CallanLoF

As romantic as the idea of LEGO selflessly continuing BIONICLE without a good financial return may sound, that's not how any of it works. … and it would also mean that LEGO didn't "love" G1 either, because that got cancelled due to declining sales. And I'd say bringing back a previously-cancelled theme so soon after it ended would count as one of those "risks", especially with the amount of promotion they focused on it. But how long would you expect them to keep up the risk before deciding against continuing? You completely missed the point. I don't expect them to keep it running with poor sales and I don't expect Lego to care. Lego's a successful business specifically because it works like that. What I was trying to suggest, and what I will do so blatantly now, is that Lego didn't have faith in BIONICLE G2(and by extension lost faith in G1). G1 ended cause they got lazy with the sets and started recycling all the same pieces until the fans got bored. G2 ended because Lego didn't give BIONICLE a real chance from the offset. They again reused a ton of old pieces with only a few new ones, they didn't promote it very well, and they didn't try to expand the media and get it relevant to children again. They went for some cheap online cartoons in the beginning instead of the CGI stuff we got in 2016. They had more faith this year with some of the new pieces and JtO, but it was too late and it wasn't enough.They only gave JtO four episodes to expand the story and the sets didn't look any better despite some of the new pieces. You can go back to the Firefly argument that Whedon tried really hard on that and the money didn't come in, but that was a case of a creative team that was held back by the lack of faith of the studio. This is a case of the company having a lack of faith so much that they didn't even bother with a creative team and threw it on people who didn't even really care about BIONICLE.

Firefly was a good show that the people behind it cared for a lot. It didn't even get a full season before it was cancelled. Market don't care how much you love what you made. It'll live and die on what people are into at the moment, along with a host other things. When people tell you that they've seen the great efforts the designers sunk into the products they put out and you just respond with "can't be, got cancelled" then it shows that you don't understand how many factors go into determining what's successful. Another poor comparison. Firefly was a relatively expensive CGI-heavy show at a time where those were few and far between. Fox put money into the show and when there wasn't an immediate return inflow they canned it. Visual media is incredibly expensive and with something of that degree you can't just throw that kind of money away because the people making it and a few fans liked it. Lego, on the other hand, has dozens of themes that, while surely expensive, make their money back enough that Lego is certainly in the position where they can take risks without bankrupting themselves. But they're a business and don't really care about BIONICLE as a real IP, so they treated it as such.

I suppose by this argument anybody in the world who's homeless or impoverished doesn't care or try hard? It's impossible for mistakes or outside circumstances to affect somebody or something's chances of success? No, of course not. Pretending that how hard somebody cares or tries are the only things in the world that can affect their financial performance is downright irrational. A person can pour their heart and soul into a project and try their hardest to make it the best that it can be, and it can still fail if people don't like it or respond to the ways they try to promote it. You're comparing poverty, an actual issue ongoing literally all over the world due to the poor economy, to a lackluster toyline? That's a really far fetched analogy. How are you going to continue jumping through hoops to defend another heartless reboot even after it was cancelled after two years? It's clear Lego must've felt the same way otherwise they wouldn't have given it the axe. And what makes you so sure Lego felt that way? For all you know, they may not have wanted to pull the plug on it, but had no choice because of how it was going. I'd say the fact that they're the biggest toy company in the world and have no chance of toppling their empire by putting money into an IP that isn't making as much money as they'd hope is a pretty good indicator how Lego feels. If they love the line and didn't care about the money they'd keep making the sets for the fans because the love of the line was stronger than the income. But it clearly wasn't.

So some of these comments are basically saying it's ridiculous to accuse the BIONICLE team of being lazy and uninspired because we weren't on the team and we don't know what their process was. Yet I'd be willing to bet these same people have commented on YouTube channels, blogs, or other media sources that put out something they thought wasn't as good and questioned whether or not they put effort in. You know why? Because the results of any kind of creation shows the level of effort. Be it an article, video editing, you name it. When you see something that is inferior to its comtemporaries you can compare and see where one thing succeeded because their heart was in it while another failed. For example, let's compare first years of video media. G1 had great CGI work from Advance on its animations and posters. G2 had middling animations with cheap drawing designs and went with a narrator format without writing the episodes in such a way that the narrator format would make sense. Jaek has put it very well.

I've got three cause I'm a maniac.

Darn, really wish I hadn't been matched with that Nui-Jaga. But yeah, I really like Krakua.

So we keep on waiting....(waiting) Waiting on the poll, to change. Sorry, couldn't resist. I don't even really care all that much.

The new videos are just forcing in the traits for the Toa we've seen listed on the website, that's why Tahu's "lucky" defeat of all the Skull Spiders and Kopaka's slip make me mad. They have no subtlety and point to the idea that any characterization will revolve around these goofy traits. We'll certainly see a short ending with Gali making a terrible joke, Pohatu being scared of the dark, and Onua being sleepy, and somehow everybody will love it. Also, you may have forgotten the excellent Advance animations of each Toa Mata, which didn't need a narrator to say the exact same thing for each one. Those videos fueled the mystery, with each Toa just doing their on thing in their natural element. I would watch all those animations over this new stuff any day of the week. But yes, since it's 15 years later it's obvious that there will be some marketing changes. For one, it was easier for us to accept BIONICLE back then because it wasn't claiming to be anything else other than it was. This new BIONICLE has frustrated me and some fellow fans because it is using a name that has a decent reputation among those who remember it, and they're trying to re-market it to everybody: kids, new fans, and old fans. And that's not the problem. The problem is that these videos far from capture the same feel as old BIONICLE, and getting the narrator to voice everybody when they could just not given the Toa voices feels pretty lazy.

I'll grant you that I did not elaborate on that one point, but I believe I made my reasons as to why the other problems are bad obvious. I assumed people on this BIONICLE website would understand the complaint of them being faceless when compared to the many names and faces of the Turaga and Matoran from old Bionicle, but I guess not. Um... I think I can deny that. Am I the only one who thinks making Kopaka clumsy does more to ruin the character than make him quirky or more relatable? No, MNOG was not just walking around. It was experiencing the world from the perspective of an average person. Unlike most tales which focus on the special heroes and how everybody reacts them(which Bionicle did through other mediums), MNOG let you experience the world as if you were just a villager yourself and you wanted to know how things worked. If we had a protector version, it would be the same model doing a hundred different things with dialogue trying to make each villager sound unique. And I believe you can say that at least so far the story is worse than Gen 1 when comparing 2001 with 2015, because the air of mystery and intrigue that 2001 captured feels phony and put on this time around(in my opinion). So far comics are a no-go and I believe they're sticking to 90 second shorts for awhile, so things aren't looking like they'll settle in and get more interesting and serious.

Alright, here comes the unpopular opinion. These videos are so bad they are hilarious. We've got a temple of time with the oh-so-clever giant pendulum on it, the spiritual elements that were previously vague now reference prayers to... the sky? What? This world has nameless villagers who specifically mention having sons, as well as a cute baby villager with goo-goo eyes. The Matoran and Turaga of the original story really made the world feel lived in, but now the only characterization these faceless people get is not having a multi-colored mask or being a child who's there to look cute and otherwise be pointless. There's a confusing prophecy that says the Toa will find the special masks and the Mask Maker, even though they've established that there are two(perhaps this is some kind of fake-out for them finding Makuta instead of Ekimu, but I'm not sure this story is clever enough even for that). We have failed and strange attempts at humor with Tahu making what are supposed to be somewhat threatening skull spiders look as effective and terrifying as thrown pillows. We have a voice actor who was clearly chosen for his "narrator voice" trying to play seven different characters(one of which is a woman) and a Protector who dresses up as an old person until it's time to take action, where he reveals that he has a gatling gun on his back. Don't forget the hilarious personality additions like Kopaka's ,"I didn't slip" line. Because that's what Kopaka needed, to be clumsy idiot. We also have the clear separation of each Toa doing their own thing that is evident in the advertising and continues on here. Perhaps they'll show the Toa collaborating in a future shorts, but I don't think I've seen one promotional drawing or anything from the 2-D animation depicting two or more Toa doing something together. And so far all the "nods" to the original story are slapping the Mask of Time in whatever nonsensical place imaginable. Call me a curmudgeon, but these videos do not make me confident that this story will be even remotely as good as the old stuff, even with how convoluted and messy it got. They're rehashing all the basic elements of 2001 without putting any heart or thought into telling a good story. Now it's just each cutout Toa having a "destiny" to find their golden mask with the help of a nameless nobody who gives them extra weapons. Thrilling. I suppose there is still a chance for Lego to redeem themselves when the story continues to play out, but right now it's a childish mess in this viewer's opinion.

Yeah, Makuta mocs are really unoriginal. Whoever entered one of those is a total idiot. Heh heh. Yeeeeeeeeeeaaah.

Unfortunately, it appears my question has been lost among others: I've already entered and have a pretty good idea about how this all works, but I just want to make sure. All six judges will be working together to pick finalists from each site, BUT they will be choosing 6 first-place winners, 6 second-place winners, and 6 third-place winners which will vary depending on which entries are posted on each site. So 18 people will win a prize. Then Lego's team will choose from the 6 first-place winners who wins the Golden Mask. Sorry if this has already been stated, I just wanted 100% clarification of the basics, as I only just learned that all six judges will be working together rather than each choosing the winners of their site by themselves. Also, my entry was built to look like Makuta, who is technically already in this new Bionicle story. I assumed that the whole "make the villain for the new story" aspect of the judging isn't taken as seriously as "this is a big villiain moc and it's supposed to look good as well as evil and intimidating" aspect. Am I correct in making that assumption or is basing my entry off of Makuta a disqualifying factor?

I've already entered and have a pretty good idea about how this all works, but I just want to make sure. All six judges will be working together to pick finalists from each site, BUT they will be choosing 6 first-place winners, 6 second-place winners, and 6 third-place winners which will vary depending on which entries are posted on each site. So 18 people will win a prize. Then Lego's team will choose from the 6 first-place winners who wins the Golden Mask. Sorry if this has already been stated, I just wanted 100% clarification of the basics, as I only just learned that all six judges will be working together rather than each choosing the winners of their site by themselves. Also, my entry was built to look like Makuta, who is technically already in this new Bionicle story. I assumed that the whole "make the villain for the new story" aspect of the judging isn't taken as seriously as "this is a big villiain moc and it's supposed to look good as well as evil and intimidating" aspect. Am I correct in making that assumption or is basing my entry off of Makuta a disqualifying factor?

Entry name: Makuta, Master of Darkness Photo: http://gyazo.com/e49734b3d9efd307be448868db353b8b Gallery: https://www.flickr.com/photos/92130760@N05/sets/72157647154979643/ Video:

Really nice work! Animation was slick, the lighting was top-notch. Not crazy about Pohatu's voice, but I'm definitely not one to talk considering my own take on the character. Looking forward to Suva Shuffle!