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The future of constraction. Is there?


Lenny7092

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Well, guys. I recently contacted Lego if it plans to do a 20th anniversary for Bionicle 11th anniversary for Hero Factory next year, and they said this: “We don’t have plans, and don’t you want to see other themes like Ninjago? However, what you said gives us the idea, so we will tell the designers about it. Some themes can make a comeback.” That’s kind of weird, but I told Lego my ideas in BZPower: 

They see that I’m devoted for the constraction themes (that’s why I continuously kept making such topics, and I am having parried about the themes’ fans), and they seem to like my ideas, so they kind of repeated what they said, but in a better way. But still, kind of weird. Plus, a fan asked Lego about Bionicle’s 20th anniversary, and he got an answer where Lego said that they are thinking about it. That’s Reddit, and you can Google it. 
 

Plus, in my message, I am always concerned about fans’ pessimism every time I tell my good ideas and theories about when will Bionicle and Hero Factory return, but in a better way. They always tell me lame stuff that are cheap, but you guys and I truly make the themes to be better. Looking at fan stuff is fun, but do they bring the themes back? That’s a question that you all should be thinking. I mean, suppose you come to a fortune teller, and what do you think she would say about themes’ future? That’s something that we don’t know. 
 

You know, when Bionicle was there twice, fans in BZP used to be very happy and imaginative, as we always dreamed that Bionicle could do more than what it had. That’s why I wrote my ideas because I believe Bionicle, and Hero Factory, are worthy of going with these ideas. I mean, what do you think about Bionicle and HF would have been worthy of, even if their horrible cancellations happened or not? I mean, if these ideas could happen somehow, those themes could look much better. It’s a dream that many fans, including us, that should have. Sadly, Lego didn’t push them to these levels because Lego had trouble with money and stuff in 2009, and kept focusing on many themes, so the cancellations happened. Constraction has been gone since 2018. Lego never told us why constraction never came back since, and all of these sad things caused some fans to be that pessimistic, and they never saw my perspective of the themes’ potentials. It’s extremely disappointing to look at. We are in the desert of sadness and nothingness without the themes, like how you can look at Emmet’s desert hometown in The Lego Movie 2 in 2019. I am worried about constraction’s future, and Bionicle and Hero Factory being forgotten. 

If Bionicle had continued with its original plan with the cancelled fifth and sixth direct-to-video movies and had more video games while the 2010 set wave never happened, would it thrive without problems, and if it never had its two cancellations? What about Hero Factory if it hadn’t cancelled? What about Bionicle G2 if it continued the same way as G1? The future of them could have been much better, and we would have gotten better things, like a theatrical movie and video games with positive reviews. However, Lego didn’t do those things despite the fact that it could have. 

Bionicle’s G1 story isn’t the only thing that doesn’t have an ending and have some unresolved things. HF does, too, so we respect that. HF is forgivable, so yeah. People are always curious about the stories and want them to be re-continued. We care about those things the most, and Lego should respect that. 

True, Bionicle is a fan cult for many fans who experienced it during its two runs (and some praise Hero Factory and look at it as Marvel-Cinematic-Universe-esque part of Bionicle). There is The Legend of Mata Nui being fixed up by fans and Quest for Mata Nui being made by a fan because fans always dreamed of getting the cancelled computer game and a game where you have the Toa explore the island of Mata Nui, respectively. However, would fan-made stories and sets be published by Lego, as the sets with Shapeway pieces would be on the toy selves? No. Doesn’t work that way. Plus, Lego rejected Sokoda’s Lego Ideas project based on Bionicle for some reason, and every other project in the website is not even close to having 10,000 supporters. It’s nice to have fans love Bionicle, but I don’t think making fan stuff will help much because they can’t be published (but we gave Helryx her canonical look, thanks to TTV Messageboards), and pessimistic fans would still be pessimistic. It’s up to Lego to bring Bionicle and Hero Factory back. 

Plus, do you think that Lego notices what we’re doing and our ideas? They may, or may not, depending on you emailing them with the ideas. If Lego had noticed the fans still loving Bionicle and Hero Factory and wanting Bionicle and HF to come back and have my ideas come true, why didn’t they do it right now, or will they do it next summer? That’s a riddle that needs to be answered. 

Speaking of next summer, we could wait for Lego to make announcements. Maybe any of my ideas would become true in summer 2021. Bionicle saved Lego from bankruptcy in 2001, so Lego should respect that and do this. Has anyone tried to email Lego about it? Plus, Faber is making something Bionicle-related, like those B142020 and Biovival stuff, but if you think that he is planning to bring Bionicle and Hero Factory back, don’t get your hopes up too high. 

So, let me ask you this: How do Lego and the world see Bionicle and HF? True, Marvel, DC Comics, Star Wars, and Ninjago are Lego phenomenons, but what about constraction (Ninjago has a real TV show and a theatrical movie, and how come Bionicle and HF never had those things?)? Constraction, including Bionicle and Hero Factory, should have this treatment, too, because they are worthy, and they are like those things and they are Lego’s own Transformers from Hasbro, and they shouldn’t be gone forever. Where would you see them in the next six or eleven years? If there are more petitions to bring constraction back, would you support them? Some people say that the fandom is sort of dying, right? 

I’m not criticizing people. I’m just concerned about Bionicle’s and Hero Factory’s future. Please be serious. :(

Edited by Lenny7092

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

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It's hard to say what LEGO currently thinks about Constraction, but there is still hope. On one hand, LEGO did acknowledge the popularity of Bionicle and Hero Factory, as both themes are listed on LEGO's customer service as "Popular lines that are currently discontinued" on LEGO.com. There is also the new LEGO World Builder platform that was launched recently, on witch fans can pitch their own ideas to LEGO for potential new themes. You can pitch ideas for new themes of your own, or you can also do a creative new spin on a already existing theme, as they specifically allowed that as well. Hope is frail, but I believe that future of Constraction (if there is one) lies in this platform. It's up to the fans to give the best ideas they've got to LEGO through this platform, and maybe, just maybe, LEGO would take note of it. 

Here is a link the the LEGO World Builder site, in case you wanna check it out: https://worldbuilder.tongal.com/

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Its rumored that the biggest pitfall of both CCBS and traditional "Bionicle system" constraction in general is that the larger pieces end up using more plastic and require more specialized molds, making the break even cost much higher for any constraction based theme. In 2001 this was not as much an issue since Bionicle was among Lego's most popular themes, as such the increased costs were justified for the more expensive molds and sets.

I think though as we have been seeing since 2016 with G2's cancellation and the slow demise of Star Wars Buildable Figures up into 2018, is that without the same breakout success of Bionicle G1 (or even the middling "popular enough" of Hero Factory) constraction just really doesn't make a lot of sense for Lego from a financial standpoint. Which is a shame, I think that G2 and Star Wars both had shown the full evolution of constraction based around the 10.2mm ball joint as a system, the ability to fit in gear functions and full figure articulation (including waist articulation in the final year of G2) in a single set, while also being of a much higher durability and quality than the older constraction sets. But that increased quality meant increased costs, which further limited the appeal of constraction and I think its what lead to its demise.

I think we will continue to see the 10.2 mm ball joints for years to come, they pop up still in themes like Ninjago, Hidden Side, etc. where they can be incorporated into System builds, but I doubt we will ever see a dedicated 10.2 mm ball joint system like CCBS again unless Lego is able to launch a theme that uses it to the same breakout popularity as Bionicle G1. If we will ever see a return of contraction, I expect the System based Mixel joint system is the future; it shares a lot more commonality with traditional Lego than the old Technic based system was. While I personally prefer the 10.2 mm systems due to years of Bionicle and other themes, I think the Mixel joints are just much more adaptable to Lego's current portfolio and would make a great basis for buildable action figures. We can already sort of see that being toyed with, with this year's Marvel mech figures feeling very much like small System based analogs to the old Bionicle sets. 

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All aboard the hype train!

 

 

 

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