Anyone remember that Bionicle 'news report'?

[NickonAquaMagna]

...or documentary, whatever, it was. All I remember is that it was spoken in a foreign language. I do not remember where it aired from. All I remember is a guy fiddling around with Gresh and just being kinda freaked out by it.

Basically, it was all about why Bionicle is "bad" cause you can't build a house out of a canister set or something. Yeah, yeah, ugly robots, we've heard it all before. Anyone else remember it?

[Azani]

Not exactly, though I've heard similar opinions. The "ugly robots" argument is well overused, for sure. Did it air in 2009?

Edited February 28, 2014 by Artakha's Nephew

[Lyichir]

Never heard of it in my 10+ years as a Bionicle fan. If anyone could provide a link I'd definitely give it a look though, if only to laugh at it.

[NickonAquaMagna]

Not exactly, though I've heard similar opinions. The "ugly robots" argument is well overused, for sure. Did it air in 2009?

 

I think it did. I don't think Hero Factory was a thing, yet.

[Sybre]

As if people complaining about video games weren't enough! Like the others above me, never heard of it.

 

They're complaining about how you can't build a house? Just build a big one out of LEGOs for your BIONICLE to live in! So what?

[Klanadack]

Well, you can't make an awesome, durable, fully articulated "robot" out of Lego, can you?

 

(I'm sure people can, but not as easily as with bionicle)

[fishers64]

I always thought System was for building towers, and Bionicle was for making monsters to attack those towers and smash them to bits.

[JAG18]

I always thought System was for building towers, and Bionicle was for making monsters to attack those towers and smash them to bits.

For some reason, fishers, I've always thought the same thing...

[~Shockwave~]

I always thought System was for building towers, and Bionicle was for making monsters to attack those towers and smash them to bits.

 

This is obviously the right answer.

 

On topic: Never heard of it. It sounds like a terrible argument though. The same argument could be applied to the minifigures packages.

 

It's like saying a sword is bad because you can't shoot someone with it, the argument makes no sense.

[Cambion]

if this video exists i really really really need to see it

[Toa Smoke Monster]

This topic is the first place that I've heard of this 'report.' I looked up 'Bionicle news reports' and Bionicle news documentarys' on Youtube and my AOL search, but I didn't find anything. Would you happen to know if the gentleman in question was complaining about the 2009 Gresh set or the Stars Gresh set? I'm just curious as to which one he had a problem with.

Edited March 1, 2014 by Toa Smoke Monster

[LordofBionicles]

I know exactly which video you mean!

It's a Russian documentary about how are LEGO sets made, specifically how were the BIONICLE Mistika made.

If you go into "that famous video webpage" and look up for "BIONICLE sets russian" you can find the video.

[Cambion]

I know exactly which video you mean!

It's a Russian documentary about how are LEGO sets made, specifically how were the BIONICLE Mistika made.

If you go into "that famous video webpage" and look up for "BIONICLE sets russian" you can find the video.

could you link us to it? YouTube is allowed now, within certain limits.

[JAG18]

 

I know exactly which video you mean!

It's a Russian documentary about how are LEGO sets made, specifically how were the BIONICLE Mistika made.

If you go into "that famous video webpage" and look up for "BIONICLE sets russian" you can find the video.

could you link us to it? YouTube is allowed now, within certain limits.

 

I did the search and this seems to fit the description NickonAquaMagna gave of the video he was looking for.

[Kopekemaster]

what did i just watch

 

honestly

 

But wow those prototypes...and the kids didn't like them...what is wrong with children

[avak5]

I believe that JAG18 is right with the suggestion.

Edited March 1, 2014 by avak5

[Sybre]

 

 

I know exactly which video you mean!

It's a Russian documentary about how are LEGO sets made, specifically how were the BIONICLE Mistika made.

If you go into "that famous video webpage" and look up for "BIONICLE sets russian" you can find the video.

could you link us to it? YouTube is allowed now, within certain limits.

I did the search and this seems to fit the description NickonAquaMagna gave of the video he was looking for.

I'm gonna beat that Russian guy in the video! That's my childhood he's bashing!

 

Also, Lord Makuta is very angry!

[Toa Smoke Monster]

 

 

I know exactly which video you mean!

It's a Russian documentary about how are LEGO sets made, specifically how were the BIONICLE Mistika made.

If you go into "that famous video webpage" and look up for "BIONICLE sets russian" you can find the video.

could you link us to it? YouTube is allowed now, within certain limits.

 

I did the search and this seems to fit the description NickonAquaMagna gave of the video he was looking for.

 

I watched the video, and I also think it matches the description. (And its answers my previous question about which Gresh set it was.) But anyway...

 

I am a little upset over what he said about the way the Bionicle sets were built at that time. But I can't help but get the feeling that this guy, and the other people involved in this 'report,' simply don't like the building design of the Bionicle sets because they think that you can't build anything else besides the set itself. In the beginning, he holds up a picture of Lego bricks and says something like 'I can build something intelligently... something cute, with this,' but then holds up the Gresh set and asks 'How can I build with this?' It appears that he thinks that there should be pieces in Lego sets that allow the builder to build something besides the set itself. (At least, that is what I get from what he is saying, even if he doesn't directly say that.) So to me, he seems to be implying that Lego sets like Gresh, with the 'doll like' builds, cannot 'transform' into anything else like other sets, thus not making them as good as the sets that do. Obviously that's not true. The MOCists on BZP alone are proof of that. So maybe these guys lack the imagination to use those pieces to build something besides the sets itself? Or maybe they think that kids won't be creative enough to build something else with these pieces? Maybe they actually think that these sets are nothing more than 'dolls?'

 

It just frustrates that if these guys had looked up MOC sets that people had made with these kinds of Lego set pieces, they would've seen that they are just as good as any other Lego piece made beforehand. And that, if I'm not mistaken, Lego made those sets that way to make them more like action figures because they would sell more. (Someone correct if I'm wrong on that.) And while I'm not saying the guy here can't have his opinion on what kind of Lego sets he likes more, he and his reporter(s) should've at least done their research to find out if these 'un-transformable' sets really couldn't be built into anything more than the pictures on their boxes or canisters. If they had, this story would've been different.

[NickonAquaMagna]

Ah, there it is! Thanks!

 

The point is, there are people who only want Lego to make sets that can be a plane that turns into a boat that turns into a house that turns into a castle that turns into a dinosaur that turns into a.... car.

 

You can't really do that with a typical canister set... so to people like that, Bionicle isn't "real" legos.

 

And I can kind of see where they're coming from. Legos, or at least the interlocking generic BRICKS that come to mind when we hear that word, can be made into pretty much ANYTHING. Bionicle, on the other hand, is incredibly specialized, centered around building characters. Not things. Not houses. And some people want to build a lego house, not a character.

 

Now, I've seen some pretty creative things made mainly with Bionicle pieces. One person made a sort of wheelchair out of them, and it was simply beautiful... but you can bet he didn't get all those pieces from one set. You CAN make things with Bionicle pieces... that's just not how they're typically used. And that's enough for people to think they're whack.

 

In any case... thank you for finding that video. I have left a comment there, but it is too explicit for me to repeat here.

[LordofBionicles]

 

I know exactly which video you mean!

It's a Russian documentary about how are LEGO sets made, specifically how were the BIONICLE Mistika made.

If you go into "that famous video webpage" and look up for "BIONICLE sets russian" you can find the video.

could you link us to it? YouTube is allowed now, within certain limits.

It's allowed now? Wow things have changed around here, well

enjoy it! Edited March 3, 2014 by LordofBionicles

[Azani]

I didn't know for certain that linking to Youtube was allowed now, and I remember when it wasn't allowed, back when I first discovered this site in 2008. However, since BZPower has it's own YouTube channel now, it would be a bit strange to prevent members from linking to Youtube.

Edited July 4, 2014 by Artakha's Nephew

[bohrokmaster]

I think this has been discussed before in the past, either on BZPower or on the Bionicle fanfilm project (Bionicle next generation/Chronicler's company). Anyway, I know exactly what you guys were talking about. It was a German or Danish documentary about LEGO's Bionicle Brand. And I've seen it before a few years ago on Youtube. I'm not sure if I'm allowed to link the Youtube video on BZPower.

Edited March 1, 2014 by bohrokmaster

[NickonAquaMagna]

It's already been linked, guys. Just scroll above aways.

[Iver]

Yeah, it's pretty unanimous that this makes everyone angry. However, it is interesting to see the development of the controversial Mistika figures.

[~Shockwave~]

I watched about half of that.

 

Heaven forbid you have to, you know, think outside the box to use the pieces effectively.

 

What he's saying is actually quite contradictive. He's saying that because it's easy to use bricks to build something it stimulates creativity, which is true. But then he goes on to say that because he doesn't know how use the pieces they aren't stimulitive of creativity. Which us basicly what I said in my previous post. They obviously have differant purposes, but they apperantly can't fathom lego making something other than bricks even though they started out making toy cars and other sorts of things. So this video is just infuriatingly bad

Edited March 1, 2014 by ~Shockwave~

[IonXtreme]

Not too much.

[Wazdakka]

Ah. Though the translation was rubbish near the end, I was able to understand almost all of it even without the subtitles, since I am Russian.

 

Now, while I do not know if the play-testing children were Russian, the reporter/news dude's reaction was actually not unexpected.

 

While I don't claim that me, my family, or our Russian friends and experiences reflect universally, they may make this video make more sense. Here are some facts that can help make the negative opinions make more sense.

 

Russians refer to every toy item that they do not know as monsters. I've heard Spartans from Halo, Transformers, Bionicles, and even normal Legos be referred to as "monsters" and "monstrosities". You might be wondering why this is...

 

And I'm pretty sure I know why. Now, though I have not lived in Russia for any significant length of time, I do understand that most of Russia does not have conventional big toy stores like we do - there is no Toys R Us for kids to go to and buy the latest Western goods. Because of this, most toy shops that I know of are smaller scale, more old-fashioned, and traditional, selling items like toy trucks, tanks, and plastic models. Therefore, this idea of a constraction toy (I literally just figured out this minute that constraction = construction + action) is exceedingly bizarre to people who have played with die cast metal vehicles and traditional dolls.

 

Finally, most Russians are by nature wary of new ideas, so the weird and avant-garde Bionicle toys are given additional skepticism simply for being so modern and different.

 

Hope that helps clear things up!

Edited March 2, 2014 by Wazdakka

[IonXtreme]

ITS ALL IN RUSSIAN

and I can speak that language apparentley