Azani

Since we're planning to dye the masks to light blue after they've been printed in milky-white plastic, could you explain what kind of dyes you'll need, as well as how the process will work? LINK REMOVED

You know, it's funny. I just took a look at the post in question, and noticed XONAR pretty well copied and pasted that post as the description of the project here. Oh well. Copied or not, it's still descriptive enough I guess. Haha! Are you referring to your first post in this topic? Yeah, with the exception of the legal bit at the end, it's basically the same as his post in PrismWind's thread. As I said, we collaborated on this topic, I just figured he wrote all that from scratch. Oh really. Funny how that works. I wanted to post this image, originally provided by XONAR in PrismWind's topic, here. For the benefit of those who did not read his post in the topic, it's a picture of a prototype of the 3D printed Pakari on a 2001 McToran. The final version will come in light blue, a similar if not identical color to Takua's mask in the game.

Could you clarify how this relates to the topic at hand?

You know, it's funny. I just took a look at the post in question, and noticed XONAR pretty well copied and pasted that post as the description of the project here. Oh well. Copied or not, it's still descriptive enough I guess. Haha! Are you referring to your first post in this topic?

I've decided that I simply have different ideas of why science fiction exists, and specifically how humans fit into it. Because of that, I'll be withdrawing from the discussion of Jam Pot's idea, and basically just "[agreeing] to disagree" as he said earlier. There's nothing wrong with having different ideas of what science fiction should include or strive to do, but mine appear to be pretty different from those of several other members here, and thus I think that it's best if we stop repeatedly pushing our opinions onto each other.

Back when I was a seven year old, I loved this game. I'm looking forward to a great let's play series!

...Vahkiti, you might want to add that the MNOLG:CE will be a release from SolisMagna.com, particularly because it is intended to be our main product for the foreseeable future. I shall do that when I get home. To be fair though, XONAR did write most of this himself. Chrome crashed before I could post my version of the topic this morning, so we collaborated on this one. That would be great. Even though it's mainly been a collaboration between you, XONAR, and Vrahno, it's being publicized on SM.com as a core part of the project, and it's in the best interest of the site to be linked to as often as the opportunities present themselves.

There was a fairly intense discussion of the project's legality in this topic. XONAR cleared it up pretty well in the 41st post there. Vahkiti, you might want to add that the MNOLG:CE will be a release from SolisMagna.com, particularly because it is intended to be our main product for the foreseeable future.

Let's make this one a bit more interesting then, by bringing Bionicle into it. Let's not. The last thing the Bionicle universe needs is humans becoming the center of attention like they already are in all other science fiction. Humans would never be the center of attention; not even close. Just in the picture, on the fringes. And what exactly is wrong with a story dominated by humans, anyway? Humans are the only ones that write and read science fiction. Believe it or not, when I read science fiction, where anything is possible, I'm not reading it for boring, egocentric humans with their boring, egocentric human problems. Bionicles biggest appeal to me was a completely alien universe with completely alien characters and species, character who we connect with because of their personailities and struggles, not the fact that they share DNA with us. I liked exploring alien worlds, not having humans forced upon me when I read to escape how terrible humans are. I cannot understand how you can see this untouched alien world that formed all on its own without a hint of human to it, and then say "you know what would make this even better? HUMANS!" I still don't really understand your belief that the Bionicle universe lacks "a hint of human". Bionicle is full of ideas and events that, as far as we know, are uniquely human in the real world. Nearly all characters have humanoid bodies, with the few exceptions, such as most Rahi, Nidhiki, and the Visorak, being exact copies of creatures that exist around humans on Earth today. The characters live in houses, eat food, carry objects in their arms, ride four legged animals, use projectile weapons, and do so many other things that are done by humans only. Nearly every quality that could be used to distinguish a similar alien species from a human is shared with humans. Why? Because the story was written by humans, for other humans. Not by Matoran, for humans, but by humans, for other humans.

Let's make this one a bit more interesting then, by bringing Bionicle into it. Let's not. The last thing the Bionicle universe needs is humans becoming the center of attention like they already are in all other science fiction. Humans would never be the center of attention; not even close. Just in the picture, on the fringes. And what exactly is wrong with a story dominated by humans, anyway? Humans are the only ones that write and read science fiction.

The only figures available to anyone outside of LEGO themselves is simple "this line sold really well, this one sold less than expected" and other vague numberless answers. LEGO gave David Robertson larger numbers of details, but the whole "the line moved 10k less units this year, and then another 5k units" information is either fabricated to make a point, or stolen information. LEGO makes a very purposeful habit of not releasing those numbers ever. None of the members who've described sales trends for Bionicle and Hero Factory here have stated any numbers whatsoever.

Let's make this one a bit more interesting then, by bringing Bionicle into it. Actually, I brought it up in my critique of Lyichir's opinion:

No one has claimed to have actual sales figures. There hasn't been any lying, either; every fact has been researched and checked before being mentioned. I love this idea. In fact, an very similar idea has been in my head for several years now; back in 2010, I even considered writing it into a short story as a sort of prequel to the Shattering, but the concept never developed far enough to the point where I could seamlessly craft it into the existing universe, and I eventually dropped it. What you're proposing is a very gripping and exciting story approach, with a lot of potential for edge-of-your-seat suspense; I'd find it very interesting to read about discoveries on both worlds of a common heritage which eventually (hopefully) brings them to meet each other. As you said, there's no real reason why humans and Agori or Glatorian couldn't exist in the same canon story; the possibilities of fiction are endless, and only ever limited in the decisions of the writer. Let's hope that Greg and his collaborators consider a bridge between the two worlds. There are actually very few alien phenomena or physical laws in their universe; ninety-nine percent of the physics that exist in our world are exactly the same in both the MU and Spherus Magna; in addition, several of those that are different, such as the unequal strength of gravity at different locations in the MU, only exist due to the equally alien and artificial construction of the MU as a massive robot, and thus have a reasonable canon explanation that keeps them congruent with Earth physics. Other unearthly phenomena, such as the way in which Spherus Magna's core is constructed in order to keep everyone on the planet from being crushed by it's extreme gravity, seem contrived to specifically fit an uncomfortable situation that the writers of the story accidentally created, rather than to intentionally make the world different from ours. I'd say that there about as many logical links between the two worlds as there are between Narnia and ours- Narnia was a completely different universe that the kids who traveled there were able to access by a bizarre portal that existed in a wardrobe in their house. Even if the worlds do exist in completely separate universes, there's nothing from an in-story perspective that prevents a Toa from putting on an Olmak and jumping to Earth; no physical laws prevent that on Spherus Magna. Rather, as I said in my reply to Jam Pot, it's completely up to the story team to decide to put humans in the story or not. I don't think that the story would lose any of it's appeal, either; rather, it could be a great way of expanding the scope of the story while reducing the amount of new customs, physical rules, and names that a new fan would need to become familiar with. Everyone is already familiar with Earth. I don't think that anyone would be seriously bothered by a storyline such as the one that Jam Pot suggested, save a few extreme fundamentalist Christian or Muslim groups. Because it's fiction, and the storyline for a line of toys at that, even deeply religious families rarely take concepts as blasphemous in the same way as they would if they were brought up in formal settings. Have either of you seen the film "Prometheus", the prequel to the Alien series of films? It deals with a very similar premise of ancient aliens giving humans the gift that would allow us to become the powerful species that we are today. Very few people were offended by that, even though it was arguably much higher brow than the storyline for a Lego toyline. I'd be very surprised if any significant number of people were offended by a plotline of the Bionicle story that took a similar path.

Bionicle literally opened on a fart joke. It didn't open on a fart joke. That instance was about half and hour into playing the MNOLG; also, despite being a member of the Chronicler's Company, Kapura was a minor character in they year and through the entire storyline. IMO, the personalities and interactions of the characters weren't what made Bionicle darker and more engaging than Chima or Ninjago. The setting of the story and the stakes that were placed upon the Toa were truly dark, though; we had an island, populated by tiny villagers, that was being ravaged and destroyed by giant animals that were possessed by a evil spirit. Said evil spirit also put the god and primary benefactor of the tiny villagers into an endless sleep, during which they're forced to fight a war for 1,000 years. Matoran die during the war; Jaller speaks of losing men at the Tren Krom Break in the MNOLG, and daily life for most of them isn't just uncomfortable, or not ideal; rather, it's downright misery. This is especially apparent in Onu-Koro, Le-Koro, and Po-Koro during the MNOLG, but things were far from rosy all over the island as Rahi destroyed the landscape and homes of Matoran constantly. Still think that the story wasn't legitimately dark?

Now I'm really curious as to where exactly you are getting those numbers from. I'm pretty sure I recall it being said several times on several places that BIONICLE sales peaked in 2002. I've also heard about LEGO considering cancelling BIONICLE in 2003, though. As far as those drops per year, never heard of them before. Could you provide a source? I can't provide a a source for this, as I've simply heard it around, but I believe that Bionicle's sales peaked in 2002, while profit earned from the line peaked in 2003.Please correct me if I'm wrong.

And how do you think kids are going to handle that? Just fine. As PrismWind said, it'll work out for them. If they need any help with a set of the approximate complexity of, say, Cahdok and Gahdok, then their parents can help them out. Then they'll play the heck out of them. Seriously. They might not; I often get the feeling that the average six or seven year old is much smarter than Lego and most BZPower members give them credit for. For real! I did stuff like Cahdok and gahdok when I was 6 just fine! ######, I built them myself. So long as you follow the instructions, its not that hard! I built all the different forms of sets like this when I was six, too. It might be tricky for a few people, but it probably wouldn't too hard for most.

And how do you think kids are going to handle that? Just fine. As PrismWind said, it'll work out for them. If they need any help with a set of the approximate complexity of, say, Cahdok and Gahdok, then their parents can help them out. Then they'll play the heck out of them. Seriously. They might not need any more help with them; I often get the feeling that the average six or seven year old is much smarter than Lego and most BZPower members give them credit for. It is true that the basic structure of the Hero Factory building system will be staying for at least the first wave of Bionicle's reboot; a constraction set designer on Eurobricks by the username of Front has publicly said as much. However, this doesn't guarantee that there won't be a higher prevalence of technic elements and complexity in the new sets. It's been shown in the past that it's definitely possible to build figures that have unique designs and carry original motifs with the current building system- just look here and here. A reboot of Bionicle would likely introduce some new pieces with it that are much better suited to it's trademark style, calling back to it's original run. Even though they probably won't be the exact same pieces, i'd be surprised if we didn't get some similar pieces with the launch of the reboot.

This list is very useful for knowing which characters have done and are doing what, and extremely well-organized. For a person that wasn't yet aware of all the nuances and details of the Bionicle universe, it could be very helpful as a sort of starting guide. (Which reminds me that I should probably read the ASOIAF books soon) I did want to point out one little issue: This should read "Turaga of Voya Nui" instead.

I've been thinking about this too, and assuming that it'll be next summer; does anyone have any information that suggests that it'll end up that way or another? Well, considering that a "certain picture" was made known of this early, I'd probably say they're winter sets, so probably December 2014/January 2015. Whoa. That would be amazing.

I've been thinking about this too, and assuming that it'll be next summer; does anyone have any information that suggests that it'll end up that way or another?

I'm pretty sure that no one here was expecting Lego to re-release the original 2001 Kanohi or Kanohi Nuva in any format. Everyone knows that it would be almost impossible for them to do that. If mask packs were to return to a constraction line, it would almost certainly be a future reboot of Bionicle; definitely not Hero Factory. The presence of masks were an instantly recognizable and iconic part of Bionicle, a constant for ever year of the lines nine-year run. Hero Factory, by contrast, is arguably much too far into its run and locked into its own unique style to begin making use of a type of piece that would require a whole new subline of sets, such as collectible masks, especially when helmets, which are very similar to masks, have been included with every hero set since the line's conception. Unfortunately, since a massive amount of evidence from a wide variety of sources, including Lego itself, points toward the constraction theme for release in 2015 being a reboot of Bionicle, and no evidence that I'm aware of points to it being any sort of "castle-themed constraction theme", I'd be a bit surprised if this turned out to be the case. And I'm aware of most of the evidence out there. Sorry dude.

These are unimaginably awesome. Both of them. Though I'm sure that they're fairly time consuming to make, I'd be glad to buy both if you were ever interested in making more. Huki+Maku forever!

Note: Was attempting to quote content of Zenerius's post prior to edit by staff. Is not discussing the alleged leaks. You might want to add that Lego has removed the notice on the LMBs that Bionicle will not be returning, within a few days of the leaks. Well, I guess that you can't have that list up here. Oh well. Please ignore this post, everyone.

According to this post, it was shut down on July 3, 2013. So approximately one year ago. Also, it's possible that they scrapped the old site in order to prepare for the release of the reboot - getting the old site off the Internet could have been part of the plan to re-release it (if they were going to ) with a new upgraded site. It's not a definitive time slot. That's kinda what I'm thinking with it. Also, they've had other theme sites up for long after they've died before. They would pretty much only take down the sites once everyone forgot they existed, or something like that. Maybe Lego was convinced that most people had completely forgotten Bionicle by the time that they took down the websites last year. Obviously, we haven't forgotten about it on this site, but we're a really tiny minority of all the folks that had heard of Bionicle during it's original ten year run. For years, I was a devoted fan of Bionicle; yet, when the line ended, I stayed a fan for about a year before forgetting about it, pretty much completely for more than two years. Until I rediscovered BZPower, I hadn't even thought of the line in a long time. The average casual fan had almost certainly forgotten about Bionicle after it had been absent from shelves for more than three years.

I might be a bit off with the dates, but I think that both were taken down in the first week of August last year. That's kind of funny since I hardly ever hear people whining about Greg's writing on the other LEGO forums I use. It's mostly on BZPower that I seem to see people seem to give him a "historical villain upgrade". His writing for many of the early comics was pretty good, in my opinion, other than the never-resolved cliffhanger in comic #2. I still get chills when re-reading some of those comics. This comic is a good example. The books also tended to be pretty good as far as merchandise-driven chapter books are concerned. I loved BIONICLE Adventures #3 and BIONICLE Legends #7. But for some reason people only remember him for plot holes, poor characterization, and fanservice that was generally relegated to the serials and other online-exclusive stories released in the later years (as well as his somewhat clumsy attempt to explain just why Makuta was never defeated for good, something that wasn't entirely his fault since Makuta was central to BIONICLE's original concept from the beginning). I would say that all of the media in the years that we spent on Mata Nui was extremely well written, whether it was the comics, the MNOLG, or anything else. Greg definitely had a massive part in making those years amazing, but a lot of the credit should go to the writers of the MNOLG at Templar, IMO. Continuing into the later years, none of the films or any of the story driven games were written by him. It's worth noting that Greg wrote the comics every year, and yet the later years of the series are rarely as lauded as the first three years were; the general mood of the story that Greg was working in, which was often determined by others, seemed to have a large effect on the style and arguably, the quality, of his writing.