Is Bionicle: Next Generation Still Around?

[Jam Pot Studios]

 

Aside from being too ambitious, I think one of the problems that B:NG faced was that there were simply too many projects going on at the same time, both within B:NG and outside B:NG as other major BIONICLE fan projects so you have most of these members that could work are being stretched across maybe 3-5 different projects.

 

That was always my biggest issue with them. There came a point where there were so many alternative projects being created that were distractions from the main goal (like D&D-style RPGs, sprite comic series, etc.) that I majorly fell out of favor with the project.

 

With respect, an issue with our methods doesn't give you or anyone else the right to troll our forums.

 

That's not intended at you, but that was the attitude of some people who did come an attack us on home turf. They (will go unnamed) never seemed to understand that their criticism - which was at no point constructive - did us more harm than good. Morale was already low on the project, and then to have a group of people coming to the forums to pick holes in our methods didn't help.

 

I had to leave for a while to catch up on some school work (my grades were really suffering at that point) and when I came back a few months later, this whole problem had flared up and nobody in our forums wanted to work on a project where we would just be trolled day after day for not working fast enough. Frankly, the attitude of those trolls was hideous and they should be ashamed of themselves.

 

Unfortunately, they're some of the most popular members of the BIONICLE fandom, so who's going to take our word against theirs? That's exactly what happened when they went and made a podcast about it (several podcasts, if I remember correctly) and after that the public completely gave up on us. The whole ordeal left us with fewer members than before.

 

Trolls deserve no respect, in my opinion, but I'll respect the forum and keep my anger reined in.

Edited April 19, 2014 by Jam Pot

[SarracenianKaijin]

 

Aside from being too ambitious, I think one of the problems that B:NG faced was that there were simply too many projects going on at the same time, both within B:NG and outside B:NG as other major BIONICLE fan projects so you have most of these members that could work are being stretched across maybe 3-5 different projects.

 

That was always my biggest issue with them. There came a point where there were so many alternative projects being created that were distractions from the main goal (like D&D-style RPGs, sprite comic series, etc.) that I majorly fell out of favor with the project.

 

 

There was a D&D style RPG?

[Mesonak]

With respect, an issue with our methods doesn't give you or anyone else the right to troll our forums.

 

That's not intended at you, but that was the attitude of some people who did come an attack us on home turf. They (will go unnamed) never seemed to understand that their criticism - which was at no point constructive - did us more harm than good. Morale was already low on the project, and then to have a group of people coming to the forums to pick holes in our methods didn't help.

 

I had to leave for a while to catch up on some school work (my grades were really suffering at that point) and when I came back a few months later, this whole problem had flared up and nobody in our forums wanted to work on a project where we would just be trolled day after day for not working fast enough. Frankly, the attitude of those trolls was hideous and they should be ashamed of themselves.

 

Unfortunately, they're some of the most popular members of the BIONICLE fandom, so who's going to take our word against theirs? That's exactly what happened when they went and made a podcast about it (several podcasts, if I remember correctly) and after that the public completely gave up on us. The whole ordeal left us with fewer members than before.

 

Trolls deserve no respect, in my opinion, but I'll respect the forum and keep my anger reined in.

 

I take issue with several things that you're saying (big surprise amirite), most notably the improper use of the word "trolls" to describe certain people, the effect that these "podcasts" actually had on your project's long-term success, and the "rights" that people have to give feedback, but I'll save that discussion for another day. This isn't the time or the place.

 

There was a D&D style RPG?

 

Yeah... yeah, there was (among other things). It was all part of a concentrated effort on their forum to branch out into smaller goals while their movies were worked on. The intent behind the idea was good, but it smelled of self-sabotage to me; my opposition to the concept was that it was a distraction from their true goals that people actually cared about seeing and would spread their work force too thin.

 

-Mesonak

Edited April 19, 2014 by Mesonak

[Jam Pot Studios]

 

With respect, an issue with our methods doesn't give you or anyone else the right to troll our forums.

 

That's not intended at you, but that was the attitude of some people who did come an attack us on home turf. They (will go unnamed) never seemed to understand that their criticism - which was at no point constructive - did us more harm than good. Morale was already low on the project, and then to have a group of people coming to the forums to pick holes in our methods didn't help.

 

I had to leave for a while to catch up on some school work (my grades were really suffering at that point) and when I came back a few months later, this whole problem had flared up and nobody in our forums wanted to work on a project where we would just be trolled day after day for not working fast enough. Frankly, the attitude of those trolls was hideous and they should be ashamed of themselves.

 

Unfortunately, they're some of the most popular members of the BIONICLE fandom, so who's going to take our word against theirs? That's exactly what happened when they went and made a podcast about it (several podcasts, if I remember correctly) and after that the public completely gave up on us. The whole ordeal left us with fewer members than before.

 

Trolls deserve no respect, in my opinion, but I'll respect the forum and keep my anger reined in.

 

I take issue with several things that you're saying (big surprise amirite), most notably the improper use of the word "trolls" to describe certain people, the effect that these "podcasts" actually had on your project, and the "rights" that people have to give feedback, but I'll save that discussion for another day. This isn't the time or the place.

 

-Mesonak

 

 

We've already had that discussion. Several times. I have no intention of starting it again, I was merely informing the readers of this thread what happened. We were done discussing it a long time ago. And if 'troll' isn't the right word, what about imp? Kobold? Goblin?

Edited April 19, 2014 by Jam Pot

[Mesonak]

We've already had that discussion. Several times. I have no intention of starting it again, I was merely informing the readers of this thread what happened. We were done discussing it a long time ago. And if 'troll' isn't the right word, what about imp? Kobold? Goblin?

 

Nah, nothing that grand. "Disconcerted fans" would do nicely.

 

True, true, this is a bit of a broken record. Nevertheless, while I completely understand that there are two sides to every story, if BNG is to be revived at any given point and/or brought out into the public eye again it is important that the public have an accurate report of "what happened" leading up to its downfall so history doesn't repeat itself. If circumstances call for it, that is.

 

-Mesonak

Edited April 19, 2014 by Mesonak

[Eljay: Toa of Mangosteen]

Don't do this, Jam Pot. It won't end well.

 

Anyhow, I've already spoken to the topic starter in regards to my opinions of a restart, but I'll repeat them here - I think if the leadership aspect is handled properly, then a BNG restart would more than likely be pretty great. It all depends on handling, but I'd be interested in seeing it.

 

[Azani]

 

Aside from being too ambitious, I think one of the problems that B:NG faced was that there were simply too many projects going on at the same time, both within B:NG and outside B:NG as other major BIONICLE fan projects so you have most of these members that could work are being stretched across maybe 3-5 different projects.

That was always my biggest issue with them. There came a point where there were so many alternative projects being created that were distractions from the main goal (like D&D-style RPGs, sprite comic series, etc.) that I majorly fell out of favor with the project.

 

For the most part, the main issue appeared to be that BNG began to focus on smaller projects which were derived from their main goal too early; if they had produced one high-quality product first, and then diversified, then interest in the project as a whole would probably have been easier to maintain. Because I wasn't ever a member of the project itself, and I only observed it from the outside, I'd like to put a bit of emphasis on my choice of words above; this is what appeared to be happening, from my viewpoint.

 

If there continues to be a disagreement over the intended tone and intentions behind certain videos which have criticized BNG, then I'd advise that it be continued in a PM conversation, outside of this topic.

Edited April 19, 2014 by Artakha's Nephew

[Pomegranate]

Clearly the best course of action, if you're gonna start up something similar, is not to "revive" BNG but rather invent your own group and operate under a new name. It's unlikely you'll get too many of the same folks working on it and working on the same project as BNG, so it's not like there's any point in branching off of that directly anyways.

[Azani]

Clearly the best course of action, if you're gonna start up something similar, is not to "revive" BNG but rather invent your own group and operate under a new name. It's unlikely you'll get too many of the same folks working on it and working on the same project as BNG, so it's not like there's any point in branching off of that directly anyways.

That is exactly how I would present it to people. If I were to start a similar project, it wouldn't be under the name "Bionicle: Next Generation", and it would be executed very differently in several respects, all of which I mentioned above.

Edited April 19, 2014 by Artakha's Nephew

[Jam Pot Studios]

Eljay and Mesonak, I have no intention of getting into this with you guys. If you think we should then you two can go ahead, but I think we're at the stage where we can look back on it and laugh about it (which I will take Meso's response to my goblin comment as). Besides, I wasn't there for the majority of whatever happened. However, Eljay, don't think you can scare me by saying "It won't end well", because you don't. I'm not a petulent child (legally I'm not a child either, for that matter).

 

I went over to the forums and checked and, as per my request when I left, the 2D project was renamed to BIONICLE: Retold. Technically, BNG is dead. Funny story: Next Generation was actually a joke, because the guy who voices Mata Nui was Worf in Star Trek: Next Generation (which I've never actually seen and I call myself a nerd nonetheless).

 

If you're seriously considering restarting a project like this, maybe going for a new name would be a good idea, as Pomeg said. Also, go for a reeeeaaaaally small project. The Two Leaders ran so smoothly because it was such a small and unambitious project, but as a whole we at BNG didn't really learn from that. You guys can. Start tiny and if that goes well, then aim tall.

 

What about doing the BIONICLE Legends saga as MNOG-style 2D animations? Bit by bit would be the way to do it. Doing a charred forest-esque intro for one of the Inika would be a good place to start, and if the Voyaran reaction to the new Toa was negative (as it initially was in the books, I seem to recall) that could present quite a nice contrast to what happened in MNOG.

 

Also, spiritual cookie to whoever can find the Darren Shan reference in this post.

[Mesonak]

What about doing the BIONICLE Legends saga as MNOG-style 2D animations? Bit by bit would be the way to do it. Doing a charred forest-esque intro for one of the Inika would be a good place to start, and if the Voyaran reaction to the new Toa was negative (as it initially was in the books, I seem to recall) that could present quite a nice contrast to what happened in MNOG.

 

^This. That would be absolutely fantastic and I would support it so much. ._.

 

-Mesonak

[Jam Pot Studios]

You have a blog/podcast, right? Maybe see if you can raise interest using that, see if anyone wants to get involved. TTV has quite a large audience, doesn't it?

[Mesonak]

You have a blog/podcast, right? Maybe see if you can raise interest using that, see if anyone wants to get involved. TTV has quite a large audience, doesn't it?

 

I definitely wouldn't be opposed to gathering interest for a project once it's been started; that would be a great use of our popularity. However, I'd probably wait a while and see what can get concretely formed before taking an active role in promoting something.

 

-Mesonak

[Arzaki]

I have discovered I'm actually decent at concept art, so I would be useful :

[Azani]

I'd like to ask that all further comments on individual talents or interests in certain jobs for a project similar to BNG be placed in this topic: http://www.bzpower.com/board/topic/12809-what-would-you-want-a-fan-organization-producing-new-bionicle-media-to-be-like

 

Thanks for helping to keep this topic easy to read.

[Indigogeek]

The problem with B:NG was that most of their projects were going to be 3-D animated movies, which takes A LOT of effort, like too much for a community this small (especially the numbers on that fourm site.) I mean, not only do you need to model like hundreds of pieces, but go through animation, voice acting, music, etc, it's just too much work.

 

I agree that they did a great job with "the two leaders", and I wish they had made more animations in this style. The projects that go well in this community are usually not as grand as a 3-d animated movie, the ones that do well (biocraft, mnog 1.5, Tazakk's animations, etc) aren't on that kind of scale, but are still awesome

[Sir Kohran]

I agree that they did a great job with "the two leaders", and I wish they had made more animations in this style. The projects that go well in this community are usually not as grand as a 3-d animated movie, the ones that do well (biocraft, mnog 1.5, Tazakk's animations, etc) aren't on that kind of scale, but are still awesome

 

I think the reason those have been successful is because they built on/with pre-existing content, rather than starting from scratch as it seems most of the Next Generation projects tried to.

[Shadow Destroyer]

I would totally be up for a revival or a new incarnation of BNG. I'm sure there are other lurkers who watch this site (like I normally do) that would agree...

[Phantax ~ Storm Master]

On 4/14/2014 at 10:12 AM, Azani said:

I'm wondering if anyone would be able to look over a partial list of former members, as I've been able to get one together. Could someone please review it and possibly make additions or subtractions?

I've found these names as of today, although I can't be sure of whether or not their under the same name as of today, or if they're still active in the Bionicle community at all:
*Phantax (Head of Modeling Division/Creator of BNG's house style for models)

Sorry to revive an old thread — I was involved with BNG when I was maybe 11 or 12 years old, contributing 3D animations as "Phantax."  Not long after I left BNG I fell out of the Bionicle fandom and 3D modeling altogether, and my memory of the project (and tbh anything Bionicle-related) is pretty vague as I was quite young.  But a friend of mine posted something about Bionicle today and it brought back fond memories of BNG, and I figured I'd leave a comment here in case any of the other former members see it.  Hope you're all doing well!

—Max