LEGO BIONICLE G3 Building System Concept - T.A.F.B.S.

I see what you mean. Thanks for that, I see I hit this from the wrong side entirely. We definitely need more complexity and maturity in Lego’s writing.

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Of course, by wanting “darker” tones, I’m not mean pushing egdy stuff for shock value, but rather using environmental storytelling to hide in visible place some small details hinting dark secrets of the BIONICLE world and keeping more Miramax-like tone. You know, action happening often during night, mysterious fog giving claustrophobic feeling during more tense events, creepy ambience (like Telescope theme in MNOG), powerful choral music in epic moments… well-known tricks used in dark fantasy. Because this is what BIONICLE G1 was- a futuristic dark fantasy story with horror elements. What is too dark for younger audiences can still be included, as long as it is concealed well enough that the more disturbing themes must be inferred from observing background details and piecing together clues embedded in the dialogue. Not every part of the story needs to be served up on a platter.

Also, dialogues need to fit BIONICLE style. The characters’ use of archaic language, the somewhat sectarian way of addressing their companions (as “brother/sister”), and above all, the avoidance of sounding youthful and “cool.” BIONICLE’s strength has always been the way the series seemed alien to our culture. The way it didn’t fit in with other popular franchises. Just as the Witcher games have a unique Slavic vibe, BIONICLE stood out for its slightly unsettling atmosphere. Anyone who played MNOG surely recognizes that feeling of being small and seemingly insignificant. And the lonely journey through various regions of the island of Mata Nui, accompanied by ambient music that could scare more than one child. Actually, I wouldn’t be surprized to hear such ambience in games like Amnesia :slight_smile:

Also, this time, the villain must have a real, complex masterplan. Like, for example Father in Fullmetal Alchemist Brotherhood. Makuta in G2 was so cartoonishly evil that nobody is even talking about his role in Journey to One. The main antagonist should command respect so that defeating him will make us more appreciative of the heroes who’ll defeat him. LEGO can’t give us dialogue like this again:
"Today, I will take my rightful place among the gods. It is a victory for all that is dark and unforgiving.”

Maybe it would work in Ninjago, where we had multiple cringe moments like infamous “Bro bro goo goo”, but for BIONICLE it would be a death sentence :stuck_out_tongue:

I hope LEGO will understand this and hire writers who’ll be able to to replicate this atmosphere when the time comes to restore the BIONICLE.

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I am simply… AMAZED, apart from Valve games fandom, minecraft and the fandoms of anything that is family friendly, LEGO fandom has one of the most creative people I have ever saw. To be honest Im kinda jeaolus that my creativity can’t really go beyond anything LEGO already gave us in Bionicle. Have you ever thought about starting a figurine making buisness ? or maybe being a designer a designer ?

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I don’t have a head for running a business.
First of all, I’m completely clueless when it comes to paperwork, so I’d need such extensive support from business advisors and accountants that, despite technically founding a company, I’d be the boss in name only at best. My domain is more about coming up with epic stories and pitching loose ideas for solutions in areas I actually have some knowledge in, like, for example, in the case of BIONICLE, figuring out what a product should look like in order to meet the expectations of different branches of the fandom.

Second, I wouldn’t be able to look at running a company from a corporate drone’s perspective. I believe that a company should primarily aim to satisfy fans, because their satisfaction is what guarantees that they’ll recommend a given product or IP to normies. Personally, when I try to give a new IP a chance, I begin my journey by listening to fan voices to find out which creations respect the source material and the fans themselves. I’d prefer to be introduced to given IP by a loyal fan who, for example, would recommend “Clone Wars” to me and save me from a situation where my first contact with Star Wars would be watching “Acolyte”.

I despise with all my heart people (if corpo-drones can be called “people” :stuck_out_tongue:) who cancel projects fans dream about—or sometimes entire franchises—actively wasting the potential of the brands they own. Especially since copyright laws are shackles that effectively block the possibility of doing justice to a given IP by independent creators who could do it better than an incompetent company trying to dictate to people what they should like. Let’s take BIONICLE as an example. This is a universe with the potential to become a second Warhammer—something capable of attracting people of all ages. A cultural phenomenon that permanently etched itself into the history of toy-based IPs. And yet LEGO lets this IP sit on a shelf and collect dust, completely ignoring its fans for years. On top of that—and this still triggers me to this day—they canceled Masks of Power, which was the most shameless and unfair move toward fans I’ve encountered in years, even taking into account the existence of such an anti-fan company as Nintendo.

And there are plenty of other examples of wasted potential. Take the SnyderVerse. The strength of the fandom built around Zack Snyder’s DC films is downright legendary, yet the studio actively keeps giving them the middle finger. Well… technically was giving it to them, since they went bankrupt and Netflix is about to take over—but that’s beside the point. :stuck_out_tongue: Going back to talking about wasted potential—do you remember the times when the internet was dominated by Bronies? Hasbro kept the fourth generation of MLP going for over nine years and never once considered doing anything more with that IP than releasing a single theatrical movie and a mobile game with invasive microtransactions, despite the fact that the setting was practically begging for an adventure game or even an MMO. And the list could go on. The Dark Crystal: Age of Resistance, Dragon’s Dogma…

Neither LEGO, nor WB, nor Hasbro were companies capable of looking at the franchises they owned from a fan’s perspective, forcing the universes under their control to stagnate within the boundaries of their own comfort zones. In my opinion, LEGO performed the worst here—because while I can understand that a company may not want to spend millions of dollars on a movie or game that might not sell, canceling a non-profit fan game based on an IP they themselves were neglecting—one that would have served as free advertising for future BIONICLE products—is something I simply cannot forgive, and something that, in my opinion, should never be forgiven or forgotten. Especially since LEGO is a toy company. So MoP’s success, a success of a video game, wouldn’t be a competition for them. Besides, I’ll remind you, LEGO tried to give us a Toa Mata game back in 2001 and completely failed, so since the company has already looked at the project through the eyes of a corpo-drone, they could have hired Team Kanohi instead of spitting on eight years of their hard work.

In general, I believe that what separates humans from animals is that we have culture—and that the evidence of our evolution lies in creations of all kinds. Not only paintings, sculptures, and poetry, but also fantasy books, films, and video games. Even when building MOCs, I treat the process not as play, but as a form of artistic expression. And if I were to run a company, that is exactly the mindset I would follow. My priority wouldn’t be the budget and financial charts, but the quality of the product, which I would view as a work of art. It’s unthinkable to me that, for example, a film studio could limit a budget and force a director to cut out scenes which man with artistic vision wanted to include in his movie.

I also believe that instead of focusing on a rat race with other companies, a smart company should focus on niches the rest of industry doesn’t care about. Because when someone who has waited years for a specific type product finally gets it, a fandom forms that is so fiercely devoted they’ll be ready to run hashtag campaigns, or even carry out collective boycotts if someone tries to take away that small, niche fragment of popculture they’ve grown attached to. And it’s exactly those fans—willing to unite against corporate, anti-consumer tactics—that I respect the most, and for whom I’d want to create.

That’s why, in a world of corporate calculations, I probably wouldn’t be able to get along with environments that don’t put the voices of their fans first.

However, I will gladly support independent creators who create projects aimed at keeping the universes I care about alive.
And since LEGO is doing everything in its power to avoid returning to producing parts that are absolutely essential to BIONICLE fans, in the context of this thread, I’ve attempted to offer to LEGO well thought out designs for parts they should add to their offer as soon as possible. Or, in case they’re not interested in restoring the BIONICLE, my work will always be useful to those who, with a 3D printer, will provide our fandom with a supplement to the product LEGO has abandoned, until the company decides to rectify its mistake of killing off the Construction sets. :wink:

Yes, I treat it as a mission :stuck_out_tongue:

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Is that not what most current CEO’s are to begin with? An executive’s job is just to set policy and direct the broad vision of a company, not managing the small details like ordering new machines for the Mexican branch.

This wouldn’t actually be a bad position for you, because you’d still have the final say on important matters such as pricing, products, and advertising. Everyone else would have to go through you to actually make these decisions, and the advisors have to operate under the policies you set. This is why being a private business would be perfect for a consumer-oriented owner: you wouldn’t have actual investors aside from yourself to answer to.

Corporations like Hasbro and Mattel have investors demanding profits, and if the only feedback the boss man hears are “we need a 50% increase in profits this year,” then he’ll focus on profits first. Without the push from investors to produce what the investors see as important (products or profits), you can better focus on making the products you want at a reasonable cost. Obviously, this is assuming the CEO’s moral integrity, but I don’t think this is as much of an issue if you take investors out of the equation, because they’re the main force applying pressure to any publicly-traded company.

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