Biovival Discussion (aka Christian Faber's mysterious project)

We have a vandal around here! Someone is crossing out all of this cool discussion for some reason! :stuck_out_tongue:

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AGH! The horror! Lol.

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Youll never take me alive, or dead for that matter

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YAWN

Oh, sorry, I think I fell asleep for a year or two?

Gonna throw my thoughts in the ring here, First and foremost, I’m incredibly excited to see what this evolves into. I believe the fandom should be in the mindset that anything we get should not lead to disappointment. At the very very most, bionicle returns in some fashion, a “G3” of some sort, at the very very least, we get some awesome bionicle concept art from faber, and there’s many avenues in between those two extremes. The fact that we have Christian Faber and most likely Cryoshell working on something having to do with canisters, robots, and mystery means this is the closest thing to the original BIONICLE we’ve received since 2010, and even if that only takes the form of artwork, the fans can appreciate that.

There’s been a lot of discussion I’ve read about if the concepts of environmentalism should be present in a story like Bionicle. I’d argue that given that G1 revolved around the broad concept of medicine inside of a dying body helping to heal, something special to Faber at the time, should be evidence in itself. The fact that he’s so passionate about the environment, seen through various IG posts and rebel nature, means that if this man can twist a medicine based concept into an intriguing story, he can certainly do the same with other concepts. Think about it, do we even really WANT a retelling of the concepts of G1 again? It’s been covered, and if Bionicle is to truly evolve, it needs to encompass new ideas (looking at you G2)

Now, as for speculation on the art itself! I really do dig the parallelism to the first comic we ever got, it’s hard to say if we’re looking at a similar idea of a toa of ice waking up among his element or not. It’s also hard to tell if all this concept art is hinting at an entire setting encased in ice or if this is simply a snippet of a new island. To me personally, a lot of the art looks like there’s steam coming from the canister, and melting ice, wouldn’t it be cool to kickstart this theme of environmental urgency by showing, say, a toa of fire waking up, melting the ice around him without realizing the consequences? Just throwing ideas out :stuck_out_tongue:

Anywho, I expect Faber to continue creating awesome art, and am unsure and excited to see how Cryoshell fits into this.

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I didn’t know I needed it until I heard it.

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Whew, I was worried Epic was gonna get their grubby little mitts on this one!

…oh, yeah, and your comments are also kinda well-thought-out and insightful, too.

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That was probably a 2/5 joke, not gonna lie. :stuck_out_tongue:

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A 2/5 joke for a 2/5 company, EYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY

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How I miss the ability to delete off topic replies

Anywho, an interesting thing I wanted to add on to my initial thoughts a question I think is important to consider in the upcoming months, what makes something qualify as a successful to bionicle for you? The franchise altered its thematic ideas throughout the decade it ran, and also had shifts in the complexity of the worldbuilding, storytelling, etc, so what, if not just the name, would make this new “thing” qualify as a bionicle successor?

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Honestly, I feel just something that respects its audience as thinking people who like elemental cyborgs and not mindless consumers :stuck_out_tongue:

And has some robit a e s e t h e t i c

I’m honestly not sure what exactly I define as “bionicle”, and that’s probably going to be different for everybody anyway. I for one like me some lore. :stuck_out_tongue:

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In my opinion, a true successor would be something that doesn’t necessary have a direct connection to the original (although that would be more than welcome), but keeps the same themes, ideas, and level of storytelling. If it’s story would be at least close to the level of the original, I would be more than pleased. G2 fall short out of expectations because of it’s dumped down, lackluster story that barely had any effort put into it. So, the story should obviously be the most important aspect of it. At this point, Ninjago is the theme that got the closest to the title of Bionicle’s true spiritual successor. If this new reboot would keep the level of Ninjago’s story at the very least, I see no reason why people would not be happy with it.

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Personally, I could go a few different ways. 2005 and 2007 are my favorite years, and in particular, something that takes after Metru-Nui’s city-based aesthetic could be a really good way for Faber to explore the whole nature/technology dynamic and environmental themes he’s been talking about as of late.

On the other hand, on a purely fanservice level, what always defines Bionicle for me is the basic premise of X heroes come to save an island, and the primarily tribal influence of the early years. (Maybe part of the reason I’m so soft on G2 is that at least it got those basic elements down pretty well, even if it failed to really develop past that…) Faber definitely seems to be going in that direction at least in part, if the concept art is anything to go by, so I’m feeling optimistic about that.

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There was an entire topic about this already that basically sums up most of the Message Boards members’ opinions on this:

Yes, I know He Who Should Not Be Named was the original poster and was involved in portions of this discussion, but there are a lot of valid, insightful opinions otherwise.

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https://www.reddit.com/r/bioniclelego/comments/c6i8bv/new_instagram_post_from_christian_faber/
Faby Baby just posted this: a Hau reflected in a Valve Index headset, said to have just “landed on our beach.” The “maskoffuture” tag may be an allusion to the Vahi, or just a general reference to Kanohi. While it may be a stretch, there could be a VR game in the works. That would explain why Cryoshell’s involved–they made the soundtrack. He also has “valve” in the tags, possibly referencing the brand of headset but also maybe implying whatever he’s doing is coming to Steam. Again, bit of a stretch, but I have no idea what else this could be for.

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Dang I didn’t notice the Hau at all the first time I saw this earlier today😂

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I’m assuming “our beach” is related to Faber’s concept of “Turaga Beach”, used in conjunction with G2.

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Hmmm…possibly some kind of immersive VR experience?

Not gonna lie, that’d be really cool, but not everyone has access to high quality VR. If it’s just a facet of whatever his plan is, more power to him, I just hope whatever the plan is, it’s accessible.

I should add though, this is his most recent post:

So this is most likely a Rebel Nature venture primarily. But he did say this in the headset one:

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Bionicle is in The Matrix confirmed.

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my own theory about “14B2020” is that it’s not a Reboot, but a retelling of G1. it’s the 2001 story (as the art very clearly depicts), but expanded on and more fleshed out. reading over the teaser text, as well as some of the comments left by Faber himself certainly seem to be pointing in this direction.

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But at the same time he’s also saying about “moving forward”. I’m not sure this is it chief :stuck_out_tongue:

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