What defines Bionicle?

[IgnikaTV]

So I'm kind of working on something for Youtube and I wanted to ask all of you, what you think is a defining trait of Bionicle as a whole.

Just an example, like: the collectibles, or the characters, or the Movies, or the Fandom, etc.

Something you feel makes Bionicle, what it is or is just very important to talk about, when talking about the longer run of Bionicle.

[Bambi]

While all those things you mentioned are definitely a big part of Bionicle, I'd have to say the story. Bionicle is essentially a collection of the legends and stories of many characters. Think about it: how many people who are into Bionicle stopped buying the sets, but continued following the story? I know I did. Around 2006 is when I stopped collecting, but I religiously kept up with the lore. Mata Nui Online Game is arguably the most iconic thing Bionicle ever produced, and while yes, it was made to sell sets, one of the reasons it's so beloved is because of the great world building it did.

[IgnikaTV]

26 minutes ago, Bambi said:

While all those things you mentioned are definitely a big part of Bionicle, I'd have to say the story. Bionicle is essentially a collection of the legends and stories of many characters. Think about it: how many people who are into Bionicle stopped buying the sets, but continued following the story? I know I did. Around 2006 is when I stopped collecting, but I religiously kept up with the lore. Mata Nui Online Game is arguably the most iconic thing Bionicle ever produced, and while yes, it was made to sell sets, one of the reasons it's so beloved is because of the great world building it did.

I totally agree, I just wanted to see, if there are other opinions on this topic. But this is also very helpful, thanks!

[Nato G]

By its very nature, Bionicle is a difficult thing to define. Year by year, it changed and evolved, focusing on different characters, different time periods, different collectibles, different locations, different tones, etc. But for me, what defines Bionicle is how unique and different it is to everything Lego has ever attempted, before or since. 

Not only did the sets have a unique visual style and parts library that made them stand apart from the rest of Lego, but the story itself was more dense and dark, mysterious and mature than Lego's usual fare. It wasn't afraid to switch focus to new heroes every few years, and actually kill characters off in impactful, meaningful ways. By contrast, Lego's next big long-running theme, Ninjago, has clung to the same core cast of characters since it started, and the deaths and sacrifices that have occurred have usually been reversed in the next wave to preserve the status quo. Similarly, Bionicle successor Hero Factory mixed up its roster every year, but still carried over at least a few familiar characters each wave. And neither theme has hit the same heights of darkness and maturity that Bionicle did. 

[TERIDAX941]

On 5/14/2024 at 10:17 AM, Bambi said:

While all those things you mentioned are definitely a big part of Bionicle, I'd have to say the story. Bionicle is essentially a collection of the legends and stories of many characters. 

It is the Biological Chronicle after all It's name literally states that it's a story told about living things/characters. So I'd 100% agree with Bambi on this.

[Taria Pakari]

Masks. Simple as.

[Black Six]

For me, it's two things. The first, going back to 2001, is the vibe. The atmosphere the Mata Nui Online Game created, along with the early comics, really set the tone and is what I think about when I think of Bionicle. But really, it's the community more than anything - we are all here because of Bionicle, and it's that shared passion. Bionicle is the fans who love it.

[Master Inika]

When I saw Black Six posted in this topic, I freaked out and thought someone made it weird and it had to be closed. Glad to see I still have a chance to give my two widgets.

In a lot of ways, it feels like every memorable aspect of BIONICLE can be somehow connected to another big franchise. The way all the stories come together, like an iceberg with movies at the top, books and comics below, and things like the BIONICLE 5 treatment at the bottom remind me of (old) Star Wars' canon tier system. Our fandom as well reminds me of the Star Trek fandom.

Aesthetically, there are different "strands" of the BIONICLE vibe. I have read more than one review of the 2003 movie that describe it as basically an abridged version of The Lord of the Rings. MNOG and the early comics (like B6 said) do their own thing, and IMO that is what makes BIONICLE, BIONICLE: the fusion of advanced technology and ancient Polynesian stuff. If you want Pacific science fiction, to this day, I think BIONICLE is the only place you are going to get it.

[Axelford]

A Biological Chronicle, a team of elemental heroes with a robotic appearance, juxtaposed against nature, mystery and myth.

Also robo-hobbits, insect-like (or clone set) baddies.

[RaidMaster Productions]

As a fan of the franchise since day one, and seeing it evolve and change over the years, I would say the reason it had a huge impact upon a generation, especially myself, is that Lego took from that movie franchise it was licensed to sell sets of and built its own epic detailed saga of good vs evil with themes on many things, from biology, honor, sacrifice, love, bravery, legacy, and so much more. Like Star Wars, Bionicle took from several ideas, from personal bouts with illness, Polynesian cultures, classic myth, Kurosawa-esque epics, to science fiction of all likes, and combined them into something truly unique, weird and original, and that is the short answer of how Bionicle Stood Out from the Crowd.

[Distorted]

So, a lot of people are going to say story (which is fair), but I would argue more for storytelling and worldbuilding.

The way story was disseminated particularly in the early years of Bionicle was remarkably restrained, and its 'modular' approach enabled kids to enjoy the different parts of Bionicle media without having to consume and understand all of it at once.

Where other similar franchises might loredump or dive straight into the conflict, we got Toa animations which more or less just showed off their athletic skills and introduced the settings of Mata Nui. We didn't see the Toa really face off against Makuta or the Rahi in these animations; the closest we got was seeing Tahu's mask swiped by an unseen Rahi.

We got an online point and click adventure which took place entirely from a regular Matoran's perspective, and showed the actual main protagonists of the story very sparingly. (Admittedly, some of this is down to the ill-fated PC game, but I think it counts.)

We got comics which kept the details similarly vague; with the first one just following Kopaka's first steps on the island (with Pohatu only being introduced towards the end, and the other Toa only revealed on the very last panel). 

 

Edited May 21 by Distorted

[Lenny7092]

Although Bionicle is a toy line, it is also a franchise with a story that has a lot of heart into it. That story is G1. 

For the toy aspect, I love Lego. I always enjoy the set functions, and collecting collectibles. It also taught me color theory and imagination on building various characters. However, the increasing pieces over the years is not fun and should have been lowered. Plus, there are a small number of inconsistencies. G2 did worse. 

The G1 story is about alien bio-mechanical warriors fighting each other, using magical stuff, and collecting special objects. The theme is about teamwork. You get to explore two alien worlds and societies. I like the science fiction in it. It’s like DC Comics, Marvel, Star Wars, Transformers, and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. However, as the years passed by, the story was split into many smaller stories, primarily because of the online story serials and the multiverse themes. It’s nice to explore more, but this became more complicated. The story is unfinished because of the two unfinished story serials. I pray that the story will be finished someday, with or without Greg Farshtey. I wish G1 was told better through a TV show rather than many media, so viewers could understand and catch up with the story better (Hero Factory, Ninjago, Legends of Chima, Nexo Knights, and Dreamzzz have the right idea). G2 was done worse, as it didn’t have much of the same feel as G1. 

Hero Factory is very much like Bionicle. It’s a reason why I believe both Bionicle G1 and HF should share the same universe. They’re too similar to not be, anyway. 

Bionicle G1 did these good things, which are similar that many of the themes do not, so G1 is unique. 

I primarily care about the G1 story being finished (as well as the sharing-the-same-universe in order to preserve HF). I don’t care what people in social media say. I go along with my beliefs. Amen.

[That Matoran with a Vahi]

The air of mystery and the environment established around it.

It may not be a new trend, but stories can sometimes feel like they want to put everything in front of the viewer right away: they want you to know the lore and the characters and the world and the key plot and THEN you're ready to start enjoying it. Bionicle (thinking specifically of the early years) never felt like it was doing that, never seemed to hold your hand through all the introductory stuff; it just kinda threw you straight into an atmosphere that clearly had a coherent plot and vibe to it, but that you weren't told the specifics of. With that approach, every new discovery felt like a reward that enticed the reader to keep going. It's easy to forget now, when we have an entire decade's worth of content is available, just how little we were given at first and how it stimulated the imagination, making the content we did have feel far greater than the sum of its parts.

Picking up comic #1 for the first time, you get... sure, the basics of the story thanks to Matoro and Nuju. But on the whole it's just about Kopaka discovering this new world, and lets you learn about it at his pace; it's enough to whet your appetite without feeling like an infodump. Or - of course - MNOG which puts you in the shoes of an amnesic Takua and is just an absolute treat of a worldbuilding journey, where it doesn't matter that you don't know anything, you pick up the bits and pieces of it along the way to put together the story on your own. Again, enticing you to discover more, feeling like it was rewarding you when you did.

The world being composed of so many different but equally compelling environments certainly played a big part in capturing the imagination as well; everything you saw had the sense that it had a story just around the corner, even if you never learned what it was. Likewise, the original Toa's main images showing each of them immersed in their respective elemental environments, really seeming at one with their worlds as they swam or dug or lava surfed or swung through the trees, told you without even needing words that there was a story behind this, something going on beyond just the action figures.

I think that, the way all of it immersed you so deeply in the mystery and in the compelling worldbuilding, is to me the defining characteristic of Bionicle; or at least, definitely the thing that drew me in and kept me coming back to it for so long.