What made Bionicle special for you?

What made Bionicle special? I know there’s already an Autopsy on this, but I want to know why people other than me find it so appealing. My reason is this: I just love the premise. I don’t love it for the quality of the sets, I don’t love it for the collectability (although that’s a big plus), I love it for the deep and intriguing story. The sets were not as great as they could’ve been. The Inika Build is one of my biggest reasons for thinking that. It’s a good build, but is overused. That’s besides the point. What makes Bionicle so special to you guys? :smile:

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My favorite aspect of this product is it’s possibility in build and play.
Basiclly I like it because it reaches Lego’s standards.

Build = MOCs and Collection (It’s nice to have good inventory for your builds.)

Play = Fan-fiction and Stop-motions

I like it for the above reasons listed above.

But you asked why it was so special, so…

Well, Bionicle was the only toy I grew up with, so it brings back memories.

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The overall atmosphere of the universe is what I like the most. I know that sounds pretty vague but whatever :stuck_out_tongue:.

Everything contributes to this: the character names; the overall aesthetic of the characters; the tone of the story; the backrounds and scenery and what-not used on the boxes, canisters and websites; the music used in promo materials; the promotional clips themselves. Heck, even the fonts used for the logos are part of the atmosphere for me.

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I think BIONICLE was an extremely well told story with interesting and deep characters. The way that LEGO had written it, and all of the intrigue and lore behind the story just made it so exciting to read, watch, and listen to. Also, while we may be overzealous and elitist, I think that the community of fans is just awesome! Also, BIONICLE was there for me when I was going through some tough times, and having characters I can actually relate to helped a lot.

And Teridax, I love me some good villains.

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The Story, definitely. I built BIONICLE models before I knew the story, but once I had read the story, I just had to put my MOCs into it. (And for the record, there is room enough for fan creativity within the storyline.)

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Yeah yeah, story blah.

The ease of making OCs(Terribad as they may have been, coming from a 6 year old), was a definite plus. And yes, I do mean OC, as in Original Character. I use that because while I discovered Bionicle in 2002, I discovered the possibilities one could make with the story in 2007.

It all started with a young Nyran who was on Youtube, and he decided that he would look for Bionicle things on there. I found Scotttjt. His Hydros chronicles really sold me on the idea of: “Fanfiction and etc that didn’t interfere with the official canon”

I made stories with no interactions with existing characters, outside very minor exceptions, and they were cameos at best. And it sorta gave me this old illusion that maybe one day my stuff would be canon. I of course now know that that’d be impossible, and that’s fine. But I still like to keep in that style. So, you won’t be seeing any of the Nuva or the named Glatorian in my upcoming RoT.

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for me it was the world, a fully emersive culture. It was unique, yet familiar. Everyone had a place where they belong

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The story and the building system. Definitely.

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The fact that you could relate to the characters. They always seemed like people you know. In my case, people I KNEW. So, looking back on it, I remember all the friends that I have moved away from over the years. Double Nostalgia. Regrets. Looking back on it all, it wasn’t always the sets that I loved the most (Although I definitely thought they were awesome). Sometimes, it was how the characters those sets represented felt like real people.

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Well, three things that made me stay.
Fandom - We are still alive and kickin’!
Story - So much interestingness
Youtube - TTV

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the story and the fandom!

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Bionicle was different. I, as a kid, loved serious stuff. All the toylines out at the time were too simple and childish. Then my Grandma got me my first Bionicle, Rahaga Pouks. It was the coolest thing I had ever seen! It had awesome playibility, with the Rhtouka spinners and all. Then in 06, I started to see more in the shops, seeing HUGE Bionicle sets! So I got Zaktan and Vezok! And then a late Bday present, Jaller Inika, who was awesome. In 07 I got into the story, and then I began to grow up with it. I probably wouldn’t have a better childhood if I never discovered Bionicle. Thank you, Bionicle, you taught me life lessons, and everyday make myself a positive person. Thank you.

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The mystery. The strangeness. Games like MNOG and MNOG 2 that really let you get fully immersed and interacting with the world. All the things intentionally left blank and unknown, leaving me craving for more.

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That dang inika comercial. Watched it and the Star Wars revenge of the brick over and over on the Lego website

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Bionicle was the first thing I grew a strong attachment too. I am not a very social person and I do not like people (even at a young age). So Bionicle filled to void of my friends.

For me it was a couple of reasons, as a kid I liked action figures and the idea of buildable and highly customizable action figure like toys was really cool, but the main reason was that me and my older brother didn’t get along at all as kids but bionicle was a shared interest and it was something we could do together and bond over.

I got my first ones as I was 6 years old. 2004, as I was in Netherlands for vacation, my mom gave me Toa Matau and Nokama. I first played with them, I didn’t knew there was a story behind. Then I realized there were many other sets. Got them from my grandparents, parents, friends, etc. I then found out that there was an actual story behind all that. As a kid, I was fascinated by the 2001 and 2002 storyline. It was the first toy for me, with a real story. I even liked it more than Star Wars, and this had a storyline too. I will always remain a huge fan of Bionicle.

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For me it was the moral ambiguity of some of the characters. I got into it in 2009, and that first wave of glatorian had 2 good guys (Tarix + Gresh) 1 evil warrior (Skrall) 1 animal (Vorox) and two characters who weren’t as bad as the Skrall, but we’re not good either (Strakk and Malum). Having them all really made play interesting for young me.

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Characters, World-building, atmosphere, themes, uniqueness, and sets,

Everything