How could the elements be managed

[Lenny7092]

Hi, guys. In Bionicle G1, we have 17 elements. It’s a lot. They are Fire, Water, Air, Ice, Stone, Earth, Lightning, Magnetism, Plant Life, Sonics, Plasma, Gravity, Iron, Psionics, Light, Shadow, and Sand.

If Lego would decide to bring Bionicle G1 back, they would short the number of elements somehow in some ways. Here’s how I think it would go:

1. Fire and Plasma are similar powers. I believe Plasma would become a sub-power of Fire, like how Vacuum is a sub-power of Air. Besides, the “Su-“ prefix (Plasma) is not utilized in the story, and Fire and Plasma can melt Protosteel.

2. Iron and Magnetism are similar powers. I believe Iron would become a sub-power of Magnetism because they both can manipulate metal. Besides, the “Fa-“ prefix (Magnetism) is not utilized in the story, and Iron and Magnetism can greatly damage Protosteel.

3. Although Sand is already its own element, there are no Matoran species people of such. It looks like that comes from Stone and Earth. Here’s a theory: When the Spherus Magnan tribes were formed, the Sand Tribe was not formed along with them until later on. There were Agori and Glatorian species people in the Rock Tribe, but the Rock Tribe had too many people because of the Skrall, so the Glatorian people and some of the Rock Agori went on their own. Perhaps the Earth Tribe also had too many people, so some of the Earth Agori and some Earth Glatorian species people went on their own. The lone groups tried to join each other’s tribes, but the tribes had too many people, so the lone groups went on their own again. Both lone groups came together, and Great Beings from there had used the Stone and Earth elements to create the Sand element, so the lone people formed the Sand Tribe (it would explain why Sand Tribe people are confused as Earth Tribe people in the Bionicle website’s 2009 content, and why the Sand Tribe have brown and tan armor like Matoran species people of Stone. Plus, the evil Great Being who pretended to be a Po-Matoran named Velika could come from the Sand Tribe).

4. Light and Shadow are indeed two different elements, and they are polar opposites. I would like to think they come from a type of G1’s Elemental Crystals called Energy Crystals, which can turn Light Elemental Crystals or Shadow Elemental Crystals depending on their user’s morality. These crystals were used to create Matoran species people of Light and the Makuta species. This would explain why the Light people are good while the Makuta are evil, but despite having come with little bits of moral goodness.

I said all of this because of logic and these elements can limit creativity (trust me, I am sort of having a hard time naming characters with names based on the elements. What do you think, guys?

[Master Inika]

Ehhhh. First of all, we pretty much know how LEGO would handle the elements in any future BIONICLE reboots: Fire, Water, Stone, Ice, Jungle, Earth. Only the real nerds like us ever knew about Lightning or Sonics to begin with. The average kid in the toy aisle probably never thought beyond the main six.

1. Like I said, if you know what Vacuum is in the context of BIONICLE, you've already done more research than the kid LEGO is marketing to. Vacuum was plot-relevant (arguably) for half a year over 20 years ago. I don't dislike the idea of elemental sub-powers, but you could drop them and not much would be lost. Plus, I like the idea of Plasma as its own distinct thing. This is only based on Pahrak-Kal, but I always imagined it as more liquid-like than Fire. We know Toa of Fire can't create/control lava, for instance, but Pahrak-Kal's Plasma seemed to work basically as lava.

2. Fat chance we'll be getting plot-relevant Iron or Magnetism characters, or Protosteel. The very idea that LEGO would bring back G1 is already wishful thinking. If there was another generation of BIONICLE, it would, by definition, be G3.

3. If you're following BS01 (which you probably are), you'll see that the Earth Tribe is in a pretty weird place canon-wise, and that's reading the situation generously for the Earth Tribers (I like them being canon, for the record). That being said, the way you are describing it just feels off from how real-world tribal communities function. The more people, the better, especially if Spherus Magna was such a utopia. Plus, stuff like the erroneous descriptions of BIONICLE.com isn't really the type of thing LEGO would want to bring attention to.

[Nato G]

The sand/earth/stone debate is confusing and annoying, but personally what bothers me most is the uneven numbers of elements. Bionicle worked almost exclusively in groups of six, but the total number of elements doesn't reflect that at all. 

I’d keep Fire, Air, Earth, Water, Ice, and Stone as the original six. Then I’d make Lightning, Plantlife, Gravity, Sonics, Magnetism, and Plasma the six secondary elements (with Light and Shadow being a separate, special dichotomy). 

I’m dropping Iron because being able to control the stuff that everyone in the universe is made of is just way too OP, to such a degree that even Greg decided to massacre them off-screen to avoid having to deal with the implications. Psionics also seems far too powerful as a single, all-encompassing element. I think it works better being separated into sub-powers that are accessible as Kanohi or special abilities, which we saw frequently in canon anyway. 

The Spherus Magna tribes are a separate issue that I don’t feel has much relevance to the elements in the Matoran Universe. There are numerous instances in canon of Po-Toa having control over sand, so for simplicity’s sake I’d just officially make that a sub-power of Stone.
 

[Toa Jaxus]

Yeah, I don't think we getting a continuation of G1, partially because the complexity issue that the elements show how much extranious material there is that would make going back there a nightmare. If we do see a G3, I hope we see alot less elements just to make things simpler; probably like G2's Fire, Water, Ice, Earth, Jungle and Stone - although I could see Stone being replaced with Wind to match the desert location of Pohatu (and make his name a little ironic as it's literally 'rock' in Maori). Ultimately if we further elements I would see them as either rarities or as secondary powers that some toa develop (with toa that don't usually developing some other power based on their element; like fire toa being able to empassion and inspire the 'inner fire' of allies, while stone toa can become stronger, tougher, faster, etc). Not sure on the exact combo but assuming the same elements as G2:
Fire -> Light or Electricity

Water -> Electricity or Sonics

Earth -> Gravity

Stone -> Iron

Jungle -> Wind or Acid

Ice -> Sonics or Wind

Note, I never want to see plasma (crosses to many lines with fire and acid has more potential I feel) or psionics (I don't feel right with it being an element and it makes too many of the pre-existing mask powers sub-powers which feels off to me for some reason) as returning elements.

As for Shadow; it wouldn't be a true element but a counter to light that only Makuta and his minions can use.
A variation of the above is that there are several 'sub-elements' or 'secondary elements' that Toa of any (or at least most elements) can pick up, possible with some limitations (Toa of Earth can't get electrical powers or Stone get sonics).

[The 1st Shadow]

How would LEGO manage the elements?

I dunno, let's ask the various Elemental Masters from Ninjago that have popped up since season 5 and their 57 different elements.
 

In all honesty, probably just keep it down to a marketable number, anywhere from 4 to 7, I'd guess. Combining similar elements would be the most likely approach.

[Toa Jaxus]

yeah, in my opinion Lego's biggest mistake with Bionicle was making it six main elements than 4 or even 5; by having 6 they made every wave larger than it probably needed to be as a result.

[TERIDAX941]

On 4/14/2025 at 6:25 PM, Toa Jaxus said:

yeah, in my opinion Lego's biggest mistake with Bionicle was making it six main elements than 4 or even 5; by having 6 they made every wave larger than it probably needed to be as a result.

So you'd knock it down to water, earth, fire and air like ATLA, and merge ice into water, and stone into earth?

I'd agree it simplifies things, but idk about 6 characters making waves too large. Lego has always done waves of 6, even when they started with slizers or roboriders. I don't know how they decided on 6, but doing more or less of that at a time would feel off to me after keeping with that number for so long.

[Toa Jaxus]

From what I understand they originally only had 4 character slots but got it promoted to six part way in development which is why Pohatu and Kopaka (and thus stone and ice). And while at the time 6 seemed like a good idea at the time, it ment each year had 50% more major characters, occasionally compromising on the development each on got and giving less time to smooth over the overall plot.  Additionally by limiting to 4 characters it would be easier to have groups made of secondary elements.

[InfinityStuffBionicle]

On 3/29/2025 at 9:26 PM, Master Inika said:

Ehhhh. First of all, we pretty much know how LEGO would handle the elements in any future BIONICLE reboots: Fire, Water, Stone, Ice, Jungle, Earth. Only the real nerds like us ever knew about Lightning or Sonics to begin with. The average kid in the toy aisle probably never thought beyond the main six. 

I don’t think that we should rule out the possibility of air coming back, seeing as even in G2, Lewa flies, and if they realize what went wrong with G2, they’ll start targeting towards G1 fans, instead of banking on 5-8 year olds liking it. The targeting towards G1 Would also make Iron, Magnetism, Gravity, Sonics, and the other more obscure elements more likely to be relevant. Maybe they’ll make an official set for Voriki. That last bit was a joke btw.

 

1 hour ago, Toa Jaxus said:

From what I understand they originally only had 4 character slots but got it promoted to six part way in development which is why Pohatu and Kopaka (and thus stone and ice). And while at the time 6 seemed like a good idea at the time, it ment each year had 50% more major characters, occasionally compromising on the development each on got and giving less time to smooth over the overall plot.  Additionally by limiting to 4 characters it would be easier to have groups made of secondary elements.

On the topic of targeting G1 fans, I doubt they would change the number of sets per Toa team from the classic 6, Because the main 6 are all iconic, even if ice and stone are redundant. Also, as for the character development, they handled that by focusing on one character specifically with most of the development (Matoro, Vakama, Takanuva, etc)

Edited July 2, 2025 by InfinityStuffBionicle

[Valendale]

They're simply unmanageable unfortunately.

[StrongGenius007]

i would ad wood and grass and tree's leaf of and bush power like thorn becose human eye's can see more of green than of more other color and pink is not real. i would ad ice becose water and snow is not enoug. i would ad lightening secret town. i would ad a secret city (not that 1!)

ADDRESSING YOUR POINTS:

1. no

2,. other ways around

3, lets ad dust to.

4., cool 

[InfinityStuffBionicle]

11 hours ago, StrongGenius007 said:

i would ad wood and grass and tree's leaf of and bush power like thorn becose human eye's can see more of green than of more other color and pink is not real. i would ad ice becose water and snow is not enoug. i would ad lightening secret town. i would ad a secret city (not that 1!)

ADDRESSING YOUR POINTS:

1. no

2,. other ways around

3, lets ad dust to.

4., cool 

I can’t tell if this is a joke, or if I’m misunderstanding it.

[Valendale]

On 7/25/2025 at 10:04 AM, InfinityStuffBionicle said:

I can’t tell if this is a joke, or if I’m misunderstanding it.

Both

[InfinityStuffBionicle]

11 hours ago, Valendale said:

Both

Yeah, that makes sense.

[StrongGenius007]

sorry. i was trying tpo anwser your talk. i will make comic of elements so we understand and help

edi :

we will be adding dust to bionicle.

Edited July 28, 2025 by StrongGenius007