factory had potential, that LEGO promptly squandered with story episodes that were inconsistently released with often unresolved plot lines.

 

BIONICLE G2 suffered similarly, having pretty good sets but the story and marketing not receiving proper care. After this decline of original constraction lines, LEGO opted for Star Wars construction, coming pre-packaged with a good story and marketing, but they were just released in fewer numbers than constraction had been before. LEGO just seems to have largely lost faith in the building style.

[masterchirox580]

I would say yes. Because from what I've seen action figures in general are down. Kids seem to prefer play sets these days over single action figures. However it may come down to Lego's handling of HF and G2. HF was under-developed in terms of world and story and I imagine this meant kids didn't get very invested in it. G2 was this weirdly conflicted story which tried to be both ninjago and G1 in style at the same time. I imagine due to the lack of access to story materials kids were once again turned away from getting invested. If they can fix both these issues in their next constraction theme (which from the sounds of things is being developed) then I guess we aren't in a dark age. It really depends on how the next theme does.