Binkmeister

 

I miss my mask. But I'm glad it's in the hands of a BZP member who can appreciate it.

were you the previous owner?

 

Yeah, I was the original winner. I held onto it for several years, but had to sell it for financial reasons.

I miss my mask. But I'm glad it's in the hands of a BZP member who can appreciate it.

Wow, I hadn't realized it was so long ago. Seems like so long ago that Dimensioneer, Bionicle Rex, Mike from Kanohi Power, and I got together to discuss creating a BIONICLE mega-site. I had no idea it would last this long, that makes me feel good - when basically everything I did while at LEGO is no longer on LEGO.com.

BZPower is much more my legacy than working at LEGO ever was.

P.S. I see even B.Rex logged on. Long time no chat...

Relaunching BIONICLE is great news, if true (and it certainly seems that way, although I was initially skeptical). I hadn't heard anything when I left the company a year ago, but stuff like this does sit and ferment in small pockets of creativity deep in the heart of Denmark.

IMHO, I believe the original BIONICLE was successful due to four things coming together in just the right proportion.

1.       Biomechanical robots on a tropical island. This mysterious dichotomy was enough to immediately create tension and make people want to know more about the story.

2.       The design of a completely new type of building toy. The Technic-based ball-and-cup socket design allowed for new, organic shapes that were completely unlike anything produced by LEGO before, and appealed to people wanting to break out of the rectilinear toybox.

3.       Mystery. Pure and simple: put out the premise and make people guess where it would go. It took at least three years to really get across the basics of the BIONICLE universe, which was finally revealed in a climax that deserved far more pomp and circumstance than we had budget to execute. But throughout its life, Mystery was a huge part of the franchise.

4.       Building a universe kids could own. The Polynesian-themed terminology was custom-made for boys to glom onto: Toa and Tohunga, cowrie shells, the names of the various Kanohi masks, the names and abilities of bad guys and their minions. The language provided a framework for kids to be in the know about something cool, and be able to find like-minded LEGO fans. And not least, be able to frustrate their parents with this extensive, confusing litany of words.

A fifth critical element was MNOLG I and II. Those really helped.

If LEGO can recapture at least some of that old magic, they'll have a hit on their hands. I'll be interested in seeing how they pull it off.

- Binkmeister

And I found it, put it online:

http://kellyjmckiernan.com/matanui/

I need to dig that out and put it on my site... as soon as I do, I'll put a link here. Glad you remembered my little project!

Wow, 12 years... I've worked for LEGO for half that time, but now that I'm a free agent again, I can post again! I started working on BZP when I was unemployed, after 9/11, and now I'm unemployed again, at least for a short time. So I have a feeling I'll be coming back more often now.

- Bink