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The biggest disappointments in Bionicle?


Lenny7092

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Hi, guys. Today is a sad day for Sodoka’s Bionicle project in Lego Ideas. It got 10,000 supporters, but Lego turned it down. Well, let me ask you what are the biggest disappointments in Bionicle. For me, here’s this: 

1. Bionicle’s two cancellations - Obviously. Plus, there is no word about Bionicle returning again. 
2. Bionicle’s G1 story not continued since June 2011. Come on, Greg. 
3. Bionicle: The Legend of Mata Nui being cancelled while having problems, but The Beaverhouse and Litestone Studios are working on fixing up the poor game. 
4. Bionicle: The Game and Bionicle: Heroes getting negative to mixed reviews. These poor games. I thought Bionicle Heroes was better. Bionicle: The Game’s sequel got brutally cancelled. 
5. Bionicle: The Journey to One being ended. 
6. The tenth and eleventh graphic novels being cancelled. What the heck of wrong with people who didn’t buy them? 

7. The Legend Reborn’s sequels in 2010 and 2011 being cancelled.
8. Sodoka’s project being not approved. What a shame. I believed that if the project had been approved, it would have convinced Lego to bring back Bionicle again. 
 

Honorable mentions that are actually based on my wishes for Bionicle (Lol): 

1. Bionicle not getting a theatrical movie or cinematic universe (I am not thinking a Lego Movie, just a different kind of movie): 

2. Bionicle not getting a TT Lego game that is like Lego Marvel Super Heroes in 2013, like you know, the game not being a first person shooter, but with action figures instead of mini figures. 
3. Bionicle not getting a TV show similar to Ninjago. 
4. Bionicle not being acknowledged much since 2016. 
5. Greg said Bionicle and Hero Factory have no relation because Bionicle sets weren’t selling well in the 2010s, despite the similarities and my logical theory that the Great Beings may have created Mr. Makuro to continue their hobby when Spherus Magna was destroyed. Greg, it’s best to say that the themes share the same universe, so HF can have some praise for what it has done for Lego’s action figure category and no fan would confuse HF with Bionicle. What you said ain’t worth it. People are into shared universes these days, as you should know. 
6. Bionicle Heroes not getting a sequel. 
7. Not every G1 storyline has its own direct-to-video movie. 
 

It’s very sad that these things happened. It’s very unbelievable. I’m speechless. I wonder if Lego would still think about bringing Bionicle back next year to celebrate Bionicle’s 20th anniversary. Why turn down Sodoka’s project? Lego should know that Bionicle fans need Bionicle back, and it shouldn’t disapprove the project. Can the project be approved in the Fall? I mean, Sodoka’s project never had action figure parts and it is just a System project, like in 2018-2020 for some reason. If not, well, I would suggest to Sodoka to try to make brick-built figures, which would sort of like Mixels, but with taller limbs and be more like the Bionicle sets. The disapproval of the project is shocking. We were so close. (Crying in tears of sadness)

Edited by Lenny7092
Just fixing things, and I forgot some things to add.

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

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I remember a Bionicle Legends book that would've told the Toa Inika's journey from Voya Nui to Mahri Nui that was canceled. I was disappointed when I learned of that. 

I was also disappointed when the last serials were not finished. I understand why they were left uncompleted, but I still wish they got proper endings.

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The obvious answer is the Ignition series not getting movies. 14 years later I still crave in the depths of my soul to see how the animators would have butchered those Inika models, despite the fact that all of them except Hewkii and Matoro would be pretty easy to 3D model I think. 

Would like to have seen an improved Teridax model. Or for the movie version to look better.

Artakha never getting a set was a travesty. 

There are so many masks and characters who never got modeled. Orde, Chiara, Zaria, Helryx, Tuyet, Element Lords, Tren Krom, Lariska. 

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On 6/23/2020 at 8:11 PM, Toa Smoke Monster said:

I remember a Bionicle Legends book that would've told the Toa Inika's journey from Voya Nui to Mahri Nui that was canceled. I was disappointed when I learned of that. 

I was also disappointed when the last serials were not finished. I understand why they were left uncompleted, but I still wish they got proper endings.

 

Interesting, I never knew that. So kind of like Voyage of Fear/Maze of Shadows with the Inika. I know younger me would have loved that lol.

I'd have to agree about being the most disappointed about the serials not being finished, as I was really getting into those.

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Let me preface by saying that I tend not to dwell on the disappointments. I'm sure I had plenty, back in the day; but, ten years on, I'd rather remember the good things about BIONICLE, not the things that didn't happen. And sometimes, even things that seemed horribly disappointing at the time even turned out to be for the better: like Legend of Mata Nui's cancellation, which saw MNOG rise in its place as the main story vehicle for the year and feels a lot richer for it.

Though to actually answer the question! I'd say the one big disappointment for me, was one that I didn't even realise at the time because I didn't learn of it until a few years later: and that was, not getting the Tohunga McDonalds promotion in the UK. I love those little guys; but I was never able to find them anywhere; I didn't even know, for the longest time, that any of them except for Hafu and Nuparu had seen physical form at all! Naturally, this makes them difficult to get hold of on the aftermarket over here; it feels as though they slipped through my fingers through nothing I could affect, and I still low-key regret that being the case.

Also, I mean. I just remembered that the lack of Templar involvement in Bionicle media from 2005-onwards was pretty disappointing, too! Would have been neat to have seen later years represented in their distinctive style; particularly if they had used it to slip in some callbacks to the original MNOG, too. (I just watched that Making of the Mata Nui Online Game video today, and may be slightly biased based on that... could you tell? xD)

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Mostly the post-Journey's End serials never getting wrapped up, as has been said already, and G2 getting abruptly cancelled--personally, that really took my then-recently-reignited excitement for BIONICLE out of me completely, and I think contributed to me losing interest in it for a while up until late last year.

44 minutes ago, EmperorWhenua said:

The weird connection of the Av-Matoran and Bohrok has never sat right with me and honestly disappoints me a lot. 

Also, Greg's perplexing adoration and shoehorning of Vezon is constantly cringeworthy. 

These too. The connection between the Av-Matoran and the Bohrok is a bit creepy, and I like that, but it serves no purpose nor did it ever really come up in canon. Just felt like Greg throwing ideas out there.

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On 6/25/2020 at 6:41 PM, Tarn said:

Mostly the post-Journey's End serials never getting wrapped up, as has been said already, and G2 getting abruptly cancelled--personally, that really took my then-recently-reignited excitement for BIONICLE out of me completely, and I think contributed to me losing interest in it for a while up until late last year.

These too. The connection between the Av-Matoran and the Bohrok is a bit creepy, and I like that, but it serves no purpose nor did it ever really come up in canon. Just felt like Greg throwing ideas out there.

It was more like trying to cash in on the built-in “big reveals” planned from the start. It’s true that originally Tohunga and Bohrok were supposed to have been created from the same material (though Matoran sudokuing into Bohrok is very much a Gregism). However by 2008 the direction and tone had so diverged from 2000/2001 that the Bohrok-Matoran connection felt shoe-horned. 

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On 6/23/2020 at 2:58 PM, Iron_Man5 said:

I suppose my biggest disappointment is that 2006 and 2007 never got movies made of them. I would have enjoyed seeing the Piraka and Barraki fight the Toa Inika/Mahri and the stories behind those years would be a fun thriller I'd think. :)

I was expecting movies for them, but they never happened. It would have been nice if that could happen, so we would rely on chapter books and comics much.

On 6/23/2020 at 6:28 PM, Bfahome said:

pre-release material bout the inika indicated that their heads would glow, and the final ones did not.  this is the worst thing to happen to bionicle, ever.

That would have been interesting. The Toa Inika would get even with the Piraka that way, but sadly it didn’t. Plus, I was wondering why the Toa Inika’s heads are unique from other Toa heads, with the green and white parts. 

 

On 6/23/2020 at 8:11 PM, Toa Smoke Monster said:

I remember a Bionicle Legends book that would've told the Toa Inika's journey from Voya Nui to Mahri Nui that was canceled. I was disappointed when I learned of that. 

I was also disappointed when the last serials were not finished. I understand why they were left uncompleted, but I still wish they got proper endings.

Yeah. Would have been nice if that Legends book have happened, so we would see the Toa Inika fight Vezon again and encounter Makuta Teridax. 
 

 

On 6/24/2020 at 7:38 AM, Iron_Man5 said:

I was also sad when the last comic book bundle "power of the great beings" got canceled, I was really looking forward to finishing off the Bara Magna series with that on, I was a big supporter of the comics.

Two things. One: the comics are good, which is a reason why I was looking forward for that book and its sequel. I bought the eighth and ninth books to try to show my love for the graphic novels, but they never happened. Would have been nice if the cancelled graphic novels had included the 2010 comics and the stories that take place after them. Two: I noticed that yesterday where the Comic Book Source website had an article about why comics are the best way to tell the Bionicle story (it even implied that it thinks that Bionicle and Hero Factory share the same universe). Give it a read if you are interested. 
 

 

On 6/24/2020 at 4:04 PM, Matoro11 said:

The obvious answer is the Ignition series not getting movies. 14 years later I still crave in the depths of my soul to see how the animators would have butchered those Inika models, despite the fact that all of them except Hewkii and Matoro would be pretty easy to 3D model I think. 

Would like to have seen an improved Teridax model. Or for the movie version to look better.

Artakha never getting a set was a travesty. 

There are so many masks and characters who never got modeled. Orde, Chiara, Zaria, Helryx, Tuyet, Element Lords, Tren Krom, Lariska. 

I would love a movie-accurate Makuta Teridax, and a 2008 set for him, so he would fight alongside with his brethren in Karda Nui. These poor people that you mentioned never got their sets, despite the fact that they are major characters who made huge impacts in the story. It would also been nice to draw them as well. There are canonization contests, so let’s hope that would make up for them. That includes masks. It would also have been nice if Lesovikk, Mazeka, and some Bara Magna people and their evil enemies had participated in the main events of the 2007, 2008 and 2009 storylines more. Plus, a lot of unresolved stuff and so many things went weird and out of place. I have a huge list of them in my topic about re-continuing and ending the G1 story.

 

On 6/25/2020 at 6:10 PM, EmperorWhenua said:

The weird connection of the Av-Matoran and Bohrok has never sat right with me and honestly disappoints me a lot. 

Also, Greg's perplexing adoration and shoehorning of Vezon is constantly cringeworthy. 

I feel bad for the Av-Matoran who turn into Bohrok because they lost their free will. I mean, they’re people, not machines with single purposes. 
 

 

On 6/25/2020 at 6:21 PM, That Matoran with a Vahi said:

Let me preface by saying that I tend not to dwell on the disappointments. I'm sure I had plenty, back in the day; but, ten years on, I'd rather remember the good things about BIONICLE, not the things that didn't happen. And sometimes, even things that seemed horribly disappointing at the time even turned out to be for the better: like Legend of Mata Nui's cancellation, which saw MNOG rise in its place as the main story vehicle for the year and feels a lot richer for it.

Though to actually answer the question! I'd say the one big disappointment for me, was one that I didn't even realise at the time because I didn't learn of it until a few years later: and that was, not getting the Tohunga McDonalds promotion in the UK. I love those little guys; but I was never able to find them anywhere; I didn't even know, for the longest time, that any of them except for Hafu and Nuparu had seen physical form at all! Naturally, this makes them difficult to get hold of on the aftermarket over here; it feels as though they slipped through my fingers through nothing I could affect, and I still low-key regret that being the case.

Also, I mean. I just remembered that the lack of Templar involvement in Bionicle media from 2005-onwards was pretty disappointing, too! Would have been neat to have seen later years represented in their distinctive style; particularly if they had used it to slip in some callbacks to the original MNOG, too. (I just watched that Making of the Mata Nui Online Game video today, and may be slightly biased based on that... could you tell? xD)

It would have been nice if Templar had made more online games and/or animations for 2005 onwards. Plus, animations for 2001, 2003’s Mask of Light part, 2005 onwards, and online games for 2002, 2004 onwards, so we would learn more about what side characters are doing. If that could happen to Hero Factory, that would make things a lot more interesting for it. Hero Factory would have gotten something similar to Bionicle as well. 
 

I’m also disappointed that we got no sets for Toa Dume or Toa Nidhiki, the rest of the Toa Hagah, no Element Lord for the Iron Tribe, no Toa Kaita for Toa Metru/Toa Hordika and Toa Inika/Toa Mahri, no 2008 forms for the Toa Kaita Nuva, no Toa Nui, Kaita or Nui fusions in general happened on 2005 onwards, no Matoran Kaita for Matoran who came after 2001, no 2003 sets for Le-Matoran and Onu-Matoran, no more boxes Titan combiners after Kardas, the Mistika never had their Matoran counterparts, no pilot forms for Tahu, Gali, Onua, and Kopaka, no extra Mistika armor for the Toa Phantoka, no extra Phantoka armor for the Toa Mistika, those Stars sets (they’re ridiculously shrimpy), there are no more chapter books or graphic novels for G2, G2 not being as good as G1 or having the same things as G1 much, the fact that it’s a reboot rather than a way to re-continue the G1 story, no sets for Toa of Lightning, Magnetism, Plant Life, Sonics, Plasma, Gravity, Iron, or Psionics, no 2003 sets for the other 36 Rahkshi, so they can be homes for their Kraata, Voporak never appeared in the Webs of Shadows movie, the comics never showed everything from the G1 story or even re-continue it, like how Transformers G1 does it, G1 never had its own versions of characters exclusive in G2, like not having its own Umarak, and every Matoran except the Av-Matoran is gender-locked. We have a lot of travesties. :(
 

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I also was disappointed that they all moved to Metru-Nui so easily. Mata-Nui had been constantly called Paradise, even in Mask of Light. Metru-Nui was like a basement. Sure Ta-Koro sank, the move was a plot device that is never satisfactorily sold to the audience.

 

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22 hours ago, Zestanor said:

I also was disappointed that they all moved to Metru-Nui so easily. Mata-Nui had been constantly called Paradise, even in Mask of Light. Metru-Nui was like a basement. Sure Ta-Koro sank, the move was a plot device that is never satisfactorily sold to the audience.

 

You know, you got a point. Why leave Mata Nui when the Toa defeated the Rahkshi? True, some places and stuff are destroyed, but no reason to leave unless the Order of Mata Nui would make them to. No matter where the Toa and their people are, any evil force would attack them, even on Metru Nui. Besides, the island of Mata Nui is meant to destroyed because it’s necessary to allow the Great Spirit Mata Nui to reawaken that way.

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13 hours ago, Lenny7092 said:

You know, you got a point. Why leave Mata Nui when the Toa defeated the Rahkshi? True, some places and stuff are destroyed, but no reason to leave unless the Order of Mata Nui would make them to. No matter where the Toa and their people are, any evil force would attack them, even on Metru Nui. Besides, the island of Mata Nui is meant to destroyed because it’s necessary to allow the Great Spirit Mata Nui to reawaken that way.

Well the biggest reason was because Metru Nui was the Matoran's original home, and it was where the Turaga meant for the Matoran to return to eventually anyways. Because of Makuta hiding in his lair between them and the area below, without Toa they couldn't make the journey back. With the seven Toa and Makuta defeated they could finally go back and rebuild the city, as the city's survival was vital to Mata Nui's health.

Of course they found out later they were to late, and he was dying anyways...

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4 hours ago, Iron_Man5 said:

Well the biggest reason was because Metru Nui was the Matoran's original home, and it was where the Turaga meant for the Matoran to return to eventually anyways. Because of Makuta hiding in his lair between them and the area below, without Toa they couldn't make the journey back. With the seven Toa and Makuta defeated they could finally go back and rebuild the city, as the city's survival was vital to Mata Nui's health.

Of course they found out later they were to late, and he was dying anyways...

Material from 2001 to 2003, even MoL, consistently called the island of Mata-Nui “paradise.” In the original plan there were only like 75 Tohunga in existence, and this is evident in pre-MoL material. It would be an absurdity to have 75 persons inhabit and operate a complex City like Metru-Nui so it follows that the original conception for Metru-Nui was not that of a Matoran homeworld. Internal concept art from Faber shows that it was more like an underworld or Limbo. Not a nice place. Mata-Nui was the nice place.

Lego changed their mind about various things in order to carry out the “not the first Toa” retcon. However, this very awkwardly forced them to dump the island of Mata Nui, even though they had been selling it as an island paradise in every piece of media for three years.

What they should have done is let the Bohrok and the Rahkshi actually start trashing the island and making it near uninhabitable, that way Metru-Nui would become a necessary refuge.

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On 7/21/2020 at 2:32 PM, Zestanor said:

Material from 2001 to 2003, even MoL, consistently called the island of Mata-Nui “paradise.” In the original plan there were only like 75 Tohunga in existence, and this is evident in pre-MoL material. It would be an absurdity to have 75 persons inhabit and operate a complex City like Metru-Nui so it follows that the original conception for Metru-Nui was not that of a Matoran homeworld. Internal concept art from Faber shows that it was more like an underworld or Limbo. Not a nice place. Mata-Nui was the nice place.

Lego changed their mind about various things in order to carry out the “not the first Toa” retcon. However, this very awkwardly forced them to dump the island of Mata Nui, even though they had been selling it as an island paradise in every piece of media for three years.

What they should have done is let the Bohrok and the Rahkshi actually start trashing the island and making it near uninhabitable, that way Metru-Nui would become a necessary refuge.

Well, it’s like Thor: Ragnarok in 2017, where Thor had to sacrifice his home to defeat Hela by having Surtur destroy his world to destroy Hela with it. He and his people decided to move to Earth since it is a necessary habitable world for them. The thing is that if a homeland is meant to be doomed for the greater good, so be it. I get that Mata Nui was a beautiful place to be, but robots are not made on islands like this. Metru Nui looked like a suitable place for robots. True, Metru Nui was ruined, but hey, the place is the Matoran’s true home, and they used Mata Nui as a refuge until Takanuva opened up that gate in MoL. After that, the Turaga had been talking about their life in there before the Great Spirit Mata Nui started dying. Well, in the 2010 storyline, the Matoran got themselves a much safer paradisal location: Spherus Magna, which is much bigger than the island of Mata Nui, so it sort of wouldn’t make a difference.

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  • 2 weeks later...

The total sidelining of the island of Mata Nui after 2003. The Mask of Light movie retroactively increased the number of Matoran from ~12 per tribe to at least two hundred in the course of a single scene, and we never got to see bigger and more complex villages or Wahis as a result of that. Then the Metru Nui saga said "surprise, it was actually thousands of Matoran! and guess what we're never going back to Mata Nui to make it more interesting with that increased number."

 

Sooooo many missed possibilities with this alone. The island itself drew people in, and then we didn't see it for five years, until it reappeared only to be smashed by a giant face.

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Anyone remember the planned "BIONICLE: The Album"? That was hyped up on the backs of the BIONICLE comics in 2002, and although I didn't know anything about the artists attached to the project (Woven, Cold, Rob Zombie, among others), music had played such an important role in the spirit of BIONICLE from before the toy release that I was excited to hear what new directions the music would be taking with the coming of the Toa Nuva. Alas, it was quietly shelved and never saw the light of day. So that was disappointing.

Another disappointment from 2002: realizing we were all duped by slick CGI once again upon building the Toa Nuva and realizing the new limb pieces did NOT bend at the knee. Thank goodness the Rahkshi were only a year away.

Personally, I was disappointed I never found a white metal or silver Krana Kal back in 2003. I spent a lot of time in stores looking into Bohrok Kal canisters, hoping I'd spot the tell-tale black bag. Alas, no luck, even as I read about people finding three in one store on BZPower!

I didn't realize it at the time, but 2004 was the last time we got the original Kanohi mask designs in sets. I missed getting recolors of the original BIONICLE masks in later years, especially since some of the Matoran sets released between 2006 and 2008 could have used that extra spice of a classic mask. Yes, I understand the practical considerations of a LEGO part mold wearing out or not being financially viable for limited runs, but still, it was disappointing.

Later on, my biggest disappointments became quality issues. Cracking connector sockets from all years, as well as cracked Toa Mata feet, cracked Bohrok feet, cracked lime green t-bone connector pieces, dried up and cracked rubber bands from my 2001 Rahi (big tears shed on that one), cracked Glatorian hand sockets, and any other Technic part that cracked. It is going to be a real challenge to collectors of the original BIONICLE toys to maintain a certain "purity" to them if they have to spend lots on Bricklinking old parts to replace cracked pieces. I already did it for my Exo-Toa and some original Toa Mata feet. As far as LEGO in general goes, that is a massive disappointment that will haunt BIONICLE for a long, long time.

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On 8/6/2020 at 12:13 AM, Bionicle Guru said:

Anyone remember the planned "BIONICLE: The Album"? That was hyped up on the backs of the BIONICLE comics in 2002, and although I didn't know anything about the artists attached to the project (Woven, Cold, Rob Zombie, among others), music had played such an important role in the spirit of BIONICLE from before the toy release that I was excited to hear what new directions the music would be taking with the coming of the Toa Nuva. Alas, it was quietly shelved and never saw the light of day. So that was disappointing.

Another disappointment from 2002: realizing we were all duped by slick CGI once again upon building the Toa Nuva and realizing the new limb pieces did NOT bend at the knee. Thank goodness the Rahkshi were only a year away.

Personally, I was disappointed I never found a white metal or silver Krana Kal back in 2003. I spent a lot of time in stores looking into Bohrok Kal canisters, hoping I'd spot the tell-tale black bag. Alas, no luck, even as I read about people finding three in one store on BZPower!

I didn't realize it at the time, but 2004 was the last time we got the original Kanohi mask designs in sets. I missed getting recolors of the original BIONICLE masks in later years, especially since some of the Matoran sets released between 2006 and 2008 could have used that extra spice of a classic mask. Yes, I understand the practical considerations of a LEGO part mold wearing out or not being financially viable for limited runs, but still, it was disappointing.

Later on, my biggest disappointments became quality issues. Cracking connector sockets from all years, as well as cracked Toa Mata feet, cracked Bohrok feet, cracked lime green t-bone connector pieces, dried up and cracked rubber bands from my 2001 Rahi (big tears shed on that one), cracked Glatorian hand sockets, and any other Technic part that cracked. It is going to be a real challenge to collectors of the original BIONICLE toys to maintain a certain "purity" to them if they have to spend lots on Bricklinking old parts to replace cracked pieces. I already did it for my Exo-Toa and some original Toa Mata feet. As far as LEGO in general goes, that is a massive disappointment that will haunt BIONICLE for a long, long time.

Well, HF had a way to undo this by using stronger socket pieces when it introduced the CCBS in 2011. However, I wish that could have happened for Bionicle G1 sets. :(

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On 8/5/2020 at 11:13 PM, Bionicle Guru said:

Anyone remember the planned "BIONICLE: The Album"? That was hyped up on the backs of the BIONICLE comics in 2002, and although I didn't know anything about the artists attached to the project (Woven, Cold, Rob Zombie, among others), music had played such an important role in the spirit of BIONICLE from before the toy release that I was excited to hear what new directions the music would be taking with the coming of the Toa Nuva. Alas, it was quietly shelved and never saw the light of day. So that was disappointing.

dude, would it be awesome if they hired Rob Zombie to produce/record music for Bionicle from 2004 to 2006? imagine the kind ov Industrial Metal music (and lyrics) he would've come up with for those years! it'd be epic! 

oh, and in case you are wondering what genres the three bands you mentioned were; 

Rob Zombie - Heavy/Industrial Metal/Shock Rock 

Cold - Alternative Rock/Post-Grunge 

Woven - Industrial/Alternative Rock 

there you go! i highly recommend Rob Zombie and Cold! i never heard Woven so screw it! :P 

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This is not the biggest disappointment. This is not the most consequential disappointment. But it's the one that I keep thinking about.

When the Inika transformed into Inika, their masks acted way differently than anything we'd really seen before. Three (hewkii, jaller, and nuparu) got masks that gave them super strong physical abilities. Matoro got a mask that allowed him to "fly" long distances as a scout.

Kongu and Hahli though? Kongu got telepathy he couldn't turn off. Hahli got a mask that made her head hurt.

In a real world analogy...Kongu was schizophrenic, and Hahli had chronic migraines.

It's been a while since I've read through the books, so I don't remember how it played out for Hahli, but I DO remember how it played out for Kongu: early on, it looked like dealing with voices constantly would become an integral part to his character, but then it kind of got...handwaved away, I guess.

Obviously, my disappointment is only in hindsight, but my biggest disappointment was that this wasn't explored. You had two characters who were clearly not neurotypical stuck on a team that had won the lottery. I feel like having two characters deal with that in any way would have been good for kids at the time who might have been dealing with stuff like that, or helped them understand someone else dealing with it. I doubt lego would have allowed that in a million years, which might be why it wasn't explored (I remember the dismissal of Kongu's problems to be very sudden, like Greg suddenly realizing he couldn't write about that), but it still feels like a massive story loss 14 years later.

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Hi.

If you remember me from when I was most active on BZP, from 2009-2011...

I know I was cringy. But please keep in mind I was literally 12.

 

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On 8/6/2020 at 12:13 AM, Bionicle Guru said:

Anyone remember the planned "BIONICLE: The Album"?

I do remember the ad in the back of one of the comics.

Paul Hardcastle, who did the music for the 2001 promo album (3 tracks, one of which was "The Bionicle Music" featured heavily in MNOG), had a Bionicle themed track pop up on his remix album Zer01. "Obey The Force" features various familiar sounds recycled throughout and the song ends with garbled dialog "Bionicle... obey the force... the legend is born... the Bionicle has begun". It's pretty clear this may have been intended for the album and got scrapped, or Hardcastle reused the sound samples for his own song as a tribute.

This might be a stretch, but... IF Rob Zombie, Woven and Cold had already composed music for the cancelled album there's a chance it shows up in some form or another on their later works as a B-sides or reused chords in another song. Again, just optimism talking. I'm not too familiar with their music, but if Hardcastle did it, they may have as well.

On 8/6/2020 at 12:13 AM, Bionicle Guru said:

I didn't realize it at the time, but 2004 was the last time we got the original Kanohi mask designs in sets.

This was my biggest disappointment. I didn't care for the Nuva masks when they came out. They were too big and just not the personality of the Toa at all (except Tahu). Then the Toa Metru masks followed this format. The final straw was the ugly rubber masks on the glowy "not faces" of the Toa Ignika.

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1 hour ago, chuckschwa said:

This was my biggest disappointment. I didn't care for the Nuva masks when they came out. They were too big and just not the personality of the Toa at all (except Tahu). Then the Toa Metru masks followed this format. The final straw was the ugly rubber masks on the glowy "not faces" of the Toa Ignika.

i think you mean the Toa Inika from 2006! Toa Ignika (named after the mask) was a Toa created by the Kanohi Ignika after it landed in the swamp ov secrets as kind ov a way to help out the other six Toa (and eventually Takanuva) overcome the Makuta and eventually dissolved as the mask started up the energy storm, killing all Makuta, buying time for the Toa and Takanuva to escape to Metru Nui, and finally awaken the Great Spirit robot (only to have it possessed by Makuta Teridax who banishes Mata Nui, while in the mask, into space)! that's the shortest summary ov 2008 i think i could pull off in a reply! lol 

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Thinking about it, someone should just ask one of the guys in Kenna, Woven, Cold, or Rob Zombie himself (he's pretty active still) what their involvement with BIONICLE: The Album was all about. They're not dead, and I don't think LEGO made them sign NDAs. Of course, it is entirely possible we may find out that the record company (Interscope Records) signed up these artists for them in a contract, but never actually had them come into the studio for it. So for all Rob Zombie knows (for example), he was going to do it one day, and then got notified a month or two later it was cancelled. There would be no music, even simple chords, if Rob had no idea was BIONICLE was at the time, other than a studio booking on his calendar. But I'd love to be proven wrong!

3 hours ago, chuckschwa said:


Paul Hardcastle, who did the music for the 2001 promo album (3 tracks, one of which was "The Bionicle Music" featured heavily in MNOG), had a Bionicle themed track pop up on his remix album Zer01. "Obey The Force" features various familiar sounds recycled throughout and the song ends with garbled dialog "Bionicle... obey the force... the legend is born... the Bionicle has begun". It's pretty clear this may have been intended for the album and got scrapped, or Hardcastle reused the sound samples for his own song as a tribute.

I think I stumbled upon that Paul Hardcastle track a while ago and noted the similarities myself. I'll have to give it a re-listen.

With change in Kanohi over the years, you hit the nail on the head with the "rubbery" Inika masks. We never got back to that nice hard, shiny plastic used in the original Kanohi, Nuva or otherwise. We got stuck with the soft plastic all the way to the end, with the Inika masks representing a horrendous departure in 2006 by making them rubber and therefore seem "alive".

10 hours ago, JMSOG said:

When the Inika transformed into Inika, their masks acted way differently than anything we'd really seen before. Three (hewkii, jaller, and nuparu) got masks that gave them super strong physical abilities. Matoro got a mask that allowed him to "fly" long distances as a scout.

Kongu and Hahli though? Kongu got telepathy he couldn't turn off. Hahli got a mask that made her head hurt.

In a real world analogy...Kongu was schizophrenic, and Hahli had chronic migraines.

It's been a while since I've read through the books, so I don't remember how it played out for Hahli, but I DO remember how it played out for Kongu: early on, it looked like dealing with voices constantly would become an integral part to his character, but then it kind of got...handwaved away, I guess.

Re-reading the books and comics from the Ignition storyline recently, the powers of the Suletu (Kongu's mask) and their effects on Kongu weren't really dropped so much as Kongu was one of six Toa characters that had to share story time in a limited number of pages. In Hahli's case, her mask specifically allowed her to track the position of the Mask of Life. The closer she got to it, the more the mask "pinged" her mentally, causing the headaches. Obviously, these got worse the closer she got to the mask, but since it is such a specific power, and Hahli again being one of six main characters in a short book for children, I don't think Greg even had the time and space to develop these traits if he wanted to. For further example of this, in the battles during the race for the Mask of Life underneath Voya Nui, Kongu isn't even mentioned for a stretch of time even as we get brief vignettes of the other Toa Inika fighting. In conclusion, I don't think these side effects of the mask powers were deliberately dropped or not addressed. The fast-paced nature of the story and the space with which Greg had to tell it necessitated a tight focus on characterization. And then, less than a few days after gaining these masks, the Inika lose them as they are transformed yet again into Toa Mahri, with new masks and abilities. So realistically, how much of your character would change if you only had a strange phenomenon affect you for a couple of days before it disappeared entirely AND you were on a mission of the utmost importance? Not to mention you are of a certain physical and mental toughness that makes you more resistant to the damage the outside world (or others) can do to you?

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RIP BORNICLE

2004 - 2011

"There are a thousand ways I could bore you...and only 942 of them will put you to sleep. Permanently"

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The Legend of Mata Nui being cancelled when it was looking so promising.

The Bohrok episodes spending too long on needless conversation scenes. 

MNOLG2 being difficult, tedious and kinda pointless.

The lack of a sequel to MOL.

The lack of anything like MNOLG for later years.

Vakama turning evil, which didn't make much sense. 

The main story being mostly isolated in the books, which weren't available outside NA.

The Nuva getting usurped by the Inika as the main heroes.

The Mistika/Phantoka hardly resembling the Nuva at all.

Heroes having little to do with the canon story.

Takanuva not having a huge amount to do for most of the later story.

 

Gee, this could go on for a while...

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Going off the disappointment with the Mata Nui to Metru Nui transition and the lack of time spent on Mata Nui, I'm going to say something I've always been disappointed by was that because Bionicle's plot occurs on like a 1 year time frame despite having thousands of years of world story, we never really get anything in a rebuilt Metru Nui. I think stories set in this location would be cool, but we basically immediately move everyone out onto Spherus Magna. I think it's even worse because we had several years in real life where this would be taking place, and it just didn't happen in the story.

But I have to agree that the most disappointing thing is probably all the pieces that have broken over the years. That's something that can't really be replaced, while story-related holes can always be filled with fanfiction.

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9 hours ago, Valendale said:

we never really get anything in a rebuilt Metru Nui. I think stories set in this location would be cool, but we basically immediately move everyone out onto Spherus Magna.

This is a great point. It proves that Bionicle was NOT as all planned out as they made it sound in 2010. In the early years, even in MOL, Mata Nui island is called paradise. Hahli even says something like “we’re blessed that Mata Nui gave us the best home ever” (this line belongs an earlier lore, perhaps from the beginning of the movie’s creation). Doesn’t seem like its getting Bohrokked and broken by a face was to be considered a happy thing or even a necessary evil.

Then we moved to Metru Nui, which now was billed as the new homeworld for the Matoran. Having them leave Metru was definitely not intended back in 2006, but by 2009 we abandoned it too.

Has following the story become too complex? Look no further:


How to Follow BIONICLE

A Simple, chronological checklist

UPDATE May 22 2013: Every is now color coded!

Contains every bit of content, organized by story year

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  • 2 weeks later...
On 8/5/2020 at 10:13 PM, Bionicle Guru said:

I didn't realize it at the time, but 2004 was the last time we got the original Kanohi mask designs in sets. I missed getting recolors of the original BIONICLE masks in later years, especially since some of the Matoran sets released between 2006 and 2008 could have used that extra spice of a classic mask. Yes, I understand the practical considerations of a LEGO part mold wearing out or not being financially viable for limited runs, but still, it was disappointing.

Yes. I have actually have been thinking about the material changes too. The original 2001-2003 masks I think used regular LEGO ABS, while the 2003-2010 masks used a more soft plastic, I think its the same type the Toa weapons were made of and maybe even Lego plants. I do give credit to G2, while I don't think those masks were ABS they did use a harder plastic that felt much more in line with the 2001-2003 mask range than later G1 masks did. But yeah the classic masks would have definitely helped in 2006 and 2007 especially, imagine the Voya Nui Resistance team if they didn't look like mini Toa Metru. At the very least its a shame the 2004 masks didn't see many recolors either (just one Metru Blue Great Ruru... really?)

On 8/18/2020 at 8:37 PM, Zestanor said:

This is a great point. It proves that Bionicle was NOT as all planned out as they made it sound in 2010. In the early years, even in MOL, Mata Nui island is called paradise. Hahli even says something like “we’re blessed that Mata Nui gave us the best home ever” (this line belongs an earlier lore, perhaps from the beginning of the movie’s creation). Doesn’t seem like its getting Bohrokked and broken by a face was to be considered a happy thing or even a necessary evil.

Then we moved to Metru Nui, which now was billed as the new homeworld for the Matoran. Having them leave Metru was definitely not intended back in 2006, but by 2009 we abandoned it too.

The robot was always planned out, but I don't really know if they did intend for the Matoran to return to the inside of the robot or not to be honest. It seems the early story stuff I have read suggested that Mata-Nui was meant to be settled by the "colonizers" who were in stasis tubes inside the Great Spirit Robot; and that the Matoran had failed to wake them up because Makuta made them lose their purpose. With that said... I think since Mata-Nui was always supposed to "wake up" I I think there were always plans to smash the island especially since the Bohrok's purpose to clean the island was established since 2002. Either way, I think Metru-Nui as a city inside the GSR was a later addition. 

On 8/5/2020 at 10:13 PM, Bionicle Guru said:

Later on, my biggest disappointments became quality issues. Cracking connector sockets from all years, as well as cracked Toa Mata feet, cracked Bohrok feet, cracked lime green t-bone connector pieces, dried up and cracked rubber bands from my 2001 Rahi (big tears shed on that one), cracked Glatorian hand sockets, and any other Technic part that cracked. It is going to be a real challenge to collectors of the original BIONICLE toys to maintain a certain "purity" to them if they have to spend lots on Bricklinking old parts to replace cracked pieces. I already did it for my Exo-Toa and some original Toa Mata feet. As far as LEGO in general goes, that is a massive disappointment that will haunt BIONICLE for a long, long time.

It took me several years, but I finally restored my Toa Mata, Bohrok and Turaga sets after Bricklinking a lot of new pieces. The problem with most of the parts there, other than a few cracked sockets; one of my dogs had gone through a chewing spree on my Lego pieces as a kid. For years my Kopaka had a lame-ankle for example since the socket was loose and partially open because the dog chewed on his foot. Tahu Nuva's fire swords had teeth marks in them. Vakama's fire staff was a makeshift Technic axle with a System flame piece stuck on top since the dog completely turned the fire staff to little red bits. My early Bionicle sets were just physically abused, and I am glad to have almost finished restoring them all (I just miss one socket to fix a Gahlok Kal that I bought second hand off Bricklink and the socket broke in shipping). The rubber bands are a lost cause... I have to use non-Lego replacements but hey I can't be to upset over just the rubber bands at this point. 

But... I am glad I kind of quit G1 when I did (2007 after the first few Barraki sets) since I think the line's quality control problems really kicked off about then and lasted until Hero Factory introduced CCBS. Knock on wood, but my Ehlek (one of my last G1 sets I got as a kid) has zero broken sockets. I think the fact I lost interest in Bionicle after the Barraki wave meant I only assembled Ehlek once, but now I am afraid to ever take him apart since lime joints have such a reputation. But yeah its unfortunate that despite Bionicle's popularity it had some of Lego's worst quality control issues. 

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All aboard the hype train!

 

 

 

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14 hours ago, Xboxtravis said:

The robot was always planned out, but I don't really know if they did intend for the Matoran to return to the inside of the robot or not to be honest. It seems the early story stuff I have read suggested that Mata-Nui was meant to be settled by the "colonizers" who were in stasis tubes inside the Great Spirit Robot; and that the Matoran had failed to wake them up because Makuta made them lose their purpose. With that said... I think since Mata-Nui was always supposed to "wake up" I I think there were always plans to smash the island especially since the Bohrok's purpose to clean the island was established since 2002. Either way, I think Metru-Nui as a city inside the GSR was a later addition. 

I also think the island of Mata Nui was original going to be Bohrokked, and Mata Nui himself would have awakened and stood up... However this would have been a midway point, and the rest of the story would have been restoring the “paradise.” (But in 2004, “paradise” was unsubtlely shifted from Mata Nui to Metru Nui, and then finally to Spherus Magna in 2009.) Elements of this can be seen in the last panels of the final comic, when Mata Nui turns Bara Magna into a planet with many biomed like the island of Mata Nui. So in the final story, there ended up being a much more complete restoration of the universe than was intended from the beginning. Spherus Magna was always a concept, but the original ending, it seems, had a more pessimistic modern sci-fi thing going on, where the Great Beings restarted their civilization on Mata Nui, whereas in the 2010 ending, it drew from the Christian apocalyptic imagery of a new earth that restores/replaces the old broken one.

Edited by Zestanor

Has following the story become too complex? Look no further:


How to Follow BIONICLE

A Simple, chronological checklist

UPDATE May 22 2013: Every is now color coded!

Contains every bit of content, organized by story year

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14 hours ago, Xboxtravis said:

It took me several years, but I finally restored my Toa Mata, Bohrok and Turaga sets after Bricklinking a lot of new pieces. The problem with most of the parts there, other than a few cracked sockets; one of my dogs had gone through a chewing spree on my Lego pieces as a kid. For years my Kopaka had a lame-ankle for example since the socket was loose and partially open because the dog chewed on his foot. Tahu Nuva's fire swords had teeth marks in them. Vakama's fire staff was a makeshift Technic axle with a System flame piece stuck on top since the dog completely turned the fire staff to little red bits. My early Bionicle sets were just physically abused, and I am glad to have almost finished restoring them all (I just miss one socket to fix a Gahlok Kal that I bought second hand off Bricklink and the socket broke in shipping). The rubber bands are a lost cause... I have to use non-Lego replacements but hey I can't be to upset over just the rubber bands at this point. 


But... I am glad I kind of quit G1 when I did (2007 after the first few Barraki sets) since I think the line's quality control problems really kicked off about then and lasted until Hero Factory introduced CCBS. Knock on wood, but my Ehlek (one of my last G1 sets I got as a kid) has zero broken sockets. I think the fact I lost interest in Bionicle after the Barraki wave meant I only assembled Ehlek once, but now I am afraid to ever take him apart since lime joints have such a reputation. But yeah its unfortunate that despite Bionicle's popularity it had some of Lego's worst quality control issues. 

My condolences, that sucks! Fortunately, I did not have a dog growing up, so I never had to worry about that kind of damage to any of my LEGO sets. I can see, though, how this would've been especially devastating to BIONICLE parts. Good on you for performing the restoration!

I'll have to check my Ehlek, I don't think I was quite so lucky. I know for sure my Hahli Mahri has cracked lime green parts, and Lewa Nuva from the Phantoka line may similarly suffer. I still have Lesovikk MISB, so hopefully everything is OK until I decide to build him.

At least with the decline in parts quality happening in the latter portion of BIONICLE's life, it is easier and cheaper to acquire replacements rather than the earlier parts, many of which were discontinued even while BIONICLE was still up and running (the original Toa feet, for example. A 2004 revamp was released for the Vahki, but they were never seen in the original Mata/Nuva colors).

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RIP BORNICLE

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"There are a thousand ways I could bore you...and only 942 of them will put you to sleep. Permanently"

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  • 4 weeks later...

Here are a few of my personal ones. Some have been mentioned earlier in the thread, but a few have not: 

  • The McToran never coming to the UK. Back in 2001, I was obsessed with the MNOLG, and I had been looking forward to this for months. My dad attempted to get someone from the USA to send them to me, but to no avail. In the end, I did get hold of some via BZP's Buy/Sell/Trade section... nearly a decade later. 
  • Having to restart the MNOLG multiple times due to bugs. 
  • MNOLG2 being riddled with yet more bugs - and just not having the same charm as the original. 
  • The Battle for Mata Nui. It was almost a year late - and, when it was finally released, it wasn't worth the wait at all. 
  • The Bohrok Kal just being re-coloured Bohrok. 
  • The move away from the "tropical island" setting, towards an urban dystopia, in 2004. This was what began to kill my interest in the series (although I suspect it would have faded anyway as I was growing older and picking up other interests) 
  • The Bionicle forums on Lego.com. (BZPower was waaaaaay better)
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Honestly the only thing that really disappointed me about Bionicle is that I ran out of things to explore. 

I stumbled across BZPower way after... Everything, really. There wasn't much left to explore, and content was just generally slower. I'm glad it's still here, I just wish I could've seen it in its heyday.

I really loved exploring and learning all about the history of the theme and characters... Not much I didn't like.

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On 9/28/2020 at 12:01 AM, Kahu Rider 13 said:

The McToran never coming to the UK. Back in 2001, I was obsessed with the MNOLG, and I had been looking forward to this for months. My dad attempted to get someone from the USA to send them to me, but to no avail. In the end, I did get hold of some via BZP's Buy/Sell/Trade section... nearly a decade later. 

I completely agree with this one; but I think I eventually figured out the reason why we never got them. When they were released, in America, it was to coincide with the theme's summer debut, to promote them to people who would likely never have seen a Bionicle set before. The franchise was new, most people would have had little context for it, and their goal was to pique people's interest over a happy meal. Over here though, of course, the Toa had been available for half a year already, it wasn't such a 'NEW BIG THING' that needed promoting; and I assume sales were already good enough as it was so Lego didn't feel like they needed to spend more on making sure it caught interest over here, since it had already taken off so well.

Which... yeah.

I can kinda see the logic behind that, but I still regret that we never saw them here, especially since MNOG became such a big hit. Though it did mean I was all over the 2003 Matoran when they dropped xD But the MNOG designs were just so small and appealing... I would probably have got my hands on a small army of the little guys, if they'd been available here!

Edited by That Matoran with a Vahi

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  • 3 months later...

I thought we were gonna get Nuis/Locations based on each of the six elements, after Mahri Nui, Karda Nui, and I guess Bara Magna fit that scope, but then that never happened. I would've loved to see locations and stories based on fire, ice, and earth to complete the set.

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