Reboot

[28 Ducks in a Threnchcoat]

If Lego hired you to make a reboot with the intention of it reviving the franchise for a good decade longer, what elements from each series would you keep, and which ones would you toss?

[confused piraka]

I would make the years self contained.

[Nato G]

8 hours ago, 28 Ducks in a Threnchcoat said:

If Lego hired you to make a reboot with the intention of it reviving the franchise for a good decade longer, what elements from each series would you keep, and which ones would you toss?

I think Christian Faber's recent videos on the earlier plans for G2 mapped out some really good concepts. I wouldn't go so far as to rope in every pre-existing constraction theme like some of those concepts did, but I think there was some great groundwork there for a reboot. 

I'd go with the initial idea of a villain using the Mask Of Time to travel to the past and change history. This would allow the reboot to revisit and reintroduce old characters and locations in a way that's accessible for new and returning fans alike. Similar to G1, the story would gradually expand, peeling away layers of mystery by moving to a new location and focusing on a new group of heroes every year or two. New fans would get to experience that same sense of mystery and maturity that G1 had, while old fans will encounter some fun surprises as familiar ideas are interpreted in new ways.

The main thing I'd change is condensing or streamlining the story in some way. G1's biggest barrier to entry for new fans was the way the sprawling, complex story was spread out over comics and serials and movies and novels, each with pieces that the others didn't have. A potential G3 should limit the story to one or two media options at most, and have significantly less side content. With many recent Lego themes seeing success with animated TV shows, I think that would be the best route to go with Bionicle, with novels or web serials being used to keep pace with other important events, or characters who aren't the main focus of the year's story. 

Similarly, my G3 would either have villains being definitively defeated at the end of the year, or returning in new forms a year or two down the line like the Toa often did. Much of G1's sprawling side content was due to new villains with centuries-long backstories being introduced every single story arc, and these villains constantly surviving and their histories and ongoing actions needing to be explained. Having teams of recurring villains would help alleviate some of these issues, keep the story more focused, and provide more character development for both heroes and villains across multiple years of story. 

[NCHaskew]

Honestly, I think Bionicle lends itself well to the concept of a "soft reboot." Jump forward a few hundred thousand years in the future, and you can have a completely different world, yet some familiarity and the occasional returning OG character.

Of course, you gotta continue having the world be split up into different sectors:

City, where technology has advanced beyond the previous generation. Maybe the vehicles from the Glatorian era have progressed and become a new sentient species, like robo-riders.

Jungle, where the dinosaurs and primitive tribes from Bota Magna reside.

Desert. Shouldn't exist anymore on the paradise Mata Nui made, but maybe the Element Lords moved their fight there and left it a wasteland?

And Water. Allows for a different aesthetic and greater variety between sets, like the Toa Mari were to the rest of Bionicle 

As for presentation of the story, I think I'd take more of an approach like the former Star Wars expanded universe. You have a core TV and/or movie series that tells the main story of the sets, but also spin-offs and standalones based on the minor characters that can be told in books, comics, video games, etc. Similar to Generation 1, but the main story is easier to follow, and the extra material is just there for those interested. You won't get lost if you missed something.

I'd also probably make the main threat an organization rather than 1 antagonist. Although, you could still have a leader of the organization as the "big bad" that the story is building up to. That way, you have a main villain every year, in control of a group of villains, all of which can be beaten by the end of the year. And when you move on to the next year, you have another member of the organization, so it's not a total move back to square one.

 

Sorry for the long reply, but I always love toying with story concepts!

[That Matoran with a Vahi]

I think I'd want to do something new with it. As much as I loved Bionicle back in the day, I wouldn't want to just revisit the same story all over again; especially not with the way it felt a bit like it was drowning in its own minutia in the final few years. I admit I haven't really thought about it before, so this is just me throwing around random ideas off the top of my head, and isn't going to be the most well-thought-out thing ever, but...

I'd definitely want to keep some of the classic story, I grant. But really, I think what I'd want to recapture would be the FEELING of Bionicle, rather than the details of Bionicle. I think I'd return, at least initially, to that 'mysterious robots on a tropical island' vibe that drew so many people into early Bionicle, and definitely make sure that right from the start it was a world with lots of hidden backstory and secrets to uncover. I don't know that something exactly like the MNOG would fly very far these days, but I definitely think that an immersive video game would be the best way to draw people into the world as the primary story medium for that first year - because of the way it lets players really feel like they're experiencing that discovery for themselves - especially now that story-heavy games feel more common than they used to be. Maybe with comics on the side that are supplemental to the game, but also tell their own story in the world so that they can be appreciated even by someone who never plays the game. The multimedia aspect of Bionicle was one of the things I loved about it, and I wouldn't want to lose that completely - but I feel like such an approach works best when each form of story media can stand on its own, something that wasn't often the case in Bionicle's original run.

I'd definitely want to start out with new main characters. Whether NEW-new, or a collection of minor characters from the first run that never got their time in the spotlight, I dunno; but I'd build the story, especially in that first game and comics, around them as they uncover bits and pieces of the lost story of their world... and then, at the very climax of the first year's story in both mediums, I'd have a very familiar face from classic Bionicle turn up, but in an unexpected way. Maybe one of the original Toa, but as a much older, battle-weary figure, who is able to shed light on the story details that have been discovered so far... in such a way that it's a nice little bonus for classic fans, but doesn't alienate newcomers. We would never explicitly go into their past, so that it would retain the possibility of being a far-distant-future continuation of G1, but would never confirm nor deny otherwise (it would be solely up to fans if they wanted to headcanon that as the case or not) and wouldn't need to bind itself to the old canon.

Beyond there, I don't know. I think if I had my way, I'd then like to return to comics being the main story medium going forward after that game... this is nostalgia talking, in a way, but there's also a degree of feeling like the original run's books didn't necessarily age as gracefully; whereas the comics, especially the ones with that classic Carlos D'Anda art, still excite me to this day. I definitely have trouble warming to the idea of a TV show for Bionicle; as someone who often avoided watching TV as a kid, I would have found the concept alienating when I was younger and wouldn't want to exclude any current kids who feel that same way. I could certainly go for the occasional movie release; but I can't state enough that any story told via a movie would need to be self-contained enough not to demand prior knowledge of the franchise from its viewers - and, likewise, the comics shouldn't just leave a gap that skips over the movie stuff but, even if they can't show movie plot directly for spoilers, work around it so that the printed story still stands on its own too.

I'd want it to carry a feeling of maturing with the audience over the years as the story progresses, as well... possibly in the subsequent different settings it moves to, as the original run did. Maybe after a few years of focusing on the same protagonists, they could split up to each lead a team of their own that go their separate ways; that way we get, say, six years where we get to journey with a different team each year, but each one of those teams is led by a character who we've already had chance to get attached to, even if the rest of their teammates are new. I think, after all, that part of why Bionicle was able to hold attention for so long was because, while it wasn't afraid to switch out its main heroes, every time it transitioned to a different team, they were still characters who we'd known since the beginning and so already had that attachment to... this would preserve an aspect of that, while at the same time getting to have new team dynamics so that first protagonist team doesn't get stale. That way, too, when the teams reconvene in the final year, it's exciting to have the original protagonists back together for the climax since we won't have seen them together for several years.

I don't know where exactly I'd take the story from there. I think I'd like it if the ultimate big-bad was also eventually revealed as having their roots in classic Bionicle, albeit - again - not spelled out explicitly as such. But I don't know exactly who or how. And I'd definitely want it to end with a big twist that had been planned from the beginning, much like the true nature of Mata Nui as the universe in the past story was - but something new, that has that same level of amazement when it's revealed, rather than reiterating what had been done before.

This is... a lot of rambling, so I hope some of it makes sense, at least!

[Toa Jaxus]

Some thoughts:

 * Probably get rid of properly explain Stone. I understand why it's there, but unless you permanently bind each toa to a specific biome like slizers/robo-riders. Probably replace it with Air/Wind or Lightning.

 * Make a return to Matoran -> Toa rather than Toa just popping up unexplained like G2.

 * Keep it either 6 elements or 12 elements. If 6 elements then they may have sub-elemental powers.

 * Probably make the series more arc based rather than one big story allowing for easier access to the story; possibly with several groups/protagonists in rotation. Basic idea is the series with the first toa in memory fighting off Makuta and his minions as his power fades restoring light to the world; after Makuta's fall the edges of the world that were blocked off by shadow become available and the Toa go on various quests to find threats released by Makuta's fall (Barraki, Bohrok, etc), the remainder of his forces (Visorak, Beasts of Corruption) or those rising up to fill the void (Skull Raiders, Dark Hunter).

 * Have each Toa have masks with powers not just their elements.

* The world is a giant machine governed by several Machine Spirits; Ekimu, the Bahrag (Cadok and Gadok), Artakha, Karzahni etc. Makuta would be one of the Machine Spirits; but something went wrong and he became an evil being, putting his kin to eternal slumber and throwing the world into shadow. The World's scale is so massive it's mechanical nature is barely knowable.

 * Several non-Matoran races, but not too many; my current idea is that they existed in primordial times but put into slumber for their attempts to usurp control of the world's apparatus from the Machine Spirits. When Makuta took over he awoke them, chose six to be Barraki rulers and gave them part of the world to make empires with the other races as a counter measure to any rebellions of Matoran or surprise Toa teams ending Makuta's reign. Alternatively the Matoran species was split into six species by Makuta and each given to a Barraki and the Barraki serve as the first villains ruling the League of Six Kingdoms. Species could include Vortixx, Skakdi, Agori, Zesk and Skrall. Possibly also the Morbuzakh and City Building Creatures returning as sapient symbiots (Morbuzakh serving as magical structures with various powers and the City Builders tending to their needs (eating fungi and predators, arranging compost, etc)).

* Rakhshi would return as a sort of anti-Toa, matoran who made bargains with Makuta and became his servants. Basically all of the Makuta species members from G1 would be Rakhshi.

 

Edit: throw in references to other Lego lines like Slizers, Robo-riders, Exo-force, Chima, etc.

Edited April 5, 2023 by Toa Jaxus