30:36 Funny how "Bluetooth" was named after a person - Harald Bluetooth, King of Denmark and Norway 1100 years ago - but it sounds like a painfully made-up name now. Sort of like the polar opposite of the "Tiffany Problem" (where a name in a historical setting sounds too modern despite actually being period-accurate).
Funny thing is I have a copy of the game paired with a early Lego interactive pc game and I never played Lego Galidor I just wasn’t interested in this “LEGO” game
This channel is like a warm blanket. I’ve been coming back for years now. The background music, strider’s narration, and the overall wholesome safe feeling of these videos are like therapy for me!
What i like most about him Is the fact that (from what ive seen) he doesnt act like a huge cringelord. For example when talking about znap he didnt deem disgusted or say things like "these sets are blasphemy" contrary to what many adults/lego content creator may say. It makes enjoyable to discover new stuff and sets that may be hated by the majority because he simply doesnt shit on them at first sight and actually makes theories on why stuff fails
Agreed! I just started watching him a few months ago, and I love how he doesn't judge you for liking something, even if he hates it with a burning passion (looking at YOU, Peppa Pig!). Plus who can deny that Boo is just so adorable?!
I’ve been watching strider for the last 6 years, I love his personality so much and he’s very genuine. He isn’t just a normal top 10 channel, I find him informative while still having his own opinions and theories about these subjects. I watch his videos late at night before going to sleep bc he’s so calming, it helps me sleep easier. Strider may think these are just silly fun videos but they’ve always made a impact on my mood and he makes me really happy
They are not “blind” though. You can feel the pieces in the collectible mini figures. I believe he is talking about the fact those particular figures are in boxes making it impossible to ever know what you are getting.
@@patrickaker4380 Well they are technically still blind. Yo don't see with your hands. (And feeling for pieces is really a kind of widely practiced cheating.)
@@Quirderph So widely practiced Lego Stores have actually started numbering them to save customers from having to feel the bags up themselves. I picked up a couple of the Marvel CMFs last week that were numbered. Works for me I got the ones I wanted ,and didn't have to search forever.
One thing about Bionicle's reboot that's worth mentioning is how little marketing it got. Usually Lego's new big action themes get a TV show or something along those lines at launch, as well as magazines, books, comics etc. Bionicle G2 didn't get any of those things. Other than very small coverage in Lego magazines, all it got was a series of 90-second long online episodes that Lego didn't even bother to hire more than 1 voice actor for. The first book promoting the story was released in summer 2015 - six months after the theme's launch, and the first comic book was released in December 2015 - a whole YEAR after the theme's launch. By 2016 the theme was selling so poorly it was deemed unprofitable and got cancelled. I don't want to sound like some crazy conspiracy theory guy, but it really seems to me like Lego didn't want this theme to succeed to begin with. There was a lot of people who were fans of the original run of Bionicle that didn't even know the reboot happened, how on Earth were the kids who never heard of this theme before supposed to know about it? Oversimplified story and characters were definitely a big flaw of the reboot, but in my opinion the main reason it flopped so bad was the fact that it wasn't advertised like, at all.
My theory is that Lego assumed that the fans of the old theme would promote instead of spending money on it themselves. Therefore thye shot themselves in the foot since Bionicle's community isn't as big or strong like others since the gap between the previous theme and the reboot was 5 years. Many people left the community by then.
LEGO did not abandon the blind bag format at all. They’ve been doing it multiple times a year every year since 2010. LEGO fans have been feeling around in the bags to identify what figure is there. But the thing about Vidiyo is that they didn’t do bags, they did BOXES… preventing fans from identifying what figure was in the package, resulting in a terrible reception.
I think a big part of what killed Vidiyo was the initial pricing. Because it had the music licensing costs and the costs to build, run, maintain and moderate the app, the initial pricing was way higher than it would have been for most other themes and that put people off (I bought a bunch of Vidiyo stuff including the big boom box but I paid a lot less than RRP for it). The fact that they didn't release (or even announce) any of the stage sets until much later didn't help (if they had released some of the smaller stuff like the car alongside the first wave of figs and the first wave of the clear boxes, that might have made people more interested)
Pretty much. The Boombox Minifigs (in my opinion) are really good, but the whole thing is ultra-overpriced at 19,99. The most pricy it should have been should be 9,99 like the ninjago spinners. Trhough my personal preference, around 7 euros.
Hey Strider, it was an absolute pleasure to write, edit and guest star at 11:38! The early Lego games are very close to my heart (even Lego Friends to a certain extent, haha.) This whole video was a lot of fun! You make Lego's history super interesting and entertaining. Thank you so much for having me on. Cheers!
The big reasons for Bionicle G2’s failure that I’ve heard across that community was the lack of a really cohesive story/storytelling, poor marketing, and poor timing. One of the big draws of the original Bionicle was its ability to set up cool and dramatic storylines, set up mysterious atmospheres, and explore its characters through media such as comics and books, but so much of the tone and characters were watered down with G2 to appeal to any classic fans. Remember, part of the Bionicle G1’s appeal was how it presented itself to children as something more cool and mysterious than your average action figure or Lego toyline. It was the idea that children would gravitate towards stuff they perceive as for older children because they find it cool. Hell, even the PACKAGES and COMMERCIALS of Bionicle G1 were aimed at advertising the mystery of the theme. Meanwhile, G2 was presented without that sense of mystery and danger and felt just like any other Lego theme, so why should a kid bother to go for it when they can get that fix with a more traditional theme? Nevermind how obscure the books were for G2 that actually WERE published. I can hardly believe any child knew about them. Another issue was marketing. Bionicle G1 had a very strong multimedia campaign of games, TV ads, books, and comics (that were given away with every issue of Lego magazine so it was not exactly easy to miss…) that allowed children to get glimpses of the story and setting. Meanwhile, if you told anyone who was a fan of Bionicle G1 as a kid that the series had a recent reboot, they’d be surprised since they had never heard of it. G2’s advertising was simply way less extensive compared to the original series. It suggests a lack of faith in the brand on the part of Lego. And lastly, timing absolutely screwed over the brand. Between action figure toy sales as a whole declining significantly between 2009 and 2015 and Bionicle having to share shelf-space with Lego Star Wars buildable figures of characters practically every child knew the names of, it was a bad environment for a new Lego action figure brand and absolutely needed everything else to be in its favor for it to work…and sadly none of it really was.
Lego had no real idea of what they wanted their audience to be. The story and marketing suggested something younger, but then all the important sets were made too large and expensive to get kids into it, and the only building contests held were done within the online forum communities. There was a lack of commitment that didn’t really please anybody.
I thini the BIONICLE reboot would have done much better if they hadn't tried to rewrite the stories. The remade Toa figures are more detailed, as well as more articulated and posable, than the Technic-based ones from the beginning of the original series, which had fixed-angle elbows and single-axis rotating shoulders.
The problem with Fusion and Videyo is they focused on the app first and then the toy. If they want to do AR then they need to make it more like Hidden Side. Make a good Lego set and have the app as an afterthought. I actually bought some of the Hidden Side sets because they were kind of nice. And it was easy enough to modify them to remove the app parts, which was just a colored wheel.
I like theHidden Side concept of AR ghosts in physical LEGO sets, and I think they should incorporate that feature into LEGO _Ghostbusters_ sets in the future.
Lego was once an offline toy, and now they force the users back to an smartphone. I think this is really dumb. but I got some vidyo sets. they have nice printed tiles, ideal for a moc record store and the 3 musicians can be put togehter to a band.
"hey mom" "Yeah?" "Can i get this Lego set?" "You.. already have 70 sets.." "But he dabbed in the commercial" **Glass breaking** "TAKE. MY. FUCKING. MONEY."
So honestly another reason that Vidiyo flopped was because they released the mini-figure blind bags first and THEN the larger stage sets. Honestly, the stage sets are really good and interesting builds. I work at a Lego store and we built the pirate ship set for our display, and honestly it's a great build. The problem is because the original figures flopped, no one cared about these decent sets that came out as an expansion. They should have treated the stages as the base sets, with the app acting as a bonus play mode, and then released additional characters. Then you could be excited to see various new stages get released for the other figs as they get more popular (like actual bands)
I agree with the Bionicle reboot, I enjoyed the sets personally but man the story absolutely sucked and I became even more homesick with Hero Factory which executes simple stories much better. Its a shame LEGO abandoned constraction since
True even kown i don't like some of his old videos like the video called top 10 cartoons i hate that everyone likes i think he has become batter with his content hell even some of his old videos are pretty entretany
I think I was one of the few that signed up for the subscription to the master builder academy , even though I knew it was a bad deal. It was so bad that the last box I got (they canceled after it) I didn’t even open for a couple of years. Some of what I got in the subscription was later repackaged in those larger sets sold in stores. Scala started out basically what Dots is now. Only Dots has smaller pieces. Bad ideas come back. Fusion is so bad I don’t even remember making the video - lol Galidor has to be the Plan 9 From Outer Space of LEGO themes. So bad people are starting to like it. Thanks again for the shoutout.
As someone who loved Bionicle growing up and not caring about the lore, I didn't like the reboot even though I was extremely excited for it. The main reason was that the masks were too loose. Anytime I would play with them the mask would just pop off from the smallest touch, which would interrupt whatever battle or thing I was doing with them and became an annoyance.
i remember bionicles, i didn't know they were Legos but my brother had a bunch and we would play with them. i thought they were fine for what they were.
I was hugely excited for the Bionicle reboot, but when they finally came out, I lost my interest pretty quickly. They just didn't capture the spirit of the original theme. As an adult, I've moved on to a different building toy that -quite honestly- has captured my attention way more than LEGO was ever capable of: Gundam model kits. Bandai is a seriously big competitor for LEGO, and I think shows like Gundam Build Fighters is the perfect representation of what the brand aims to be. Meanwhile, LEGO is stuck in licensed-toy hell, and unable to really do unique original themes any more, which is what attracted me to them in the first place.
I think it's supposed to be a throwback to the early Toa from '01 and '02, where all the masks were designed to be knocked off by the different sets and their gear functions. While I think the whole "hit the tab on the back of the head and send the spider mask flying" feature on the G2 kits was a fun gimmick, it kinda lost its novelty after a few minutes.
To see how much of an afterthought Bionicle G2 was in LEGO's eyes still pains the Bionicle fan community to this day even if the story was hot rubbish compared to what came before. Its enough to wonder if Bionicle G1 was this weird lightning in a bottle situation that will probably never happen again even if LEGO underwent another financial crisis like they did around the Turn of the Millineum
I feel that one reason people were invested in Vidiyo was the minifigures. Now that I think about it, I've always been thinking about making a stop motion special loosely based on the failure of LEGO Vidiyo as a pilot to a potential miniseries of shorts focused on different music band members.
Some of the Minifigs were cool, but my kids hated that they were in blind boxes not the CMF bags. We can feel the CMF bags and 95% of the time know what minifig we are buying. That is impossible with the vidiyo blind boxes.
@@tiffanyg6040 CMF bags are better, i remember going to a movie with my friend and we went to a nearby toystore that had batman series 2 and i managed to find clock king (the figure i wanted)
1998-2002 is generally considered Lego's "Dark Age" - it's when Lego's position in the toy market was at its weakest and they were throwing all sorts of unusual concepts at the wall to see what stuck. Yes, they got the Star Wars license in '99 but that was a licensed theme and this was a time before Lego truly established itself in the licensed toy game. It took the creative vision behind Bionicle to get Lego out of its rut for its own original toylines.
I remember writing to lego in early 2013 as a 7 year old I think asking them if they could revive bionicle, and hey, they did it, but if I'm honest, I think one of the big reasons it failed was just because it lacked the worldbuilding and just cinematic atmosphere of the original. I kinda wish I was a little older so I could experience the original bionicle, but hero factory was still pretty cool, I still remember watching the animation lore for the 2011 arc Ordeal of Fire, and I still remember loving Nex.
I could understand why they started Bionicle from scratch again, though. The old worldbuilding had become so convoluted it could scare off newcomers...
@@hakanstorsater5090 Starting from scratch wasn't the problem, it's that the narrative they went with was *excessively* streamlined to the point where it lacked the depth even early G1 was known for. The lack of an equivalent to the Mata Nui Online Game (which allowed people to immerse themselves in the world, while showing that there was more going on than just the adventures the Toa were involved in) likely didn't help.
I guess the a problem with Vidyo is the core fact that it relies on kids spending more time on the phone. I am not a parent, but I'd imagine that many parents really appreciate the offline aspect of Lego that lets kids have a fun and be creative for so long. Also: the issue with toys focussing on apps is that with ongoing technology sooner or later the app will not work anymore, making the toy redundant in the future ...
Think you've got something there. Toys like Legos are less fun when you have to look at them through a camera screen and divert effort to keeping everything in shot while you reach for things and play.
I used to work for Merlin. I didn't know they were owned by LEGO, just that they also owned the theme parks. They own a ton of things. Wax museums, aquariums, zoos, torture museums. It's kind of weird to know that the LEGO theme parks that don't allow adults without a kid are owned by the same company as a line of museums focused on torture and dark moments in history.
Merlin was actually a separate company for quite a long while, more than a decade actually. LEGO originally owned the totality of their parks for a few years but transferred majority ownership to Merlin for administrative and management reasons. Then the company (or more accurately the family that started LEGO) wanted the parks back so went and bought Merlin wholesale and merged it into LEGO.
My family got at least one of the fiber-optics sets. I think that while the effects of these things can be really cool, they don’t exactly live up to Lego’s standards for durability. The tubes broke out of their socket and got lost when in storage, rendering the socket part rather irrelevant. Probably this is an idea that is better for adults who store their LEGO collection’s more carefully and methodically. I do really love light-up parts in general so if you just got over the cost problem, I would say they have an audience.
9:41 - that's actually not at Legoland Florida but in the water across from the Lego Store in Disney Springs (formally Downtown Disney)! He's been there for over 20 years, they keep him in really nice shape! I worked in one of the stores across the water there at Springs so I got to see him everyday. Fun Fact: His name is Brickley and he has had his own merch- including a mini Lego set! There is also another sculpture of him at the Lego Store in NYC :)
Bionicle G2 breaks my heart. They were still a valiant effort and still the most interesting original, non-licensed thing Lego did in years. And the toys were only somewhat simpler than the old toys. G2 were still incredible and cool sets.
Indeed G2 had many problems and Lego didn't put that much effort into things like advertisement but it defiantly wasn't the worst it could have been I wonder what it would be like if it was a success.
When LEGO complains about "poor sales" of really very cool things like Bionicles, they're ignoring the kids' parents shouting "too expensive!". I love Bionicles, they're still some of my favourite Lego, together with Knights, but I've barely ever owned any of it because it was just too damn expensive for a single parent, two children, lower-middle class household. Which in reality were like all the households back then that accounted for "poor sales"
Price Points seem to be make or break for a lot of toylines,not just Lego. Several toylines I collect have been cancelled due to the low sales/high price point situation.
But Lego has been getting more and more expensive every year, even compared to other brands of toys. Over past 20 years or so Lego has been introducing more and more practices that are, well, way too safe and cheap. They're very stingy with minifigures, like to release slightly modified of same set over and over again, stick to evergreen themes and are unwilling to release classic themes or try new things that aren't sponsored by anything, getting rid of impulse buy cheap sets while raising the prices for rest of the sets. I know, everything costs more now, but Lego is getting inproportionately more pricy than rest of things, especially rest of luxury goods.
@@fermintenava5911 I mean, that's actually not Lego's fault, it's just how action figures work. It wasn't even a problem at first when main six were almost impuls buys. But after Inika build got introduced, prices kept going higher and higher.
@@nihili4196 nursing that you are missing is the cost of plastic is constantly going up and in flux that is a prop like right now we are going through a shortage of plastic due to supply chain issues to get the plastic were it's "needed". Second Lego has switch primarily over to licensed themes so that means they're now more people taking a cut of the pie. Lego Star Wars as soon as Disney bought Star Wars, the theme jumped up in price because now there wasn't just what Lucasflims and George Lucas was taking it was now Disney and George Lucas. And Disney unlike lucasfilm started demanding more and more. So the cost of plastic going up can explain part of the raise in price and then switching over to primarily licensed themes can explain another part of it. Minifigures being rare especially since they're having primarily license themes make sense because they are basically action figures for that line. I do have feeling Lego is going have to take a long hard look in word if it wants to continue to be dominant but there is some reasoning.
Oh gosh I used to have Scala!!! I didn't recognise it until you showed the newer sets! I was blissfully unaware how bad they sold, I (the target demographic at the time) always loved them 😂
Same! I was born in 1992, and looking back, I'm really grateful that my parents were willing to drop so much 90s money on Scala dollhouses when I was 5 or 6 (actually, just the bathroom and kitchen sets first, lol). I still have them all :)
17:34 Sad that, though. As a creative I think "here's a really cool idea that you can't possibly monetize because it's going to cost more than it could possibly be worth to anyone". I'm very familiar with that situation.
I love how you consult and incorporate the opinions of Lego content creators and use your popularity to shine a light on them. You're a cool dude, dude, and people notice
Was not expecting to see one of my ancient Eurobricks posts here, and a great video to look back on all these themes too! Shortly after the time I posted that, I began working at a LEGO Store. Having moved on from there now, I can confidently say pricing and marketing continued to be mixed, even to this day.
@@phantomstrider I have a few video ideas : Top 10 worst episodes of The Loud House ( ft. Jem Reviews ) Season 1 through 5 Top 10 worst Nickelodeon live action movies
So, a few things: I go to Walmart every other week to buy groceries and I often check the LEGO aisle, and I haven’t seen a single Vidiyo set leave the shelves. I have been to the LEGOLAND theme parks in California and Florida. I highly recommend the Ninjago ride. It’s a 3D action coaster. You basically wear 3D glasses and “fight” Ninjago enemies. I actually had the Master Builder Academy 20215 set. I absolutely loved it. It basically taught vintage architecture and gear functions. Great video, Strider.
I hope you’ll be warmer soon, Stridey! I’ve been upset with a cold, cough and some cyberbullying this week, but your nature in this video has perked me up. The gags were pretty cool. :)
@BK Thank you so much, BK. I have had some positive experiences in the PhantomStrider community. I’m grateful for the kindness and support I have been receiving after getting a lot of hate. :)
Before Lego Friends, there was also Lego Paradisa (a subtheme of Town) and Lego Belville. Apparently the latter must've been successful because it continued well into 2008, with the last sets retiring by the end of 2011, presumably to make way for Lego Friends.
As a Bionicle fan, I was super excited when it was brought back. I was definitely disappointed with the reboot's storyline, but I buy the sets for the parts, not the lore, so I bought them anyway. I love the original lore, but I like to create my own stuff, and Bionicle parts really allowed for a lot of creativity. Sad to think it will probably never come back again.
I liked story at first. I was like "Oh, so we're doing it all over again, but Mata-nui is called Ekimu this time, and is not a robot. Neat. Let's see where it'll go. But then Zombie wave happened with no reason what so ever and had no long lasting effect, nothing was explained or even told with that wave, and we've quickly move to Umarak being bad guy... It was the biggest Meh sorry I've seen. And story is the proof this reboot wasn't aimed at older demographic. Sets were good, but nothing made them stand out.
31:33 Don't mind me, I'm just mentioning this because HOLY CRAP. I had to pause and rewind because this took a second to sink in. Being so bad that NONEof the actors ever acted again. Absolutely rough.
23:24 I have a huge love for the first generation of BIONICLE, but the 2015 Reboot was just really, really bad, and with a dumb and stupid storyline. However, I don't mind the fact that we got some really useful parts out of it. But it just comes to show that in the end, you can't outshine the original, not by a long shot! I grew up with Bionicle as a kid, and have gained a mental connection to it since it sparks my creativity and building skills to a very detailed level. Therefore, It will always hold a special place in my heart, way more than LEGO's usual themes. I was really sad and heartbroken though when they discontinued it, since it meant that constraction figures were really dead... but despite that, I still collect BIONICLE sets to this day.
i gotta come back to watch this later #10 1:12 Lego Vidiyo (2021) #9 4:50 Lego Znap (1998) #8 8:26 Lego Theme Parks SOLD (2005) #7 11:44 Early Lego Games (1997-2004) #6 15:38 Lego Technic Fibre Optic Multi Set (1996) #5 17:49 LEGO MASTER BUILDING ACADEMY (2011-2012) #4 20:33 Scala (1979-80, 1997-2001) #3 23:24 Lego Bionicle Reboot (2015-16) #2 25:33 Lego Fusion (2014) #1 28:32 The GalidoR Set (2002)
I remember that Lego Friends Fusion set! I still have mine and distinctly remember playing the app as well. I was never really interested in it because building just the front of a house didn't really feel fulfilling to me. Like it was cool and I love the concept, but sometimes even the house itself would scan wrong into the game. Also, the game was quite boring. It only captivated me for a few weeks before I pretty much forgot about it entirely. It's a cool concept, but it was pretty barebones. If there was more of a set to build and a more interesting app to integrate it with, I feel like it would be far more popular. The only thing I really enjoyed was getting to set up the interiors of digital lego houses, that was pretty fun. But then again that was like... the only thing to do in the lego friends game. I almost wish I could play it again. It may even be still downloaded on one of my old devices for all I know. Weirdly nostalgic for it, but it really wasn't all that great looking at it now.
Lego Znap was embarrassing. Like take Lego Technic for example: these two lines have much in common. The difference is that Znap is limited to really huge pieces that makes it hard to make your own shape for a building. Like, by looking at them, it seems like you have to build only based on the shape of the pieces. Technic gives you much more liberty in that regard and, for that both the sets and MOCS are incredible. Not to mention the mechanics in Technic are impressive (from the perspective of someone who doesn't know anything about mechanisms). Anyway, Lego Znap will forever be barely remember as one of the many failed attempts Lego did to get out from bankruptcy.
For a while, LEGO had this mentality that the *play* was the most important aspect of its product, and so even put into advertising that "these sets come with few parts and are simple to build, so kids can get into play quickly". As a result you had a bajillion sets featuring large custom parts that could only ever be used for the one purpose it was originally designed for. Houses whose roof was one or two pieces. Planes whose fuselage consisted of only a couple of parts. Dinosaur sets where you assembled the torso using five conventional LEGO pieces and then snapped on the limbs, head, and tail. For a while, LEGO abandoned the whole idea of building stuff, and the flexibility of the system was outright sabotaged. Fortunately, they got over it later, but it was a rough period to be a LEGO fan.
@@Codraroll @Erlend Andenæs they do still make specialized pieces. I mean, our dinos are made with just a few pieces. But, from what I understand, that's because LEGO would want to keep a consistency with the minifigures because, like minifigures, the animals are characters. Not to mention that specialized pieces are impostant for stability. LEGO make mostly toys. Their main demographic is and it will always be kids. So these sets should look good and give play functions. I think the reason why the prioritization on the playfeatures at the time was because LEGO didn't had adult fans, but now there are tons of them. Most adult toy collectors chose LEGO because LEGO is simply more interesting and has a complex building system. There's even a ther for Adult Fans Of LEGO (AFOL). Now that's a problem that most toy companies face when they make toys. There's a huge gap between two audiences: the kids who want something to play with and adults who want a display models. And, because of that, it's just harder for toy companies like LEGO, HAZBRO and MATTEL to make their products because they need to make display models that aren't ruined by play features. It's nice that LEGO tries his best to appeal to both sides. But, it was clear for them that not a lot of adults will buy a toy regardless if they like it or not. So that's basically why we have STAR WARS UCS models, modular buildings and +18 sets.
The shameful thing to me was that it was like an admission _mighty Lego was SCARED of the upstart K'nex..._ and was trying to toss their hat in the ring with something like it in case their classic brick system couldn't compete. Even Z'nap's name is an obvious take-off on the other brand.
It's a pity the Bonicle G2 sets didn't sell well. Like I totally understand why they didn't but from a pure set perspective, those were the best Lego figures we have ever got. They were so articulate, unique, posable, and had amazing play features. I got the entire first wave and part of the second wave and they were a joy to assemble and pose. If they produced a stronger story with better marketing to support those great toys, the theme might have done better. And unfortunately, a lot of fans looked at the the sleeker designs of the figures and assumed they were inferior to the original, more piston-y looking Bionicles. But even though the new figures were sleeker, they were more complicated to build and you could do so much more with articulation. They were, mechanically, better figures and it's a shame they didn't grab people's attention the way G1 Bionicle did.
It was disaster at all fronts. I've tried my best to get every set, but last wave didn't even make it to where I live. Those sets were amazing, and although I wish they were less slick looking, they had more play value and were indeed more fun to build than their counterparts from G1. Any ̶̶T̶o̶a Master had almost complexity worth of a Titan from G1 while being much smaller set. Different Uniters were fun to build. It's annoying than there was little to no advertisement to get new fans, and no story to lure in older fans that weren't completely sold on the CCBS, but didn't despise it.
@@nihili4196 >"Little to no advetisement" G2 Bionicles were advertised a lot where I was from, especially in TV ads, and they were very common in toy shops. Heck, Lego made animated shorts and mini games in ther website/s. I never got the impression the theme itself had little advertising, and if it had, it wasn't AS little as some say, nor do I think it alone was the deciding factor to doom the line.
My issue with the reboot outside of the story elements wasn't that the sets were too simple looking. It was the opposite, actually. Like the colour choices alone give me Deviantart OC vibes. And the overreliance on transparent pieces just helped make them feel off.
@@succubastard1019 where are you from? because in my country I don't think I ever saw a single product during the 2015s. I had to get all my sets from the US. Compare that to how the original bionicle sets were released when they were upfront on stores along other lego products.
@@regionfuego6 Italy. The channels I watched as a kid used to get G2 Bionicle ads quite often and my aunt's toy shop also had their sets. From what I remember, the publicity wasn't inferior to G1's last waves. I think that when people or was poorly advertised, they say so in comparison to when G1 began, a time when Lego really had to go all in to promoting that theme since it was basically half of their profit.
I think people give Bionicle a tough time now since they were honestly the coolest and most interesting sets I ever saw! Even if the new sets had a ”more simple” story they still look amazing!
I didn’t like the newer construction pieces due to how the plates were always “too” flexible/movable making it hard to keep a consistent alignment of your pieces. They made for much better models than action figures in my eyes. I feel moving back to pin and axel based connections while keeping the more flexible limb design would work wonders. Have the limb’s ends remain the same but instead of a ball joint, have a range of pieces have a line of pin and axel holes without any ball joints. It would also greatly increase the flexibility (the other kind) of what pieces you can put onto the arms without convoluted ball joint connections!
Sets were pretty fun, and I'm sure Lego would eventually merge CCBS with technic somehow if that line were to live longer. Sadly there was no advertising, sets weren't appealing to anyone new or even some older fans, and story that held the previous generation so well was... Non existent.
I grew up with G1 Bionicle and the reboot really missed the mark for me aesthetically. I love that they tried to make the construction more MOC friendly and flexible, but I really hated the execution. The earlier bionicle sets had lots of bodyparts that could be MOCed into totally different tings since they had extra pin and axle openings. The new armor plate system just didn't spark my imagination and didn't lend itself to mixing with technic parts + the generic "evil skeleton man" bad guys just filled me with cringe. Instead of exploring the capabilities of the building system they make them skeletons so that they don't have to put that many armor pieces on them and otherwise they work just like the good guys.
9:43 Actually, that dragon isn't in LEGOLAND Florida! It's in Disney Spring, right in front of the Lego store there. His name is Brickely the Lego Serpant!
24:31 I remember all of my friends loved bionicles when we were kids, at least as young as 7 or 8. Maybe you meant very small children but when I was a kid no one really had lego until they were at least 6 anyways so 7-10 was really the main age group which bionicle fit into well. I am surprised to hear it was a failure, everyone I knew thought it was the best lego that existed.
I'm surprised that Lego Dots didn't make the list, the social media backlash that met the announcement was unbelievably negative and since I work in a toy shop, Dots sets stayed on the shelves for months before being transferred out.
Yeah, Yidiyo flopped big time. I could write a whole essay on it: 1. The app’s functionality, especially on older devices 2. Lack of interest for older fans 3. Parents worried about screentime 4. Limited building experience, especially in the first wave 5. High prices 6. Lack of a story, focus on the technology aspect
Ikr. I still own the Minotaurus game. Some of the games were an easy way to get a large base plate. The dice piece was also really cool as you could customise it. Even the figures you'd play with were pretty cool too.
I love how much effort you put into all your videos! They’re so much fun to watch and I also learn a lot when watching videos like this! Keep it up Strider :)
Technically it is rated M 17+ by the ESRB, so I doubt they'd make an official series. That being said, a Lego Ideas set is a possibility - adult programming is found in there.
So you're telling me that there exists a museum specifically dedicated to showing the biggest failures in the world, and they didn't call me to give an exhibit??
Sigh... The Lego Bionicle Reboot failure is a dense subject. Lego had made really poor marketing choices. They have mostly let the original fans to do their work fotlr them and it worked as well as you can guess. Not to mention the high demand for Lego bricks at the time. Kids wanted bricks, not figures. And, if they wanted figures, they would have bought the Lego Star Wars figures that were released along with the Bionicle Reboot. There were also a small, but loud minority of fans that wanted tgis theme to fail because it used pieces that originate from Lego Hero Factory (a theme that people though that killed Bionicle, which is false). It is a shame, though. The figures looked amazing.
Growing up in a girl bubble, I never really realized that Scala (and its predecessor Belville) were a poor substitute for actual lego sets until I was much older. Everything else sold at the time was just so aggressively masculine that no adults would even consider buying it for me, and so I was stuck with the lego-in-name-only sets after Paradisa and Fabuland were discontinued. 90s marketing trends have much to answer for. (Conversely I had a ton of mainline Playmobil because those sets were not distincly marketed as boy’s toys)
*PARADISA! Thank you!* That name was on the tip of my tongue. Phase I Paradisa from the 1990s was something that helped close the gender gap for a while. Girls were favored without going so far boys were totally turned off. It used 'girl' colors, but they were mild inobtrusive ones... the packaging sold me on the idea most of those bricks were showing the orange and red tints of a tropical sunset, They were interesting sets which filled a useful role for everyone. Townsfolk now could go to this swank locale on vacation, to do things both girls and boys usually both liked doing. And if more girls were there than was normal in Legoland... well, so what? Every little boy knows and accepts as a universal law: beaches and pools have women in swimsuits or sunglasses hanging around nearby. 😄 The pieces were advanced and exotic for the time, the baseplates had new useful patterns and they had cool stuff to offer for someone's brick colletion. Look at 1992's Sand Dollar Cafe/Club Paradisa... it was *a treasure*. You had a beachside cafe with a frying pan in the kitchen, mugs and huge contoured floor-to-ceiling windows; a patio table with an umbrella and proper chairs; two female minis in swimsuits; a chef; a lifeguard; an ice cream vendor with a rather nice brick-built cart; a wavesurfing board; a shoreline baseplate ideal for building fun scenes of your own on; a bike; flowers; a life jacket; a parrot; unique signage; spiny bushes; and a palm tree. A lot of this stuff was rare, uncommon, or brand new at the time and it remains a surprising variety of things ti find in one set. And what was the "Ick... girls!" factor for boys who had it nearby? Your dudes from around town could pop in to eat or drink something and have some ice cream, takin' a dip or even chasing each other through the place as part of greater play. And there was enough leftover room on the baseplate to easily cram in some stuff from other sets during those times.
Something else bad about the blind boxes from Vidiyo is that the contents inside are impossible to feel. You just have to get lucky or buy an entire box.
You are *supposed* to do things by getting lucky, mate. That's why the blind bags weren't just made clear. That's the whole point behind them; it adds excitement to your collecting experience and keeps things fair. Think of how disgusted we'd probably be with folks who used advanced portable equipment to scan inside packs of Pokemon and Magic cards... finding the best packs to buy for themselves, and leaving everyone else who would pay the same money with nothing but junk to show for it.
@@henrysokol3466 Yes but I’m spending $5 a pack and if I don’t get the right ones then I have to spend $300 on a box. I can understand the other way around but I think most people want to know what they’re buying.
@@pysz6748 Many do indeed. But the figures are blind-packaged and randomly distributed for a reason. You go into the whole thing *knowing* these are meant to be random picks, so trying to find out which bags hold what means you're choosing to cheat. When you really want a figure that bad and can't buy one straight off somebody... *spend the $300,* or wheel and deal for it with extras you don't want yourself. (Doing the former massively helps you do the latter.) It's effort- and time-intensive, but has worked at least as far back as when packaged sports cards were invented. You also get more satisfaction knowing a complete collection was gained despite doing things the hard way.
What a flex with the Danish bits! 😄👍 As someone who speaks Norwegian, thank you so much for including some good ol' Danish in there! I'm always sad that I don't get to speak/hear the Scandinavian languages very often in the U.S. And for the record, your pronunciation was very good! Also, as usual, a very informative, funny, and insightful video. Takk for alle de fine punktene og meningene dine, og jeg håper du nyter en riktig god juletid i Australia!
Danish person here! Your Danish is so good, I didn't need the subtitles. In fact, the second time over it kinda sounded like one of comedian Anden's characters. From the "Stop copying me!" sketch, specifically. The prison guard sounded a bit more Swedish than anything else, but what can you do? It's a difficult language. I still have a couple of Galidor figures from my childhood, which my cousin's children think are very cool. (They're between 3 and 5.)
I remember going to Legoland in London when I was a lot younger and remember being in so much awe despite never even playing with lego before and the star wars section was the best part and there were also life sized buildings made from literal lego. Loved it so much, and like Disneyland they had people cosplaying as characters from properties associated with them and remember Darth maul asking if I was enjoying myself while taking pictures with him. Definately going back for a visit in the future :D
I can understand why Galadore failed, but the designs are actually really cool. I frequently draw cheesy sci fi designs like that. Also, why was the decision to make licenses Lego sets controversial?
People were worried that they would completely replace the regular Lego themes and ruin the charm they had maintained since the 70s. It’s why themes like galidor, scala and znap failed hard, because they lacked the charm and familiarity of a standard Lego set. Bionicle only succeeded due to it capturing that 6-10 year old audience, bionicle had so much pushback and controversy among the Lego community at the time who were tired of Lego trying to create new construction types instead of focusing on their main sets (a lot of people believed Lego discontinued many of their beloved themes in favour of bionicle).
27:55 this is exactly one of the biggest problems when lego does something with an app. Nexo Knight ; hidden side usw. everything will stop working when the children grow up, while I can still play with my father's Lego without any problems. It's worst with control+ because you can only control the motors via the app.
I actually really enjoyed the Bionicle Reboot when it came out, it’s a shame it didn’t do well. I even still own some of the Sets, they bring back good memories 😊
i actually have really fond memorys playing with scala as a kid. guess it was cheaper then other doll house brands so we had quite a few of the sets but i remember loving them as a kid and now my niece is playing with them too :3
I loved Scala! I feel like the only AFOL in the world who actually likes it, I got the big pink house I never had as a kid as an adult and I still think it's not as bad as people claim. I think you have to compare it to what other "girl" toys had to offer rather than to other Lego themes. I liked having detailed dolls with more articulation than Barbies, and a doll house that was endlessly reconfigurable.
Hey Strider, this was a fantastic video! Although Lego had a lot of fails, Hasbro and Mattel both had even more fantasical fails, especially Hasbro's infamous Flubber fail. It caused people to break out in rashes, and when they tried to destroy the Flubber, it didn't work so they buried it under the area where one of their warehouses currently is. Kind of reminds me of the 50s horror movie The Blob. Videos on the many fails of Mattel and Hasbro would be hilarious, because when Hasbro and Mattel fail, they REALLY fail. But to be fair, when they succced, they really do succced. 😀
The Bionicle reboot didn’t die because Bionicle isn’t a profitable idea, it died because it didn’t have the original series heart. Without the lovingly crafted story fans had grown to expect they were left with toys that didn’t have any resemblance to the original Bionicle sets. It was like they hand crafted it not to be what fans wanted. To make it worse the theme was incredibly under marketed as Lego seemingly expected old fans to do the heavy lifting advertising the toys, fans that didn’t like the new direction they took the theme in. The Bionicle reboot simply couldn’t have survived the way it wad conceived.
Love the content Strider, as a dane I love watching you talk about Lego, your channel is awesome. If you ever visit Denmark I hope you will have a blast. Much love from Denmark
I actually had one of those red ZNAP broken catapult things as a kid, I have no idea when I got it, but later on, I'm pretty sure I just threw it away because I mistook it for an incomplete product of a failed toy company.
There could be some honorable mentions, like fabuland, bellville, and jack stone. I still collect stuff of that though, but mostly the accessoires, which where actually cool. The bizarre, not-lego esque figures are hard to fimd an use for as they can't be traded or swapped. (I'm currently planning to use my old fabuland characters as large dolls in the toy store section of a mall project)
The internet disagrees. Everyone says that friends was the first really succesful attempt at girls legos, and that the bellville figures were absolutely hideous
@@supertransistor8762 The internet is not an authority on this subject, it can disagree, but it's doesn't change the stats. I looked it up and Belville stuck around for 10+ years, that means it had to have been successful on some level.
Fabuland survived for about a decade,, though, Belville even longer. And Fabuland still has something of a cult following. The Belville market was somewhat outside traditional Lego, so it might have gotten a worse rap than it deserved. At least commercially.
Kid Danger: *wearing his moto pup outfit* excuse you? my brother, Chevy man 30-30 and me used to HAVE the toys from said show. I liked the toys exceptionally the mine character.
I really loved the wild figure designs of Vidiyo, but they were so overpriced I didn't want to buy any. I even thought the tiles would make for a good record shop build.
Yeah, I knew Bionicle was gonna be here. I loved the original line's sunset years, but there was seldom a reason to buy the 2015-16 sets, even as a fan of the classics.
Should be noted WRT Bionicle 1) G1 didn't get cancelled because of low sales. It got cancelled because sales were hitting a plateau. Lego's logic was that by cancelling it when it was still successful, stores would remember it fondly, and welcome a return in the future. 2) G2's complete lack of budget, particularly in the marketing department, has been laid at the feet of two things: The Gold Mask competitions and the Ninjago reboot. The former was a set of seven 14-carat gold masks that Lego intended to give away via competitions, but AFAIK only three of these things actually happened. Also the first was almost certainly rigged by Lego themselves so they could give the prize to a large, impressive model built by someone who got the G2 parts early. It waas a lot of money to spend on things that didn't really matter. 3) The Ninjago thing needs a little more elaboration because Bionicle isn't the only theme that suffered because of it. Lego's themes used to generally last for six waves, unless they were so wildly successful that they could become "evergreen" like G1 did. However, since Ninjago's revival, most of them have only managed five, cut down to 2.5 years instead of 3. Ninjago itself was officially cancelled at the end of its run, and, like Bionicle, got a massive outpouring from customers, begging for a revival. But whereas the Bionicle outcry was mostly from teenage forum-goers without disposable income, the Ninjago outcry was mostly from parents of young Ninjago fans, who probably hadn't encountered the three-year cycle much before, being more focused on evergreen stuff like City and Creator, or oft-repeated genres like Space. Ironically, as much as Lego fans complain about established licenses that suck attention away from Lego's own ideas (EG: People buying Star Wars instead of Lego's space themes), Ninjago is now one of those things itself, a vampire of a theme that cannibalises its compatriots and causes any new ideas for themes to be funnelled into itself, because that's safer and more profitable. (Seriously I waited _years_ for Lego based on D&D and when it got here, there wasn't a pointy ear or a stunty or a horn in sight, just more fucking ninjas)
Their over the top design to me, was honestly a positive, not a negative. But they just weren't worth the price. I'm actually getting a few now that they're available at a discount.
I liked scala a lot as a kid. The dolls from scala had articulated joints and had the perfect size for playing my outdoor jungle adventure games with them outside. Yes the furniture and everything looked boring, but it gave a lot of room for imagination and could be combined and rebuilt in different ways. You could also change up the house and lego bricks worked with their base plate and some furniture so I spent a lot of time re building the house. Also: the female dolls especially didnt look as overly feminine (makeup, eye lashes etc) or artificial as the ones in friends or barbie. I get why many dont like it but it was not THAT bad. Now that I think about it I really want to ask my parents if they still have the sets in their attic.
Gotta say, Lego are the reason for Bionicle G2s failure. Problem 1: they didn't market it enough, all they did was rely on the bionicle community to spread it around, which wouldn't have reached new potential fans. And all they released in terms of commercials were a total number of 3, which did little to nothing. Compare that to Bionicle G1 and it's Vast amount of promotional material, comics, books, tons of commercials on TV and on the website, and much more. Problem 2: the story had no hooks, the story was basically a skeletal and barely expanded thing. In the first year no side character even had a name, and there was no mystery to uncover, all there was were 1,5 minute shorts animated in toonboom with one single guy doing all the voice work, and there were only 10 of them or so. Problem 3: uniformity and lack of collecting, G1 thrived on collecting alternate colors for masks, or discovering promotional discs for some extra lore, but G2 had nothing like that, unless unique prints on the chests of the characters constitutes collectibles now. Problem 4: the game sucked, G1 gave us MNOG(Mata Nui Online Game), which was a lore filled and interactive point and click game that let you explore the story of 2001 for yourself, with great flash animations and amazing music to really suck you in and get you invested. G2 had a phone game, not filled with story, but full of mediocre combat where all you did was fight spiders and run around on a set path, it wasn't engaging in any way but to distract you for a few minutes while on the toilet. So yeah, most people didn't buy bionicle, but mostly cause Lego didn't care to give them a reason to. Unlike back in 2001 when they were on their last leg and had to make a real attempt, in 2015 they were on top of the world, and didn't have to care. They even set the release date for 2015 due to a meme in the bionicle community(rather, it is really probable) that had existed since 2010 when Bionicle ended the first time.
Watching the Bionicle reboot fail genuinely made me depressed. I loved Bionicle, and when it came back, I was excited, and a lot of the sets looked awesome, but the villains and the story were just awful.
![Seungmin "그렇게, 천천히, 우리(As we are)" | [Stray Kids : SKZ-PLAYER]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/kAzmhLHePqU/mqdefault.jpg)
30:36 Funny how "Bluetooth" was named after a person - Harald Bluetooth, King of Denmark and Norway 1100 years ago - but it sounds like a painfully made-up name now. Sort of like the polar opposite of the "Tiffany Problem" (where a name in a historical setting sounds too modern despite actually being period-accurate).
Funny thing is I have a copy of the game paired with a early Lego interactive pc game and I never played Lego Galidor I just wasn’t interested in this “LEGO” game
Also, there was a real life Viking named Bluetooth, which the tech we use today is named after him.
@@spydersoup8447 that’s exactly what they were talking about in this comment
@@Guardian_of_Chaos Sorry, I tend to misread comments.
@@spydersoup8447 don’t worry buddy,it’s ok and I do it sometimes too
This channel is like a warm blanket. I’ve been coming back for years now. The background music, strider’s narration, and the overall wholesome safe feeling of these videos are like therapy for me!
What i like most about him Is the fact that (from what ive seen) he doesnt act like a huge cringelord. For example when talking about znap he didnt deem disgusted or say things like "these sets are blasphemy" contrary to what many adults/lego content creator may say. It makes enjoyable to discover new stuff and sets that may be hated by the majority because he simply doesnt shit on them at first sight and actually makes theories on why stuff fails
Agreed! I just started watching him a few months ago, and I love how he doesn't judge you for liking something, even if he hates it with a burning passion (looking at YOU, Peppa Pig!).
Plus who can deny that Boo is just so adorable?!
Whenever I was feeling mentally really low lately, I watched a bunch of Strider! Such a oddly soothing channel..
I’ve been watching strider for the last 6 years, I love his personality so much and he’s very genuine. He isn’t just a normal top 10 channel, I find him informative while still having his own opinions and theories about these subjects. I watch his videos late at night before going to sleep bc he’s so calming, it helps me sleep easier. Strider may think these are just silly fun videos but they’ve always made a impact on my mood and he makes me really happy
this guy really is something else
LEGO never actually abandoned the blind bag idea. It still exists in the LEGO minifigure blind bag series
I was about to say the same thing
a transition
They are not “blind” though. You can feel the pieces in the collectible mini figures. I believe he is talking about the fact those particular figures are in boxes making it impossible to ever know what you are getting.
@@patrickaker4380 Well they are technically still blind. Yo don't see with your hands. (And feeling for pieces is really a kind of widely practiced cheating.)
@@Quirderph So widely practiced Lego Stores have actually started numbering them to save customers from having to feel the bags up themselves. I picked up a couple of the Marvel CMFs last week that were numbered. Works for me I got the ones I wanted ,and didn't have to search forever.
Thanks Strider. My father passed away yesterday from cancer and your videos have really helped me. Keep up the great work, my friend!
Fun fact: LEGO is the world’s largest producer of rubber wheels. They produce more than Bridgestone, Goodyear and all other car tyre manufacturers.
Oh the smsll ones that comes in sets makes sence
The should be a tire manufacturer for real cars
Lego bad
@@Austinniya. there’s not much research to be done with common sense
Even more than Kenda?
One thing about Bionicle's reboot that's worth mentioning is how little marketing it got. Usually Lego's new big action themes get a TV show or something along those lines at launch, as well as magazines, books, comics etc. Bionicle G2 didn't get any of those things. Other than very small coverage in Lego magazines, all it got was a series of 90-second long online episodes that Lego didn't even bother to hire more than 1 voice actor for. The first book promoting the story was released in summer 2015 - six months after the theme's launch, and the first comic book was released in December 2015 - a whole YEAR after the theme's launch. By 2016 the theme was selling so poorly it was deemed unprofitable and got cancelled.
I don't want to sound like some crazy conspiracy theory guy, but it really seems to me like Lego didn't want this theme to succeed to begin with. There was a lot of people who were fans of the original run of Bionicle that didn't even know the reboot happened, how on Earth were the kids who never heard of this theme before supposed to know about it? Oversimplified story and characters were definitely a big flaw of the reboot, but in my opinion the main reason it flopped so bad was the fact that it wasn't advertised like, at all.
My theory is that Lego assumed that the fans of the old theme would promote instead of spending money on it themselves. Therefore thye shot themselves in the foot since Bionicle's community isn't as big or strong like others since the gap between the previous theme and the reboot was 5 years. Many people left the community by then.
G2 got a Netflix series
@@cyc0maniac47 at the very end of it's lifecycle when it was too late to change the situation. Also, it was bad
LEGO did not abandon the blind bag format at all. They’ve been doing it multiple times a year every year since 2010. LEGO fans have been feeling around in the bags to identify what figure is there. But the thing about Vidiyo is that they didn’t do bags, they did BOXES… preventing fans from identifying what figure was in the package, resulting in a terrible reception.
Thankfully they didn't do the boxes for the marvel CMF series
Not to mention that the Vidiyo were more expensive then the Minifigs, while almost contained the same things.
I'm guessing they put everything in boxes because they considered feeling up the bags "cheating"
I would've bought them if they were in bags opposed to boxes. I've been feeling the bags for about a decade now
@@BingQilin they allow feeling at the LEGO store so idk
I think a big part of what killed Vidiyo was the initial pricing. Because it had the music licensing costs and the costs to build, run, maintain and moderate the app, the initial pricing was way higher than it would have been for most other themes and that put people off (I bought a bunch of Vidiyo stuff including the big boom box but I paid a lot less than RRP for it).
The fact that they didn't release (or even announce) any of the stage sets until much later didn't help (if they had released some of the smaller stuff like the car alongside the first wave of figs and the first wave of the clear boxes, that might have made people more interested)
Pretty much. The Boombox Minifigs (in my opinion) are really good, but the whole thing is ultra-overpriced at 19,99. The most pricy it should have been should be 9,99 like the ninjago spinners. Trhough my personal preference, around 7 euros.
Hey Strider, it was an absolute pleasure to write, edit and guest star at 11:38! The early Lego games are very close to my heart (even Lego Friends to a certain extent, haha.) This whole video was a lot of fun! You make Lego's history super interesting and entertaining. Thank you so much for having me on. Cheers!
I was very surprised to see your guest appearance here!
Oh! There you are!
The Lego Friends cutscenes as horrendous as they are look like great YTP source material.
Subbed :^]
11:38? Was it a coincidence?
The big reasons for Bionicle G2’s failure that I’ve heard across that community was the lack of a really cohesive story/storytelling, poor marketing, and poor timing.
One of the big draws of the original Bionicle was its ability to set up cool and dramatic storylines, set up mysterious atmospheres, and explore its characters through media such as comics and books, but so much of the tone and characters were watered down with G2 to appeal to any classic fans. Remember, part of the Bionicle G1’s appeal was how it presented itself to children as something more cool and mysterious than your average action figure or Lego toyline. It was the idea that children would gravitate towards stuff they perceive as for older children because they find it cool. Hell, even the PACKAGES and COMMERCIALS of Bionicle G1 were aimed at advertising the mystery of the theme. Meanwhile, G2 was presented without that sense of mystery and danger and felt just like any other Lego theme, so why should a kid bother to go for it when they can get that fix with a more traditional theme? Nevermind how obscure the books were for G2 that actually WERE published. I can hardly believe any child knew about them.
Another issue was marketing. Bionicle G1 had a very strong multimedia campaign of games, TV ads, books, and comics (that were given away with every issue of Lego magazine so it was not exactly easy to miss…) that allowed children to get glimpses of the story and setting. Meanwhile, if you told anyone who was a fan of Bionicle G1 as a kid that the series had a recent reboot, they’d be surprised since they had never heard of it. G2’s advertising was simply way less extensive compared to the original series. It suggests a lack of faith in the brand on the part of Lego.
And lastly, timing absolutely screwed over the brand. Between action figure toy sales as a whole declining significantly between 2009 and 2015 and Bionicle having to share shelf-space with Lego Star Wars buildable figures of characters practically every child knew the names of, it was a bad environment for a new Lego action figure brand and absolutely needed everything else to be in its favor for it to work…and sadly none of it really was.
Lego had no real idea of what they wanted their audience to be. The story and marketing suggested something younger, but then all the important sets were made too large and expensive to get kids into it, and the only building contests held were done within the online forum communities.
There was a lack of commitment that didn’t really please anybody.
I thini the BIONICLE reboot would have done much better if they hadn't tried to rewrite the stories. The remade Toa figures are more detailed, as well as more articulated and posable, than the Technic-based ones from the beginning of the original series, which had fixed-angle elbows and single-axis rotating shoulders.
Sadly it really didn't help they used the cheaper plastic parts that broke easier
I have to admit, I like how you’re trying to tell a story while reviewing something at the same time, I think it makes the video more interesting.
@@ezekielanderson9055 he'll prolly get better with practice. I'm glad he's trying something new.
PhantomStrider Lore
The problem with this claim is he gets countless things wrong about the Lego brand and these failures in particular.
The problem with Fusion and Videyo is they focused on the app first and then the toy. If they want to do AR then they need to make it more like Hidden Side. Make a good Lego set and have the app as an afterthought. I actually bought some of the Hidden Side sets because they were kind of nice. And it was easy enough to modify them to remove the app parts, which was just a colored wheel.
I like theHidden Side concept of AR ghosts in physical LEGO sets, and I think they should incorporate that feature into LEGO _Ghostbusters_ sets in the future.
Though you'd think if the app was their first priority, it'd function properly... which it didn't.
Lego was once an offline toy, and now they force the users back to an smartphone.
I think this is really dumb.
but I got some vidyo sets. they have nice printed tiles, ideal for a moc record store and the 3 musicians can be put togehter to a band.
That and the sets are just way to expensive for the lego your getting the boxes are like 20 euros for a figure and printed plates
"hey mom"
"Yeah?"
"Can i get this Lego set?"
"You.. already have 70 sets.."
"But he dabbed in the commercial"
**Glass breaking**
"TAKE. MY. FUCKING. MONEY."
If they made a LEGO figure physically capable of dabbing, I’d call that worth a purchase.
@@thomascircle245 lmao
So honestly another reason that Vidiyo flopped was because they released the mini-figure blind bags first and THEN the larger stage sets. Honestly, the stage sets are really good and interesting builds. I work at a Lego store and we built the pirate ship set for our display, and honestly it's a great build. The problem is because the original figures flopped, no one cared about these decent sets that came out as an expansion.
They should have treated the stages as the base sets, with the app acting as a bonus play mode, and then released additional characters. Then you could be excited to see various new stages get released for the other figs as they get more popular (like actual bands)
I agree with the Bionicle reboot, I enjoyed the sets personally but man the story absolutely sucked and I became even more homesick with Hero Factory which executes simple stories much better. Its a shame LEGO abandoned constraction since
I love Skylanders.
Yes
Actually constraction is kinda coming back with sccbs in the new ninjago sets effectively mixing ccbs with system
@@jettlucashayes8508 Interesting, when do they plan to release it?
@@GhostRoasterDrankAllTheMilk in like a month or 2
I note that several on the list don't interract with actual Lego bricks. You'd think that'd be the first thing you do when designing at Lego
This guy looks like he cares about everything no matter how small.😊
True
A person's a person...
True even kown i don't like some of his old videos like the video called top 10 cartoons i hate that everyone likes i think he has become batter with his content hell even some of his old videos are pretty entretany
I knew he cared about my peepee
@@alicemwakanandi7542 ...
I think I was one of the few that signed up for the subscription to the master builder academy , even though I knew it was a bad deal. It was so bad that the last box I got (they canceled after it) I didn’t even open for a couple of years. Some of what I got in the subscription was later repackaged in those larger sets sold in stores.
Scala started out basically what Dots is now. Only Dots has smaller pieces. Bad ideas come back.
Fusion is so bad I don’t even remember making the video - lol
Galidor has to be the Plan 9 From Outer Space of LEGO themes. So bad people are starting to like it.
Thanks again for the shoutout.
As someone who loved Bionicle growing up and not caring about the lore, I didn't like the reboot even though I was extremely excited for it. The main reason was that the masks were too loose. Anytime I would play with them the mask would just pop off from the smallest touch, which would interrupt whatever battle or thing I was doing with them and became an annoyance.
i remember bionicles, i didn't know they were Legos but my brother had a bunch and we would play with them. i thought they were fine for what they were.
I was hugely excited for the Bionicle reboot, but when they finally came out, I lost my interest pretty quickly. They just didn't capture the spirit of the original theme. As an adult, I've moved on to a different building toy that -quite honestly- has captured my attention way more than LEGO was ever capable of: Gundam model kits. Bandai is a seriously big competitor for LEGO, and I think shows like Gundam Build Fighters is the perfect representation of what the brand aims to be. Meanwhile, LEGO is stuck in licensed-toy hell, and unable to really do unique original themes any more, which is what attracted me to them in the first place.
I think it's supposed to be a throwback to the early Toa from '01 and '02, where all the masks were designed to be knocked off by the different sets and their gear functions. While I think the whole "hit the tab on the back of the head and send the spider mask flying" feature on the G2 kits was a fun gimmick, it kinda lost its novelty after a few minutes.
To see how much of an afterthought Bionicle G2 was in LEGO's eyes still pains the Bionicle fan community to this day even if the story was hot rubbish compared to what came before.
Its enough to wonder if Bionicle G1 was this weird lightning in a bottle situation that will probably never happen again even if LEGO underwent another financial crisis like they did around the Turn of the Millineum
I feel that one reason people were invested in Vidiyo was the minifigures. Now that I think about it, I've always been thinking about making a stop motion special loosely based on the failure of LEGO Vidiyo as a pilot to a potential miniseries of shorts focused on different music band members.
If that happens can you make an episode about the aquabats?
Some of the Minifigs were cool, but my kids hated that they were in blind boxes not the CMF bags. We can feel the CMF bags and 95% of the time know what minifig we are buying. That is impossible with the vidiyo blind boxes.
@@tiffanyg6040 CMF bags are better, i remember going to a movie with my friend and we went to a nearby toystore that had batman series 2 and i managed to find clock king (the figure i wanted)
For me it's both the Minifigures and the beatbits. Both are going into a record store MOC.
If ya do that, I will watch it.
1998-2002 is generally considered Lego's "Dark Age" - it's when Lego's position in the toy market was at its weakest and they were throwing all sorts of unusual concepts at the wall to see what stuck. Yes, they got the Star Wars license in '99 but that was a licensed theme and this was a time before Lego truly established itself in the licensed toy game. It took the creative vision behind Bionicle to get Lego out of its rut for its own original toylines.
I remember writing to lego in early 2013 as a 7 year old I think asking them if they could revive bionicle, and hey, they did it, but if I'm honest, I think one of the big reasons it failed was just because it lacked the worldbuilding and just cinematic atmosphere of the original. I kinda wish I was a little older so I could experience the original bionicle, but hero factory was still pretty cool, I still remember watching the animation lore for the 2011 arc Ordeal of Fire, and I still remember loving Nex.
Yup, the flaw in G2 was the story and worldbuidling, which is a darn shame because the figures themselves were phenomenal!
I could understand why they started Bionicle from scratch again, though. The old worldbuilding had become so convoluted it could scare off newcomers...
@@hakanstorsater5090 Starting from scratch wasn't the problem, it's that the narrative they went with was *excessively* streamlined to the point where it lacked the depth even early G1 was known for.
The lack of an equivalent to the Mata Nui Online Game (which allowed people to immerse themselves in the world, while showing that there was more going on than just the adventures the Toa were involved in) likely didn't help.
I guess the a problem with Vidyo is the core fact that it relies on kids spending more time on the phone. I am not a parent, but I'd imagine that many parents really appreciate the offline aspect of Lego that lets kids have a fun and be creative for so long.
Also: the issue with toys focussing on apps is that with ongoing technology sooner or later the app will not work anymore, making the toy redundant in the future ...
Think you've got something there. Toys like Legos are less fun when you have to look at them through a camera screen and divert effort to keeping everything in shot while you reach for things and play.
At least the minifigs can be used as minifigs. The shark guys actually look interesting to me.
I used to work for Merlin. I didn't know they were owned by LEGO, just that they also owned the theme parks. They own a ton of things. Wax museums, aquariums, zoos, torture museums. It's kind of weird to know that the LEGO theme parks that don't allow adults without a kid are owned by the same company as a line of museums focused on torture and dark moments in history.
So how did Doggans do his videos of visiting Legoland Florida without a kid with him?
Merlin was actually a separate company for quite a long while, more than a decade actually. LEGO originally owned the totality of their parks for a few years but transferred majority ownership to Merlin for administrative and management reasons. Then the company (or more accurately the family that started LEGO) wanted the parks back so went and bought Merlin wholesale and merged it into LEGO.
What are you talking about? I’m 36 and got into Legoland just fine.
I love Merlin lmao
How could Legoland not be owned by LEGO?
My family got at least one of the fiber-optics sets. I think that while the effects of these things can be really cool, they don’t exactly live up to Lego’s standards for durability. The tubes broke out of their socket and got lost when in storage, rendering the socket part rather irrelevant. Probably this is an idea that is better for adults who store their LEGO collection’s more carefully and methodically. I do really love light-up parts in general so if you just got over the cost problem, I would say they have an audience.
Boo beginning to speak more is the cutest thing to me omg 😭😭
9:41 - that's actually not at Legoland Florida but in the water across from the Lego Store in Disney Springs (formally Downtown Disney)! He's been there for over 20 years, they keep him in really nice shape! I worked in one of the stores across the water there at Springs so I got to see him everyday. Fun Fact: His name is Brickley and he has had his own merch- including a mini Lego set! There is also another sculpture of him at the Lego Store in NYC :)
The Lego Dragon in Florida is actually at Disney Springs in front of the Lego store there, built before the Legoland Florida opened many miles away.
The dragon was built in 1998 when the Downtown Disney expansion opened long before LEGOLAND Florida opened in 2011
Bionicle G2 breaks my heart. They were still a valiant effort and still the most interesting original, non-licensed thing Lego did in years. And the toys were only somewhat simpler than the old toys. G2 were still incredible and cool sets.
Indeed G2 had many problems and Lego didn't put that much effort into things like advertisement but it defiantly wasn't the worst it could have been I wonder what it would be like if it was a success.
When LEGO complains about "poor sales" of really very cool things like Bionicles, they're ignoring the kids' parents shouting "too expensive!". I love Bionicles, they're still some of my favourite Lego, together with Knights, but I've barely ever owned any of it because it was just too damn expensive for a single parent, two children, lower-middle class household. Which in reality were like all the households back then that accounted for "poor sales"
Price Points seem to be make or break for a lot of toylines,not just Lego. Several toylines I collect have been cancelled due to the low sales/high price point situation.
But Lego has been getting more and more expensive every year, even compared to other brands of toys.
Over past 20 years or so Lego has been introducing more and more practices that are, well, way too safe and cheap.
They're very stingy with minifigures, like to release slightly modified of same set over and over again, stick to evergreen themes and are unwilling to release classic themes or try new things that aren't sponsored by anything, getting rid of impulse buy cheap sets while raising the prices for rest of the sets.
I know, everything costs more now, but Lego is getting inproportionately more pricy than rest of things, especially rest of luxury goods.
It was also frustrating how for every new story-point, they had six new toys waiting, that you had to buy to have a consistent set.
@@fermintenava5911 I mean, that's actually not Lego's fault, it's just how action figures work. It wasn't even a problem at first when main six were almost impuls buys. But after Inika build got introduced, prices kept going higher and higher.
@@nihili4196 nursing that you are missing is the cost of plastic is constantly going up and in flux that is a prop like right now we are going through a shortage of plastic due to supply chain issues to get the plastic were it's "needed". Second Lego has switch primarily over to licensed themes so that means they're now more people taking a cut of the pie. Lego Star Wars as soon as Disney bought Star Wars, the theme jumped up in price because now there wasn't just what Lucasflims and George Lucas was taking it was now Disney and George Lucas. And Disney unlike lucasfilm started demanding more and more. So the cost of plastic going up can explain part of the raise in price and then switching over to primarily licensed themes can explain another part of it. Minifigures being rare especially since they're having primarily license themes make sense because they are basically action figures for that line.
I do have feeling Lego is going have to take a long hard look in word if it wants to continue to be dominant but there is some reasoning.
Oh gosh I used to have Scala!!! I didn't recognise it until you showed the newer sets! I was blissfully unaware how bad they sold, I (the target demographic at the time) always loved them 😂
Same! I was born in 1992, and looking back, I'm really grateful that my parents were willing to drop so much 90s money on Scala dollhouses when I was 5 or 6 (actually, just the bathroom and kitchen sets first, lol). I still have them all :)
this guy's personality and voice is so oddly soothing, it just rubs me the right way
17:34 Sad that, though. As a creative I think "here's a really cool idea that you can't possibly monetize because it's going to cost more than it could possibly be worth to anyone". I'm very familiar with that situation.
I really like how you branched into lego content. It is my favourite thing ever!
I love how you consult and incorporate the opinions of Lego content creators and use your popularity to shine a light on them. You're a cool dude, dude, and people notice
Was not expecting to see one of my ancient Eurobricks posts here, and a great video to look back on all these themes too!
Shortly after the time I posted that, I began working at a LEGO Store. Having moved on from there now, I can confidently say pricing and marketing continued to be mixed, even to this day.
Thanks for all the info your posts taught me PenPlays 🙂 It's a pleasure to see your comment here
@@phantomstrider I have a few video ideas :
Top 10 worst episodes of The Loud House ( ft. Jem Reviews ) Season 1 through 5
Top 10 worst Nickelodeon live action movies
So, a few things:
I go to Walmart every other week to buy groceries and I often check the LEGO aisle, and I haven’t seen a single Vidiyo set leave the shelves.
I have been to the LEGOLAND theme parks in California and Florida. I highly recommend the Ninjago ride. It’s a 3D action coaster. You basically wear 3D glasses and “fight” Ninjago enemies.
I actually had the Master Builder Academy 20215 set. I absolutely loved it. It basically taught vintage architecture and gear functions.
Great video, Strider.
I hope you’ll be warmer soon, Stridey! I’ve been upset with a cold, cough and some cyberbullying this week, but your nature in this video has perked me up. The gags were pretty cool. :)
Feel better soon!
@@galaxyskeleton Thanks! 💚
Hey, sis! Nice to see you here. I hope you're feeling better now.
@@aminaj.7032 Hey, sweetie! I think I'm slowly gettting better. Thanks!
@BK Thank you so much, BK. I have had some positive experiences in the PhantomStrider community. I’m grateful for the kindness and support I have been receiving after getting a lot of hate. :)
Before Lego Friends, there was also Lego Paradisa (a subtheme of Town) and Lego Belville. Apparently the latter must've been successful because it continued well into 2008, with the last sets retiring by the end of 2011, presumably to make way for Lego Friends.
As a Bionicle fan, I was super excited when it was brought back. I was definitely disappointed with the reboot's storyline, but I buy the sets for the parts, not the lore, so I bought them anyway. I love the original lore, but I like to create my own stuff, and Bionicle parts really allowed for a lot of creativity. Sad to think it will probably never come back again.
Yeah i was too
I liked story at first. I was like "Oh, so we're doing it all over again, but Mata-nui is called Ekimu this time, and is not a robot. Neat. Let's see where it'll go.
But then Zombie wave happened with no reason what so ever and had no long lasting effect, nothing was explained or even told with that wave, and we've quickly move to Umarak being bad guy...
It was the biggest Meh sorry I've seen.
And story is the proof this reboot wasn't aimed at older demographic. Sets were good, but nothing made them stand out.
As a child, I didn't like Bionicle cause I thought it was a Lego ripoff cause I was a dumb kid.
31:33 Don't mind me, I'm just mentioning this because HOLY CRAP. I had to pause and rewind because this took a second to sink in.
Being so bad that NONEof the actors ever acted again. Absolutely rough.
23:24 I have a huge love for the first generation of BIONICLE, but the 2015 Reboot was just really, really bad, and with a dumb and stupid storyline. However, I don't mind the fact that we got some really useful parts out of it. But it just comes to show that in the end, you can't outshine the original, not by a long shot! I grew up with Bionicle as a kid, and have gained a mental connection to it since it sparks my creativity and building skills to a very detailed level. Therefore, It will always hold a special place in my heart, way more than LEGO's usual themes. I was really sad and heartbroken though when they discontinued it, since it meant that constraction figures were really dead... but despite that, I still collect BIONICLE sets to this day.
i gotta come back to watch this later
#10 1:12 Lego Vidiyo (2021)
#9 4:50 Lego Znap (1998)
#8 8:26 Lego Theme Parks SOLD (2005)
#7 11:44 Early Lego Games (1997-2004)
#6 15:38 Lego Technic Fibre Optic Multi Set (1996)
#5 17:49 LEGO MASTER BUILDING ACADEMY (2011-2012)
#4 20:33 Scala (1979-80, 1997-2001)
#3 23:24 Lego Bionicle Reboot (2015-16)
#2 25:33 Lego Fusion (2014)
#1 28:32 The GalidoR Set (2002)
10:55
As a UK Theme Park fan, I can confirm they are actually Chessington: World of Adventures and Alton Towers.
Hell yeah!!
I remember that Lego Friends Fusion set! I still have mine and distinctly remember playing the app as well. I was never really interested in it because building just the front of a house didn't really feel fulfilling to me. Like it was cool and I love the concept, but sometimes even the house itself would scan wrong into the game. Also, the game was quite boring. It only captivated me for a few weeks before I pretty much forgot about it entirely. It's a cool concept, but it was pretty barebones. If there was more of a set to build and a more interesting app to integrate it with, I feel like it would be far more popular. The only thing I really enjoyed was getting to set up the interiors of digital lego houses, that was pretty fun. But then again that was like... the only thing to do in the lego friends game.
I almost wish I could play it again. It may even be still downloaded on one of my old devices for all I know. Weirdly nostalgic for it, but it really wasn't all that great looking at it now.
Same here!
Lego Znap was embarrassing. Like take Lego Technic for example: these two lines have much in common. The difference is that Znap is limited to really huge pieces that makes it hard to make your own shape for a building. Like, by looking at them, it seems like you have to build only based on the shape of the pieces.
Technic gives you much more liberty in that regard and, for that both the sets and MOCS are incredible. Not to mention the mechanics in Technic are impressive (from the perspective of someone who doesn't know anything about mechanisms).
Anyway, Lego Znap will forever be barely remember as one of the many failed attempts Lego did to get out from bankruptcy.
For a while, LEGO had this mentality that the *play* was the most important aspect of its product, and so even put into advertising that "these sets come with few parts and are simple to build, so kids can get into play quickly". As a result you had a bajillion sets featuring large custom parts that could only ever be used for the one purpose it was originally designed for. Houses whose roof was one or two pieces. Planes whose fuselage consisted of only a couple of parts. Dinosaur sets where you assembled the torso using five conventional LEGO pieces and then snapped on the limbs, head, and tail. For a while, LEGO abandoned the whole idea of building stuff, and the flexibility of the system was outright sabotaged. Fortunately, they got over it later, but it was a rough period to be a LEGO fan.
@@Codraroll @Erlend Andenæs they do still make specialized pieces. I mean, our dinos are made with just a few pieces. But, from what I understand, that's because LEGO would want to keep a consistency with the minifigures because, like minifigures, the animals are characters. Not to mention that specialized pieces are impostant for stability.
LEGO make mostly toys. Their main demographic is and it will always be kids. So these sets should look good and give play functions. I think the reason why the prioritization on the playfeatures at the time was because LEGO didn't had adult fans, but now there are tons of them. Most adult toy collectors chose LEGO because LEGO is simply more interesting and has a complex building system. There's even a ther for Adult Fans Of LEGO (AFOL).
Now that's a problem that most toy companies face when they make toys. There's a huge gap between two audiences: the kids who want something to play with and adults who want a display models. And, because of that, it's just harder for toy companies like LEGO, HAZBRO and MATTEL to make their products because they need to make display models that aren't ruined by play features.
It's nice that LEGO tries his best to appeal to both sides. But, it was clear for them that not a lot of adults will buy a toy regardless if they like it or not. So that's basically why we have STAR WARS UCS models, modular buildings and +18 sets.
The shameful thing to me was that it was like an admission _mighty Lego was SCARED of the upstart K'nex..._ and was trying to toss their hat in the ring with something like it in case their classic brick system couldn't compete. Even Z'nap's name is an obvious take-off on the other brand.
It's a pity the Bonicle G2 sets didn't sell well. Like I totally understand why they didn't but from a pure set perspective, those were the best Lego figures we have ever got. They were so articulate, unique, posable, and had amazing play features. I got the entire first wave and part of the second wave and they were a joy to assemble and pose.
If they produced a stronger story with better marketing to support those great toys, the theme might have done better. And unfortunately, a lot of fans looked at the the sleeker designs of the figures and assumed they were inferior to the original, more piston-y looking Bionicles. But even though the new figures were sleeker, they were more complicated to build and you could do so much more with articulation. They were, mechanically, better figures and it's a shame they didn't grab people's attention the way G1 Bionicle did.
It was disaster at all fronts. I've tried my best to get every set, but last wave didn't even make it to where I live.
Those sets were amazing, and although I wish they were less slick looking, they had more play value and were indeed more fun to build than their counterparts from G1. Any ̶̶T̶o̶a Master had almost complexity worth of a Titan from G1 while being much smaller set. Different Uniters were fun to build.
It's annoying than there was little to no advertisement to get new fans, and no story to lure in older fans that weren't completely sold on the CCBS, but didn't despise it.
@@nihili4196 >"Little to no advetisement"
G2 Bionicles were advertised a lot where I was from, especially in TV ads, and they were very common in toy shops. Heck, Lego made animated shorts and mini games in ther website/s.
I never got the impression the theme itself had little advertising, and if it had, it wasn't AS little as some say, nor do I think it alone was the deciding factor to doom the line.
My issue with the reboot outside of the story elements wasn't that the sets were too simple looking. It was the opposite, actually. Like the colour choices alone give me Deviantart OC vibes. And the overreliance on transparent pieces just helped make them feel off.
@@succubastard1019 where are you from? because in my country I don't think I ever saw a single product during the 2015s. I had to get all my sets from the US. Compare that to how the original bionicle sets were released when they were upfront on stores along other lego products.
@@regionfuego6 Italy. The channels I watched as a kid used to get G2 Bionicle ads quite often and my aunt's toy shop also had their sets. From what I remember, the publicity wasn't inferior to G1's last waves.
I think that when people or was poorly advertised, they say so in comparison to when G1 began, a time when Lego really had to go all in to promoting that theme since it was basically half of their profit.
I think people give Bionicle a tough time now since they were honestly the coolest and most interesting sets I ever saw! Even if the new sets had a ”more simple” story they still look amazing!
I didn’t like the newer construction pieces due to how the plates were always “too” flexible/movable making it hard to keep a consistent alignment of your pieces. They made for much better models than action figures in my eyes. I feel moving back to pin and axel based connections while keeping the more flexible limb design would work wonders. Have the limb’s ends remain the same but instead of a ball joint, have a range of pieces have a line of pin and axel holes without any ball joints. It would also greatly increase the flexibility (the other kind) of what pieces you can put onto the arms without convoluted ball joint connections!
Sets were pretty fun, and I'm sure Lego would eventually merge CCBS with technic somehow if that line were to live longer.
Sadly there was no advertising, sets weren't appealing to anyone new or even some older fans, and story that held the previous generation so well was... Non existent.
I grew up with G1 Bionicle and the reboot really missed the mark for me aesthetically. I love that they tried to make the construction more MOC friendly and flexible, but I really hated the execution. The earlier bionicle sets had lots of bodyparts that could be MOCed into totally different tings since they had extra pin and axle openings. The new armor plate system just didn't spark my imagination and didn't lend itself to mixing with technic parts + the generic "evil skeleton man" bad guys just filled me with cringe. Instead of exploring the capabilities of the building system they make them skeletons so that they don't have to put that many armor pieces on them and otherwise they work just like the good guys.
I really liked the original Bionicle, except for those ball and socket joints which would develop cracks over time and eventually break.
9:43 Actually, that dragon isn't in LEGOLAND Florida! It's in Disney Spring, right in front of the Lego store there. His name is Brickely the Lego Serpant!
24:31 I remember all of my friends loved bionicles when we were kids, at least as young as 7 or 8. Maybe you meant very small children but when I was a kid no one really had lego until they were at least 6 anyways so 7-10 was really the main age group which bionicle fit into well. I am surprised to hear it was a failure, everyone I knew thought it was the best lego that existed.
The original Bionicle was a massive success until it's later years, he's talking about the 2015 reboot which wasn't rally marketed to anyone really.
I'm surprised that Lego Dots didn't make the list, the social media backlash that met the announcement was unbelievably negative and since I work in a toy shop, Dots sets stayed on the shelves for months before being transferred out.
everytime i see a new upload from Josh i always get a smile on my face
Yeah, Yidiyo flopped big time. I could write a whole essay on it:
1. The app’s functionality, especially on older devices
2. Lack of interest for older fans
3. Parents worried about screentime
4. Limited building experience, especially in the first wave
5. High prices
6. Lack of a story, focus on the technology aspect
I don't use legos but I've definitely seen some legos that we're either WAAAY to weird for my tastes or just weren't for me.
I actually kind of like the designs of the Vidyo figures. They're so over-the-top that they're entertaining.
The kids on the lego bracelet boxes have this look on their faces like “Why did my mom make me do this?”
2 sets I enjoy and still wish they continued was
1. LEGO Board Games
2. LEGO Mixels
I loved these 2 concepts, shame they were discontinued
Ikr. I still own the Minotaurus game. Some of the games were an easy way to get a large base plate. The dice piece was also really cool as you could customise it.
Even the figures you'd play with were pretty cool too.
Yeah. Mixels was lit.
I love how much effort you put into all your videos! They’re so much fun to watch and I also learn a lot when watching videos like this! Keep it up Strider :)
I'm a huge LEGO fan, and even I didn't know about most of these failures! Great video, incredibly well researched!!
If they made a Lego Elder Scrolls game, I'll be like amazed and shocked at the same time, I'll definitely buy it.
Technically it is rated M 17+ by the ESRB, so I doubt they'd make an official series. That being said, a Lego Ideas set is a possibility - adult programming is found in there.
I would buy that
Never played the games but I’d buy it if it’s a pure open world Lego game
So you're telling me that there exists a museum specifically dedicated to showing the biggest failures in the world, and they didn't call me to give an exhibit??
Sigh...
The Lego Bionicle Reboot failure is a dense subject. Lego had made really poor marketing choices. They have mostly let the original fans to do their work fotlr them and it worked as well as you can guess. Not to mention the high demand for Lego bricks at the time. Kids wanted bricks, not figures. And, if they wanted figures, they would have bought the Lego Star Wars figures that were released along with the Bionicle Reboot. There were also a small, but loud minority of fans that wanted tgis theme to fail because it used pieces that originate from Lego Hero Factory (a theme that people though that killed Bionicle, which is false).
It is a shame, though. The figures looked amazing.
Growing up in a girl bubble, I never really realized that Scala (and its predecessor Belville) were a poor substitute for actual lego sets until I was much older. Everything else sold at the time was just so aggressively masculine that no adults would even consider buying it for me, and so I was stuck with the lego-in-name-only sets after Paradisa and Fabuland were discontinued. 90s marketing trends have much to answer for. (Conversely I had a ton of mainline Playmobil because those sets were not distincly marketed as boy’s toys)
*PARADISA! Thank you!* That name was on the tip of my tongue.
Phase I Paradisa from the 1990s was something that helped close the gender gap for a while. Girls were favored without going so far boys were totally turned off. It used 'girl' colors, but they were mild inobtrusive ones... the packaging sold me on the idea most of those bricks were showing the orange and red tints of a tropical sunset,
They were interesting sets which filled a useful role for everyone. Townsfolk now could go to this swank locale on vacation, to do things both girls and boys usually both liked doing. And if more girls were there than was normal in Legoland... well, so what? Every little boy knows and accepts as a universal law: beaches and pools have women in swimsuits or sunglasses hanging around nearby. 😄
The pieces were advanced and exotic for the time, the baseplates had new useful patterns and they had cool stuff to offer for someone's brick colletion. Look at 1992's Sand Dollar Cafe/Club Paradisa... it was *a treasure*. You had a beachside cafe with a frying pan in the kitchen, mugs and huge contoured floor-to-ceiling windows; a patio table with an umbrella and proper chairs; two female minis in swimsuits; a chef; a lifeguard; an ice cream vendor with a rather nice brick-built cart; a wavesurfing board; a shoreline baseplate ideal for building fun scenes of your own on; a bike; flowers; a life jacket; a parrot; unique signage; spiny bushes; and a palm tree. A lot of this stuff was rare, uncommon, or brand new at the time and it remains a surprising variety of things ti find in one set.
And what was the "Ick... girls!" factor for boys who had it nearby? Your dudes from around town could pop in to eat or drink something and have some ice cream, takin' a dip or even chasing each other through the place as part of greater play. And there was enough leftover room on the baseplate to easily cram in some stuff from other sets during those times.
Lego has done a good amount of blind packs in recent years. The CMF's, the Vidyo sets, even Nexo Knights with the shield packs
Very well done overall. Informative, engaging, funny, and even has a B storyline, this channel is better than many TV shows.
"and ain't breaking without a fight" my many 2010 bionicle sets would like to argue that fact.
Something else bad about the blind boxes from Vidiyo is that the contents inside are impossible to feel. You just have to get lucky or buy an entire box.
You are *supposed* to do things by getting lucky, mate. That's why the blind bags weren't just made clear.
That's the whole point behind them; it adds excitement to your collecting experience and keeps things fair. Think of how disgusted we'd probably be with folks who used advanced portable equipment to scan inside packs of Pokemon and Magic cards... finding the best packs to buy for themselves, and leaving everyone else who would pay the same money with nothing but junk to show for it.
@@henrysokol3466 Yes but I’m spending $5 a pack and if I don’t get the right ones then I have to spend $300 on a box. I can understand the other way around but I think most people want to know what they’re buying.
@@pysz6748 Many do indeed. But the figures are blind-packaged and randomly distributed for a reason. You go into the whole thing *knowing* these are meant to be random picks, so trying to find out which bags hold what means you're choosing to cheat.
When you really want a figure that bad and can't buy one straight off somebody... *spend the $300,* or wheel and deal for it with extras you don't want yourself. (Doing the former massively helps you do the latter.) It's effort- and time-intensive, but has worked at least as far back as when packaged sports cards were invented. You also get more satisfaction knowing a complete collection was gained despite doing things the hard way.
What a flex with the Danish bits! 😄👍 As someone who speaks Norwegian, thank you so much for including some good ol' Danish in there! I'm always sad that I don't get to speak/hear the Scandinavian languages very often in the U.S. And for the record, your pronunciation was very good! Also, as usual, a very informative, funny, and insightful video. Takk for alle de fine punktene og meningene dine, og jeg håper du nyter en riktig god juletid i Australia!
Tak for den dejlige kommentar! Hav en god jul 😀
My man tried to speak Danish but ended up talking in an swedish/norwegian accent
"It's like they were embarrassed."
Gets me everytime, man. Bravo
Danish person here! Your Danish is so good, I didn't need the subtitles. In fact, the second time over it kinda sounded like one of comedian Anden's characters. From the "Stop copying me!" sketch, specifically.
The prison guard sounded a bit more Swedish than anything else, but what can you do? It's a difficult language.
I still have a couple of Galidor figures from my childhood, which my cousin's children think are very cool. (They're between 3 and 5.)
I remember the "Danish" spoken in the Netflix "Toys That Made Us" Lego episode as nearly incomprehensible, on the other hand... 😁
I remember going to Legoland in London when I was a lot younger and remember being in so much awe despite never even playing with lego before and the star wars section was the best part and there were also life sized buildings made from literal lego. Loved it so much, and like Disneyland they had people cosplaying as characters from properties associated with them and remember Darth maul asking if I was enjoying myself while taking pictures with him. Definately going back for a visit in the future :D
I can understand why Galadore failed, but the designs are actually really cool. I frequently draw cheesy sci fi designs like that. Also, why was the decision to make licenses Lego sets controversial?
People were worried that they would completely replace the regular Lego themes and ruin the charm they had maintained since the 70s. It’s why themes like galidor, scala and znap failed hard, because they lacked the charm and familiarity of a standard Lego set. Bionicle only succeeded due to it capturing that 6-10 year old audience, bionicle had so much pushback and controversy among the Lego community at the time who were tired of Lego trying to create new construction types instead of focusing on their main sets (a lot of people believed Lego discontinued many of their beloved themes in favour of bionicle).
I love galidor lol i still have the toys
I've never got the sets but I remember playing the game that came out on the GBA.
@@hpenvywirelessinkprinter3047 Bionicle did have the advantage of being an extension of the Technic line.
Just rediscovered Strider and I have no idea why I stopped watching him at all, he’s so fun and friendly
Idea for a video:
*Top5 Best and Worst Lisa Simpsons Episodes.*
27:55 this is exactly one of the biggest problems when lego does something with an app. Nexo Knight ; hidden side usw.
everything will stop working when the children grow up, while I can still play with my father's Lego without any problems. It's worst with control+
because you can only control the motors via the app.
i hope Strider hits 1 million subs in the future
Absolutely
I actually really enjoyed the Bionicle Reboot when it came out, it’s a shame it didn’t do well. I even still own some of the Sets, they bring back good memories 😊
i actually have really fond memorys playing with scala as a kid. guess it was cheaper then other doll house brands so we had quite a few of the sets but i remember loving them as a kid and now my niece is playing with them too :3
Yes i enjoyed them a lot too! They also didn't break as quickly as other lego dolls for girls
I loved Scala! I feel like the only AFOL in the world who actually likes it, I got the big pink house I never had as a kid as an adult and I still think it's not as bad as people claim. I think you have to compare it to what other "girl" toys had to offer rather than to other Lego themes. I liked having detailed dolls with more articulation than Barbies, and a doll house that was endlessly reconfigurable.
Please Do Top 10 Best Disney Sitcoms!
I love your Lego top lists!
I'm only thankful to Galidor for their joints because thanks to them we had Exo-Force and my favourite Knight's Kingdom :)
Man I have been loving the new Lego content XD
Hey Strider, this was a fantastic video! Although Lego had a lot of fails, Hasbro and Mattel both had even more fantasical fails, especially Hasbro's infamous Flubber fail. It caused people to break out in rashes, and when they tried to destroy the Flubber, it didn't work so they buried it under the area where one of their warehouses currently is. Kind of reminds me of the 50s horror movie The Blob. Videos on the many fails of Mattel and Hasbro would be hilarious, because when Hasbro and Mattel fail, they REALLY fail. But to be fair, when they succced, they really do succced. 😀
I remember seeing The Blob at one point. I'm such a coward with horror movies it gave me nightmares...
Case in point: Elite 2.0, Alpha Strike, and the hilariously terrible HYPER rounds.
Honestly for anyone who wants to build a Lego record store, like myself, the vidiyo series was a God send. Also the base things make great hot tubs
The Bionicle reboot didn’t die because Bionicle isn’t a profitable idea, it died because it didn’t have the original series heart. Without the lovingly crafted story fans had grown to expect they were left with toys that didn’t have any resemblance to the original Bionicle sets. It was like they hand crafted it not to be what fans wanted. To make it worse the theme was incredibly under marketed as Lego seemingly expected old fans to do the heavy lifting advertising the toys, fans that didn’t like the new direction they took the theme in. The Bionicle reboot simply couldn’t have survived the way it wad conceived.
Love the content Strider, as a dane I love watching you talk about Lego, your channel is awesome. If you ever visit Denmark I hope you will have a blast. Much love from Denmark
tak skal du have Morten 😃 Much love from Australia.
I actually had one of those red ZNAP broken catapult things as a kid, I have no idea when I got it, but later on, I'm pretty sure I just threw it away because I mistook it for an incomplete product of a failed toy company.
There could be some honorable mentions, like fabuland, bellville, and jack stone. I still collect stuff of that though, but mostly the accessoires, which where actually cool. The bizarre, not-lego esque figures are hard to fimd an use for as they can't be traded or swapped. (I'm currently planning to use my old fabuland characters as large dolls in the toy store section of a mall project)
I thought that Bellville was actually really popular. Didn't last for like 5+ years?
The internet disagrees. Everyone says that friends was the first really succesful attempt at girls legos, and that the bellville figures were absolutely hideous
@@supertransistor8762 The internet is not an authority on this subject, it can disagree, but it's doesn't change the stats. I looked it up and Belville stuck around for 10+ years, that means it had to have been successful on some level.
True, the internet spends a lot of lies, but if many, many people say it, you can safely say a large part disliked it
Fabuland survived for about a decade,, though, Belville even longer. And Fabuland still has something of a cult following. The Belville market was somewhat outside traditional Lego, so it might have gotten a worse rap than it deserved. At least commercially.
Kid Danger: *wearing his moto pup outfit* excuse you? my brother, Chevy man 30-30 and me used to HAVE the toys from said show. I liked the toys exceptionally the mine character.
I really loved the wild figure designs of Vidiyo, but they were so overpriced I didn't want to buy any. I even thought the tiles would make for a good record shop build.
love the lego marvel superheroes music in the background brings back memories
Yeah, I knew Bionicle was gonna be here. I loved the original line's sunset years, but there was seldom a reason to buy the 2015-16 sets, even as a fan of the classics.
Should be noted WRT Bionicle
1) G1 didn't get cancelled because of low sales. It got cancelled because sales were hitting a plateau. Lego's logic was that by cancelling it when it was still successful, stores would remember it fondly, and welcome a return in the future.
2) G2's complete lack of budget, particularly in the marketing department, has been laid at the feet of two things: The Gold Mask competitions and the Ninjago reboot. The former was a set of seven 14-carat gold masks that Lego intended to give away via competitions, but AFAIK only three of these things actually happened. Also the first was almost certainly rigged by Lego themselves so they could give the prize to a large, impressive model built by someone who got the G2 parts early. It waas a lot of money to spend on things that didn't really matter.
3) The Ninjago thing needs a little more elaboration because Bionicle isn't the only theme that suffered because of it. Lego's themes used to generally last for six waves, unless they were so wildly successful that they could become "evergreen" like G1 did. However, since Ninjago's revival, most of them have only managed five, cut down to 2.5 years instead of 3. Ninjago itself was officially cancelled at the end of its run, and, like Bionicle, got a massive outpouring from customers, begging for a revival. But whereas the Bionicle outcry was mostly from teenage forum-goers without disposable income, the Ninjago outcry was mostly from parents of young Ninjago fans, who probably hadn't encountered the three-year cycle much before, being more focused on evergreen stuff like City and Creator, or oft-repeated genres like Space.
Ironically, as much as Lego fans complain about established licenses that suck attention away from Lego's own ideas (EG: People buying Star Wars instead of Lego's space themes), Ninjago is now one of those things itself, a vampire of a theme that cannibalises its compatriots and causes any new ideas for themes to be funnelled into itself, because that's safer and more profitable.
(Seriously I waited _years_ for Lego based on D&D and when it got here, there wasn't a pointy ear or a stunty or a horn in sight, just more fucking ninjas)
I love the vidyo minifigures, I think the problem is that they're basically overpriced CMFs, and that's why it failed
Their over the top design to me, was honestly a positive, not a negative. But they just weren't worth the price. I'm actually getting a few now that they're available at a discount.
Vidyo is just the embodiment of “how do you do, fellow kids”
I liked scala a lot as a kid. The dolls from scala had articulated joints and had the perfect size for playing my outdoor jungle adventure games with them outside. Yes the furniture and everything looked boring, but it gave a lot of room for imagination and could be combined and rebuilt in different ways. You could also change up the house and lego bricks worked with their base plate and some furniture so I spent a lot of time re building the house. Also: the female dolls especially didnt look as overly feminine (makeup, eye lashes etc) or artificial as the ones in friends or barbie. I get why many dont like it but it was not THAT bad. Now that I think about it I really want to ask my parents if they still have the sets in their attic.
Go for it! I bought the big pink house set from 1997 on eBay and I totally enjoyed building some Scala once again in my late 20s :)
Gotta say, Lego are the reason for Bionicle G2s failure.
Problem 1: they didn't market it enough, all they did was rely on the bionicle community to spread it around, which wouldn't have reached new potential fans. And all they released in terms of commercials were a total number of 3, which did little to nothing. Compare that to Bionicle G1 and it's Vast amount of promotional material, comics, books, tons of commercials on TV and on the website, and much more.
Problem 2: the story had no hooks, the story was basically a skeletal and barely expanded thing. In the first year no side character even had a name, and there was no mystery to uncover, all there was were 1,5 minute shorts animated in toonboom with one single guy doing all the voice work, and there were only 10 of them or so.
Problem 3: uniformity and lack of collecting, G1 thrived on collecting alternate colors for masks, or discovering promotional discs for some extra lore, but G2 had nothing like that, unless unique prints on the chests of the characters constitutes collectibles now.
Problem 4: the game sucked, G1 gave us MNOG(Mata Nui Online Game), which was a lore filled and interactive point and click game that let you explore the story of 2001 for yourself, with great flash animations and amazing music to really suck you in and get you invested. G2 had a phone game, not filled with story, but full of mediocre combat where all you did was fight spiders and run around on a set path, it wasn't engaging in any way but to distract you for a few minutes while on the toilet.
So yeah, most people didn't buy bionicle, but mostly cause Lego didn't care to give them a reason to. Unlike back in 2001 when they were on their last leg and had to make a real attempt, in 2015 they were on top of the world, and didn't have to care. They even set the release date for 2015 due to a meme in the bionicle community(rather, it is really probable) that had existed since 2010 when Bionicle ended the first time.
Watching the Bionicle reboot fail genuinely made me depressed. I loved Bionicle, and when it came back, I was excited, and a lot of the sets looked awesome, but the villains and the story were just awful.
I've started collecting a lot of the Vidiyo packs
I just LOVE the female designs, especially the candy themed ones
I love the huge discounts too