Iruini Nuva

You know, I'm not really sure that I have any particular regrets this time around. I haven't finished JtO yet (I mean, cat's out of the bag), but I've kept pretty well on top of the sets/collectibles/books/etc. Feel like I've gotten a worthwhile amount of satisfaction from the time I've put in. Just wish they weren't done.

The build is really neat, all things considered. Really don't like the wheel chest piece but the construction is solid.

I tend to agree. Has a few bits that I'm not crazy about (chest wheel, awkward staff), but it's a really impressive build all things considered.

I don't know that there's room for a "continuation" in the literal sense (for now, anyways). I do think there could be room for a new story arc within the G1 universe (or G2, if they felt like it).

Mostly it's a matter of balancing the need to respect prior canon and using as little of it as possible to make the connection (given a newbie audience). The EZ-mode approach is to simply jump many years into the future and reference prior events as legend. More interesting to me is the concept of jumping into the past.

Consider an origin story of the early days of Mata Nui (Tren Krom, etc.). You can still operate with a blank slate, but can gradually introduce concepts that we know in the broader lore (the origins of Kanohi, Rahi, etc.).

Old fans get to have the "Aha!" moment whenever it bridges a gap, and new fans use those same bridges to realize that there's a whole lot more depth if they want to explore it.

A quick skim of eBay will reveal quite a few overpriced sets and pieces (i.e. 95% of the listings). Amazon is more-or-less the same.

One small perk of eBay is that, if there's something that's not wildly overpriced, you can sometimes get the seller to come down into a more acceptable range.

Literally just dropped $100 on S@H last night. :/ Got my bus, probably missed the double VIP, meh.

The points haven't updated yet on my account--fingers crossed?

The Bionicle fandom has never had to undergo any kind of hiatus. Other themes have come and gone like this, and their communities—though not as enthusiastic and/or centralized as this fandom is—simply keep on rolling until LEGO decides that it's a good time to bring it back.  G2 was a sign to many parts of the fandom that their beloved line was not dead forever.

This is a point worth calling out again. There are plenty of thematic collectors (i.e. they mostly buy Space, etc.) who simply keep themselves busy with a huge backlog of sets until the next cycle. I suspect most of you have holes in your G1 displays--get cracking.

To Sumiki's point, most theme-communities are far more decentralized and tend to just lump under "Lego fans" vs "Bionicle". There's a reason we keep getting serious fan-service for a discontinued line.

Also, consider more specialized themes like Rock Raiders/Alpha Team from the same '99-01 timeframe. Both have had reboots (Power Miners/Ultra Agents). I'd bet money that we'll see the same archetypes again within the next 5-10 years, max.

The existence of G2 at least lends credence (if, perhaps, not full validation) that the core thematic premise of Bionicle is sound and capable of being cycled.

Happy birthday B6! Thanks for all of your contributions to the site over the years.

I shall continue to archive embarrassing PMs from 2006 for future blackmail.

Matau.

"You were not the first Toa!"

Voted Kopaka (of the 6). Loved him in G1. Probably prefer Pohatu in G2, simply because he got more development.

If we're going more broadly, either Iruini or Vakama (as a character, not purely a Toa).

The tweet simply reads as PR to me. Gives you room to make the decisions you need to make without setting expectations inappropriately.

I can't say yay or nay to constraction as a product. Bionicle's cancellation feels like a strategic decision rather than a purely $$ one. Sales might have been so disastrous as to merit an immediate halt, but I have a gut reaction that this is an intentional leadership decision about something broader and Bionicle is collateral damage.

Now, that decision could be "constraction isn't where we want to go (cancel it all)" or it could be "we want to realign what constraction means, and Bionicle won't make sense in that world 2 years from now". Could be a statement on financial viability, or could be a byproduct of long-term thinking.

Been prepping to drop the $$ to make him--was just waiting on more formal instructions. We're in luck!

Presumably still confirmed as a combiner of the models you reported earlier?

 

 

The two or three short cutscenes are okay, but they look rushed, text moves by too fast to read (surprising given they had that figured out for the news updates), and they have no sound whatsoever.

 

I'm still scratching my head about that. Was Templar really in such a time crunch that they couldn't create any sound, or proofread any of the text (Nokama proclaims that they are going to "Metra" Nui if I remember correctly)?

 

The last update went live in January 04, so something tells me they were probably occupied with other stuff. Maybe other LEGO games, maybe work for other clients. 

 

Work for a digital agency. Can confirm that sometimes the money just runs out.

Legends of Metru Nui is probably the strongest, looking back. Really enjoyed the darker tone of Web of Shadows though. I have a soft spot for Sidorak.

I generally have a favorable opinion of trans-pieces. They should be used fairly sparingly and in a coordinated manner. I think G2 did a pretty good job on the whole, in that regard.

I don't think the specific premise matters all that much, but the media surrounding it needs to be way more engaging than that of G2.

 

This isn't something I say just out of Genwunner nostalgia, but they need to really analyze what made 2001 successful, instead of just aping it aesthetically the way they did in 2015. Keep the storyline simple enough, but make the setting into a world that kids really want to inhabit—populate it with engaging characters and memorable locations. Kids don't want to be bogged down by 2007-style complexity, but they're not gonna care about the toys if you release them with no accompanying personality, or even a name! Invest heavily in promoting the line through regular comics, webisodes, maybe a few TV specials or games. Make sure the media is VERY easily accessible instead of behind a paywall on Netflix. 

 

With that out of the way, you can go nuts with the story in whatever direction you like. Maybe a soft reboot that doesn't ever clarify whether it's the same world or not—this time it could take place over a whole continent instead of an island, and you can have your six Toa living freely in the wilderness, semi-wild until a new threat emerges to the Agori/Matoran/Okotos/whatever. I'd rather they do something a bit original rather than jump straight into a less interesting version of Mata Nui.

Bingo. The magic trick was the happy (and maybe impossible to recreate?) medium between the comics/MNOLG/the mini-CDs that told a deep, but small enough story that 1) you could more or less keep track of by memory and 2) created a fantastic world with a lot of gaps you could fill yourself. Tremendous way to leverage fan-based creative freedom to build a brand.

Don't know if that works in today's media climate, but that's what sucked me in then.

Now, for G3...I wonder if they end up doing what Star Wars (twice), Transformers, etc. have all ended up doing: Wait until the original fans have kids, reboot for the modern day--whatever that looks like. G2 was awfully soon, in that sense. Old fans are only now starting to graduate and have disposable income/time to become AFOLs. I've been able to share Bionicle with my wife (with great success), but I think they can afford to wait and drop a better nostalgia bomb in another 5-10 years.

Could also consider the Blog feature (granted, it's a Premier thing). I keep meaning to make posts for all of my little finds lately.

Presumably you could extract it from the SWF? Don't know that I've seen original tracks outside the Powerpack.

 

Well, there goes all the respect I had for Lego as a company. 2010 may have been rushed and on a shoestring budget, but at least they showed some consideration for the fandom that saved them from bankruptcy. This time, it was like having a door slammed in our faces. Just as the story was starting to show some promise, we go from "Bionicle probably won't last beyond 2017" to "GONE! Sorry," within hours. Thank God the Bionicle team actually cared enough to give us what resolution they could, because it's clear the rest of the company couldn't care less.

The worst part is that now I need to figure out how to break the news to my little siblings. My youngest brother, in particular, who was still too young when G1 ended, has loved the reboot, and was really looking forward to getting ahold of the Mask of Ultimate Power. I can barely stand to think about how disappointed he's going to be.

I used to really think the world of Lego. Guess those days are over.

 

Wait... your younger siblings like Bionicle? Huh. Just hearing that is weird. I thought kids had no interest in constraction these days, not unless it's their favorite Star Wars characters or something like that.

 

There's hope, in that sense. My wife was really starting to enjoy G2 as well (still working on introducing her to G1). Might've just needed a few more years of gap than it had? Styles are ultimately circular, after all.

I guess we don't have to wait until sunday then.

Technically, that's a perk, ha.

Hate, hate, hate to be the bearer of bad news. Just hit the newsboard from Lego: http://www.lego.com/en-us/bionicle/newsboard

Let's just wait for the official announcement on sunday before we start this again.

Official announcement on Sunday?

I have one on the way that's (in theory) pretty closely aligned to Munty's version (i.e. near original, few quality-of-life buffs). Will report back what I can find out.

I went with mask packs, but for a more nuanced reason than that. Thinking back, there were a lot of things that drew me to the '01 world, but I remember there was a definite "collect them all" desire. To that end, mask packs were important, but I only ever owned a couple of them. It was more about the integration with the storyline. The knowledge that there was a lot I still had to do was a big driver on top of the story (rather than G2 relying on story alone).

I also always loved the huge builds, but I think I appreciate them way more now than I did then. They were important as a way of adding grandeur to the world (Rahi, in particular), but I'm missing more of them than I am canister sets.

You'll notice a trend in those two answers: What I'd love to see is a bigger support network around the product line. The supports may not sell in high volume themselves, but they exist to make the core sets seem more viable and tempting. Not dissimilar to price anchoring, in that sense.

This poll has no option for "it's fine as is"—which means that it automatically assumes that Bionicle needs to be any different.

 

I think the sets are pretty much fine as is. Mind you, I would LOVE to get System-based Bionicle playsets with minifigures and/or Technic-based vehicle sets again in addition to the basic constraction sets, but that's not to say that I need the basic constraction sets to go away or to start using substantially more System or Technic than they already are.

Good point, technically it's a poll about ratios. I've also been pretty happy with the CCBS/Technic blend in the 2016 wave (2015 was just a hair too much smooth-shells). In that sense, I voted technic because I liked the trend towards layering some custom gearboxes/limbs on top of the CCBS core (plus the increase in greebling).

More system + larger technic builds would be excellent.

 

(I like blue pins and red axles)

Oh those are fighting words there.

 

I wish that LEGO would return to black axles.

 

How do you feel about tan?

Deadpool. One of the best super hero movies out there.

Deadpool was outstanding, if occasionally cringe-worthy.

Believe the last I saw was Finding Dory with the in-laws. Good for what it is, not convinced it was worth the price of a theater.