Lyichir

I feel bad because after so long wanting to watch LCU, I just haven't enjoyed the streams as much as I had hoped to. Part of that's been being at work all day and not having the energy to watch a weekly livestream, but another part of it is that I just don't get as much out of watching a solitary player play the game over the internet as I might playing the game myself or with a friend. That probably is more my fault than the fault of the streams, though...

It having just dawned on me in another topic, one thing I'd love to see in a new iteration of Bionicle would be something that both G1 and G2 sorely lacked—authentic emotion and complex, realistic interpersonal relationships between characters. G1's characters occasionally brushed up against this in regards to larger-than-life lessons about heroism and sacrifice but rarely paused the action long enough to explore how the characters really felt about each other or WHY they felt that way, while G2 may have arguably done even worse at that. One of the things I adore about the Lego Cinematic Universe is that between all the huge action sequences and jokes both of the movies so far have had a lot of heart. And a lot of the TV series I enjoy are at their best when they do likewise—sure, there's something to be said about huge setpieces and thrilling fights, but none of that means anything without a solid emotional core. I'd appreciate a Bionicle where the characters are more complex than the shallow archetypes they often were in the past, and where you can really relate to their emotional journeys and how they intersect.

Chances are it would not be good at all. The current TV and film climate demand comedy for children's entertainment. That's what the studios want. Due to that climate a bionicle film or TV series would likely be very similar to journey to one (if not even more watered down). The world building aspect and the action would likely be pushed to the side in order to have comedic writing based on characters. What makes this even worse is that bionicle characters usually aren't that comedic in personality. So the characters would have to be drastically different in order to fill the demand for comedy. This could be seen in journey to one where the characters made jokes like the TMNT with their personality traits occasionally shoe horned in in order to give some distinction. The only way this could work is if bionicle was adapted into a video game. But Lego stopped dealing with third parties outside of TT games a long time ago. So if this were to somehow happen today it's unlikely to end well.

I would argue that there is a heck of a lot of great entertainment for children these days that manages to expertly blend action, comedy, and genuine, heartfelt emotion—look at the Lego Movie and its sequels/spinoffs, or TV shows like Steven Universe. Arguably, of the three aspects I mentioned, Bionicle G1 was good on action but had a significant deficit in regards to both of the latter two elements while Bionicle G2 was middling in regard to both of the first two aspects while possibly being even more lacking in regard to the third than G1 had been.

Ultimately if there's any barrier to Bionicle coming back, it being owned by Lego isn't one of them and neither is some perceived deficiency in the current state of children's entertainment. I would actually greatly appreciate a Bionicle revival that skewed lighter and softer and focused less on edgy action and more on authentic interpersonal relationships between its main heroes and with other characters.

 

 

Given that Lego only licensed the theme, rather than creating it-so far as I'm aware-I don't really see them creating a brand new deal with it. As has been said, this is more a joke/epic level Easter egg for long time Lego fans.

Actually, Lego DID create Galidor. It was one of their first major TV endeavors, though needless to say it did not go as well as later attempts like Ninjago.

 

Wait, they did?! Citations, please. I want to know who thought these toys were a good idea.

 

As is often the case when wondering about Lego's business decisions during the late '90s and early '00s, your best source is probably Brick by Brick.

In essence, Galidor was rushed to market after Bionicle's breakout success (and during an overall slump for Lego in which they were desperate for a hit). There were a lot of reasons for its failure, first and foremost that it was not given the kind of planning and focus testing of themes like Bionicle (instead being hastily reworked from a non-story-based action figure theme in development). But other factors included not even being able to release the toys in the U.K. until long after the show began airing (when any potential excitement had long-since been wasted) thanks to restrictive advertising laws, pricing the sets well above comparable action figures due to high-detail, high-quality molds, and trying to break into the crowded action figure market with a brand-new, untested IP instead of a more popular licensed franchise.

That said, there are a few voices within Lego who feel that, if these missteps had been avoided, the theme could have had the potential to be great. These include Niels Milan Pedersen, one of Lego's oldest designers who is responsible for not just Galidor parts but also classic part designs like the original crocodile, skeleton, and octopus, or more recent parts like the alien and sea creature molds from Space Police and Atlantis!

Given that Lego only licensed the theme, rather than creating it-so far as I'm aware-I don't really see them creating a brand new deal with it. As has been said, this is more a joke/epic level Easter egg for long time Lego fans.

Actually, Lego DID create Galidor. It was one of their first major TV endeavors, though needless to say it did not go as well as later attempts like Ninjago.

A Gen 1 soft reboot/continuation set on Spherus Magna.

 

I can see Velika as the main villain, possibly as a Toa of Stone (we know he has a Matoran body capable of becoming a Toa based on the events of The Kingdom), with various lesser villains from the past (e.g. The Shadowed One, the gold-skinned being, the Element Lord of Earth) appearing each year. We can make it episodic like Hero Factory with a steady continuous story focusing on Velika, and we'd have an enormous planet we know next to nothing about to play around with.

 

Actually I've been thinking about this for a while, and plan to post my ideas in my blog later.

Velika being the villain would be the quickest and easiest way to destroy any interest I might have in the story, considering his reveal as a villain was one of the things I hated most about the late story serials. It turned one of the more cryptic and interesting Matoran characters into yet another insane villain in a story that already tended to lean far too heavily on that problematic trope. If it absolutely had to be a continuation, it would be better off being set in the far future so that it could be free to come up with a newer, better story instead of relying solely on the mediocre plot threads left over from the original ending.

this is so cool! I can't wait to rewatch Ninjago again and translate all of the letters!

 

Ok I might not get through it all right away. If someone could tell me where the letters are, that would be so awesome.

 

Also are the ninjago letters like real Chinese or Japanese? Because if they were, that would be awesome.

Ninjago stickers often used to use real Japanese but this is a new language cipher developed for the movie.

 

 

Isn't this front page-worthy?

I emailed them last night but those slackers are biding their time!

Tough to keep up with news when most of the news staff is at a convention. I'm sure they'll get to it after this weekend.

Cool! I went ahead and entered the Gen 1 Collectible raffle since I never had a Trans. Neon Green Miru or Orange Vahi. I'll pass on the Gen 2 raffle since I already have most of that stuff and want to give somebody else a shot.

Can I just get Steven Universe in CCBS.

Unfortunately it's unlikely, what with MacFarlane Toys making Steven Universe buildinng sets.

Maybe if we'd get a constraction line with more varied colors (more purples, etc.) you could at least MOC some, but for the time being it'd be quite a challenge, especially with Star Wars favoring whites, blacks, and earth tones.

Why do articles keep calling Misako "Koko"? The Lego Ninjago Movie sets say that her name is Misako, but why the articles call her Koko. Weird, unnatural, and not classic.

Plus, shouldn't Lloyd's elemental power be Energy rather than Green? Green is not an element, but funny that they put that. Lol.

 

Anyway, these are very nice posters. The captions on them matches the characters very well.

 

Also anyway, I doubt that not everything in the movie is made of Lego pieces. These posters are just advertisements. The movie trailer shows that everything is truly made of Lego pieces.

Koko is probably a pet name used for her by certain characters, possibly Garmadon.

Lloyd's elemental power has often been poorly defined in the show (originally representing a combination of the original four elements but evolving into more of its own thing over time), so for the movie they might be going in yet another different direction with it, or otherwise playing coy about its true nature.

And the movie has been confirmed in the interview featured in the linked article (as well as a few earlier articles) to feature more natural non-brick elements. Earlier interviews suggested that unlike The Lego Movie, which took place in a basement, this movie would have more of an outdoor feel with realistic plants and nature (The Lego Batman movie already started in this direction with real water instead of the brick-built sea seen in The Lego Movie). This article confirms that the ninja's powers will control actual fire, electricity, etc. instead of just Lego versions of those elements. To be honest, I'm excited about this direction—The Lego Movie established real-world relics to have a sort of otherworldly power in the Lego universe, and by giving the ninja similar abilities their fairly standard elemental abilities (shared with all sorts of superheroic characters) seem like they'll take on a more mystical, spiritual quality.

 

 

I think the best option for Bionicle at this moment is one of those promotional "classic" sets, they've done them for Pirates, Castle and Space:

 

https://brickset.com/sets/5003082-1/Classic-Pirate-Minifigure

 

https://brickset.com/sets/5002812-1/Classic-Spaceman-Minifigure

 

https://brickset.com/sets/5004419-1/Classic-Knights-Minifigure

 

At this size maybe it could be a small Turaga with an exclusive mask, or if they wanted to really please the collectors they could have Vakama and Onewa but with a white huna and brown komau as extras!

 

As for the remaster, I don't think it would work well, it seems like a big investment for such a niche target audience.

It's worth pointing out that those promotional "classic" sets didn't necessitate bringing back any retired parts. Conversely, that'd be a necessity for almost any classic Bionicle sets, even ones like the Turaga that used mostly basic Technic (since the masks, heads, and eyestalks haven't been used since 2004). And bringing those sorts of parts back would be a dubious prospect even for mainline retail sets—for a promotional giveaway, it'd never happen.

They could use a modified mask on a G2 head or just have a promotional mask or mask pack.

Modifying a retired part would be no less of a challenge than bringing one back (in fact, it'd probably be even more of one, since the mold would have to be reengineered rather than just recast). I can only think of a single promotional set that included an exclusive new mold (I think a fig related to some Dutch retailer?). Most of the time promo sets rely on prints, recolors, or occasionally non-plastic elements like fabric tents.

There's also the matter of a promotional Bionicle set being much more unlikely when there isn't an active Bionicle theme for it to promote...

I think the best option for Bionicle at this moment is one of those promotional "classic" sets, they've done them for Pirates, Castle and Space:

 

https://brickset.com/sets/5003082-1/Classic-Pirate-Minifigure

 

https://brickset.com/sets/5002812-1/Classic-Spaceman-Minifigure

 

https://brickset.com/sets/5004419-1/Classic-Knights-Minifigure

 

At this size maybe it could be a small Turaga with an exclusive mask, or if they wanted to really please the collectors they could have Vakama and Onewa but with a white huna and brown komau as extras!

 

As for the remaster, I don't think it would work well, it seems like a big investment for such a niche target audience.

It's worth pointing out that those promotional "classic" sets didn't necessitate bringing back any retired parts. Conversely, that'd be a necessity for almost any classic Bionicle sets, even ones like the Turaga that used mostly basic Technic (since the masks, heads, and eyestalks haven't been used since 2004). And bringing those sorts of parts back would be a dubious prospect even for mainline retail sets—for a promotional giveaway, it'd never happen.

Frankly, I fail to see any appeal for a Bionicle in which we already knew everything that would happen and every character that would be released. And I can't imagine even newcomers to the franchise would find that anywhere near as appealing as experiencing G1 for the first time would be for us.

I believe this topic should be closed as Bionicle has been retired and it is no longer 2016.

No need to force its closure if discussion is still going on, especially with no need for a "2017" topic to take its place and with the potential for 2016-related news to come up (for example, discussion of discounts on remaining sets).

so how's the first BotW DLC? Worth picking up or should I wait until the second one drops?

I haven't played much of it, but what I have played is decent. The Korok Mask and Hero's Path in particular are great additions for people who are still trying to get things they might have missed during their first playthrough. The Trial of the Sword is quite a challenge (so far I've only made it a few floors), and Hero Mode is not only challenging but also offers a great opportunity for anyone interested in experiencing the game again from the beginning, thanks to using a separate save file from the normal mode.

It's so neat to see BZPower members going on to bigger and better things as Lego designers. It was only a few years ago that Nick Vas started working at Lego, and he's already at the point where he's working on one of Lego's biggest sets ever!

The sets are all I'm concerned about.

 

I want more mechas. I don't care how bad IFB was, I WANT MORE MINIFIGURES. :>

I loved those minifigures. The best part was that their helmet designs were heavily inspired by those figures' most iconic appearances. I do wish we had gotten minifigures based on the Bionicle reboot, considering how much those versions of the Toa were inspired by the classics as well...

No female characters that is what I would like.

Wow, I think I can say without hyperbole that that is the singular worst take I have ever seen here on BZPower. Do you hate women or are you just trying to be a contrarian?

Woo, congrats!

Can't help but feel a little jealous, though. Hopefully this won't be my last shot at getting one of these artbooks.

I a see future reboot most likely not even being called Bionicle.

 

Hear me out and put away the pitch fork.

 

It be best if LEGO made a villager focused theme and the creatures they fight. Have big sets be villains and creatures. Small sets would be villagers either protectors, Matoran or something new.

 

Then once it reached the point to expand past the three year mark have six of the villagers find stones that turn them into mighty warriors called Toa. Then bing bang boom Bionicle came back without calling it Bionicle.

What could that even accomplish, besides not being able to take advantage of the strength of the Bionicle brand name? Of all the conceivable weaknesses of Bionicle G2, being called Bionicle wasn't one of them. I don't see any advantages to changing the name if you're creating something so fundamentally similar.

So what's the piece holding the gold and yellow pieces? New?

Yup, new. You can also see it on the bridge holding the life ring pieces on.

Yay, I remembered to tune in this time! Man, I love this game.

 

Historically, ditching a proven, established system and going all-in on a new one that's only marginally compatible has not worked out well for LEGO.

 

Yeah, they'd never dive into a brand new system incompatible with other LEGO bricks.

 

Oh wait, that was what Bionicle was. 

 

I mean, not really? Bionicle G2 mostly used the previously introduced CCBS, and G1 at its inception was only a small evolutionary step from the builds of Throwbots (which themselves were closer to standard Technic than most later constraction builds).

Which is not to say that that rules out a new system, or another evolution of CCBS. Just that generally most theme's builds are evolutionary (building off of what has come immediately before) rather than revolutionary (introducing something completely new that isn't compatible with earlier systems)).

Return to Ommadawn by Mike Oldfield. Can't believe I didn't notice this was out for like half a year.