THIS TOPIC
YOU, @Winger, HAVE PUT INTO WORDS WHAT I HAVE BEEN THINKING FOR LITERALLY WEEKS
THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR MAKING THIS TOPIC
To be honest, I think there’s lots of different reasons why people can’t let Bionicle go. You can make the argument that it’s a unique concept, “robots” in an organic setting, and several people have. And that’s a fair argument. One could also make the argument that that setting is used in
Horizon Zero Dawn
Breath of the Wild
Obduction
and others, I’m sure.
For others, it’s a compelling story about a hero who has no memory of their past, but is guided towards saving the world to fulfil their destiny; set in an expansive world filled with a myriad of different races with lore galore.
Hello Hollow Knight.
For some it’s fun toys to play around with, and that’s perfectly fair (I miss constraction too), but when you really break it down,
how different are these from a Bionicle set?
My point is that you can find Bionicle in other places, and will continue to see Bionicle in other places. So why do we care so much about Bionicle? I have the belief that it’s because of lack of closure. And not just with the story.
2010 saw a rather unexpected and frankly rushed ending to the franchise, and IMO from a set perspective was not the greatest sendoff to Bionicle. 2011 saw the serials fizzle into oblivion as Greg became unable to write. 2014 came and fans hyped themselves up for something that could never live up to their expectations, and inevitably those hopes were dashed in 2015. 2016, the line was again canceled suddenly and without warning. 2018, we saw the death of constraction with retailers literally refusing to buy Star Wars sets that would not sell.
Bionicle fans have never gotten a true ending. Nothing that felt like, “alright, we can end it here.” And I don’t think we ever will.
I’m going to say something probably controversial, but hear me out.
Bionicle is dead.
And that’s okay.
Like, everyone always talks about keeping Bionicle alive. Why? We don’t need new Bionicle content to be Bionicle fans. We can still look back and say “hey that was pretty neat,” while appreciating other stuff. We can like other games, other books, other toys, because they remind us of Bionicle. I just listed a bunch of things that I like (sans Horizon, haven’t actually played that one) because they remind me of Bionicle, consciously or subconsciously. We don’t need to tether ourselves to something we’ll likely never see (in a way we like) ever again.
I’m not saying the Bionicle community should dissolve, or even that we should stop talking about Bionicle, because we’re still fans and always will be. I just think that we can stop being militant about bringing it back. We don’t need new Bionicle. We just gotta look for the Bionicle in other places.