Aanchir

The specific line from the video "The Legend" is "When Makuta put it on, it took control over him". And in the graphic novel Battle of the Mask Makers, when Makuta first puts on the Mask of Ultimate Power, he proclaims that he will use it to help the people of Okoto: "New land will rise from the surrounding waters! New forests will provide more food! New cities will be cleaner and safer! Never will an islander want for anything! And I will control it… I will control… I will control… I WILL CONTROL… EVERYTHING!" It's at that point that Ekimu arrives and knocks the mask from him with his Hammer of Power. Judging from that sequence, Makuta's intentions when he put on the mask were very different than when it was finally knocked from him. We did get a thorough first-person glimpse into Teridax's head, though, in Makuta's Guide to the Universe. And in that, it's made clear that his actions are evil and without remorse. Thinking he could run the universe more efficiently is one thing, but the things Makuta did were more than just a facade to look tough and scary to his followers. He genuinely did not care for the lives of anyone but himself, and delights in crushing anyone from his most loyal followers to those who he perceives even the slightest disrespect from. And frankly, nothing ever so much as implies that he did once have a heart — rather than being a good person who turned evil, he was an evil person who just happened to work with the good guys for the several thousand years it took him to realize that there was an alternative. This is reinforced when we encounter The Melding alternate universe's version of Makuta, who despite ostensibly still serving the forces of good is just as ruthless, spiteful, and uncaring as the main universe's counterpart. When the only thing it takes to put together a scheme to take over the universe is realizing that you can get away with it, nobody can claim you were ever anything but a self-absorbed monster. You were compliant once, maybe, but never good. Now, in the early years, there was indeed some evidence that Makuta might have had some deeper motivations than just run-of-the-mill megalomania (including the style guide that got posted here on BZPower a few years ago). But by the end it's clear that any plans to give Makuta any kind of moral complexity had been abandoned — his only reason for turning to evil was realizing he could get away with it at no cost to himself. And no, his evil was not purely in service of the "goal" of running the universe. In the last pages of Makuta's Guide to the Universe, he plainly considers all his goals achieved. And yet, does he boast of how perfect and benevolent his new reign will be? Of course not. Rather, he gloats that he has "an infinity of years with which to torment Tahu, Jaller, and all the rest," that the Toa would be "reduced to huddling in fearful anticipation of when I would end their pitiful existences, and that "I have nothing more to fear from Mata Nui. But this universe and its people have everything to fear from me." That's not evil in the service of a goal. That's evil for evil's sake, taken to utterly cartoonish extremes.

I disagree. From what I've seen, Makuta in G2 didn't turn evil due to jealousy alone. Rather, his desire to prove himself equal to or better than his brother made him bitter and reckless, leading him to take a huge risk in creating the Mask of Ultimate Power. It was that mask's corrupting influence that turned him from jealous rival to ruthless megalomaniac. Conversely, Makuta in G1 was eventually revealed to not actually not even be remotely related to Mata Nui except as a high-ranking, much less powerful follower, revealing his jealousy of the Matoran's praise of Mata Nui as nothing but delusions of grandeur. He somehow (it's never sufficiently explained how or why) convinced himself he was more important and more brilliant than the universe itself. He risked destroying the universe time and time again in the name of taking control of it, and yet the only justification ever provided for these insane schemes was "I think it'll work, so why not?". This made him utterly unsympathetic, and yet the story proceeded to unfailingly prove him right by repeatedly giving him the upper hand, not because of any major failings or mistakes on the part of the "good guys", but rather because he was Just That Good At Scheming. There were definitely some interesting things about Makuta in G1 — like the cult of personality that his naive followers built around him, and his tendency to toy with heroes like Vakama, Takanuva, and Matoro, and of course the hints dropped early on and abandoned later that he might be more than just evil for evil's sake… but by the end, he was just presented as an obnoxiously hypercompetent evil overlord with no meaningful weaknesses, few compelling motivations, and not a shred of moral ambiguity.

The lack of hands or fingers was never a strict rule, though. Besides the Toa Mata's non-weapon hands generally having fingers, and Onua's claws of course having discrete fingers of their own, the 2001–2002 Matoran had obvious molded hands with three-fingered right hands and more mitten-like left hands. The magnetism aspect was basically a hand-wave (no pun intended) to explain things like how Tahu could hold his fire sword in his right hand when only his left hand had fingers, or how any of the Toa Nuva or 2003 Matoran could hold things. But then when Bionicle: Mask of Light came out, the characters were given hands with discrete fingers anyway to make it less awkward when characters waved, pointed, gave each other fist bumps, or used other gestures that normally involve specific hand movements. Magnetism may be able to explain how fingerless characters hold things (and, as you mention, was given a nod in the movie when Takua was in Onu-Koro), but a lack of fingers still greatly limits the characters' ability to use many familiar forms of body language.

I disagree on this for a number of factors. First of all, most Ninjago fans would disagree with you about Ninjago not being iconic, original, or interesting, and with how many Ninjago fans there are I think their opinions on this matter have to be taken into account on some level. It's kind of sketchy to act as though Ninjago fans are just slaves to marketing without any genuinely good taste in toys or storytelling, particularly since there are probably plenty of AFOLs who thought exactly the same thing about Bionicle fans ten years ago. The LEGO Group didn't become as successful as they are by assuming that kids are stupid and have to be told what to enjoy. Second, we've seen LEGO invest heavily in marketing when launching new themes like Hero Factory and Legends of Chima, yet neither of them took off the way Ninjago did (let's not forget, Ninjago launched with a mere 44-minute TV special; whereas Hero Factory launched with an 88-minute miniseries and Chima launched with a full 20-episode TV season). Furthermore, last year we also saw LEGO Elves launch with scarcely any more marketing than Bionicle got, and yet it seems to have had considerably more success, with more sets and media in its second year than in its first. Clearly, that sort of heavy marketing investment isn't any kind of silver bullet. You can't turn a concept that doesn't resonate with kids into a timeless success just by spending more and more money on marketing, whereas a concept that DOES resonate with kids will often be able to prove itself even with a much less extensive marketing campaign than proven themes.

Well, here's one counterpoint: Battle Mecha Breeze - Mass production unit by John Ho, on Flickr John is one of the designers who worked on Bionicle G2, and I think this is a good example of a nice-looking mech build that might work even at a low, $15 to $20 price point. This one is not bad either, and would probably hit more of a $30 or $35 price point: Breez XL Machine by Living Legend, on Flickr On the whole, I don't think even the actual Invasion from Below mechs were bad-looking — they just had more of an industrial look than many of the Exo-Force mechs, a little closer to things like the Aliens Power Loader than more streamlined Gundam-esque look of many Exo Force mechs (given the other Aliens parallels that year, this was probably intentional). In my opinion, Furno Jet Machine, Evo XL Machine, and Breez Flea Machine were some of the standouts from the Invasion from Below series, but considering the advancements to constraction that have taken place since then, a future CCBS mecha theme could be even better.

I'd say Lewa and Uxar are the best Toa and Creature pair. Uxar has great colors, a great build, great articulation, a great function, and a nice Shadow Trap design. Lewa has nice proportions and weapons that suit his personality, a good color scheme, an awesome mask, and creative builds for his arms and legs. Together their design is very strong, maintaining the usefulness of Uxar's core function, strengthening Lewa's similarity to his previous form, and generally looking really coherent. I had great fun photographing these two for my New Elementary review! Storm Beast is the best beast, in my opinion. It's got a creative and unprecedented function, a strikingly dynamic color scheme, a suitably monstrous physique that helps convey it is neither person nor animal, and great articulation — love the design of its claws! By comparison, Quake Beast's build strikes me as cluttered and inconsistent (its beefy, crystalline right arm and shoulder are interrupted by spindly joints, and the gearbox sticks out obtrusively), while Lava Beast is stylish and coherent but not quite so exciting in terms of functions. I'd say Umarak the Hunter and Umarak the Destroyer are about equal as titans. Umarak the Hunter has a more interesting color scheme with great contrast, but Umarak the Destroyer has a more interesting build. They bear a striking similarity to one another that really conveys that they are different forms of the same character, but also substantial differences to make it clear that one is a cunning villain and the other a monstrous brute corrupted by power. Sort of like the contrast between Ganondorf and Ganon in The Legend of Zelda series.

This is sort of a duplicate of this topic ("constraction" is the LEGO Group's term for their buildable action figure themes like Bionicle). Anyway, in the immediate future, I anticipate LEGO focusing more on spin-offs of other popular themes they have, like the existing LEGO Star Wars buildable figures or possibly buildable figures for some of their other successful IPs like Ninjago or Nexo Knights. Nexo Knights in particular seems like it'd translate fairly well to constraction, since each of the main characters has full armor, a striking color scheme, and a signature weapon. Even as minifigures their physiques are somewhat varied (here's looking at you, Axl), so giving them builds that stand out from one another would not be too difficult, either. It might be a year or two before we see another fully independent constraction theme like Bionicle or Hero Factory, both because new themes generally take at least two years to develop and because LEGO would probably want to spend some time figuring out how to avoid the same pitfalls Bionicle G2 encountered. I do not anticipate LEGO attempting to reboot an earlier constraction theme like Slizer/Throwbots, Galidor, or Hero Factory. Bionicle was a big enough phenomenon to give LEGO the confidence that it might fare better than an entirely new concept tailored to today's kids. Those other themes never became a hit on anywhere near the same level, and thus LEGO would probably be much more comfortable creating something entirely new than rebooting something that only ever experienced middle-of-the-road success (or in Galidor's case, outright failure).

I always assumed they were just meant to be hands, albeit weird-looking ones. I remember being grateful that they got more normal-sized hands that could more easily hold weapons when they became Toa Nuva.

You speak as if there's no such thing as a story-based IP that doesn't survive on toy sales. It's understandable that selling Bionicle as a story rather than a toy line can be seen as risky, but when you make really good media and sell it the right way, it doesn't need toys. Nothing I said implies that at all. My point is something entirely different — that non-toy-driven properties are HARDER to sell to publishers than toy-driven ones, and Bionicle has shown multiple times that it's had a harder time getting and keeping the support of publishers than maintaining a successful toyline. So the idea that Bionicle could be MORE successful without toys than with them is completely counterintuitive. I agree that Bionicle would be strongest with a visual medium. It doesn't change my point. Comics also need publishers. If you can't convince prose publishers to invest in a franchise, how do you think you'd convince comics publishers, who because of the visual nature of the medium would bear an even heavier financial burden? Note also that I specifically mentioned the publishers of the graphic novels, which WERE visual media, as companies that bailed out on both generations of Bionicle as their popularity waned. I'm not saying that Bionicle couldn't succeed as a brand with the right combination of factors. But I can't think of any reason not having sets would ever make it easier for it to succeed. A story with merchandise tie-ins generally earns more confidence from media publishers and producers, not less. So if media publishers and producers were hesitant to invest in Bionicle media until they'd seen evidence of strong toy sales, and if the popularity of the media declined faster than the popularity of the toys, then you can't pretend the media might have somehow taken off faster or lasted longer in the absence of toys. Frankly, the toys are probably the only reason so many media companies were prepared to give Bionicle a chance in the first place, let alone to stick with it for as long as they did.

Lego stated on Twitter that Bionicle wasn't doing that poorly, IIRC. The sales were likely simply turning downward, and Lego knew that it would cross the point of no return eventually if they didn't pull the plug. Basically Bionicle was a injured bird. They took it in before it got bad. Soon they well release it all healed with jetpacks. Jetpacks=marketing That's assuming Lego is smart about it, which entails reviving Bionicle again to start with. Then there's the question of whether they'll get a competent team for the line where, for G2, they did not. Having been lucky enough to meet many of the people who worked on Bionicle G2, I know that they're definitely competent. Moreover, they're far more qualified to manage an IP like Bionicle than anyone who's posted in this topic, myself included. I'm a bit confused about what is meant by "brand" in the topic title. Yes, like Marvel or Transformers, I get that. But is that supposed to mean without toys as a backbone? Here's the thing… Marvel and Transformers are the successes they are today in large part because of their ability to sell merchandise. Like Bionicle or Ninjago, Transformers has its roots as a toy line, and the storyline was created to promote the toys. Marvel did not originate as toys, but its success with toys is a big factor in why it's as wide-reaching and popular as it is, and why it gets high-profile movie and TV deals. Transformers today has some media like comics that don't exist strictly to promote the current toys. But it was the success of its toy line that allowed it to grow to that point. By comparison, we've actually already seen twice that Bionicle media isn't sustainable without a successful toyline to get people invested in the story. The evidence, in this case, is that each time Bionicle has ended, the book series have been discontinued BEFORE the sets themselves. The final G1 chapter book, Journey's End, was not released in many countries (and even before that, Bionicle had been getting fewer chapter books each year for several years). The final G1 graphic novel, Power of the Great Beings, was cancelled before it was even completed. G2 Bionicle only ended up getting two graphic novels, the last of which came out in April 2016, and three chapter books, the last of which came out in June 2016. There had been plans for a third graphic novel, and a placeholder listing sent out to sites like Amazon, but as far as we can tell it was cancelled before Little, Brown even got as far as assigning a writer to it. Chances are, they wanted to see how much excitement the first books generated before going further, and what they saw failed to impress them. Major publishers are picky and don't want to invest in a franchise unless they think it has the makings of a clear winner. Series that tie in with a successful line of merchandise, a hallmark of a successful series, are therefore subject to a LOT less scrutiny than your run of the mill fantasy adventure storyline with no merchandise angle. It's probably no coincidence that Bionicle G1 got its first tie-in books in 2003, after it had two years of success to show and was about to get its first direct-to-DVD movie released. In fact, the same goes for Hero Factory, which launched in 2010 but didn't get books until 2012. Bionicle G2 is literally the first time a constraction theme has gotten books the same year as it's launched, so there's no doubt publishers had faith in it. I mean, the fact that it got graphic novels from Little, Brown at all says a lot about what high hopes were attached to it, since the other high-profile new IP that year, LEGO Elves, didn't get graphic novels then and neither it nor this year's "big bang" theme, LEGO Nexo Knights, have them now. But those high expectations were evidently not met once the Bionicle G2 books were actually released. And before people blame "lack of promotion" here as they have elsewhere, note that LEGO puts very little effort into promoting the books for any of their IPs, yet their books for IPs like Ninjago, Friends, Legends of Chima, and Elves seem to sell alright regardless. So yeah, it'll take more to convince me that the Bionicle story is strong enough to sell itself without a successful toyline backing it up. So far, evidence suggests that as much as Bionicle fans love the story media, publishers have been slower to gain faith in it — and quicker to LOSE faith in it — than the LEGO Group themselves.

Sure, go for it! In my opinion there's never been a better time to be a Ninjago fan! The storyline has been going strong, and there have been some fantastic sets in the past couple years! Some of the sets I'd most readily recommend would be the Temple of Airjitzu, Final Flight of Destiny's Bounty, Samurai X Cave Chaos, Ultra Stealth Raider, Airjitzu Battle Grounds, and Master Wu Dragon. Temple of Airjitzu and Ultra Stealth Raider are particularly nice because in addition to great builds, they have a very strong selection of characters. The Temple has Wu, all six ninja in their Deepstone outfits from Season 5, and supporting characters like Misako, Dareth, and the Postman. The Ultra Stealth Raider has the four original ninja in new "throwback" outfits that echo their classic garb, plus Season 4 villains Master Chen and Eyezorai and Season 5 villain Sensei Yang. If you want "throwback" versions of the remaining three main characters (Wu, Nya, and Lloyd), you can get them in Samurai X Cave Chaos, which also has redesigned versions of season 1's Pythor, season 2's General Kozu, and season 3's General Cryptor. Of course, those are all high-dollar sets. Final Flight of Destiny's Bounty and Master Wu Dragon don't have such a stunning selection of characters, but they're still fantastic builds, and since they're a year old you're more likely to find them on clearance at stores like Target. The Airjitzu Battle Grounds is great in terms of play value. It has energized Airjitzu versions of Nya and Lloyd, along with Sensei Yang and two of his ghost students. It also includes two types of Airjitzu launchers: ground launchers for spinner battles and air launchers for flight. Aesthetically, it makes a nice companion piece to the Temple of Airjitzu. If you want Airjitzu versions of the original four ninja as well, that's not too difficult, since each of them comes in a $10 Airjitzu Flyer set, which like some of the sets mentioned above are over a year old and probably available for reduced prices if you do some looking around. When it comes to catching up on the story, the pilot and seasons one through three are available for streaming on Netflix, and everything except season six (Skybound) is available on DVD. Hope some of these recommendations help!

10218 Pet Shop is a pretty nice residential building. The left building is purely residential and undergoing renovations (the upstairs is still being painted), while the right building has a pet shop downstairs and an apartment upstairs. Unlike some of the other more residential modular buildings such as Green Grocer and Market Street, Pet Shop is still available, but it's the oldest modular building still available so if you want to buy it, you should do that sooner rather than later. As you mention, Parisian Restaurant also has a great residential second floor and attic spaces. Like the Pet Shop, it is still available, so you can buy it direct from LEGO for a lot less than the inflated aftermarket prices of discontinued buildings. Either of these sets would probably be better for an interior designer than Market Street, because Market Street has no interior furnishings and these newer buildings do. Creator has had some decent-sized house sets, albeit not as large or detailed as the modular buildings. 5771 Hillside House from 2011 can be bought new on BrickLink for less than $90 (it cost $70 new). 31012 Family House from 2013 is even larger, and with more detailed interior furnishing. It has a very modern look. Again, even though it's discontinued, BrickLink has them for less than $90 — a bargain compared to the modular buildings. Don't forget, non-expert Creator sets are 3-in-1 sets, and so even some sets that don't have a house as the primary model might have one as a secondary model. Among this year's sets, 31052 rebuilds into a pretty substantial two-story summer home. LEGO Friends, controversial as it may be, also has some pretty substantial houses with brilliant interiors. The one I'd soonest recommend is 41095 Emma's House from last year, which is nice and big, with a really modern look inside and out. Livi's Pop Star House is also very modern and detailed, but is much more glitzy, to a degree some people might consider garish. Bear in mind that most Friends and City sets are more play-oriented than Creator sets. They have somewhat simpler builds and tend to be left open in the back, rather than enclosed on all sides like many larger Creator houses. City and Friends buildings also use stickers, which are not found in most Creator sets. I haven't recommended any City houses because there are few of them, and the few there are have been very simple with very sparse interiors. Finally, The Simpsons House can be divisive since it has a license attached that some people might not be fans of. Its interior colors are also somewhat cartoony, in keeping with the show's color palette. But it is without a doubt the biggest, most detailed, and most complex LEGO house ever released. It boasts a garage, kitchen, and living room downstairs, and three bedrooms and a bathroom upstairs. Might be worth a look. Hope some of these suggestions help!

Based on precedent, it seemed extremely unlikely to me that Bionicle G2 would end so soon. Both Bionicle G1 and Hero Factory lasted two years after the decision was made to discontinue them, in order to allow time to develop a successor. And while there was strong evidence that Bionicle G2 was underperforming, there was no strong evidence supporting the leap from that to the fact that it would be ending this year, without so much as a small final wave in 2017. The limited availability of the summer sets was consistent with the experiences of some other themes that had been on the brink of ending, like Ultra Agents, but also with the experiences of surviving themes like Technic and Speed Champions. Honestly, the fact that this abrupt cancellation defied precedent to such a degree makes it quite difficult to predict what to expect next. I know from speaking and watching interviews with LEGO employees that constraction as a category and the CCBS as a system will definitely live on into 2017 and beyond, but in what form? Will they be limited to spin-offs of larger and more successful themes, like Star Wars or Super Heroes or Ninjago or Nexo Knights? And if so, will that be a temporary change while they develop a new independent constraction IP, or will it be the new status quo? I guess only time will tell.

I very definitely heard the music in my head when I saw this. Great job!

Kind of odd that you say that, since a lot of passion and forethought went into Hero Factory itself. So you're selling two themes short rather than just one. Many of the people who are frequently (and rightly) credited for making Bionicle G1 as detailed and complex as it was contributed in many of the same ways to the development and marketing of Hero Factory. Christian Faber, who was instrumental in developing the Bionicle world and mythos (including the secret giant robot that served as the "big story engine"), also helped shape the Hero Factory concept, universe, and story from beginning to end, as he discussed here before removing the text for the sake of secrecy. Greg Farshtey wrote Hero Factory comics for the LEGO Club Magazine and chapter books and guide books for Scholastic, just as he had for Bionicle. Christoffer Raundahl, one of the leading Bionicle G1 d,esigners, involved in designing sets ranging from the Toa Mata and Bahrag to the Toa Mahri, was one of three designers who created the revolutionary Character and Creature Building System used for all Hero Factory sets from 2011 onwards. Needless to say, these themes may not have lived up to Bionicle G1, but there was never any lack of "passion" in their development.

I think the reason the series drifted away from the more creative and user-generated aspects of Hero Factory as it went on is that sadly, those aspects were not all that successful. Hero Recon Team is the obvious example — like the Design byME program it sprung from, it tended to confuse users, thus discouraging them from actually using it to make purchases. Likewise, the "call center" which encouraged people to pitch their own emergency scenarios which would be evaluated on the "Hero Factory FM" podcast also evidently wasn't a successful enough initiative to continue for more than one year. LEGO definitely opted for a hugely experimental strategy in those first two years, but when many of those initiatives failed, they went back to what they'd had more positive experiences with: episodic, character-driven storytelling. As for things like those old Bionicle bulk tubs, as amazing as a CCBS set like those would be, I don't know how profitable those were in the first place. And I think that would play a big role in whether we ever see a modern counterpart to those.

The new building system was what actually got me into buying the sets again (I hadn't bought any sets from the first wave of Hero Factory). Between the assurance that I would no longer have to deal with joints cracking and the sense of visual unity and functional versatility the building system offered, I was extremely excited to try it out. I started out buying just a couple sets but was quickly hooked. One thing I was particularly struck by was how much the 2.0 Hero Factory sets reminded me of the Toa Mata. They were more or less the same height and width, but with much greater articulation. They had bright, systematic color schemes and an affordable price. They also did some creative things with weapons — instead of single-piece weapons, most had creative weapons custom-built from an assortment of shared pieces. Of course, they weren't flawless. They lacked any kind of armor to fill out their backs, which was easy enough to fix in MOCs but still a mark against them as sets. Their helmets, while more customizable than typical one-piece masks, still felt somewhat generic. Story-wise, while I hadn't been too attached to the Hero Factory story prior to getting into the sets, I had followed it in some capacity (it helped that it was fairly simple), and I liked the idea of introducing a way for heroes to be upgraded routinely without relying on some kind of random mutation or deus ex machina. While the idea of a full hero upgrade was treated as revolutionary (because at that point in the story, we'd only previously seen minor refittings), it was still a good way to establish a means for hero redesigns to fit into the story without a whole lot of explanation. They were more like costume changes than magical transformations, and I was glad that Bionicle G2 also took more of that same approach instead of making character upgrades feel like such a weird and unnerving experience. Overall, my opinion was very positive!

I have to admit, it still frustrates me when people use names like "Onua Master" or "Tahu Uniter". It doesn't even sound sensible, let alone have any official basis. It'd be like calling Ninjago characters "Jay Ninja", "Chopov Skeleton", or "Karlof Master". In truth, the Toa Nuva are the ONLY Toa team who ever officially had their team name or title appended to their names as a suffix — even in G1. People just assumed that every subsequent Toa's name should follow that pattern, so if a Toa Nuva set named Tahu is called Tahu Nuva, then a Toa Metru set named Vakama should be Vakama Metru, a Toa Mahri set named Kongu should be Kongu Mahri, and a Stars set named Takanuva should be Takanuva Stars. As you can see, it sounds downright ridiculous when you start doing that with real words. But I digress. It's fantastic that we have instructions to build Makuta, even though they're not broken down step-by-step like typical LEGO instructions. A lot of people fail to realize how difficult it is to make building instructions as clear and legible as the ones we get in sets!

Interesting (and for a lover of the latest Bionicle sets, heartwarming) to read the tweets saying that Bionicle has been successful overall. However, I think it should be acknowledged that overall success is not a guarantee for longevity. I imagine that overall, most discontinued themes from recent years (such as Legends of Chima and Ultra Agents) would be considered overall successes, because LEGO generally doesn't keep themes running any longer than they think they can justifiably sustain them. But that doesn't mean running them until they're no longer profitable. Let's suppose, for instance, that the first wave of Bionicle sets made a pretty decent profit, then the second wave made only half as much as the first, then the third wave made only 50% as much as the second. Altogether, each wave is still profitable, but that's still a rather precipitous decline. The sort that retailers and media partners are surely going to take notice of. And of course, the fact that the line, at all of those stages, is still ostensibly making money for LEGO, doesn't guarantee it's making money for all the retailers LEGO depends on to get those sets into the hands of fans, or the media partners who promote the story. Even if a retailer can manage to turn a profit on Bionicle sets, they might not be keen on ordering those sets if they make many times more profit (and see more growth in their profits) by dedicating that percentage of their budget and shelf space to other LEGO themes. And companies like Scholastic and Little, Brown that publish the Bionicle chapter books, activity books, and graphic novels might not want to keep publishing them if they could spend the same amount as they spent publishing Bionicle books on more lucrative franchises. So even the quantity of story we had, which a lot of people were disappointed with, could have wound up diminishing further if LEGO had chosen to push Bionicle a year or two longer. The LEGO Group's dependence on retail and licensing partners is something not a lot of people think about, but it definitely matters and was a big factor in why G1 Bionicle ended when it did — even if LEGO could have profited off the line's shrinking sales for a few years longer (perhaps unlikely, since LEGO found towards the end that they had not been properly accounting for all the costs associated with Bionicle), they would have risked more and more business partners losing faith in the Bionicle theme and the constraction category.

The sets brought together many of what I thought were the coolest features of Bionicle G1 sets over the years, along with new features I greatly enjoyed. The first wave of Toa in particular had gear functions and pop-off masks like the Toa Mata, dual-function weapons like the Toa Nuva, "energized" transparent limbs and 13 points of articulation like the Toa Inika, and diverse builds like the Toa Mahri. They also generally had higher piece counts than any previous Toa and used the CCBS, which I've loved for its style and versatility since it was first introduced in 2011. The Protectors likewise had more articulation, more varied builds, and higher piece counts than any previous series of Bionicle villagers (even if you deduct each one's twelve ammo pieces), along with a new launcher that was more compact and easier to customize than any launcher before it, and which didn't even need specialized ammo. The villain designs that year were not as strong as the hero designs, in my opinion, but introduced some entirely new functions for Bionicle (in particular I loved Skull Basher's bashing function, which was reminiscent of the Rahkshi and Vahki functions but with more attack options and fewer specialized pieces). I was not as fond of this year's Toa in terms of aesthetics or functions as last year's, but I loved the concept. I've been wanting a team of constraction heroes with their own animal companions for many years, and this year's Toa and elemental creatures finally delivered that. I thought the use of elemental energy crystals as a unifying motif for the new masks, armor, and weapons was brilliant, and felt a lot more mystical than many previous Bionicle character upgrades like the fleshy-looking masks of the Toa Nuva or the scuba gear of the Toa Mahri. The new masks were easily recognizable as the characters, but brought in other new cues from classic Bionicle like the Nuva symbols. The elemental creatures, like the Protectors before them, had far more pieces than typical previous sets their size, along with creative designs and clever action features using great new gear pieces. The elemental beasts, by contrast, did a great job feeling less like embodiments of nature and more like freaks of nature, with ungainly, monstrous proportions. They carried on the elemental crystal motif in a more chaotic form, really reinforcing that they were made of the island's own elements turned against it. I loved both versions of Umarak, especially the sort of Ganondorf/Ganon dichotomy they had going on. Again, it was a very nicely handled transformation. In terms of story, I loved that the story emphasized some of the most timeless plot elements of the classic story: an elemental world with elemental inhabitants, a mysterious island setting, elemental powers, mystical prophecies, a feud between two brothers, an ancient cataclysm, quests for magical masks, and a powerful evil seeking to control and corrupt the island and its inhabitants. I also liked that the Toa were a little goofier than their previous incarnations, and had more human character flaws besides just not getting along. I'm sad that we didn't get to experience more stories exploring those flaws and how they would learn to respect and appreciate each other's differences. The story generally did a good job maintaining a mythic fantasy tone rather than feeling like straight sci-fi. Artistically, I loved the scenic backdrops of Okoto as portrayed by the box art, webisodes, graphic novels, and Netflix series. I also really enjoyed the episodic, cartoon style of the webisodes (though some of the liberties taken with the characters bugged me, namely Onua's height — I preferred his shorter stature in the sets). The Journey to One also had a pretty cool style for its characters that helped tone down some of their weaknesses in the sets (like the disproportionately long torsos on this year's Toa), and I have a Journey to One still featuring Gali and Akida as my desktop background. And of course, in G2 we got a LOT of "behind-the-scenes" glimpses, which is the sort of thing that has always fascinated me. LEGO.com/Bionicle, LEGO.com/Club, and the LEGO Bionicle Facebook page shared lots of neat designer videos, interviews, and concept art. Even Bionicle MOCs created by LEGO designers were often shared as inspiration. The creators of the sets, the books, and The Journey to One even sat down for interviews with Bionicle fansites. That sort of openness is a lot rarer in many of the other LEGO themes I enjoy, like Ninjago, Nexo Knights, and Elves (you can get in touch with some of the creators of some of these themes on social media if you know their names, and some of the creators have made appearances at conventions, but the brands' own sites and social media profiles don't present so many behind-the-scenes insights). As for things that stood out to me more negatively? Well, none of the G2 music really stood out as very distinctive, memorable, or iconic to me. The voice acting in The Journey to One was pretty weak, and there was never any sort of online or mobile game that felt really immersive or offered the sort of adventure or puzzle gameplay I tend to enjoy. The 2016 version of the website felt like a considerable downgrade from the 2015 version, losing a fair amount of supplementary info on the island and characters (though some of those sorts of details were later filled in with the new story section). I have plenty of nitpicks with individual sets, too. But my overall experience as a fan of Bionicle G2 was very positive. Obviously, I understand that many people had different expectations, and they have every right to feel disappointed. But I feel like insulting the people who created Bionicle G2 and saying they didn't care or didn't try is going too far. Sorry for the long post.

Lots of people enjoyed Bionicle G2 for what it was, and have every right to thank LEGO for creating something that made them happy for two years. Your own bitter opinion is purely subjective and doesn't have any more strength or authority than anybody else's, particularly since I'd wager you've never even met any of these people you're so quick to paint as lazy or evil. All those I've been lucky enough to meet are brilliantly creative and care deeply about their work and what it means to fans. Bionicle G2's failure is unfortunate but that doesn't mean nobody put any care or effort into it or got any enjoyment out of it. Beyond that, what kind of perverse reasoning and black-and-white thinking does it even take to think mishandling or cancelling a fictional kids' story and its corresponding toyline amounts to Evil with a capital E? If you honestly believe that I think you may need a reality check. The world doesn't revolve around Bionicle, or even around LEGO. It never did. And if this is how G1 Bionicle taught people to see the world, as if any bad news or disappointment must be the work of evil forces, all I can say is… yikes. I'm certainly not going to stop buying LEGO sets, because Bionicle has never been the only LEGO theme that matters to me, and they continue to create exceptional sets and stories for several other themes I enjoy like Ninjago, Elves, and Nexo Knights. Anyone who doesn't really have any interest in sets besides Bionicle is welcome to stop buying LEGO, because it'd be pretty silly to think you have to buy products you don't care for! You don't owe LEGO your loyalty if you feel that they've let you down or they have nothing to offer you. Even if you have younger friends and relatives to buy birthday gifts for, there's a whole world of other kids' toys and media out there that they might enjoy. But if you think LEGO will somehow take a serious hit to their profits or reputation as a result, you're mistaken. LEGO has already gone four years without any new Bionicle products between the end of G1 and the start of G2, and their net profits and the size of their fanbase still continued to grow year after year (in fact, their net profits in 2014 were over three times what they were in 2009, and over twenty times what they were in 2002). LEGO certainly cares about their fans, but Bionicle fans are just one small part of a much larger fanbase, and honestly, even if all teenage and adult Bionicle fans stop buying LEGO sets entirely, all that's going to do is convince LEGO to focus their investments on the many kids who have always made up the much more reliable core of their fanbase. There are plenty of old-school AFOLs who might say G1 Bionicle was an "objectively bad product", and it's just as much of a meaningless oxymoron coming from them as it is coming from you. Designing any product, no matter what it is or how successful it is, takes infinitely more effort than any sensible person would put into ramblings as feeble and incoherent as yours. Months of design work, engineering, and testing go into every new piece and every new set. Many pieces and sets might go through over a dozen different iterations before they even come close to reaching store shelves. If you had any clue whatsoever about the LEGO design process you'd know this. That's why it's so difficult to become a LEGO set designer, writer, or art director, and so easy to spew hateful and ignorant nonsense on the Internet.

Interesting thought! It's possible that Dr. Julien could have been the elemental master of ice himself. I was assuming he wasn't, but I suppose we never really heard or saw anything from him that would outright confirm or deny that. Even though Zane spent some quality time with his father, he never actually asked Dr. Julien about what his past was like before creating his Nindroid child. There are definitely a few other mysteries still unanswered about who specifically the ninja inherited their powers from. The reveal in Season 6 that neatly explains why we'd never seen any indication of Ed and Edna Walker having any elemental affinity, and it's probably fairly safe to assume that Cole inherited his powers from his mother (assuming that elemental powers never skip a generation, since that was a possibility Nya suggested when she was having a hard time unlocking hers, and I don't think Wu ever specifically denied it). I'm sure there are many people who have asked the same thing about Bionicle. Not only does Ninjago have a plot, in my opinion it has one of the most well-crafted and emotionally sincere plots of any LEGO theme. There are many good reasons why it's as popular as it is. Besides the issues of elemental power inheritance, an adopted child wouldn't necessarily have any less angst or any fewer personality quirks than Zane. Not sure what the bit about becoming attached to a bird is supposed to imply either, because lots of people get attached to animals. That's an extremely normal thing that people do — Zane and his falcon friend just happened to be robots. As for "why was Dr. Julien's first impulse always to build a robot", building machines was kind of his thing. The guy was a recluse who lived alone in a secret workshop in a forest, so it goes without saying that he was pretty eccentric and might not have responded to wanting a child the same way other would-be parents might. Even if he had, "hermit living alone in an underground bunker miles from civilization" might have raised some serious red flags at the adoption agency. As for why he didn't just have a biological child, even setting aside the various biological reasons a person might not be able to have kids, it doesn't seem like he was particularly interested in romance.

I've seen a lot of comments expressing wishes that it were a continuation of the old story, but even Greg himself said years ago that if he were in charge of Bionicle's return he wouldn't do it as a continuation due to what a burden ten years of backstory would be for new fans. It's kind of weird to me that so many people who think the Bionicle story was/would be strongest under his direction aren't prepared to take him at his word on that matter. It kind of reminds me of how Bill Murray and Dan Aykroyd both loved the idea of an all-female Ghostbusters movie and thought the women who were cast were extremely funny and talented, and yet hundreds of Internet dudebros still somehow managed to ramble on and on about how the new Ghostbusters would be lame, unfunny, and disrespectful to the comic genius of the original cast. "Yeah, such-and-such was a brilliant and irreplaceable part of this beloved franchise, but what do they know about what's best for it?" I don't mean this to equate your ambivalence about Bionicle G2 to the nerd rage of a bunch of cynical whiners. But it's just interesting how often fans of a franchise think extremely highly of its creators, and ignore or dismiss when those creators would rather see a new and different take on it than a continuation of their own previous work.

That's assuming that Bionicle G2's audience was liable to grow considerably in the years to come. But the truth is, from all indications, Bionicle G2's sales weren't growing — they were shrinking. By comparison, G1 Bionicle and Ninjago both had extremely strong sales to begin with and saw continued strong sales their second year. It's rare for any LEGO theme to last more than two or three years if it doesn't perform strongly right out of the gate, because that's usually a sign that the concept doesn't really resonate with kids. Investing more and more in a theme that's underperforming doesn't somehow guarantee a bigger return on your investment.

Hahahahahahahahahahahahahahahhahahahahahahahahahahahahaha People who disagree with your opinion are disgusting? From the way the post is phrased, I'd say it's not disliking G2 that's disgusting, but rather celebrating its cancellation when a lot of people are clearly sad about it. People who disliked Bionicle G2 are no better off now that it's cancelled than they were when it was still running, but people who loved Bionicle G2 certainly at least feel worse off now that it's cancelled. How would you feel if something you love was cancelled, and other people acted as if the cancellation was a great thing and the thing you loved never should have existed in the first place? Whatever their intentions, it comes across as mean and petty.