I’ve been into bionicle since as long as I can remember, but only recently have been getting more involved in forums and groups. I’m wondering what the landscape is like right now compared to pre-pandemic like 2017-2019, and even during G1’s lifespan. Is there a way to accurately tell how the bio community has changed over the years? Are there archives somewhere of old forum threads?
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First of all, welcome!
From what I can tell, during the run of G1, BZpower was the website for anything Bionicle related. Unfortunately, due to some server mishaps, all of their forums from before 2011 were deleted and can no longer be viewed.
I can’t say much more because I wasn’t there to experience it, but I’d love to see where this thread goes. It’s an intriguing question!
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A long time ago, there were three major sites which ruled the internet in terms of Bionicle content: Bionicle Zone, Kanohi Power, and Mask of Destiny. Two of these sites merged together to become BZPower, and had a bit of a feud with Mask of Destiny for three years before the latter’s popularity waned and left BZPower with a monopoly over the community.
At this point, the once thought dead Mask of Destiny has made a sudden resurgence, while BZPower is a dilapidated shell of its former self. Out of BZPower sprung The TTV Channel, and the TTV Message Boards, which are still going strong today.
As for the landscape? BZPower’s seen more life artificially injected into it as TTV users have tried to diversify which sites they are on. But beyond that, the community’s been fairly small, quiet, and self-regulating. How the community has changed since the early days is up to the personal opinion of the people who were there pre-pandemic or even when the line began, so I don’t think there’s going to be an authoritative and objective source for how it compares to the early years of the fandom.
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Well that’s unfortunate. I guess it explains why bzpower doesn’t go back as far as I thought it would. Does that mean the ask Greg questions are the earliest archived peek into the bionicle community pre-2011? It would be amazing if a bunch of veteran bio fans collabed and described the early days of bio forums in a way that isn’t bits and pieces spread across different threads throughout the internet
@Ghid Does that make mask of destiny the earliest forum? I don’t see any archived posts pre-2009
Edited for Double Post - BioKnight
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This site has been around for around ten years, and I’ve been here about that long. I can give you my experience here as well as inklings of my experiences on sites like MOCpages, Brickipedia, and the Custom BIONICLE Wiki that I was active on a while ago; but also, sans MOCpages the history of all those websites is still available (as is, unfortunately, my immaturity on display for the first few years.)
I’m not super attached to any “larger BIONICLE community” anymore, but I have made a lot of friendships that started from a mutual interest in the line. Most of those friends have now graduated college, just starting careers or a few years into it, and some are using their newfound disposable income to collect sets that they didn’t back in the day.
I am headed to BrickFair next week with one group that originally bonded over BIONICLE, and we generally also hang out with other BIONICLE fans at the con, so I may have more information on how that pans out when I return. (All my BIONICLE MOCs are in storage so I cannot display, but I am considering buying some sets that I didn’t back in the day).
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Man, MOCPages…
I wasn’t here for the very early stuff as I wasn’t introduced to Bionicle until '06, nor was I old enough (or allowed) to engage with communities online at the time.
But the MOCPages days a few years before G2’s release were really something. Not like it is here, it was definitely less of a forum and more like Flickr, at least in my interactions. But I did treat it a lot like a personal blog, in a way, sort of like I do here when I occasionally post. In fact my old MOCPages was sort of the template I still kind of follow.
Bit of an edit here: I actually found my old MOCPages site on the Wayback Machine. What’s left of it, anyways.
It’s been extremely fun and interesting looking back on all of it, despite the occasional teenage cringe.
I am a bit disappointed that it appears almost all of my better MOCs did not get captured, but some of my worst did…oh well.
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