When my parents brought me some Piraka and Inika sets after Beyblade ended in America. Well, I still hated Beyblade thanks to the anime.
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When I was a wee lad of 6, I got the Reidak set and Piruk. Shortly followed by Matoro. I got on the website and I was immediately hooked.
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Man, it was all Jaller. Jaller Mahri was the absolute first set I got for Christmas, and I thought it was the COOLEST THING EVER. I mean, buildable, customizable robots? My tiny mind was like, sign me up! I ended up purchasing every single Mahri set save for Takadox, Ehlek, and the titans. I bought I think 3 Jallers. He was always my favorite, and probably always will be. Since then, I bought so many Bionicles, dissasembled them, and then rebuilt them. I kept doing Bionicle, eventually found TTV, and here I am. I think that getting that Jaller was the best thing that happened to me.
No regrets.
Except for buying Photok. We don’t talk about that one.
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Jaller has, and always will be the best Toa in all of bionicle! He doesn’t get enough appreciation.
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I was told there was a gang on the loose.
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When I got into bionicle, I had gotten some sets from my cousins, and some McDonald’s happy meal toys, then, I got my first set. I think it was mata Nui. After this, I started getting the toys and movies. Then after Bionicle’s cancellation. I got into hero factory. I made crossover Mocs. After learning about bionicle’s grand story and lore, I got hooked into the series. My knowledge about bionicle has grown over time as well as my love for the franchise!
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I love hearing about how people got into Bionicle even after it ended, I guess it gives me hope, haha
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My brother was going to one of his friend’s birthday parties and so my mum bought a Hordika Matau for the kid. My brother wanted Hordika Nuju so she bought him one, then a few days later my mum bought me Hordika Nokama. I discovered the website like a few months later when I got Hordika Onewa and was completely hooked on the line since then.
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What was your bionicle adventure. Could be anything from building a moc to going to brick fair and meeting some afold mocist or just having a good old fashion play story
Coming up with the personalities for the Toa team that I may or may not build.
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Well you’re adventure continues then
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I just had some STARS sets when i was young and a Vezok from a cousin, only recently i decided to get back into it and i’ve really been enjoying it so far.
Lemme pull up a chair…
I was born in 1995 and my older brother in 1993, so we were the ripe age when BIONICLE released in 2001. I played with lots of toys, but I was always hyped for anything LEGO (yes, even ZNAP and Galidor at the time).
I can remember it now like a memory wrapped in a cloud: In mid 2001, my mom took us both to ToysRUs, in particular one in this strip mall long before it closed and became an LA Fitness and now lately Esporta Fitness. I cannot recall if we had the McToran from McDonald’s first before this trip, or sometime shortly after. But we already saw Bionicle in the magazines and were still excited to get ours. Before these constraction figures we only had a few Throwbots like Turbo, Scuba and Ski.
We weaved our way through the aisles, even ones without LEGO, because we enjoyed just being in ToysRUs, a very fun atmosphere for a kid back then. This might’ve been the store that had a large LEGO sculpture over the LEGO aisle if I recall correctly, possibly with a tv playing (citation needed). Not brick-built, mind you, just upscaled. Anyways, we decided from the six Toa Mata who to take home: I would buy Tahu and my brother would buy Kopaka. Funny enough, not choosing our favorite colors, green and blue respectively. We would go back later to get the rest, or get them as gifts for birthdays/holidays, along with some Turaga and Nui-Rama. Sadly missed out on Vakama and 3 of the McToran (Onepu, Jala and Matoro), but all of those I’d pick up in my adulthood. I can still vividly remember seeing Vakama in my local Kings supermarket.
The fun part about this decision, fire and ice, is that my brother and I carried that into each new wave of Bionicle canister sets for several years - Tahnok and Kohrak, Tahu Nuva and Kopaka Nuva, Tahnok-Kal and Kohrak-Kal, etc. Usually we would pick up the rest of the canister sets too except with Bohrok-Kal and Vahki took a different route entirely, only picking up Zadakh at a Target with the Movie Edition Mask of Time and Disk of Time, but I digress. And of course other figures in between too but that would digress even further.
Our fire/ice trend really ended with the Toa Hordika, Vakama and Nuju. As around this time, my brother was getting out of LEGO (yes that’s possible) and hasn’t returned ever since. By extension he got out of Bionicle as well. I still remember that it was 2005 because that was the year this issue of LEGO Magazine released, and in our house we signed up with 2 issues for each of us to read and do the activities. My brother’s subscription was going to expire and my mom asked him if he wanted to renew it (his being first since he was older, he was into LEGO before me, yadda yadda). And he simply said, no. He might’ve still played with LEGO a little while after that, maybe even some in 2006 when the Piraka came home. But he certainly fell out of interest following it. We did play some of the LEGO video games together like Star Wars and The Original Trilogy but his building days were on the decline.
As a younger brother, I tended to follow my older brother’s footsteps in liking the same things and playing them together. And some years before, when he dropped Pokemon and Yu-Gi-Oh, I also did. Not getting rid of them, but shoving them away on a shelf or in a box. But LEGO was different. It was the one toy I continued playing with for my own benefit even when my brother was done with them. I guess it also helped that I had a younger sister (born in January 2001 so she barely would have remembered Bionicle but knew we had it) and she was playing with LEGO too around 2006 or so. I distinctly remember we had the 7893 Passenger Plane and my sister and I built our own towns in the play room/basement. We flew the plane back and forth playing with each other’s towns, hers featuring a zoo 
Even though I’ve stuck to LEGO ever since I was 3 with very little wavering, my sister did not stick for too many years, I’d say no more than my brother, possibly less.
I feel like a grandfather telling this story, because I’ve even told the stories surrounding it, so my apologies for the tangential read. There’s other stories I could tell but would’ve drifted further away from the topic 
But all of this to say how much Bionicle meant to me and how much LEGO still means to me, that I can remember vividly so many details of how my Bionicle journey began. I even went back in 2020 to the former ToysRUs location to get this photo or so as a memento.
Maniac4Bricks (Joey)
P.S. As a tribute to our fire/ice trend, when Bionicle returned in 2015, the first two Toa figures I bought were Tahu and Kopaka before picking up the rest 
(AlrightTechnicallyIBoughtLordOfSkullSpidersFirstBecauseTheToaWereSoldOutAtToysRUsButIStillMadeItAPointInTheSameDayToBuyTahuAndKopakaAtTarget.)
Even if I was the only one in the family carrying the LEGO torch, I still felt proud of that moment. Sadly I don’t think I carried the same in the rest of the G2 wave, as Tahu Uniter was sold out in stores and I bought him on eBay after the other figures.
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LEGO was different. It was the one toy I continued playing with for my own benefit even when my brother was done with them
My story is similar to yours, only reversed. I was the older brother, born in '94, and my younger brother was born in '98, we had no other siblings. We were both interested in LEGO as kids, only I’m the older one who still collects it as an adult. He collects video games, I moved on from them and lost interest. When he was very little, he would always try to get a negative reaction from me by asking our parents for Jack Stone sets. He got quite a few of them. The Bionicle sets were cooler though. He especially loved the fire response “suv”. Ugh.
we enjoyed just being in ToysRUs, a very fun atmosphere for a kid back then.
Well, obviously, it was the early 2000s, there were no smartphones just dial up internet. Also, I didn’t know TRU existed in strip malls. The local TRU my brother and I used to visit was an individual store that closed down summer 2005 and is currently a PetSmart. I had taken my brother’s dog there recently and everyone was on their smartphone.
around this time, my brother was getting out of LEGO (yes that’s possible)
2005 was the year all of my friends in elementary school grew out of Bionicle and LEGO products in general. We’re talking 11-12 year old kids, that’s not unusual
I’ve stuck to LEGO ever since I was 3
Wow I can’t even remember anything from when I was three. The earliest LEGO I can remember is from 1999 when I was five.
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I got into the series waaaaay past its prime. During March of 2021, as a result, I never owned, and still don’t own (at least so far) a Bionicle set.
As a kid, I grew up with Hero Factory. The sets I obtained in order were the original Surge, Rocka 3.0, Breakout Furno, and Brain Attack Evo.
It wasn’t until I saw this video as a kid that I learned a bit about Bionicle and the controversy surrounding Hero Factory. I eventually got interested in a Youtuber known as Diamondbolt who made a retrospective video in 2017 about Bionicle. The main story was spoiled to me, but the video didn’t go into full detail about everything the series had to offer, simply having a summary of the main story. I started listening to Gravity Hurts by Cryoshell, and seeing how it was associated with Bionicle, I got into the series, eventually reading the whole story via Wall Of History.
Not the best way to get into the series, but I still got into it nonetheless.
A lot of people here probably got into Bionicle while it was running (whether it would be from it’s beginning, middle course or final years), either because of the sets, story or something else. For me, it’s a bit different. Like, it’s an interesting ride in my opinion. So, let’s get into it.
Since 2011, I have been into Lego for a long time. Even though I’m no longer buying Lego, I’m still following some of the news and loads of creators out there who use Lego for some of their projects. My first and favorite Lego theme (next to Bionicle) is Ninjago. I loved the show, liked a lot of the sets and found interest in the story. I was fascinated by the promotional material for the show and so I started watching the show. I had a good time watching the show. So for a while, it was my favorite thing. But then, something interesting had occurred around the same time. Not entirely sure when was it, but either in 2012 or in 2013 I got into Hero Factory, to an extent. Even though I thought the sets were awesome, Ninjago still had the mantle of Favorite Lego Theme. Chima was there too, kinda liked it, but it wasn’t much tbh. I know this seems odd to mention in terms of my actual opinion on Bionicle, but I thought I should bring a brief overview of Lego in general. Now, here’s the actual beginning to our tale.
In 2014, when Ninjago was going in 2014 with Rebooted and Hero Factory being in it’s final year, it was interesting. I kinda liked what HF was doing here, though years later I would see how it had it’s flaws (with the story and sometimes the sets) and it ended on a note of sorts. It was fine, I guess. It was either during August, or somewhere in September/October, but I’ve heard stuff of a theme called Bionicle coming back. I watched the teaser and thought it was cool. Then, I would see videos like Bionicle The Legend Begins by Toatapio Nuva and some videos from popular Bio Tubers, as well as stumbling upon Bio Media Project, which was a gold mine of content. I had played parts of MNOG, as this was the 2003 version, so I skipped from chapter to chapter (mostly visited the final one as it was so amazing from it’s animation and music). So yeah, that’s an interesting introduction to MNOG if you ask me hehe. I also played some of the other games, which were fun to play.
While G2 was up and running, I was going through the web series, but also decided to go deep in the world of G1, through the lore, it’s history and the community. I do want to mention a little fun detail, some might find it funny, along with myself. On my birthday, a friend of mine gave me a gift that I consider really special to me even now. He gave me a Protector of jungle set, which is my first and only Bionicle set (kinda funny personally lol). I actually built the set with him the same day, It was somewhat fun. Even though Ninjago was still my favorite theme, I still liked what G2 had to offer with some of the set. Then, G2 got cancelled. I didn’t feel the blow too much (probably because my attention wasn’t entirely focused on Bionicle at the time), but I did feel as if there could have been more to G2, but oh well. I saw what an effect it made on the community, with some being sad, some trying to process the situation. and some feeling disappointed. After that, I consumed Bionicle media, whether it’d be official or something by the fans, and I enjoyed it. Time has passed and I’ve seen so many good things from this community from the many stop motions, animations, stories and much more. And so here we are.
It’s quite a long rant lol, but I felt that it would be nice to tell the whole experience.
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I first found out about Bionicle when I got to play with the disassembled collection of a friend from church. About a year later, I had checked out The LEGO Book from the local library and it had a whole Bionicle section. I was immediately hooked, but never bought any sets other than a bunch of McToran at a yard sale (I only had $10 at the time). Then, about two years ago, the friend from church got married and moved to Seattle. His parents gave me his entire collection of Bionicle, including the instructions. They are still up in my room, where I’ve been building them over time.
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I’m too young to have really gotten into Bionicle G1, so my first real exposure to the series was in about 2014 or thereabouts, when I was at a school bookfair. I was crazy about reading (I still kind of am, but back then I would read everything I found, now I read mostly philosophy and Bionicle), so when I saw some Lego books, I had to get them. Little did I know that they were near-mint copies of #1 and #3 of the Bionice Adventures books. I didn’t really understand all of the words, but I thought they were fun books. Then, while visiting relatives in Oregon, I went to a used bookstore and found #4 and #9 of the Adventures. At this point, G2 had come out and I got Kopaka (and never even made the connection between the two Bionicles). A few years later I was watching some Hero Factory stuff on YouTube and found some stop-motion animations of the Ignition series and wanted to make some Bionicle guys, and that was really where it began. I got some parts, then got some more, and then got the rest of the books, and then here I am!
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