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How was Lego in the 2010s?


Lenny7092

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What it says here. For me, well, I’m happy about the CCBS, Hero Factory, Bionicle coming back in 2015, Ninjago, Nexo Knights, The Lego Movie Cinematic Universe, Mixels, Lego City Undercover, Lego Dimensions, Star Wars, and Lego Super Heroes. Those are my pros. 
 

The cons are these: Bionicle ended twice, constraction being gone after that, along with HF while there’s no replacement for Bionicle, The Lego Movies after the first The Lego Movie in 2014 are being a little too weird and random, and there are a lot of good themes that ended wrongfully and have a lot of premature conditions (I’m think low budget): 

1. Power Miners 

2. Lego: The Adventures of Clutch Powers - never had a sequel 

3. Lego Atlantis, Lego Alien Conquest, Lego Pharoah’s Quest, and Lego Dino Attack in 2012 - according to a Lego magazine in November 2011, they share the same universe, but they never had an ending. Neither did that Lego Atlantis special in 2010 has a sequel. 

4. Lego Monster Fighters and Lego Galaxy Squad - according to a Lego magazine in 2012, they share the same universe, but again, they never had an ending. 

5. Lego Space Police in 2009 - Never had an ending. 

6. Lego Ultra Agents - there are a lot of cool stuff, like a villain who turns people into villains, but it never had something to tell a story, like how Ninjago does. 

7. Legends of Chima - well, it’s a part of Ninjago now. 

8. Nexo Knights - It never had an ended, and the TV show’s Seasons 5 and 6 are cancelled. Plus, there are a lot of stuff that are unequal to each other. It’s best for it to be one of Ninjago’s Sixteen Realms because it seems a lot like it. Seriously. 

9. Lego Dimensions - It had an unresolved thing, which is a guy turning into another Vortech, and Year 3 got cancelled after 2 years for some reason. It never had a bunch of other franchises that could have a lot of potential of having their own expansion packs, like Marvel and Star Wars. 

10. Lego City Undercover - Never had a sequel. 

11. Mixels 

Yep. Pretty much it. These guys could have good TV shows or special if Lego would be kind enough to put some more stuff in them. I mean, they look like that they had such good potential, but they had a lot of weirdness in some ways here and there, and they were decreasing by quality gradually. These poor needed themes are wasted. Lego should focus on these old themes and bring back older ones before them rather than focusing on the new ones. That is not healthy. 
 

So, that’s my look on last decade. What about you guys?

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

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I'm not sure I'd agree... as I see it, Lego isn't always about telling completed stories. Historically, Lego has often just provided 'enough' story for kids to start from, to allow them to springboard off that and create their own tales using the characters and situations that Lego had set up.

That's what I remember form back in the 90s; and while the early/mid 2000s did enter a phase of story-driven everything (likely due to Bionicle's success as a major story-based theme) I kind of like it if they're going back with some themes to the idea of 'we give you the set-up, YOU decide how it plays out'. That was a good part of what drew me so far into Lego as a kid, the sense of being given a basic story that it was up to me to elaborate on and bring to my own conclusion. I don't think it's Lego giving up on themes and leaving them unfinished; I think it's them encouraging that same kind of creative storytelling mindset again, inviting kids and fans to decide for themselves how they want the respective stories to end.

I'm not saying that story-driven themes are bad, by any means! Just that, maybe, not everything Lego produces was intended to be a completed story in its own right.

Or, that's my take on it, at least. :shrugs:

Edited by Darth Jaller
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I mean if we look at it from maybe a corporate perspective, the 2010's were a good time for Lego. They became perhaps the most influential brand in the world. The Lego Movie launched them to massive fame, and made Lego a bigger powerhouse than Mattel or Hasbro. Not to mention the continued licensed lines like Star Wars, Harry Potter, superheroes etc. all were very successful; while Ninjago remained a huge powerhouse the entire decade for Lego. 

I don't know if the fame will last, the layoffs a year or so back and the failure of the last few Lego Movies makes me think that the "Lego moment" is over. But I think the company enters the 2020's in a much stronger position than where it was in 2000. 

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All aboard the hype train!

 

 

 

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I feel like for me the first half of the decade was great. The feel and aesthetics of the early Ninjago  years were great, Chima was great and had great sets and a intriguing world. Hero Factory was good in hindsight, and G2 glimmered for a short 2 years; not to mention the plethora of original themes like Atlantis, Power Miners, Pharaohs Quest and others. However I feel that after G2 ended Lego had left a golden age strange licensed themes no one really asked for became more prevalent, the few new themes like Hidden Side and Nexo Knights put story and sets on the backburner in favor of app based gimmicks, and Ninjago became less a mysterious theme about an ancient Japan inspired world  and became more of a superhero theme(in a world already oversaturated with superheroes). So maybe the trend will change in the new roaring 20s, but I feel like we have witnessed the end of a golden age of Lego storytelling.

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To a degree I view the 2010s as a decline. Not necessarily in a business performance sense, but in a creative one. The 2000s was a bit of a perfect storm. Creative pressure to survive. Media that was mature enough to reinforce story and physical toys, but not ubiquitous enough to eclipse them (i.e. smartphones). I'll agree with @Darth Jaller above that Lego has/had a strength in giving you a framework, but not the fine detail, though I think themes like Rock Raiders and Alpha Team benefited from the extra lore their games provided.

For lack of a better term, their business matured (not a unique-to-Lego problem). They figured out a formula and expanded on it until the magic left. The 2010s were the era of licensing, which is great for the bottom line for a time, but eventually that spins down too.

You see the same thing in the tech industry. The 2000s were years of discovery after the 90s ironed out the technology. Transmedia storytelling (i.e. MNOLG), smartphones, social media. All new and engaging. The 2010s saw them all mature into...what we have now.

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The magic found in themes of the 2000s fell away and died off by the 2010s. Lego gave more support than ever to their storytelling, but this did no real good when the stories were all garbage. 2010 Lego storytelling peaked with the HF specials, and it all went downhill from there. I think part of it is doing away with any willingness for "dark" storytelling. That isn't to say that darker is better--G1 is proof that it's not--but with lines like EF and KKII, for their minimal support, their stories gave a sense for a capacity for darkness, a very real possibility that the world can and even presently does suck and that there's actual stakes. In Chima, nobody ever dies, and every time something bad happens, it's resolved with no caveats. The characters barely need to grow or change to get anything done, if at all. By contrast, EF features a potential AI takeover, with human beings already being captured by the robots and held as slaves; most notably, Takeshi's dad. That's not to say EF had revolutionary storytelling, but relative to how much media it got, it was far weightier than anything from the 2010s.

And of course, you've got the HIGHLY elaborate storytelling of Bionicle. Lego hasn't attempted anything on that scale since. The sheer volume of detail and effort Bionicle got was admirable, even when the storytelling was lackluster. There was a lot of worldbuilding and side plots and a huge list of characters who actually got explored SOMEWHAT. It'd be nice if Lego would at least attempt that again. The closest we have is Ninjago, which has horrendous writing for a line with as many good sets as it has.

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Well, probably one of the biggest things, at least for us here, was Bionicle's cancellation right at the beginning of the decade. Right at the time, the was a lot of sadness, and a growing schism between those who accepted it and those who were enraged. And then later it got brought back to a little bit of hype, only to end again shortly after. All this lead to the Bionicle community feeling a bit smaller and fractured. We were forced to adapt, but there's still plenty of people out there.

Then, there was Bionicle's replacement as a constraction theme: Hero Factory. The first year had rather poor small sets if I say so, with the larger sets being basically Bionicle. After that though, we got the introduction of CCBS, which changed the face of constraction as we know it. Not everyone was happy with the change, but I think we can all agree it's lead to some interesting mocs at least.

Now as for the story aspect of Bionicle, that role seems to have been filled more by Ninjago. The TV line has been going strong for almost as long as Bionicle at this point. As others have said, maybe having one definitive medium for the storytelling helps keep people into it. Ninjago has also turned out a lot of cool sets over its many years, although my personal favorite year is still the very first one. One recent notable thing in Ninjago I think is sets being released based on previous story years. This was always something I heard requests and rumors about online for Bionicle, but I think we can assume LEGO evaluated that the money just wasn't there for it. I guess the spread of the internet and past episodes of the Ninjago television show being easily accessible on streaming services means kids can see what was happening earlier that they missed. I just wish current season episodes were as accessible, as it feels like by the time I see them, the corresponding sets are out of stock. Oh well, I guess I'll just wait 7+ years for the legacy sets.

And I think one other major thing of note over the last 10 years is the greater appeal to adults. We went from having a modular building, a Star Wars UCS set, and maybe one or two others. Now we have direct to consumer sets coming out constantly. And there's also ideas, where it feels like most of the products are made by and for adult collectors, although not necessarily just LEGO fans. (It feels like there's been more attempts to just mass market appeal to adults in general too.) We've also gotten a lot of interaction both online and at conventions. I think this has all been a big part of what has kept me a LEGO fan as I got older, despite my favorite line being cancelled. There was always a product for me, no matter my age.

And the 2010s also saw LEGO make forays into having movies on the big screen. I think these were cool, beautifully animated, and overall I liked them, but I can understand why they're stopping. There's only so much of that you can take. I will miss the extremely unique sets though, which often included things that wouldn't be found together anywhere else.

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in 2010: 

1. The Death ov Bionicle 

2. Ben 10 Alien Force figures released (and sucked!) 

3. The Rise ov Hero Factory

4. Cryoshell's self-titled album released (and it is amazing!) 

5. Rob Zombie's "Hellbilly Deluxe 2" released! (as well as other awesome albums from Sodom, Linkin Park, etc.) 

that's all i can think ov... oh well! there you go, noobs! :D

 

Edited by TheZOMBIEJ
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The highlight was Bionicle coming back for 2 years, and the Lego Movies. Also Hero Factory in the early 2010s, which had a few good sets. 

Basically 2010s were good to Lego as a company, but constraction suffered. 

Also I liked Elves. The Friends-style sets were a 2010s innovation, lest we forget. 

you can call me boomie :D

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You know, most of you guys think that Lego has some problems in the 2010s, and the constraction category is gone, and I agree with that. Without constraction (including Bionicle, continuing the G1 story, Hero Factory), I feel purposeless. It's very depressing. No joke. 

Lego should really focus on the old stuff more and put more quality and media in them, like the stories and making things less weird, rather than moving on to new things that end too early. These old themes need some (or a lot) more love. It's a disaster. :( 

Would you hope that constraction, including Bionicle and G1 storyline, and Hero Factory, would come back in this decade, perhaps with real TV shows and maybe theatrical movies (not as Lego Movies, just 3-D animated or live-action movies or cinematic universe similar to the Transformers movies, Star Wars, and Marvel Cinematic Universe), and celebrate their anniversaries? We all need these. Nothing is better than Bionicle (well, the Lego Movies and Ninjago sort of in some ways, maybe evenly matched). 

I hope we could have less weird Lego Movies in this decade as well, including a Marvel one and Star Wars one because the themes are very great. Focus on the old themes much more in this decade, too.

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

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I didn't come out of my Dark Age until my visit to Billund in 2016, so I suppose I'm not overly qualified to say much, but here's my two cents anyway:

Lego made leaps and bounds in terms of set design, streamlining, part usage, and new molds. They really managed to redefine what a Lego set can look like, while still staying true to the look of Lego. While executed well in most ways, the mid-decade attempt to bring back Bionicle, as well as trying to recreate the Bionicle formula with lines like Chima, Hero Factory, and the CCBS stuff, fell pretty flat in my opinion, and really cemented why Bionicle isn't something that suits Lego anymore.

Overall though, I still find myself pining for the glory days of the System sets. As good as the 2010s may have been, nothing will ever beat going to the Lego aisle of a Toys R Us in the 90s.

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"This spot marks our grave; but you may rest here too, if you like."

 

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On 1/19/2020 at 7:38 PM, Lenny7092 said:

You know, most of you guys think that Lego has some problems in the 2010s, and the constraction category is gone, and I agree with that. Without constraction (including Bionicle, continuing the G1 story, Hero Factory), I feel purposeless. It's very depressing. No joke. 

I hate to break it to you, but you have a bigger purpose in life than constraction sets. You have a lot more meaning to your existence than that. What about your friends and family? We're not allowed to discuss religion here, but if you have faith, you have more than plastic toys. Even evolution offers more than plastic toys. 

I know you feel abandoned by the big corporate overlords who don't care about you, but you have people who DO care about you, and your entire meaning and purpose is based around a toy? What are they, pocketbooks for more toys? They are worth more than that. And you are worth more than that. 

Think about it this way: what if no constraction sets were produced, ever. Let's say that Lego stands up tommorrow and confirms it: no more constraction. You're still going to live. You will still be alive, with opportunities for new friends, a new family, a new future. 

Constraction sets are just fun accessories to an already full life. They are not something to build your life around. 

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  • 1 month later...
4 hours ago, Lenny7092 said:

 This shows why I said my stuff.

Friend, I know that Bionicle is special to you. It contains a huge amount of emotional significance for you. It does for many of us on this discussion board. But you can't build your entire life around it. What you've said has crossed the line from fandom to extremely toxic thinking. This is why people commit suicide - this is the early stages of it. 

You badly need something in your life besides Bionicle. Bionicle is NOT everything. Yes, it has a story, and that story has meaning. The meaning (for me, at least) has to do with overcoming evil, in spite of difficulties and obstacles and personal shortcomings. Collecting toys and focusing on that as your life's purpose doesn't overcome any sort of evil. We need people to work on overcoming evil in real life, and that is hard work. It's ugly, it's not pretty, but we should take a lesson and do it. And evil is everywhere, in every profession, in many people's hearts. Doing it in real life takes courage and it takes skill beyond what Bionicle can show us. Because Bionicle is a kid's toyline. The message is simplified for kids to understand. We need to move beyond it and learn how to fight evil in reality. That is the best way to honor Bionicle's legacy. 

Collecting plastic toys, on the other hand, and sitting around and waiting and moping, does not have any meaning. It's too easy. You just earn the money and hand it over. You could have spent that money on other things, things that might have improved your life and maybe even your friend group. Instead, you are sitting around like a spoiled child demanding that Lego give you what you want. You are 25 years old. You have a life to live. Instead of actually living your life, you are making an addiction to a fantasy world of the life that you want to live that you think that Lego can somehow give you. Lego is not going to live your life for you. Lego doesn't even care about your life. Why? They canceled Bionicle, for one thing. Start there. 

If you want Bionicle back, you're going to have to work for it. Nobody else cares anymore. You're going to have to do the work to design the sets and take the concept art to Billund for the story. You'll have to convince other people to join you, that your product idea is viable, that you can sell it to a bunch of little kids who don't care about Bionicle at all. And you won't even be able to do that if you don't have meaning and purpose in your life beyond what you don't actually have. Chester Bennington sold his pain to us for years - all those people who didn't know what it was and some who didn't care, and we all know what happened to him. Please don't live your life like him. Please. 

Right now, your life is being defined by an absence: the absence of Bionicle. Your life is being defined by your pain. You cannot live a life defined by pain. You need to live a life defined by a meaning, a purpose based on something that actually exists. Bionicle doesn't exist anymore. It's gone. At the very least, it doesn't exist right now. And your purpose must be defined by your present, NOT your past - what exists in the here and now

Example: Let's say I fail out of university and transfer to a new school. I had a purpose in that university, but it failed. So I don't go back to that purpose. Instead, I build a new purpose in the new school. 

In the analogy, let's say that your purpose was something when Bionicle was running. Bionicle is the university in the analogy. Its purpose failed. So you need to move on and construct a new purpose for yourself. When you construct a new purpose for yourself, you're not losing Bionicle. You don't have to sell off all of your sets or stop talking about or stop posting here. Instead, you are building a healthy relationship to it. You are saying "this is a part of my life, but it is not the whole thing. I have a purpose and that is this." Maybe you can take the overcoming evil example above. Maybe you can say "my purpose in life is overcoming evil, therefore I support this toyline that promotes that message." That's how I think about Bionicle. Am I suddenly less of a fan in your eyes?

What about the people who are here because they like building things and use Bionicle as test practice for modelling and design? Are they suddenly less human because they don't "support the cause" as much as you do? 

It's less about why Bionicle is special, and more about the meaning that Bionicle has. As another discussion from long ago once said, a rabbit does not have inherent meaning beyond its context and you know, eating grass. What purpose does Bionicle have for you? What is the meaning of Bionicle? 

Now step back. How can that meaning be expanded and applied to your life? Not in support of Bionicle, but in general. For example, since I believe that Bionicle's purpose is overcoming evil, I spend a lot of time writing. I find that writing allows for messages to be spread that stop the spread of evil. (Suicide being one of those examples, which is why I wrote all of this.)

Your purpose is more than paying Lego for new Bionicle sets. If that's what you think your life's purpose is, you're missing out on a lot of life. Please do not commit suicide over this. The fact that Bionicle is probably not coming back is not worth ending your life over. 

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Nor is the sorry state of constraction in the 2010s worth ending one's life over, in case anyone was wondering about that. It should not be wrapped up in one's life purpose. Yes, it isn't great - we all know the usefulness of constraction in building - but yeah. Stay safe out there folks.

Edited by 21Boomerangs
Trying to keep things on topic, folks
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This may be against site rules, but Lenny are you religious person? If not then finding a religion may help with this depression you feel. There are plenty of inspirational figures out there like Mohammad, Buddha, Confucius, and Jesus who I personally believe in and worship. Please forgive me if this post violates  site rules I wont do it again, just trying to give out some good advice.

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17 hours ago, Lenny7092 said:

 This shows why I said my stuff.

Mate, this ain't healthy. I genuinely think--and by no means should you take this as an insult--that you've got a problem. Get a hobby, seek out a career, find some outlet for your passion other than making a bunch of threads on a forum with like 20 active members. Idk, write a book and make it a spiritual successor to Bionicle; that's on my to-do list. But obsessing over a discontinued toyline that may or may not be revived will just defeat you over time. Think about what'll happen if Lego just gives up on Bionicle and constraction. What'll you do then? What are you doing NOW? I wouldn't urge you to just forget Bionicle entirely, but clinging to it like this is just gonna bum you out in the end.

1 hour ago, Alexander123 said:

If not then finding a religion may help with this depression you feel.

I am going to go in the opposite direction and recommend that you don't go for religion. At the end of the day, it's the same thing--you're joining a community of like-minded people who all agree that X is good and we should make X a priority in our lives even though X is not so much a tangible thing as it is a concept and, in many cases, a philosophical outlook. To put it simply, religions are essentially just big, organized fandoms that focus on ideas and particular standards rather than specific works of art (unless you wanna insinuate that Christianity is the Bible fandom). You will find more fulfillment if you focus on taking the positivity in yourself and exerting it on things around you to get stuff done. Like I said, maybe learn to write, or find some other artistic medium that makes you feel good. God won't write a spiritual successor to Bionicle regardless of whether or not he exists, but you and I can.

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Let me explain two things: 

1. This is not related to religion. I am just talking about my feelings. I didn’t like how the 2010s treated a lot of these cancelled and prematurely ended themes. 
2. Well, it’s just that I love Bionicle a lot. I was living the life before G1’s toy line cancelled. I tried to move on to Hero Factory, but it got ended prematurely. G2 brightened things up, even if it didn’t feel right most of the time. When G2 prematurely ended, I am depressed. Throughout 2010 to now, I focused on Ninjago and the Marvel Cinematic Universe because they are cool and are like Bionicle. While Bionicle was running, I always dreamed that its popularity and successfulness could let Bionicle earn a theatrical movie, a TV show similar to Ninjago, and a good video game, but Lego cancelled Bionicle twice, and these dreams of mine are crushed. I don’t like the fact that Bionicle G1’s story isn’t finished, and I’m a bit of of a completion person. Lego didn’t say anything about Bionicle coming back again since G2 ended. It was focusing on many themes, and some of them prematurely ended. It ain’t cute or funny for what happened because I’ve seen many fans being upset about it. However, Bionicle is one of Lego’s most popular and successful themes in history, and popular stuff like that tend to become memorable, so I always hoped that it can come back. Bionicle relieves me of boredom when I wait for other things that I like for a long time (for examples, when will the Black Widow movie and Ninjago’s Season 12 show up? There’s no release dates for them yet, and it’s been months). It’s a coping mechanism. I’m a dedicated fan of Bionicle. It’s just expectation, and I feel bad for Bionicle and other prematurely ended themes in the 2010s. I’m just worried about Bionicle’s future and fate and people not taking about Bionicle much in the future. I don’t want Bionicle to be a forgotten memory. I’m sorry that you read all that.

Edited by Lenny7092

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

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12 hours ago, Lenny7092 said:

Let me explain two things: 

1. This is not related to religion. I am just talking about my feelings. I didn’t like how the 2010s treated a lot of these cancelled and prematurely ended themes. 
2. Well, it’s just that I love Bionicle a lot. I was living the life before G1’s toy line cancelled. I tried to move on to Hero Factory, but it got ended prematurely. G2 brightened things up, even if it didn’t feel right most of the time. When G2 prematurely ended, I am depressed. Throughout 2010 to now, I focused on Ninjago and the Marvel Cinematic Universe because they are cool and are like Bionicle.

While Bionicle was running, I always dreamed that its popularity and successfulness could let Bionicle earn a theatrical movie, a TV show similar to Ninjago, and a good video game, but Lego cancelled Bionicle twice, and these dreams of mine are crushed.

I don’t like the fact that Bionicle G1’s story isn’t finished, and I’m a bit of of a completion person. Lego didn’t say anything about Bionicle coming back again since G2 ended. It was focusing on many themes, and some of them prematurely ended. It ain’t cute or funny for what happened because I’ve seen many fans being upset about it. However, Bionicle is one of Lego’s most popular and successful themes in history, and popular stuff like that tend to become memorable, so I always hoped that it can come back.

Bionicle relieves me of boredom when I wait for other things that I like for a long time (for examples, when will the Black Widow movie and Ninjago’s Season 12 show up? There’s no release dates for them yet, and it’s been months). It’s a coping mechanism. I’m a dedicated fan of Bionicle. It’s just expectation, and I feel bad for Bionicle and other prematurely ended themes in the 2010s. I’m just worried about Bionicle’s future and fate and people not taking about Bionicle much in the future. I don’t want Bionicle to be a forgotten memory. I’m sorry that you read all that.

Yeah, but like this level of emotional devastation really isn't healthy. It's like...too much. You're letting your feelings control you and you're believing a lot of scary stuff. Maybe my post above was too long. I'm worried that if Bionicle doesn't come back, you're gonna jump off a bridge.

Okay, you're sad that Bionicle ended. You hope that it's going to come back. But Bionicle shouldn't be giving you depression. That's too much. Depression is a reference to feeling and believing that your entire life is meaningless. Just because Bionicle is gone, that doesn't mean that your life is meaningless. Far from it. You still have a life. 

If you're not truly thinking of that, but are just feeling bad, then don't use this scary language that makes us think that I should put you on suicide watch. But you're still getting grief over it? Bionicle's first cancellation was 10 years ago. It's second one was in 2016, 4 years back. Feeling this level of sadness for that long is unusual, to say the least. I prefer to believe that what you're saying is true, even if you don't understand the implications of it. 

Thank you for the points in bold. That helps clarify a lot. Idk, but it seems a bad focus to aim your dreams at stuff that you expect other people to do for you, versus looking at what you can achieve. Having dreams of what you can do leads to you doing things. Having dreams of what other people do leads to you blaming them for your problems, which leads to you treating them terribly because of what they didn't do. Besides, even if Lego were to bring back Bionicle tommorrow and give you that TV show, theatrical movie, and a good video game, would you be satisfied? No. You'd just want more, and complain because we didn't get a MMORPG or something. 

Coping mechanism for what? Having to wait for more entertainment? May I suggest reading Samuel Beckett's Waiting For Godot? Don't worry, it's a short book. 

As for Black Widow, it's coming out on May 1st of this year. Here's some trailers: 

 

 

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To answer the topic question, I really liked Hero Factory and thought it was funny. It seemed have a lot of underused story potential that was great for fanfiction. I also seriously dug Bionicle's return in 2015 and 2016 as well. I also liked Elves - I loved the boat set and the cute mini-dolls in fantasy form. So cool!

I loved all of the potential for jokes. 

So all in all, I really liked the 2010s. We had a good line in HF that revolutionized constraction, we had the return of Bionicle (yasss!), and we even had the Elves line. We had the Faber files and the LMB Greg too. I think even some of the last Bionicle G1 serials were posted in 2011. Then there was Erebus talking with Greg. The Nathan Furst movie soundtracks for the first 3 Bionicle movies came out after years of waiting! We finally found the original files for the Map of Mata Nui game against all of the naysayers - holy Kanohi!

The decade kinda ended on a low note, but that doesn't mean that we should discount Lego or Bionicle for the entire decade. That is incredibly short-sighted. The 2010s have shown that the fans, artists, and writers of Bionicle can carry the torch onward into the future. Here's to the 2020s!

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12 hours ago, 1womanarmy said:

I also seriously dug Bionicle's return in 2015 and 2016 as well.

The serious problem is that Bionicle 2016 ended on an admittedly tragic note. That is not Bionicle. Bionicle ends with the good guys winning. Granted, individual years ended in tragedy (2004 and 2008, for example) but the good guys won in 2010. 

Bionicle 2015 was slow to get going, storywise. It didn't have enough room to build up momentum before it collapsed. I liked the chapter books - the best I think was called Revenge of the Skull Spiders, I think, but could be wrong. 

you can call me boomie :D

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18 minutes ago, 21Boomerangs said:

The serious problem is that Bionicle 2016 ended on an admittedly tragic note. That is not Bionicle. Bionicle ends with the good guys winning. Granted, individual years ended in tragedy (2004 and 2008, for example) but the good guys won in 2010. 

I thought the "dark universe" thing was a really cool twist. I think it might have been better if they had allowed for one more episode to develop it and maybe get the Toa to convince the trapped characters to escape, but at least they stopped Makuta's plan and Gali escaped. 

I would have liked to have had more time for the story to explore the dark world as well as a way for the Toa to solve it, rather than it being left as a hopeless situation. But I don't think it has no precedent in G1. G1 had plenty of characters who got trapped in bad situations and never escaped, like the Red Star. The problem is that I think the Dark World was supposed to be a G2 Mangaia parallel, not a Red Star or Pit or Karzanhi parallel. But those parallels still work, so...yeah.

I don't think we should throw out G2 or the 2010s just because G2 has a Karzanhi/Red Star place.  

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18 hours ago, 21Boomerangs said:

The serious problem is that Bionicle 2016 ended on an admittedly tragic note.

It...didn't? The Toa defeated Makuta and it was heavily implied they'd return someday. They didn't die; and even if you had an ending where they did, you could spin it into them all going to Artakha or wherever and having saved the world.

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Rule #1: Always listen to Kek.

Rule #2: If you break rule #1, kindly don't.

Rule #3: EVERYBODY TYPE IN THE CHAT "AVAK IS A STUPID TRIGGER"

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2 hours ago, Sir Keksalot said:

It...didn't? The Toa defeated Makuta and it was heavily implied they'd return someday. They didn't die; and even if you had an ending where they did, you could spin it into them all going to Artakha or wherever and having saved the world.

I think I know what it is. Originally, G2 was going to have a year in 2017 at least, but Lego cut it short after 2 years, and everything is rushed to the point where Umarak freed Makuta, who killed him to be free. But then, Gali told the other Toa that they have to combine with their elements to defeat Makuta. They are a blast-to-blast tug of war, and then the Toa pushed Makuta back to his prison, and then the Toa went back to the stars. Finally, the Protectors said that they can call the Toa when they are needed. Makuta’s the main antagonist, but the ending is rushed. That’s quite lame. No offense. I thought the 2016 storyline could’ve ended with the Toa defeating Umarak, but that was unexpected. 
 

You know, it’s sad that Bionicle was doing so well, like Ninjago, but Lego cancelled it twice, as we get these rushed endings (I wish we could have explored Bota Magna in G1 more, some more G1 years, and the fifth and sixth direct-to-video movies to happen, and G2 Makuta could have his own storyline in 2017 to be the main antagonist in, we could have got our hands on the Mask of Ultimate Power, and the Toa could have stayed in Okoto to make it their home rather than going back to the stars. I mean, they are not completely machines designed to save Okoto. They’re people with feelings and friends. I hated when these cancelled plans happened). Pitiful and traumatic.

Edited by Lenny7092

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

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1 hour ago, Lenny7092 said:

I think I know what it is. Originally, G2 was going to have a year in 2017 at least, but Lego cut it short after 2 years, and everything is rushed to the point where Umarak freed Makuta, who killed him to be free. But then, Gali told the other Toa that they have to combine with their elements to defeat Makuta. They are a blast-to-blast tug of war, and then the Toa pushed Makuta back to his prison, and then the Toa went back to the stars. Finally, the Protectors said that they can call the Toa when they are needed. Makuta’s the main antagonist, but the ending is rushed. That’s quite lame. No offense. I thought the 2016 storyline could’ve ended with the Toa defeating Umarak, but that was unexpected. 

Er...no, Boomerang was clearly saying the ending itself was sad. It sucked for being rushed, but it wasn't sad, and that's what I was responding to.

1 hour ago, Lenny7092 said:

You know, it’s sad that Bionicle was doing so well, like Ninjago, but Lego cancelled it twice

G1 was only doing average-ish and on a downward slope when it got pulled, and G2 was never anywhere near as successful as Ninjago.

1 hour ago, Lenny7092 said:

traumatic.

I...don't think you know what that word means...

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Rule #1: Always listen to Kek.

Rule #2: If you break rule #1, kindly don't.

Rule #3: EVERYBODY TYPE IN THE CHAT "AVAK IS A STUPID TRIGGER"

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37 minutes ago, Laval- Master of Energy said:

Are you sure you don't need counseling? You sound like you're ready to kill yourself.

I am just feeling nostalgic. It’s been ten years since Bionicle was first cancelled. I just didn’t like these following things: 

1. Originally, Bionicle G1 was going to have a fifth and sixth movies in 2010 and 2011 and some graphic novels that cover the 2010 story and events after it, but they are got cancelled, and the 2010 storyline felt rushed. Bionicle had a lot of cancelled stuff, like The Legend of Mata Nui, despite Bionicle’s popularity and successfulness. 
2. Originally, G2 was going to have at least three years, but the third year got cancelled, and the ending of 2016 got rushed. 
 

Basically, I’m just disappointed about the cancelled plans. I was looking forward to them. :(

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

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11 hours ago, Sir Keksalot said:

It...didn't? The Toa defeated Makuta and it was heavily implied they'd return someday. They didn't die; and even if you had an ending where they did, you could spin it into them all going to Artakha or wherever and having saved the world.

I thought that there were a bunch of characters trapped in Makuta’s prison with Makuta, is what I was referring to. That’s the tragedy from my perspective, that the Toa couldn’t rescue them.

you can call me boomie :D

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50 minutes ago, 21Boomerangs said:

I thought that there were a bunch of characters trapped in Makuta’s prison with Makuta, is what I was referring to. That’s the tragedy from my perspective, that the Toa couldn’t rescue them.

You mean those Protector-like people? Sad to hear that. They must have been caught in the explosion that created the portal to the Shadow Realm, so they ended up like Makuta.

Edited by Lenny7092

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

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  • 4 months later...

It's a bit hard for me to fairly judge how LEGO changed from 2010-2020 because I grew up a lot during that time, going from a kid for whom BIONICLE/LEGO made up a large part of my life, to an adult who still circles back to them from time to time. I'll try to give an analysis as best I can.

As far as I'm aware, nothing has even come close to BIONICLE G1 as far as story is concerned. I won't say that difinitively since I never got into any of the other themes (though I watched a lot of the Hero Factory and Ninjago shows), but it certainly seems that BIONICLE's story success was unique. That's not to say there's not still very skilled writers at LEGO, it's just that there was sort of a perfect storm for BIONICLE, probably some combination of story, leadership, internal culture at the time, etc, which hasn't been replicated since then.

So if story is in decline, what you have left is what LEGO was founded on: building blocks. How did the sets themselves change from 2010-2020? This one's hard to say. I didn't do a full survey of every available set, but I looked at a few examples, and the results are mixed. Constraction is lackin'. City seems to have stayed roughly the same, though I much prefer the 2011 police station to the 2020 one. Technic has gotten worse in my opinion. In 2010 it was a unique theme featuring primarily construction vehicles with interesting functions, taking full advantage of Technic's gears, pneumatics and levers. Now, with the exception of a few sets, it's mostly racecars and licensed vehicle remakes that are expensive and probably could have been made with system parts. On the other hand, licensed themes seem to be doing well. I never had much interest in Star Wars, but those sets still seem to be good. The new Harry Potter sets are very good; they're more sophisticated, realistic, and technically interesting than the old ones (which I was a huge fan of back in the day, I've been interested in Harry Potter longer than BIONICLE, though BIONICLE won my heart in the end), but they don't fall into the trap that LEGO sometimes falls into of using too many bulky, custom, single-use bricks.

Overall, I'd have a hard time saying the 2010s were a period of decline for LEGO. Other than BIONCILE ending (all good things must come to an end), there seems to have been more of a difference between 2000 and 2010 than between 2010 and 2020. Of the things that have changed, some are for the better and some are for the worse. I've always been more of a MOCer anyway, so as long as they keep supplying their high quality bricks to the world I'll be happy.

I really need a better signature.

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@Toa Turing, I really appreciate your thoughtful and well-written post. :) However, please remember to check the date of the last reply in a topic before you submit your own. The last post before yours was added in March—almost 5 months ago! This counts as topic revival.

If you feel like the conversation is worth continuing, you're welcome to start a new topic. :) 

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