masterchirox580

 

I am currently trying to collect all the bionicle graphic novels. At the moment I have successfully got my hands on 8 out of 9 of them. Fall of atero goes for £25 at the minimum and I'm wondering if I should wait to find it cheaper somewhere or if it will just increase in price as time goes on. I want to see what all of you reading think I should do.

Here it is for $5.69 free shipping. You're welcome

https://rover.ebay.com/rover/0/0/0?mpre=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.ebay.com%2Fulk%2Fitm%2F142409939816

 

FYI. Collectors are nuts. They always forget that items are only worth what people are willing to pay for them, and not what some insane person lists for it. Always search for the title without the Bionicle portion to find the cheaper results not made by collectors.

 

HUGE thank you! Now I only have to pay £10 for it. 

I am currently trying to collect all the bionicle graphic novels. At the moment I have successfully got my hands on 8 out of 9 of them. Fall of atero goes for £25 at the minimum and I'm wondering if I should wait to find it cheaper somewhere or if it will just increase in price as time goes on. I want to see what all of you reading think I should do.

I think it really depends on where you are in life. Whenever I see questions like this I'm reminded of Brandon Griffith, the LEGO builder who put together some incredible Star Trek MOC's. I read his story in some AFOL magazine years ago, and basically he talked a bit about his dark age and how he dropped out of LEGO during high school and probably (this was a while ago so I don't remember all the details exactly) college. Eventually he got the desire to build a model of the USS Enterprise and found that LEGO bricks were to easiest medium to do it with. Despite not having built in years he called his parents for his collection and made an incredible model.

 

I'm going through a dark age myself, in fact I've been going through it since probably about 2014. I got excited about LEGO again when G2 came out, but when that ended up being a complete let down I sort of just receded from that interest. I still check flickr everyday, sometimes listen to TTV, and take a quick stroll through the conversations on BZP, but it's not the same.

 

However I refuse to get rid of any of my LEGO. My collection comparison to other fans is pretty small. I've only got a few boxes of parts and a few MOC's, few of which actually hold up to my current standards. Every time I update my flickr I make promises of coming back and posting new MOC's and updates but I just can't do it. I'm in college now and I haven't had free time or space since middle school. I've begun my own personal projects and started a new chapter in my life that LEGO just isn't a big part of.

 

However I can't let go of any of my parts. Not my G2 toa, not the old parts, none of it. LEGO played such a huge part of my life, and as I grow older more and more of my past dies and is lost. I hold onto them because I hope one day I'll be free enough to pick the bricks back up like Griffith and make something really awesome. I don't know if I'll even need stuff like my G2 sets, but I remember the feeling as a kid of not having any of the parts I wanted and always being limited, unable to finish models or explore ideas.

 

I don't know what the state of your life is, and this is just about your G2 sets and not your entire interest in LEGO, but my personal advice would be to hold on to them. They've got some great parts and designs and all I know is that I would regret getting rid of them because (for me) it'd be symbolic of me officially ruling out the possibility of LEGO becoming a part of my life again. That's probably not the case for you, and I don't know your relationship with LEGO, but I can only speak to what I know and feel. The others here are right in that there's no point in hoarding something if it doesn't mean anything to you or have a significant place in your collection. Either way, I hope you find the answers you're looking for!

Yeah I never intend to get rid of the G1 stuff. That stays with me. For me it's just the fact that I have no real connection to 2010s Lego. I mean I only bought G2 as a way to show support for bionicle's comeback. Now it's over I think I can sell this stuff. Despite the history I have with Lego products I have no intention of getting back into them. They're expensive and room consuming. I simply don't see a way I could have the cash and time to get back into the stuff. Anyway I do appreciate what you've said though. Maybe I'll regret it down the line but at this rate it's unlikely. 

"Keep in mind that if Star Trek fans had, as a group, said, 'No point in talking about this anymore, it's never going to come back,' it never WOULD have come back."

 

-- Greg Farshtey

 

For me it's more a case of "do I want it to come back?". 

 

 

Some of y'all are really absurdly passionate about TLJ, and Star Wars in general. I get that a movie, series, or character can mean a lot to someone but honestly maybe we should identify less with being consumers and rather take the things we consume to become better individuals and creators. If it doesn't help you get there, you're only wasting your time, energy, and attention on something that makes you feel bad. Just. . . relax.

 

In my opinion (for however much it matters) I think LEGO will be fine. There seems to be a budding concern in this forum over the stability of LEGO in the long haul, which I don't think is unreasonable, but I don't think video games are pushing physical toys out of the market completely. Physical toys may have to downsize to find a more comfortable place in the market, but they will still be there for your kids (after that, who knows, but it won't matter to you by then). LEGO is even more persistent than other toys. If someone survives the changes in the market, it's LEGO. It has an impeccable brand and offers a play experience more complex and endearing than most other toys.

I'm not saying video games are destroying them. Lego and video games co-existed fine in the 2000s. I believe however that with the advent of virtual building block games especially with the portability of a tablet I think it has a real chance of killing the sales for physical bricks. I think what's different with the games we all played as children is that they were usually a one and done kind of deal. Typically a platformer or other genre that once you finished you were done with. You'd have to go buy another video game. Things like roblox and minecraft basically provide potentially infinite content due to the emphasis on user generated games at a very cheap price. Something that really wasn't available (to kids at least) during the last decade. So I think it could end up satisfying that creative need that Lego used to fill. Maybe I am thinking in terms of doom and gloom but google trends does show that with the increasing searches for roblox the searches for Lego go down.

 

 

I definitely hear you and think that you make a good point. I just feel like LEGO can still exist with games like Roblox and Minecraft, like Sir Kohran has said. I agree that eventually building games may start to become a problem for LEGO (especially now that we'll soon be living in a post-Toys-R-Us world, I have no idea what'll become of toys) as society and technology continues to change and progress, even in our lifetime, I just am not sure if we're seeing the effects of that completely, at least not in full force. Besides LEGO is such a huge company that we can probably be sure they will at least put in a good effort in trying to stay relevant. We've seen them adapt with all the different LEGO video games, and especially through LEGO Worlds and Digital Designer, and it's possible LEGO is looking years ahead at expanding how we play.

 

Virtual reality could be really promising for LEGO as it becomes more sophisticated. Could it end the physical experience as we know it? Very possibly, but for now I'll just wait patiently. 3D printing still hasn't destroyed LEGO either, though I won't speak too soon!

 

Oh yeah I don't think they'll be impacted for another decade or so. But that depends on how much technology advances. Today's 4 year old has a lot more to do on their tablet than I ever did on my huge windows 98 at that age. So let's just hope things don't advance too quickly.

I think there's a case to be made that video games and other forms of electronic media have potentially affected the sales of Bionicle, but not Lego as a whole. Recall that it was explained that G1 Bionicle fans largely did not transition into buying lego sets from other themes. I'd argue that's because Bionicle was targeting the action figure sector of the toy market more than the building toy sector. And Bionicle's sales peaked in the first couple years because, at the time, the other big robotic action figure line (Transformers) was reeling from the failure of it's latest line (Beast Machines).

 

That kind of success seems no longer possible when action figures sales as a whole are declining. And my theory is that the action figure sector targeted a specific kind of kid that now is more likely to play video games than they are to play with real life toys. Perhaps the reason System themes like Ninjago and City still succeed is because they target a different type of kid, one who is far more creative and spends just as much time building their own creations as they do playing with the set right out of the box. I'm speaking in a general sense here obviously - I know plenty of Bionicle fans MOCed as well, but I question if the majority didn't treat Bionicle more as an action figure than as a construction toy, one they would assemble and play with but not disassemble a hundred times and combine with other sets.

 

All of this is pure conjecture, but it would go a long way to explaining why Lego just cant get CCBS back on its feet, and why they may never.

I can confirm that's what I and all my friends were like as kids. I always treated them as action figures first and foremost. Never experimented with them much. However I do think those more creative kids might be more inclined toward roblox now given the fact there is another layer beyond building things (making a functioning game). I don't know as I (understandably) don't hang out with many kids (all I know is that they like minions, minecraft, and that musical.ly thing). I say wait till Lego's results this year to see if they continue on this trend of shrinking. 

 

 

 

 

From what I've heard the toy industry in general is declining. The only company that wasn't hit (until recently) was Lego. I imagine that might have more to do with it than just media being bad. Kids will consume anything both good and bad. In fact I saw a video by the brick show (yeah they're still around) where they claimed it was due to the increased popularity of roblox and similar games. I personally do believe it is completely possible that smart devices are replacing a number of things that we may have enjoyed as kids. 

 

I wonder if the dropping fertility rates in the US in the last ten years are starting to have an effect as well. Sales aren't exactly going to increase if the target audience is shrinking, are they?

 

Thing is there is still the eastern markets Lego can appeal to. However from what I can tell they're not really taking off there either. It'll probably be another ten years or more before the company face anything like bankruptcy. Assuming they don't manage to fix their issues in the next few years.

Some of y'all are really absurdly passionate about TLJ, and Star Wars in general. I get that a movie, series, or character can mean a lot to someone but honestly maybe we should identify less with being consumers and rather take the things we consume to become better individuals and creators. If it doesn't help you get there, you're only wasting your time, energy, and attention on something that makes you feel bad. Just. . . relax.

 

In my opinion (for however much it matters) I think LEGO will be fine. There seems to be a budding concern in this forum over the stability of LEGO in the long haul, which I don't think is unreasonable, but I don't think video games are pushing physical toys out of the market completely. Physical toys may have to downsize to find a more comfortable place in the market, but they will still be there for your kids (after that, who knows, but it won't matter to you by then). LEGO is even more persistent than other toys. If someone survives the changes in the market, it's LEGO. It has an impeccable brand and offers a play experience more complex and endearing than most other toys.

I'm not saying video games are destroying them. Lego and video games co-existed fine in the 2000s. I believe however that with the advent of virtual building block games especially with the portability of a tablet I think it has a real chance of killing the sales for physical bricks. I think what's different with the games we all played as children is that they were usually a one and done kind of deal. Typically a platformer or other genre that once you finished you were done with. You'd have to go buy another video game. Things like roblox and minecraft basically provide potentially infinite content due to the emphasis on user generated games at a very cheap price. Something that really wasn't available (to kids at least) during the last decade. So I think it could end up satisfying that creative need that Lego used to fill. Maybe I am thinking in terms of doom and gloom but google trends does show that with the increasing searches for roblox the searches for Lego go down.

 

Given the recent romours of the situation of star wars constraction (I'll let you search for that) don't expect another constraction theme of any kind for a LONG time.

 

Forgive my laziness, but are the Star Wars figures not selling well?

 

If so I'd be surprised, as I thought Star Wars was pretty much invincible as a brand name.

 

I can't talk about it in detail but there has been trusted leaker who said things aren't looking good for star wars constraction. And I think it has been confirmed that star wars merch is declining. Which if true could spell a whole host of issues for the Lego company beyond losing constraction. 

 

Yes. Yes it is. It's a negative name for a negative movie.

 

 

HF didn't have anything behind it, either. The media surrounding it wasn't something kids had a lot of incentive to get invested in, and it only got worse with time. HF didn't do well because it didn't attract kids like G1 Bionicle did. Constraction is declining because there's nothing backing it. Even most System themes come and go at a rapid pace, with more generic ones like Pirates being hauled up from the grave every so often.

 

Yeah I'm not entirely sure if it's just media being bad (this is coming from someone who also hates the last jedi). From what I've heard the toy industry in general is declining. The only company that wasn't hit (until recently) was Lego. I imagine that might have more to do with it than just media being bad. Kids will consume anything both good and bad. In fact I saw a video by the brick show (yeah they're still around) where they claimed it was due to the increased popularity of roblox and similar games. I personally do believe it is completely possible that smart devices are replacing a number of things that we may have enjoyed as kids. 

If we get a Bionicle again it won't be for a long time. G1's success made it sensible to only wait 5 years for a reboot, but G2 was such a failure that if Bionicle ever does come back it won't be for a real long time. Bionicle will only be a distant memory and sometimes meme, so it'll be reinvented into something only resembling what we know.

 

But yeah, this definitely doesn't look real, and at this point I'm so apprehensive that I'd be just as worried as excited if I heard LEGO is dragging Bionicle's decaying corpse out onto the sidewalk again.

Yeah I'm in the exact same place I was back in 2013. I actively do not want bionicle to return. I remember back in 2012 and 2013 when there was still a lot of "bring back bionicle" stuff going on I saw the trends in 2010s Lego themes and I realised that if bionicle were to return they'd probably tone it down a lot and remove the more mature themes and would probably make it very comedic and cartoonish. And in hind sight I was right. They toned it down, simplified it, removed all the darker elements that appealed so much to me when I was 3 years old I think. If it were to return they'd probably do the same but this time even worse. I say leave bionicle in the 2000s. It was a great franchise but I don't think Lego can support it in the same way they used to.

You all have your own opinion, but do any of you read news on The Lego Group? They have a new CEO now, and they are talking about resetting the company. Going back to basics, that could indicate a possible...small chance that they are planning on bringing it back with better/different leadership.

 

//edit:

 

I'm not saying that the uh, site thing is real in any way. I'm just being hopelessly hopeful.

That's really stretching it. It probably means that they're going to close down certain sectors of the company that are draining resources away. Such as those licensed animated films they make now. It likely means they're gonna focus more resources on producing nothing but Lego bricks. I mean if they were really gonna go back to their roots they would ditch instruction manuals and licenses and go back to just shipping boxes of miscellaneous bricks.

I already did, but this just coming up on my google search results is just plain out weird. but I'm 99% sure this might be a ruse or some stupid april fools prank, but if it's true then now what?

Given the recent romours of the situation of star wars constraction (I'll let you search for that) don't expect another constraction theme of any kind for a LONG time.

ccbs since G2 was dying and probably wouldn't last for long, sw ccbs is a prime example of that. the system in itself is flawed sure, but same goes for technic G1. the thing here is just that lego was going full on with this (remember the announcement where they told us to raise awareness of said theme?) and that seemed to die utterly. 

 

on one side, I'm glad that ccbs is going out, on the other side though, no constraction would probably be better for the time being. 

If there is any truth to these romours I won't bother supporting the new theme. I just don't have the money and the space anymore. Unless it manages to truly recreate the original feeling of wonder that Mata nui brought to me when I was 4 years old I don't see any reason to support it. I think Lego will just forget about action figures for a while now. Remember their profits have fallen so I don't think they'll want to take any risks right now and release action figures on a market that doesn't seem to be into them.

Yeah that looks to be a simple mistake I'm afraid. Pro tip don't hold your breath for a bionicle reboot again. Especially not as quickly as 2019. Given the recent romours of the situation of star wars constraction (I'll let you search for that) don't expect another constraction theme of any kind for a LONG time. Don't wait around for old childhood nostalgia to return. I say just move on like I and so many others have.

I honestly have to say 2013. I remember 2011 was actually kind of exciting. At the time after so many years of technic building it was actually very interesting to see them take such a drastic turn with the pieces. I got into bionicle somewhere between my and 3rd and 4th birthday and only knew of technic based sets. So I actually found them quite fascinating. The reason I say 2013 was the worst was because it was around that year that things had gotten stale fast. After one year of actual innovation with that building system it felt like the designers just didn't care anymore.Compare that to bionicle which did majorly different things with it's building system up until 2006. I never owned invasion from below but they looked like a garbage version of exo-force. Brain attack was the also the wave that pretty much killed my interest in non-bionicle constraction and thus Lego altogether. I am currently in the process of selling all my HF stuff as it just wasn't that good overall.

The chances of a G3 are very low to say the least. After the performance of G2 I doubt the company will want to take a gamble on bionicle again. If it did happen I simply ask for more care being put into the story and characters. Actual ways of communicating these characters to the audience on mass. Not dumbing them down as seen in journey to one.

If you're not getting enjoyment out of it, and don't foresee yourself enjoying it more in the future, there's little reason not to sell it.

 

A better question might be whether it's best to sell it now or to hold onto it to sell later. If you really need the money or the space, selling sooner might be better, but otherwise there's a decent likelihood that the sets will appreciate in value if you put them into storage to sell at a later date.

If you have no actual use for them now or in the near future, they might as well go to somebody who does have. There's no point in them sitting there in a container gathering dust until you make the same decision in five, ten or twenty years.

 

And as it's only been a few years since they came along and it doesn't sound like you've done very much with them, I don't think you'll miss them as much as you might think, or perhaps even miss them at all.

Thank you for the re-assuring words. Due to my current situation I don't really have much space to store it in so it's best I sell it sooner. Adding to that the possibility of the pieces cracking. And yeah I was basically just being a collector with them. A collection that I don't think I can take with me to the grave. Besides I'll always have the G1 stuff (plenty of it). Do you think I should list them on the buy/sell section or exclusively on ebay?

Allow me to explain my issue. At the moment I have an entire collection of G2 bionicle sets. It's still in very good condition and I am debating with myself if I should sell it or not. I spent hundreds getting the collection together. However much like many things from over the years it nowadays sits in a plastic container like my all my other Lego from 15 years ago. I have been a bionicle fan since the age of around 3 and a half and the series always meant a lot to me. So for that reason I went to great efforts to support it's reboot. However now that the initial excitement for it's comeback has died down I see a lot of the reboot's flaws and don't have as much of a positive outlook on it. If I sell it in it's current state not only can I get a lot of money I can also stop it from taking up space in the future. My older sets are all in terrible condition and as such are tough sells. But there is still some emotional connection for me and I do fear regretting this decision in the future. So I wonder if anyone here has any advice on if I should sell my G2 collection or not.

I was into from 2002 onward (when I was very young mind you) and yet 2003 always sticks out to me the most. I think it's because that's when the original line was more simplistic yet still so fascinating. Mata Nui was just such a nice fantasy world that I would spend hours looking at on my old windows 98. It just had this great fantasy tone to it. That being said in my mind the golden era was 2001-2005. 2004 was more high tech but in my mind managed to retain a lot of that mystery without going all over the place. 

Oh nice. I have a GTX 1060 in my current computer. I'll be amazed if I can get Lego island to run again. Funny enough I still have my old windows 98 that I played Lego island on back when I was like 3 or 4 years old and it still works. Technology has come a long way since then.

 

I prefer the use of less... realistic names as it makes the world just a little more engaging to me. I also like the original ending much better. Having it end on a cliff hanger like the first bionicle movie would have made the pilot a lot more interesting. The early draft kinda feels like the stakes were higher which I wish they had stuck to as it would have made the thing a lot more memorable.

I dunno, the names of the ninja in the early treatment feel maybe a bit too on-the-nose in terms of their elemental affinity.

 

I only just realized this after you pointed it out. I still prefer them. I imagine Ash was rejected due to potential legal disputes with Nintendo over pokemon.

I prefer the use of less... realistic names as it makes the world just a little more engaging to me. I also like the original ending much better. Having it end on a cliff hanger like the first bionicle movie would have made the pilot a lot more interesting. The early draft kinda feels like the stakes were higher which I wish they had stuck to as it would have made the thing a lot more memorable.

To me bionicle is a link to a different time. A time in which I felt more... at peace with the world. It's something that I have consistently enjoyed since I was 3 years old. To hold an old canister and know that I handled that with much smaller hands 15 years ago is a very.... I guess reassuring feeling. It is the something that I've always cared about on some level. There are very few things in my life currently that I have that much history with. It brings me back to a time before iphones and social media were mainstream. Brings me back to a time when I was still using the VHS. And when I wasn't aware of all the economic challenges that will face me in the future. A time that I felt much more at home in. That's what it means to me on a personal level.

At this point I'm back to where I was in 2013. I actively do not want bionicle to return. Again G2 was no where near as good in story or characterization as G1. If Lego reboots the theme again it'll just get further away from that original magic to the point where it'll just be insulting to the memory of the original. It's best it just stay dead so nothing can tarnish it's memory. Let Lego come up with newer ideas. 

 

Nothing says "this movie failed" like trying to make it a direct-to-DVD release. This was a really bad move on Lego's part. They could have at least waited another 20 or so years for the kids who are into ninjago to grow up and become nostalgic for it.

What is that supposed to mean? It's coming out on DVD about three months after it came out in theaters. That's not really anything unusual — the same thing happened with Zootopia and Trolls, both of which were commercially successful. I'm not pretending that The LEGO Ninjago Movie was a huge box office success like those, but how on earth does it getting released on DVD much like any other animated movie have anything to do with its poor box office performance? You also don't seem to understand the meaning of the phrase "direct to DVD".

 

Also, waiting 20 years for adults to be nostalgic for a brand that's already wildly popular with kids right now is a pretty dumb strategy. You didn't see Pokémon, Ninja Turtles, Transformers, Harry Potter, or Bionicle waiting twenty years to release their first movies. Haven't you ever heard the phrase "strike while the iron's hot"?

 

The other Lego movies had a 4 month space between their DVD release and cinema release. The release spaces also seem to vary by company but WB tend to wait 4 months or longer before their films are given a home media release (not counting streaming). So there's only been a 3 month period between the cinema release and the DVD release. And that's just the U.S. Here in Britain the film has only been out since October 13th meaning we're (potentially) looking at only a 2 month gap. It's clearly a move by the company to get their money back. A very smart one at that. Lego stuff sells great on DVD. Their strategy is to release the film early on DVD/blu-ray and make their money back that way (other films have successfully done this).

And ninjago isn't culturally significant enough to warrant a film kids will watch on mass. From what I understand it's success is comparable to that of bionicle. Bionicle for all it's success has never been that significant in popular culture. So I see no reason why ninjago would be different (the failure of this film proves that). The reason the bionicle films did well was because of the fact it was direct to DVD/VHS. Getting parents to spend more than a DVD costs today for a film they'll likely be turned off by is a much tougher sell than a film you could purchase fairly cheaply on VHS, own it permanently, and you can leave the kids to watch in their spare time. As I predicted in 2013 Lego were overestimating how significant their brands are and the film did even worse then I expected.

Nothing says "this movie failed" like trying to make it a direct-to-DVD release. This was a really bad move on Lego's part. They could have at least waited another 20 or so years for the kids who are into ninjago to grow up and become nostalgic for it. 

Am I still on the Lego.com message boards?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-z2G_oxoE9U&feature=youtu.be

The first episode (a halloween special titled spooky game) will be aired this Friday October 27th 2017.

It really does suck year 3 won't happen. This was a great way to release licensed minifigures that otherwise would never see a release. Maybe they'll use their collectable minifigures line to do this more often but there was so many great figures that could have been. Maybe if the toys to life market ever sees a resurgence an LD 2 may release but I doubt it. This keeps happening with Lego. They try to cash in on a trending market and then always come in too late to the game to make much money (need I remind everyone of Lego universe and the attempts at a Lego MMO after that). Maybe someday Lego can fix their track record with that.