Wow, what a question. I have to search the deepest part of my memory. Honestly, I think I found Toa Mata Tahu at a store in 2001, pretty sure it was a Walmart and thought it was pretty cool asked my parents to get it and the rest is history.
Hazy as it was, I still remember the exact ToysRUs that I got Vezon and Fenrakk from in 2006. Sadly, it has since gone out of business.
same with me, but it was furno 1.0
I actually went to the Walmart I got Hahli from just this summer, and before you ask, no they did not have any Bionicle. (Much to my disappointment.)
Oh, I thought your first set was Kopaka mata, because, well, you know.
Ghid’s whole brand is fake?
Summer, 2001. I was 7 at the time. My family was visiting some relatives in another part of the country (Finland), and on the way back we visited the country’s largest village shop, Veljekset Keskinen (or today known as Tuuri), which is an attraction of sorts. As we were approaching the cash registers I spotted one of those cardboard shelves with the Toa Mata on it, and it was love at first sight, especially when I looked at Onua. I got the insatiable desire that I absolutely must have this set, so I begged my parents to a point that I cried, until they finally caved.
And thus began a long love. Bionicle’s aesthetic had something very attractive from the get go, which is kinda hard to describe. Something just ‘clicked’ about them the moment I saw them.
Although I owned the Slizers and Roboriders already with my brother, Bionicle came as a surprise at the time. Internet was still pretty new, so there was nothing that could’ve prepared me for it.
Due to my childish naiveté, I initially thought the rahkshi were the heroes of that year. Convinced myself of that, since I was used to the hero wave coming before the villain wave, as that’s how the sets were released back then. The previous wave was the Bohrok-Kal, iirc, so the rahkshi wave “should’ve” been good guys in my mind.
Was already a LEGO fan, didn’t have many sets but played the flash games on the website a lot (specifically the mars mission RTS.) Eventually discovered the bionicle section of the site around late 2008/early 2009. Got the stars and got pretty into hero factory after bionicle ended.
Only had a vague understanding of the lore, my exposure was limited to some of the 04 books, web of shadows, the legend reborn, and the 05 version of the bionicle encyclopedia.
I ended up falling out of interest in LEGO around the mid 2010s, sadly never got into g2 when it came out (but my youngest brother got ketar and some of the books.)
Started to rediscover bionicle around 2018, started getting into the lore, getting sets on ebay, joining the community for the first time, and now we’re here.
I’m pretty sure a similar topic exists somewhere…
Searched it up before I posted this. There is not currently a topic devoted to how you were introduced to bionicle.
What about this, though?
Well shows over then.
Edit: well technically that’s talking about how you got into bionicle and this one’s talking about how you were first introduced to it. So technically they’re two different topics.
I was aware of G1 via the comic books in circa 2014 and read some of them. I saw Kopaka (my favorite character at the point) in a Toysrus in April 2015 and he became my first Bionicle set.
I was born in 2002. My brother collected Bionicles from 2001 to around 2005 so Bionicle was just always there. I dont know when I first heard of it, for me that’s like asking when you first heard of the United States or Jesus.
They are the heroes in my heart
It’s so bizarre how the first three years inspired such unique emotional reactions to them that the rest of the line simply couldn’t match. I’ve lived with Bionicle throughout the majority of my life, and I still don’t have an explanation as to why that was.
i mean i grew up with ignition and i probably get similar emotional reaction to that. i only heard about the 01-05 thru older stuff i got at thrift stores and what not. maybe its just more nostalgic if you live thru it. I suppose i do remember reading the 2003 bionicle guide all the time on the school bus tho and it was a good memort. either way i think i didnt feel what was so special about 01 for a while but then i played mnog for the first time semi recently (as after i started college recently)
As a kid I used to watch Bionicle movies
Tough to say when it really started, as I can remember having them at virtually any point in time. If I had to guess though, it’d be around 07. My older brother definitely owned Ehlek, and I believe I had Hahli. Of course, my whole family loved the Lego Catalogues, so I saw a lot of the sets through that. During 08 I got Krika, Gali, and Takanuva. I’m not sure if I was the owner, but we also had Tanma, Solek, Gavla, and Radiak. 09 brought Mata Nui and Atticus for me and Stronius for my brother. 10 was just Tahu.
Obviously I still did things throughout the years via yard sales and friends houses. At some point I acquired Nuju Metru and later Iruni. My friend, who had three older brothers, had loads of Bionicles. I don’t think they cared at all for the story beyond the comics in magazines, but they had many sets. Mata, Metru, Hagah, Inika, Marhi, Phantoka, and all manner of titans and vehicles.
Starting to really get into the story though, started through watching the movies on YouTube. Soon after finding the TTV top tens and watching those religiously. I specifically remember thinking they hired Phweffie just because of her accent. Eventually, watching TTV got me into the story, and then serious MOCing. Slowly making my way to the message boards.
In conclusion, just like Lego, Bionicle has been ever present.
I got a random present from my grandparents when I was in the hospital. the random present was my first Bionicle and it was Barraki Carapar!
From that moment I was in love with the toys!
technically my brother had 2 voyatoran and Jaller Inika for as long as I remember, but I was really introduced through books at my school library (Chronicles #1, Adventures #1, Adventures #7 and the Lego book). then shortly after G2 started, I got Lewa Mata and Turaga Onewa.