tbh if bionicle was restarted today would kids be interested given what thier interestedin now.

[(-Kopaka Toa of Ice-)]

On 7/22/2022 at 8:23 AM, Lorentz said:

This website doesn't use hashtags. And since when were one-word posts allowed? Anyway, the answer is obviously no, since Bionicle failed financially twice. 

Bionicle was not a financial loss in G1. Otherwise they wouldn't have kept it for 10 years. It just lost it's charms in sales since it wasn't a based on powerhouse franchises like Harry Potter and Star Wars that were getting were popular during those years.
Split audiences between franchises eventually means one that people will support something else. Ninjago was also on the rise during 2005 onwards.

Edited March 9, 2023 by (-Kopaka Toa of Ice-)

[Toa Halcyon]

I'm late to this but I figured I'd leave my 2 cents on the topic.

It isn't that kids today aren't interested - my mother works in spec-ed teaching, and frequently asks to borrow my personal collection of Bionicles to show her students and they completely adore them. The problem at this point is Lego. The company's not interested in original IPs anymore and pretty much hashes out licensed brand sets nonstop since that's a very safe corporate way to make money.

Not to mention Gen2's sets were all very low quality for the price they were put on offer. People complained about parts coming off that wouldn't stick, how there was just one initial "villain" set to go with the wave of villagers and Toa that got released in the first batch of sets, stuff like that. And a lot of the story likewise felt off - the reboot all but shook off its original story roots likely to avoid another lawsuit in the event that they made it too similar to certain languages and themes (even though I personally loved the Maori-inspired storytelling of the original). By the end of that second wave of models most of the sets looked less like Bionicle and more like off-brand mockbuster-style Bionicle rip-offs.

Really at this point I don't personally care if we ever actually get Bionicle back, but I do want a chance to buy some of the old models again even if there's a price hike. Lego's been re-releasing old sets again and people have been actively buying them so there's definitely an audience, but it's been disappointing that they've been purposefully avoiding the one IP that actually financially saved them as a company back when they were struggling, even though they'd make a ton of money if they did.

 

TL:DR - Yes, kids are interested, you can blame executive meddling for our lack of Bionicle.

[Lorentz]

On 6/23/2023 at 3:39 PM, Toa Halcyon said:

Yes, kids are interested, you can blame executive meddling for our lack of Bionicle.

Just plain wrong. Your mom's special ed class is not a bigger sample size than Lego's massive market research and testing.

Executives want money. If kids were interested, market testing would indicate it. The toys would be sold, purchased, and Lego would make lots of profit.

But kids are not interested, at least not enough. Bionicle was canceled in 2008 due to dwindling sales (You're technically right, Kopaka. Bionicle G1 was not a financial loss - but it was heading straight towards it), and again in 2015 for the exact same reason. In fact, constraction sales so mediocre that Lego just gave up on the whole things.

Edited June 28, 2023 by Lorentz

[(-Kopaka Toa of Ice-)]

11 hours ago, Lorentz said:

Bionicle G1 was not a financial loss - but it was heading straight towards it), and again in 2015 for the exact same reason. In fact, constraction sales so mediocre that Lego just gave up on the whole things.

Yep but it was killed off quickly. Another example was Exo-Force, it survived 2 years and the first Jungle wave. That was longer than Bionicle G2. Most of the time lego offers 3 years.
Galidor was lucky to release the sets that had already been made but the tv show probably killed the budget for future waves. Lego Znap (a bad clone of the Knex building toys) was also a really odd series that came and went.
Spybots also had great designs if they weren't so expensive.

[Lorentz]

Bionicle ran for a whole year and a half after the decision was made in 2008 to cancel it. All of 2009, plus the 2010 STARS wave. 

I don't understand how that's "killed off quickly." Sales were dropping, kids weren't interested, so Lego decided to cut the line before they started losing money.

As for G2, I too wish we got that third year of it, but sales were just SO bad that they had to abort it.

Edited July 2, 2023 by Lorentz

[KyDv404]

My two cents as an older gen z kid: I'm a bit out of touch since I am like, a whole adult, but I do live with and take care of two younger siblings. One of the biggest IPs among kids these days is Five Nights At Freddy's. Do you all know how wild the lore of that stuff is? How obsessed kids are over the lore of these games? I think with the right marketing, Bionicle could be pulled off again, maybe even with something similar to g1, since now with the internet, it should be easier for kids to access the full lore. Again, I point to FNAF. Neither of my youngins have even played the games yet they're all over the lore. I was born a year after g1 started. I was a judgemental little kid who just saw Bionicle as the "weird" part of lego, and I don't think it helped that the lore wouldn't have been fully available to me. I was like, 8 when g1 ended. At this time, the concept of shoving an iPad with unrestricted internet access in your kid's face wasn't a thing yet, so computer time was still a special thing, so surely even if I was interested in Bionicle then, I couldn't just go online and read the serials, etc etc. So maybe it'd work out for this gen if say, instead of comics and serials, it got webisodes like a lot of toylines these days. And I don't just mean some little online animations like previous gens, I mean tell most of the story through one source, one series of webisodes, where it's all easy to access in one place. That or a full length, proper series, but again, keep it all in one place. Maybe some new little mobile games too, just like MNOG. Get those kids looking for every little easter egg in the game, use it for foreshadowing, but don't make it vital to understanding what's going on, just have it there so kids can make theories. Also like, clean up the lore a bit and don't do what g2 did lol. And trust me, even if a kid buys a toy and drops it after five minutes, if it's attached to a piece of media, they'll still be interested and will probably want more toys, and a sale is always a sale. (I mean, there are still new toylines popping up and sticking around. As a general toy collector, I've seen plenty of new franchises and reboots pop up in this decade alone that are still going and honestly, a three year run isn't too bad the more I learn about a million toylines that flopped even before the digital age.)

I think there are very few things that just can't work today. Bionicle could work, but I do think Lego is to blame to an extent. Ninjago and Monkie Kid do well, they're clearly evergreen until they eventually go the way of Bionicle too. Otherwise, there's one original story/big bang theme that'll run alongside those (Chima, Nexo Knights, Hidden Side, now Dreamzz), then the sorta generic things like City and Friends. There are outliers, but I think this is a solid description of everything non-licensed. I don't know what it would take for Lego to want to revive Bionicle. I'd say the implosion of one of their other originals, but no, because those all seem to fill some sort of vital role. We have the slice of life stuff (City, Friends), the big cool action theme that can adapt to other aesthetics (Ninjago), and the new theme at the moment that's there for the kids that don't like City or Ninjago (Dreamzzz). I think Bionicle will only return if Lego feels they need that hole filled once again, but I guess currently it's occupied by those buildable Marvel figures and what have you. That said, I don't think it's completely impossible. Also, veering away from the topic of what would interest kids, I could also see Lego dropping a small Bionicle line aimed at older fans. Maybe a single set to test the waters (maybe that's what the GWP was, who knows!), but I don't think it's entirely dead nor impossible to bring back.

Idk maybe I'm just talking out of my rear with a heavy dose of hopeful thinking though lol.

Edited July 3, 2023 by KyDv404

[Takanuva111]

They got interested in bakugan and beyblade, which were both rebooted recently, and started in the 1990s and 2000s so why not bionicle 

Edited August 20, 2023 by Takanuva111

[ENTITY .01]

personally the bio lore isn't well known enough with the younger gen

[ENTITY .01]

#BRING BIO GEN 1 AND 2 BACK

the trouble nowdays it that there are loads of other things that kids are into, poppy playtime chapter 3 is out there is a big lardedaar abt that then fnaf ruin, its all abt advertising and marketing, poppy playtime fans had to wait ages for chapter 3 to come out, u never know, bio my come back.. it MUST  come back, other wise fan bases like these will fall into oblivion, we CANT let that happen, maybe on lego ideas we post loads of bio stuff, then ALL of us vote on it, prahaps we can bring back the bio

that would be incredible......

[ENTITY .01]

On 7/3/2023 at 6:45 AM, KyDv404 said:

i compleatly agreee with you, i am from the 20th century tho im 15, but there is still hope, well i hope anyway,and all of the bio lovers on here are hopefull too, lets make our hopes and dreams come true.....