masterchirox580

I do not actively collect and have no intention of picking up. As of now I am selling off my HF stuff (which is a very slow process) and may start selling off my G1 stuff in the future. Although I'll wait until the rest of my Lego collection is gone first as those things meant a lot to me. I simply don't have the space for them and am investing the money into other projects.

Story 1, Chapter 5: The village of ice The vorox were slowly closing in and the two friends were slowly backing further and further into the corner. The vorox got so close you could smell their musky breathe. But at that moment a white and blue shield in the distinct shape of a snowflake came up from behind the vorox and hit one of the creatures in the back, causing him to crash into two of his comrades. In the dust they could see the faint complexion of a tall white and blue figure. He had a double bladed sword in one hand and a thornaxx launcher in the other. He aimed his projectile at another one of the creatures and shot at it with a thick brown impact as the dust went up into the air. The creature was immobilised and in that moment Igli withdrew her own launcher and fired inbetween two of the other vorox which caused them both to fly into the air and nosedive right into the ground. With four remaining Igli then drew her own weapon which was a spear with a shape akin to a large shovel but with spikes on the end. She charged towards another and began to attack its' tail. Matan then drew his own weapons and helped to fight the last vorox. He went for the vorox Igli was fighting and hit it in the side with large swoop of his sword. The creature then rolled on to the ground and cowered in fear. But at that moment one of the creatures lunged on to Matan and pinned him down. It began to ready its' tail but at that moment Igli threw her spear into the face of the creature which caused it to lose balance and fall off Matan. Matan then kicked the creatures' head which made it fall unconscious. At that same moment the white figure was taking on the last two remaining creatures with his doubled bladed sword. Matan noticed his shield and picked it up. He aimed it at one of the vorox and yelled “Duck!” and threw it in the same manner as their saviour had done. The mysterious glatorian bolted to the left as the vorox on the right fell to the ground due to the impact. The last remaining Vorox looked fearful as it realised it was the last one standing. It ran off into the distance. And was not heard from again. Matan handed their defender his shield and introduced himself saying “My name is Matan and I thank you deeply for your help” The white figure responded by saying “The names' Gelu” He paused for a minute and examined the person he had just saved. “I haven't seen you around here before. What tribe do you belong to?” Igli interjected with “He doesn't belong to any tribe” and then explained how he had arrived on their planet. Gelu seemed perplexed and said “So this mysterious Glatorian appears and he wants to speak with turaga Kirbold. The turaga are very busy in this moment but I understand, you want to know who you are.” He then motioned for them to follow him. They were soon greeted by a vehicle which was shaped like a motor sled. “There should be enough room here for the three of us. It'll only take us an hour to the village.” They passed through the desert and into the tundra. The snow gushed on to their legs like waves in the ocean. When they arrived they shook the snow off their bodies and made their way to the office of the turaga. Gelu introduced Matan to Kirbold and told him his story. “So you have no memory?” Kirbold said in surprise. He paused for a moment before snapping his fingers. “That's right, I saw a shooting star of gold a few days ago. I thought it was nothing more than a particular pretty star but I suppose it was no star at all.” Matan then asked him “Do you have any details?” Kirbold said “Only that it seemed to come from Aqua magna, one of our two moons.” “Aqua Magna?” Matan inquired. “Yes, one of our two moons, Bota Magna and Aqua Magna.” Gelu interjected with “Well they became our moons after the... betrayal.” Igli broke the silence with “I still don't think he did it intentionally, something happened to our guardian. I swear I had contact with him on the day it happened.” Gelu responded with “I want to believe you Igli but I think that head of yours is frankly too creative for its' own good.” They continued to talk and Kirbold seemed to take a liking to Matan. Rather than dismissing him as some maverick or banning him from the village he saw a potential warrior and friend in him. But their moment was not to last. For they heard a horn indicating an attack and they bolted for the village. Much to their horror a unit of Skrall had appeared and was heavily armed. They looked at each other in preparation for combat.

I've seen the new series and was not impressed. The new characters are honestly just flat and the world is not remotely compelling. The fanbase may have some dedicated hardcores left but the majority left years ago. The makers of G5 seem to have absolutely no interest in appealling to the old brony audience. Who knows though. Maybe G6 will harken back to FIM.

Oh wow, this is a time capsule of a thread. So many dead accounts. MLP was one of the weirdest cultural moments out there. And yet one of the most wonderful. It was a genuinely fun and oftentimes hilarious community. Where did it all go? Well season 5 is where it all went. By season 5 the character arcs were effectively all done and the new characters simply never caught on like the mane six did. By making itself more complicated it simply alienated established fans and only retained the lore obsessed hardcore. But then again the show's status quo couldn't have survived anyway. It simply would have gotten old. Other shows came along which stole the limelight away from this one. Either way I would still love to re-experience the heyday of this fanbase. For all the "cringe" it was fun.

I remember getting one of these back in 2011. I only got it because I wanted the dual coloured chest piece. I kinda wish I could sell it now but I can't seem to find any price for it. It was an interesting little tool but it was limited by the fact you were only allowed to use 31 pieces. You had to make it in the 2.0/3.0 style. That probably explains why it died so quickly. If anyone has a price for the dual coloured chest piece please let me know.

Story 1, chapter 4: The unexpected friendship Kabrua lead Matan to a small room with a table in the middle and a small window. The room was coloured a light grey. “I take it this is your home?” Matan said to the turaga who could not bring himself to speak. Matan was followed by his friends who looked on him with deep disappointment. The turaga looked Matan straight in the eyes and said “do you know what you've just done?” in a very light but stern tone. “I have just won you a battle against your enslavers.” Matan said in a calm but proud way. The turaga looked back and said “and you broke every single RULE IN THE PROCESS!” His voice suddenly rose to a raging tone. “I DON'T KNOW WHO YOU THINK YOU ARE BUT THIS IS COMPLETELY UNACCEPTABLE!” Matan looked down with a look of shame. Ackar stepped forward and said “Don't be so hard on him. He only just got here a few days ago. He doesn't even know where he is” The turaga turned his head away in dismissal and said “It is still unbelievable that he would disobey an order like that. Does he have any clue how much danger he has put us in? Challenging generals head on is completely against the rules of warfare. Either the Makuta will have us for breaking the rules or he'll start adopting this same tactic. And I don't think you could handle whatever creatures he chooses to create” At that moment a brown glatorian entered the room. She looked on at Matan and said “Is this the one who defeated Stronius?” Matan looked at her and gave a brief nod of the head. She approached him and said “That was very impressive.” The turaga faced her and said “Don't you go encouraging this!” The glatorian looked back at her elder and said “But he has saved us. Po-Magna is safe! For the time being that is.” The Turaga looked back and said “And he has dishonoured us.” She started stammering and said “B..but he” The turaga raised his voice and said “That's enough Igli!” She stood there silent and the turaga looked back at Matan. He looked him straight in the eyes and said “I don't want to see you in Po-Magna ever again. Now leave.” Matan's eyebrows dropped in disappointment. He then turned and slowly walked away with his friends following him. They were boarding the carrier and Ackar said “Well now you know my friend. We have rules on this planet and we like it when people stick by them.” At that moment Matan heard the sound of loud footsteps one after another. He turned and saw that it was Igli running after him. “Hey, wait up!” she called. Matan felt a bursting feeling of happiness and relief as it seemed he had made another ally. She stopped in front of him, panting. Then she reached out her hand to shake his and said “I knew you were coming” Matan raised his eyebrow and shook her hand. He said “You.. did?” Before she could answer Ackar interjected with “Another one of your visions, Igli?” Igli responded indignantly with “Yes another one of my visions.” Kina responded with “You always have these visions and they never come to pass. You just re-interpret them based on whatever event happens.” Matan turned and said “let her speak.” She gave a brief sigh of relief and said “Thank you Matan.” She paused and then said “I had a vision of a boulder being shattered by a figure of glimmering light. The figure fell from the sky out of a black hole with two red eyes.” Matan was shook and said “Red eyes?” He scratched his chin and said “This person clearly has insight. She may be useful in my quest to uncover who exactly I am.” At that moment they heard the Turaga yelling “Igli!” She turned to face her elder. “If you wish to associate yourself with this reckless vagabond then be my guest but I would request that you travel with him rather than disgrace this land further by preventing him from leaving!” At that moment they both boarded the carrier and set off into the distance. On the way back through the desert there was a deep silence and a sense of shame in the air. Gresh sighed. “Well that was a waste of time”. “But was it?” Matan replied. “After all I saved a village and made a new friend”. “And you got yourself banned from a village.” Kiina responded in a sarcastic tone. Another long silence filled the desert until Igli broke it with “So what happens next?” Ackar rolled his eyes and said “Well, we've got work to do for our tribes and we can't sit around all day helping some stranger in his amnesia quest. I'll be dropping everyone off at their respective magnas and Matan can decide for himself what he wants to do. It's not like he's much of a team player anyway.” Matan was slightly taken aback by the snide remark. He sat there in silence before asking “Are you sure there are no other leads of information?” The others ignored him until Igli said “Hey, what about Ko-Magna? The turaga there, turaga Kirbold, he's good at star gazing and stuff like that. Perhaps he saw you and can give some insight?” Ackar quickly pulled the breaks and halted. He turned his head to them and said “If that's what you want you're going to have to walk there.” Igli looked taken aback. But Matan stepped in and said “alright then.” Ackar then pointed toward the north west and said “Ko-Magna should be in that direction. But you gotta have some guts to actually try and walk there.” Matan stepped off of the vehicle and proclaimed “Then guts are what I have!” Igli stepped off the vehicle to join Matan in his journey. At that moment the engine of the vehicle restarted and Kiina, amused, said “Suit yourselves.” Before they could respond the carrier was already speeding off into the distance. They set off on a brisk walk towards Ko-Magna. Matan turned to Igli and said “So how long until we reach Ko-Magna?” “From here probably two days.” Matan sighed and said “Two whole days?” “There should be an inn nearby” she replied. They both walked on in silence through the desert. The dust was so thick it could have been mistaken for sand. They couldn't quite see what was in front of them and had only the mountain of Ko-Magna to guide them. They continued walking until they heard a sound. A light hissing noise. They looked at each other in discomfort. They continued walking forward until the sound was heard again. They looked around them to see if they could identify the source of the sound. They both drew their weapons and waited for what they knew was a hostile encounter. After a few minutes they saw the eyes of the vorox approaching them out of the dust obscuring their vision. There was at least ten of them. They approached with tails at the ready and with weapons in hand. Matan and Igli felt an urge to run. Looking behind them, they realised there was no where to go. They were cornered. With no one to help them....

Story 1, chapter 3: The journey to Po-Magna They boarded the same carrier that Ackar had used when apprehending Matan. It lacked seats so Ackar sat on the engine of the vehicle and Gresh on the hood. Matan sat in the passenger seat and Kiina was driving. They had arrived at a canyon. It was a warm spring day and the air was still and calm. But it was not enough to calm Ackar who announced “I don't like this! This place is dangerous.” Kiina roled her eyes and responded with “and how else are we supposed to get an answers on who Matan is?” Ackar quipped back with “I think there might be more important things going on right now. Like a war.” Gresh correctively said “After how we treated him I think we owe him at least this much.” Matan was not paying much attention. He was more interested in what he had been told about the unfortunate state of affairs the planet had fallen into. “This Makuta Tuma fellow, where did he come from?” Suddenly everyone went quiet and there was a sudden awkwardness in the air. Kiina broke the silence with “He came from the guardian.” Ackar interjected with “You mean the traitor!” Kiina ignored Ackar and said “Tuma just fell down from the robot one day, as did his siblings. He seemed ok at first but then he started experimenting on people.” Matan said in an understanding tone “I see. But who is this guardian or traitor as you call him?” Another awkward pause followed until Gresh answered with “We don't talk about that.” Before Matan could ask any more questions a large rock steed emerged from behind a cliff face and headed right towards them. Without hesitation Gresh withdrew his thornaxx launcher and fired. In a blazing light it headed toward the creature. It managed to dodge the shot and continued its' journey towards them. On it was a bone hunter with weapons in hand and prepared to attack. It was getting closer and Kiina closed her eyes and turned to the left in order to ram the side of the carrier into the steed. But when she opened her eyes the creature was right in front of them and was bending its' head downwards in order to bite at whoever it could get its' teeth on. But at that moment the golden Matan lifted up his shield and stuffed it in to the creatures' mouth. He then withdrew the sword he had taken from Ackar earlier and it turned into a much larger weapon with an added blade. He then swiped at the creatures jaw. The rock steed groaned in pain and in that moment Ackar fired a thornaxx at the rider which made him drop his weapons. Kiina sarcastically said “do you wish to continue fighting and get arrested or do we part ways and then arrest you later?” At that moment the rock steed slowly stammered away. The vehicle recommenced its' journey. Ackar casually said “Those were bone hunters Matan. You're gonna be seeing them a lot. They obviously won't be a problem for you.” “Indeed they won't” Matan responded. Another silence followed as they zoomed through the canyon. Gresh broke the silence with “tell me Matan, do you know of Igli?” Matan shook his head. Gresh scratched his chin and said “I thought that might trigger your memory, I still have no doubt you are from Po-Magna” They pulled into a camp where many injured agori sat and received medical aid. There were various small huts which were covered by the thick leaves of Le-Magna. These were the medical huts. Matan looked on with a sense of despair. Before he could open his mouth to ask more questions a very frustrated Turaga approached them and barked “What are you doing here? We did not request your assistance!” Ackar walked up to turaga Kabrua and said “I am very aware you are busy but we believe we have someone important to present to you.” Matan stepped forward. The Turaga looked at him with bemusement and said “I have no idea who this person is.” Gresh felt a shock and said “Are you sure? The colours seemed like something out of this place.” “What? Yellow and gold? I would question your ability to see colour, rookie as neither of those colours are brown. You have all wasted my time and I will have each of your respective turaga know about it” Matan looked on at the battle field and saw the skrall attacking the villagers. Matan proclaimed “I may not be one of you, but I insist on helping you!” Kiina looked shocked and said “Matan, no! That breaks the rules of warfare. You must be called up by the turaga.” “But these people are clearly suffering.” Matan replied. At that moment the Glatorian all shook their heads and headed back towards the carrier. They motioned for Matan to join them. But instead Matan drew his sword and shield and sprinted off to the battle field. Kabrua looked on in the disgust as he headed towards the open desert. When he got there he saw many Agori cowering before the soldiers of the Makuta empire. They were armed with small mechs to match their stature but they were unstable and they could not fight. Among the Skrall was a general named Stronius. An elite Skrall who gained a name. Matan approached him and said “I demand you withdraw from Po-Magna!” Stronius laughed and said “A new Glatorian with fancy toys I see. Very well then, if you can somehow beat me I'll withdraw the army.” The turaga and Glatorian looked on in shock. Still chuckling Stronius lifted his club up high and swung it downwards towards' the golden hero's head. Matan lifted his shield to block the attack and swung his sword towards his arm. Stronius let out a grunt and said “Basic move. You have nothing to be proud of.” Matan took another swing of his sword towards Stronius and this time hit his shoulder. Stronius gave him a deathly glare and struck him in the torso with his club. Matan started to pant and launched towards his opponent with his sword aiming for his wrist. At that moment Stronius took another swing and hit him in the arm. His arm went right up into the air and his sword fell to the ground. The whole battle had stopped as the armies looked on in amazement. Matan had fallen to the ground with his eyes closed. Seemingly defeated. The Glatorian looked on with despair in their eyes. Was that it? Their strange little friend dead already? But they soon found out that no, that was not the case. After a few minutes of the Skrall laughing at what they perceived as some rogue rookie acting way above his league the Glatorian noticed something. A glint of blue in Matan's eyes. He quickly got back up and held up his shield. While Stronius celebrated Matan rammed his shield straight into him with a hard metallic crash. Stronius couldn't believe it. He looked on in shock and horror as Matan drew up his sword and started to slash at his torso. Stronius took the hardest swing he could at his enemies' head. But this time Matan lifted up his sword and attacked his hand. He dropped the club. Matan then stood his foot on the club and triumphantly announced “I will give you back this weapon if you agree to leave this place!” Stronius stared in a mixture of shock and internal agony. Agony over his failure. He then said under his breathe “Fall back” and the skrall began to slowly walk away. Matan withdrew his foot. Stronius collected his weapon and slowly stalked away. The victors had no idea how to react to what they had seen. Matan had broken the rules and saved them in the process. The turaga looked on in anger and motioned for Matan to speak with him in private.

I have since chosen to make this into a fully fledged story. Been dormant for a few months now. Should get back to it.

I saw this coming back in 2014. When reading his topic on the old Lego Message Boards I remember always reading a certain degree of frustration in his messages. Perhaps it was due to the younger userbase but I don't think that's what it was. You could tell he resented Lego's decision not to involve him in G2. In fact I remember his story would flip. At one point stating he was a creative consultant and other times stating he had nothing to do with G2 at all. His involvement with G2 was made quite unclear. Not only that he was always hesitant to talk about G2. I'm pretty sure he deeply resented Lego over that. And who can blame him? They took something he invested a decade of his life into and booted him out of it. My guess as to what happened is that Lego has become increasingly centralised and creatively restrictive and he has either decided to leave willfully or has been forced to quit by the company. Well now that he's leaving perhaps we'll get to have him back here on BZPower. Or perhaps he wishes to leave all that behind him. Either way I hope he goes on to do something he enjoys.

Kinda makes me wish my family had saved the old hard-drive from my windows 98. That likely had a few saved on to it. I distinctly remember downloading the Lewa Nuva wallpaper back in 2003. Although it was through the old minidiscs so I'm not sure if that is what you're looking for.

Story 1, Chapter 2: The Makuta While all this was going on, over the volcanic hills of Ta-Magna and the water falls of Ga-Magna, lay a region formerly known as Onu-Magna. It was situated in a cave beneath the desert and had rich mineral resources. Studded with bright green gems and bright purple crystals it was a sight to behold for any who saw it during its' time as Onu-Magna. The houses were usually studded with gold and platinum. But today it was a rather grim place. Filled with smoke from weapon smelting. Much of the beauty had been stripped away for military and production purposes. And the Onu-Agori were taken as a slave population. And above the village was a small palace where a large throne stood. The palace was pure black with nothing to behold besides the flames in the windows. The palace had a large triangular roof with two watch towers on each of side of the door. The watch towers were like that of grey chimneys. On the throne sat the emperor. It was a try out day. This is when the Agori would show their combat skills to prove themselves worthy of military service. For that was the only way out of slavery. The ruler of the empire would judge you personally as he did not trust any others to assess a given agori's fighting talent. If you passed you would go on to full training. If you failed you were back to whatever occupation you were given, and if you angered him you would perish. An agori displayed his ability to fight. It was sluggish and unfocused. The emperor said “I don't know what kind of an idiot you have to be to believe this would ever pass! You're going back to the mines.” The agori slumped and said “My apologies, Makuta.” He then left the palace. The large black and green figure sat there somewhat frustrated due to a lack of progress on that day. “Are there any updates on the Po-Magna campaign?” he blurted out to his nearest guards. “No my emperor” one of the many nameless guards responded in an emotionless tone of voice. Most of the Skrall were simply called that. Skrall, followed by a unit number should they need the attention of specific individuals. Only certain Skrall were named and they could only earn a name by being of high rank. The people here used to have names but they had been stripped of them by the Makuta. They had a generally uniform appearance for the emperor had mutated them to fit his desire of an ideal servant and military class. Stood next to his throne was a Skrall warrior who was a bit of an oddity among the skrall. Instead of the black and red usually adorned by the warrior class, she was black and green, much like the Makuta himself. She saw that he was frustrated and getting angrier by the second. He wanted some kind of update on the Po-Magna campaign. She said in a tone of confidence “My emperor I am sure things are going well, after all, as opposed to the combined forces of Bara Magna we're doing incredibly well.” The makuta looked at her with a bemused expression on his face and said “I am the greatest on this planet. I deserve it and I deserve it as soon as possible. There will be peace on this planet and in this chamber once I have conquered it. Until then I will continue to ask for information and I will have it.” The green Skrall sighed and said “As you wish Tuma.” At that moment her eyes began to shrink and the other guards in the room looked at her in horror. She slowly tilted her head upwards to see her ruler standing above her like a giant. Looking down at her with an intense anger in his eyes. “Tuma?” he said under his laboured breathe. He then yelled “TUMA!” He grabbed her by the neck and threw her against the wall. “ONLY I, EMPEROR MAKUTA TUMA, MAY DICTATE WHO REFERS TO ME IN THAT MANNER!” He grabbed her by the leg and threw her to the floor. “I WORKED SO HARD AT SUBDUING THIS PLACE! I MADE DEALS WITH BUSINESS LEADERS AND SECURITY! I COMMANDED MY FIRST PLATOON TO SUCCESSFULLY TAKE CONTROL OF THIS PLACE!” He then grabbed her by the torso and threw her to the doorway. He then shouted “AND THIS IS HOW I AM REPAID?” He drew his sword to her neck and said “I could end you right here. But you have been fortunate enough to catch me in a good mood. And so I demote you to the lowest rank of the army. And this is only because of your apt fighting skills. Now leave my chamber lest I change my mind” The green Skrall then stood, shaking, and slowly raised her arm in a salute. “Y...yy.. yes my emp...peror.” Tuma then turned away to his throne. The now demoted guard quickly scurried away so as not to be seen by her assailant. At that moment a messenger came to the Makuta and announced “My emperor! I am happy to announce we have made another break through in Po-Magna and that we have taken another sector of a village and successfully secured over 500 new slaves for the empire!” “Excellenet” Tuma responded. “Soon I will be able to show this entire planet the truth of my brothers' ideals. And when I have done so I will reunite with the brotherhood and we will merge our realms and conquer all of this world. And perhaps others.” At that moment a Ko-Agori came into the room and said “I have more information for you. Turaga Atakus, the turaga you wonderfully deposed, is currently taking refuge in Ko-Magna” The emperor smiled and said “I thank you deeply for this information” The white Agori responded with “I always honour my contracts. I'll need more cash to bribe the Bone Hunters though” The Makuta responded with “And of course you will receive such money. Whatever is required to grow my empire” End of chapter 2

Hi there! You may have just read the first chapter of my reimagining of the 2009 saga of Bionicle. I feel before the topic goes ahead I should answer some questions that I think may come up. What is the purpose of this story Something of both a passion project and a personal exercise. It is my own retelling of the Bara Magna story according to how I would have written. I personally enjoyed 2009 more than a lot of others did but I feel the story undersold the concept. So I am here to retell the story according to my how I would have preferred it to have gone down. It is also a test of if I can write stories or not. Is this meant to fit in with bionicle canon? Not really. At least nothing post 2008. You can imagine all the events prior to 2008 happened but you should pretend that everything after that didn't happen. How often will this be updated? As often as I can. There is no release schedule. And with that please feel free to post any other questions or critiques that you may wish.

Story 1, chapter 1: The Mysterious Hero In the desert of Bara Magna, on a cold winter night, an insect was on the move. Feeling for heat it scurried across the desert. It felt a warmth coming from the north. As it hurried towards the warmth it saw a light which attracted the creature. It picked up speed and came to a large crater. In the middle of the crater lay a mask glowing brightly. Too bright to make out any details. The creature stopped and watched. The mask began to levitate and sand began to move, forming a tiny tornado of sand. It began to form a body. As the body solidified the light grew brighter until a giant flash occurred. And then before the creature was a body of gold and yellow. The figure looked around, confused. Unsure of where it was. And yet, calm. “Where am I?” the figure exclaimed. He began to look around more frantically. “How did I get here” he said as he began to breath more heavily. “Who am I?” it said one last time before beginning to pace on the spot. As he probed his mind, he saw flashes of a red light with a deep voice announcing “I banish you!”. “Banish?” he thought to himself with a sense of fear. He began to calm down again. Having a fraction of an answer was enough for the time being. He had no name for himself, no memory. And yet he was there. The insect had been quietly watching him during all this. He eyed up the creature and suddenly had an urge to pick it up. His only friend in this world that he didn't understand. The critter quickly ran up to his ear and started making a clicking noise. And all of a sudden he felt comfortable and relaxed. “Click, shall I call you?” he said to it. It clicked once again. He interpreted that for a yes. “So then Click, why do you take a liking to me?” he said knowing he wouldn't get an intelligible response. “Well I guess there's more important questions such as where exactly I am” he said to himself. And then in the distance he saw what may have been his answer. A vehicle was coming in, fast, with a red figure piloting it. As it dashed through the ocean of sand the golden figure waited patiently in full confidence he would receive a warm welcome. Clicked moved itself to the mysterious figure's back out of fear. It arrived just in front of him and the red figure piloting it pulled out his sword and exclaimed “Your name!”. The golden figure looked at him perplexed for he had no answer. “Your name, now!” his captor repeated again but this time raising his voice ever so slightly. “I... I don't know” he replied. “Don't know?” the Glatorian replied with a slightly aggressive tone of voice. “Very funny, but that kind of disrespect gets you no where on this world.” He drew out a pair of cuffs and cuffed the confused person and then led him into the passenger seat of his vehicle. The strange figure sat there perplexed and shocked. He didn't know who he was but he expected a much better welcome than this. The vehicle began to move. He looked behind him at the engine of the vehicle and noticed something. A small plaque with the words “Property Of Ackar” written on it. “Ackar?” he said to the angry looking fighter. “Your name is Ackar” he said much to Ackar's displeasure. Ackar responded with “You can play this game all night for all I care but it won't get you out of here. You know full well what my name is and every other Glatorian across this planet”. “Glatorian?” he replied. Ackar started to glare and said in a harsh tone “From here on out you will not speak unless spoken to, and if you don't follow that rule you will only make things worse for yourself”. They arrived at the fire village of Ta-Magna with its ever present volcano in the skyline. Ackar took him to a barracks with a small cell. And in the barracks was a blue figure looking at him with a mix of curiosity and suspicion. “Who's this?” she asked Ackar. “Kiina, I want you to meet our first suspect with no name”. “No name?” Kiina replied. Ackar guided him into the cell before shutting it and saying “Yes, he says he can't remember it and we're going to keep him here until he starts giving honest answers to our questions.” Ackar then turned to Kiina and said “You and Gresh are to keep watch of him while I go out to fight Strakk.” Kiina gave a determined look and said “On it. I'll inform Gresh once he gets back from cleaning the carrier.” Ackar left the barracks. Kiina turned to the cell and said “Alright, what's your game?”. The prisoner responded with “I have no knowledge of this game you speak of. I was just standing in the desert and now I've been transported here.” Kiina gave him a glare and said “Sure, just standing in the desert in the middle of a crater.” At that moment Gresh entered the barracks and said “I'm back!” He turned to see they had a new captive. He turned to Kiina and said “Who's this?” Kiina responded with “He apparently doesn't know.” “Doesn't know?” Gresh replied. The glatorian of Le-Magna approached the cell. “Can I get your name?” He asked. The mysterious yellow figure responded with a rising frustration in his voice “I don't know! I am telling you I have no idea how I got here! Now let me out!” Kiina chuckled and said “now you're just making yourself look more suspicious.” But during the pestering from the two glatorian he felt something moving on his back. It was Click and he was crawling towards his hand. When it reached his palm a blinding flash of light filled the barracks and a large shield of purple and platinum had emerged. It was heavy and strong. The now frustrated stranger rammed the shield into the cell door causing the door to fall on to the floor. Gresh and Kiina drew their weapons in preparation for a confrontation. The atmosphere was tense. Each of them waiting for the first strike. The glatorian knew this was not the average criminal. He slowly shifted toward the door way keeping his eyes on his two captors. Neither of them was prepared to strike. The former captive then bolted out of the doorway and toward the arena. The glatorian quickly ran after him. “HALT!” Gresh called after the fugitive. But he kept running until he was in the arena and was able to witness the battle between Ackar and Strakk. Ackar was failing. His sword swings were slow and dispassionate while Strakk was quick with his axe. He held the axe in a hook like position and then yanked Ackar's shield out of his hand. The runaway prisoner called out “Surely that is against the rules?” The crowd looked down at him with a mix of curiosity and displeasure that he had called them out. Ackar looked it at him with an intense hatred as Kiina and Gresh were close behind him. They leaped to grab him. But at that same moment Strakk was raising his axe to strike at Ackar's chest. The hated yellow figure then leaped in between the two with his shield held up. Strakk striked. As the cheating Glatorian opened his eyes expecting the ultimate victory, he saw his axe had instead striked the purple core of a large platinum shield. The mysterious figure then grabbed Ackar's sword and used it to cut the back of Strakk's hand. He dropped the axe out of shock alone. The stranger then rammed his shield directly into Strakk and sent him flying to the ground. Strakk was humiliated. The golden fugitive then presented his hand to Ackar who was lying on the floor. The look of shock filled the stadium in perfect unison like a synchronised dance. “I don't know what kind of world I'm on but I refuse to accept one where that kind of conduct is permitted” Ackar slowly raised out his hand to the person he had antagonised so much earlier that same evening. He slowly opened his mouth and said “Th...thank you... I.. I suppose you're free to go” he said with a stutter. The former fugitive turned around to walk away from the scene until Ackar grabbed him by the shoulder and said “Listen, we should probably get to know each other better. But before that I do want a name out of you. Can you not think of anything which might be your name?” The golden hero then probed his mind as deeply as possible and came out with “Ma... Matan. I think that might be my name” Ackar replied with “Then Matan it is. It's nice to meet you Matan. Please excuse the earlier transgressions” he said with a mixture of relief and defeat. They returned to the Barracks and sat down for a talk. “So you don't remember anything?” Gresh said in a more understanding tone. “That's correct.” He replied. “Yet you have this strange ability to terraform creatures and perhaps objects.” Kiina interjected. “Whoever you are, you must be important to have been given that type of power.”Ackar said. Matan placed his face in hands and said “I just remember the words “I banish you” being said to me” Gresh stood up and said “The colours, the desert. Po-Magna! He must be from Po-Magna! They've been falling to the Makuta empire as of late!” Matan heard that word and suddenly saw a red light in his mind. Two glowing red eyes looking at him with contempt and those same words “I banish you”. “Makuta!” he blurted out. “I recognise that word. It's... not good, is it not?” Kiina looked to her fellow glatorian with a look of unease and said “no... it's not.” Ackar then said “I think we should take you home or whatever parts of it are still accessible. We'll ask the turaga there what they know about you” He felt comfort at hearing the word “turaga” and said, let's do that. They all got on board the carrier which brought Matan to the barracks and Kiina said “but during the journey we'll have to explain to you who we are and what our situation is.” End of chapter 1

Thing is, Lego don't operate like Hasbro do. Hasbro tends to have its' own franchises that it will fund endlessly and that will have relatively consistent characters and aesthetics across each iteration. Lego on the other hand has a different model entirely. For most of its' history its' themes were based more upon the functionality of the toy rather than any particular characteristic. When they did switch to instruction based sets, they went with a few very general themes. Space, town, castle, and later pirates. These were largely functional toys without a lot of character to them. A model of toy production very much in line with how toys were seen in the 1940s where it was mostly basic dolls and teddy bears. Many toy companies shifted over to marketing based on lore and characters in the 1980s. But not Lego. Rather Lego stayed in the old frame of mind for around 20 years before releasing bionicle. And even today they still have remnants of the old attitude in that industry. And I think part of this is down to the very nature of Lego toys. Its' main appeal lies in buildability and as such the main way to maintain interest is to introduce new moulds every year. And you need sets with which to show off new moulds. So you change the themes up every few years with revisits and remakes here and there. Economically it makes sense. However there is another element here which I think is cultural. In northern Europe people have different social attitudes. I mean that's to be expected but it goes a bit deeper with the nordics. That is the nordics have something called janteloven (laws of Jante). And janteloven in effect dictates a strict sense of equality and openness to all. Have you ever noticed why so many people from that part of the world are so open minded? Well that's why. Now notice how Lego operates. They've always been trend chasers. Some of the earliest Lego space commercials used references to star trek. Lego based many of their properties on pre-existing trends in the form of various films and TV shows. Lego has always been a very adaptive company which goes well with the social values of Northern Europe. This is part of what makes bionicle so unique within the company. Because it wasn't based on any specific piece of media. Not only that but many of the people who were important in bionicle's creation were British and American. So in that sense bionicle was much more of a product of Western Europe and North America than it was a product of Northern Europe. In that respect bionicle was something of a foreign product for the Lego company. Hasbro likes to sell its' lines regardless of trends. Lego on the other hand works the other way around. You can see this in full force today with their focus on licenced products. People in nordic countries tend to be very cohesive because they have a culture that specifically discourages standing out from the crowd in any way and I think you can see that in how the Lego company operates. They adapt to global trends.

I don't see why I should be positive to a line I feel nothing towards.

This feels like a thesis against a certain user I will not name. I do still have my resentments over the nature of bionicle's cancellation but overall I myself don't want it to return. But frankly the arguments made here are not very convincing. I will play devil's advocate and go over a number of rebuttals that could be made. Lego could, with the right leadership, make bionicle a roaring success once again. If Greg Farshtey was back at the helm bionicle could, theoretically, become a big franchise again. The second argument comes off as more of an insult than anything. Calling people manbabies really isn't a compelling argument. And the idea one can just make their own bionicle is kind of laughable when you consider that most bionicle fans are adults without the time to really dedicate themselves to it. That being said I don't think your argument is completely without merit but I'm just pointing out that a number of counter-arguments could be raised against it. That being said it's not so much a case that bionicle doesn't need to come back so much as the fact that it should not come back. Certainly not any time in the near future. The simple reason being that Lego is simply unable to support such a theme in this day and age. Back in G1s day the company was a lot smaller with enough resources to dedicate towards a single theme like bionicle. Nowadays it's a lot bigger and more diversified. I will concede that bionicle was not, in the long term, a sustainable way to keep the company afloat. But due to the fact bionicle was their only multimedia franchise they could dedicate a lot of time and effort into it. It was the companies' bread and butter at the time. Today however Lego have a lot of their themes turn into multimedia franchises. So much so they started producing films for their licenced properties. They now have to outsource a lot of their story materials to other companies meaning they really cannot create something as in depth as bionicle anymore. Not just that but the culture in general changed. Dark and serious stories were all the rage in the 2000s and Lego was just falling in line. People no longer demand these types of story anymore. And that's before taking into account the economics behind it which would be a disaster for the company. To recreate a line like bionicle Lego would have to make a LOT of new moulds. So much so that such a theme would be incredibly expensive. I'm not even sure if CCBS is still in production at this point (which presents a whole host of problems for constraction). If Lego were to bring it back today there would be a whole host of problems that would cause it to fall short of the original. The idea really is based in pure nostalgia and nothing else. And even if Lego were to bring it back, exactly as it was, it would not have the same impact. The sense of wonder and mystery is gone now. I am older, you are older, and we already know the story. Sadly that sense of wonder at the theme will be confined to memory for the rest of our lives. Bionicle should not return. It was my childhood and it will remain there.

Hero factory is one of those things I really don't care for. I remember its' release back in 2010 and was initially supportive of it as a nice shake up for the status quo. Of course that quickly tailed off. The theme itself seemed to be an afterthought for Lego. It felt more like an experiment to see if constraction could survive without bionicle. Lego decided to simplify everything. The story, the builds, even the packaging, simplicity was its' MO. But that I think is what ultimately killed it. The bionicle reboot would have been in development for at least two years and so that means Lego made the decision to bring it back after the breakout wave. I think that should tell you just about everything you need to know about its' success or lack thereof. I never saw it get half the fanfare as bionicle. In fact many of its' collectors seemed to be people who were themselves bionicle fans. There was just nothing to attach yourself to with HF and as such I see it as a thing with no real identity for itself. Overall I expect it to be nothing more than a minor footnote in the Lego companies' history.

After discovering what happened to Lego Universe I can't help but feel like the theme was ended somewhat unjustly. Most indicators show the theme was still making a profit by 2009 but Lego decided to pull the plug anyway. Except for the fact that wasn't the whole story either. Greg Fashtey revealed that Lego actually made the decision to cancel the theme around autumn of 2008. They never really gave Bara Magna a chance to revitalise the theme. Frankly I don't think Lego ended it for practical reasons so much as I think it was ended for other reasons. One thing people often forget is that many of the Lego group's employees hated bionicle back in 2000. They felt it violated everything Lego stood for. It was focused on conflict and an established story which very heavily conflicted with their prior themes which had no real storyline and often times didn't even feature the whole battle in a box philosophy. I don't imagine all those employees are gone and I imagine they were waiting for a time to end bionicle as soon as they could. In 2007 it is known that the company overestimated the profits for the line and that this contributed to the decision to end it. By 2008 the company were no longer reliant on bionicle to keep the company afloat and as such I imagine its' end was more a result of internal company politics. During 2010 I feel like there was a shift toward what I think many in the company saw as what Lego was supposed to be. The 2000s was a time of great experimentation for the company and produced some of its' most beloved themes. It also produced some of its more mature themes like bionicle, exo-force, and even knights kingdom II with their less humour driven stories. The company was seemingly evolving quite rapidly. But in 2010 we got Hero Factory. A humour based and more simplistic theme with less focus on story. And then we got ninjago which was much the same. And then Chima and so on. The company has seemingly juniorised itself a bit. I think this was possibly due to a traditionalist take over within the company. There were likely various players within the group who wanted to return the company to it's pre 2000 ways and you can see this with their current line up. A lot of the sets nowadays are not so focused on combat or themes of battle and warfare. There is obviously much more licenced stuff and the builds seem to be simpler. The website no longer features Lego characters but rather features images of smiling or laughing human children. The company is obviously doing quite well in this direction and if so, who am I to criticise. My own personal preferences aside though I personally believe the theme was initially cancelled because of an internal changing of the guard. The company wanted to go away from its' much edgier image in the 2000s towards something that would be considered more appropriate for younger children. And bionicle was the poster boy for this darker image. If the company wanted to go into a new direction. bionicle had to go. Frankly I believe bionicle could have been doing just as well as it was in 2002 and they would have still cancelled it to make way for their new image. Some might ask "then why did Lego bring it back?". I imagine that was a last ditch effort to save constraction. By retreading old ground but in a way more in line with Legos' modern ethos. I don't think bionicle could have ever made it beyond 2010.

Woops, wrong topic

I would completely change Bara Magna. In fact not only that but the entire set up of 2009. Bara Magna never stood a chance at giving bionicle a soft reboot for a new audience. Partly because it was a completely uninviting world for kids. Part of the reason I loved Mata Nui so much as a little kid was because it was a completely three dimensional world. The different tribes lived in peace with one another and had different cultures between the tribes. There was plenty of media highlighting Mata Nui as something other than a world of toa and monsters. Compare that to Bara Magna with its focus on battle and the shaky relations between each tribal group. It just didn't present a world where people actually lived. Just one where people fought and it simply wasn't as enjoyable. I would make Bara Magna much more similar to Mata Nui and make it a world you would actually want to live in. The other problem is that it simply had too much connection with the first saga and thus couldn't have pulled in a new audience. I would have given Mata Nui and amnesia to begin with and would have given a new name to coincide with that fact. Instead I would have had him gradually relearn his past as the story goes on.

I mean the average bionicle fan is 30 at the maximum so you won't really see it yet. Farshtey on the other hand, you can see it. And it feels so strange.

Quite heartwarming. It's weird to see Greg Farshtey ageing but that's how things go I suppose. The community still has some influence and I'll always appreciate that. Also speaking of community influence: Anniversary set_question mark What is that box?

Asking such a question is certainly an interesting hypothetical. When trying to answer such a question you have to consider the fact that both lines are very much a product of the time they came out. Both in terms of Lego's own internal management and general pop cultural trends. One thing to understand about the Lego company is that it has a very conservative attitude with regards to its management. When I say conservative I don't mean that in a political sense so much as in terms of Lego's own image of itself and what it wants to make. They have a clear comfort zone that they generally don't like leaving. Bionicle was relased at a time when the company was in a sink or swim situation where the entire company's continuation relied on them creating something which could be a break out hit. Bionicle was very much opposed by a number of higher ups in the company because it strayed so much from the company's own self image and many believe it violated the founders' principle of no depictions of warfare in Lego sets. At the time the company had no choice but to step out of their comfort zone and take a chance on something radically different for them. Not only that it was also created by a small handful of creatives who had a lot of control over the project and were given generally free reign. Ninjago on the other hand was a product based more upon marketing surveys and internal collaboration between executives, researches, and designers over the course of three years. The theme itself was initially meant to launch in 2010 but got delayed by one year. Bionicle on the other hand had a fairly quick development cycle of around one year and being more defined by a small team. With this in mind I'm going to break how each theme might have looked in the place of the other. We're gonna go by story, set design, and marketing/media. STORY Ninjago 2001 In this hypothetical ninjago 2001 we would have to assume that the theme was created in similar cirucmstances. A tanking company with a small crew to save them. Now we have to consider wider cultural trends at the time. Stories with darker themes were more popular around this time so one thing I could say for certain is that the story would have taken itself a lot more seriously. The characters would probably be better fleshed out and more indepth in comparison to the ninjago we have today which (last time I checked) was a lot more silly with the characters' backstories and motivations really didn't matter all that much. I imagine the plot points would have stayed as the one we got in 2011. However Garmadon would probably be a bit more imposing and speak in a more brutal manner. Sensei Wu would likely be a bit more down about what happened with his brother. Kai would likely be much more distressed by what happened to his sister Nya. Zane would be a lot more bothered by where he came from. And Jay and Cole I can't say. The story would be told more through comics as Lego didn't have the funds to make a TV series at the time. If they had choosen to make one it would probably look very different with much lower quality CGI. Bionicle 2011 This would probably look almost identical to what we got in G2. G2 was very much following the modern trend of stories which don't take themselves seriously. In fact it's likely that the names of the characters would be very different due to Lego's focus on dumbing itself down for a younger audience around this time. There's not really much to say here. Just watch journey to one and you'll get an idea of what it would have been like SET DESIGN Ninjago 2001 Now you have to consider how the average Lego set looked in 2001. Back then Lego had only just stepped in to the world of more complex moulding (as can be seen in harry potter). The set design would likely involve minifigures which are a lot less detailed than today. I imagine we would have seen a lot more baseplates in grey or black (maybe green). In fact I imagine the skeletons would have involved samurai elements. It would likely have taken more from medieval Japan generally as Lego weren't as afraid of incorporating real world cultural elements in a manner that might be considered unflattering. Which also means that Lego themes that came after this hypothesised ninjago 2001 wouldn't have had the same unease around the use of foreign cultural elements thanks to the fact the Maori people wouldn't have sued the company. The ninja themselves would likely have been the same and certain elements like the sai and shuriken would have been created much earlier. And of course there is the two most important elements in the success of bionicle. That is affordability and collectibility. Now if Lego would have done this is up in the air but for the sake of the hypothesis let's assume they had done. What sets could they have made which were both collectible and affordable. They could have gone the spinner route but part of me doubts it as it would have been territory Lego weren't particularly confident in. So I imagine mechs would have been used instead. Yes that's right. This ninjago would likely be similar to exo-force in a lot of ways. In fact it's very likely Lego would have used anime styling like exo-force. The mechs would have been the collectible and affordable thing they needed to get the cash they needed to stay afloat. I imagine it would have perhaps involved certain special bricks as collectibles. Something a bit like the light up bricks of the actual exo-force. This would have been the only way such a line at the time could have saved the company. Bionicle 2011 Now this one is a lot more tricky to imagine as it would all come down to one thing. Had bionicle not existed in 2001, and run for ten years, would CCBS have been introduced? This would depend on one of two things. In the scenario where Ninjago was released in 2001, would they have kept making constraction figures. I think in this scenario there is a heavy possibility that Lego would have released boneheads of voodoo island. Needless to say it would probably fail. Would Lego have continued making constraction figures? I don't imagine they would have done if both roboriders and voodoo heads were failures (I think roboriders was a failure). In this scenario we would have to assume that there was some kind of upward trend in the action figure market later in the 2000s resulting in Lego taking up interest once again. So after such a long pause would CCBS have been created? The more I think about it the more I'd have to say no. For the simple fact that CCBS was something of a backlash to bionicle from within the company. They had decided that after a decade, technic pieces were not appropriate for creating constraction figures. Without the prior experience I doubt Lego would look to create something as drastically different as CCBS. So in this scenario it would be technic based as what happened in our current timeline. One difference I could probably note is that the sets would be bigger and much more detailed. Likely featuring more robotic elements and would perhaps look something a bit like mindstorm. In fact given that the smartphone was just picking around 2011 it's very likely they would have combined it with more technology like smartphones. I imagine something like a miniature mindstorm with an elemental theme is what this bionicle would look like. MARKETING/MEDIA Ninjago 2001 Now back in 2001 the internet was still a relatively new and upcoming thing so all the hallmarks would be there. That is flash based animations. However unlike bionicle it would probably have anime stylings (much like exo-force). It would likely use a lot of anime tropes as well. There would probably have been an emphasis on collectibility and possibly might have used actual Japanese. Now we get to a bigger question, would there be a film? My answer to that is probably. Despite Lego's financial issues at the time they still funded three films so I don't see why this hypothetical ninjago would be any different. I'd imagine the film would be similar to the forty minute pilot for ninjago that we got in 2011. Only it would be longer and would take itself much more seriously. I imagine there would have been more on the backstory of the ninja as well as more world building. Overall it could have been better than the ninjago we got. Bionicle 2011 Now this is much more straight forward to imagine. The media we would have gotten would have been the same in tone and style as in journey to one. There really is no need to use your imagination because journey to one is 2010s bionicle. One difference however is that it wouldn't have used those flash animations as those were created to harken back to the series' origin. Seeing as in this scenario bionicle wouldn't have that history, it would rely purely on CGI instead. The advertisements would likely be similar in style to G2. The main difference would be its use of apps. Apps would likely play a heavier role. It's possible that masks would have been imprinted with QR codes which, in turn, would make for a collectability appeal. Conclusion Overall I'm happy with what we got. I never cared much for ninjago anyway so I'm glad I got bionicle. Of course if I had grown up in this hypothetical timeline there is a good chance that statement could be reversed. But it does leave the question of if Lego could have survived with this ninjago. And the answer is quite possibly yes. If they had managed to work out a decent price point it could have matched the sales of bionicle which kept the company afloat. That's all. Thanks for reading.

Funny that this comes up right after I made a post on this topic. But hey, may as well talk about it some more as I have quite a story with that game. Once again I was a closed beta tester and a pre-order member (so I got access to the game two weeks early). That game is probably the single best Lego based game ever developed. At the time I loved it. After years of licenced TT games lego unvierse was exactly what I wanted. It felt like a return to the pre-2005 days when Lego games were based on in house Lego themes with more variety in terms of gameplay. Sure it borrowed many elements from the TT formula but it also was able to expand upon and deviate from it as well. The combat system was actually really good. Especially in comparison to the TT games. You could go through many different weapons which all felt different plus the faction kits which gave you extra abilities. Summoner was my preferred assembly faction kit solely for the fact you could summon a monster during battle. The fact it also included lego digital designer was also a nice bonus and some really cool stuff got made with it. The racing game was also incredible. The control was really fluid. It was just great. Listening to the podcast does help close up a few things for me. Back during September of 2011 I couldn't help but feel like the game may have been having problems behind the scenes. This was because there was this members only promotional during that month in which you could get an egg that hatched a crocodile that was effectively a massively overpowered weapon which could kill countless enemies. I remember just scoffing at it but part of me at the time said "something's going wrong". Needless to say I was correct and it was a pretty depressing month to say the least. I remember having a rather hairbrained scheme to get the game back at the time. I assembled a small crew with my idea of going to other MMOs at the time like club penguin and bin weevils and advertising the game there in the hopes of starting a sales surge which would change Lego's mind. Of course it didn't work but hey it was better thought out than protesting in game. Ultimately though I still can't help but feel a little bummed out knowing Lego's actual reasoning. It was due to the very mindset they had going in which ultimately was the reason I lost interest in the company around that time. They no longer supported themes long term and instead wanted the big bang strategy for every theme. It seems to back my assertion that Lego Universe should have released in 2008 instead and maybe the company would have been kinder to it. I also can't help but notice the issue with moderation which is part of what drove this games costs up astronomically. I remember the in-game censorship and even I think it was a bit overboard. All numbers were censored. In both written and numerical form all numbers were censored. I remember that we had to resort to using words to stand in for numbers and the player would just have to figure it out. So in order to say 1/one you would say "won", two/2 was "too", and 3/three was "tree". To this day I will insist that censoring numbers was pointless and outright counter intuitive as it made trading awkward to say the least. In fact it reminds of a romour I heard around the time of its cancellation that Lego disapproved of the game because too many players were outside of its target audience. I was 12 at the time and I remember being one of the youngest in the game. Most of my friends in game were in their early to mid teens and one of them was in his mid 30s with children. Needless to say I actually don't remember coming across many kids under 12. I don't know if the romours were true or not but it does seem to confirm one of my theories that the smartphone was part of what damaged the game. In all honesty though I didn't like the direction it took after the summer 2011 update. The inclusion of the ninjago world felt jarring to me as it was a seperate story and aesthetic within the game. It felt like a blatant advertisment for ninjago and didn't seem to fit into the aesthetic of a big mix up of Lego themes. Overall I can't help but feel Lego would have run it into the ground through theme tie ins. Sad to say that we'll never know how it could have turned out. Either way I won't forget it. If any of my friends from the time are reading this you can feel free to contact me. I was Wakko/Yakko/Freakazoid/VentureJones in game.

Old LU. I had quite a connection to that game. I was a beta tester and still have my pre order copy to this day. I played it nearly everyday throughout 2011. It was fantastic for what it was. In 2010 the main online game offerings for kids consisted of flash games like club penguin and bin weevils. Whilst these games were fun in their own way, they never allowed for those deep role playing elements that so many other MMOs at the time did. Mind you, those MMOs usually weren't meant for children and thus most kids of the 2000s were stuck with flash games. Lego Universe did something truly unique by taking that more complex style of gameplay and aiming it at kids. The game provided a much softer version of the RPG elements missing from other games on the market at the time. The game however suffered from issues of repetitiveness and a lack of story. New worlds came out at too slow a pace to provide enough content. However I stuck around for the combat. The combat system was really fun. You had a multitude of weapons to choose from and special moves that came with your faction kit. It was a blast having all these creative ways to kill enemies. Too bad Lego never learned from this and incorporated it into their modern games. However I can't help but feel like the game would have died anyway for the simple reason that it was kinda dated by the time it came out. Let me explain what I mean by that. The game got its full launch in October of 2010 and was made due to the MMO craze of the 2000s. Everyone had one. Even Lego's biggest rival, mega bloks, had flash MMOs on their website. Lego just had to get into the scene. The game was originally slated for 2008 but got delayed by two whole years. By the time it released the MMO craze was in its very last days which gave them very little time to make a profit out of it. Couple that with the fact that it came out just months before smartphones and social media became mainstream which in turn killed the MMO craze. If Lego had choosen to continue it beyond 2012 it would probably have died by 2014. Not only was it dated in terms of the demands of the market but it also suffered from a problem that many pre-2010s games suffered from. That was large amounts of incompatibility on PCs. PC games in the 90s and 2000s were often very sensitive to what parts and OS you had on your computer. It's not like today where you can have a GTX 970 and run just about anything. If the box said (intel pentium core 3) you had to have that component or a very limited number of other components which were equivalent. Lego universe did not run well on consumer grade PCs from 2008 (and this was a game released in 2010). Simply put it was just too much of a product of the 2000s to have lasted all that long. But overall I had a lot of fun on that game and I hope one of those private servers releases soon so I can play it again.