Biovival Discussion (aka Christian Faber's mysterious project)

Yeah, what is “success?” Is the only form of success if Bionicle comes back? Or if something gets done? I’m just hopeful no matter what, and I don’t see the problem in hoping for the best. I’m not expecting or demanding, just hoping.

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Expect the worst, hope for the best. That’s how I see it :stuck_out_tongue:

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This form of polling is really inadequate to truly get at what the fandom wants and will appreciate. As members have pointed out, we don’t know what this is exactly aside from some cool art, we don’t know the scope of the project or even if it’s assuredly connected to Bionicle exactly.

I think the real question is a matter of support, do you like the looks of Faber’s venture as it currently stands? A simple yes/no to do you think this will succeed, when we don’t know what “it” is yet isn’t the way to go about this.

Basically, have this mindset ^

Edit: Still crab raving

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Well, it’s kinda obvious that it’s a passion project, or at least this was the original intention. Faber wouldn’t bother unless he was a passionate about it. If LEGO gets involved, I guess their main interest will be to make money rather than reboot something that people love, but for all we know, it’s mostly a passion project.

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That’s an assumption, we don’t know if it’s a passion project, now it might be a passion project yes but until it’s revealed, we won’t know either way.

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In all seriousness, I’ve agreed with @Sabretooth since the start. It doesn’t really matter what comes of this project, what does matter is that it’s giving the Bionicle community something to look forward to and talk about again.

And honestly, if you’re gonna feel “burned” because what is ultimately a fan project for a currently dead series doesn’t pan out, you need to reevaluate your limits.

At the very least, we got some cool new Bionicle art from Faber. That’s definitely something cool, and definitely something that can fuel other creative fires.

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Then why is Croshell involved? I doubt an entire band would jump on board out of love for Bionicle and not money. They were just paid to promote the line, they weren’t tasked with defining its heart and soul.

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Just thought I’d share this latest reply from Faber, in response to a question of if the project is related to Bionicle:

"Bionicle is a big part of me and my past but I’m not bringing anything back! I’m trying to move things forward. The world has changed since 2001 when G1 started and storytelling needs new fuel of science and urgency to be relevant."

What I’m gathering from this is that Faber wants to re-imagine Bionicle as a story for the modern era. His comments about science and relevancy seem to me that he believes in order to make Bionicle relevant in today’s world, it can’t just be rebooted (especially in a kid-friendly manner like G2), it needs to cater to a message designed for today’s world and today’s issues.

I’m guessing, considering his Rebel Nature project, along with his words, he views that message as something dealing with the relationship between nature and machine, and of people with machines.

And if you ask me, that’s a noble and needed goal. And I’ve said it before, I think Bionicle could be a property designed to deliver that message to people in an interesting and engaging way. It’s not just about bringing Bionicle back to the people who love it, it’s about making it mainstream by tailoring its themes to deal with the issues we connect with in the modern world.

TL;DR: Faber’s Bionicle could very well be a multimedia storytelling endeavor with themes along the same lines as Ex Machina, The Matrix, Avatar, or I, Robot. Very, very interesting.

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Your point makes sense, but let’s not forget the Gravity Hurts 2018 thing they did. That was long before Faber showed anything, and I doubt anyone paid them to do it. So yeah, maybe they do have some love for Bionicle themselves, who knows. But still, they haven’t yet officially confirmed to be involved as far as I am aware.

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I’m ready for Bionicle 2077!


But seriously, his idea sounds awesome.

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In regards to Cryoshell, I think Faber was easily able to get Cryoshell on board due to them also working together on Rebel Nature.

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I was under the impression that they just wanted to re-record their own song without…Daughtry, I think? Whatever his name was.

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Niels Brinck.

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I’d be down for that, honestly

Is there a middle option for “thinks there’s a lot of failure points and I don’t even know what kind of scope to expect from this, but still thinks it stands a solid chance?” Cause that’s where I’m at right now.

^This

Not to dispute your reading, but from this, it’s sounding to me more like a spiritual successor than a direct reboot. More like Project Afterman than Brickonicle, if you catch my drift. And honestly, I’m fine with that if so. Would definitely love an updated reboot like you’re describing, but this is sounding a bit more indirect than that? “I’m not bringing anything back/I’m trying to move things forward” being the key turn of phrase here.

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See, the way I’m interpreting that isn’t so much that he’s not doing Bionicle, but that he isn’t just doing a rehash of what has come before.

Clearly this is still Bionicle. It has the same name, very similar aesthetics, and even the return of things like the Toa canisters that we haven’t seen since G1. Out of everything in that sentence, it’s “moving things forward” that’s the real key.

I should also mention that the comment was made in response to someone else, and in that original question the poster mentioned that a lot of people simply think Bionicle is coming back. I see it more as Faber’s way of clarifying that this isn’t just LEGO’s Bionicle he wants to revitalize, he wants to turn Bionicle into something it hasn’t been before, moving forward to deal with modern issues. He just restated the “bringing back” part because he likes being cryptic.

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That does make sense, and again, I don’t think your reading is invalid? Neither of us can really read Faber’s mind, so it could definitely be that he wants this to be capital-B Bionicle in a new iteration. Though I do feel the need to point out that we don’t know for sure whether that’s the name, all we have right now is “Bio” “On” and the hashtag which has more numbers than letters. But yeah, transforming it rather than creating something new inspired by it is still very much on the table.

I’m just hesitant to jump to conclusions either way until we know more. For the time being until it’s outright confirmed whether or not he’s going a certain way, it seems safer to assume that it’ll be more of a spiritual successor with lots of shared ideas, rather than a direct reboot that takes a different angle on established material. I’m hoping for the reboot option, don’t get me wrong, but just from a legal perspective, until we know what Lego’s role/involvement/stance in things is, trademarks/copyright stuff will be an obstacle to that route.

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Wait hang on

Did the discussion suddenly become reasonable what


Trademarks/copyrights will always be an issue, no matter the size of the project. The Toa’s names are LEGO copyright material… Mostly. Because of the Maori lawsuit, it revealed that the origins for a lot of Bionicle names aren’t from LEGO and some not even from the Maori language. Makuta is plural for currency, Lerahk is a last name, and Botar is a first name, and all of this I found out completely accidentally on my own time.

Without LEGO’s full support Faber’s 310N will always have an uphill legal battle greater than any other fan project because Faber is a powerful presence in the community. There’s a definite limit to what he can do with preestablished characters, but I’m of the opinion that with a name change to the franchise we’re going to be seeing ripple effects shoot out across the old Bionicle formula, and by the time the surface clears we might not even get a Tahu.

Modern Issues being how this turns into a G2 Debate topic every ten posts

This is a completely valid statement, and as I hinted at just before, opens up a very dangerous potential outcome. Suppose this isn’t just Bionicle rebranded. Suppose Faber’s concept of the next step up from Bionicle is something that isn’t even Bionicle at all. But Bionicle is many things. Simplistic, futuristic, tribal, modern, small, massive, ancient, modern. A story, a concept, a child’s imagination, a tale of six heroes called forth from the hearts of people everywhere to rescue an entire universe.

Is Faber’s concept Bionicle? In a sense, it is, since it has the same origin. But once those canisters open up, don’t be surprised if what walks out looks more like Gorm than Gali.

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Huh, that’s pretty interesting… Can you tell us where did you came across this?

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Dictionary.

Back before all books died in the great book war of 2001.

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And now for me to go on a long-winded tangential ramble about how G2’s true tragedy was that it was cut short before it could reach its full potential and how for all its other faults, the mere existence of Umarak The Hunter as a set and as a character singlehandedly justifies its existence

That’s a really good point, actually. Given the massive differences between the open-ended tribal adventure that was the Mata-Nui arc, vs the very plot-heavy noir-tragedy cityscape of Metru-Nui, (not to mention the Ignition trilogy, Bara Magna, and beyond) I’ve struggled in the past to sum up Bionicle for other friends. I think there’s a wealth of potential thematic avenues with which to unite the different styles and tones, but that doesn’t change how many different styles and tones it’s had in the first place.

Yeah, that’s also something important to keep in mind with this. Again, I’d both love to see the classics brought back yet again, but I’d also be okay with it if we get something wholly new. I’m just concerned that a lot of people might be less accepting of the latter option, should it come to pass.

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