Biovival Discussion (aka Christian Faber's mysterious project)

The reason also might be that Lego still owns the Bionicle IP and to do anything with it, Faber has to have a deal with them?

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I mean this is just arguing semantics, but sure. My point was that Faber is perfectly capable at both “ideas” and “execution”. You painted him as incompetent at “execution”:

Which is clearly an unfair characterisation seeing as he has never done that, and is currently running the company producing Rebel Nature!

I also never claimed Faber did everything, only that he was the “single individual most responsible” for BIONICLE.

Don’t know which “we” was talking about multi-hat-wearing

and can confirm that I have read the article that I originally linked. The parts relevant to my comment are

“I was sitting with LEGO Technic and thought I would love to build a character instead of a car,” Faber says. […] Faber pitched Cybots, a line of humanoid action figures with attachable limbs and ball-and-socket joints.

For the storyline, Faber drew on his experience with prolactinoma. To him, his every-other-week injections seemed like sending in a new wave of protectors to battle his tumor with every dose. Faber imagined this group of disease-fighters arriving on an unknown beach with no memory. […] He and Swinnerton conceived Bionicle’s island setting to be a dormant automaton protected by the Toa, the heroic Bionicle warriors.

Faber established the visual look of the world

I’m not diminishing the good work done later by others like Greg, but the aesthetic and core of the story come from Faber, and those are the elements that matter to a revival. (It’s worth noting that BIONICLE’s “viability” steadily decreased as the theme moved away from the original aesthetic and storytelling approach.)

Lastly,

Nobody glossed over this. I pointed out it’s simply not true according to Faber’s statements.

If you want to assume someone is a liar by default, I guess that’s your problem.

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Given what we know about Faber’s numerous cryptic teases, the man wants to somehow continue Bionicle without sets, and by extension doesn’t seem to care if Lego is actively involved or not. What this means for his project is interesting, because I highly doubt it’s going to involve Bionicle the actual IP. Why would you pitch a story without product to LEGO and expect LEGO to be interested in it? Best case, we get off-brand Bionicle that can’t say it’s Bionicle and tiptoes around trademarks, and is that really worth the investment of following Faber’s cryptic web of teases for?

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Yes. Legally Distinct Bionicle :tm: actually opens the doors a lot for exploration of ideas not covered in the original. And again, the difference is just that the names aren’t the same. The core theme and ideal would remain, presented in a very similar manner. For me, that’s more than acceptable.

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Do you think the core mystery would once again be a giant robot, or something else entirely?

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I’m of the opinion that there doesn’t need to be a core mystery. Of course, having one more than helps, but I think Bionicle has a lot of potential as an aesthetical narrative device to explore concepts that don’t quite fit with a human-centric setting, and, as I briefly touch upon in this post, I believe that Bionicle can be used to re-examine well-worn themes and tropes from a different perspective.

Some of the other ideas that’ve floated through my head since making that post include a feudalistic society with a hierarchical structure based and adhering to the evolutionary cycle of the Matoran race: the transitions from Matoran to Toa and Toa to Turaga reflecting the inherent conflict in a meritocratic oligarchy.

Or a space-faring story following a biomechanical crew as they encounter a biological alien race, exploring the emphasis placed upon physical differences, and emphasising how those physical differences can genuinely affect interactions between two radically different peoples.

Or a dive into the consequences of an society on the verge of becoming decadent challenged with the discovery of a potential next step to their evolution, forcing a great degree of societal evaluation after being confronted with the prospect of stagnation and degredation versus extreme and change that will leave society scarcely recognisable.

The favourite and first of these ideas was that of a Detective Noir following a Matoran Private Investigator, which is the only one which is set within G1 explicitly. It’d explore the initial subtle stages of a police state through the perspective of a biomechanical former-cop encountering the roboticised police force that replaced him. This would be one with a core mystery: the events prior to City of Legends, the purpose of the Vahki as an unthinking army beholden to Makuta Teridax.

There’s also the example of Bionicle Eternal, which has a Matoran Civil War between tribes as the setting for the first book, although it’s told in a manner much more akin to a more traditional Bionicle story.

There’s definitely a lot of potential ideas and stories to be told within both the continuity and general framework of G1, however I’m always going to be more inclined to the broader philosophical exploratory applications of Bionicle. Most of the ideas I’ve presented here are little more than base concepts, carried upon the fledgling idea of Bionicle’s potential as a means to explore through the lens of biomechanical beings with varying degrees of connections to nature and the raw elements. Some stories would feature the juxtaposition present in the first years of G1 more than others, however the breaking of the conventional character form also allows for the breaking of narrative and aesthetic in a way I believe is unique to Bionicle.

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Thats a cool idea, vehicles for space faring Bionicle would be rad; tech is so funky as they have like hoverboards, but they also still ride rahi around. Would it be liek a biological ship thing? Its got cool potential.

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I feel like they should really do a story far along into the future after G1’s end. We never got to explore the Great Being’s too much. Maybe the Toa and Matoran launch from the planet and explore the solar system. Kind of like Robot Star Trek in terms of exploration. Who knows the ruins or bio organic life that still exist in the rest of the solar system.

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I don’t think a biological ship would serve Bionicle as well as it serves examples like Farscape or Lexx, where the biological nature of the vessel acts as a contrast to the characters. By having biomechanoid characters, you sort of remove the point of a biomechanoid ship. Instead of being an unusual contrasting point, it’s unremarkable.

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There might be a 4th virtue! /s

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Wh

what.

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y’know he’s got a point

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Some news that might interest Biovival followers:

LEGO World Builder is a new platform now open for users to submit and collaborate on concepts for LEGO worlds / themes. (You submit art, backstory, characters etc.) Those that capture LEGO’s attention can be made into actual themes.

Crucially, past / existing LEGO IPs like BIONICLE are allowed.

You are welcome to create and expand upon worlds based on existing LEGO-owned franchises and IP, such as Ninjago or LEGO Friends, however, worlds may not contain third-party IP (like Harry Potter or Game of Thrones). Use your imagination!

Is it a coincidence that Faber has been talking about wanting to bring back BIONICLE, hinting vaguely at fan collaboration, then the exact platform that would allow LEGO to bring this into their workflow officially is announced? Perhaps, but who knows. :thinking:

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Bro, if Faber doesn’t use this, I absolutely will.

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Now this is very interesting. I’m not sure if there’s definitely a connection, but this is very cool nonetheless.

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Worldbuilding is Faber’s specialty, so he could absolutely utilize this to great effect.

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The question is, how much is he against making toys, since he is quite a “save the enviroment” type.

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Not to dash anyone’s hopes or anything, but given the language he’s used around the old sets, like how these parts are precious and that they’ll never be made again, I think he’s made it fairly clear that he doesn’t intend for there to be a toyline attached to this, whatever it may end up being.

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I have the same feeling, especially since his “toys on the beach” reddit post.

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That is explored in a fan comic named Bionicle Nova Orbis

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