The simple, basic, no-nonsense fact-of-the-matter-at-hand is this:
Faber was the creative director and partner at Advance, one of the largest advertising agencies in Denmark, who worked with Lego and other brands consistently and brought us specifically Bionicle. It’s important to note that he was a Partner, ergo the man knows a thing or two about marketing.
It’s important to note that just being “The guy who came up with Bionicle” doesn’t mean he’ll immediately get a meeting to pitch his product/idea to anyone, because unless you have something more to go along with that, all you have it “20 years ago I did a thing.”
It’s also important to note that Bionicle as a fandom has been not only surviving, but thriving for 20 years, through two different generations. This is, by definition, a captive audience - there is nothing else like Bionicle out there, and it is unlikely there ever will be.
Why do I mention all this? Because it’s important context for why Faber is doing what he’s doing, the way he’s doing it, and why the fandom is generally reacting negatively at this point.
The long and short of it is that Faber needs us, not the other way around. The Bionicle fandom with its’ tens of thousands of potential consumers is a huge resource for anyone trying to pitch a product. “We have an existing fanbase of 10,000+ who’ve been screaming for years that they want this product” is absolutely bonkers. Now, a cynic (or a realist, or even just someone with some experience in the field) would probably say that a huge portion of Faber’s Bionicle-Related content serves the purpose of both inspiring the fandom, and hopefully proving that there is interest for whatever Faber intended to pitch.
This is not exploitation in and of itself, however the vague, cryptic messages from Faber, the allusions to some grand event or new product being produced, etc etc, have led individuals within the fandom to believe that Faber is bringing back Bionicle.
Do those individuals necessarily have a leg to stand on? No. Faber has never offered anything concrete with his intentions. This is a double edged sword.
On the one hand, it’s unfair to expect anything massive like a Bionicle G3 from Faber based solely on concept art. On the other had, it’s also unfair for Faber to, whether intentionally or not, string along his fanbase (whom, i might add, have been constantly asking what he’s working on.)
Ghid is correct when he says Faber is terrible at PR. Sure, you can’t talk specifics about projects before they’re negotiated, but you can usually say “Things are in the works.” You can also confirm the negative, that you do in fact intend solely to inspire people, if that was your intention from the start.
Faber has done none of these things. And his deleted posts and their captions are arguably the worst examples of this.
You cannot tell me that those three images together are not intended to be Bionicle, or to hype up the Bionicle fandom.
The caption for the first image (BIO)?
The caption for the last image (LE)?
Now i admit to not having the middle image screenshotted, but please. Starting a string of images with “A puzzle with Infinite Pieces… joining the process will bring Unity” before ending with “Some Puzzels (sic) are never ment (sic) to be finished.” Is a little bit… odd, no?
My point is simply thus: Does Faber owe the community a delivered product? No. Do the people that believe he does need to check-spectations? Probably.
Does that mean that Faber’s handling of the fandom and it’s very obviously rabid base is beyond criticism? Absolutely not.
Faber has done what every good marketer does - built a fanbase and then tried to, one way or another, leverage them. The danger in doing so is that when you build a fanbase around a product, that fanbase expects that product. Nowhere is this more obvious than with Bionicle and Lego, where just because you’re a fan of Bionicle doesn’t mean you have to love everything Lego puts out, or vice versa.
If you’re going to tease it, especially as one of the progenitors of the entire theme/concept, you have to be prepared for the fact that people are going to assume you’re going to give them more. Faber has been vague from the start on whether or not he’s trying to bring back Bionicle, or just revive interest in the setting and inspire creation.
Literally all he has to do is be 100% up front and clear about his intentions. No one faults him for taking 2 years to get moving on a project, because we all know it takes time to develop and produce things. However, people are absolutely allowed to fault the lack of clarity after 2 years. If his goal is to find a partner to create a new era of Bionicle, he can absolutely say that without jeopardizing any negotiations. He can absolutely tell us “It’s going to be a lengthy process, but my goal is to create the next generation of Bionicle.” He can also tell us “I have no intention of creating a new Bionicle, instead I aim solely to inspire the fans of my previous work.”
A little clarity goes a long way - and defending the lack thereof in a man who’s spent 30+ years in Advertising is kind of like defending a Mechanic who’s been in the business for 30 years and absolutely destroyed your engine after an oil change.
Should the community check their expectations? Absolutely. Should Faber tell us what he’s actually intending with this? Yes.
The community outrage and the feelings of having their excitement exploited in some way or another are absolutely valid. Every content creator knows the risks of vagueposting to your fanbase.
It’s either that or Faber learned absolutely nothing over the course of his career. Which is in its’ own way a disappointing and terrible thought.
