It's been 15 years since the latest chapter of Bionicle's G1 story happened.

[Taria Pakari]

12 minutes ago, Allan18 said:

they most likely were

I doubt they were, that movie only came out mid-2006, so it's more likely the designing for the Barraki was already under way at that point.

[Allan18]

4 minutes ago, Taria Pakari said:

I doubt they were, that movie only came out mid-2006, so it's more likely the designing for the Barraki was already under way at that point.

Disney already started marketing Davy Jones and his crew as early as 2005

[Lorentz]

7 hours ago, Allan18 said:

Disney already started marketing Davy Jones and his crew as early as 2005

And what, Lego had spies inside Disney Studios? 

What's next? The batlike Makuta Phantoka were inspired by The Dark Knight? Or the jet-flying Toa Phantoka were inspired by Iron Man? That all came out in 2008.

Edited July 5 by Lorentz

[Allan18]

23 minutes ago, Lorentz said:

And what, Lego had spies inside Disney Studios? 

What's next? The batlike Makuta Phantoka were inspired by The Dark Knight? Or the jet-flying Toa Phantoka were inspired by Iron Man? That all came out in 2008.

do you even know what "marketing" is?

[Lorentz]

Yes.

[Allan18]

Just now, Lorentz said:

Yes.

then why did you had a problem with what i said and talked about "LEGO having spies" on Disney?

[Cheesy Mac n Cheese]

On 7/4/2026 at 11:38 AM, Allan18 said:

they most likely were, i mean, yes, the "creature from the black lagoon" trope is very old, but when you look at the timeline, it makes sense as to why people would make this connection. the militarist undertones of the barraki also add salt to the injury

also, speaking about the barraki, i still wonder if pridak's red markings were meant to be literal blood soaked marks until angry parents got mad at LEGO and they had to do corpo-speak and say they are his "natural markings"

i never bought this, specially since i'm a biology student and pridak's markings are cleary meant to be soaked, not part of his natural coloring, i know how red pigmentation works in nature, heck, even pridak's teeth are bloody red too

Greg said the Barraki were conceptualized before Dead Man’s Chest came out.

[Allan18]

29 minutes ago, Cheesy Mac n Cheese said:

Greg said the Barraki were conceptualized before Dead Man’s Chest came out.

but didn't Disney started marketing Dead man's chest since 2005?

[JAG18]

Don't know if this is what Cheesy Mac n Cheese is referring to, but I found this by searching "pirates" in the grand archive.  

[Allan18]

2 hours ago, JAG18 said:

Don't know if this is what Cheesy Mac n Cheese is referring to, but I found this by searching "pirates" in the grand archive.  

wow, i had no idea 2007's story was planned since 2004, yeah, you learn something new everyday

[Lorentz]

20 hours ago, Allan18 said:

wow, i had no idea 2007's story was planned since 2004, yeah, you learn something new everyday

Most of Bionicle's story was at least outlined at least 3 years in advance. Lego certainly never watched movie trailers to copy them, and it's pretty wild to me that you would even suspect so. 

As a matter of fact, in September of 2008, the Story Team had just sat down to discuss the plot of the next movie after The Legend Reborn. Less than fifteen minutes into the meeting, someone stuck their head in the door and told them that Bionicle was getting canceled and they had to wrap it up. Thus we got the "Stars" storyline. 

Edited Tuesday at 07:52 PM by Lorentz

[DaRkDroid13]

1 hour ago, Lorentz said:

Most of Bionicle's story was at least outlined at least 3 years in advance. Lego certainly never watched Disney movie trailers and decided to copy their themes, and it's pretty wild to me that you would even suspect so. 

As a matter of fact, in September of 2008, the Story Team had just sat down to discuss the plot of the next movie after The Legend Reborn. Less than fifteen minutes into the meeting, someone stuck their head in the door and told them that Bionicle was getting canceled and they had to wrap it up. Thus we got the "Stars" storyline. 

That must've been equally hilarious and devastating at the same time. 

[Lorentz]

14 minutes ago, DaRkDroid13 said:

That must've been equally hilarious and devastating at the same time. 

It's amazing that they even gave the Bionicle team the chance to wrap it up. Every other canceled line just abruptly stops. Bionicle actually got an ending. A rushed, nonsensical ending, but an ending nonetheless. And then Greg had to mess it all up by starting new story serials...

[Cheesy Mac n Cheese]

On 7/4/2026 at 7:05 PM, Lorentz said:

And what, Lego had spies inside Disney Studios? 

What's next? The batlike Makuta Phantoka were inspired by The Dark Knight? Or the jet-flying Toa Phantoka were inspired by Iron Man? That all came out in 2008.

Batman and Iron Man both existed long before 2008, so technically they could have been inspired by them, but trying to claim it as evidence that Lego was just hopping onto every Hollywood trend is ridiculous.

But don’t forget that they DID reference a 2005 movie in the 2005 storyline…

Edited Tuesday at 09:20 PM by Cheesy Mac n Cheese

[Lorentz]

Which 2005 film are you referring to?

[Cheesy Mac n Cheese]

Just now, Lorentz said:

Which 2005 film are you referring to?

“I believe enough hands have been removed this year.”

 

Edited Tuesday at 10:51 PM by Cheesy Mac n Cheese

[Lorentz]

Zero percent chance that was a deliberate reference, since no hands were "removed" in Bionicle.

[Allan18]

1 hour ago, Cheesy Mac n Cheese said:

“I believe enough hands have been removed this year.”

 

Revenge of the Sith?

[Cheesy Mac n Cheese]

1 hour ago, Allan18 said:

Revenge of the Sith?

Ding Ding Ding!

Both of Dooku’s, two of Grievous’s, Anakin’s remaining organic hand, Mace Windu’s saber hand, and apparently a Clone Trooper loses an arm to Yoda outside the Temple, so at least seven in one movie.

Edited Wednesday at 01:20 AM by Cheesy Mac n Cheese

[TERIDAX941]

38 minutes ago, Cheesy Mac n Cheese said:

Ding Ding Ding!

Both of Dooku’s, two of Grievous’s, Anakin’s remaining organic hand, Mace Windu’s saber hand, and apparently a Clone Trooper loses an arm to Yoda outside the Temple, so at least seven in one movie.

Definitely a fun bit of trivia. The Shadowed One apparently keeps track of amputations, even when done a long time ago, in a far far away galaxy 

[Nato G]

2 hours ago, Lorentz said:

Zero percent chance that was a deliberate reference, since no hands were "removed" in Bionicle.

Not on-screen, but Greg did say that line was a reference to Star Wars. 

[Master Inika]

The hands thing is definitely a reference and it seems Greg had more ability to slip in little things like that into the books last-minute than influence the sets or comics.

[Lorentz]

12 hours ago, Nato G said:

Not on-screen, but Greg did say that line was a reference to Star Wars. 

Oh, I suppose I misunderstood what Cheesy was referring to exactly the first time around. I get it now.

Edited Wednesday at 02:16 PM by Lorentz

[Lorentz]

On 6/30/2026 at 3:01 PM, Sailor Wah! said:

I actually wonder how Lenny envisions a discussion, given that it’s common there to have different viewpoints and to disagree. 

We'll never know, since he'll never reply.

[DaRkDroid13]

20 hours ago, DaRkDroid13 said:

That must've been equally hilarious and devastating at the same time. 

On this note I always just assumed that Lego would settle on "gimmicks" or certain themes for the actual sets and then designed the toys and story around that in order to keep things fresh; Year 1 established the basic aesthetic of the biomechanical "tribal" Polynesian inspired beings on a tropical island (which itself conveniently had every kind of biome on it), around 2004 we go to a new "island" but this time its a highly advanced sci-fi city turned Orwellian dystopia, 2005 they bring out spiders just because, 2006 still stuck around the tropical island theme but now its an even more dangerous island with "gangster" villains and new young Toa, things get wayyy edgier than they already were (it was 2006 after all), 2007 we're now underwater and have sea creatures and villains inspired by sea creatures and aquatic Toa, 2008 we're up in the sky, Toa with jetpacks fighting flying bat and insect Makuta, 2009 we're on a totally new wasteland planet with a sword-and-sandals Greco-Roman type of vibe (Glatorian= Gladiator, duh), I believe they had plans for like dinosaurs or something afterwards as well. I think dino Bionicle would be very fitting for the brand. I like imagining where else it was gonna go had Bionicle lasted 20 years.