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The end is near.... again :(


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Not aurprised they're doing poorly, build is pretty simple, nothing new and the story is pretty... Flat.

Shut it down I say! Switch to graphic novels and wrap up G1 you clucks.

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I mentioned months ago that Bionicle was gonna be canceled in Australia, and no one believed me.

 

And yet there's more proof.

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Not aurprised they're doing poorly, build is pretty simple, nothing new and the story is pretty... Flat.

Shut it down I say! Switch to graphic novels and wrap up G1 you clucks.

I mean, the Toa and villager builds are more complex than they ever were in G1, so I don't see what exactly they're "pretty simple" compared to. Titans, I guess? But if you ever expected standard Toa sets to be that complex by default then you were just setting yourself up for disappointment.

 

And wrapping up G1 via graphic novels isn't going to happen. There's no incentive. Without even getting into the question of how the G2 books have sold, you have to remember that sales on the Papercutz graphic novels #8 and #9 were so poor that #10 got cancelled a third of the way into development — and mind you, this was back when the G1 story was still at least marginally relevant. Same goes for chapter books, what with the cancellation of Journey's End outside of Poland. So what makes you think there'd be any more of a market for new G1 graphic novels today than there was back then? The more time that passes since the conclusion of the G1 sets and story, the more G1 fans are just going to move on. Meaning there's a smaller audience for books that wrap up the G1 story now than ever.

Edited by Aanchir
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I went to walmart today and there were absolutely no bionicle sets. It really could be the end.

 

Take it with a mountain of salt; Walmart and Target are very unreliable these days when it comes to Bionicle. :I

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I went to walmart today and there were absolutely no bionicle sets. It really could be the end.

 

My Walmart has outright not had a spot on the shelf marked out for Bionicle sets since it sold off the last of its 2015 stock. The only exception was when a few copies of Tahu Uniter and Ikir showed up briefly, the latter already on sale for 50 percent off. That strikes me as highly unusual for a line that is supposedly selling "well enough." Factor in that every singe set is on sale on Amazon and Walmart.com, and you have a situation that doesn't look promising.

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I have slept for so long. My dreams have been dark ones. But now I am awakened. Now the scattered elements of my being are rejoined. Now I am whole. And the Darkness can not stand before me.

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I went to my local TRU, and they had no more Umarak's..... THE END IS NIGH! Shut up. Do we have proof for such rumors as of yet? Noooope. Do we have a lick of evidence at all? Thats a big N O. So, until something does come up by LEGO about it's cancellation, then we can panic. But until then, let us embrace what we have now and make forth from it something anew if it is all gonna come crashing down.

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I went to my local TRU, and they had no more Umarak's..... THE END IS NIGH! Shut up. Do we have proof for such rumors as of yet? Noooope. Do we have a lick of evidence at all? Thats a big N O. So, until something does come up by LEGO about it's cancellation, then we can panic. But until then, let us embrace what we have now and make forth from it something anew if it is all gonna come crashing down.

 

There's a big difference between a store being sold out of a particular item and it outright not stocking it at all, refusing to even mark out a spot for it in the Lego isle. The latter situation is what I was specifically referring to in my post, and I would gander its the same situation for many Wal-Marts across the country. What does that tell me? It tells me that Wal-Mart does not think they would be able to make a profit off of any Bionicle sets they stocked this year, likely because they didn't make one last year either.

Edited by ~~Zarkan~~

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I went to walmart today and there were absolutely no bionicle sets. It really could be the end.

 

My Walmart has outright not had a spot on the shelf marked out for Bionicle sets since it sold off the last of its 2015 stock. The only exception was when a few copies of Tahu Uniter and Ikir showed up briefly, the latter already on sale for 50 percent off. That strikes me as highly unusual for a line that is supposedly selling "well enough." Factor in that every singe set is on sale on Amazon and Walmart.com, and you have a situation that doesn't look promising.

 

 

Hm, you pose an excellent, albeit saddening point.

 

I think we should at least think of it from a glass-half-full perspective; we can acquire the sets for less.  :bigsmile:

 

I've personally found SOME bonkles at my WalMart. Yours doesn't have any, that's weird... o_o

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I think we should at least think of it from a glass-half-full perspective; we can acquire the sets for less.  :bigsmile:

 

Indeed. My G2 Bionicle collection woudn't be growing exponentially if it wasn't for the sets being constantly on sale online and in brick and mortar stores, so I guess for the time being it's working out well for me. I even have a Makuta custom already on my villian shelf, ready to occupy the central spot for good if the line ends up being cut short without his royal shadowness ever getting a G2 set.

Edited by ~~Zarkan~~

I have slept for so long. My dreams have been dark ones. But now I am awakened. Now the scattered elements of my being are rejoined. Now I am whole. And the Darkness can not stand before me.

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I think that much of the reason for them not being in stock is because most people buy them online now, as a posed to going to the store and buying them. Hence the lack of stock in stores. Guys, we may just be lookong at a change in mercantalism in terms of specific LEGO products. Thats my guess at least.

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I think we should at least think of it from a glass-half-full perspective; we can acquire the sets for less.  :bigsmile:

 

Indeed. My G2 Bionicle collection woudn't be growing exponentially if it wasn't for the sets being constantly on sale online and in brick and mortar stores, so I guess for the time being it's working out well for me. I even have a Makuta custom already on my villian shelf, ready to occupy the central spot for good if the line ends up being cut short without his royal shadowness ever getting a G2 set.

 

 

Oh cool, I have one too! MIne's the Mask Maker version, seeing as I doubt that we'll get to see a set of Makuta in that form at this point. 

 

LEGO rarely cancels themes before their cut-off dates though, so expect Titan Makuta next year. ^_^

 

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I really hope it doesn't happen, but if they plan to cancel it after 2017 I really hope they go for a full-fledged ending. No Exo-Force nonsense. 

 

-NotS

I really hope it last another few years at the least, I love the G2 sets.

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After a lot of lurking I think it is time I share my 2 cents about this issue. Now this will be a longer post so I would like to thank you for your attention if you're reading it in advance. My whole thoughts on this matter, on these possible doomsday scenarios, could more or less be expressed in one sentence:

 

It looks like Bionicle is currently in the same situation as oil.

 

Now I would like to elaborate on this opinion of mine and tell you the longer version of the story: There have been many mixed reports lately - some say Bionicle is doing well, some say it is disappearing from shelves. I made my opinion based on trusting both of these reports - the reports saying all is allright and the reports that are saying something is amiss. The disappearing of Bionicles from shelves points out that Bionicle isn't the hottest LEGO theme out there, however the reports (including reports of top officials posted by Aanchir) saying that Bionicle is “doing well”, clearly suggest that Bionicle isn't dying, so the fears of some people seem to be unfounded.

 

If it's not dying and also not growing, what is happening to it? It is shrinking, but it remains strong - just as oil. Now if it weren't for the oil war between Saudi Arabia and Iran, oil production would be drastically decreased by now in order to combat the dropping oil prices. But despite that, oil isn't dying, it is still a hot commodity and it ain’t going anywhere anytime soon. And the reports about Bionicle sales (both optimistic and pessimistic) seem to suggest that the same is happening to Bionicle. To me it looks like the market for Bionicle is currently smaller for the kind of production they were expecting, but still strong enough to make the line "sell well". Other themes, like Star Wars or Ninjago might be hotter than Bionicle and it makes sense to boost them if LEGO is convinced that the market might be able to handle an increase in their production.

 

Building new factories is a daunting issue and short term trends are not enough to warrant the profitability of building whole new production capacities so the safer way is to decrease the production of less hot lines so that the gained production capacity might be used to increase the production of the hotter line. But that doesn't mean that production of the less hot line should be abandoned. For example: Let us hypothetically assume that LEGO uses 30% of its production capacity to build Bionicles and 70% to build Star Wars sets. Let us assume that the market would be able to handle another 10% of total production capacity worth of Star wars sets, but Bionicles are in lesser demand compared to their production (let's say by 10% of total production capacity).

 

This means that 90% of LEGO products are being sold. In this case it makes sense to cut a third of Bionicle production to a level of 20% and increase the production of Star Wars sets to 80%. By doing this sales of the factory increase to 100%. But does this mean Bionicle is useless? Definitely not! If LEGO would cancel Bionicle and 100% of their production capacity would build Star Wars sets, their profits would actually decrease to 80%.

 

Now this was just a hypothetical example to better explain what I meant with "shrinking, but not dying". Small lines are just as important in maximizing profits as larger are. The sales representatives, who have voiced concerns about the future of Bionicle stocking of shops were low ranking and therefore aware of only the current trends of stocking shops in their area of jurisdiction. Beyond that, they are completely in the dark - only the top LEGO officials and owners know the global trends and business strategies. The owners of large businesses don't get successful by telling low ranking officials absolutely everything - these things work on a need to know basis.

 

 So to put the long story short, there is nothing that would indicate that Bionicle is about to die – there is nothing that would indicate that reported decreases in stocking of Bionicles mean its death and not merely its decrease in production  :)

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I dont think the sets have been cancelled in Australia because Ive already seen one and I HIGHLY doubt that LEGO would send an official to Australia of all countrys and if they did they probably wouldnt check stores like BigW.

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I'd just like to throw in:

 

Every Wal-Mart reasonably close to me (at least 10 locations) have either no Bionicle, or almost all of their remaining sets are on clearance for at least 50% off (including 2016 sets). Got a Uniter Tahu and Uniter Onua for $9 each, and several Creatures for $5 each.

 

Also, I heard from 2 employees at the Raleigh Lego Store today that they will most likely not be stocking the Summer 2016 Bionicle sets, or re-stocking the Winter wave, due to poor sales.

 

I'm not saying this means the end or anything, just that Bionicle is clearly doing very poorly, and even if it keeps being made for another year, it may be difficult to find due to retailers not stocking it.

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Not aurprised they're doing poorly, build is pretty simple, nothing new and the story is pretty... Flat.

Shut it down I say! Switch to graphic novels and wrap up G1 you clucks.

"build is pretty simple"

 

Okay no. Take off your nostalgia goggles and then look at the new sets, you'll see a lot more clearly. The majority of the (toa sized) sets in G2, the Uniters being a good example are far more complex than most of the G1 sets. Not only in piece count but also build complexity. 

 

I have to agree with you on the story, as it has felt very lackluster so far imo, but don't go saying things that are outright false. 

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 just that Bionicle is clearly doing very poorly

 

... In the USA.

 

Maybe.

 

Is everyone still ignoring the fact that there is no way a product line that is getting discontinued in the next year would be getting its own dedicated magazine in one of the biggest markets for said product? The German Bionicle magazine is all the proof anyone needs Bionicle is in fact doing well in Europe - as many fans, including myself, have reported many times now,

 

Maybe Lego is just pulling the plug on North American distribution. Seeing as the Chima CCBS sets never made it overseas, it isn't beyond the realm of possibility.

 

:kakama:

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just that Bionicle is clearly doing very poorly

 

... In the USA.

 

Maybe.

 

Is everyone still ignoring the fact that there is no way a product line that is getting discontinued in the next year would be getting its own dedicated magazine in one of the biggest markets for said product? The German Bionicle magazine is all the proof anyone needs Bionicle is in fact doing well in Europe - as many fans, including myself, have reported many times now,

 

Maybe Lego is just pulling the plug on North American distribution. Seeing as the Chima CCBS sets never made it overseas, it isn't beyond the realm of possibility.

 

:kakama:

 

At this stage I feel like it's premature to even think they might be pulling the plug on American distribution. There are still smaller measures that could be taken before then. One that seems pretty obvious to me would be making the theme exclusive to Toys 'R' Us in North America. That's what they did with Technic back in 2012 and with Speed Champions for the past two years.

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just that Bionicle is clearly doing very poorly

 

... In the USA.

 

Maybe.

 

Is everyone still ignoring the fact that there is no way a product line that is getting discontinued in the next year would be getting its own dedicated magazine in one of the biggest markets for said product? The German Bionicle magazine is all the proof anyone needs Bionicle is in fact doing well in Europe - as many fans, including myself, have reported many times now,

 

Maybe Lego is just pulling the plug on North American distribution. Seeing as the Chima CCBS sets never made it overseas, it isn't beyond the realm of possibility.

 

:kakama:

 

At this stage I feel like it's premature to even think they might be pulling the plug on American distribution. There are still smaller measures that could be taken before then. One that seems pretty obvious to me would be making the theme exclusive to Toys 'R' Us in North America. That's what they did with Technic back in 2012 and with Speed Champions for the past two years.

 

This is definitely a possibility. From what I've seen myself and heard from others, Toys 'R' Us seems to basically be the one retailer that has been reliable and consistent about stocking the full Bionicle range.

 

That said, even Toys 'R' Us exclusives are usually stocked at Lego Brand Retail as well, and I have never once known them to stop stocking any ongoing line before it is officially discontinued. As such, I don't know what it'd mean for the theme if that does turn out to be the case, but it definitely would not be a good sign.

Edited by Lyichir

Formerly Lyichir: Rachira of Influence

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I'd just like to throw in:

 

Every Wal-Mart reasonably close to me (at least 10 locations) have either no Bionicle, or almost all of their remaining sets are on clearance for at least 50% off (including 2016 sets). Got a Uniter Tahu and Uniter Onua for $9 each, and several Creatures for $5 each.

 

Also, I heard from 2 employees at the Raleigh Lego Store today that they will most likely not be stocking the Summer 2016 Bionicle sets, or re-stocking the Winter wave, due to poor sales.

 

I'm not saying this means the end or anything, just that Bionicle is clearly doing very poorly, and even if it keeps being made for another year, it may be difficult to find due to retailers not stocking it.

How well-stocked are other Lego themes in relation to BIONICLE? This might not be a problem that's exclusive to one line.

bZpOwEr

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I'd just like to throw in:

Every Wal-Mart reasonably close to me (at least 10 locations) have either no Bionicle, or almost all of their remaining sets are on clearance for at least 50% off (including 2016 sets). Got a Uniter Tahu and Uniter Onua for $9 each, and several Creatures for $5 each.

Also, I heard from 2 employees at the Raleigh Lego Store today that they will most likely not be stocking the Summer 2016 Bionicle sets, or re-stocking the Winter wave, due to poor sales.

I'm not saying this means the end or anything, just that Bionicle is clearly doing very poorly, and even if it keeps being made for another year, it may be difficult to find due to retailers not stocking it.

 

How well-stocked are other Lego themes in relation to BIONICLE? This might not be a problem that's exclusive to one line.

Pretty decent at Walmart, and great at the Lego Store. I wouldn't have brought it up if all the Lego was poorly stocked.

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I'd just like to throw in:

Every Wal-Mart reasonably close to me (at least 10 locations) have either no Bionicle, or almost all of their remaining sets are on clearance for at least 50% off (including 2016 sets). Got a Uniter Tahu and Uniter Onua for $9 each, and several Creatures for $5 each.

Also, I heard from 2 employees at the Raleigh Lego Store today that they will most likely not be stocking the Summer 2016 Bionicle sets, or re-stocking the Winter wave, due to poor sales.

I'm not saying this means the end or anything, just that Bionicle is clearly doing very poorly, and even if it keeps being made for another year, it may be difficult to find due to retailers not stocking it.

How well-stocked are other Lego themes in relation to BIONICLE? This might not be a problem that's exclusive to one line.

Pretty decent at Walmart, and great at the Lego Store. I wouldn't have brought it up if all the Lego was poorly stocked.

 

In that case, there is reason to speculate. 

bZpOwEr

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I'd just like to throw in:

 

Every Wal-Mart reasonably close to me (at least 10 locations) have either no Bionicle, or almost all of their remaining sets are on clearance for at least 50% off (including 2016 sets). Got a Uniter Tahu and Uniter Onua for $9 each, and several Creatures for $5 each.

 

Also, I heard from 2 employees at the Raleigh Lego Store today that they will most likely not be stocking the Summer 2016 Bionicle sets, or re-stocking the Winter wave, due to poor sales.

 

I'm not saying this means the end or anything, just that Bionicle is clearly doing very poorly, and even if it keeps being made for another year, it may be difficult to find due to retailers not stocking it.

 

I don't think info from a handful of stores in one town is enough to draw any conclusion about a 7 billion planet, or even a 400 million nation. Even if coupled with the handful of other pessimistic reports, it is just too small of a statistic sample to represent the global, or even nationwide trends of the LEGO company. Additionally, there are also several positive reports, which shed even more doubt on the exclusively pessimistic scenario.

 

I've been working as a telephonic surveyor and to make a survey conclusive we always needed hundreds of surveyed customers of each bank, each insurance company or each internet provider and we are talking about a mere 5 million nation here. To reach a conclusion about the global sales of Bionicle merely from information from stores we would need a huge global survey, (or if limited to the US, a huge nation wide survey). Please don't get me wrong, I believe you and the interviews with the 2 employees you made, however I don't think that they have any statistical conclusiveness on a large, possibly worldwide scale.

 

Also, I think Aanchir and Pohaturon made some very good points  :)

Edited by Umm Durmán

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 just that Bionicle is clearly doing very poorly

 

... In the USA.

 

Maybe.

 

Is everyone still ignoring the fact that there is no way a product line that is getting discontinued in the next year would be getting its own dedicated magazine in one of the biggest markets for said product? The German Bionicle magazine is all the proof anyone needs Bionicle is in fact doing well in Europe - as many fans, including myself, have reported many times now,

 

Maybe Lego is just pulling the plug on North American distribution. Seeing as the Chima CCBS sets never made it overseas, it isn't beyond the realm of possibility.

 

:kakama:

 

 

Sorry, I was just referring to North America, but clearly forgot to specify that. From what I've heard, Bionicle appears to be doing fine in Europe, especially with the new magazine.

 

Bionicle becoming a retailer-exclusive in NA, or simply getting pulled from NA, doesn't seem that unlikely to me.

 

 

 

I'd just like to throw in:

 

Every Wal-Mart reasonably close to me (at least 10 locations) have either no Bionicle, or almost all of their remaining sets are on clearance for at least 50% off (including 2016 sets). Got a Uniter Tahu and Uniter Onua for $9 each, and several Creatures for $5 each.

 

Also, I heard from 2 employees at the Raleigh Lego Store today that they will most likely not be stocking the Summer 2016 Bionicle sets, or re-stocking the Winter wave, due to poor sales.

 

I'm not saying this means the end or anything, just that Bionicle is clearly doing very poorly, and even if it keeps being made for another year, it may be difficult to find due to retailers not stocking it.

 

I don't think info from a handful of stores in one town is enough to draw any conclusion about a 7 billion planet, or even a 400 million nation. Even if coupled with the handful of other pessimistic reports, it is just too small of a statistic sample to represent the global, or even nationwide trends of the LEGO company. Additionally, there are also several positive reports, which shed even more doubt on the exclusively pessimistic scenario.

 

I've been working as a telephonic surveyor and to make a survey conclusive we always needed hundreds of surveyed customers of each bank, each insurance company or each internet provider and we are talking about a mere 5 million nation here. To reach a conclusion about the global sales of Bionicle merely from information from stores we would need a huge global survey, (or if limited to the US, a huge nation wide survey). Please don't get me wrong, I believe you and the interviews with the 2 employees you made, however I don't think that they have any statistical conclusiveness on a large, possibly worldwide scale.

 

Also, I think Aanchir and Pohaturon made some very good points  :)

 

 

I agree that what I've seen can in no way be extrapolated to a global scale (as I mentioned above, I was referring only to North America in my first post, though I forgot to specify that).

 

However, I disagree a bit with the rest of your post. For one, while I only talked to 2 people, they were representing one of only ~80 Lego Stores in the entire country, and one that's in the capitol of a decently large state. General interest in something like this will, of course, vary by region, but for a given play theme to be selling poorly enough to warrant a Lego Store to cease stocking it, especially in an area this heavily populated, is something I haven't seen or heard of before (as Lyichir pointed out, even retailer-exclusive sets/themes are almost always available at Lego stores, as well as anything that hasn't been officially discontinued). I've also never seen any Lego theme being so heavily clearanced before, at any store in the NC Triangle area.

 

I've also only heard bad things about Bionicle stock from people I know in other parts of the state, and the country.

 

Like I said, I don't think this is a guarantee of the end of the line or anything. But I do think it is indicative that sales are, generally (not necessarily at every store in the country, but overall), poor. 

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 just that Bionicle is clearly doing very poorly

 

... In the USA.

 

Maybe.

 

Is everyone still ignoring the fact that there is no way a product line that is getting discontinued in the next year would be getting its own dedicated magazine in one of the biggest markets for said product? The German Bionicle magazine is all the proof anyone needs Bionicle is in fact doing well in Europe - as many fans, including myself, have reported many times now,

 

Maybe Lego is just pulling the plug on North American distribution. Seeing as the Chima CCBS sets never made it overseas, it isn't beyond the realm of possibility.

 

:kakama:

 

 

Sorry, I was just referring to North America, but clearly forgot to specify that. From what I've heard, Bionicle appears to be doing fine in Europe, especially with the new magazine.

 

Bionicle becoming a retailer-exclusive in NA, or simply getting pulled from NA, doesn't seem that unlikely to me.

 

 

Apologies if I came across as a tad harsh  :P

 

:kakama:

:kakama: Stone rocks :kakama:

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 just that Bionicle is clearly doing very poorly

 

... In the USA.

 

Maybe.

 

Is everyone still ignoring the fact that there is no way a product line that is getting discontinued in the next year would be getting its own dedicated magazine in one of the biggest markets for said product? The German Bionicle magazine is all the proof anyone needs Bionicle is in fact doing well in Europe - as many fans, including myself, have reported many times now,

 

Maybe Lego is just pulling the plug on North American distribution. Seeing as the Chima CCBS sets never made it overseas, it isn't beyond the realm of possibility.

 

:kakama:

 

 

Sorry, I was just referring to North America, but clearly forgot to specify that. From what I've heard, Bionicle appears to be doing fine in Europe, especially with the new magazine.

 

Bionicle becoming a retailer-exclusive in NA, or simply getting pulled from NA, doesn't seem that unlikely to me.

 

 

Apologies if I came across as a tad harsh  :P

 

:kakama:

 

 

You're fine, man! I should've been more clear. Sorry if I came off overly defensive :P

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I've also only heard bad things about Bionicle stock from people I know in other parts of the state, and the country.

There are also many positive reports about Bionicle in the United States. Many of them can be found in the "Official New Set Sightings Thread" in this section of the forum  :)

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Man alive this topic was not meant to go this far, people can have right to their opinion, they want to believe something just let them, there is no need to argue about it all.

On this website anything can be turned into a G1 vs. G2 smack down.

After a lot of lurking I think it is time I share my 2 cents about this issue. Now this will be a longer post so I would like to thank you for your attention if you're reading it in advance. My whole thoughts on this matter, on these possible doomsday scenarios, could more or less be expressed in one sentence:

 

It looks like Bionicle is currently in the same situation as oil.

 

Now I would like to elaborate on this opinion of mine and tell you the longer version of the story: There have been many mixed reports lately - some say Bionicle is doing well, some say it is disappearing from shelves. I made my opinion based on trusting both of these reports - the reports saying all is allright and the reports that are saying something is amiss. The disappearing of Bionicles from shelves points out that Bionicle isn't the hottest LEGO theme out there, however the reports (including reports of top officials posted by Aanchir) saying that Bionicle is “doing well”, clearly suggest that Bionicle isn't dying, so the fears of some people seem to be unfounded.

 

If it's not dying and also not growing, what is happening to it? It is shrinking, but it remains strong - just as oil. Now if it weren't for the oil war between Saudi Arabia and Iran, oil production would be drastically decreased by now in order to combat the dropping oil prices. But despite that, oil isn't dying, it is still a hot commodity and it ain’t going anywhere anytime soon. And the reports about Bionicle sales (both optimistic and pessimistic) seem to suggest that the same is happening to Bionicle. To me it looks like the market for Bionicle is currently smaller for the kind of production they were expecting, but still strong enough to make the line "sell well". Other themes, like Star Wars or Ninjago might be hotter than Bionicle and it makes sense to boost them if LEGO is convinced that the market might be able to handle an increase in their production.

 

Building new factories is a daunting issue and short term trends are not enough to warrant the profitability of building whole new production capacities so the safer way is to decrease the production of less hot lines so that the gained production capacity might be used to increase the production of the hotter line. But that doesn't mean that production of the less hot line should be abandoned. For example: Let us hypothetically assume that LEGO uses 30% of its production capacity to build Bionicles and 70% to build Star Wars sets. Let us assume that the market would be able to handle another 10% of total production capacity worth of Star wars sets, but Bionicles are in lesser demand compared to their production (let's say by 10% of total production capacity).

 

This means that 90% of LEGO products are being sold. In this case it makes sense to cut a third of Bionicle production to a level of 20% and increase the production of Star Wars sets to 80%. By doing this sales of the factory increase to 100%. But does this mean Bionicle is useless? Definitely not! If LEGO would cancel Bionicle and 100% of their production capacity would build Star Wars sets, their profits would actually decrease to 80%.

 

Now this was just a hypothetical example to better explain what I meant with "shrinking, but not dying". Small lines are just as important in maximizing profits as larger are. The sales representatives, who have voiced concerns about the future of Bionicle stocking of shops were low ranking and therefore aware of only the current trends of stocking shops in their area of jurisdiction. Beyond that, they are completely in the dark - only the top LEGO officials and owners know the global trends and business strategies. The owners of large businesses don't get successful by telling low ranking officials absolutely everything - these things work on a need to know basis.

 

So to put the long story short, there is nothing that would indicate that Bionicle is about to die – there is nothing that would indicate that reported decreases in stocking of Bionicles mean its death and not merely its decrease in production :)

Everyone read this.

 

(I'll give you a minute to read it)

 

Okay that is exactly what is happening.

So stop mourning over the death of are beloved LEGO line. It's not dying.

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Hey I got a Flickr because I like making LEGO stuff.

https://www.flickr.com/people/toatimelord/
 

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  • 2 weeks later...

It's not unusual for sets to not appear in Australia. For example, we never got the Bohrok-Kal and we never got Lesovikk. We also got the Metru Nui Matoran and Toa Lhikan & Kikanalo late.

 

But tbh I wouldn't be surprised if Bionicle ended again. LEGO's decision to hard-reboot it instead of continuing the original canon appears to not have been a popular one. I probably shouldn't say I told you do, buuuuut...

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After a lot of lurking I think it is time I share my 2 cents about this issue. Now this will be a longer post so I would like to thank you for your attention if you're reading it in advance. My whole thoughts on this matter, on these possible doomsday scenarios, could more or less be expressed in one sentence:

 

It looks like Bionicle is currently in the same situation as oil.

 

Now I would like to elaborate on this opinion of mine and tell you the longer version of the story: There have been many mixed reports lately - some say Bionicle is doing well, some say it is disappearing from shelves. I made my opinion based on trusting both of these reports - the reports saying all is allright and the reports that are saying something is amiss. The disappearing of Bionicles from shelves points out that Bionicle isn't the hottest LEGO theme out there, however the reports (including reports of top officials posted by Aanchir) saying that Bionicle is “doing well”, clearly suggest that Bionicle isn't dying, so the fears of some people seem to be unfounded.

 

If it's not dying and also not growing, what is happening to it? It is shrinking, but it remains strong - just as oil. Now if it weren't for the oil war between Saudi Arabia and Iran, oil production would be drastically decreased by now in order to combat the dropping oil prices. But despite that, oil isn't dying, it is still a hot commodity and it ain’t going anywhere anytime soon. And the reports about Bionicle sales (both optimistic and pessimistic) seem to suggest that the same is happening to Bionicle. To me it looks like the market for Bionicle is currently smaller for the kind of production they were expecting, but still strong enough to make the line "sell well". Other themes, like Star Wars or Ninjago might be hotter than Bionicle and it makes sense to boost them if LEGO is convinced that the market might be able to handle an increase in their production.

 

Building new factories is a daunting issue and short term trends are not enough to warrant the profitability of building whole new production capacities so the safer way is to decrease the production of less hot lines so that the gained production capacity might be used to increase the production of the hotter line. But that doesn't mean that production of the less hot line should be abandoned. For example: Let us hypothetically assume that LEGO uses 30% of its production capacity to build Bionicles and 70% to build Star Wars sets. Let us assume that the market would be able to handle another 10% of total production capacity worth of Star wars sets, but Bionicles are in lesser demand compared to their production (let's say by 10% of total production capacity).

 

This means that 90% of LEGO products are being sold. In this case it makes sense to cut a third of Bionicle production to a level of 20% and increase the production of Star Wars sets to 80%. By doing this sales of the factory increase to 100%. But does this mean Bionicle is useless? Definitely not! If LEGO would cancel Bionicle and 100% of their production capacity would build Star Wars sets, their profits would actually decrease to 80%.

 

Now this was just a hypothetical example to better explain what I meant with "shrinking, but not dying". Small lines are just as important in maximizing profits as larger are. The sales representatives, who have voiced concerns about the future of Bionicle stocking of shops were low ranking and therefore aware of only the current trends of stocking shops in their area of jurisdiction. Beyond that, they are completely in the dark - only the top LEGO officials and owners know the global trends and business strategies. The owners of large businesses don't get successful by telling low ranking officials absolutely everything - these things work on a need to know basis.

 

 So to put the long story short, there is nothing that would indicate that Bionicle is about to die – there is nothing that would indicate that reported decreases in stocking of Bionicles mean its death and not merely its decrease in production  :)

 

Excellent post. 

 

Everyone please read this and stop worrying so much.

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But tbh I wouldn't be surprised if Bionicle ended again. LEGO's decision to hard-reboot it instead of continuing the original canon appears to not have been a popular one. I probably shouldn't say I told you do, buuuuut...

I mean, I wouldn't be surprised if BIONICLE ended again either.  We can't really expect it to continue forever.

 

Though I'm not sure how you can say that G2 is less popular because it's a reboot.  The only indication of that I've seen is some bellyaching by older fans who don't seem to understand that they liked G1 better because they were kids back then.

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It's not unusual for sets to not appear in Australia. For example, we never got the Bohrok-Kal and we never got Lesovikk. We also got the Metru Nui Matoran and Toa Lhikan & Kikanalo late.

 

But tbh I wouldn't be surprised if Bionicle ended again. LEGO's decision to hard-reboot it instead of continuing the original canon appears to not have been a popular one. I probably shouldn't say I told you do, buuuuut...

Weird. My brother was able to snatch Lesovikk without resorting to online shopping. I'm fairly certain he was distributed here, but as an exclusive of sorts.

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