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OFFICIAL 2016 Bionicle Topic


Makaru

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Well the reference to the Toa of Light in JtO was just an easter egg, and Ekimu shrugged off the suggestion. It is possible that he was intended to be a proper Toa of Light in the third year's story, but honestly, I kind of doubt they would have gone with such an obvious choice. 

 

On the other hand, it would be an interesting twist on the "you were not the first Toa!" revelation from G1, mixing both that and Takanuva into G2's mix. Maybe Ekimu is also not native to Okoto, but came from his own Toa-planet, but long before the other 6 Toa. Realizing that he arrived early, he assumed the disguise of being a protector-esque Mask Maker with the goal of leading the people of the island with his wisdom until the other 6 arrive.

 

How Makuta would be factored in is beyond me though. Maybe he would be a promising Okotoan student "uplifted" to Mask Makerdom, and since he isn't actually secretly a Toa like Ekimu is why his masks were inferior, and why he was susceptible to jealousy. 

 

Anyhow, it pains me that we'll never learn where the story would have went in 2017 and beyond.

 

:kakama:

:kakama: Stone rocks :kakama:

Model Designer at The LEGO Group. Former contributor at New Elementary. My MOCs can be found on Flickr and Instagram

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How Makuta would be factored in is beyond me though. Maybe he would be a promising Okotoan student "uplifted" to Mask Makerdom, and since he isn't actually secretly a Toa like Ekimu is why his masks were inferior, and why he was susceptible to jealousy. 

 

Anyhow, it pains me that we'll never learn where the story would have went in 2017 and beyond.

 

:kakama:

 

Or they pulled a Superman-style origin for him, as in Makuta's actually the only biological child, and his parents simply ended up adopting Ekimu later, shortly after his mysterious arrival on Okoto.

Having someone else suddenly thrust into his life, only to end up diverting away everyone else's attention, could've been what sparked his jealousy issues in the first place long before making masks even entered the picture, and if the residents of the Shadow Realm are originally what caused Ekimu's respective planet to fall, then it would also somewhat explain the lack of Light-based beings currently running around in comparison to those belonging to the rest of the elements. Just some food for thought. 

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I hope I can get one too. Gen 2 Bionicle had some really great art, and I would love to see what this book contains of it. 

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Everyone is one choice away from being the bad guy in another person's story.


 


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  • 1 month later...

Took this picture yesterday.  The store was a Toys'R'Us different from the one in my last picture.  As you can see, we've got all the summer 2016 sets (including lots of Umaraks and I guess excluding Quake Beast), a couple Creatures, Skull Basher and Skull Slicer (those two just do not seem to want to sell for whatever reason), and Uniter Pohatu, suffering eternally from the Curse of Brown.

 

Also, apparently Ekimu IS $15- online.  You can get him for that price in person as well, but you have to ask the cashiers to match the online price or they'll just go with what's on the tag, I think.

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It is not for us to decide the fate of angels.

Dominus Temporis, if you're out there, hit me up through one of my contacts.  I've been hoping to get back in touch for a long time now.  (Don't worry, I'm not gonna beg you to bring back MLWTB or something.  :P )

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Took this picture yesterday.  The store was a Toys'R'Us different from the one in my last picture.  As you can see, we've got all the summer 2016 sets (including lots of Umaraks and I guess excluding Quake Beast), a couple Creatures, Skull Basher and Skull Slicer (those two just do not seem to want to sell for whatever reason), and Uniter Pohatu, suffering eternally from the Curse of Brown.

 

Also, apparently Ekimu IS $15- online.  You can get him for that price in person as well, but you have to ask the cashiers to match the online price or they'll just go with what's on the tag, I think.

Wow. Those sets haven't moved in like a year. That's sad. Seeing what was once a huge franchise come to this. I don't think we're gonna see bionicle for a long time. If ever...

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It's time to move on.

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Took this picture yesterday.  The store was a Toys'R'Us different from the one in my last picture.  As you can see, we've got all the summer 2016 sets (including lots of Umaraks and I guess excluding Quake Beast), a couple Creatures, Skull Basher and Skull Slicer (those two just do not seem to want to sell for whatever reason), and Uniter Pohatu, suffering eternally from the Curse of Brown.

 

Also, apparently Ekimu IS $15- online.  You can get him for that price in person as well, but you have to ask the cashiers to match the online price or they'll just go with what's on the tag, I think.

Wow. Those sets haven't moved in like a year. That's sad. Seeing what was once a huge franchise come to this. I don't think we're gonna see bionicle for a long time. If ever...

 

I personally wouldn't take it as that much of a bad omen... all it tells us is what we already knew (that the theme was not as popular as anticipated), and is not entirely unlike what we frequently see for many other cancelled themes. Heck, I remember Bionicle G1 sets lingering on shelves in some places for years after the theme was discontinued. That didn't stop it from being brought back in 2015.

Edited by Lyichir
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Formerly Lyichir: Rachira of Influence

Aanchir's and Meiko's brother

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Took this picture yesterday.  The store was a Toys'R'Us different from the one in my last picture.  As you can see, we've got all the summer 2016 sets (including lots of Umaraks and I guess excluding Quake Beast), a couple Creatures, Skull Basher and Skull Slicer (those two just do not seem to want to sell for whatever reason), and Uniter Pohatu, suffering eternally from the Curse of Brown.

 

Also, apparently Ekimu IS $15- online.  You can get him for that price in person as well, but you have to ask the cashiers to match the online price or they'll just go with what's on the tag, I think.

Wow. Those sets haven't moved in like a year. That's sad. Seeing what was once a huge franchise come to this. I don't think we're gonna see bionicle for a long time. If ever...

 

I personally wouldn't take it as that much of a bad omen... all it tells us is what we already knew (that the theme was not as popular as anticipated), and is not entirely unlike what we frequently see for many other cancelled themes. Heck, I remember Bionicle G1 sets lingering on shelves in some places for years after the theme was discontinued. That didn't stop it from being brought back in 2015.

 

But we got numerous reports this time about sets not moving. It's like that where I live. I went to a toy store a couple months ago and they still had sets from the first wave. It was also like this in another city which is quite a big tourist area. The kids didn't want these at all. I don't think it was the same with G1 seeing as I remember stores were still willing to stock the things and sets did move (although a lot slower). It's a sad sight to see either way. I still remember going to shops back in like 2002 or 2003 and there would always be at least one canister that was sold out. For something that's fairly trivial this admittedly makes me sad seeing.

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It's time to move on.

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I just visited a mall today. Even though they don't advertise them, they still had Terak, Akida, Umarak the Hunter and 2015 Kopaka in stock - several sets each. I agree with Lyichir, this has no conclusive meaning, however I do remember that back in 2002 and 2003, when I was a kid, it was very rare to find 1 year old sets and now I found 2 year old sets.

 

Again I would like to stress that this is nothing conclusive, however ever since it was announced that they are shutting down Generation 2 at the end of July last year I have struggled to find anything positive in the future prospects of official Bionicle. Generation 2 was brutally scrapped by LEGO – as evidenced by very visible things, like there being no Makuta set but also by less visible things, like the Elemental beasts not having a single character line being written about them – the brutality of it surpassing anything I’ve ever seen LEGO doing. I can’t imagine them cannibalizing such an important theme like this for any reason other than the line being a financial nightmare  :( 

 

 And that is the reason why I can’t imagine official Bionicle ever coming back for a Generation 3. When they agreed to make Generation 2, they looked at the success of Generation 1, however when they’ll inevitably consider Generation 3 they won’t look at Generation 1 anymore – they’ll look at Generation 2 because that is the most recent study on the profitability of Bionicle. And if that was such a huge financial bomb, then I really can’t imagine LEGO giving Bionicle another chance  :(

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Took this picture yesterday.  The store was a Toys'R'Us different from the one in my last picture.  As you can see, we've got all the summer 2016 sets (including lots of Umaraks and I guess excluding Quake Beast), a couple Creatures, Skull Basher and Skull Slicer (those two just do not seem to want to sell for whatever reason), and Uniter Pohatu, suffering eternally from the Curse of Brown.

 

Also, apparently Ekimu IS $15- online.  You can get him for that price in person as well, but you have to ask the cashiers to match the online price or they'll just go with what's on the tag, I think.

 

Man, look at all that poor marketing™ warming those shelves. 

 

Shame, the quality and design of these sets were supreme.

 

:kakama:

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:kakama: Stone rocks :kakama:

Model Designer at The LEGO Group. Former contributor at New Elementary. My MOCs can be found on Flickr and Instagram

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I just visited a mall today. Even though they don't advertise them, they still had Terak, Akida, Umarak the Hunter and 2015 Kopaka in stock - several sets each. I agree with Lyichir, this has no conclusive meaning, however I do remember that back in 2002 and 2003, when I was a kid, it was very rare to find 1 year old sets and now I found 2 year old sets.

Yeah, but 2002 and 2003 were some of Bionicle's most successful years of all time. We already basically know Bionicle G2 didn't do as well as G1 did in those years — if it did, it almost certainly wouldn't have ended.

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I just visited a mall today. Even though they don't advertise them, they still had Terak, Akida, Umarak the Hunter and 2015 Kopaka in stock - several sets each. I agree with Lyichir, this has no conclusive meaning, however I do remember that back in 2002 and 2003, when I was a kid, it was very rare to find 1 year old sets and now I found 2 year old sets.

Yeah, but 2002 and 2003 were some of Bionicle's most successful years of all time. We already basically know Bionicle G2 didn't do as well as G1 did in those years — if it did, it almost certainly wouldn't have ended.

 

Very good point. Those were the years when Bionicle "ruled the world". It makes me really sad that Generation 2 saw no such dominance  :(

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I just visited a mall today. Even though they don't advertise them, they still had Terak, Akida, Umarak the Hunter and 2015 Kopaka in stock - several sets each. I agree with Lyichir, this has no conclusive meaning, however I do remember that back in 2002 and 2003, when I was a kid, it was very rare to find 1 year old sets and now I found 2 year old sets.

Yeah, but 2002 and 2003 were some of Bionicle's most successful years of all time. We already basically know Bionicle G2 didn't do as well as G1 did in those years — if it did, it almost certainly wouldn't have ended.

 

Very good point. Those were the years when Bionicle "ruled the world". It makes me really sad that Generation 2 saw no such dominance  :(

 

Me and my friends reached a conclusion that Bionicle was only placeholder for Lego, because Hero Factory had ended and Bionicle's reboot fulfilled the time between that series and more innovative one, which is Nexo Knights. Sadly, it was not a good time for Bionicle's coming back :(

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I just visited a mall today. Even though they don't advertise them, they still had Terak, Akida, Umarak the Hunter and 2015 Kopaka in stock - several sets each. I agree with Lyichir, this has no conclusive meaning, however I do remember that back in 2002 and 2003, when I was a kid, it was very rare to find 1 year old sets and now I found 2 year old sets.

Yeah, but 2002 and 2003 were some of Bionicle's most successful years of all time. We already basically know Bionicle G2 didn't do as well as G1 did in those years — if it did, it almost certainly wouldn't have ended.

 

Very good point. Those were the years when Bionicle "ruled the world". It makes me really sad that Generation 2 saw no such dominance  :(

 

Me and my friends reached a conclusion that Bionicle was only placeholder for Lego, because Hero Factory had ended and Bionicle's reboot fulfilled the time between that series and more innovative one, which is Nexo Knights. Sadly, it was not a good time for Bionicle's coming back :(

 

This is a really weird conclusion to come to since Hero Factory and Bionicle have almost nothing in common with Nexo Knights. If anything, Nexo Knights has more in common with Legends of Chima (TV series, "Big Bang" sci-fi theme, a few Mixel-joint based characters) or with Ultra Agents (sci-fi theme with toy/app integration) than with Hero Factory (including debuting one year after the end of both Legends of Chima and Ultra Agents with no need for any sort of "placeholder"). Bionicle ended with no in-house Constraction theme to immediately replace it, and given Lego's statements about the importance of Constraction as a category to them it's a little crazy to assume that was their intention.

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Formerly Lyichir: Rachira of Influence

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I just visited a mall today. Even though they don't advertise them, they still had Terak, Akida, Umarak the Hunter and 2015 Kopaka in stock - several sets each. I agree with Lyichir, this has no conclusive meaning, however I do remember that back in 2002 and 2003, when I was a kid, it was very rare to find 1 year old sets and now I found 2 year old sets.

Yeah, but 2002 and 2003 were some of Bionicle's most successful years of all time. We already basically know Bionicle G2 didn't do as well as G1 did in those years — if it did, it almost certainly wouldn't have ended.

 

Very good point. Those were the years when Bionicle "ruled the world". It makes me really sad that Generation 2 saw no such dominance  :(

 

Me and my friends reached a conclusion that Bionicle was only placeholder for Lego, because Hero Factory had ended and Bionicle's reboot fulfilled the time between that series and more innovative one, which is Nexo Knights. Sadly, it was not a good time for Bionicle's coming back :(

 

Interesting idea, though I don’t think Bionicle’s cancellation last summer was a planned event. LEGO itself has always claimed it has at least 3 years of Bionicle in store for us – that, together with the brutality with which Generation 2 was cancelled seem to suggest that Bionicle wasn’t merely a placeholder, but rather a standard theme that financially backfired  :( 

 

 I’d be very happy if you were right and Generation 2 wasn’t such a financial disaster because then a Generation 3 would be feasible, however I am deeply worried because I just can’t imagine a reason for the brutal shutdown other than a complete financial cataclysm  :(

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I just visited a mall today. Even though they don't advertise them, they still had Terak, Akida, Umarak the Hunter and 2015 Kopaka in stock - several sets each. I agree with Lyichir, this has no conclusive meaning, however I do remember that back in 2002 and 2003, when I was a kid, it was very rare to find 1 year old sets and now I found 2 year old sets.

Yeah, but 2002 and 2003 were some of Bionicle's most successful years of all time. We already basically know Bionicle G2 didn't do as well as G1 did in those years — if it did, it almost certainly wouldn't have ended.

 

Very good point. Those were the years when Bionicle "ruled the world". It makes me really sad that Generation 2 saw no such dominance  :(

 

Me and my friends reached a conclusion that Bionicle was only placeholder for Lego, because Hero Factory had ended and Bionicle's reboot fulfilled the time between that series and more innovative one, which is Nexo Knights. Sadly, it was not a good time for Bionicle's coming back :(

 

This is a really weird conclusion to come to since Hero Factory and Bionicle have almost nothing in common with Nexo Knights. If anything, Nexo Knights has more in common with Legends of Chima (TV series, "Big Bang" sci-fi theme, a few Mixel-joint based characters) or with Ultra Agents (sci-fi theme with toy/app integration) than with Hero Factory (including debuting one year after the end of both Legends of Chima and Ultra Agents with no need for any sort of "placeholder"). Bionicle ended with no in-house Constraction theme to immediately replace it, and given Lego's statements about the importance of Constraction as a category to them it's a little crazy to assume that was their intention.

 

To be honest, I don't see any sign of an original-story-by-Lego constraction theme replacing Bionicle this year. Didn't happen this half of the year, either. All I see is a few Star Wars constraction sets recently. Why doesn't Lego replace Bionicle with a constraction theme with their original story this year? I mean, what's going on with the constraction category. First, Hero Factory ended three years ago, then Bionicle last year, and now no new constraction theme with an original story. My theory is that since Legends of Chima ended 2-3 years ago, Lego wants to get a similar theme to replace it, and that is the Nexo Knights. I think Lego put a lot of budget in giving that theme scannable shields and an app that uses them. Nexo Knights also has its TV show that allows viewers to scan shields in there. Nexo Knights, along with Ninjago, was big last year. Plus, there are a lot of The Lego Batman Movie sets this year, new Star Wars constraction sets last year and this year, and Nexo Knights getting battle suits for minifigures. Thus, all of these many things caused Lego to make a business decision to cancel Bionicle, along with Mixels, last year unfortunately. It seems that Lego can't focus this so much big stuff going around recently, so Lego dispose some of them for their budget. I hope this year's New York Toy Fair will reveal a new constraction theme with an original story by Lego that could replace Bionicle and cheer our hearts up (like Hero Factory when it replaced Bionicle in 2010). I hope constraction category will stay healthy this year, because I hate to see it fail and I feel so empty without Bionicle or its replacement. This is very saddening as well.:(

I like Lego, Bionicle, and Hero Factory!:)

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Bionicle G1 came out at a time when LEGO wanted something distinct from its usual fare and was willing to pour in unusually high amounts of resources and promotion into it.  G2 came out at a time when LEGO was doing extremely well for itself and didn't need the proverbial killer app that the original line was, and so it didn't get such a disproportionate amount of attention.  Despite its impressive pedigree, G2's shelf life essentially amounted to how well a constraction line could sell itself on its own merits in the mid-2010s- and judging by official reports, the future of constraction sets seems questionable, which means G2 was probably doomed from the start.

 

It's a shame, really.  The only LEGO sets I buy are constraction sets, and from now on I'll be stuck with licensed products with specialized molds that don't often lend themselves well to MoCing, with little chance of the bizarre, inventive custom builds that nonhumanoid sets or combiners tend to have unless we start getting more droids and cyborgs.

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It is not for us to decide the fate of angels.

Dominus Temporis, if you're out there, hit me up through one of my contacts.  I've been hoping to get back in touch for a long time now.  (Don't worry, I'm not gonna beg you to bring back MLWTB or something.  :P )

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Bionicle G1 came out at a time when LEGO wanted something distinct from its usual fare and was willing to pour in unusually high amounts of resources and promotion into it.  G2 came out at a time when LEGO was doing extremely well for itself and didn't need the proverbial killer app that the original line was, and so it didn't get such a disproportionate amount of attention.  Despite its impressive pedigree, G2's shelf life essentially amounted to how well a constraction line could sell itself on its own merits in the mid-2010s- and judging by official reports, the future of constraction sets seems questionable, which means G2 was probably doomed from the start.

 

It's a shame, really.  The only LEGO sets I buy are constraction sets, and from now on I'll be stuck with licensed products with specialized molds that don't often lend themselves well to MoCing, with little chance of the bizarre, inventive custom builds that nonhumanoid sets or combiners tend to have unless we start getting more droids and cyborgs.

Yeah, all I see is Star Wars constraction. No replacement constraction theme with an original story by Lego for Bionicle this year it seems. Weird that happened because when Bionicle G1's set line got cancelled in 2010, Hero Factory came in right after in the same year. Now there is no replacement for Bionicle this year. Just a licensed theme with a very few sets this year. I have a feeling that constraction is having a dark age and Great Depression this year, guys. This is extremely sad, and this makes me feel more sad about Bionicle G2 being cancelled.:(

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I like Lego, Bionicle, and Hero Factory!:)

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Hero Factory had a year or two of planning before it was launched, like every other theme.  In order to have a viable BIONICLE replacement LEGO would pretty much have had to start working on it immediately after launching BIONICLE.  Given the abrupt end, it also seems like it would be a bad move to try to build up another original franchise to replace one that had decent name recognition behind it.  Better to leverage a high-power brand like Star Wars for the moment and see if things will rebound.  Give it a year or two.

 

Plus if there was a new theme screaming down the pike we'd have seen some teasers and hype announcements already.  Toy Fair isn't generally the place for major theme reveals.

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  • 2 weeks later...

Hero Factory had a year or two of planning before it was launched, like every other theme.  In order to have a viable BIONICLE replacement LEGO would pretty much have had to start working on it immediately after launching BIONICLE.  Given the abrupt end, it also seems like it would be a bad move to try to build up another original franchise to replace one that had decent name recognition behind it.  Better to leverage a high-power brand like Star Wars for the moment and see if things will rebound.  Give it a year or two.

 

Plus if there was a new theme screaming down the pike we'd have seen some teasers and hype announcements already.  Toy Fair isn't generally the place for major theme reveals.

Totally would be down for bringing back Slizers.

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Might be a minority here, but I'd like to see Knights Kingdom figures come back. :v

Word!

 

They were simple and quite basic, but I remember liking them back in the day. If nothing else, the entire series had interesting weapon designs, and the latter waves with more armor pieces had some great parts for MOCing, and overall had nice designs. I was always bothered that the helmets of the earlier ones weren't compatible with Bionicle heads, but alas.

 

A CCBS take on KK would be pretty neat, as the aesthetic fits it well, and we'd finally get some neat fantasy/medieval armor parts instead of the overwhelming amount of sci-fi elements that mostly populate the system.

 

:kakama:

:kakama: Stone rocks :kakama:

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Might be a minority here, but I'd like to see Knights Kingdom figures come back. :v

Word!

 

They were simple and quite basic, but I remember liking them back in the day. If nothing else, the entire series had interesting weapon designs, and the latter waves with more armor pieces had some great parts for MOCing, and overall had nice designs. I was always bothered that the helmets of the earlier ones weren't compatible with Bionicle heads, but alas.

 

A CCBS take on KK would be pretty neat, as the aesthetic fits it well, and we'd finally get some neat fantasy/medieval armor parts instead of the overwhelming amount of sci-fi elements that mostly populate the system.

 

:kakama:

Proposal seconded-it'd be nice to see what they could do with the theme years down the line.

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  • 3 weeks later...

Seeing TTV's hypothetical system G3 project really makes me want to see the theme come back as a system theme. Then we at the very least know it will be successful and provide the proper world building and story elements that the other story system themes get.

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Seeing TTV's hypothetical system G3 project really makes me want to see the theme come back as a system theme. Then we at the very least know it will be successful and provide the proper world building and story elements that the other story system themes get.

For once, I think that would actually work. I miss the those limited system sets.

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Might be a minority here, but I'd like to see Knights Kingdom figures come back. :v

Word!

 

They were simple and quite basic, but I remember liking them back in the day. If nothing else, the entire series had interesting weapon designs, and the latter waves with more armor pieces had some great parts for MOCing, and overall had nice designs. I was always bothered that the helmets of the earlier ones weren't compatible with Bionicle heads, but alas.

 

A CCBS take on KK would be pretty neat, as the aesthetic fits it well, and we'd finally get some neat fantasy/medieval armor parts instead of the overwhelming amount of sci-fi elements that mostly populate the system.

 

:kakama:

Proposal seconded-it'd be nice to see what they could do with the theme years down the line.

 

Knight's Kingdom was the very first Lego theme that I was invested in. I'd do anything to see them bring back that lovely cast of characters.  

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Now that G2 is done and gone, I've put myself to try and complete my G1 collection. I've recently acquired a Kualus and Pouks sealed, with sealed Gaaki and Bomonga plus a sealed Fikou polybag on the way. I've had Iruini and Norik since 2005, and now at least I'll have a full set of Rahaga!

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  • 2 weeks later...

About a week ago, I decided to head back to the local Toys'R'Us to treat myself to a set or two because I was doing a lot better this college semester than expected.  To my surprise, nearly all of the summer 2016 sets were gone!  I ended up getting the last remaining Lava Beast and one of the last three Storm Beasts (detailed in a series of tweets starting here), but I'm rather disappointed that I wasn't able to get that fifteen-dollar Ekimu.  :(

 

Also, I forget how many winter 2016 sets were left, but the amount of remaining Skull Slicers seemed to have actually increased.  The Bionicle section has evidently turned into the Skull Villain section.  :/

It is not for us to decide the fate of angels.

Dominus Temporis, if you're out there, hit me up through one of my contacts.  I've been hoping to get back in touch for a long time now.  (Don't worry, I'm not gonna beg you to bring back MLWTB or something.  :P )

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About a week ago, I decided to head back to the local Toys'R'Us to treat myself to a set or two because I was doing a lot better this college semester than expected. To my surprise, nearly all of the summer 2016 sets were gone! I ended up getting the last remaining Lava Beast and one of the last three Storm Beasts (detailed in a series of tweets starting here), but I'm rather disappointed that I wasn't able to get that fifteen-dollar Ekimu. :(

 

Also, I forget how many winter 2016 sets were left, but the amount of remaining Skull Slicers seemed to have actually increased. The Bionicle section has evidently turned into the Skull Villain section. :/

Yeah, it's been that way at the ones I go to as well-Kulta's gone but the others linger.

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G1 Battle for Spherus Magna - G2 A Lingering Shadow


Short Stories

G1 Fallen Guardian - G2 Shadows of Past and Future (The Legend Continues Entry) Head of Stone, Heart of Jungle


MOCs

Mask Hoarder, Desert Scourge

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  • 2 weeks later...

It's not really a "financial cataclysm" seeing as Lego barely poured any funding into it to begin with. I think they should have focused more on the story rather than making 14k gold masks to give away to people who took pictures of a trashcan and called it a mask.

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It's not really a "financial cataclysm" seeing as Lego barely poured any funding into it to begin with. I think they should have focused more on the story rather than making 14k gold masks to give away to people who took pictures of a trashcan and called it a mask.

Whilst I don't deny that Lego should have done more with the story I don't think the failure can be solely pinned on poor marketing. I mean I went into a toy store late last year and there were still 2015 sets on the shelves. For a theme to tank that badly it's clear that it must not have caught on with the target demographic. For something like that to happen it's clear that kids must have seen these sets and just not shown interest in them. That can't just be due to marketing. 

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It's time to move on.

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It's not really a "financial cataclysm" seeing as Lego barely poured any funding into it to begin with. I think they should have focused more on the story rather than making 14k gold masks to give away to people who took pictures of a trashcan and called it a mask.

 

Whilst I don't deny that Lego should have done more with the story I don't think the failure can be solely pinned on poor marketing. I mean I went into a toy store late last year and there were still 2015 sets on the shelves. For a theme to tank that badly it's clear that it must not have caught on with the target demographic. For something like that to happen it's clear that kids must have seen these sets and just not shown interest in them. That can't just be due to marketing.

Though it does have marketing to partially blame, the main issue was the lack of a compelling story and world I feel. The reason why I was interested in BIONICLE back in 2001 was because these characters felt mysterious, surreal, yet familliar. And their world, being an Island Paradise, yet being inhabited by partially mechanical beings felt unique, and brought me in. So, lets compare and contrast, Mata Nui was an Island Paradise, it had its spacific regions of the elements, but overall felt natural enough to be believable. Okoto was a pizza-pie of regions of spacific elements. Slizers did this back in the day, and was extremely popular, but not for that spacific reason. I feel it maybe had to do with Set Aesthetic and Environment firstly. Secondly the story, the story of G2 wasn't particularly engaging or interesting. The simplicity was intentional, but the execution was poor. So we got this very barebones story of six elemental heroes, coming to an elemental island, fighting face-hugging spiders, which though on paper sounds scary, in practice it isn't really. The undead were cool, but too little too late. We should have started off with the undead, but to be fair the budget of G2 was rather limited. Though yes, they didn't have to make those solid gold masks, especially when they were otherwise not particularly interesting story-wise to begin with, though were a major part of it.

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It's not really a "financial cataclysm" seeing as Lego barely poured any funding into it to begin with. I think they should have focused more on the story rather than making 14k gold masks to give away to people who took pictures of a trashcan and called it a mask.

Oho, we have a marketing expert on our hands. I'd love to see your references on the funding of Bionicle G2's promotion. <_<

 

Personally, I thought the Mask Hunt was a great complement to the other contests that year, considering that the other contests were traditional building contests that would be much more biased toward older fans with more building experience and larger collections. And it's not like the cost of those masks was too extraordinary—while they were obviously much more valuable than your average Lego part, the overall cost for all eight was likely a pittance compared to the cost of something like an international TV ad campaign. Even if there might have potentially been better ways to promote the theme, it's hard to blame Lego for trying to repeat the success of the gold mask competition from Bionicle's initial debut year.

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Formerly Lyichir: Rachira of Influence

Aanchir's and Meiko's brother

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  • 2 weeks later...

@Lychir Bionicle ended because it was horribly executed and cheaply funded, get over it.

 

The story was very weak at best, though I give them props for possibly wanting people to be imaginative and fill in the blanks of the story with their own, however that was not the case seeing as it was so poorly done. The initial sets and story had me so hyped up, they had made it seem like it was going to be a big and powerful thing but things started to fall apart by the second half of the year as the enemies they created, while unique and cool sets, were far shorter than the Toa counterparts they had against them, the exception being only Umarak the hunter/destroyer and Skull grinder. All other enemies, Skull spiders and skull warriors, just seemed very small in comparison to the gigantic lords they made the Toa to be, however well they were built. Now this could have been amended easily with a gripping world and storyline which in my opinion, the original Bionicle world was more creative than that pizza pie mockup of Mata-Nui island. Now that idea could have easily worked, if they had done more world building and giving us some sort of adventure game like the MNOG but instead we got an iphone app where you tap mindlessly and try to fight little spiders in a closed arena setting with repetitive music tracks. Those 5 years I waited for Bionicle to return, they literally gave me a slap in the face by giving us such a cheap story and overly priced sets. Not just me though they slapped you all in the face, they made a mockery of my life and dreams by doing such a terrible job. Don't get me wrong I used to love G2 bionicle, but that was only in year one. After year 1 was over I literally had enough of Lego's cheapness and dead-end storytelling and I was not as interested, and seemingly neither was anyone else. After we wait and wait and spend our hard earned money on Lego's toys hoping they would get better they repay us by giving us a cheap message saying "Bionicle has ended, it was  big part of our marketing in 2016 but we're ending it. We know you'll let bionicle live on!" Y'know, what we were doing for 5 years praying and waiting for Bionicle to come back.

 

But hey, they did a great job, huh?

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