Bionicle 2015 Discussion

[Vinyl Scratch]

The return was planned pretty quickly, as TLG had never experienced the volume of calls and complaints about the line's retirement over any other thing, ever.

LEGO got calls over BIONICLE's end?

Not something I expected to hear.

[MakutaOfWar]

LEGO got calls over BIONICLE's end?

Not something I expected to hear.

Pretty sure he meant ninjago.

[Dorek]

LEGO got calls over BIONICLE's end?

Not something I expected to hear.

I think he meant Ninjago, but I honestly wouldn't be too surprised if BIONICLE generated a few calls; now that we have the reboot, it's fun to see where people actually entered the series, and there's been a fair few folks who entered in, say, 2007 or 2008; a scant few years before the line was actually canceled, to put it in perspective.

[DuplexBeGreat]

*raises hand* I joined in 2006. Though I don't entirely see your point.

[TheOneVeyronian]

On another topic, interestingly I saw that my local LEGO Store (Watford, UK) has started to sell polybags, which is something I've never really seen them do before. And they had a whole bunch of the Bionicle Hero Pack priced at £3.99 each. I don't know if they were just selling off excess stock or whatever, but the presence of polybags they had never offered before as well put an end to that theory. Sadly I couldn't see the Villain Pack, but is it possible that the Villain Pack could eventually be sold in LEGO Stores?

[TheDesuComplex]

On another topic, interestingly I saw that my local LEGO Store (Watford, UK) has started to sell polybags, which is something I've never really seen them do before. And they had a whole bunch of the Bionicle Hero Pack priced at £3.99 each. I don't know if they were just selling off excess stock or whatever, but the presence of polybags they had never offered before as well put an end to that theory. Sadly I couldn't see the Villain Pack, but is it possible that the Villain Pack could eventually be sold in LEGO Stores?

About time that the Lego Store sold polybags! I imagine they are selling off the excess stock of them, and I hope that this is how the Villain Pack is debuted.

[TheOneVeyronian]

And about the Villain Pack actually, I've noticed an explosion in their availability. There's 4 people in the UK on eBay that have them. And I know I can also buy them from sellers in Hungary and Russia on BL, and they're not absurdly expensive either (the one in Hungary is being sold for HUF1850, about $6.50 or £4.30)

Question is: where exactly is everybody getting them from and how have so many got into circulation already? Was it part of an offer somewhere, because it seems quite common and easy to buy for an "extremely rare" polybag. The HF Villain Pack from last year was a lot harder to come by, even from Russia which I know was the only country to even get that polybag (it was a freebie in the Russian equivalent of a LEGO Store I believe). Think I only ever saw one of those pop up for sale, yet I'm seeing hundreds of this Bionicle polybag and I don't even know how it's been distributed yet

[JasonEffex]

I've just had a go on the updated app and it's actually pretty good, the addition of melee and ranged Skull Warriors definitely makes the game more interesting and challenging for sure. They've also added some awesome music for the boss battles too!

Also, if you get round to playing it, keep an eye out for a G1 easter egg in Kulta's level! And no, it's not another Vahi.

Edited September 5, 2015 by JasonEffex

[Vinyl Scratch]

Oh whoops, I can't english, thought he was talking about BIONICLE.

Still, even with the giant media shenanigans that Ninjago got, I'm still amazed that LEGO got calls over Ninjago being cancelled. I knew it was a huge success but I think I was underestimating it.

[Aanchir]

Still, even with the giant media shenanigans that Ninjago got, I'm still amazed that LEGO got calls over Ninjago being cancelled. I knew it was a huge success but I think I was underestimating it.

Nothing to be ashamed of! Not even LEGO anticipated Ninjago becoming as big a deal as it did. Like any "big bang" theme, there were a lot of hopes riding on it making a big splash with its arrival, but its strength wasn't expected to last anywhere near as long as it did. As of this year, it's become an evergreen theme like LEGO City, which is a big step for a theme that was very nearly discontinued two years ago. Ninjago's success is extraordinary, even for a "big bang" theme.

I'm sure some people in the Bionicle community might feel a bit miffed that Bionicle fans couldn't make enough of an impact for the theme to spring back so quickly after its cancellation the way Ninjago did. However, it's two very different scenarios. Bionicle had experienced a long, slow decline, and by the very end many of its most devoted fans were well outside its target audience. There had already been multiple attempts to reinvigorate the theme, to little avail. Whereas Ninjago's success was soaring by the time what was meant to be its final season had aired. Take a look at Ninjago vs. Bionicle on Google Trends, and realize that interest in Ninjago was at its peak when the decision to continue the theme was announced in December 2012, generating over twice as much search interest as Bionicle had in any month since Google began tracking this data in January 2004.

[TwistLaw]

Take a look at Ninjago vs. Bionicle on Google Trends, and realize that interest in Ninjago was at its peak when the decision to continue the theme was announced in December 2012, generating over twice as much search interest as Bionicle had in any month since Google began tracking this data in January 2004.

Weren't you the one saying that Google Trends data are not that important, when talking about the fact that Hero Factory saw little online searches even at its peak, especially when compared to BIONICLE and Ninjago? Just curious, nothing threatening in my words

[dviddy]

Still, even with the giant media shenanigans that Ninjago got, I'm still amazed that LEGO got calls over Ninjago being cancelled. I knew it was a huge success but I think I was underestimating it.

LEGO got so many calls about Ninjago that they hired more call-center employees just to handle them, according to CEE talks at Brickfair the past few years. I think a lot of AFOLs have underestimated the success Ninjago has had with kids and parents.

[DraikNova]

LEGO got so many calls about Ninjago that they hired more call-center employees just to handle them, according to CEE talks at Brickfair the past few years. I think a lot of AFOLs have underestimated the success Ninjago has had with kids and parents.

Yeah, there's a reason why TVTropes compares its fanbase to My Little Pony. Edited September 5, 2015 by DraikNova

[Aanchir]

Weren't you the one saying that Google Trends data are not that important, when talking about the fact that Hero Factory saw little online searches even at its peak, especially when compared to BIONICLE and Ninjago? Just curious, nothing threatening in my words

I don't remember that particular conversation. Of course Google Trends data can't tell you everything. But that doesn't make it meaningless. Hero Factory not driving as much search traffic at its peak as Bionicle did can indicate a lot of things, like that the online Hero Factory community was never as large and active as the online Bionicle community (which I don't think was ever even up for debate).

Still, you can't go so far as to use that data to indicate that Hero Factory was unsuccessful, any more than you can use a comparison between Ninjago and Bionicle to indicate that Bionicle was unsuccessful. That kind of conclusion would be assuming data that Google Trends can't give us, like what kind of budget was invested in each theme, what kind of returns were expected on that investment, and whether the search interest was reflected in actual sales.

Edited September 5, 2015 by Aanchir

[MakutaOfWar]

I kind of find it funny now how a few people reacted to HF replacing Bionicle. Mainly how pissed people were about the first wave of sets even though they used the exact pieces from G1 bio. Of course I was only into the YouTube community back then. Still, I see people complaining there and on reddit about how G2 "looks like hero factory". Ugh, kind of hypocritical.

[Shakar]

So the sets are finally out here but...they only had MMvsSG. The other 4 are coming on Friday. Lol. I was really tempted to get them, but hey, best for last.

Has anyone else seen this happening?

[Dr_Chronos]

My willpower is failing fast. I'm still waiting for the villian polybag to be released until I buy any skull sets. When Lego, when?

Edited September 7, 2015 by Dr_Chronos

[TwistLaw]

So the sets are finally out here but...they only had MMvsSG. The other 4 are coming on Friday. Lol. I was really tempted to get them, but hey, best for last.

Has anyone else seen this happening?

Same here, small town near Milan. I went to the local version of Toys R Us the day before yesterday, Saturday the 6th, and they had only MMvsSG. If the rest of the squad arrives on Friday I may stand the wait.

[MakutaOfWar]

Sooooo any news on that graphic novel? :P

[Phoenix_Flare]

Guys, I think I found out what those hidden Okoto Letters spell out in the Summer Animations! So far we got an "Y" "I" and a "U". These appear every two Episodes (10,12,14) and my bet is that they'll have on in ep 16 and 18 if the 9 eps is true. But anyways to the point, it spells: UNITY

[Tahu]

That sounds logical.

Edited September 8, 2015 by Tahu

[Dorek]

Guys, I think I found out what those hidden Okoto Letters spell out in the Summer Animations! So far we got an "Y" "I" and a "U". These appear every two Episodes (10,12,14) and my bet is that they'll have on in ep 16 and 18 if the 9 eps is true. But anyways to the point, it spells: UNITY

Good idea! Now, is this another Easter Egg (say, a callback to Unity Duty Destiny) or a hint at the next year, with the Uniters? Or a little of both, the way we got reference to a Mask of Time during the year, and the Vahi is a solid reference to that.

[Quisoves Pugnat]

Guys, I think I found out what those hidden Okoto Letters spell out in the Summer Animations! So far we got an "Y" "I" and a "U". These appear every two Episodes (10,12,14) and my bet is that they'll have on in ep 16 and 18 if the 9 eps is true. But anyways to the point, it spells: UNITY

Hidden letters?

This is the first I've heard of this.

[Aanchir]

Hidden letters?

This is the first I've heard of this.

There's an Okoto letter hidden in every other summer webisode. Episode 10 has a "Y" (above a doorway at 1:00), episode 12 has an "I" (on a corner column at 0:04), and episode 14 has a "U" (on the grave marker behind Gali at 0:24). Since there are believed to be nine webisodes for this half of the year, it seems we'll have five letters by the end. A number of people have guessed that they might be the letters of the word "Unity", only scrambled.

[Quisoves Pugnat]

There's an Okoto letter hidden in every other summer webisode. Episode 10 has a "Y" (above a doorway at 1:00), episode 12 has an "I" (on a corner column at 0:04), and episode 14 has a "U" (on the grave marker behind Gali at 0:24). Since there are believed to be nine webisodes for this half of the year, it seems we'll have five letters by the end. A number of people have guessed that they might be the letters of the word "Unity", only scrambled.

Thanks!

I wonder if it will function as a Club Code.