I think the biggest mistake Lego made with the G2 Bionicles is that they didn't expect their audience to be able to handle the mature story line. G2's story and art were all dumbed down a LOT.

Looking back a couple years later, I still believe its 100% Lego's fault for not having an organized push. They were expensive, had no real villains to fight, and there was no story to make us care about them. I love those sets and still hold onto them but it's still an awful line in every way except the sets. They had hinted at a deeper story, at having half of the Vahi and connecting it to G1 and every Bionicle fan was so hyped. Hell most people have memories with Bionicle in some way. But Lego had no idea how to market it. I feel like if they brought it back NOW instead of in 2015 it could be so much better. I think they've learned so much from Ninjago and could apply that to Bionicle

Bionicle G1: Saved the Lego company Bionicle G2: Almost destroyed the Lego company Oh the irony...

Another factor that could've played into bionicle's cancellation was that Bionicle wasn't advertised as much as products like Ninjago, or and Nexo Knights, and then because of that, kids wouldn't care as much, they didn't know how this line would be like and they didn't have the slightest clue what they'd play like, for all they knew, they were just up scaled Lego products

"now its time for you to make new legends. for that is the way, of the bionicle" -Turaga Vakama october 11, 2005. that quote will always keep me with the bionicle community. i will always make new legends

there is always the high chance where a certain young somebody will stumble across Bionicle "hmm what's this Bionicle thing? better check it out" 1 hour later "GRAVITY HURTS!!"

IMO I think they dumbed it down too much. The mystery isn't there and it doesn't cause kids to wonder and get curious. They also made it too simple, little kids love a good plot just like anyone else. I also wish they didn't get rid of the kanohi mask idea, it gave each character a unique power.

Why, oh, why, isn't Bionicle in Lego Dimensions!? That is EXACTLY what it needed!

I think that Lego should try at Bionicle again but this time market it at older teens or adult audience and make the figures more complex and the story more mature.

I think that G2 would have fared a lot better if they'd given us a consistent format with which to read/watch the story. A lot of us are in our twenties now, so it's easy for us to find out where these things are, but kids have less attention. If they can't find something in about ten minutes, they'll likely give up - and if they were originally learning the storyline from the web animations only to find out they need Netflix for JTO, that'd be an instant turn off. I don't understand why they didn't put as much effort into the promotion as they do with other series. Bionicle should have been a shoe-in for a cartoon network show or something because it already had that existing fan base. If they'd had a constant cartoon they could watch and really get into the characters and world, I'm almost certain the sets would have sold far better.

The whole "CCBS has ruined Bionicle" argument is the same as the argument that the new Titans Return figures from Transformers ruin the characters because some of them weren't originally Headmasters

I don’t know how other kids my age didn’t get into bioncle g2. I was 9 when it released and I fell in love at first sight

is it ironic that the two big flops for the sets were both Scorpions?

The reason Gen 2 never appealed to me wasn't CCBS. It was the immature, simpler story. I never liked original bionicle for the toys, I liked it for the books and films. The wierd, odd feel of gen 2 just never clicked with me.

G2 is a lot like Mighty No. 9. G2 just doesn't feel like the team or Lego themselves really understood what made G1 so successful, and instead played it incredibly safe. It was mismanaged, misguided, and sought to succeed through pure nostalgia and hype rather than being something capable of standing on its own as a true reboot. I don't hate G2 but I see it's (many) flaws and how much wasted potential is there. In some ways it feels rushed, as all the designs are fairly uniform and samey, instead of drastic and unique like the underwater line from G1, of which the name escapes me. G2 needed more funding, better marketing, more passion, and more risks taken, instead of a safe, samey and somewhat generic series that has about as much depth as No Man's Sky.

I think the biggest problems in G2 were the lack of intimidating villains, lack of combiners and the story itself was given in only few places. The illustrated books were good, but they weren't available world wide, and only so many people will bother with over seas ordering. And with the lack of good combiners for the Toas and other creatures, LEGO shot themselves financially in the foot. Still though, I can see why this would be difficult with the CCBS.

It was a mistake to rely on older fans to hype the line and then give the older fans nothing to get hyped about. It makes me wonder what it could have been like if they went for a radically different strategy: to rely on people like us to generate the revenue. Bionicle has always been about story first for me and, I suspect, many others. When I looked (not very hard, admittedly), I didn't see that in G2 Bionicle. Imagine if Lego had... - made a hard commitment to comics, novels, enc.; - limited marketing; - limited distribution, possibly to online-only. We all would have bought them, and so would the young un's exposed to us. It would be a much smaller commitment for Lego, certainly, but it might have been profitable, and it likely would have developed a more reliable customer-base.

When I was a little kid back in the early 2000's, I was never really interested in Bionicle (Except for the Barraki that came out in 2007, I LOVED them and used to play the Barraki game on the Lego website all the time.), but after seeing your big grand finale Lego Rewind video on Bionicle, I found it so inspiring that I actually made a bunch of playable races based on different Bionicle species (Toa, Piraka, Barraki, Bohrok, etc.) for my homebrew D&D setting.

I think it would be cool if we got a mature G1 bionicle movie for once. With on-screen deaths, mature dialogue and voice acting, stuff like that. And it wouldn't even feel out of place, because that would pretty much be an accurate representation of the written Bionicle media. Mature, but as accessible to kids as Star Wars. The Ignition Trilogy is the perfect setting.

This was a very fascinating video. I used to be into Bionicle when I was very young. From what I understand, I was in the Toa line or something? I had all the figures in the picture at 12:13 in the video. I loved them and even had a book called "Bionicle Chronicles #1: Tale of the Toa" with the red one surfing on lava. Man, when I was a kid that was the coolest shit in the world. My favorite was always the white one, because I liked his eyepiece and the shield on his hand was cool to play around with. Just thinking about it sends a wave of nostalgia through my body. Eventually I just forgot Bionicle even existed. I thought they stopped making them, which might feed into your argument that it wasn't marketed aggressively enough. I'm sure there were millions of people just like me that thought Bionicle was dead, and of course children would pick the star wars sets instead of this random action figure line they know nothing about. If I was still a kid, I'd probably do the same thing. It is kinda depressing that Bionicle seems to have ended this way, since they always looked like cool action figures to me. I'm considering finding the old Toa action figures and collecting them to relive some childhood memories. Would you say it's worth collecting other lines of Bionicle? I never really understood why people are still into them so I'm genuinely curious.

To put it simply, in order for Bionicle to be a success it needs three things. Sets, story and marketing. Without sets, people won't get into the story because the sets are normally what introduces people. Without story, people won't care about the sets - sure, that Tahu guy looks cool, but *who is he*? Generally how it goes is people get a Bionicle set, and the story gets them hooked and leads them to buy more sets. Without story people don't get hooked and thus lose interest. Without marketing people won't even know about the sets, and thus also won't get hooked by the story and characters. G1 was marketed and promoted like crazy, it was even on toothbrushes, but not many people really knew about G2 because LEGO pretty much didn't advertise it at all. G2 only had one of the three important factors, that being good sets. Hopefully if there is a Generation 3 LEGO remembers these factors and incorporates all three of them like they did in G1.

I think what Bionicle would need is, not just marketing that's important too. But, I would personally like to see a new Bionicle movie, not a tv movie or a straight to DVD movie, but a theatrical movie like what they did with the Lego movie. Giving it the same quality and care like the Lego movie. Obviously it can be a little bit more serious and action packed, but it can still keep some of the comedy too. The story could be built around the newer generation of bionicles with the older generation, so that they could please the older and younger fans of Bionicle; or they could just focus on one team. If the marketing was good and the film gets critically praised, then that could be a big boost to the Bionicle line. That's just an idea.

What they really needed was those awesome commercials that told their own story again like with G1. They always felt like mini movies or trailers watching them and they always got me hyped to at least learn about them even at the point where I was convinced that I was too old for toys and transitioned to games. I still remember the commercials for Baraki, Inka, Borok, and of course Piraka. Those made the toys so much more appealing. And especially in the age of mobile devices, they could have focused on that tenfold and plastered them as ads on social media. If they used those cheap comic book/flash cartoons back in G1, it definitely wouldn’t have brought in as many fans.

"constraction isn't going anywhere" *two years of slightly awkward and overpriced star wars figures later*

Personally I was never a huge fan of the look of the G2 sets, but not because of the CCBS part system, just because they looked... too smooth and too bright. I think that if they ever do a G3 they should introduce more intricately detailed CCBS parts with lots of pistons, gears, and holes to give it that classic mechanical look, but keep the same overall building system. You do see some elements of that in some of the G2 sets, but they get drowned out by all the repurposed hero factory parts that form the bulk of each set. The overabundance of silver, gold, and translucent parts doesn't really help either, and I think there instead ought to have been darker or paler colors to accentuate all the bright hues, which was commonly done in G1. The real problem with G2, though, was the story, or lack thereof. The only named characters were the toa, Makuta, akimu, and a tiny handful of the villain sets they released. Every other character had an incredibly generic name like "protector of [element]" or "creature of [element]" or "skull [monster]", etc. I mean, the "protectors" in the first wave didn't just all have the same name, they all had the same mask. Basically the only difference between sets were the colors. And yeah, G1 had this problem sometimes especially in the earlier years and especially with the villains, but it was never even close to as bad as G2 consistently was. The almost complete absence of any story whatsoever is clearly the real reason G2 failed, and if they ever try to reboot it again I hope they at least try to make it marginally interesting.

After 5 years of hoping for the best, bionicle hasn’t come back yet, but I still think that someday in the distant future we will finally have bionicle again.. we just need to wait.

Bionicle=Lego=Kids Bionicle=K̶i̶d̶s̶ If: BIonicle=Anything that isn't a kids toy=old fans=new fans=everyone is happy=$$$ Bionicle anime, I'm waiting.

I really never even thought it failed. I only hear good things about it...

I think Bionicle can survive. It's just that it wasn't executed properly. In fact, I know Bionicle can survive. I think Lego needs to show off the fan-made Bionicles again. That's what really got me into them. When I used to get a set as a kid, I'd build the set, play with it for a few months, then take it apart and build a new one. I remember there used to be a little booklet or something they sold that had a bunch of fan creations showcased, and I thought, "That's really cool! I want to build something like that!" And so I did. I got into Bionicle, and I made my own figures and I loved it. That's something Lego needs to understand.

Love the sass level in this video :) I loved G1 and G2, and my biggest Gripe is that the finals sets aren't coming to Asia/Oceania so I had to deal with the LEGO Store's mad shipping to get them! (And no Makuta set :'( ) Great video!

Honestly, the fact that G1 didn't get a legit animated series like G2 did continues to baffle me. Also, since we're bringing-up the Transformers franchise, didn't that also have a much less successful "G2" after the more "beloved" "G1?"...

Even though this video was released years ago, I still find the statements in this video to be relevant. The thought of the cancellation still saddens me and it is always great to revisit this video. I loved the Bionicle theme and I happened to be introduced to the theme with g2. I remember how I was one of the individuals that only built with system pieces and found the concepts of Bionicle to be boring until I had the Tahu master of fire set in hand at a friend's house. After playing around with one set, I loved the Bionicle theme and I soon found out about Bionicle g1. I quickly fimiliarized myself with both g1 and g2 and Bionicle instantly became my favorite Lego theme. I only hope that one of the Lego Ideas projects becomes a set just to at least own a new Bionicle set.

In my opinion the lack of marketing is what killed G2. I remember loads of great G1 Bionicle commercials back in the day but barely anything of G2 aside from the 2015 animations and the Journey to One.

I'm 15 and I just bought a new bionicle set from 2005 in 2021 and I love it. I'm just sad lego isn't really making any new constraction sets as those are the only legos sets I actually enjoy and even bionicle g2 is like $40 USD on ebay these days. 😢

Reminder that those damn 14k gold masks didn't help at all.

The Stages of Loss: Shock: I HAVE FRIGHT!!!! Denial: I'm not experiencing denial, because it's NOT ENDING. Bargaining: Come on Lego, if you keep Bionicle going I'll make it worth your while. How's 50 dollars and a bootlegged copy of The Room sound? Guilt: IT WAS ALL MY FAULT! WHY???????? Anger: Hey World: FUCK OFF! Depression: (sits in room half-naked for 3 days straight listening to Green Day and disregards work schedule) Acceptance: Welp, the world is fucked. Had to happen sometime.

I feel as long as theirs fans of bionicle it won’t ever leave. We have over 12 years of bionicle sets. We got the barraki, piraka, rahshki, and just so many other lines to still collect any obsess over. I finally just got super fixated on bionicle again and I can’t get enough of it. I loved it back in 2007 when I got my first bionicle and god I love it now. I didn’t even know what the piraka were fully until recently. I feel great just looking back on all this nostalgia for this theme I had so long ago now. Right now I’m ready to just collect all the sets that I can starting with the barraki and I hope that LEGO will bring back the theme one day.

Ok I have quoted shit like this before, but here we go. CCBS system is good, but Lego haven't expose alot of unique styles from their recent sets. CCBS sets only feels unique if it doesn't maintain it "spam parts" (ex: 2.0 HF feets). The value of price-per-piece of the set is not worth compared to recent sets, Black Phantom (Better Fire Lord clone) has more value than 2015 Tahu, sure Tahu has more play value and have 1 extra "exclusive part" but he has the same price as BP, a 20$ set and maintain more parts. I wouldn't call this lazy, *just cheap due to plastic/oil demand*. I will say 2016 was an inprovement, but it was too late to grab consumers attentions.

Nick, I have always enjoyed your BIONICLE-related videos because you do such an amazing job at analyzing every important piece of information, and you've done it again with this video! You hit the nail on the head with everything you said, from why BIONICLE G2 failed, to the problems within the fanbase, to what is likely to happen in the future. Oh, and that JTO ending you came up with would've been much better than what we got! As much as it pains me to say this, I think LEGO should abandon BIONICLE as a theme all together. It had its time and place and even helped make LEGO the success it is today, but those times are over. Now, it just doesn't appeal to the consumers of today, and that's the sad yet plain truth. With that said though, I will always love BIONICLE and will always be a fan of it. Even though G2 ended on such an insulting note, it still let me and many fans relive our childhoods one last time. BIONICLE is more than just a toy line, but an idea, and one that has and will continue to inspire so many people. I keep on quoting Christian Faber in nearly ever video about G2's ending that I comment on, but what he said just sums it up greatly: "Products discontinue. Legends survive."

I saw this video when it came out and I've kept watching it periodically ever since, and it's become more and more cautionary and wise as the years have gone by.

What i miss the most in the newer bionicle is the change away from the more mechanical "feel" as seen in the older sets I didn't mind the new lines coming out, they were just not for me so I didnt buy them I just hope that when (or if) G3 ever happens, that lego can strike that chord with newer and older fans alike, however that may be done

If they were banking on our nostalgia to sell their merchandise, then they should have brought back and continued G1, old Technic parts and all. Not this CCBS soft-reboot/re-hash. Edit: Also, what really sold G1 was the epic story and world LEGO and Greg Farshtey created. G2’s story was weak and the world was bland, and LEGO never gave it an outlet of any significance, no novels, comics, or TV shows, until Netflix picked it up, but they started by making the 3rd chapter and it SUCKED on every level: pacing, animation, and characters.

If bionicle comes back it will probably be a lego store exclusive

I would've bought more sets but I had to use my money on more important things. Then if I had the money most of the sets didn't appeal to me. Not because of CCBS but because I just didn't like their designs and play features.

Well, this might just be me but... When you were talking about kids needed a knowledge of these characters to buy the sets I remembered that back when I was a kid... I didn't. Everytime I saw Bionicles I just wanted to buy them because they looked cool, and I remember seeing the movies and games in the store too and having no interest in them. I remember that for a good time, I had the first 6 Bionicles, and for some reason I assumed that Blue, White and Green were the good guys while Red, Brown and Black were the bad guys, only to later find out that not only weren't tey enemies based on their colors, but actually all 6 I had were the bad guys!! And now, for all I remember, every time I bought a new Bionicle, I just made up my own story for it, I even remember I bought one of the scuba diving ones (or however they were called, sorry) and just... Said it was War Machine, yes, Marvel's War Machine, because back then I had no idea War machine wasn't a robot but another guy in a suit. Which reminds me that, yeah, I didn't even know Bionicles weren't robots themselves. The very last one I ever got was a big LIMITED EDITION one that I simply saw in the store and wanted instantly, regardless of what his supposed story in the canon is, I remember that after getting it my uncle asked me about it because my little cousin wanted one just like it, for the very same reason! (It was this one, by the way vignette1.wikia.nocookie.net/lego/images/3/3a/8953_Makuta_Icarax.jpg/revision/latest?cb=20091008131358 maybe now I can know a bit of its actual story?) Even now, whenever I watched your video reviews I always saw those figures and wanted to get them because of how bad ass they look (Though I never got around to buy any and I regret it now, though I'm not really sure if I can afford it anyway) although I never really cared about the actual story behind them. I guess where I'm going is that the story wasn't really that big of a factor, I wasn't the only kid who didn't care about the lore of these figures. I don't really think that was really the big fault of these sets. It's just that times changed, you say it was wrong to market towards nostalgia but, I don't think there's actually any other market for these things now. Look at things like the new Powerpuff Girls or whatever other cartoon reboot is going on, the kids aren't actually paying attention to them, only the fans of the original do (Well, maybe Powerpuff Girls wasn't the best example since fans hate the new one but... You get my point) Yes, I know, there are exceptions to that like Star Wars as you mentioned, or even Pokemon now with the whole Pokemon Go thing going on, but they're exceptions. I think what Bionicle should do is market itself not as a mainstream toy franchise, but as a niche one. It shouldn't produce it's toys in a mass level for kids but in a lesser one for those actually interested. Pretty much like most action figures do now. I know that's not really the way Lego works, and there's probably some economical issue I'm unaware of that could work against the idea, but so far I think it'd be the best choice. If not though, then Bionicle should reinvent itself into something nowaday kids would like, the question is how much it'd need to change without turning into something else.

Ah yes, back to my annual viewing of this video.

I owe you a MASSIVE thank you, Nick. It's because of you that I got into this generation of Bionicle in the first place. I loved the story, including every second of Journey to One. I bought all of the sets and loved them just as much. Heck, Bionicle even helped me get through a year-long depression. I have no idea where I would be without both Christ and Bionicle Gen 2. And I have you to thank for the latter. Thanks for the many hours of fun, man. God bless.

A big mistake was releasing “The Journey To One” on Netflix, as not a lot of people had Netflix in smaller countries, and the kids never saw it. I believe if it was released on Cartoon Network, it would’ve gained more popularity, just like Ninjago did back in the day.

A good way they could try to revive bionicle is by starting with a decent tv show And a mcdonalds lego promotion Like with the matoran of old And after a half year release release a full figure line with a interactive media component Creating a interest towards the line before it even starts Yes i know it would be a big investment for lego and not that logical for a company like lego

So everything G2 did screwed the entire Bionicle franchise. Lol nice job LEGO.

This was actually the first episode of your channel that I saw. And also I love your alternate ending for the journey to one I'm also a huge Bionicle fan and I'm sad that its gone. But I'm hopeful for g3.

I've been waiting to see Nick's perspective on this. He always makes a good case for things.

Watching this again and man is it sad. I think everyone's feelings at the time were collectively just your mom telling you she's not angry, just "disappointed". What I wish lego would see is that action figures are becoming more of a collectible for adults as kids lean more towards going on ma and pa's ipad. Maybe they don't have to bring the story of bionicle back necessarily, but as many more of the kids who grew up with the original bionicle get their own disposable income, in this nostalgic centric market it wouldn't be a bad idea to do a limited re-release of the original Tahu set or something to that extent. Maybe even like what transformers has and have a "Masterpiece" line (much like Ninjago).

I remember about a month ago when I was looking for some LEGO sets to buy at my local Toys R Us, and when I saw the Bionicle section, my heart sank as I witnessed *many* of the 2015 Winter wave sets *still* being on store shelves. I mean, this had to be overstocking, it just had to, or so that's what I thought. Hearing that Bionicle was cancelled makes me sad, especially seeing how great the line turned out to be. Yeah, not everyone likes the CCBS system, but the way Bionicle G2 used it was incredible. They used the system in creative ways, and it made buying the sets worth it. It's a shame that the potential for later waves won't be coming. Still, for the short amount of time G2 was around, I'd say it was worth it just to see Bionicle modernized one last time, and I'd say it turned out well. Unity, Duty, and Destiny. That is the way of the Bionicle, and regardless if it comes back again, I'll always hold the Bionicle theme to heart. Thank you for giving this property a chance again, LEGO, even if it didn't work out.

What G2 had: -Fairly well priced sets -Good sized action figures -Mostly good sets -3 main price points, all of which were cheap enough for anyone to get at least 1 or 2 -Lots of sets -A few books and comics, all of which were good Missing: -Advertising -A proper series early on, with at least 200 minuites of content for bare minimum As anyone can see, the big issue was a lack of easy to access, basically free marketing.

The biggest reasons I can think of why I liked G1 and truely Despised G2 are as follows. 1. G1 started with a much more mature set of themes in mind, the games and stories were engaging, exciting to read and had a good lesson at the end of the day... the toys weren't too complicated and focused more on doing something with them than sticking them on your shelf in a cool pose and then playing some Videogames... 2. G1 while quite a bit darker at times than G2 ever got succeeded in taking it's audience seriously... I felt like the different scenarios and the players in each story were believeable and never failed to keep me interested... However once Maze of Shadows came along, most of the interest I had left because At that point Bionicle had crossed a line it never should have. Yes the Visorak were defeated and yes we got to see how the matoran managed to make it to Mata Nui but along the way the Innocence and fun that had been present in all of Hapka's Books and many of Greg Farshtey's books up till that point had been lost... add to this that I wasn't getting these books for free from my parrents anymore and suddenly you start to see how a decline can happen. And it's not just Bionicle... there comes a point in most ongoing series where the people in charge see their ratings or sales declining and they reach for the stupid pills... After taking a few they tell their people to make things more dramatic so people will want to see next weeks episode or buy the next month's toy line... failing to realize that people watch their stuff or buy their toys to be entertained not rivetted... In the end, adding drama causes a negative feedback loop where viewers start dropping more rapidly so they increase the drama further and further until the final episodes in a series are so dark and different from the first few that you can bearly recognize they're from the same series... Anyone Remember Doctor Quin Medicine Woman? That's a prime example of the Negative Feedback loop law... 3. Hero Factory seemed like a line all too happy and eager to replace Bionicle... they had similar parts and even the Main villain used Hydroxon's mask... The biggest issue was that it felt like a person who goes to a funeral and dances on the casket of the dearly departed... Sure he's the next in line for the family business but that doesn't mean his father's untimely death is something to be mocked. 4. When I look at the G2 sets... even the later ones... I don't see Bionicle... I don't even see hero Factory... what I see is a cheap knock off of Bionicle's legacy... a cash grab and a poorly implemented one at that. The sets just look like the people making them didn't put much thought into making them each unique... I remember when the First Bionicle sets were released back in 2001... back then My parents didn't even like to think about us buying them... but after I showed them the Mata Nui Online Game 2 on Lego's website at the time they softened to the point where I could Buy Gali Nuva... My First Bionicle Set ever. Back then, Not only was Lego putting more effort into their toy's in many respects (Still were doing a lot of painted on pieces vs Disintegrating stickers) they invested more heavilly into making different advertisements and different media that would give you a story to act out with your sets. 5. G2's biggest weakness ties in with Point number 4, in that when I look at the First sets... they don't grab my attention... The G1 Sets were very striking and in many ways intimidating to look at but there was something eeirlly cool about them that made you want to know their story and they buy the books... the G2 sets look very simple and safe... like the characters wouldn't be able to rip up a mountain and throw it at you even if they wanted too... That means even out of the gate they've lost my attention and my interest with it... Sure you can try to make things kid friendly but the original bionicle fed into a totally different set of kids... They were designed off of Technic parts, a toy line that was more hands on and functional once you finished building it... it tyed into the mindset of kids at the time who were still more interested in physical toys than games because computers were very underpowered and you could take your toy's anywhere. In closing I think that if Lego had learned from their first prototype of Bionicle the Throwbots (or Slizers if you're not from the US) They'd have realized that just making a setting for their toys isn't enough... sure you can have a lot of fun but it was the Story that sold Bionicle Toys... not the other way around... and since the Story of G2 was sorely lacking in many ways and felt insulting to see (Skull spiders??? Really???) it was really no wonder it failed so terrribly... If they wanted to make G2 succeed they could have focused more on the following. 1. Making an epic story with paperback or audio books for people to get invested in. 2. Raising the impact each of the opening sets had by a factor of 10 so you don't just walk by the iles... you stop and look at the set because it's staring back at you. 3. Puting a huge amount of effort into making Games that use your sets in them so you can have a toy and a virtual set to play with which is much more imersive than simply playing with a toy... (Unfortunately Virtual has never been Lego's Strong point and while we go wonderful games like Lego Island and it's sequals along with a few Bionicle games over the years... they never tapped the true potential the medium actually possessed and in that manner they lost big time on reaching the current generation of customers who know more about Gaming in many ways than I did as a kid. So... G2... a lesson that looking back at the past and figuring out what made things work as well as what has changed since then is more important than relying on nostalgia to sell a set... That business practice may work for Nintendo but at some point it's going to be even their downfall. Peace. and great job for reading all the way to the bottom :)

You know, I'll always be a gen-oner, and I did dislike the new sets. But still. This pains me. There was always hope in me that the line will eventually spin up, become great and everything. After all, from what it feels I was the only person who liked the whole "magitech" thing of Bionicle. Everybody that I know of always thought that Bionicle should have never been sci-fi, and defend the very first years with everything they have. It feels like an end of an era.

I was and still are a Bionicle fan, but when I heard that Lego was bringing it beck, I about passed out from excitement. I remembered the cool things Bionicle gave me, and the awesome movies, games, stories, and sets. The complication of these sets made me think, and pushed me to build things. But, when the sets actually came out... I lost that drive. It looked too much like Hero Factory, like you mentioned, and the builds were so simple and Laid out, that I did not like the, anymore. I wish that Lego would shove out the Older models again. Just for a little while, and I would literally lose my mind!

This video was amazing. I think anyone whos mind is up in the air over the ending of Bionicle this video will put it all into perspective for them. I'm gonna share it on my FB page, i think it needs to be seen. Also cheers for using my artwork, such a heart warming shout out.

9:21 You know, ever since Star Wars stopped using Ultra build, I haven't seen Lego use the system outside of a few Mocs as well as technic(which uses a completely different building system.) G2's ending didn't help out the construction line, and Lego felt that its time time to pull the plug, or at least make a better building system.

I remembered that when the line was announced, everyone was excited, but after the first wave, they were disappointed, but tried to find the best traits of the figures. Unfortunately, I believe that Lego relied too much on the fans to carry the line rather than appealing them to a younger audience. I don’t think that it failed due to the figures using hero factory parts, but back in 2001, there was no Lego brand that competed with bionicle, aside from a few Star Wars technic sets. When you saw bionicle in the store, you face filled up with happiness and you wanted to buy them. Now, pretty much every Lego brand such as Star Wars offer the same exact thing and to add insult to injury, the lack of advertising caused the line to plummet. They basically had the recipe for disaster that they didn’t bother to see.

As a Bionicle fan since late 2006, I was once again greatly disappointed at the franchise's end. It has meant so much to me in the past 10 years, and it is hard to see it go again. However, it is not the end whatsoever. fans of either generation will continue to make themselves and the franchise known to people. I introduced my brother to bionicle and he has really enjoyed it. When G2 began, he was really excited. There were still new bionicle fans to be made, and it's a shame lego failed to try and reach out to them. REST IN PEACE BIONICLE

I am so sad we didn't get to see the planned 3rd year sets because they said there would be at least three years I was hoping to see $10 villains in the first wave

Does anyone know y the official bionicle website was taken down cause I can't really find a place to read the lore and stuff on it besides wiki

I didn't know that bionicle was canceled 😢😢😢😢😢😢😢😢😢

11:17 "Constraction itself isn't going anywhere. CCBS is still a viable building system that Lego will continue to use in themes like Star Wars." Yeah....about that, 2016 Nick.

What is the name of the first song in the intro? I have heard it for Bionicle many times, and for the life of me I can never find it.

If I may ask, what exactly did you do to minimize the backwards bulk of the gear box? I've been meaning to make some changes to my Toa since while I did like some attributes of the 2015 and 2016 Toa, I can't help but be stuck on the designs they had back in the old days, such as Pohatu being bottom heavy and hunched over.

Bionicle may die. But the legend... never

That was a really good ending you thought up. Ekimu gets depth of character.

One problem/reason that you kind of glossed over was the price of Bionicle G2, all of the Toa Masters and Toa Uniters were either $15 or $20. In G1 the average price of a Toa and the Canister Villians were $10 until 2008 and 2009 when they bumped up to $13 the 2010's Stars were $8. The Price of some of G2's Toa and Canister Villians were the same as the average Titan set like Brutaka, Hydraxon, Makuta Icarx, and Tuma. I don't know if it's because of inflation or if it's more expensive to make CCBS or what but I think that if maybe the Prices were lower than it may have helped because remember kids don't have a whole lot of free cash if any. To a kid that may or may not be receiving an allowance $15 and $20 for the main characters is a lot of money and the total cost to buy all the Toa Masters/Uniters is roughly $105 to $110 which is even more money and that's before tax and not counting the Protectors and Creatures where the cost of 2001-2007 Canister Sets. If they do decide to do a G3, hopefully they do, I think that lowering prices to what they were in G1 would help along with better marketing and promotion and other things.

Not too long ago I went back and looked at a Hero Factory Handbook I bought once. Looking at the G1 builds of the Heros and Villans they still used mostly the same design of parts, in fact the G1 heroes closely resembled our Bionicle G1 heroes the Toa Mata.

Those ”CCBS freaking sucks and lego should just use the old parts” People really need to watch a play stippling video. He tries his best to show the many things the system can do and how flexible it really is. Plus, man, I grew up during the CCBS age of lego. My dad would build the sets for me because I was too stupid to do it myself. I didn’t even know that there was a time before CCBS Bionicle until I received some old bionicle parts from someone that used to belong to a dead relative or something like that when I was like 6 or so. I’ve got nostalgia for those later years AND I WONT LET ANY PURISTS TAKE THAT AWAY FROM ME GOD DA-

Ya know honestly, I thought they were going to continue g1 by giving a storyline to what happened after everyone settled in Bara magna.

I know that his video is years old, But I just want to put something out there Maybe the reason why Bionicle G2 didn’t have much resources put into the project was because lego already had a lot to deal with. At the time, They were wrapping Chima, developing Nexo Knights, Making sets for The Force Awakens (plus the buildable figures for that) AND Lego Dimensions. Lego had a lot on their plate so maybe they just didn’t have the resources to put into Bionicle’s marketing

One of the issues are Lego System is much more popular than it was when BIONICLE originally launched, back then the System themes were tanking and the company was on the verge of bankruptcy. When BIONICLE G2 arrived it had competition from Ninjago which took the basic concept of the BIONICLE storyline of heroes using elemental powers and most of the tactics used by Lego such as a website, comics and video games aren’t new anymore for them but they were in 2001. Also it doesn’t help that Ninjago is the new BIONICLE in terms of popularity. Kids getting out of action figures clearly doesn’t help either and the marketing is among the worst Lego has ever done for any theme. The marketing is the biggest issue with G2 alongside the fragmented storyline. Lego took what made BIONICLE what it was and disregarded it. And now CCBS has ceased to exist as well, and as a result what we knew as Constraction until that point.

And here I thought that the Shadow Beasts went the way the 2nd line of Chima constraction figures went, being only available in Europe/ any country other than the US. Fuck, I hope the local Toy 's' R Us still has them, I'm going on a binge buying spree. I actually liked the designs of them, and want to integrate the shadow traps I have from buying two of every elemental creature into them! I'm not really into the whole Bionicle forums scene, so this is me finding that out for the first time! Thanks for making this video tho

Tbh, I consider Ninjago to be alot like Bionicle, its not a Buildable Action Figure thing, but it is successful because of its plot, its sets (They look amazing), and its Characters, Disagree with me, but Ninjago has the popularity and love that makes me think it is the Bionicle of today.

Where can I find a download for the sound effect in the intro.

I was pretty small back then, but i still remember being in the hospital and waiting until i get released. Some day my mom came and bought me one of my favorite dvd, bionicle 3: web of shadows. And yes, it really made the time fly and enjoyable

my opinion on the failure of G2 is this: 1. excessively complex character design, excessively simple character development. All of the toa were designed as if they were already wearing endgame armor, and as a result, there was no room for escalation. Their characters were so simplified that they had no weight within any sort of narrative they could possibly be put in. This mismatch made them entirely unrelatable to any significant portion of their audience. 2. lack of attention or care to the little guys. G1 started by focusing heavily on the matoran, and not only gave them significance and agency in the story, but gave them the occasional moment where they acted in ways that made them the heroes of the story instead of the toa. G2 couldn't be bothered to give the protectors individual names or character designs. (this is also why bionicle G1 declined, as it moved away from a story where kids could identify easily with strongly significant characters) 3. initial overinvestment in sets and underinvestment in story G2 put far too much effort into the sets when compared with the effort put into the storytelling. a single flash game released the first year of G1 had more story than the entirety of G2. 4. a lack of understanding that kids of any era are basically the same. G2 tried to market itself as if kids are fundamentally different than kids were at the start of G1. they just aren't. just because kids now have access to more mediums of storytelling doesn't mean that kids want different kinds of stories, it just means you have more ways to tell the stories. Kids will always want stories that tell them they are important and that trust them with concepts like standing up for what's right even to your heroes, valuing kindness and care when dealing with the world around them, and reconciling with your friends after getting into fights and arguments.

When the new bionicle came out i was still very much a fan, but at tge time i had just gotten too old for my parents to actually buy me "toys" but i was too young to have anywhere near enough money to buy them for myself, and i find alot of people in my generation are in a similar position and it sucks, if it had came out a year or two later i know we'd all buy up that shit because nostalgia is more powerful than reasonable spending

This video is truly amazing and well said. This video might actually help me get over the pain of Bionicle being cancelled again. Definitely subscribing to you.

Be-yoo-ti-ful. AMAZING! I subscribed after watching this. And for the record, I bought a bunch of sets and scrapped most for parts. And that ending, I promise, it made me cry.

I don't really think bionicle will ever return. with lego's new character-creature building system they just revealed, and the creator anniversary set featuring that derpy tahu, I just don't think it would work. interesting point about how back in the day bionicle only selled because everything else lego was offering at the time wasn't great. and once the theme retired, the fanbase grew thanks to people like you with lego rewind and other bionicle videos. also how with g2, the older fans remember original bionicle, but new people have no idea what it even is. that's about two thirds of their audience who end up not buying bionicle. interesting..

Maybe Bionicle needs a spiritual successor. What do you think?

you found a format for you like Digital comic, well then I am a young up in coming web comic designer, so what exactly advice you have who wants to become a web designer?

I think one of the biggest problems bionicle had when coming back was the price difference. The Toa are like 20-25 quid each, they used to be less than 10 and yes I know they are a lot more complex than they were but that doesn't matter. I fell in love with Bionicle because my Grandma bought me Tahu Nuva and I built it and played with him in her living room for an entire evening, by that point I was hooked, I then got a bohrok to fight tahu and endless fun commences. If Tahu was 20 quid I would never have had him, if my Grandma was spending that much on me I would've had something else, the cheapness of the originals was a huge part of their success in my eyes. They were just far too expensive, if they were still 10 quid or less and smaller less intricate builds, they could've really been effective when competing against other toys of that price range. I think that's why they were so popular back in the day, for the price they were so much cooler than the small kits for that price, or other toys of that price range.

Its 2020. Still nothing

for me they were just too damn expensive. i just couldnt afford them.

I really believe that this reboot could've worked if they gave the story a bigger presence from the start (though having more titan-sized sets and more interesting villains wouldn't hurt either). Part of what made the original line so engaging to my young self back in 2001 was just how straight-faced and mystical the line's approach to its story was. Those mini-CDs that came with the sets were just brimming with atmosphere and the comics were surprisingly decent for what they were. Plus there was the much-beloved Mata Nui point-'n-click adventure game... The world truly felt tangible and alive in a way that no other theme had managed to capture before that point in time. Sure, the lore of G1 did get overly convoluted and dark by the end, but I don't think it was a faulty foundation to begin with since it did help the franchise in carving out its own identity among a sea of other themes.

I am oneof the kids wo found bionicle through G2. I can definitely tell all of you that the story not being complex enough is not what made it fail. It is definitely because literally nobody knew about it. None of the other kids at school ever noticed bionicle.

I suppose the ending of 'Journey to One' means that this entire wave could serve as a simple side-story until G3 comes around to continue where G1 left off; maybe Velika took over and created a sort of 'Days of Future Past' setting where all Toa and the like are hunted down and killed by the Marendar, meanwhile the Toa Nuva somehow went into hiding in parallel realities to escape the onslaught, but ended up with amnesia and so are now going through a whole 'Cowboys and Aliens'/'Quantum Leap' deal that can only end when they finally return to their home universe. I quite like the idea of Takanuva and Jaller surviving as resistance leaders, using a captured Vezon to reach out to other realities trying to call the Nuva back

No, what killed G2 Bionicle was the extreme dumbing down it recieved. G1 Bionicle was _so serious_ about most things. Sure, it had humour, and it was funny, but it took the overarching themes very seriously. I loved that as a kid! (I was like, 6 back then) I could really feel the mystery and the danger, because the characters behaved mature. The Toa had developed personalities with real character flaws and opinions that would often get in the way. And it stayed this serious throughout the entire run, which is what kept me in it till the end even after I technically grew out of it. Oh sure, many plots weren't all too mature, but these things felt like serious problems the Toa had to solve because that's what effect it had on the universe and how the characters reacted to it. G2 Bionicle comes along and we get dumbed down... everything. Ok, so G1's flaw is that the lore eventually got super complicated. This is a problem Lego saw and needed to be addressed. Their solution; go for the lowest possible denominator and make it stupid proof. The story showed some promise, but then the Toa were turned into characters that behaved and sounded like a bunch of 7 year olds! So you have these badass looking characters in this mysterious land with hints of a long lost advanced civilization going on a quest that supposedly challenges these character's merits.... but then the characters behave in a way that cannot be taken seriously! No kid wants that! Example: My younger brothers. They know of Bionicle through me, and they really wanted to know more. I was excited to tell them Bionicle came back! Look guys, now you can experience what I did when I was a kid! This is going to be awesome! Suffice to say, they got disappointed. Even more so when Journey To One cam out. I got questions like "Did you Bionicles also act this stupid?". I promptly directed them to BS01 and other sites that contains things of G1 Bionicle, and now.... .... now I have younger siblings who likely know more about G1 lore than I do because G1 Bionicle is something that doesn't treat its audience like "dumb children".

If only they started remaking old sets like they did with all the Star Wars ones, they would sell trillions of them, Jesus. Imagine that most of the fans G1 fans used to get them as gifts from their parents or spent their savings on them, but suddenly, they bring it all back and the same fans, who have lost a lot of them over the years or didn't manage to collect certain Bionicles that they really liked, now have their own cash and are more than eager to buy the remakes all over again. I honestly feel like this. Even new kids would most likely buy some of them, especially the good old titans and vehicles that are so much better than the basic stuff we got this gen. It would also create commonground for old and new fans and it would boost sales even farther. I honestly hope this will be done at some point in time, because nothing can bring back the same nostalgia as the actual sets I grew up with. I hope LEGO will do it for us, for the ones that actually pulled it through its harshest days. And for the new generations we could inspire.

Why don't we, the community work together to make our own Tahu, Lewa, Kopaka, Pohatu, Onua, Gahli, and make our own series. Bring back Bionicle with our own clips and videos and make Lego think hard. Its time for us to rise and do Lego's job for them until they realize that its time to bring Bionicle back! (I mean even maybe just getting Hero Factory meets Bionicle would be good)

I know this comes very late,but I personally loved g2.It got me into Bionicle...When it launched i was like 10 and went to a store with a friend.We loved hero factory and when we saw those new,colourfull figures with the same pieces,we were instanly hooked.He started with Gali and i bought Lewa.We never watched the series,but created our own story...

When I first heard Bionicle was going to be rebooted, I was really excited. I thought "Hell yeah, those kids are getting some of that Mata nui awesomeness!" But they didn't. It was not set in Mata Nui. Bah, Mata Nui (the spirit, not island) was not even present. The models, while using the flexible Hero Factory pieces, looked ugly. It was like Bionicle got hit with the Miley Cyrus syndrome. My childhood got violently abused by the very people who created it. Life is a bitch, you know.

That was a great video Nick, thank you for sharing your thoughts. Bionicle will always be my favourite line from lego, It just has something very special to it that I never got from any other lego line and it keeps it's magic to this day.

I remember back around 2006 Lego tried to make Minifigure sized Bionicle sets. Not sure if those did well, but I would have liked to see that sort of thing done with the new Bionicle line. At least then we could have gotten Bionicle in Lego Dimensions.