CaT in Rogue

yeah that's pretty neat but can it top their best masterpiece of all time

now have them cover Creeping in my Soul and we'll be gucci

I vote the perfect set has no hands and instead has four feet. Or two feet and no arms. Just take hands out of the equation entirely and poof! Perfection.

As an artist I can indeed confirm hands are the devils of design.

Never have I been more relevant.

Bionicle Heroes was probably the first third-person shooter I ever played. Good intro to the genre.

My first disc was from like this now-defunct movie/video game rental place, and it was majorly scratched up. It played fine, but after a few hours or so, it would start overheating or something and all the Toa just sort of lost their heads. The heavy-hitters (Hewkii, Nuparu, and Matoro) actually had their torsos turn into boxes in addition to this. It didn't interfere with normal gameplay, it was just goofy.

Wait for the next reboot. Until then, I've got college and other fandoms to keep me busy.

As a staunch defender of the Piraka Rap as the best musical piece known to humanity, I full heartedly approve of this.

A picture of Filthy Frank's famous "It's Time to Stop!" pose edited to look like The World. Figured it would fit with the new name.

Yes 200 posts a day is definitely dropped and very much a bad sign of activity and definitely not like a million times more than what we get at another website I frequent hahaha help

Okay but more on topic, we've definitely dropped in numbers a lot. Honestly, I think we're at the point where the people still here are hardcore enough to stick around for a while after. If anything, G2 proved that there's hope for the Bionicle brand to be revived in the future, so that'll at least help me stick around.

I thought reading this thread would bring me some good old nostalgia.

Now I'm just sad.

I didn't really grow up with the MNOLG, so out of all the final battles, I'd have to say 2006 and 2010 are my favorite. 2006 mostly just because of the characters involved, and 2010 because PLANET SIZED GIANT ROBOTS PUNCHING EACH OTHER IN THE FACE I MEAN COME ON.

I wouldn't say "replace"; more like "supplement". Give the fists to characters with weapons that would work with fists, and give the abstract hands to characters who have weapons that work with the abstract hands. 2009 did this with Malum, so it's not like it's unfeasible or anything.

Not in a million years. I don't even like normal pop figures, and making unbuildable figures of a toyline created around building things just seems counterintuitive.

I think you're reading too much into a children's story. This isn't like Yu-Gi-Oh!, with rich complex themes about friendship and the fate of the heart of the cards or whatever, but this is a line of plastic toys. Nope. I'd rather put my faith in a line of colored reinforced paper that I feel obsessed to collect, because heart of the cards or something. Nope.

 

I don't think protodermis was meant to be alchemical. Perhaps parallels can be made, but just by how it's introduced in the story makes it seem like something else. I works more like it's the magical blood of Mata-Nui, but originally all protodermis (both energized and otherwise) was simply a natural resource on Spherus Magna, not a magically imbued mercury.

 

And since protodermis has at least two states of matter (solid and liquid) at regular temperature (how exactly is not explained), and quicksilver tends to have one state of matter at regular temperatures, the two can't possibly be of the same substance. I think Protodermis...is just protodermis. Otherwise these quasi-organic beings would be hesitant to hang around a toxic substance (not to mention: in MNOG the Onu-Koro miners describe the solid version of protodermis as and "organic" layer they cannot penetrate - implying that Protodermis is somehow either composed of organic compounds or is itself a living thing).

 

So perhaps in the mythical sense protodermis may function similarly to a fantastical version of mercury, in-story I think that it is something entirely different that only exists in their world.

I said I was reading too much into it like three times lol.

Anyways, Energized Protodermis =/= MU Protodermis. It's stated that MU Protodermis is a synthetic substance created by the Great Beings from Energized Protodermis. The only time we ever see Energized Protodermis take on a solid form is when it was frozen in space, which is not known for its room-temperature conditions.

Elemental powers are alchemy confirmed, Toa Kaita are chimeras confirmed, the EP entity is Father confirmed.

Fullmetal Bonkle: Brotherhood (of Makuta)

Alright everybody, stick on your conspiracy caps, because today we'll be over-analyzing a children's book! (More so than usual, I mean.)

Now, in the novelization of Mask of Light, the Energized Protodermis pool in Makuta's lair is actually described as "mercury". Some may write that off as a creative liberty, but is it really just incorrect phrasing from a source of questionable canonicity? Almost certainly, but for the sake of argument, let's say it's not.

We all know what Mercury is, right? Silver metal stuff that's liquid at room temperature, right? And what does energized protodermis look like?

Of course, your next line is probably "So what? The author probably just used the word mercury since the two look so similar." Sure, but what if I told you that mercury and energized protodermis don't just look like the same thing...they ARE the same thing!

Hold on there a second Mr. Judgy McNotCrazyPants! I think we all know actual mercury isn't the same thing as energized protodermis; for one thing, mercury doesn't have the ability to break things down like energized protodermis does, and it certainly isn't involved in mutation of any kind. Except for when it IS.

Let me introduce you to a good friend I like to call "alchemy", which is formally defined as "the medieval forerunner of chemistry, based on the supposed transformation of matter" and informally defined as "old people pulling stuff out of their butts so they could make dat sweet sweet bling". Mercury is incredibly important in alchemy, and while I won't go into all the specifics for the sake of brevity, let me go over the ones important to this theory.

Regular old mercury in alchemy does a lot, and is considered a very fundamental part of the field, but it doesn't have a lot to do with breaking things down and/or transforming them. However, there is a unique type of mercury in alchemy called "Philosophical Mercury", which, as you can probably guess from the name, is an important part of creating the infamous Philosopher's Stone. We won't be talking about the stone itself here, but rather, what exactly Philosophical Mercury has to do with it.

In alchemy, Philosophical Mercury is essential to the process of transmutation, breaking objects down so they can be reconstituted into better materials. Energized protodermis either breaks down or mutates whatever falls into it. They two substances seem similar in function, sure, but not exactly the same if you're looking at them on the surface level. On the other hand, we're over-analyzing stuff right now, so let's go deeper.

You can't "mutate" metal. Inhabitants of the MU are mostly made of metal. In spite of this, those that get mutated by energized protodermis end up with the inorganic parts "mutated" along with their organic ones. Doesn't make a whole lot of sense, right? Well, what if their inorganic bodies weren't being mutated, but rather, transmuted by the alchemical effects of the Philosphical Mercury? This would explain why energized protodermis affected their inorganic bodies alongside their organic parts. As for energized protodermis's dissolving effect on those not destined to transform, you could argue that the transmutation process is stopped halfway through a la Scar from Fullmetal Alchemist; without being reconstituted, the material comprising their bodies is simply broken down, seeming to "dissolve" away.

Or it could just be that I'm digging way too deep into an off-hand descriptor from a children's book.

Yeah, that's probably it.

 

Bionicle could definitely survive as a brand if Lego knew/cared what they were doing. G1 started out so strongly because Lego was failing pretty badly at the time, and it was a last-ditch effort to keep the company going. They threw everything they could into it, with massive multi-media marketing we haven't seen before or since. And considering the fact that we're still here talking about it 15 years later, I'd say it worked.

I think a level to this that a lot of people neglect is that Bionicle G1 isn't the only huge new initiative that LEGO invested heavily in around that time. LEGO was pushing and heavily promoting new innovations left and right in the late 90s and early naughts. Bionicle G1 is, however, the only successful new initiative they invested heavily in at that time.

True, but I think this and the rest of your post sort of ties into my main point; that is, the actual quality of the marketed material. Method and quality shouldn't really be confused (which I'm probably not helping with since I don't know how to word this right).

Lines like Galidor and Hero Factory didn't fail because the marketing was lazy; I think they failed because the material being marketed just wasn't very good, and I think that applies to G2 as well. You can market a dog turd with as much money, effort, and tie-in promotions you want, but in the end, you're still working to promote a dog turd. Now, G2's actual product wasn't the turd; the toys are probably some of the best Lego's ever produced. The problem is that the toys were marketed as part of a storyline that wasn't very interesting. If you're a kid, would you rather have a toy that you really have zero investment in, or a toy that comes with your favorite superheroes/characters/whatever? From my own personal experience as a kid, I would've chosen even a poorly-made interesting toy over a well-made boring toy any day.

Bionicle could definitely survive as a brand if Lego knew/cared what they were doing. G1 started out so strongly because Lego was failing pretty badly at the time, and it was a last-ditch effort to keep the company going. They threw everything they could into it, with massive multi-media marketing we haven't seen before or since. And considering the fact that we're still here talking about it 15 years later, I'd say it worked.

I think the general issue is that G2's marketing was pretty bad, even compared to the twilight years of G1. And I don't mean as in the amount of money they poured into it (although that could've been better imo), I mean the quality of the actual material. Marketing for things like G1 and Ninjago worked because it was good marketing from a story perspective; they each managed to engage kids in new, mysterious worlds with fun characters and cool ideas. Stuff like Hero Factory and G2, on the other hand, were really just completely average cookie-cutter stories if you ask me.

G2 relied way too much on name recognition and nostalgia, which, while it worked great for the old fans, did all of jack and nada to pull in new fans. For old fans, G2 Ekimu and Makuta are cool because they're friggin Ekimu and Makuta! For new fans, they're just generic mentor and generic bad guy number 3 thousand and 78 whatever. For old fans, the G2 Toa are great because they're the friggin Toa! For new fans, they're just a collection of "team" stereotypes that couldn't be any more average if they tried.

I'm not gonna act like G1 was completely original with its characters and setting, but it combined all sorts of different elements together in new, engaging ways. G2 is just like "Here are some things from G1! Remember G1? G1 was awesome!" without anything really interesting to bring to the table on its own.

So, could Bionicle survive as a brand? I'd say it would probably need the story and marketing of G1 combined with the great toys of G2 to work, but yeah, it probably could.

*snip*

 

2006, soley because of the Piraka Rap.

Roodaka secured 2005 as a close second, however.

Yo yo, Piraka!

These people know what's up.

2006 for me too. I'm not sure if I can place my finger on exactly why, but the atmosphere of 2006 was just so interesting to me.

Batman, I mean Batman, I mean Batman, I mean Batman, I mean-

...Yeah no I mean Batman.

G1 Pohatu: Fun guy you could totally just hang out with.

G2 Pohatu: Batman except with salt and unlikability.

Nobody outside of the Toa, Umarak, and the Mask Makers really felt important enough to count as a character, at least not outside of the books. (Which I haven't read, so they might not be all that better.)

Granted, but the story continues exclusively in the form of Teen Titans Go! cameos.

I wish I wasn't a disappointment.

Not a fan of the clickbait title, but I get your point. To hear my opinions on this, just click the button down below! (You won't believe #6!)

That about sums it up.

This guy is amazing. This is a great piece to send off G2.

There was never any explanation given for it. It was just kinda there as a nod to G1.

Short answer: No.

Long answer: Nooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo.

Helpful answer: I'm like 90% sure it didn't. It's a successful building system that's proved it can work in multiple IPs. Even if we don't get another original CCBS-based IP, I heavily doubt it's gone for good.