So, whenever people discuss whether Bionicle could realstically return ever again or not, one of the most often discussed points is the issue of the cost of the molds. Everybody tends to think that all the molds produced during G1 were simply a product of their time, and could not be replicated today with LEGO’s current business model. And while I do think that is true to an extent, I do seriously have to question whether the cost of the molds really is as big of an issue as people tend to think.
The G1 system is a product of its time, that I think we can all agree on. But CCBS? By all accounts, Hero Factory, despite being just a moderately successful theme that never came close to being a top seller, somehow managed to get away with producing dozens of one-use molds. It is true that they clearly did attempt to cut down on the costs by standarzing the builds and occasionally reusing some of the mask pieces, but we still got a lot of one-use molds that seemed rather pointless, at that. A great example is the Drilldozer chest piece that just appeared in one set, and was never used again, despite being a farily generic piece.
And this isn’t limited just to CCBS or Constraction themes. Virtually every new LEGO theme introduced in the past 15 years has always introduced some sort of new specialized mold (most of them for the minifigures) which were never used again. The most recent example of a theme that introduced a lot of specailzied one-use mold is Vidyo. That line introduced a tone of molds not only or the minifigures, but for the Beatbox gimmicks as well. So even if the tendancy to spend more money on molds was higher in the past, as some would claim, the trend doesn’t seem to have slowed down in any significant way in recent years.
So, that begs the question: Is the cost of the molds really that big of a stumbling block to Bionicle’s return? Considering what I just pointed out, it doesn’t seem like it is. A lot of fans lately have embranced System Bionicle as the only possible way Bionicle could return, because reproducing the molds would be way too expensive, but frankly, I am not so sure that’s necessarly the real reason.
Come to think about it, I’d argue specialized minifigure molds are way more expensive than your averge Bionicle mask, because they feature dual molding and other complicated techniques like that, which most Bionicle masks wouldn’t require.
So, what do you guys think? Is there something I am missing?
I don’t think it’s the cost of reproducing the molds, It’s whether anyone would actually buy the sets, making the investment worthwhile
For instance, if Lego spent a lot of money developing a new Bionicle line, with new parts, new molds, etc and then it tanked, It would’ve been a waste of money that could’ve been spent making something more universal, like Ninjago’s 639th reboot or yet more Friends
And the only reason Bionicle was a thing in the first place was to save Lego from bankruptcy- They needed to try something different. Now, with as much money as they have, there’s no need to do anything different unless what they have isn’t making enough money
In case you hadn’t guessed already I don’t really know what i’m talking about here, i know nothing about business but anyway
Right, I do agree with what you said… However whether a new Bionicle line would sell well or not is a different discussion. I still see people throwing up the “Molds are too expensive” theory around whenever potential Bionicle reboot ideas are discussed. When I made my Technic Bionicle set pitch idea, I got heavily criticized for using way too many retired molds, which “LEGO would never realstically do.” That’s the particular claim I wanted to adress.
Basically, my main point is that, assuming Bionicle could return, at least a few new molds would not necessarlily be a problem.
I think that, if LEGO thought it was necessary to make some new, or particularly distinctive, parts for a theme, they’d spend the money to include new molds. That’s why Vidiyo had so many one-off parts: because it was riding the crest of a current trend, and the odd parts were a requirement to make the sets stand out from the others currently available.
I think the fact that it was even considered to just make OG tahu for the gwp says a few molds for some sort of future g3 would not be too too expensive or out of the question, its really when your entire set uses a suite of new molds as well as you have to keep introducing new ones year after year. Potential for ROI compared to just continuing to make traditional brick built sets is much much more important to lego than the size of the investment itself tho methinks.
Lego is a billion dollar company (I checked, after converting billions of Kroner listed on Wikipedia). At that point, you can’t say that they CAN’T afford new molds, in the way that I can’t afford a yacht. But any new molds would be weighed according to return on investment. Making lots of new molds would certainly increase the initial investment, but I think the bigger issue is that Lego doesn’t expect a high return from Bionicle period.
And that all comes back to what I think is the number one reason, in Lego’s mind, that is holding back a line in the Bionicle/Hero Factory niche: If even Star Wars can’t sell constraction, why risk a completely original line?
I fairness, I’d say that the lego star wars buildable figures were fairly weird and doll like in appearance and functionality, which might have hurt the theme. Bionicle/hero factory felt more like action figures than the star wars ones did.
In addition to what Traykar said, they were also competing with system Star Wars sets. Nobody was gonna pick the constraction figures over a battle pack.
You can see the parallel of this with Bionicle’s system sets, which didn’t sell as well as the constraction sets.
They were also competing with more accurate, cheaper Star Wars action figures from other companies, and mostly made characters no-one wanted. It’s honestly surprising it stuck around as long as it did.
You know, it’s actually weird how G2 ended so early, compared to Star Wars that lasted two years more. By all accounts, the Star Wars Ultrabuilds sold way worse than G2 ever did. I remember how there were still several Jyn Erso, Chirrut Imwe, and Baze Malibus sets from 2016 on shelves at a local toy store up until like 2021.
By contrast, I don’t remember ever seeing any G2 sets on any higher than usual discount or warming the shelves passed 2016.
Add to that how we know there were two more Ultrabuild sets canceled at the last moment that were planned for release in the summer of 2018, The 501 Trooper and Super Battle Droid, and the failure of that line is as clear as crystal. As far as we know, whatever would have been planned for a 2017 wave of G2, it didn’t make it far enough into production to the point where the sets leaked online.
The death of CCBS and Constraction always felt so unfair to me… But I guess the corporate executives at LEGO don’t really care.
Funnily enough, I think the line could’ve been saved if those two had actually seen release.
All the armoured characters and droids sold extremely well and barely ever even made it to discount, while the characters with visible faces were massive shelfwarmers, probably due to the uncanny faces and the fact that CCBS doesn’t really lend itself well to characters with casual clothing. CCBS worked beautifully for troops and such, but for characters who were meant to be wearing cloth or jackets, the very obviously armour shell pieces looked very out of place and ugly.
With how ridiculously popular clones are, especially the 501st legion, and how popular the previous two droid releases had been, I think it’s safe to assume that the two cancelled sets would’ve sold very well.