The Blind Praise of Bionicle

I think the main problem is that the fandom never had a reason to look at Bionicle critically, because for all of us it ended when we were kids. Yeah we still remembered Bionicle, but we didn’t think about it really. We were more focused on “keeping it alive” then looking back critically. Now do I think TTV is to for blame this? No more than any other fan in my opinion.

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Was Bionicle cool? Yes.
Was it without any flaws? No.
Is it still an enjoyable and fun line? Yes

That’s basically how I feel about this. I know Bionicle isn’t perfect, no form of entertainment is, no matter how much you want to believe it. Random example: I know some people who act like the Original Star Wars Trilogy was perfect and ignore any kind of critique they have, mainly because most people grew up watching those movies (myself included, A New Hope was one of the first movies I ever watched) But the truth is those problems still exist. But they don’t ruin the experience. Just because you notice that Luke has a couple awkward lines doesn’t make the overall movie bad, it just means you noticed more issues since the time you watched then as a kid. Bionicle is very much in the same boat as Star Wars especially for me personally, it’s awesome and I have a lot of attachment to it, but it isn’t perfect either. (Though tbh, Star Wars has less problems than Bionicle from a story standpoint)

As for saying TTV just worships G1, I can’t agree. They’ve been critical in a relatively fair way.

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Perhaps this went unnoticed. I do not, under these circumstances, have any reason to defend the sets and their design. G1 or G2, for that matter. That is not where my debate lies, and I will not respond to anything else directed at me regarding them.

As far as I’m concerned, G1 and G2 are on equal footing for the sets. In my opinion, G2 had higher “high points” (2015 Toa, a few of the 2016 Toa, Umarak, ect.) and lower “low points” (2015 villains, 2016 villains, LoSS, the Creatures, ect.). In the end, for me, they balance out I guess.

If I compare it to almost every other LEGO IP in existence? Yes.

I’ll drop any charades here. I no longer get the engagement and joy out of G1 that I used to. That’s to be expected. I’ve moved on, created my own entire universes and stories inspired by BIONICLE but not made by them. I hope it’s clear here that I admit all biases.

What I do retain as best I can, is a level of objectivity when I compare the stories. While it is an unfair comparison because of run time, it is a comparison nonetheless. I will not lower my standards simply because G2 didn’t get the same timing that its predecessor did. If I take and individually list each thing, I know I’ll be met with that exact argument of “2 years compared to 10,” so you’ll have to forgive me for forgoing that particular exercise in futility :stuck_out_tongue:

However, this debate has made me reconsider my opinion from a slightly different standpoint. Stubborn, I may be, but thickheaded I am not. As such, I’ll be rephrasing my statement regarding a continuation of BIONICLE.

I still don’t want a G3. No thank you.
But, if you proposed a continuation of G2 - to give it the chance that G1 got - maybe it still wouldn’t be for me. It may never be for me again. Such is the passage of time. But I see no reason to blindly argue against giving future generations the same joy I got out of BIONICLE.

~Eko/rak.

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I wasn’t talking about your points with the bit about fragile parts, it was just an example of an objective flaw.

Ah. My apologies for the misunderstanding.

This reminds me of some really old topic about Solek from back when the boards were new:


Let’s rephrase his statement, then: objectively, most parents buy the sets for their kids, and many kids buy them, simply because, to these people, they’re subjectively cool-looking robots. This is an objective fact.
Whether it’s true or not, I leave to you all to say.

~W12~

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My apologies if this is a little unfocused.

My only question is why would a child complain, or even contemplate things like:

Now I interpret the first half of your argument as being your reasoning on why you see some aspects of Bionicle as flawed, but it contradicts your statement that Bionicle is meant for children.

As @Ekorak said, there’s very little room for objectivity that stems from a viewpoint of Bionicle born of being older and able to appreciate for being more than a toy. [quote=“Chilly, post:1, topic:32276”]
I ask you to explain why Bionicle is so great
[/quote]

Kids would find it great because frankly it’s a toy. For a lot of people, a toy they grew up with. There may be objective flaws in Bionicle, and believe me there are a lot, but it’s not realistic to ask a community of primarily Bionicle fans to say why they think it’s great without nostalgia being a factor.

Now for this statement:

This is a subjective statement, things that also have fans that give blind praise.

Blind praise exists, for sure. But I don’t really see a need to attempt to change people’s mind about it. People will like Bionicle despite its flaws if they want to, for any reason they want to.
####I feel this is basically a complaint about nostalgia, and frankly I see a rejection of nostalgia as a rather dull viewpoint on life. Of course we blindly praise the things we grew up with because it reminds us of simpler times where everything doesn’t have to be critical. If you go through life re-examining every aspect of something from your childhood, you’re going to see flaws. But that doesn’t mean we should do that, because then what’s the use of remembering anything you’ve enjoyed.

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That was under a month ago…

@Joe @Chilly

So, uhh… Do we get any replies? =P

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I feel like Eljay is sitting back on this debate with a bucket of popcorn.

Scratch that, all of TTV is sitting back with a bucket of popcorn. :stuck_out_tongue:

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We fight for their amusement… :stuck_out_tongue:

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Well, right now this seems like a bickering match between you and Chilly, and I want to actually get those accusations addressed, so… yeah. =P

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Well, it kinda is. Which I suppose is my fault, but if it leads to amusement and some good conversation, I’m all for it :stuck_out_tongue:

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I’m not interested in a topic made to start an argument between two people that is getting heated and could very easily be held in private. Got a beef? Take it to PC. But I like the concept. I do not, however, like being ignored.

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I wouldn’t say blind praise, at least for me personally. I enjoyed both generations of Bionicle knowing that they had their flaws. These flaws never really ruined my enjoyment, not when I was younger and not even now. I understand that nostalgia can cloud one’s judgement and can be bad if someone calls other people out for having their own opinions and even simply pointing out undeniable weaknesses in the toyline, but to me, I enjoy the nostalgic feeling from Bionicle and made sure I was respectful to others who aren’t as “blind” as I am. I do my best to remind myself that Bionicle isn’t perfect, but I still enjoy it. There hasn’t been much in Bionicle that ruined anything for me.

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oi!

that’s subjective, not objective.

what one finds to be a “cool” mech design isn’t something that everyone else finds to be cool.

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'specially since we were explicitly called out in the intro post. I want to start a dialogue about that.

-Mesonak

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Sorry about that

I wasn’t really sure what exactly to say in response to the TTV comment. In retrospect, it was incorrect, and I do apologize for that.

My lack of response wasn’t intended as a display of ignoring anyone, I just couldn’t really think of anything to reply with.

I apologize deeply to the members of TTV regarding this:

In retrospect, I probably should have removed that comment while editing the original post.

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No need to apologize. It’s an interesting conversation to have, just not all that factually sound in relation to us. :stuck_out_tongue:

-Mesonak

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Thank you, although I do appreciate the topics concept.

@Chilly Your turn.

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