I have actually been into bionicle longer than I realise. I started reading the books in early elementary school and was drawn in immediately.
strangely, I only knew of the 01-05 story and some of the 09 story. I did not learn any of the 06-08 story until I found bs01 and started looking around.
I have always had two voyatoran, but I didn’t recognise them until I discovered 06-08 and I remember my older brother receiving and building jaller ignika, but I was born in 06, so it cant have been when it was new.
I enjoy G2 for it’s sets, but not so much the story.
3 Likes
I got into Bionicle online, actually, in '07, though I didn’t actually own a set until mid 2008 (I now have plenty, don’t worry).
I don’t own a single G2 set. If I had more money to throw around, maybe, but I just didn’t care enough about the characters to want to buy them (not at all helped by the fact that Lego where I live is like twice the recommended retail price the sets are in America, at least at these smaller price points.) I don’t buy because “looks cool” but because “I can have a figure of X sitting on my shelf and I liked them in Y” - I’m that guy who helps Mahri Matoro sales even though the build isn’t great. 
I did follow the G2 story loosely, but it never really engaged me. There were aspects I liked about it, mostly aesthetically, but it kind of came and went as quickly as I was expecting. During it’s run, my position toward it could be best described as “open, but not optimistic or interested”.
G1, on the other hand, I’m absolutely nutty about and know some facts that are pretty crazy obscure, even within the fandom. Even generally known obscure information I have a very quick retention for (probably because I was the sort of child who would happily spend entire days browsing BS01… before I was ten, from memory. )
tl;dr: Not an “01’er” by any means, but solidly in the G1 camp (though I can happily entertain G2 discussion and can recognize the places where it did go right.)
3 Likes
Back in kindergarden, in 2006, I got Balta in a goodie bag for my good friend’s birthday. He picked out Piruk. Bionicle was huge in my elementary school; all the boys brought their sets and played with them at lunch well into 2009. Balta was my only set for some time, but my cousin gave me his Rahkshi/bohrok, and the hype around the Piraka was also massive. All my classmates were obsessed with the “black Piraka” because word got out that he was the strongest. In 2007, the Barraki were kicking around, but I dont remember seeing them as much as the Piraka, beyond my buddy telling me “THEy Shoot squids!” after seeing a youtube video of the new sets.
I really got into the story after seeing the comic with Mata Nui’s rising at my friend’s house (conincidentally, the same friend who gifted me Balta), and being dumbfounded. I wasn’t willing to buy the books, because I spent whatever money eight-year-old me made on the sets themselves, but I read BS01 and the bionicle wiki for hours until I knew the story inside and out. I was a funny kid; imagine reading an in-depth synopsis of your favourite movie instead of ever watching it (although some years later, I did get around to reading the books).
(Circa 2008)
5 Likes
My first bionicle set was actually Kopaka Master, but prior to that I’ve been reading G1 books (which were introduced to me by my cousin) to the point where I had at least a rudimentary knowledge of the characters. At that point Kopaka was my favorite Toa so when I saw him in a Toysrus in around April 2015 I knew I had to get him.
2 Likes
Got in with G2 because I liked them robots back then with my first bonkle being Protrctor of jungle, but as time went on, I got into the fandom by finding out about DrScorpionx and eventually TTV with the JTO makuta how-to and after that I got into Mocing, and the rest is history. (Not really though)
1 Like
I posted a long storytime about my Bionicle beginnings in another thread, so I’ll keep it brief here.
I grew up with it in 2001, I was born in '95 and my older brother '93, making us 6 and 8 respectively when Bionicle began. We were the ripe age to get into it, starting with Tahu and Kopaka at ToysRUs, until my brother got out of Bionicle and LEGO in general around 2005/6, I got off the Bionicle train after 2007 but still kept up with LEGO.
I returned to Bionicle because Skrall looked cool in '09, left again until about 2015 when G2 began. Teetered after G2 closed and after BrickFair VA 2017, then tried again in 2019 to present.
Maniac4Bricks (Joey)
1 Like