Creative Writing Homework Assignment: Bionicle

[RaidMaster Productions]

For homework for my Creative Writing class, we were assigned to write about personal objects in our lives. We had to write about five different times in which I interacted with that object. I originally choose to write just about the Bionicle toys themselves, but after a short while I saw that where I was going wasn't totally satisfying for me personally. Thus I decided to write about Bionicle itself.The reason I put this up on BZPower is not because it is just a homework assignment, but I feel it has become a moving tribute to one toy which changed everyone's life. I hope you enjoy it:

Bionicle

One: Back in 2001, when Bionicle first came out, I fell in love with it immediately. The comics which came with the magazine not only got me hooked to the story, but also showed that these motionless, plastic toys actually had a distinct personality for each. How could an eight year old kid with a big imagination not fall for a great story line like that? However, the biggest memory of them that year was during the aftermath of the September 11 Attacks; I put two of the toys side by side, and in front of them just by chance, was the TV showing the image of one tower burning. That image has been in my mind ever since then, and for good reason, too.Two: I am on the computer, playing the Bionicle online game. It was meant to provide more information on the world of Bionicle, and boy did it succeed. However, computers back then were much slower than now. I remember clicking on a part of the screen to go to another location, then the loading screen showing the Island of Mata Nui, where the story of Bionicle took place, would appear… and would stay that way for several minutes. Sometimes I even had meltdowns over that, it was that slow! I still have that game, I downloaded it from the Bionicle website, and now with my newer laptop, it’s the opposite, now I have a hard time with it loading and moving too fast!Three: It is 2006, I am around 12, for all that I know, most kids are no longer interested in Bionicle, and I think I would have joined them if it weren’t for this year. The comics had recently hired a newer artist, whose drawing style was a lot darker than the previous years. The story too was bleaker, with new creatures called ‘Piraka’ enslaving the Island of Voya Nui in search of a ‘Mask of Life’. Later that year new heroes called ‘Toa Ignika’ came over from a distant land to fight the Piraka and retrieve the Mask of Life. The story of that year alone was almost as good as the first couple years, full of intense drama, an unforgettable art style, and a battle for the fate of the world, which of course would be continued for the next couple years. Sadly after that brilliant year, the creative fire that was blazing bright during that year faded throughout the remainder of Bionicle.Four: It is early 2010, I am vacationing in Costa Rica with my mom. I am on my laptop looking at the Bionicle fan-site ‘BZPower’. I notice a news bulletin that the final comic has been mailed, and they have scans of each of the pages for people to look at online, so obviously I checked it out. I read through the final battle between the Great Sprit Mata Nui and the villainous Makuta, down to the three planets of the Bionicle universe forming together into one, the great sprit’s soul finally disappeared into the Mask of Life, and then… the final caption at the end saying, NEVER… THE END. It was it, my childhood, nine great years of Bionicle, nine wonderful, imaginative years, had finally ended that day.Five: It is now 2012, I am currently a High School Senior about to graduate from College in a few months. I am looking at my Bionicle toys, some of them sets, some of them I made up myself. Some of them are torn into pieces by little kids who played with them. True I barely play with them anymore, the most I do with them is animate them for my videos online, but I feel bad that they have missing peices. I want them to be preserved, my childhood to be in pristine condition. I had asked my mom about buying a glass case for all of them to be placed in. She agreed on that idea, but by now she has most likely forgotten about it. I have so many Bionicle’s from all these years, and I want to collect the rest of them which I’ve ever lost or just simply don’t have. For me these aren’t just simple toys, but relics of a time when my imagination went wild.

[Hahli Husky]

Moved to LEGO Discussion, since GD tends to be more about BZP, and your writing is about Bionicle itself. :)This was an awesome read, by the way; it's great to read about fellow fans who were shaped by Bionicle in their early teen years!

[Batman2288]

Nice post. Your story is like mine. My first encounter of them were the mctoran sets I got in my happy meals. My first set was Maku. I didn't understand how the disk worked. That year my younger siblings and I got most of the toa mata for christmas. Bionicle was my obsession. I remember trying to play MNOLG on dial-up. Every christmas the gifts were mainly bionicle sets. Around 2006 my siblings had grown out of it. I still loved it because of the story and the sets were getting complex. I enjoyed it up until Bara Magna. I wasn't as interested because I was familiar with only one character and it was outside of the Matoran Universe. I barely got any sets that year. I think I only got three glatorian sets (mata nui), two Agori, and Tuma. I barely know what happened other than what was from the film. As soon as I heard BIONICLE was ending I bought all of the Stars. The regrets I have about Bionicle is that I should have bought more of the sets from 2007 and I missed a lot of the titan sets after 2006. 2005 was the year I collected every single released set besides the lego playsets. I am going to keeping all of my sets. I am actually trying to find the ones I liked and never bought. The last few years I have become a huge batman fan.

[Dralcax]

It was interesting to see an older fan's perspective. I myself was too young for the sets, and until I got my first Lego Magazine, I had only heard of Sports and Creator. Coincidentally, the new 2005 sets were showcased on the cover. It just escalated from there.

[AZBlue]

Four gave me goosebumps. Just remembering that day, before I recieved the final comic, and reading it online. Thank you, RaidMaster, for the trip through nostalgic Childhood. I hope that you got a good grade on this assignment, because it was also really well written, and definately full of your voice and your person in general. Any teacher who wouldn't give a good grade on this, just doesn't understand their own job.