BIONICLE and Star Wars (Or Rather, the Comparison Between Their Respective Reboots)

BIONICLE Generation 2 is now ending, as we all know, and now that it is a lot of thoughts and feelings have come up. The biggest one that came into my head was "If I could describe BIONICLE Gen 2 in two words, I would say “Missed opportunities.” Then I realized something, I had uttered those exact same words about something else. I thought for a moment, and realized I said the exact same thing about Star Wars Episode VII. “Missed opportunities.” The more I thought about it, the more it made sense, BIONICLE Gen 1 was always compared to Star Wars, even Greg, the Canon Overlord himself, compared it to Star Wars. I decided to delve into the reasons the two lines are alike, and more importantly, discuss the similarities of both reboots (Episode VII being a reboot due to the canon wipe) and the flaws therein.

Star Wars and BIONICLE are comparable for good reason. They’re both massive, living universes where anything could happen. Star Wars isn’t just a series of movies, it’s a universe. It has tons of extended media, through books, comics, video games, and loads of other content, the Star Wars universe came alive. It meant more to the fans than a simple series of movies. BIONICLE is the same way. It may just be a toy line, but Gen 1 went beyond that. The comics, books, games, movies, and most notably the story serials, fleshed out this universe and made it come to life in our minds. It wasn’t just a bunch of plastic robots, it was a universe with living beings, characters, memorable locations, and development out the wazoo. Of course, it wouldn’t last, as we all know, but for the time we had it BIONICLE meant more than the sets, and it still does to most of us.

Now, BIONICLE had the fortune of getting a reboot. BIONICLE was no longer dead, yippee! All aboard the Hype Train! Praise Greg! I have the powaaaar! We were all excited for BIONICLE’s return, why wouldn’t we be? It was the feeling of something we loved being taken into the modern age, something we thought we wouldn’t see again getting a full-on, high budget, remake! I remember the shivers that went down my spine when I saw the leaked images get more and more believable, until it was finally confirmed to be true. This was the same feeling Star Wars fans everywhere got when they saw the first trailer for The Force Awakens. Star Wars Episode VII, was finally here. The Hype Train was massive and had no brakes, and people were excited to see what would come next, since Disney had decided to change the events of post-Episode VI. Of course, many fans were guarded, afraid Disney would mess up as they had with so many things. The same went for BIONICLE Gen 2. I myself, know I was incredibly guarded about BIONICLE’s return. I knew it would be different, and I was hoping that it wouldn’t be over-simplified like Hero Factory or Chima was. I was excited nonetheless, but guarded.

The excitement for Star Wars Episode VII and BIONICLE Gen 2 quickly ran into problems. Star Wars VII didn’t live up to its name, not being the Star Wars quality many fans expected. BIONICLE Gen 2 ran into the same issues, not living up to its name, and not being what people expected. Now, this wasn’t really an issue with either line, but it certainly demotivated both fanbases. Now the discussion of the real flaws begins. Why was Star Wars VII looked down upon by so many fans, and why was BIONICLE Gen 2 looked down upon in the same way?

Disney realized that no matter what Episode VII was like, it would sell. The name “Star Wars” was enough to break records, regardless of quality, especially with all the hype. The movie was a continuation of the movies, but made a massive mistake. It was ONLY a continuation of the movies. Disney failed to realize they hadn’t inherited a movie series, they had inherited a UNIVERSE. Star Wars Episode VII didn’t spend nearly enough time world-building, despite the fact that we were being introduced to a reboot. We didn’t know anything about this new place we were suddenly thrust into, and Disney sure didn’t help us out on that front. We got very little world-building or story development from Episode VII. In fact, I didn’t even know the New Republic existed in this new timeline until the scene where it as destroyed! It’s hard to realize the significance of something if you haven’t had any time to get attached to it. BIONICLE Gen 2 made many of the same errors. At the start, LEGO sort of expected the name “BIONICLE” to sell itself, or at least that’s the only reason I can think of for its low budget. Legends of Chima got more development, AND a full-on TV show on Cartoon Network! Chima lasted a year, and was considered to be, for the most part, a failed line. BIONICLE Gen 2 got even LESS story, world-building, and character development in the two years it ran than Chima did in the one year it ran. In fact, the biggest problem with Gen 2 BIONICLE isn’t anything they’ve done, it’s what they didn’t do. BIONICLE Gen 2 simply didn’t have enough story material to be attached to, and although some of that was time, a lot of it was also the fact that they didn’t release most of their important story media until a whole year in! If Chima had waited that long, the line would’ve been dead before they even considered a TV show. Both Disney and LEGO relied to heavily on the name, and slacked on proper development and introduction, leaving their audience clueless, and overall unattached and indifferent to the fate of the world they were attempting to create.

The second big issue that both Star Wars Episode VII and BIONICLE Gen 2 ran into is related to the first one. Forced nostalgia. Star Wars Episode VII was full of throwbacks. It’s not Star Wars until someone says “I’ve got a baaaaaad feeling about this.” They do it in every movie, and practically every episode of Star Wars The Clone Wars, after all. Now, I didn’t mind things like that, and for the most part, the nostalgia didn’t bother me, even the thinly veiled reused plot points and devices, but Starkiller Station, or the Death Star III as I like to call it, pushed me over the ledge. Star Wars VII spent far too much time trying to hearken nostalgia, and didn’t spend nearly enough time developing the new and exciting universe they had introduced (nevermind the plotholes that I won’t mention since they aren’t relevant to this comparison). Nostalgia is fine, but it was so heavy-handed that it felt forced. A lot of it was unnecessary, and some of it even went so far as to detract from the story and quality of the movie. BIONICLE Gen 2, once again, shares that flaw. BIONICLE Gen 2 made some questionable decisions, and partially due to the fact that they wanted to bring up nostalgia with the old fans. “Hey guys! Remember when masks fell off really easily? Wasn’t that the best part of the first Toa?” “Actually LEGO, it was kind of annoying. I was really glad when in '04 the-” “OF COURSE YOU LOVED IT. HERE, HAVE A WHOLE WAVE WITH THE OLD ERRORS YOU USED TO LOVE.” I get it LEGO, you were trying to hearken nostalgia, but I wish instead of reminding me of BIONICLE Gen 1 with arbitrary and inane references like glowy blue eyes (which barely even function on Gen 2 sets anyway) you had decided to put more effort into making things new and unique. Maybe instead of throwing in a gear function that pushes the arms really far back and leaves open ball joints, you could just focus on making the set good, and do what you want to with it. A lot of Gen 2 BIONICLE feels like it was held back by Gen 1’s expectations. The story team and design team were clearly trying to do something new and interesting, but any time something cool and unique came up (like Umarak the Hunter) it got crushed by forced nostalgia. The best example of this is the search for the golden masks. In BIONICLE Gen 1, the masks the Toa Mata searched for were hidden in out of the way and dangerous places, putting them on a long and epic quest full of danger and intrigue! Or something. Gen 2 decided that the search for the masks was clearly one of the best things about Gen 1, so they mimicked it. How? Well, you see, they each find one mask, and it sits on a pedestal. “Wow! Do they have to fight a terrifying monster or a horde of scary bad guys to get to it?” Actually… no. The biggest threat is smaller than their feet, not poisonous, and many of them were killed on accident by Tahu when he first arrived. They’re actually a really incompetent threat. “So… they just walk up and grab the masks?” Yep. Just that. Also, Tahu shouts a lot.

Excuse me if I question that, but why? Why is that necessary? The entirety of searching for the masks is just filler. It doesn’t even contain character development, unless you consider “I didn’t slip” to be an integral and important aspect of Kopaka’s character journey. It’s forced nostalgia, there purely for the reason that it was something that happened in Gen 1. It hurt Gen 2 in the same way that constantly referencing previous Star Wars films detracted from Episode VII.

Wow, I had more to say than I thought. I hope some of you lasted through that, and I’d like to hear your thoughts on this! Star Wars and BIONICLE, what similarities do you see with the lines, and do you agree with my comparison? Let’s keep it light-hearted and civil. After all, I don’t hate Gen 2, the reason I criticize it so heavily is because I liked it, and wanted it to be better and to improve, not because I hated it.

A post was merged into an existing topic: BIONICLE is Officially Cancelled