Is anyone nostalgic for G2?

[Master Inika]

I suppose this is a pretty meta topic, but does anyone have any nostalgic memories of G2? I'm a prototypical Zillennial with almost exclusively positive BIONICLE associations from my beginnings with it (2003 at age 7) up until 2010. I looked forward to the continuation of that with G2, but it just never happened. I remember the excitement for BIONICLE coming back more vividly than anything it actually produced. I don't have many strong memories of enjoying any of the story. Even the parts of G2 that were good (I like the sets for the most part, and the second graphic novel was good), didn't feel like they were "for me" anymore, which I guess it so be expected.

There were aspects of 2015 and 2016 that I feel some personal fondness for (most strongly what was going on with My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic). I am just interested in this is the universal consensus or if there are newer fans lurking here that formulated the same positive associations with G2 that my generation (1996-born) did for G1.

[Nato G]

It's weird. I'm not necessarily nostalgic for what we got... but what could have been. 

When G2 came out I bought a bunch of the sets, but didn't pay much attention to the story beyond watching the 2015 animations and the first season of Journey to One. Between the news that they were cancelling the theme, and the fact that the final wave of sets didn't even get released in my country, I didn't care about even checking in to see how it ended.

But with this year being the 10th anniversary of G2's release, I did a deep dive on the story to write some songs I'll be releasing later in the year, and there's so much potential buried in G2's lore. There are so many cool concepts in there that just never got expanded or explored. G2 rushed through everything at breakneck speed without taking the time to really dwell on what it had. Facehugging spider monsters that are basically Krana, Infected Masks, and Visorak all rolled into one easily could have been a year of story unto themselves. Instead the narrative rushes past the Lord of Skull Spiders (without even resolving the fact that villages all across the island are still enslaved) and jumps straight to a brisk trip through the ancient city and a five-minute fight with a zombie army that also should have had a year of their own. The 2015 story completely skips over the fact that Skull Grinder has a name, isn't a zombie, and is actually a pirate king who's thousands of years old and lives in an underground city with all of his raider buddies (yet another story thread that easily could have become an arc of its own). Umarak's backstory establishes that he's a literal force of nature, born from darkness itself, destined to hunt the Elemental Creatures for all eternity... and he's reduced to the role of generic henchman.

So many intriguing characters and concepts just get wasted or thrown by the wayside.

It's a real shame.

[Master Inika]

3 hours ago, Nato G said:

It's weird. I'm not necessarily nostalgic for what we got... but what could have been. 

When G2 came out I bought a bunch of the sets, but didn't pay much attention to the story beyond watching the 2015 animations and the first season of Journey to One. Between the news that they were cancelling the theme, and the fact that the final wave of sets didn't even get released in my country, I didn't care about even checking in to see how it ended.

But with this year being the 10th anniversary of G2's release, I did a deep dive on the story to write some songs I'll be releasing later in the year, and there's so much potential buried in G2's lore. There are so many cool concepts in there that just never got expanded or explored. G2 rushed through everything at breakneck speed without taking the time to really dwell on what it had. Facehugging spider monsters that are basically Krana, Infected Masks, and Visorak all rolled into one easily could have been a year of story unto themselves. Instead the narrative rushes past the Lord of Skull Spiders (without even resolving the fact that villages all across the island are still enslaved) and jumps straight to a brisk trip through the ancient city and a five-minute fight with a zombie army that also should have had a year of their own. The 2015 story completely skips over the fact that Skull Grinder has a name, isn't a zombie, and is actually a pirate king who's thousands of years old and lives in an underground city with all of his raider buddies (yet another story thread that easily could have become an arc of its own). Umarak's backstory establishes that he's a literal force of nature, born from darkness itself, destined to hunt the Elemental Creatures for all eternity... and he's reduced to the role of generic henchman.

So many intriguing characters and concepts just get wasted or thrown by the wayside.

It's a real shame.

You put it into words so well. I bought almost all of the G2 sets (I only missed out on Ekimu's powered-up form and Umarak) and they feel empty. The sets themselves are good, maybe I am just a child at heart, but there is no cool media, no specific epic scenes, that I associate them with. And you are also right, but I have never put it into words, that nothing that happens in G2 seems to affect anything. There are no scenes, for example, of characters trying to resist a Skull Spider's power (BIONICLE gave us two with Lewa, once in MNOG and again in the books). And once they get defeated, there's no sense of catharsis. Even something like watching the villagers rebuilding their homes in 2016 would have helped create the illusion G2 had a plot.

[masterchirox580]

You know it's funny. I completely forgot the whole Kulta name was even a thing. That sums up any sense of nostalgia I have towards G2. That is to say none. I barely even think about it these days. The whole thing just felt soulless as said before. I would definitely say it was done way too soon. If Lego wanted to have another shot at Bionicle they should have done it around now I would say. The sets themselves were easily the best thing to come out of CCBS and that says a lot about the inherent problems with CCBS. I personally think Lego should have never created CCBS and instead focused on improving the mould quality of the already existing pieces. 

The story was very basic with some interesting elements that never got expanded upon. My recollection is that it was way more mask based. The whole universe centred around Ekimu and Makuta and the various masks they made. Mata Nui and the whole religion of the matoran was removed. They made the world much more like ninjago and thus much more hollow. In fact I don't recall the matoran ever being explored that much. They were just kind of a backdrop. I personally think the entire thing was a last ditch effort to save constraction and CCBS. 

What also adds to this indifference is that I was 15-16 at the time it released. Too old to have that nostalgic feeling. To me I mostly associate nostalgia with something that I experienced as a child. When you are a child you have much greater emotional reactions and thus things leave a greater impression. Bionicle in 2003 is something I can still remember to this day in spite of how young I was because it left such a massive impact. Of course as you grow older and see and experience more that feeling fades. In fact if I'm perfectly honest I don't even have much nostalgia for the legend reborn. I have plentiful nostalgia for the original three films I had on VHS but none for the legend reborn. I think in part because it was easily the worse entry in the original films and also because nostalgia really starts to dwindle for me after 2008. The world was slowly starting to change after that and Bionicle by then was no longer as impactful because I had already been following it for so long. 

It simply wasn't interesting enough to make much of a dent in my memory and I doubt ever could have been. 

Edited January 28 by masterchirox580

[That Matoran with a Vahi]

For myself, I quite honestly (though not literally) slept through the reboot, so I have to confess no memories of it either way.

It wasn't deliberate on my part; I just managed to completely miss it. I checked back into BZP around late 2014, when the reboot was just on the verge of arriving and images and bios for the Toa Masters were on the official site; then, after thinking that I might buy just one for nostalgia's sake, I proceeded to forget all about the subject. It was only a couple of years later that I thought I'd check back in and see how the reboot had been coming along in the meantime, only to find out that it was already over.

That said: unlike after my breaks from Bionicle Classic, I've never felt any particular inclination to go back and catch up on what I'd missed, and I don't feel like I lost out from not being there for it. Still, it was honestly just wrong place, wrong timing for me.

Edited January 27 by That Matoran with a Vahi

[Lorentz]

3 hours ago, ToaHordikaMatau-o5g said:

I do…however have some nostalgia for the Glatorian line from 2009, so there’s that.

So there's what?

 

Glatorian is G1.

[Taria Pakari]

No. I did enjoy it for what it was, but there was too little to get fully invested in and the difficulty in acquiring the sets in the second year didn't help. I had 7 full years out of G1, G2 is a tiny blip on the radar compared to that.

[Master Inika]

I guess part of me was hoping maybe someone felt some affinity for G2, but so far it seems not to be the case.

[T.B.O.C]

16 hours ago, Master Inika said:

I guess part of me was hoping maybe someone felt some affinity for G2, but so far it seems not to be the case.

Heh... the woman you're looking for is right here...

I actually have a lot of fondness for G2 - I'm fairly similar in age range to you (zillenial cusp) - so my fondest memories are of G1. Exiting G1 was around the time my interests shifted and I was not into LEGO stuff much at the time. Variously my teenage years and ennui coalesced into a lot of other interests - such as anime and video games. Around when I started working and having some disposable income in 2013-2014, I revisited a ton of the missing BIONICLE sets I'd never gotten. Most of the 2001 rahi and older titan sets, and so on. Rumors were circulating then about the potential revival... and then the reveal! I was actually elated - at the time, I was at one of the most stressed out and depressed times of my life (wouldn't you know it, but the onset of depression really kicks your ****** as a teenager). A BIONICLE reboot felt insanely like a gift being thrown directly in my lap.

I followed the new G2 animations with glee, and went out set hunting during the holiday season in 2014. I recall going to the old Target I used to buy all my BIONICLE sets from and spotting a Kopaka - who was my first set of the line. Broke my streak for going for blue sets first, but hey: I was no longer a child following basal color affiliation. I was a slightly older teen with nostalgia for the toys of my past. I really enjoyed the process. Spent the birthday money I received that year cleaning up the rest of the Toa, and dipped every so often to get a protector. That summer I'd saved up to get the full summer line at launch at the LEGO Store (which hadn't existed around here during G1). Spent the whole afternoon assembling them together and listening to the animations and voice-overs.

This was, for fun, also the year I reignited my love for Galidor. As one of the sole champions of the franchise (hey - I've even talked to the very kind and very awesome Matthew Ewald about our shared loved of the series). I think 2015 for me was a year of reconnecting with a lot of old things that had brought me joy, and re-evaluating what I liked from them.

G2 BIONICLE, interestingly enough, made me think a lot about what I did and did not like about original BIONICLE. I of course adore BIONICLE (clearly, why else am I here?) - but sometimes I think the monolith of opinion serves to create a bit of a false pretense about the series. BIONICLE trudged along in it's later years - with toys that were neat but not quite with the same fervor and fanfare as before. The story was long and detailed and complex - but strenuous and overburdened, much of the solid roots of the series gone lackluster. For all the great reveals and fun - there was a lot of dead weight. BIONICLE itself has a lot of issues - issues that caused derision, issues that made sets less fun, and honestly a oddly hostile fanbase at times. I'm not certain how many people here today were in the mix back then but man, uh, you notice things, huh?

Also, at the time I think I just enjoyed the G2 toys a bit more. They were stable and fun and it was the first time in a long time I felt like I could sit around and play with a toy like that. Granted - that issue is mostly that there is not a ton of space or time to play with toys as a teenager and into adulthood (though as a working adult now: make room for toy time, seriously, it's a good form of relaxation).

Let it be said though - G2 did have a lot of lackluster components. Some more time and effort into story, into direction, into larger and grander sets would have been great. I enjoyed the novel work done at the time, I enjoyed the animations and art direction, but it was clear that LEGO only had so much money and focus on the franchise. By 2016, I was starting the tenuous journey of collecting amiibo (a fate I would only be freed from in 2021), and I picked up a handful of sets before it was unceremoniously cancelled. A lackluster ending, but I have a lot of fondness for that year of energy. Sometime soon, I intend to finish up my G2 collection and live satisfied with every BIONICLE set. Except for all those european magazine promos. And misprint masks... eh, you get what I mean. I'm not going out of my way to get factory tour Mask of Water (what a terrible idea, I still curse LEGO for that). But it's a fond little anecdote from a pretty rough part of my teenage years.

[Master Inika]

5 hours ago, T.B.O.C said:

Heh... the woman you're looking for is right here...

I actually have a lot of fondness for G2 - I'm fairly similar in age range to you (zillenial cusp) - so my fondest memories are of G1. Exiting G1 was around the time my interests shifted and I was not into LEGO stuff much at the time. Variously my teenage years and ennui coalesced into a lot of other interests - such as anime and video games. Around when I started working and having some disposable income in 2013-2014, I revisited a ton of the missing BIONICLE sets I'd never gotten. Most of the 2001 rahi and older titan sets, and so on. Rumors were circulating then about the potential revival... and then the reveal! I was actually elated - at the time, I was at one of the most stressed out and depressed times of my life (wouldn't you know it, but the onset of depression really kicks your ****** as a teenager). A BIONICLE reboot felt insanely like a gift being thrown directly in my lap.

I followed the new G2 animations with glee, and went out set hunting during the holiday season in 2014. I recall going to the old Target I used to buy all my BIONICLE sets from and spotting a Kopaka - who was my first set of the line. Broke my streak for going for blue sets first, but hey: I was no longer a child following basal color affiliation. I was a slightly older teen with nostalgia for the toys of my past. I really enjoyed the process. Spent the birthday money I received that year cleaning up the rest of the Toa, and dipped every so often to get a protector. That summer I'd saved up to get the full summer line at launch at the LEGO Store (which hadn't existed around here during G1). Spent the whole afternoon assembling them together and listening to the animations and voice-overs.

This was, for fun, also the year I reignited my love for Galidor. As one of the sole champions of the franchise (hey - I've even talked to the very kind and very awesome Matthew Ewald about our shared loved of the series). I think 2015 for me was a year of reconnecting with a lot of old things that had brought me joy, and re-evaluating what I liked from them.

G2 BIONICLE, interestingly enough, made me think a lot about what I did and did not like about original BIONICLE. I of course adore BIONICLE (clearly, why else am I here?) - but sometimes I think the monolith of opinion serves to create a bit of a false pretense about the series. BIONICLE trudged along in it's later years - with toys that were neat but not quite with the same fervor and fanfare as before. The story was long and detailed and complex - but strenuous and overburdened, much of the solid roots of the series gone lackluster. For all the great reveals and fun - there was a lot of dead weight. BIONICLE itself has a lot of issues - issues that caused derision, issues that made sets less fun, and honestly a oddly hostile fanbase at times. I'm not certain how many people here today were in the mix back then but man, uh, you notice things, huh?

Also, at the time I think I just enjoyed the G2 toys a bit more. They were stable and fun and it was the first time in a long time I felt like I could sit around and play with a toy like that. Granted - that issue is mostly that there is not a ton of space or time to play with toys as a teenager and into adulthood (though as a working adult now: make room for toy time, seriously, it's a good form of relaxation).

Let it be said though - G2 did have a lot of lackluster components. Some more time and effort into story, into direction, into larger and grander sets would have been great. I enjoyed the novel work done at the time, I enjoyed the animations and art direction, but it was clear that LEGO only had so much money and focus on the franchise. By 2016, I was starting the tenuous journey of collecting amiibo (a fate I would only be freed from in 2021), and I picked up a handful of sets before it was unceremoniously cancelled. A lackluster ending, but I have a lot of fondness for that year of energy. Sometime soon, I intend to finish up my G2 collection and live satisfied with every BIONICLE set. Except for all those european magazine promos. And misprint masks... eh, you get what I mean. I'm not going out of my way to get factory tour Mask of Water (what a terrible idea, I still curse LEGO for that). But it's a fond little anecdote from a pretty rough part of my teenage years.

Finally, an authentic G2 enjoyer.

I was hoping to hear some kind of anecdote like yours. I won't say I was clinically depressed, but there were times about middle school (2007-2010) that felt like BIONICLE was the main thing keeping me going. I almost felt some sort of external pressure from the world to get over it and stop being interested in LEGO in high school. BIONICLE was dead and I was the only one I knew still into it, but that didn't make it any less good. I lived (and still live) in the world just as much as when G1 was active. I didn't pull out from LEGO, I tried (and failed) to get into HF and really got into LEGO Star Wars. In terms of LEGO, Star Wars is what inherited by attention that previously went to BIONICLE. I kind of wish G2 could have stepped in and continued the legacy, but alas, buying them just didn't feel like buying BIONICLE sets.

I pretty much lived on BZPower at its height and I get what you mean. Personally I will defend how complex and hard to understand the BIONICLE plot was. It felt like studying real historical documents, with sometimes counterintuitive aspects to it. But the BIONICLE fanbase did (and does) have its problems. Some of it I can with some pride say I was not a part of (I always liked Teridax's name) and some of it I was.

The energy you had for G2, I had for the anticipation of it. I as aboard the hype train, it just felt by the time the sets actually came out that I was trying too hard to make the nostalgia happen. It's weird, when I think about 2015/6, my main nostalgic memories are still playing MNOG and building MOCs with G1 parts.

[Lenny7092]

I do. I just made a topic about how I felt: 

 

[Aiden]

While I quite like g2, it’s fairly unmemorable. The only advertisement for it I remember is a single teaser in a Lego Club magazine one month- which got me pretty excited, but I pretty quickly forgot about it. After seeing the new line of g2 sets in store one day, months later, I didn’t even remember that teaser, and had no idea g2 was a thing. I picked up a Pohatu and the black & trans purple defender, and they were cool sets, but nothing I feel strongly for.

A few years back I had bought a few lots of g2 sets and I’ve got to say the sets were (for the most part) pretty good. Umarak the Hunter, Toa Ekimu (despite its weird leg proportions) and the unreleased JTO Makuta are awesome, just nothing I have a childhood connection with. I feel most fans of Bionicle had either already moved on or were just adults by the time g2 came around, and the terrible marketing (or lack of marketing altogether) made it so there weren’t a whole lot of new people really getting into it.