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Do you think Bionicle will be brought back again if it's cacnelled


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After seeing G2 in action, I think the Bring Back Bionicle group is gonna oddly quiet after the generation ends. :P

 

In all seriousness, I will be genuinely surprised if LEGO decides to do a G3. But if it's gonna happen, it'd be YEARS from now. I don't really see the point in begging for such a generation, though. I'd much rather go with the flow.

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I think it's possible, probably not likely, but G2 happened and everyone was talking about how they didn't believe it would happen. So who knows, LEGO could decide it's worth giving it one more spin years from now, though the name recognition will be far from useful by then, as it seems to have hardly done the theme any wonders this time around.

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No.

 

Why is everybody so sad? Bionicle G2 was horrifically disappointing, and yet it is worshiped solely because it has the "Bionicle" logo?

you're free to have your opinion of course, but in mine, bionicle G2 is far from "horrifically disappointing. I feel it wears the bionicle logo well.

 

As for the original question, I've got no idea, I guess it would depend on how well the line does this time around. If it survives another 6+ or so years, maybe a G3 could be feasible. But even if such a thing was to happen, it's very far in the future. I'm just gonna enjoy the new sets that have been put out for now.

Edited by Bionibbles
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I can see it being brought back in 10 years from whenever it ends. It's an original idea that is a big influence on Lego as a company. These brands will hold seniority over time. It will be interesting to see what becomes of it down the line. 


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I actually could see that happening. I could see it becoming something like Adventurers or Agents or recurring themes like that that come back every few years. (Which I wouldn't really be happy about.)

Personally, though, I wouldn't be rallying for it.

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In this day and age? Probably yes. It will happen a very, very long time after G2 ends, though. Not a measly 5 years like between G1 and G2. G3 will happen like, what, 15-20 years after G2 ends, I'd wager. By that time the majority of Bionilce fans would be entirely disinterested, allowing Lego to dust off the good ol' chap and let them do their thing without 20-somethings whining on an online forum about how "The green element is Air, not Jungle!!!11!11!!".

 

I mean, sure, the target audience is still children, and I doubt 99% of people buying Bionicle cares about what the haters say, but I feel the negativity spawned by nostalgia hurt G2 in a way it didn't deserve.

 

So yes, it will be brought back after G2 ends, and I'll be a very happy 40-something when G3 will be announced.

 

Also, G2 is awesome

 

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No.

 

Why is everybody so sad? Bionicle G2 was horrifically disappointing, and yet it is worshiped solely because it has the "Bionicle" logo?

I don't worship it, but I enjoy it and think it does a great job in many ways. The Bionicle logo is hardly even a factor in why I like it — it could have a totally different logo or maybe even a different brand name and I'd probably still be impressed with the quality of its set designs and its fresh take on many of the iconic story elements that I loved about Bionicle G1.

 

As much as I love the Bionicle reboot, I have no doubt that some people sincerely dislike Bionicle G2 based on their own wholly legitimate personal preferences. So it's kinda insulting that so many people who hate Bionicle G2 are prepared to assume that the reboot's supporters must be "sheeple" who will blindly support anything branded as Bionicle.

 

Whether Bionicle could come back again after G2 ends depends on a lot of factors that can't really be reliably predicted, like on what terms G2 will end, how interested kids are in buildable action figures at any point in the future, and what sorts of other themes carry on Bionicle's legacy in the intervening time. I don't think there's too much point speculating on such things at this time.

 

But I do think that the Bionicle theme's strong heritage, its iconic design and storytelling elements, and the way it is almost synonymous with buildable action figures for many people make it better suited to reboots than some other LEGO IPs like Knights' Kingdom, Exo-Force, and Legends of Chima which never became a craze of the same magnitude or demonstrated the same staying power.

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I guess bionicle g2 is kind of in a situation that ninjago was in during 2012/2013 where it was about to be discontinued, but then a whole bunch of fans, little kids and parents called and yelled at lego to not cancel it...hopefully/maybe that'll happen to bionicle

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I guess bionicle g2 is kind of in a situation that ninjago was in during 2012/2013 where it was about to be discontinued, but then a whole bunch of fans, little kids and parents called and yelled at lego to not cancel it...hopefully/maybe that'll happen to bionicle

I don't know whether that's really a very sound comparison. Ninjago made a huge splash when it was first introduced, but it was planned for two years and LEGO sort of expected it to burn out after that. Remember that running for two and a half to three years straight tends to be the best outcome a non-evergreen LEGO theme can expect, and while Ninjago is now considered evergreen, that wasn't the case prior to last year. It got a graphic novel series in its first year, even though the other two graphic novel series launched alongside it were for themes that were already massively successful (LEGO Ninjago and LEGO Friends). It had exclusives tied to it at NYCC 2014, SDCC 2015, and LEGO Inside Tour 2015, and was in fact the sole focus of the LEGO Group's NYCC presence in 2014. Bear in mind that Comic-Con exclusives for non-licensed themes are exceedingly rare. Bricklink lists 50 Comic Con exclusive sets 45 are based on licensed themes, one is based on The LEGO Movie, one was based on Bionicle G1, and the remaining three were based on Bionicle G2.

 

The Bionicle reboot also got a four-episode Netflix exclusive series this year (with a longer total running length than any of the G1 Bionicle movies). Again, the only other theme to get a Netflix exclusive series was LEGO Friends, which is in its fifth year as an unmitigated success story. Bionicle is now getting a magazine published in several languages in Europe. No other themes except for evergreen and "big bang" themes have had magazines of this sort. If Bionicle G2 does, in fact, end after next year, it won't be because it wasn't given a fair shot. Some actual "big bang" themes in the past like Exo-Force, Power Miners, and Atlantis didn't get this level of upfront and ongoing investment!

 

Back to the discussion of a post-cancellation revival — something that has to be considered is that Ninjago's situation, and the reaction to rumors of its cancellation, were pretty much unprecedented. That's not to say that no other theme has been cut short when it still had momentum. Slizer/Throwbots is one good example that was ended to make room for Roboriders, which underperformed. This was a big part of why Bionicle G1 was an ongoing theme to begin with — LEGO realized that their development process couldn't allow the same team of designers to introduce a successful, well-developed theme each year, or to respond to sales figures they didn't anticipate. But Ninjago's success was many orders of magnitude greater than Slizer's. In its first year, it was literally the most successful new product launch of all time for the LEGO Group.

 

Monthly search interest for LEGO Ninjago routinely surpasses all of the LEGO Group's other strongest themes except during the month of December, when LEGO Star Wars usually surpasses it — but only slightly. The last time search interest for Bionicle came close to the level of search interest Ninjago had in late 2012 was… well, actually, it's impossible to know if it EVER did, because Google Trends only tracks search interest from January 2004 onward, and Ninjago's search interest in November or December 2012 was more than twice what Bionicle's search interest was in any month Google Trends even has a record of. Needless to say, the love fans had for LEGO Ninjago didn't just spontaneously spring up out of nowhere after rumors began to emerge that it might be ending in 2013. Rather, its popularity had been sharply rising since well before that point. I have seen no indications that Bionicle's popularity is on any similar sort of sharp, steady upswing that might make LEGO reverse course on any hypothetical plans to end it.

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Do you think perhaps there will be ninjago constraction sets?

 

I could see it. When G2 ends, I'm OK with it. Maybe constraction would regain its former popularity if Ninjago got sets in that medium.

 

These days, kids will be all over something if you slap the Ninjago logo on it and call it a day. -_-  It's that popular. 

 

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Do you think perhaps there will be ninjago constraction sets?

 

Possibly, though I hope not. Maybe it's the tackiness or the insane popularity, but I have an innate irrational repulsion towards Ninjago. Eugh.

 

I really hope that once G2 is over, Lego will roll out an entirely new and original CCBS theme that isn't licensed or based on another line. I also hope it is blatantly sci-fi. Like, space opera, power armor and aliens sci-fi. I also hope it isn't HF G2. I also hope it will have heavy technic integration.

 

I have many unlikely hopes.

 

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:kakama: Stone rocks :kakama:

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Do you think perhaps there will be ninjago constraction sets?

 

Possibly, though I hope not. Maybe it's the tackiness or the insane popularity, but I have an innate irrational repulsion towards Ninjago. Eugh.

 

I really hope that once G2 is over, Lego will roll out an entirely new and original CCBS theme that isn't licensed or based on another line. I also hope it is blatantly sci-fi. Like, space opera, power armor and aliens sci-fi. I also hope it isn't HF G2. I also hope it will have heavy technic integration.

 

I have many unlikely hopes.

 

:kakama:

 

 

You're not the only one. I too have a repulsion towards Ninjago. Whenever I'm at a toy store I try not to look at Ninjago sets because there is something that I don't like about them, something that causes me an annoyance - merely by looking at those things. It is similar to how I try to not look at turds on a sidewalk - simply ewwww  :unsure:

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Do you think perhaps there will be ninjago constraction sets?

 

Possibly, though I hope not. Maybe it's the tackiness or the insane popularity, but I have an innate irrational repulsion towards Ninjago. Eugh.

 

I really hope that once G2 is over, Lego will roll out an entirely new and original CCBS theme that isn't licensed or based on another line. I also hope it is blatantly sci-fi. Like, space opera, power armor and aliens sci-fi. I also hope it isn't HF G2. I also hope it will have heavy technic integration.

 

I have many unlikely hopes.

 

:kakama:

 

 

You're not the only one. I too have a repulsion towards Ninjago. Whenever I'm at a toy store I try not to look at Ninjago sets because there is something that I don't like about them, something that causes me an annoyance - merely by looking at those things. It is similar to how I try to not look at turds on a sidewalk - simply ewwww  :unsure:

 

The ironic thing about this is that this is how a lot of AFOLs (especially older AFOLs) seem to feel about Bionicle. :P To many AFOLs it'll always be that confusing, tacky, newfangled thing that only the young whippersnappers really like or understand. With more Bionicle fans growing up and joining the AFOL community it's not quite as toxic to Bionicle fans as it once was, but a lot of people from that community are still repulsed by the Bionicle sets or don't think they count as "real LEGO". Kinda good to keep that perspective in mind when thinking about other themes. Every popular theme means to somebody what Bionicle means to you, and conversely, when you think badly of other themes there's probably somebody out there who feels the same way about themes you like.

 

I think a Ninjago constraction theme might have potential, although there'd have to be some creative liberties taken so that the characters don't feel too repetitive, since as minifigures they don't have very different physiques. Chima managed this alright since the characters were already animal-based, so the sets could give them traits more in line with those animals (a hunched posture and tail for Cragger, a giant muscular body and fists for Gorzan, etc). But with Ninjago, where the heroes are humans, you'd have to diversify them with armor and equipment or with much subtler differences in their proportions (like making some of the characters shorter or taller or giving them slightly wider or narrower shoulders).

 

This sense of variety is something the Star Wars buildable figures also sort of struggle with, but they manage it because their appearances are based strictly on existing, iconic characters. People won't necessarily care that Captain Phasma looks mostly like a taller First Order Stormtrooper repaint, because that's what she's supposed to look like. But with Ninjago, the version of the characters people are familiar with are the minifigures! So that sense of familiarity or authenticity won't be there to offset the "sameness" of their builds.

 

There's also the question of how their faces would look. Sticking close to the minifigure faces instead of adding more human-like shaping and features like ears and noses would probably be best, again, since the minifigure versions of the characters are the ones that are iconic. Chima didn't struggle with this so much because the characters already had molded faces (albeit without so many uniquely molded details), and Star Wars and Super Heroes didn't struggle with it because the human versions of the characters were already more iconic than their minifigure counterparts.

 

These obstacles wouldn't be the deciding factor in whether LEGO makes Ninjago constraction sets, though. If they see a market for Ninjago constraction sets they'll figure out the answers to those questions at that time.

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Do you think perhaps there will be ninjago constraction sets?

 

Possibly, though I hope not. Maybe it's the tackiness or the insane popularity, but I have an innate irrational repulsion towards Ninjago. Eugh.

 

I really hope that once G2 is over, Lego will roll out an entirely new and original CCBS theme that isn't licensed or based on another line. I also hope it is blatantly sci-fi. Like, space opera, power armor and aliens sci-fi. I also hope it isn't HF G2. I also hope it will have heavy technic integration.

 

I have many unlikely hopes.

 

:kakama:

 

 

You're not the only one. I too have a repulsion towards Ninjago. Whenever I'm at a toy store I try not to look at Ninjago sets because there is something that I don't like about them, something that causes me an annoyance - merely by looking at those things. It is similar to how I try to not look at turds on a sidewalk - simply ewwww  :unsure:

 

The ironic thing about this is that this is how a lot of AFOLs (especially older AFOLs) seem to feel about Bionicle. :P To many AFOLs it'll always be that confusing, tacky, newfangled thing that only the young whippersnappers really like or understand. With more Bionicle fans growing up and joining the AFOL community it's not quite as toxic to Bionicle fans as it once was, but a lot of people from that community are still repulsed by the Bionicle sets or don't think they count as "real LEGO". Kinda good to keep that perspective in mind when thinking about other themes. Every popular theme means to somebody what Bionicle means to you, and conversely, when you think badly of other themes there's probably somebody out there who feels the same way about themes you like.

 

Well, they're welcome do to so. To each their own, and by no means am I saying that Ninjago is bad. The popularity of the line disproves that anyway. I just personally dislike it to a fault. 

Plus, I kinda get where the anti-Bionicle crowd is coming from. When it first came about, it was very different from anything else Lego has ever done before, and large deviations like that will always ruffle some jimmies.

 

And then there is the fact that Bionicle is literally the only thing related to Lego that I care about and follow. Of course, that wasn't the case when I was a "young whippersnapper". I was like, what, 4, when Bionicle started out? Between then and 2010, I was a massive fan of all things Lego, but Bionicle was my main favorite. I never got as invested in any other line. 

 

Now that I've recently entered AFOLhood, I occasionally check out what the other Lego lines are like out of curiosity, but I somehow never feel the nostalgia I expect. I used to be all over Lego Star Wars, all Sci-Fi themes like the various Space themes, I also loved the fantasy settings (never got into contemporary stuff like City. Too boring.). But now? I'm like yeah, cool cool but nothing beyond that.

 

Bionicle still gives me a warm and fuzzy feeling inside. I guess part of my revulsion towards Ninjago is that it fills the spot in today's KFOL generation that Bionicle G1 filled when I was a KFOL. I don't know how it was abroad, but back in G1's heyday, it was the coolest thing for the target audience where I lived. Here in Hungary, every 6-14 kid had to have all the bonkels. It was all we talked about. We RP'd being Toa on the school yard. System lines never had the same popularity, not even Star Wars.

 

Today, I see all the kids acting like that towards Ninjago and I'm like "no, this is all wrong. You should feel like that about Bionicle.".

 

But that's nostalgia and growing "old" for you I guess.

 

Talk about going off topic...

 

:kakama:

Edited by Pohaturon
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:kakama: Stone rocks :kakama:

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Honestly, as long as G2 has a satisfactory ending, I don't really care whether they bring it back. After Bionicle I simply want a well done constraction line that can take it's place that isn't Star Wars. :P

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I don't think it'll come back, and I don't want it to. However, if it were to come back, it'd probably do so after more than just five years; Quite possibly 10-30 years from now, given that it's been two times in a row that BIonicle has had presumably declining sales and loss of interest over the years.

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Do you think perhaps there will be ninjago constraction sets?

 

Possibly, though I hope not. Maybe it's the tackiness or the insane popularity, but I have an innate irrational repulsion towards Ninjago. Eugh.

 

I really hope that once G2 is over, Lego will roll out an entirely new and original CCBS theme that isn't licensed or based on another line. I also hope it is blatantly sci-fi. Like, space opera, power armor and aliens sci-fi. I also hope it isn't HF G2. I also hope it will have heavy technic integration.

 

I have many unlikely hopes.

 

:kakama:

 

 

You're not the only one. I too have a repulsion towards Ninjago. Whenever I'm at a toy store I try not to look at Ninjago sets because there is something that I don't like about them, something that causes me an annoyance - merely by looking at those things. It is similar to how I try to not look at turds on a sidewalk - simply ewwww  :unsure:

 

The ironic thing about this is that this is how a lot of AFOLs (especially older AFOLs) seem to feel about Bionicle. :P To many AFOLs it'll always be that confusing, tacky, newfangled thing that only the young whippersnappers really like or understand. With more Bionicle fans growing up and joining the AFOL community it's not quite as toxic to Bionicle fans as it once was, but a lot of people from that community are still repulsed by the Bionicle sets or don't think they count as "real LEGO". Kinda good to keep that perspective in mind when thinking about other themes. Every popular theme means to somebody what Bionicle means to you, and conversely, when you think badly of other themes there's probably somebody out there who feels the same way about themes you like.

 

Well, they're welcome do to so. To each their own, and by no means am I saying that Ninjago is bad. The popularity of the line disproves that anyway. I just personally dislike it to a fault. 

Plus, I kinda get where the anti-Bionicle crowd is coming from. When it first came about, it was very different from anything else Lego has ever done before, and large deviations like that will always ruffle some jimmies.

 

And then there is the fact that Bionicle is literally the only thing related to Lego that I care about and follow. Of course, that wasn't the case when I was a "young whippersnapper". I was like, what, 4, when Bionicle started out? Between then and 2010, I was a massive fan of all things Lego, but Bionicle was my main favorite. I never got as invested in any other line. 

 

Now that I've recently entered AFOLhood, I occasionally check out what the other Lego lines are like out of curiosity, but I somehow never feel the nostalgia I expect. I used to be all over Lego Star Wars, all Sci-Fi themes like the various Space themes, I also loved the fantasy settings (never got into contemporary stuff like City. Too boring.). But now? I'm like yeah, cool cool but nothing beyond that.

 

Bionicle still gives me a warm and fuzzy feeling inside. I guess part of my revulsion towards Ninjago is that it fills the spot in today's KFOL generation that Bionicle G1 filled when I was a KFOL. I don't know how it was abroad, but back in G1's heyday, it was the coolest thing for the target audience where I lived. Here in Hungary, every 6-14 kid had to have all the bonkels. It was all we talked about. We RP'd being Toa on the school yard. System lines never had the same popularity, not even Star Wars.

 

Today, I see all the kids acting like that towards Ninjago and I'm like "no, this is all wrong. You should feel like that about Bionicle.".

 

But that's nostalgia and growing "old" for you I guess.

 

Talk about going off topic...

 

:kakama:

 

 

That's basically how I feel, although I'm only a younger TFOL and I grew up with both Bionicle and Ninjago. I appreciate both franchises, I'm just starting to absolutely despise the latter, since it's getting all the attention. Oh well. I guess kiddos these days prefer elemental ninjas over elemental biomechanical knights. :P

 

(Off topic indeed, let's get back on topic. Just wanted to throw in a couple widgets.)

 

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A big thank you to Toucan Sam for the Okotian name.


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