POLL: BIONICLE G1 Canonization Contests?

Maybe extend the bootleg definition to include painted and custom parts and that could be interesting. Each moc has to have at least least one non lego part; whether that’s custom or bootleg that’s your choice.

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Especially because some characters would have to have painted parts. Varian for example.

Also, do you mean you have to have, or are allowed 1 custom/bootleg part? Because not everyone has custom or bootleg parts.

He’s talking about a bootleg building competition; I’m saying to enter your moc has to have one non original part. Bootleg, paint, sharpie, 3D printed, etc. if it’s not original it counts. It doesn’t need to be perfect just not from lego.

Oh, I thought he meant the use of bootleg parts in the canonization contests.

That is what i meant.

Then my opinions still stand then.

Treat bootlegs like 3d printed parts, usable, but only in certain instances.

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personally. we dont have alot of options atm for bioincle. so lets give it all we can. lets fill in as many gaps as we can and well. try and make sure we complete bioincle g1 as much as possible. but what im wondering is would there be cannon contests for g2? that could also be interesting.

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Probably not, since Greg was only a consultant for G2, we would have to ask the person in charge of that.

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I fail to see how these are equal. Either you:

  1. Allow mocs made within the past decade or two. It’s still possible for a moc made a few months into the future to win.

  2. Ban a decade’s worth of entries so that it’s arguably easier for mocs made a few months from now to win and because new mocs might lose if they have to go up against older mocs. As a result, it would be impossible for mocs made within the past decade to win.

I understand your concern, but treating it with bothsidesism isn’t helpful. Which one excludes the most people?

I’ve been meaning to change some of my mocs (I presume this is allowed), and it would be quite irritating if I was barred because I couldn’t predict that contests would start up a decade after G1 ended. Same thing applies to Silvak’s mocs, BionicleChicken’s drawings, and 3D models made by Galva, KhingK, Petrus, ToaTom, 00Dude00, and 0nuku. They couldn’t predict that there would be canonization contests. If artwork and 3D models are exceptions to the possible rule, then why not mocs? As said in a previous post, where do you draw the line?

In general, I would be indifferent to allowing or disallowing entries made before contests were announced. If this was a contest for Makuta Miserix back in 2008, that’s one thing. The character was written after the contest ended iirc. Canonization contests, that focus on characters made at least a decade ago, should be treated differently.

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Teridax 03’s mask, Icarax’s mask, Mata Nui 09’s mask, Hewkii Mahri’s mask, Ultimate Dume’s mask, all of the Inika masks, Karzahni 07’s mask, all of the Mistika Makuta masks, all of the Hordika masks…

Canonically, masks attach to the face. Build-wise, it has never mattered.

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If a new moc is canonized, I would also like it if the instructions were also canonized. That way no one will have to reconstruct how to build the set from just a picture, and would feel more like an official set, just minus a set number.

I wouldn’t be against 3D printed pieces, as long as the STL file for it was also released. I also would not be against HF helmets being used. The thought of being able to add a new mask to my kanohi collection is exciting! Essentially, I’d be fine with a new set as long as it could actually be built, and that the instructions to build it are official.

For instance, while I think Miserix is a good set, I hate that I don’t have official instructions so I can’t add his mask to my kanohi collection.

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Miserix is a giant dragon man though, I don’t think he has a dedicated mask

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I am indifferent to whether this contest moves forward or not. I like the idea in that it will introduce more community-driven content and participation.

However, I’m also in agreement that it’s too long to resume adding more canonization because people have cemented their own headcanon. I worry that it’ll fall into the same spiral as other franchises (Star Wars, Overwatch, Halo, etc.) in continuing the canon will invalidate community participation and investment when the canon took long lulls between updates when there was little interaction with the community.

A point that I feel I need to point out with the 3D-printed parts is you will need to watch out to ensure you get all the permissions granted. Will fall into a chase where you may have gotten permission from the modeler, but the part will originally have been drawn by another artist.

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Right but the actual figure doesn’t have a mask to collect because it’s a giant dragon man

Yes, System, CCBS and 3D-printed parts should definitely be allowed, creativity shouldn’t be restrained.
My question is, if we like an already existing art/MOC can we vote for it ?

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Well, I prefer that there be parity between lore and the build as much as possible, so it matters to me. I think having masks that all plug into the same system is more aesthetically pleasing. Plus, almost all of those masks you mentioned are either mutated, shape-shifted, or both. The 03 Kraahkan attaches like a normal mask, and the Inika heads and masks are supposed to be a facsimile of their heads shining brightly. I’m not a fan of Hewkii’s mask. Also, if a mask doesn’t attach the normal way, then you can’t put it on another character without changing its head too.

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Bionicle G1 desperately needs a continuation.
LEGO story driven series are getting more and more childlish and there is nothing left for older fans. Bionicle was a dark fantasy with a world that allowed us to show our creativity. Ninjago and Chima had their own charm, but about creativity… there wasn’t too much place for combiners and MOC. World was a bit too closed to involve child’s imagination in such extent like Bio did.

G2 was a great chance to change it, but instead of repeating G1 success, it has been taken from us after only two years of boring story with characters that weren’t as good as original. World wasn’ts so intriguing, villains weren’t so frightening…
But one thing G2 made properly were sets. As you can see, new CCBS system hadn’t too much different parts, but year or two more and it could get as good as in original Bio. Look how better were 2016 sets that second wave of Hero Factory. CCBS was evolving and cancelation of G2 made it almost dead. Now only old fans of G1 are left to explore new posobilities granted by this system.
And it proves that Bionicle was always the most enganging the imagination series made by LEGO.
Now, we’re getting close to 20th anniversary of the series, so it’s a proper time to show LEGO that they have to give Bionicle third chance. Look, G3 could be a continuation of G1 story, but on Spherus Magna. New fans will get a new world, and old fans will recognize old characters facing new enemy. There are still characters like Velika or The Shadowed One, these stories should be continued.
So, this initiative must get a green light ^^

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Random idea for the past-MOCs issue that might not work at all: perhaps some contests could have a retroactive deadline? So the contest has x months until voting over however many rounds, during which a set must be built/finalised/updated, but the overall design of any specific past-tense contender can have been posted within no more than x years of the contest beginning? This would soften the blow to newer creators, I think, though would require yet more moderation and could be terribly impractical.

I think new creativity should be prioritised in general to be honest. It levels the playing field, but I know that some people feel really strongly about having the ability to put forth their best work too. I don’t think either camp should be excluded but I’m inclined to protect the prior far more, for reasons better said by others. I should be clear about my inherent bias as a member of that prior group, of course.

Additionally, I’m with @Dorek that I’d prefer multi-winner contexts, perhaps to flesh out the remaining Rahi/Dark Hunters/Orderdudes/Agori and so on, but there are still some amazing single-character contests that I’d love to see done well, like Johmak, Varian, Nikila, Lariska, That One With The Arms… Ladies’ night, basically!


I like the idea that has been floated (assuming all is well on the legal front) that there could be a set “allowance” of custom parts. One or two, perhaps, but always the option to include none at all, because (imo) this contest should allow everyone to participate with their at-home buckets’n’drawers even if the winner or winners probably used bricklink at some stage. This would allow a custom part or two to be used in the set, likely used for the mask or weapon but possibly for something else cool. I’d also be happy restricting it to masks, and I’d be perfectly fine not allowing them at all.

To me, there’s no set that really needs custom parts, given the wealth of constraction pieces, helmets, masks, System detailbits and so forth that we’ve had over the last ten years, but I acknowledge that some may prefer to use an entirely custom mask for an un-represented kanohi power, or an entirely custom weapon. It’s a new form of art, and I like that, so I’m softening on this issue that I was initially against.

Besides custom parts, I know that some don’t like the idea of using newer LEGO parts for masks, even if they look right, but I personally don’t agree with the top-of-head/front-of-head issue unless it’s very clear for story purposes that the mask isn’t a mask (as with, say, the HF lion/eagle/rhino helms). It’s just not relevant to the set representation for me, because we’ve only seen a tiny percentage of the possible physiology of GSR inhabitants and a huge variation just within that. Even if you disagree there, the G2 masks alone arguably work more like masks are described in the G1 story than G1 set masks do (unless Tahu had to eat an axle at some point). In that vein, the G2 heads are just as much like the G1 heads as the Metru heads are like the Mata heads.

I don’t agree with Hordika/Inika/Mistika as good examples of my point because they’re explicitly mutated/weirdos/mutated, but some seem to see that as proof enough. Varian’s inorganic Calix is, in fact, an example of an possible exception to my assumption. It maybe should be shown mainly through a custom part, if it is generally agreed that it should look similar to Jaller’s and obviously a different colour. Even then, Lewa 2015’s golden mask looks like it could fit for a regional variant, to me. (I don’t think that Varian should have to be a Metru build; she’s not even from the same team as Norik originally.)

Of course, I’m still very against purchased bootlegs that support opportunistic competitors to LEGO because something something hand that feeds us something something legal issues, but mostly because it’s not something designed by the community. This, I feel, is the thing that distinguishes custom masks from other bootlegs for our purposes, even if they technically… are that.


Thanks for the response!

I do agree with that point specifically, but Greg is only “wrong” as far as he as a person contradicts what is already canon as per the story team as a whole, or someone with authority (like himself) says he is. These issues don’t seem so relevant here, and allowing another version of a previously-drawn character in MOC form seems no worse than canonising the comic portrayal of a character that we have a contrasting set for (as was the case with Jaller Inika’s swords and Nuparu Mahri’s aqua blaster blade).

In this case, certainly, he’d only be following the community consensus as far as the community as a whole wants its point to be made. It wouldn’t be whim and any canon mishaps would be likely be caught prior to it appearing on his proverbial desk.

The data/viewership point I made was based primarily on the fact that I thought you had the authority to be speaking for BS01 as a whole, which, to be fair, you heavily implied/stated that you were (unless you often refer to yourself in the plural). Scepticism can be a powerful tool but, frankly, that’s not what “draw some hard lines” means or implies. It sounded very much like you (and BS01, before @Swert’s comment clarified the matter) were taking an immediate, reactionary stance to disallow certain depictions even if the consensus and Greg Farshtey (and thus all the canon we really have access to) was going to allow them. That’s all that came across as arrogant, and I do appreciate that it wasn’t intended as such.

I really, really appreciate BS01 as a resource and as part of the community that held things together in the “dark times”, but, to extend that metaphor, I’m pretty sure Takua would have been laughed out of Ta-Koro if he had started saying that he’d only transcribe the Kolhii results if the teams matched his criteria for “playing well”.

…If that makes any sense at all. I’m not trying to be overly pedantic, and I hope that’s clear; I just want things to be apparent to all concerned, and to know that our chroniclers will chronicle whatever is decided to be canon at the end of the day. I do appreciate that you’re being careful, but it’s okay to take a hop of faith now and then.

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Kek, you are literally ignoring my position and calling my attitude badly-motivated. I am not assuming.

I have considered the possibility that the contest winners would be absolutely baller. Again, this just begs the question, why would they be less baller if they weren’t canon? I think that they wouldn’t, with the added benefit that it would not impose a canon interpretation on anyone who might not be on board with it. That is the calculation that I made, and it is a valid one. It does not make me close-minded. I am trying to be conscientious towards people, like myself, who do not feel the need to canonize MOCs when there is ample, ample fanon work in the community to fill the gap.

I have done the best that I can to present the logical reasoning behind my decision. I have nothing more to offer you if you are not willing to engage with it. I am happy to address critiques of my argument, but I am no longer going to respond to accusations that my motivations are less virtuous than yours, which you cannot prove.