Hi, guys! I’m back. Sort of. I’ve done a lot of lurking, but haven’t posted for a while- until now. So, who’s ready for a “short” essay?!
As you can likely see, this post is quite long. I’m going to do my best to split it into coherent sections, and would really appreciate it if you guys read it.
Preface to my points:
I’d like to start this by stating that a lot of this will be a bit opinionated, but I will do my best to keep that out of this ‘article’ and present at least some facts to back up my arguments… This post is something I have been thinking of for quite some time, and, at the ripe time of two AM, I decided to begin my draft. Be warned: You’re in for a long read.
Please, feel free to argue with my points (I’m sure this will cause a bit of a stir), but keep it civil. I don’t want to start a war here, only get some stuff off my chest.
To begin with, the topic. This post is going to be about Bionicle G2, and, more specifically, it’s shortcomings. BUT WAIT! PLEASE, DON’T CLICK AWAY! You see, this will not be a standard “I don’t like the sets, boo with CCBS” post. I actually love the bionicle G2 sets, and am happy to have at least SOMETHING back. As of drafting this, I own all of the Toa from waves one and two, as well as the protectors and creatures (I haven’t got any villans, though, outside of Umarak 
). While I have never been a huge fan of CCBS as a whole, I understand the system, why it was used, and have become perfectly content with it.
So no, this analysis will not be about why the G1 sets were “better” than the newer G2 ones, because the fact is that from a technical building standpoint, they weren’t.
Instead, it will be about an unfortunate fact at this point: The fact that, as a whole, G2 is not selling well. At all. While this has been contested, a simple look at multiple retailers sales will confirm this fact. Part of why Bionicle is now a Toys-R-Us exclusive property is because other retailers no longer wanted to stock it- and a simple trip to your local target or Walmart before that deal would have confirmed this. Oftentimes, very few actual Bionicle sets would be stocked, in an offshoot corner somewhere, because they weren’t as popular as the other properties. Despite orders to other retailers no longer being filled, many stores still have leftover stock, often at heavy discount (I picked up my Umarak at Target $10.00 off, nearly 50%), which STILL won’t sell! Even LEGO stores keep stock low- every single one I have visited, from New York to Denver to California (coast to coast) has only had a few of the 2016 sets in stock, maybe with a skull warrior or two thrown in at some random, isolated corner. (I’ll get back to this later). Ask an employee, and often you will get the response that they aren’t popular and aren’t being largely stocked.
So, yeah. Bionicle G2 is not selling well. But why? THAT is what I will be addressing here.
First, a brief history lesson (most will already know the basis of this, but I’ll bring up some points that will be important later). I’ll start with G1, and where sales began to drop for the first time for the theme. As we all know, Bionicle G1 did not have a happy ending, receiving a rushed termination with the release of the STARS line due to lackluster sales. Many analysts point to overuse of the theme- after all, it had been running for nearly 10 years and consumers were growing tired of it. The story had become convoluted and hard to get into, and many kids who were fans had, to put it bluntly, grown up (except for us pansies on here 
). Not much new blood was coming into the theme, because the barrier to entry had become too high. Not many kids wanted to get invested in a universe as hard to read up on as bionicle, so they didn’t form an attachment to the sets and as a result didn’t buy them.
In summation, the theme stagnated, and consumers lost interest.
On the other end of the spectrum, the first half of the theme was wildly successful because it was new, exciting, and fleshed out. Not only did we get cool new sets unlike anything the LEGO community had ever seen before, we got a massive amount of information on the world those sets belonged in! This was a first for LEGO on this scale, and got a lot of kids hooked. Bionicle had everything- an interactive game where you could familiarize yourself with the island, animated flash shorts for backstory, CDs included in sets with character backgrounds and videos, books- the list goes on. People were engrossed by the fascinating land of Mata, and eventually Metru, Nui. We even got a number of movies, which while not exactly spectacular (they were kinda bad), got kids REALLY excited over the sets.It felt like a living, breathing world, and all of these things were easy to get into and easily accessed on the Bionicle website or in canisters. The moment you opened your first set, you opened an entryway into the world of Bionicle.
The end of G1 failed because, unlike the beginning, this thriving world was no longer as inviting. There weren’t movies released to make the story easier to understand, there weren’t story tidbits in the canisters, and so on. The ease of access to the world that was there in the beginning was no longer present. While the story was still perfectly easy to follow (for the most part), kids couldn’t just go on the website anymore and catch up. Instead, they had to actively hunt for information, such as the comics- which many didn’t have the patience to do, resulting in a storyline people could no longer follow. This is what destroyed the theme, and made it boring to so many kids.
As we can see here, image is massively important to keep any theme going. Kids want a universe they can use the sets they buy in, and sales reflect this. Star Wars, as a line, has been so successful for so long, despite literally releasing the same things every three years, because there is an engrossing universe that people recognize the vehicles and characters from. A kid can watch a Star Wars film, go, “Hey, I recognize that!” And want it. Meanwhile, when the theme becomes harder to access, that instant recognition isn’t there. A kid can’t simply go, “I remember that! I want it to simulate what I saw/read!”, and as such the initial interest is lost.
So, how does this apply to G2? Because ease of access is LACKING. DESPERATELY. Yes, there is content, and definitely a storyline, but it isn’t simple for anyone to get into. You have to know it is there- it isn’t fleshed out in stores, and it’s honestly hard to find. We did have those web shorts, but let’s be realistic here- they didn’t tell us much of anything. In fact, going through the basic materials, we still have very little world building for the island of Okoto. While Metru and Mata Nui had ways to actually explore the island, Okoto has some pictures with captions. Most younger kids are never going to go further in the storyline than the comics on the first page of the instructions (which are basically a play suggestion, nothing more), because it isn’t easy to find the additional information. You have to buy a book, or seek out the TV show, which received very little advertisement. See how this is so similar to when G1 began failing, and different from when it succeeded? The world of Bionicle no longer opens up right out of the can (or box), which is very important for something without public backstory. If a kid bought Tahu in 2001, they had a reason to CARE- they could check go on the website and immediately understand the world by actually becoming a part of it. If a kid buys Tahu in 2015/16, they get some pictures and short captions. While this may work fine on the Star Wars LEGO page- the universe is already understood- something like Bionicle needs a bit more to become interesting.
Anyways, this is the end of my first part of my first draft. I will continue updating this (I plan on having 3 main points), and I will fix gramatical errors, etc. as time goes on (it’s way too late to be typing this!)
Please, leave feedback below! It will help me clarify points made and provide additional information to cover a variety of points here- I want something worthy of Bionicle Autopsy when I’m done 