Iruini Nuva

I'm coming at this completely from a vibes perspective and would totally recant this if someone has data. My guess, from my social circles, would be ~01-02 or per the title 04-05. Early days I remember lots of hype and discussions at least within my friend group. Staying up late debating pronunciation, exploring the mini CDs, etc. And then by 04-05, I still had interested peers, but with their younger siblings, cousins, etc. well in tow. That's all anecdotal and sales are sales, but that's my perceived experience. I did also really enjoy 04-05 though.

Part of it is age/life stage. Enough folks who grew up with Bionicle and maintained some interest in the hobby are now far enough along in their careers and lives to bring more $$ to bear against what's now a smaller pie. Obviously disposable incomes vary widely, but it's enough to move the market, which I think is smaller than it feels. Doesn't take all that many folks who are willing to pay $20 or $50 to resettle the market at the higher price. Some of it is just...whatever zeitgeist is in the air like @freshbonkle mentioned. Seems to be hitting everything people collect. That said, at least with some things, there's a knowledge gap where collectors (who recall/know what something is worth) may pay more than they prefer, but still avoid the heavy prices newbies face. The typewriter market is like that now. If you don't know better you buy your first one for $400 on Etsy. If you do know what you're doing you're still able to find a $40 machine that old-hands will say should never be more than $20 because they made 30 million of it in 1955, but maybe you can tolerate that level of erosion. Bionicle is tougher because it doesn't show up in downsizing/estate sales yet but it's getting rare in garage sales (i.e. anywhere not impacted by unrealistic internet prices). The good deals will return when our kids start auctioning off ours. Edit: Or, for a more positive spin, if in fact there are folks buying up all the supply, there often comes a tipping point where a bubble pops and suddenly they're a bagholder with no buyers. Market cools, prices drop 90%; happens all the time.

The comic art would be a great source for one of these! Back in the day (~2005) I made an attempt at a Bionicle TCG. Still have a couple of hand drawn/photocopied decks and it was technically playable (unsure if it was good, however). At one point I actually tried my hand at rendering a card (vs handwritten ones), creating this out of Flash + Blender, which are not the tools for the job. What I appreciate about yours is the desire to keep it simple. Mine had a lot of token/stat mechanics and I think relied on the card's physical position on a playing field as well. No pick-up games standing in line! I don't have much experience with CCGs vs TCGs, but am down to try when you have it on a simulator.

Completed God of War I/II on PS2 earlier this year. Just recently picked up an Analogue Pocket and beat Fire Emblem: The Sacred Stones (GBA). Very close to being able to beat Super Mario Land (GB) as well. Spoke a little too soon and was able to complete it.

Interestingly enough, I am reasonably confident that my first set was also Onewa. I believe that I received Onewa from a friend in the summer of '01 and Lewa was the first from family not long after. My memory is pretty hazy on specific years. '02 was Pahrak for sure, however. '04 was likely Krekka, which I know was a Legoland CA purchase, but I seem to recall getting in February. Not sure if that's actually possible per the link below, but I definitely remember it was not something I'd seen yet in the comics, catalogs, etc. Link: https://www.bzpower.info/story.php?ID=1686 Maybe this article is assuming a wider US release--think I recall that in '05 the canister releases were swapped in the US/EU, for instance. Tufi did post it Feb 1 though...

Ruffle does seem like a promising solution for "modern" machines. Tangentially, to those interested in the broader topic: Don't forget that there's a whole stack of layers going on here. This applies to anything software. In the case of Flash, I still have old physical discs with the necessary software to create and run Flash files, but although they "work" on modern systems, they're increasingly finicky (don't understand high-dpi screens, etc.). In a few years they likely won't work on a new PC. With modern web/subscription services, you don't even have that fallback. Keep your old machines around! Many things are the product of weird, duct-taped hardware + software that are unique to their moment in time.

Same boat here. I prefer the old "Lego Media" era (Island/Racers/Alpha Team/Rock Raiders), but that puts me firmly in curmudgeon territory. Definitely curious about this Darwin thing (I couldn't place those screenshots either). Excited to get one more glimpse of all of those early creative ventures.

Ask and ye shall receive: https://www.bzpower.com/board/topic/8946-mnolg-the-bohrok-swarms/ Doesn't look like it was ever finished, but the link is up and I just got it to run successfully.

For the "complete package" Bionicle experience, Action/Adventure/RPG hybrids seem like a potential sweet spot (i.e. Quest for Mata Nui). I do think there's also a vital role for other genres as micro-experiences that deep-dive into specific bits of the world. Old-school Koli matches, for instance. I think platformers fall into this "focused experience" niche too. Leverage/Build the world by adding detail in a focused area, rather than spanning the whole gamut. Also where fan games like The Insurgent intentionally tried to play. I also had some napkin ideas for an RTS back in the day. Not sure that it would work overly well without feeling too contrived, but I always hoped there was something there with the Bohrok, etc. TCGs were deeply under explored too, but the genre didn't really survive. :/

Didn't realize there was a brick perk back the day. Hm. I loved working my way through the rank images (old system seems to have counted differently). Proto boost was nice. I also got it pre-blogs, and didn't really know what to do with them when they came out. Let it lapse at some point. Re-subbed to support the place. :)

I recall playing this back when it was live. Was into Mindstorms a lot at the time (and played plenty of Lego.com games too). Another similar one was Robohunter. Believe that while the cutscenes were flash, the game itself was 3D-ish (you drove a little Mindstorms rover around streets on spy missions). Took a solid hour to load the game on a 28K connection, though MNOG had a decent wait between every scene too, ha!

Not entirely sure how I missed this! @Emzee I have a few assorted BZP games from ~2009 in various backups. Interestingly, KraataAttackV1 vs your V2 above. I also still have everything from Biotech. The Insurgent (still online), Havoc, Bionicle: Duel Combat, etc. Have all the concepts and unreleased stuff too if I can get it into a presentable form.

Is there a downloadable version that supports local saves? Heck, even if it's just spinning up a local DB that mimics the main BMP infrastructure, just looking for something self-hostable.

This is utterly fascinating. I always had a soft spot for this game. Managed to beat it twice on borrowed GBAs (never actually owned one). Really appreciate the deep look into its inner workings--will be reading through every one of these.

Set waves, hm. Guardian Toa. Spear & shield made them feel mythic. Bohrok. I tried for [what felt like] months to figure out that picture on the back of comic #3. Everything about those sets was so carefully crafted (one of the best canisters, etc.). Honorable mention for the Toa Metru. Had some buddies who were very excited about how posable the new frame was.