OFFICIAL Bionicle 2015 Topic

[Voltex]

I, personally, would be open to Bionicle 2015 taking cues from anime. I am also going to reserve judgement until I see official images of the sets, learn more official information about the location and general cast, and also until I receive official confirmation on the specifics of next year's story.

 

I'd hate to judge Bionicle 2015 before getting to see the whole picture.

[UngluedBike]

B2015OG - a cool title, don't ya think?

[Banana Gunz]

I am really confused as to how people think the MNOG was inspired/similar to anime. Sure, the characters blushed and the backgrounds changed sometimes to represent quick movement but generally that is visible in almost all the cartoons I've seen. It has a fun aspect among its character while still retaining a serious plot, but again that's not what makes it similar to an anime.

 

I don't watch/read anime or manga usually but for me what tells them apart for me is Japanese influence and art style. The only one of these we have gotten is Japanese influence in the form of one word (Okotu), which isn't even really influenced by Japan but simply sounds somewhat Japanese.

 

And I don't see why Lego would specifically go out of their way to make a line they're bringing back manga/anime inspired for literally no reason. It won't be significantly more appealing and will just randomly change the theme to be something completely different (something people are already complaining about). The only line that got the "anime" treatment was Exo Force and that was because the whole idea of it was based around it being manga/anime inspired.

[believe victims]

Nobody is suggesting we're going to see Bionicle: The Manga (which is good because I have yet to see a fan attempt at this that isn't terrible) but rather that Bionicle could take some influences from anime, just like it's taken influences from other things (punk culture, old horror films, communism).

 

MNOG wasn't purely anime-inspired, which seems to be the crux of your argument that it wasn't at all, but it clearly did take some influences. It utilized things like sweat drops, blushed cheeks, and even the snot nose bubble to denote sleeping, something which we do not have in the west. It clearly was influenced by anime, even if it wasn't purely ripped whole-cloth from it.

[Toa Smoke Monster]

I'm not an expert when it comes to Anime. Pokemon is really the only one I watch regularly, though I've seen parts of others. So I would be okay with Bionicle 2015 having a TV show or movie with some Anime-influence in them. I could see it working, though I'd have to see actual footage from either of them to see they were good or not.

[Makuta Miras]

What if the Bionicle TV show was done entirely in the exact same style as MNOG? Would anybody be able to complain?

[Wrinkledlion X]

I would love a somewhat more polished version of the MNOLG's style. It obviously looks a bit dated at this point and very Flash, but the aesthetic was really quite nice. If they polished that up and gave it a bit more proper animation, it could be made into something very watchable. 

[Irrie]

What if the Bionicle TV show was done entirely in the exact same style as MNOG? Would anybody be able to complain?

They'd have to animate mouths on the masks, which kind of ruins the point of not making it similar looking to the movies. 

[Aanchir]

What if the Bionicle TV show was done entirely in the exact same style as MNOG? Would anybody be able to complain?

I would not complain about that one bit! Obviously you'd want to improve on the MNOG in some respects (MNOG had poor color-matching for certain characters, and also the animations could be made a little bit less jerky). But shows like My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic show that you can definitely have a flash-animated television series that doesn't feel cheap or repetitive.

 

 

What if the Bionicle TV show was done entirely in the exact same style as MNOG? Would anybody be able to complain?

They'd have to animate mouths on the masks, which kind of ruins the point of not making it similar looking to the movies.

 

When I think about what made the Mata Nui Online Game's aesthetic so appealing and set it apart from the movies, it definitely wasn't the lack of mouths on the masks. It was more about the bright, smooth colors and expressive visual effects. So I don't see how adding mouths would destroy its appeal. Edited October 5, 2014 by Aanchir

[Irrie]

 

 

What if the Bionicle TV show was done entirely in the exact same style as MNOG? Would anybody be able to complain?

They'd have to animate mouths on the masks, which kind of ruins the point of not making it similar looking to the movies.

 

When I think about what made the Mata Nui Online Game's aesthetic so appealing and set it apart from the movies, it definitely wasn't the lack of mouths on the masks. It was more about the bright, smooth colors and expressive visual effects. So I don't see how adding mouths would destroy its appeal.

 

It wouldn't ruin it entirely for most people, but I have a dislike for adding mouths on masks because of how awkward they look. I know, I'm picky about a lot of odd things. 

[Tea-rex]

Tbh, with the fact that everything has a mask shoved in its mouth in the MU, I always imagined the Matoran language to be just a series of muffled mmphs and stuff. Like the Pyro from TF2.

Edited October 5, 2014 by alijar

[Boidoh]

No they don't... Their masks magnetically attach to their faces.

[Banana Gunz]

I'd love to see a MNOG animated TV show (with some animation tweaks). And mouths don't have to be added to the masks if the cinematography (I don't know if this is the right word. I mean like which matoran they show when they're talking and if their head is bopping back and forth to show speech coming from them) is good enough and the voices sound unique. Of course moving mouths do make things a lot less confusing, and they make characters seem more human, so I'm on the fence for this one.

[Toa Green Ninja]

Would anyone else want to see a Flash animation-based, Mixels-style show for the new BIONICLE? I could dig it. And by Mixels-style, I mean 2-5 minute mini movies (however, more story-oriented than Mixels).

Edited October 5, 2014 by Toa Green Ninja

[Boidoh]

What are Mixels?

 

 

5 minute long episodes would make it so that the story would have to be horribly condensed. What did the Mistika mini movie show? Ok, so Tahu snatched a keystone, deflected a missile, walked into the Codrex, found vehicles, flew around, rebooted the 'BIONICLE universe' and Mata Nui rose. Now in the books there was a whole battle, Krika giving Gali the whole BoM transit tablet thing, ect. ect. And there are worse ones, like the Mahri one that barely showed any story, and the 2010 stopmotion ones.

Edited October 5, 2014 by Boidoh

[Toa Green Ninja]

What are Mixels?

 

 

5 minute long episodes would make it so that the story would have to be horribly condensed.

God, does anybody pay attention to LEGO's most recent ventures? Look it up.

 

Also, it could be an overarching story, with a new episode released on the website every week or so. They could cram quite a bit into a 5-6 minute length.

[Toa of Gallifrey]

I liked how in TLR there would be sealable mouth holes in their masks/helmets, though that wouldn't work if the head didn't have a normal-looking mouth (like the Glatorian and 2.0 heads).

 

Also, in response to the above conversation, I'd rather full episodes on CN if only because a web miniseries wouldn't come with the kind of marketing a TV series has. It'd be like the HF specials, 30 minutes to 2 hours of screentime a year, which is something I really hope Bionicle doesn't do.

Edited October 5, 2014 by Toa of Gallifrey

[believe victims]

Mixels-style has too much of a cartoon air to it. Its exaggerated proportions and somewhat-shoddy animation are fine for short, mindless slapstick shorts where someone shoves ice cream up their butt, but if Bionicle is going to have a serious story, it's going to need a much less exaggerated style, and probably not one as bright and simple.

 

I don't know what I'd prefer in animation style, but I can say that, as far as fighting with elemental powers go, they could definitely do to take notes on how the Avatar series does it, because the old animations like the movies almost always featured elemental powers as just shooting a beam of their powers at something which is an incredibly dull way of portraying it.

[Archon~]

 

What are Mixels?

 

 

5 minute long episodes would make it so that the story would have to be horribly condensed.

God, does anybody pay attention to LEGO's most recent ventures? Look it up.

Also, it could be an overarching story, with a new episode released on the website every week or so. They could cram quite a bit into a 5-6 minute length.

A lot of people here come for Bionicle specifically, and are unaware of Lego's other ventures, myself included, so be respectful.

 

And I don't see 5-6 minute episodes working out that well as I imagine Bionicle the Tv series would want to tell a concise story.

[Boidoh]

 

What are Mixels?

 

 

5 minute long episodes would make it so that the story would have to be horribly condensed.

God, does anybody pay attention to LEGO's most recent ventures? Look it up.

 

Also, it could be an overarching story, with a new episode released on the website every week or so. They could cram quite a bit into a 5-6 minute length.

 

 

I stopped caring about most of LEGO a while ago. I only care for BIONICLE.

 

I've seen 5 minute anime before, maybe too few to judge but from what I've seen they often have a completely different plot every episode and each episode has almost no relation to the next.

[Toa of Gallifrey]

Mixels-style has too much of a cartoon air to it. Its exaggerated proportions and somewhat-shoddy animation are fine for short, mindless slapstick shorts where someone shoves ice cream up their butt, but if Bionicle is going to have a serious story, it's going to need a much less exaggerated style, and probably not one as bright and simple.

 

I don't know what I'd prefer in animation style, but I can say that, as far as fighting with elemental powers go, they could definitely do to take notes on how the Avatar series does it, because the old animations like the movies almost always featured elemental powers as just shooting a beam of their powers at something which is an incredibly dull way of portraying it.

 

Agreed, something like in the comics where they use their elements to manipulate their environments would be nice.

Edited October 5, 2014 by Toa of Gallifrey

[Toa Green Ninja]

Let me clarify what I meant by Mixels-style: same type of length and TYPE of animation, not so much the coloring or whatever. But nothing else. I have reason to believe we'll be getting some sort of mini movies, like it or not.

 

It was just an idea, something I myself wouldn't mind, but to be honest, I would prefer something longer.

Edited October 5, 2014 by Toa Green Ninja

[Boidoh]

Leaks leaks leaks.

 

Agreed on the elemental stuff. For some weird reason, we barely get to see them use their elemental abilities, and when we do, it is in the lamest way possible. 

[fishers64]

Plus we're really just guessing that Bionicle is going to go on an anime-inspired route simply because we have one word that is vaguely Japanese sounding? (truly the k is the most japanese of letters, i guess) That seems pretty premature

It's not just Okoto, they are fighting in the "mountains of Okoto". Fighting/living in a mountain setting is Asian-y culture generally. Also the leaked set names which we can't talk about seem to suggest this as well. 

 

I wouldn't rush to assume anything at this point, though. They seem to be aiming for an Asian/anime feel, but that's only a theory, and it could be wrong.

Yonder mind hit the "auto-theorize" button. I didn't mean to start a fight. Anime is something I don't know a ton about, so take it with salt.

* * *

 

I'm okay with the idea of a MNOG-inspired TV show, but at this point I'm really hoping for a story-based online game. I think that would be the coolest thing they could do, and they did say that they were taking us on the mask quest, so that adds fuel to that thought.

[Aanchir]

Let me clarify what I meant by Mixels-style: same type of length and TYPE of animation, not so much the coloring or whatever. But nothing else. I have reason to believe we'll be getting some sort of mini movies, like it or not.

 

It was just an idea, something I myself wouldn't mind, but to be honest, I would prefer something longer.

Obviously I don't have a problem with the idea of short, flash-animated episodes — after all, BIONICLE used them in 2002 and 2003 to tell some very exciting stories. However, I think airing them during commercial breaks like the Mixels shorts would be a poor strategy for conveying the story. One of the reason the Mixels shorts work at all is that they don't have to tell a continuous story like the 2002 and 2003 flash episodes. Trying to add continuity to interstitial shorts like that could result in many first-time viewers feeling lost or confused, because there wouldn't be any time for any kind of "Previously on BIONICLE..." recap. You don't need that on a website where the previous story episodes are a couple clicks away, but you do need it on a TV program where you don't want the viewer to have to do any kind of research before enjoying the show. A regular TV series or miniseries would offer enough running time for a brief two-minute recap before each episode and then about twenty minutes of actual story.

 

It's worth noting that Ninjago had both two 22-minute TV episodes AND six two-minute mini-movies in its first year. So mini-movies like that CAN work for a series with continuity — they just have to tell short, episodic stories that don't depend on viewers having seen any of the prior stories. If the mini-movies are good enough, they can then plant that seed for the viewers so that they'll be more enthusiastic about the next chapter of the main story. That seems like it may have been the intended goal of the Ninjago mini-movies: to expose people to the franchise in the months running up to the premiere of the full TV series in December 2011.

Edited October 5, 2014 by Aanchir

[Pohatu: Uniter of Stone]

What if the Bionicle TV show was done entirely in the exact same style as MNOG? Would anybody be able to complain?

This would be like a heatstone for my opinion on non-Mixels Lego TV shows.

[Blastcage]

Nobody is suggesting we're going to see Bionicle: The Manga (which is good because I have yet to see a fan attempt at this that isn't terrible) but rather that Bionicle could take some influences from anime, just like it's taken influences from other things (punk culture, old horror films, communism).

 

MNOG wasn't purely anime-inspired, which seems to be the crux of your argument that it wasn't at all, but it clearly did take some influences. It utilized things like sweat drops, blushed cheeks, and even the snot nose bubble to denote sleeping, something which we do not have in the west. It clearly was influenced by anime, even if it wasn't purely ripped whole-cloth from it.

 

Which old horror films are you referring to? Can't think of any off the top of my head? Either way, I want new Bionicle to do the same thing. 

 

Who would be interested in a Netflix series? That might be a interesting way to go, especially if it was aimed at older fans and a cartoon for younger fans aired on Cartoon Network or something.

[believe victims]

 

Nobody is suggesting we're going to see Bionicle: The Manga (which is good because I have yet to see a fan attempt at this that isn't terrible) but rather that Bionicle could take some influences from anime, just like it's taken influences from other things (punk culture, old horror films, communism).

 

MNOG wasn't purely anime-inspired, which seems to be the crux of your argument that it wasn't at all, but it clearly did take some influences. It utilized things like sweat drops, blushed cheeks, and even the snot nose bubble to denote sleeping, something which we do not have in the west. It clearly was influenced by anime, even if it wasn't purely ripped whole-cloth from it.

 

Which old horror films are you referring to? Can't think of any off the top of my head? Either way, I want new Bionicle to do the same thing. 

 

Who would be interested in a Netflix series? That might be a interesting way to go, especially if it was aimed at older fans and a cartoon for younger fans aired on Cartoon Network or something.

 

 

I don't know any in particular, just that the Barraki were advertised with an old horror movie vibe. Even their little phrase, "creeps from the deep", was designed to sound like a horror movie tagline.

[R.K.]

would the voice actors from the mask of light come back for a T.V. show?

[Archon~]

would the voice actors from the mask of light come back for a T.V. show?

Seeing that the movie came out almost 12 years ago, I highly doubt it, but it could be possible!

[Banana Gunz]

I've been thinking more about the whole "quest for masks" sort of thing. A possibility is that the masks mentioned could just be the golden kanohi and that they would skip the whole deal of getting the other kanohi in between. That would be a real loss...

 

Aw well, at least the focus on kanohi is back. I love kanohi.

[The Undertaken]

Agreed, one thing that I rather enjoyed about the first couple of years was the mask hunt theme, and though I can agree with the decision to move away from that as the series went on(among other things, it could have easily gotten overdone) but if a reboot/continuity/whatever we are calling it is happening then a nice way to get back to the roots of the story, and possibly draw in new fans, would be a mask quest scavenger hunt deal.

[Element Lord of Milk]

 

would the voice actors from the mask of light come back for a T.V. show?

Seeing that the movie came out almost 12 years ago, I highly doubt it, but it could be possible!

I think a lot of them are still doing voice acting for Lego or otherwise, so it could easily happen, I think the bigger question is if Lego would want to get them back or get new people.

[UngluedBike]

 

 

would the voice actors from the mask of light come back for a T.V. show?

Seeing that the movie came out almost 12 years ago, I highly doubt it, but it could be possible!

I think a lot of them are still doing voice acting for Lego or otherwise, so it could easily happen, I think the bigger question is if Lego would want to get them back or get new people.

 

The voices were so cheesy. They need to spend out on some decent voice actors.

[masterchirox580]

would the voice actors from the mask of light come back for a T.V. show?

Well if they still work for lego then yeah it's very possible, personally I want them to keep most of their MOL voices, the only one I want changed is Lewa.

[Turaga Jack]

would the voice actors from the mask of light come back for a T.V. show?

A lot of them actually still work at LEGO.

1. Scott McNeil voiced Tahu, Onua and the Overlord in Ninjago.

2. The Dobson brothers- I can't even go there, they've voiced so many people from BIONICLE to Ninjago to even the Monster Fighters animation (I think). Pythor, Sensei Wu, and Kopaka are the only ones I'm sure of.

3. Kathleen Barr voiced Gali (and Roodaka) and Misako in Ninjago

 

There's probably some others I'm forgetting, but we've already got Tahu, Gali, Onua, and Kopaka covered.

[bioniclepluslotr]

 

 

 

would the voice actors from the mask of light come back for a T.V. show?

Seeing that the movie came out almost 12 years ago, I highly doubt it, but it could be possible!

I think a lot of them are still doing voice acting for Lego or otherwise, so it could easily happen, I think the bigger question is if Lego would want to get them back or get new people.

 

The voices were so cheesy. They need to spend out on some decent voice actors.

 

Probably more the scrip writers than the voice actors.

[Sir Kohran]

 

 

1. Scott McNeil voiced Tahu, Onua and the Overlord in Ninjago.

 

Tahu and Onua were in Ninjago?

[Pohatu: Uniter of Stone]

[Chro]

 

1. Scott McNeil voiced Tahu, Onua and the Overlord in Ninjago.

 

Tahu and Onua were in Ninjago?

Kaihu, Master of Fire. Colenua, Master of Earth. Zanepaka, Master of Ice.