Top 10 Worst Things about BIONICLE G2
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- Опубликовано: 7 авг 2024
- Lego revived BIONICLE in 2015 and the results were... mixed. What went wrong? This week, Meso tries to find out as he counts down the Top 10 Worst Things about BIONICLE G2!
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Lesson we all have learned: To make your product sell well, you must advertise it.
Xephix in other news you breath air
Ah, that must be why the execs at Lego made these mistakes! Oxygen deprivation!
NANI???
@@thegrouchization Too busy snorting coke to breathe.
but make sure to keep your old atmosphere of your product if not it will just failed
if you ask me Bionicle came back at the wrong time.
That time where comebacks are childish and have more emphasis on comedy? over anything else? i agree.
xxx_spectre_07 _xxx yeah it was too soon.
Perfect soul Ben 10 has that same problem.
They just ripped away the story, and left bare bones.
In the Time after Time.
The fact that the reboot was clearly leaning on the interest of G1 fans--myself and others which are now in high school, college, or even working adults--with a concept developed clearly developed for 9-12 year olds was a recipe for disaster. Especially considering the fact that G1, with its complex (and sometimes too complicated) story, was marketed to the spectrum of 6-16 year olds, the median of which is the same age group G2 marketed towards, the oversimplified, cartoony story of G2 was disgusting and insulting.
The oversimplification of Bionicle was...disgusting. I mean, we are in a time where, despite Bionicle being "marketed" to kids, the same kids all know of and are reading Lord of The Rings, The Hobbit, and Game Of Thrones because of the movies *and games*! (...The latter franchise being questionable to childrens' knowledge, but this is coming from an old timer 25 year old who grew up with Wolfenstein 3D, Rambo, and Dragon Ball Z, so who am I to question?) The overall Tolkienesque lore of G1 was beyond anything I ever expected from Lego that took inspiration from Greek, Celtic, and Maori mythology, and even expanded somewhat into some design aesthetics in the creatures and characters in G2, plus adding in Mayan and Roman mythological practices, such as Ekimu's Protector Mask being an allusion to ancient Mayan death masks used in burial ceremonies for people of high power or respect. But the way G2 Bionicle was written and simplified was...heartbreakingly disgusting. Plus the names of some characters making the model names for the Vahki and species names of Visorak look like friggin' ITALIAN! Lego could have just done us the favor of giving us atleast JTO Makuta, plus the MoUP in tow, but instead, they just laughed in everyone's faces and said "MAKE HIM YERSELF! F*** YOU!" ...Well, congrats, Lego, you made me rethink of buying any of your products brand new ever again. Thanks.
I'd say the worst thing is that G2 completely killed bionicle. Because of the lack of advertising the sales were poor which showed Lego that "no one wanted bionicle anymore" and so it ended in an awful way. There is no coming back from this and it may be the last time we see bionicle and that is truly terrible. Great support for the theme you guys, and at least G2 actually allowed me to discover your channel which I certainly don't regret :)
Tom James
It's funny, isn't it? Lego brought the theme back like a lot of the community wanted, didn't advertise it well thus having less-than-good sales, and figured no one wanted it. They shot themselves in the foot and didn't realize they pulled the trigger in the first place.
Marshimus Prime Absolutely!
Tom James precisely
Maybe it will come back again, in Micheal Bay-ish format. Like what happened with popular 80's toys Transformers & Ninja Turtles.
Matoro Zeliph Bionicle isn't that, and it can't be
One of my main complaints is that there are no unique mask powers, they were able to tell us something about the character without saying it flat-out, so no cool abilities
Eli Dumane You are so right!
I still love how Pohatu is funnily enough both the slowest, and fastest Toa when you step back, and look at it. He has the Mask of speed by default, which makes him the fastest (When the other Toa aren't wearing it), but when not using the ability, he is the most lead-footed Toa, most prominently shown off by Pohatu's introduction animation where he walks up to the Kolhii ball before kicking it into the rock arch.
He's also a jokester, goofball, but can quickly take things serious when he needs to. Also, lets not forget he was able to BEFRIEND KOPAKA! Seriously, there are so many reasons he's my favorite Toa, both in design, and in personality.
I like that the mask powers allowed new Toa teams to still have interesting and unique powers, despite always sticking to the fire-water-air-ice-stone-earth formula.
To be honest, I never really thought of the mask powers being a way to describe a character's personality, not consciously anyway. It makes sense with the Toa Mata, but afterwards a lot of Toa were given powers they were surprised by.
@@ToaKoran I was never in the deep lore of bionicle, thus, I always thought of Pohatu hands as handguns and the leg-pins as ammo or grandes lmao, for that reason, i found it cool. Also the colours, seems quite organic, and its easy-going, friendly and loyal face in its mask.
Salut
@@k-leb4671 The Metru are the best at this imo
Like Matau's mask is a show of his posturing and vanity, Vakama's shame and insecurity of being a Toa manifested in invisibility, Onewa is kind of a forceful jerk so he gets mind control, Nokama tries to connect to the Toa lineage and gets telepathy, and Whenua is invested in truth; being an archivist so night and x-ray vision. Not sure about though, Nuju is intelligent so telekinesis makes some sense.
Here's what sold me with Bionicle as a kid, the artwork. I never played the early games or read the books, but when I saw Tahu Nuva surfing on the Lava, or Gali hanging from the cliff face. It gave me all the world building I needed. It was like a movie in one picture.
I always made my own stories, so the entire lore was never really an issue even if I never really delved into it as a kid. Mine are just as outlandish as the actual G1 storyline. I mean, my main character kinda kills his own dad early on... so... it gets really dark.... I came up with that when I was like seven, like dang...
Scott JS lol
That means you were a creative kid who wanted to tell real stories. Real stories with impact and change cascading through peoples lives, and the hurt the feel. The hurt which motivates them in their values and their goals. Do you still tell stories in any way to this day?
the fact that they outright turned every character into a shitty punchline killed it for me. and the oversimplification of everything the series stood for. i had bionicle starting at age 6, when i first got one cause they were cool robot people. and did my best to get every set i could until the final wave. (didnt actually care for stars though.) there is no reason a kid shouldnt have deep meaningful media that will teach them something and be amazing at the same time.
i think what killed G2 was how oversimplified the entire series was. Whereas the G1 world and characters were built up over a decade with conflicts of their own and threats that were born from the characters themselves, G2 was just pandering towards kids...who don't like stuff like this anymore. Kids like serious storylines and action scenes that made them memorable. Even the Toa were treated as campy heroes that had little personalities. The animations were just god awful. Overall, Bionicle was given the same treatment the DCEU got from WB.
Ah. For breakfast, we'll give you a trashy Ben 10 constraction wave. Then, for lunch, a new series that actually has some potential, then throw it away with a trashy cliffhanger ending and terrible voice actors. Then, finally, the leftovers from last night, but it'll be the same thing just microwaved, along with some cool movie sets with creepy faces. Such is the meal of CCBS.
G1 Makuta is sadly, one of the most underrated villains of all time. Not many others would have taken some one else's destiny or a prophecy which spoke of their defeat and turned the tables in such a way that would end up benefitting them more... And succeeding at that.
I agree.
But the maxilos robot is great
I got him from a random part lot on ebay, along with maxilos, spinaxa few piraka and a couple warriors (I think they are at least.) And they weren't even in the picture. By far one of the most pleasant surprises of my life
oh yeah gen 1 makuta is what I call an ACTUAL villain. All the g2 villains were dumbos who got their butt kicked in 2 seconds by the toa and fit the generic villain stereotype. It would have been nice to see the toa lose once, like they lost to the piraka in '06
Teridax was basically lego’s version of Sauron from LOTR and Emperor Palpatine from Star Wars combined into one.
LEGO's handling of the theme in hindsight was incredibly poor. The lack of a budget was obvious even to consumers who are completely unaware of basic business terms or ideals, and there's nothing more off-putting when buying something than feeling like they didn't have confidence in their own product. Bricks are hot atm and I get that constraction is more niche but the lack of focus and investment in the theme was embarrassing.
I think Bionicle should have had a kick-ass Soul Calibur style fighting game.
i never knew i wanted something like that until you brought it up. Considering Soul Calibur hasnt had a new game in forever, a 3 dimensional weapon based fighter could have saved the series by bringing in fighting game fans into the fandom. oh lego and your poor management of bionicle
Yeah. I remember in Soul Calibur 5 I made like 25 Bionicle characters.
Imagine if there was custom Toa/Rahi/Makuta creation, and you could unlock parts throughout the campaign and challenge missions.
The main thing that they would have to do is make sure they did the Gen1 Version, NOT the Gen2
captaintaco2345 why not.That would be cool.
Yeah, that would have been awesome
Well the simplicity, bad marketing, poor interest and underwhelming summer sets were mostly responsible for G2's failure
poor interest? its 2020 and people are still steamed bionicle is over
InitialPC i believe rex was refering to lego themselves having poor interest in the theme.
And that is what im saying! If you want to make your thing successful, you gotta go all in, go balls deep. You cant pull your punches. You need to be confident and proceed confidently, otherwise your amazing creation will fall flat.
How can you call them simple? They have simple looking shells and armor sure, but they have complex gearbox systems (especially onua)
@@TheCakesCup26 Story wise, not set wise!
@@greatmiru2064 ah i see
It was all foretold in the stage directions- uh, I mean, prophecy
This and NickonAquaMagna's video are the only ones who treat Bionicle respectfully and that I completely agree with. There were a couple others that I somewhat agreed with, though. However, you summed it all up VERY nicely, and I'm glad you preceded it by the Top 10 Best Things, rather than pure negativity, like others.
Thanks! Yeah, there was a lot of good stuff that happened with G2. It's not like it was a complete disaster; it just had the potential to be a whole lot better than it ended up being.
lol
I agree with bad characterization. "I didn't slip", G2 Pohatu acting more like G1 Kopaka while they had a G2 Kopaka right there, etc.
i think what bionicle G1 truly nailed was the past of protagonists. The strange Bio-mechanical beings, crafted and placed in a lab inside a giant robot that acted as its own ecosystem! This one said that they came from planets of their own nature and shit.
Yes, every character came into being at some point of history.
@@user-xb1wh5mt4l i don't quite follow.
@@sebs-shenanigans I mean no one has a backstory.
@@user-xb1wh5mt4l fair enough. Something does tell me that they wouldn't have left it that way, had things gone different.
@@sebs-shenanigans If they wanted a G1 tie-in, they would not named Makuta Makuta, so our Toa would be the old ones on a new mission.
Lego needs to make their own Beast Wars with Bionicle.
advertise it everywhere, give it a show, mace cartoon network show the episodes more often than once every six months, comic books, chapter books, all that jazz.
I followed Bionicle religiously from 2001-2008 (like I had email correspondences with Greg Farshtey that lasted better than 9 months) and this G2 flew completely under my radar until like 5 hours ago.
some times I feel Lego just doesn't try to make good product anymore and just make a quick buck.
Air-headed Aviator Star Wars ultrabuilds. Incredibly good sets, extremely good parts for MOC-makers. Expensive, but well worth your money.
The SW ultrabuilds are great, but they annoy me somewhat. Looking at K2-SO (Brilliant set, by the way), you can see that he got more attention in his design stages than either the Skull Raiders or the Beasts.
ThisUsernameIs2long
the sw lines aren't original to lego. so all they had to do was make sets that looked like the characters. and it went well
i think thats what the other person ment
At the end of the day, it's the fault of Lego's higher management. Even if the summer waves were noticeably weaker than the winter waves, the sets are some of the best in the franchise' history. The Summer 2016 wave is a more satisfying final wave than Winter 2010.
Ryder Windham, Merlin Mann, and the Volta team did what they could to salvage it, but it was clear that Lego half-assed their work beyond the sets - horrendous marketing, a near-nonexistent television presence, and story bible mess are the largest offenders.
The simplification of the lore doesn't deserve to be #1. While the story is a far cry from some of Lego's other contemporary lines, they had a decent foundation to build upon. It's clear in the novels and other media that the outsourced and freelance teams involved in G2 poured their heart and soul into salvaging it, even if strangled by Corporate Lego. If they were given more elbow room, it could have been better.
i feel that what kids have today is half assed, over simplified, non challenging garbage. Kids today have everything handed to them (subsequently) and they aren't challenged enough, they don't indulge themselves enough. We had to dig our way into Bionicle to understand while todays kids didn't bother
I disagree on the simplification of the lore point. The lore in Bionicle is key, though, its thanks to that Bionicle was so popular. Other Lego themes may sell high because they already are part of an elaborated plot (for instance, Star Wars) or are part of an easy-to-make plot (for instance, pirates and cotidian things). Bionicle its insanly unique, yeah, insanely, nothing seen before in any cultural level (only in sci-fiction but always with human presece, not a "robot paralel universe")
So, it's crucial to present them propperly, set up an appealing basement lore in which people (consumers, though) feel pleasure in fullfiling the universe of Bionicle (own stories, own characters, own planets, own comunities, etc).
Yet, and finally, I think it would still have been difficult to revive Bionicle in those years, specially because nowadays kinds want fast and easy content (for instance, how games have been decreasing their complexity); in this sense, Lego should have worked (or work, if any day they want to revive Bionicle) cheek-to-cheek with the comunity, the comunity with their own mocs, with their own stories, etc, are the perfect marketing.
Hope it wasn't that long.
Salut
10. *Style.* Lego has always had a history of questionable design choices, since no matter what they make there will always be some skepticism, but it's particularly egregious here. Lego doesn't know how to design for female characters without creating something like Roodaka, even though something as simple as a feminine mask can do wonders (the original Gali had noticeable cheekbones- it's not much, but anything is better than nothing). Everything looks cartoony compared to the original, ancient/robotic designs, particularly with the masks. Speaking of which...
9. *Variety.* One of the most interesting things about Bionicle was the way they designed faces that weren’t entirely faces. The masks were general enough that application could be distributed across multiple characters, but unique enough to help characters stand out. The fact that each mask type had its own distinctive power was also cool design choice. All that has been removed for no good reason. Incidentally…
8. *Atmosphere.* Bionicle was a legend, not just a simple story. It held to a stylistic yet somber mystique for a long time, arguably up until its final two years. It wasn't just the unique vocabulary- what's left out says a lot more than what's left in. Like the Myst series, there's this sense of never entirely understanding what's going on, as though you were visiting a different world with its own culture. Lego's liberal use of Maori terms only served to further distinguish Bionicle's already otherworldly thematics. None of this is reflected in G2. Speaking of themes...
7. *Media.* I'm not just talking about the flash animations, but the entire presentation of Bionicle. G1 took full advantage of the web in its relative infancy; it was revolutionary to have such a reliance on the internet when it came to their targeted audience. I get the impression, however, that what they put up was less a matter of advertising, and more just the creators showing off the world of Bionicle. There's a sense of developmental investment behind the CG animations (the introductions to our heroes, notably free of dialogue), and the famous MNOG flash game. There's very little "tell" at work in this "show". On the subject of "show"...
6. *Marketing.* After G2's massive success with its first wave, it seems like Bionicle's marketing division considered their job to already be done; the old fans were back, and surely there would be new fans on the rise. It's appalling to see the brand that saved Lego put on the back-burner like this, and it doesn't help to see third-party deals taking priority (see HeroStone's letter to Lego). In consideration of prioritization...
5. *Predecessors.* While it pains me to say it, it's not hard to see why Hero Factory sold so much better. Their sets were cheaper, there was more story, the themes were still fairly interesting. While it's a shame that Lego didn't seem to think far beyond the initial release in terms of story, they at least were experimenting as heavily as possible to make sure that the designs for Bionicle's new beginning were done right. The "gearbox" was a fantastic concept that would never have worked without the advancements Lego had made in their action-figure system through HF. While I'm writing about advancements...
4. *Passion.* From strange cacti in the before empty desert, to flash animations that somehow manage to look worse than the original flash game, to lack of communication. It's hard to see this as a true passion-project when so many little mistakes are being made. I'm not going to pretend that the original was flawless, but it just might be when compared with its resurgence. There's just not as much love nor dependency as there used to be on the former crowning jewel of Lego, nor on almost any of Lego's other original "themes". The topics of love and dependency lead to a slightly more controversial issue...
3. *Fans.* We're part of the problem that started this whole mess.
2. *Timing.* The season might not have been right for Lego to expect a lasting harvest. 2015 was close to the paradigm shift in favor of virtual realities and recycling old ideas. Toys don't seem to carry the same kind of value today as they used to, and the few video games G2 has put out don't take advantage of Bionicle's true strengths (at least, what they used to be in G1).
1. *Preparation.* It appears that no backup plan was factored into Bionicle's huge loss. It's been years, and nothing has been brought forth to fill the void that G2 left behind in the original action-figure department of Lego. Hopefully the company will try something again soon, this time with more care over what they put out, and this isn't some sign of them being too scared to hold to their mantra, "only the best is good enough".
2 things they should have done for bionicle.
1. a fighting/free roam game for next gen consoles.
2. they should have made it last at least until mid 2017 or early 2018.
The first idea is awesome. Cross your fingers that someone can make that idea into fan game that doesn't get taken down by LEGO.
and(if it happens) you can choose which storyline you can play like 2006 or 2007(fucking loved that storyline)
Dang. 2016 is a sucky year for everyone.
The election, No Man's Sky, Harambe's death, and this.
Here's hoping for a quieter 2017.
Michael Bongiorno the election was great what are you talking about?
joe botsch The amount of mud slinging and scandals was insane. And the nation was so intensly divided over the candidates.
Everyone but Cubs fans ;)
To be honest, Bionicle G2 felt like a clone of Hero Factory.
That's because it was. It used the exact same build system as Hero Factory, rather than the Bionicle/Technic system G1 largely used.
Meso: the other side of that coin...
* video shows beasts *
Beast? More like... least... favorites...
DTinaglia Studios jshj
Zappybacnore//ToaZappy more like bohroks
The TTV Channel BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO
@@me_Gustav More like Rahkshi. With their nature as Shadow Traps changed into elemental monstets is kinda remeniscent of Kraata and Rahkshi.
Worst thing about G2:
It existed.
So you're saying that a reboot of Bionicle is a bad thing?
I was more implying that it sucked.
In Sweden we did not even get any commercials on tv or anywhere else for that matter.
They should've went for a more darker route, exactly like G1
This is what happens when big companies give in to popular demands. G2 honestly should never have been made. It's like making a student write a 500 word history essay instead of playing video games. They're gonna half-ass it because they don't wanna do it. And the video games represent Star Wars in this case.
Ace Dynamike exactly
Ace Dynamike I disagree. if it werent for bioncle, I wouldnt be here.
Or any licence for that matter. I would have disagreed with you some time ago but after thinking for a bit I wonder why Lego even bothered to bring back BIONICLE in the first place if they weren't willing to properly invest in the line.
James McRae simple. because its over but nostalgic fanboys still wouldn't shut up about its inevitable end
Umarak it's the exception of the rule. He is possibly the best G2 Character.
No wonder Eljay made Bionicle G2 the punchline in his final recap review
Seems like they thought that Bionicle would carry itself on brand recognition alone.
I think it was CCBS. While mechanically it has advantages, it’s not as versatile and doesn’t have the visual appeal that the more technic G1 had. The way you just keep stacking armor pieces on top of each other in CCBS makes every character look like a MOC. In G1 the arms and legs of each set had their own unique design. In G2 they’re all the exact same pieces with the same armor shapes clicked onto them. The only difference being some characters have one armor piece stacked and other characters have up to three.
the worst thing about G2; it wasn't G1.
"Top Ten Worst Things about Bionicle G2"
"But those are just our thoughts! What are yours?"
*FLAMEWAR*
Lack of lore, Bionicle (Generation 1) was a series with a continuous story overtime, it made me want to look deeper into the storylines and things like that, then they just reset the entire thing in generation 2, making it never worth it to even buy any sets due to a lack of personality in the characters and how simplified the story was.
Lacked Greg Farshty?
thought gregF was the cause of the complicated storyline that scared off new customers due to ho he just writes things willy nilly making countless dropped narratives.
Gogin Milencess Indeed
The reboot could've been good without him. He had his time, and I think he would've wanted other people to shine in the new universe.
If you do a list like this for Gen 1, the Piraka Rap better be #1.
Zephyrinfinity you must of put your comment in the wrong video, that should go in the top ten best things about bionicle. Your welcome. Lol
Zephyrinfinity I agree. The Piraka rap should be #1 on the best things about g1 list.
cough 2010 cough.
YO YO PORAKA
Zephyrinfinity only the rap? I would dare say all the advertising. I'm the biggest fan of 2006 story and set wise as the next guy, but the advertising was absolutely cringey in hindsight.
2.0 feet
^^^^^^
The TTV Channel where's the Bionicle team they should be on this list
The 2.0 feet were not that bad aestheic wise. Possibly a bit more of detail would've worked com 2016 but for what we had it didn't kill the sets for me.
***** sorry I don't watch this channel very much
Some of the Toa's have balancing issues (except Onua since he uses different feet).
While not many point this out, if the Uniter are combined with the creature, they will become top heavy and poking them strait up will likely make them falling.
Fun fact: The last wave of Bionicle Gen 2 sets were never even sold in Australia!
In hk as well
I probably wouldn't put oversimplification as high as you did on the list but I agree with pretty much everything you've said
Neither would I but it's still the only countdown where I agree with every single entry.
the irony is that G1 wasn't really that complicated to begin with, any kid can wrap their head around anything during and before 2003 when it gets to Bionicle, though saying that I don't recall Metru Nui being that complicated either. My only other issue with G2 which took me a while to figure out was the style, for me G1 (or at least early G1) had this very quiet and mysterious style to it whilst G2 felt almost...dare I say generic(?) style to it.
here is the style that was pretty much used throughout G2: ruclips.net/video/0qb8Leq0ZvE/видео.html
and here is G1: ruclips.net/video/Fk47EDfWK10/видео.html
I know some might disagree with me on this and that's cool, I'm not egotistical enough to think you should all agree with me, but G1s darker and more mysterious tone for me is what set bionicle apart from other lego sets, even the music had elements of mystery about it ( soundcloud.com/theofficialknightvision/the-telescope-bionicle-mata-nui-online-game-soundtrack ) G2 for me was just a little too in your face.
Still, Greg, Toa of Retcon, gave everything an explanation and a purpose.
Bionicle just ended again. It's even worse the second time, since now it probably won't come back. It used to be so big. But everyone who grew up with it, soon forgot about it. This video will only get about 2000 views.
If I could go back in time to 2007, it'd be nice to check the shopping centre. See all the bionicles... Go online...BZpower... All that primary school stuff...
RIP.
*One year later
56,000 views. Personally I'm super glad that people are still mourning the loss of BIONICLE even to this day.
that and the replacements for the Turaga and Matoran all had the same mask, yes there were mask duplicates including(but not limited to) the Mask the Toa would wear... but they at least had different colors that all the mask could be found in.
0:50 *flashback to vezok building a sandcastle*
I still contend that storywise G2 suffered from a crowded field. When G1 came out it was the only theme that took to plotting out its story. This year Bionicle had to share the stage with Ninjago, Nexo Knights, Friends of Heartlake City, Elves, the Lego Movie, Lego Dimensions, and juggling both DC and Marvel specials. Something was going to suffer and unfortunately it was Bionicle.
You can see the strain on the other properties as well. Ninjago is spinning its wheels until the movie comes out. Nexo Knights had a rough first half trying to get its footing. And Elves still feels more like an expanded storyboard than its own animation.
G1 grew with the fans. And made it easy for new fans to catch up. The story got deeper the older we got. Because, even though we got older, the majority of us were still the people buying the most sets. G2 was just too simplistic. It looked good on paper, but they definitely dumbed it down once it got out to the public.
United in Duty. Bound in Destiny. This is the way... of the Bionicle!
- Turaga Vakama
To this day, I am still fascinated by the unique aesthetic and vibe of G1. It’s sci-fi robots, but all the names and designs have this ancient polynesian/african vibe to them. Despite the technology, it felt so deeply connected to nature, spirituality, and ancient mythology. The characters looked strange, but beautiful at the same time. The story was easy to understand, but so intricate and compelling the deeper you go. It’s one of the most groundbreaking and intriguing science fiction works of the modern day.
So, that being said (gestures to G2), WHAT THE FUCK IS THIS!?
and that's why e have biotube, to make a great and complex story. People like Playstippling and Maniamac 1613.
Bionicle was without a doubt the equivalent of what Star Wars, Star Trek, Ghostbusters, Transformers, Marvel, and DC meant to kids for me. I loved different versions of all those things too but nothing came close to this line and it pretty much lined up with my childhood perfectly from beginning to end. So because of that the changes with G2 honestly upset me and I wanted nothing to do with it. Looking back I actually can see a lot to like and I wish I had some of the sets if only to use the parts. My opinion on it hasn't changed that much though I still wish it didn't happen. I know I'm not saying anything new but oversimplification is what did the most damage although obviously marketing was big issue too. From the story to the design choices on everything from the masks, armor, and that terrible 2D art on some of the pieces (don't know if they were stickers or printed on) there was too much that felt like a shadow of what Bionicle used to be. What really sucks is G2 could easily have a few things switched around and work as a new theme like hero factory and if that was actually marketed well I could see it being a real success and paving the way for a revival that lives up to Bionicle's name.
I always had the feeling Gen 2 was dumbed down but I put it to me just being all grown up now and nostalgia making Gen 1 seem more complex and grandiose. But now that you mention the stuff with all the terminology and simplified story, I guess sadly I was right. Man, Gen 1 was great.
your channel showed me just how complicated the bionicle universe actually was. it was a powerful revelation. i can easily agree that gen 1 was very complicated, that children (me) couldn't tell there was any story to speak of. that being said, the story of gen 2 was so simple, you could write it as a young child's picture book.
I am younger fan of the bionicle theme and started liking it in 2015 and didn't know the beasts existed
Because of how lego treated bionicle I will never buy a lego product ever again. I'm not giving these people my money anymore especially after how much I've spent in the past.
Anything I get in the future for mocs is clearance items and eBay
jto as a whole is a disgrace
honestly my least favorite part of G2
"HERE WE COOOMEE!!!"
- Best line in all of Bionicle history
Amazing video! Have a nice day!
Man this may be an unpopular opinion, but G2 really could've been something if it wasn't for the small advertising, plot holes, not very interesting sets, not many large, Toa size villains, and of course uninteresting sets. (I mean, they were cool, but they were just really the same characters with a few villains. They really should've made the Makuta one). And of course, the simplicity, though if it would've continued it would have gotten more complicated with the comics and books and stuff going along with everything else, which is once again a problem if it ending early. I would've liked to see what would've come out of it if it would've continued. Really too bad.
Couldn't agree more. To this day, I don't even know or even managed to process what happened in the finale of JTO. Sad thing is that Onua was almost going to be the good thing (Umarak included) about the story but they had to butcher it down. I'm done talking bad thing about G2, I'll just leave it out and try to forget about it.
BIONICLE G2 had largely uninteresting characters. The Journey to One should’ve made it to Television and not just as a Netflix exclusive series. This is a sign of the times that everything going online only, not reaching its fans and believing the story had to be simplified, was a sign that it would not be done right.
But the biggest mistake was foreshadowing that G2 had a connection to G1, and this point never actually going anywhere and ultimately never became relevant to the story. Overall it was poorly executed and a tragic send off to the beloved theme which because of this failure, it’s not likely it would ever return. And that is a massive shame. A terrible way to remember BIONICLE’s last actual iteration as a toy line on store shelves.
This video just mad me sad that g2 was cancelled again. especially since I have ALMOST a complete g2 collection but im missing a few retired sets that ill probably never get now
Try bricklink, ebay, or amazon and watch for lower prices. That's what I've done for old G1 sets! I got a great deal on some nui rama a while back (opened box, unopened bags), ditto for some tarakava (same situation, but one bag was open (shipped in plastic baggie) with other bags unopened.
While not the most glamorous, finding sets like that where only a minimum was ever shifted around (opened box, or rarely touched bags) is your best bet for finding sets. This goes for G2 as well.
Another note, big or small, was the pricing. The Toa went for 15-20 bucks in US stores like Walmart and Target, while the last gen Toa typically were cheaper (even with inflation adjusted). The reason I think was the extra pieces like the gearboxes, and the typical parent might be intimidated buying a fairly expensive figure for Jim when they can buy a WWE figure and a Batman figure both for the price of 1 figure. 15-20 apiece might not sound like alot for oldtime fans but for newcomers with no income of their own (kids), their parents probably won't introduce a series that will drain their wallets faster than their mortgage. It wasn't just story or advertising that killed bionicle, it was also the economic scale of supply and demand.
According to Concept Art for Year 3, we would have gotten all kinds of stuff, like Rahkshi and Bohrok, Hordika inspired Toa, an actual Toa of Light, etc.
I'd say the worst thing about G2, is that it ended before it could kick off.
Where can I find this concept art?
To go off of the #2 spot, I had no clue that there was even a 2nd generation of Bionicle sets until I saw them for myself in a local Lego seller's shop a few years ago when G2 was already done. There was next to no advertisement for G2 here in the UK.
bioincle g2, yer there was alot of issues, in the end it was shot in the chest at the start and left to bleed out by lego, sad to see it go this way, hopefully they will do it right next time... if there is a next time. good video, good work waj
When I was 5 bionicles was cool. When I was 10 the story was dark, mysterious, and interesting. When I read some of the books (first one being the island of doom and how the toa nuva lost was shocking to me.) In fairness they story was complicated at times but really in depth. Even now I wish we got a movie of the toa inika and the finale battle where it all comes full circle but one can only dream.
One issue I have, it didn't have enough familiar characters like Jaller, Matoro, Takanuva, or Hahli.
The thing about Makuta from G1 though is that even though his goal was technically simple, his plan for achieving said goal was quite the opposite of simple, particularly when the storyline really begins to pick up and the plot really starts to thicken in the Ignika, Mahri, and Phantoka/Mistika waves.
his plan was always to get a mask, first he wanted the mask of time, then he wanted the mask of light, then he wanted the mask of life
The reason g2 failed was because of the abysmal implementation and lack of new concepts from ccbs system. They thought after they had made the og bionicles all uniquely featured, they just took the cheap rout and tried to go back to same parts, different color concept. They do this on new Lego sets as well. They make you use 3 tiny Lego studs instead of a normal piece, just to increase piece count per box (you can just smell someone boasting that they increased the price on the product, and "managed" to increase the piece count but two fold. It's disgusting. Ccbs was so lazy, it had cool parts, but the worst part for the newer g2 ccbs "bionicles", was that the mask and head pieces were completely opposite and it was hard to build older sets with, in the same fashion. Everything was snap on (and snap off, a bit too easily for play). They rehashed characters that didn't need rehashing. I'm not going to say what they should have done, unless Lego wants me to take over the project.
Lego has gotten super greedy over the last 7 years or so. They should have continued Bionicle and not rehashed it. It didn't need a rehash. They ruined it with their idiocy. Should have let the writers do their thing and continue to do so. And the recent Tahu set is not a Bionicle set, it's garbage. Hot garbage. And a rip off. Disgusting practices from Lego. They used to stand Bionicle so hard. Releasing the golden Hau mask on toonami. All the way to phantoka went strong. They should have never done stars. Stars was their first attempt at bullshit. Cool to have, they were cool, but I could smell it back then, and boy was i right.
I really don’t like the villains, they have no personality whatsoever, they just feel empty. In g1, you had the bohrok, which were able to mind control people. You had the Visorak, which could mutate living things, and despite being hyper-obedient drones, still had personality. Even in set form, they still feel more alive than any of the g2 villains (ignoring that half of them are skeletons)
I don't care what haters say. I absolutely loved G2 and am saddened that it ended. I don't regret investing money into the sets.
Good for you Cronk
I almost feel like Lego had lost almost all trust in Bionicle, and almost hoped for its downfall by not promoting it. It sort of gave them a scapegoat, so that, when asked to restart it, they could just say it wasn't popular last time
Speaking of bad things about G2, just checked Lego shop at home; there are no bionicle sets :(
They halted production of the sets half way through the 2016 wave.
Psychic Loser No, I don't mean they're not in stock, I mean they just don't exist anymore. Zero results come up :(
Yeah. They halted production. As in, they stopped making and selling them.
The marketing for g2 was so bad that I didn’t even know the summer 2016 wave happened until 2 years later.
I hard agree with number 7 for designs of the Toa and Villains in Gen 2 just looked too over the top or uninspired to point of generic, those villains look pretty dumb compared to the past villains. I mean look back at the Gen 1 designs and see how still good they look due their design being more easy on the eyes and appealing with valued simplicity.
One time I was in Summer Camp, a camper triggered us by saying that Generation 2 was the best. Do I agree with her? No.
Heinsight hurts. It's funny how even the most hardcore G2 fans could suddenly turn around and dismiss it as something awful. Frankly I'm just glad that we got it at all, especially at a time when the community as a whole was beginning to lose steam. At the very least the best thing G2 did was allow us all to relive our childhoods again and remind us all about the spirit of this thing we love so much. It brought the community out of stasis, even if for only a year and a half, and I'm just glad it was ever around.
I get the reasons behind mirroring footage, but it puts Kopaka in the uncanny valley. Just thought I'd share.
Those g2 comics looks like chrischan's work or tails gets trolled!
It’s just sad what happened to Bionicle G2, I grew up with G1 since the beginning with Tahu, Gali, Jaller, Takanuva, Vakama, etc, when I saw that Bionicle was coming back, hell yeah I was excited but it just went wrong. The Toa sets were very easy to build which surprised me, and the show was meh. Idk. Maybe in the future they can try again
2:59 Say that again. I dare you, I DOUBLE DARE YOU!
Makuta Teridax, at least in my opinion is the best fictional villain ever, no one can touch him. His backstory is complex, he is a total badass, i shit my pants everytime i see him (not really, but he is scary) he is my 5th favorite fictional character ever. And 2nd favorite Bionicle character. That's how a villain MUST be done, instead of... that triangle who has NO motivation, and that pisses off easily.
I didn't even know there was a second gen of Bionicle until I saw the announcement that it was discontinued
BIONICLE G2 fell like a ton of Lego bricks. 11:49: It’s as if Lego dropped it and BIONICLE fell with it.
Bionicle G2 is the Teen Titans Go of Lego.
Infrared Toa No it isn't.
Actually, yes it was.
Except there aren't people telling other people to stop bitching about it. Which there should be.
It's pretty funny to think about, that you said that I should accept if someone like something I don't,
but you want to see people silenced by others if they dare to have a different opinion on G2...
Hypocrisy much?
3097 AlphaVenator First of all, how the fuck did you know I posted this comment? Fucking weirdo... Secondly, y'all are trying to make Bonkle G2 worse than it actually is. (It's not. It's just a toy line. Move on with your life.) I'll be blocking you.
The way to reboot Bionicle is to start a whole bunch of advertising for it, and then release a full length feature film that instead of completely rebooting the story, just needs to retell the original story (2001-2003) in a modern way using the best voice actors, animation, and story telling to make it new and fresh.
I kind of feel like dumbing down things for kids of today is a disservice to those kids. They deserve to have a rich story like bionicle g1. If lego was just confident about bringing back bionicle and really gave it the attention it deserved, bionicle generation two could have been insanely good, maybe it could have ran even longer than it was planned.
Makuta was a combiner set? of which sets?
This reminds me why I was so mad at Lego for the Bionicle G2 mishaps...
Looking at G2 makes me feel like I age 4 decades. I get simplifying some things about the original story, however this just feels like an abridged version of an off memory description of the og Toa Mata saga. The sets looked cool at least
It didn't ruin my childhood or any dumb shit, but it is disappointing going from Bara Magna to the Toa fighting skeleton spiders
The one thing that I think was left out was lore, the movies and the final recap of the original bionicle seiries.
I prefer Hero Factory over Bionicle G2. THAT'S RIGHT I WENT THERE!
Bruh. When you were a huge Bionicle fan as a kid and didn't find out about g2 until today...
Actually, the Vahi revealed what would happen, so Ekimu made a prophecy out of it. He created the prophecy based on what he saw in the future and wrote it in the city.
This was why the prophecy was so exact down to the very last detail. Ekimu saw every bit of the future.
Lack of Canisters
Stickers.
the biggest reason was the commercials.
it looked like it was marketed for kids, bionocle g2 was like the teen titans go of bionocle.
bionocle gen 1 ads where so good looking.
Another bad thing is we never got the Makuta toy. I was sad they never made a toy of Makita.
I think G2's greatest sin was trying to appeal to old fans at any level. Gen 1 started simple, very simple, and became more complex over time. The reason Gen 2's story seemed to rushed and messy is because Lego was no doubt desperately trying to push it through the natural development cycle in order to appeal to older fans that basically just wanted Gen 1 again. Fans that wanted in-depth lore, the kind of lore that a story builds over years, right from the get-go. I think a good piece of evidence for this was the fact that words like "Toa" and "Matoran", and concepts like mask powers and names, where just shoved into the online and secondary media with very little consistency. They knew that older fans wanted to see these things right off the bat, but in the story they were writing, a story for young children, the appropriate time hadn't come yet.
Now i know that they managed to do it like that first time around, but this time around they were writing for a totally different set of children then they were 15 years ago. There are hundreds of sources of fun that children can choose from nowadays, so of course none of them are going to chose to become invested in a toy with a deep lore just because. Also, point-and-click games are a boring, tedious, and somewhat insensible way of telling the story of a line of action figures. What Lego was doing was starting the story as a very simple level to make it not just approachable, but preferable over more complex media, before ramping it up at a natural pace. However, since older fans wanted complexity right away, what we got was a buckshot mixture of undeveloped plot with overdeveloped ideas sprinkled throughout.
i like the mask of creation sets tho best skull scorpio was always one of my favorites
Edit: Also how do i watch the bionicle mask of creation tv show i think it used to be on hulu but idrk