Why Bionicle was a hit

[Sir Kohran]

Something I've pondered lately... There's an old article called The History of LEGO BIONICLE, which explains how Bionicle came to be, and what made it successful, which is described as:'Kids wanted a story behind those blocks, and to go with that story they wanted neat pieces that they could use to create their own play fantasies [...] Lego now knew that bricks with a story and focus worked [...] Lego got the idea of creating their own story. No longer would they have to rely on Lucasfilm or any other outside company to create stories for them. This story -- this saga -- was Bionicle.'I think there was a little more to the line's formula than that, however. What made Bionicle so successful wasn't simply that 'it had a story'. After all, lines of the late 90s such as Adventurers and Slizers/Throwbots featured similarly straightforward casts and plots, yet saw nothing like Bionicle's popularity.The difference with Bionicle was rather that it had an engaging story. The story of the six heroes in six environments on one island fighting one villain was largely told through an immersive and intriguing online game that was freely available to anyone from Alaska to Australia, provided they could access its site. It was a revolutionary approach that took advantage of the then latest technology, Flash gaming and widespread internet that kids could use. This wasn't something that was possible (or at least attempted) with those other story-featuring lines some years before.The problem, I think, was that Lego simply assumed that because this line with a story was a success, that story was only ever a good thing, and the more there was of it, the better.So, about six or seven years after the line's debut, its main storyline had ballooned to featuring dozens or hundreds of major and minor characters, various competing factions (Brotherhood of Makuta, Dark Hunters, League of Kingdoms), occurring across multiple locations and planets, and even an alternate universe. This huge web of plotlines was mostly confined to Greg Farshtey's books, which were only ever available at cost in North America. Online content moved away from the MNOLG towards trivialities like Free the Band and the Piraka Rap. The story ceased to be engaging and accessible, and this was reflected in Bionicle's sales - those of the books decreased, and with them went the sets, which faltered without a strong, accessible story to drive them. Unsurpisingly, the line was cancelled.Basically, what I'm suggesting is that Lego understood that Bionicle sold well with its story, but misunderstood why that was, and the direction the line subsequently went in ultimately led to its end.Perhaps the only point working against this is that many aspects of the complex plot were planned right from Bionicle's creation, which raises the question of whether Bionicle's fate as detailed above was inevitable, or whether the line could've survived had the more complex plot been conveyed better.Thoughts?

[emily]

I couldn't agree with you more. I suspect LEGO had very little idea of what they had actually done when the created BIONICLE, and as a result handled it improperly, which showed greatly as time went on. Not only did they give out too much story, but I also believe that there was an issue with some of that story being of relatively low quality, due to LEGO's failure to consider why the story was sucessful.I think that this is best shown when you look at the direct results of MNOLG. It was such a sucess that LEGO knew that they did something right with it. But then they brought out Tales of the Tohunga - which I think it is fairly obvious was meant at least in part to pull in the audience from MNOLG, seeing as it was a prequel and used the same protagonist (a protagonist they very well may have created for TotT, seeing as Templar themselves referred to him as 'George' for some time). What TotT shows is that LEGO missed the point. MNOLG was not made great by the simple fact that it featured Tohunga, and that you got to visit every village. It was the story - the wonderfully simple yet exiting story that Templar presented so well. In TotT, there is only a bare minimum of plot - you are on a beach for some reason, and Jala shows up and, in a tone completely out of character, says that Whenua has called for Takua. No reason, he just has. Then you must go to the other villages and do the same tasks over and over. I can't say that I hate the game, but it can't stand up to MNOLG. LEGO assumed since TotT had Tohunga and it tied into the story, it was great.LEGO seemed to be under the illusion that if you tell the story from the Matoran/Tohunga's perspective, it is much better. If you look at the news archives here on BZP, you can see that one of the people working on Mask of Light cited this as a reason for making Takua the protagonist of the film. And yet, the movie does not seem to have a legacy like that of MNOLG. Perhaps it has to do with the fact that a large about of the characters in the film (including the two main roles) are completely out of character?I think, in the end, that LEGO was excited by BIONICLE's success and as a result made some important decisions blindly. They lost sight of what BIONICLE was supposed to be - a story. Looking at 2001, everything contributes to the overall plot from the year. This remains mostly true for 2002 as well, but even then, we had TotT's sequel, Matoran Adventures, which neglected the storyline completely. In 2003 we got BIONICLE: The Game and by then it seemed the standard was set: Don't worry about the story, leave it to the books and do whatever you want for your game/promotion/whatever BIONICLE thing you are producing. This may be in part due to, as you said, the story becoming giant and difficult to control.Reading over this, I see it has somehow managed to switch directions and implies that I think that it was a lack of story that made BIONICLE fall. I'll just reiterate what I do, in fact, think: that there was far too much story, but in addtion it was simply not handled well and there was a lot of negligence towards it in the various forms of BIONICLE media.Okay, the rant is over now. This is all just my opinion (and one based upon assumptions and unproven facts, at that), and anyone reading should probably just ignore it if your opinion conflicts with mine in any way - I'm not trying to attack people who think differently of BIONICLE.

Edited August 8, 2012 by Tazakk

[Dralcax]

I think Bionicle was a hit because it could appeal to almost every age group, drawing in older fans with it's rich story and younger fans with set playability. As Bionicle advanced, the story became more complex and intriguing and the sets made new advances in articulation and launchers. However, at this point, Bionicle began to split apart. The story was only popular among older fans who could appreciate the darker twists and plot devices, while the younger fans only liked the sets, which had become true buildable action figures, with more poseability than ever, at the cost of gear functions. The younger fans quickly showed a decreasing interest in the story, while the older fans started bashing the sets (Inika clones, gorilla proportions, overcomplicated "ugly" masks, brown sets being eliminater, etc.) No longer could Bionicle hold its two strong points and age groups together, and sales began to fall. Older fans bought fewer sets, younger fans didn't really get into Bionicle that much, and so on. In 2008, everything just collapsed. The story was simplified, but only made the "Mata Nui is a giant robot" thing be introduced poorly and suddenly, and the younger fans didn't know about the island of Mata Nui and the 2001-2003 arc, so it seemed really sudden and bizarre for them. Lego tried to start over with Bara Magna, which probably helped bring in new younger fans somewhat, but the older fans didn't like it. Finally, Lego decided to end it by suddenly reviving a bunch of nonstalgic older characters to appeal to the old fans and killing Makuta with a big rock. But it only screwed Tahu's role in the storyline and brought 9 years of awesomeness to an unsatisfactory close. Maybe if the giant robot was revealed in 2004 as opposed to 2008, it might have gone differently (and Metru Nui's location would have made a lot more sense).

[Liopleurodon]

I think you're right about the story part, but also, like the person before me said, the overcomplication of the story (which I personally liked ) was only popular among older fans, while the younger fans only cared about the sets, and eventually the split became too great. I personally think that the online games like the MNOG helped tie the sets and story together. When those disappeared/were replaced, so did the tie between set and story, and then the two split. If the story and sets had been integrated together better, perhaps Bionicle would not yet be over.

Edited August 8, 2012 by Liopleurodon

[Constructelf]

I never really noticed any decline. For me, all of the story, even the over complicated alternate universe twists were awesome. For me, it was heralding the start of a journey from just another toy to an actual story that could rival the fantasy novels of today. The only part I didn't like was early 2009; I was going like "What does THIS have to do with anything." Then when Mata Nui was introduced, I was going like "oh." Also, 2010 seemed like an axe job, in both story and set. They only had the canister sets; what happened to the titans? I had really hoped they would make "Teridax ascended" set featuring the MU robot and the prototype as well. But alas, that never happened.

[bonesiii]

The problem, I think, was that Lego simply assumed that because this line with a story was a success, that story was only ever a good thing, and the more there was of it, the better.

More likely they simply wanted to experiment with what types of stories would work. They've had other lines with different kinda of story since then, with varying success.But yes, an engaging story is definately a huge part of it.

[WeatherDragon]

I personally think that LEGO knew what made BIONICLE successful, they merely tried other mixures to maybe increase sales. This caused changes such as the launchers and the Inika build. They just wanted to increase sales, and this drifted them away from the original feel. I, for one, am simply glad they didn't completely demolish it.

[electrodude]

Agreed! Though I don't think Lego had much of a choice, after all new enemies are usually more interesting.

[fishers64]

So, about six or seven years after the line's debut, its main storyline had ballooned to featuring dozens or hundreds of major and minor characters, various competing factions (Brotherhood of Makuta, Dark Hunters, League of Kingdoms), occurring across multiple locations and planets, and even an alternate universe. This huge web of plotlines was mostly confined to Greg Farshtey's books, which were only ever available at cost in North America. Online content moved away from the MNOLG towards trivialities like Free the Band and the Piraka Rap. The story ceased to be engaging and accessible, and this was reflected in Bionicle's sales - those of the books decreased, and with them went the sets, which faltered without a strong, accessible story to drive them. Unsurpisingly, the line was cancelled.Basically, what I'm suggesting is that Lego understood that Bionicle sold well with its story, but misunderstood why that was, and the direction the line subsequently went in ultimately led to its end.

At the beginning of 2004, you could jump into the story with no backstory as a necessary requirement. I think that was part of Bionicle's sustainability as much as anything - you could theorectically jump in at any point in the first part of Bionicle (2001-05) because it was circular. (End of 2005 connects back to beginning of 2001)You also could theorectically jump in at the beginning of 2006, but it would be harder, because you would be missing the background on the Toa Inika and Nuva and the earilier mentions of the Dark Hunters - 2007-08 was when the backstory really started to pile up and get confusing. So, if Bionicle were to come back, would a prequel cycle like the old Bionicle had at the beginning be a good idea? I notice that sales supposedly went down after 2006, and that would correlate with the other trend I notice, correct? If there was a marketing mistake, it was what they did after that, I think - maybe should have taken one year after the cycle was done and ended it there, rather than dragging it out for more backstory-piling years. That's probably the reasoning they used behind that BM reboot - it worked in 2004. Except that those of us who were invested in it expected it to contenue to be complicated, not simple. 2004 required no backstory to get into, but it was more complicated than the previous years. That's the ultimate storyline goal; bring in new fans while keeping the old fans interested. That's what 2004 did, and it worked. I think that Lego has forgotten this. There's probably a way to do the ultimate without the prequel idea I described, but they could probably do it again. Especially with Bionicle.

There's been a lot of arguments over whether Bionicle could have gotten along with a better means of conveying the storyline, most of which agreed with you. I think my self-quote above () basically describes what I think, that after 2006 it was hard to get into the story, and that's when the whole thing started flopping.The access thing is probably a worse matter than the complexity thing, as people do follow storylines more complex than Bionicle.

[BobaFett2]

In my opinion, there are a few reasons for why BIONICLE was a hit.First, there was the fact that it had the first (arguably second, if you count Slizer) Action Figure theme. Not only that, but they were far more customizable than the Slizers. That's something that brought in young fans throughout its history. Unlike other sets, they were immensely more playable.Second, there was the storyline. The saga was amazing at the beginning. The storyline continued to be fantastic, although it took strange turns. I'm disappointed that Greg has stopped updating BIONICLEstory.com, as I would like to know who tries to kill the most powerful beings (I assume its the Matoran Great Being or that Toa-Killing creature) and what happens to the group captured by sentient Vorox. Back to the point, the storyline has been the most intricate of any theme. There are so many more characters about whom so much more is written than any other original LEGO theme, and complex, detailed, and well written stories. These were told in comics, books, games, and online serials. The comics were a pretty big point as well.The games, mentioned in the above paragraph, were also a huge selling point. Mata Nui Online Games I and II were incredibly popular and likely drew in many fans who would not otherwise have been interested. The slew of BIONICLE games drew in many people who were more interested in games than toys.Most importantly of all, BIONICLE was an entire separate universe to explore. Unlike other themes, which, almost exclusively, were located on some place similar to Earth (with the exception of Space, whose futurism was already explored by sci-fi and not so mysterious, and Galidor, which failed for a number of reasons), BIONICLE was set on the island of Mata Nui. Everything was a mystery. Over time, mysteries were uncovered, but like with science, each discovery brought more mysteries to the table. What happens on Earth (and in sci-fi settings which lacked true storylines) did not apply on Mata Nui. This is a factor in Star Wars as well and probably one of the reasons for its amazing success. And the mystery grew and grew. Unfortunately, BIONICLE has not had much cannon/semi-cannon "expanded universe" stuff like Star Wars other than BIONICLEstory.com. TLC had many other things to run, and so they decided not to hire writers to create BIONICLE books and comics that were not supported by sets. This is unfortunate, although not a reason for why BIONICLE was such a hit.I think these are the main reasons for BIONICLE being such a success. For me, the main reason why I love it so much is the storyline.

[Aanchir]

Personally, I never saw a decline in BIONICLE's story. I've always felt that its plan from the beginning was brilliant and ambitious, and yet there was really very little possibility for it to continue indefinitely based on the path that was laid out for it. This is because as the years went on, the story continued and expanded, building on past years in numerous ways. For a media-driven brand like Star Wars or Doctor Who, that perhaps could work just fine. When media is your core product, it's easy to continue to promote older media for as long as it remains relevant. But with a merchandise-driven product like BIONICLE that is not usually the case.Look at other toy brands with a solid story behind them-- I'm thinking brands like Power Rangers, My Little Pony, or Transformers. Not one of these has had an ongoing story for more than ten years as far as I'm aware-- generally at some point or another there is a "reboot" that erases any need for fans to learn the story that took place prior to that point. With BIONICLE, perhaps because TLG recognized the value of the continuing story to the theme's devoted fans, there was nothing of this sort. There were "soft reboots" in 2006 and 2009, which brought the story to new settings and put in place new overarching goals which would form the basis of the story arcs beginning in those years. But still, it's hard to imagine that a person becoming a fan in 2009 wouldn't feel like they were missing out on some important backstory, especially when 2010 brought back so many elements of earlier story arcs which would be unfamiliar to these fans.Could BIONICLE have continued if it had a better "plan" for disseminating the story of previous years to new fans? Perhaps. BIONICLEstory.com attempted this with mixed results, and surely it would have made a bit of a difference if TLG could have promoted older books, movies, and comics at the same time as they released new story media. But I don't know if even that would make enough of a difference for the theme to have lasted much longer than it did. No matter how easy TLG made it to catch up on older story, it would still place a huge burden on new fans to learn the past story until they created a "true" reboot. It didn't help that one aspect of BIONICLE's story plan from the beginning was to make it impossible to get the "full" story from any one source. Thus, as the years went on, while BIONICLE held on to some modicum of success, the theme experienced little growth in sales and even an eventual decline in sales.Now, it's unclear whether Hero Factory-- or any theme-- has the potential for greater longevity. Certainly the story is more basic, and understanding what happened in previous years' story is generally not essential for understanding the story behind the current wave. Unlike BIONICLE, where the main idea and the main characters shifted many times over the years, Hero Factory generally keeps a consistent status quo from year to year. But it hasn't been around for long enough to tell whether the plan is to keep this going or to expand the story into something more like BIONICLE's. And since no other story theme of any kind has had the same longevity as BIONICLE, it is impossible to know exactly how much of BIONICLE's decline was due to its own failings and how much was inevitable for a theme dragged out for so long. Overall, though, I think TLG (like many BIONICLE fans) went into Hero Factory a bit more wary of how the theme's end could always be just around the corner, and a bit more conscious of how not to dash fans' expectations when that end finally arrived.