Post by maniac4bricks on Feb 27, 2017 6:53:48 GMT
Hey everyone!
So I shared on Instagram and YouTube about starting a new segment on The Brick Theorists. This segment would be our kind of "what happened to" for the channel and might be fun researching and analyzing! Tentatuvely called Back in the Bins, as in LEGO bins, each video in the series will take about a LEGO theme from start to finish, maybe display some stats like number of figures and sets and range of sets, and see what impact each theme had after its cancellation, from pieces, to concepts to figures to building and play techniques. Here is my rough draft script of the pilot, to test out how well it would work with viewers. Let me know if it needs changing. Toodles!
P.S. I figured this would be a fitting title because the theme we talk about are after their cancellation (at least for the most part) so the pieces would most likely be put into bins for building other things, right? And maybe they influence future things to build or for LEGO to develop? Suitable title right?
- Maniac4Bricks
Back in the Bins - Bionicle
In the past few years we've seen an expansion of stories and characters in lego themes. It adds more depth to the figures and playsets and provides a platform upon which kids can build their imagination. Today we're taking a look at the first in-house LEGO theme with a deep storyline, Bionicle. Let's take a dive Back in the Bins.
[intro and music] "brief history, analysis, legacy"
[shows clips of various minifugres, sets, play functions, and ends on a bin of various LEGO parts, overlayed by the logo/text "Back in the Bins"]
Hello everybody this is Maniac4Bricks with the pilot of a new video series called Back in the Bins where we explore the history, development and the legacy of LEGO themes. With a retroactive lens we can analyze what worked and failed with various LEGO properties and see what impact they have on today. And what better way to start things off than LEGO's first major independent property, Bionicle.
Now I hear you saying wait, LEGO had themes with characters and stories before Bionicle. Why don't they get special treatment? Well before Bionicle, many of these themes were loosely structured and the characters weren't often defined, save for a few kid-friendly books or German audiobook tapes. The Lego Club Magazines always had comic book style adventures but these were lighthearted and more often than not, didn't translate to the sets. After all, stories and imagination push the reason for set designs and distribution. How would Nexo Knights exist without story? It would just be futuristic vehicles with medieval flair. But let's get back on track.
During the late 90's, LEGO sets were lackluster in sales and put the company close to bankruptcy. It's saving grace was it's first major license of Star Wars in the wake of Episode I. Again, there were previous licenses translated to lego before but region exclusive and not wide in variety. Star Wars already had an established story, which promotes sale of the sets and collection of figures to this day. With a high success, THE LEGO GROUP wanted to try their hand and make a story-driven lego theme as well. With advances in Technic sets they started with the short lived Slizers or Throwbots in the west in 1999 and Roboriders in 2000. Both themes introduced buildable action figures made out of Technic pieces. The characters each had a unique style and element associated with them and fought against other robots and viruses. But there were still many story elements overlooked or hardly developed like The Boss figure in Roboriders or the conclusion of Throwbots . But as THE LEGO GROUP reworked their ideas they started on a project known as Voodoo Heads. Early designs show buidlable robotic figures that lived in tribes defined by element and would compete for power. Since Throwbots the play features for these sets have moved between gears, elastic bands and disc launchers. Voodoo Heads stepped in a new direction with removable heads from enemy attacks. But the concept seemed less kid friendly as time went on and the project was worked into another angle thanks to Christian Faber and (666). (666) developed an illness and imagined antibodies as small warriors fighting off enemies inside a larger biological being. This culminated into what we saw in 2001 as Bionicle, and the story borrowed elements of previous projects and blended them into a storyline and lore that lasted for years in toy production: 6 robotic heroes wash upon the shores of a robotically tribal island to we awaken the great spirit Mata Nui from a spell cast by the evil and shadowy Makuta. It gets more real complicated after that but what's important to realize is the commitment lego had to the theme. Aside from releasing toys in multiple waves each year, Bionicle also had a fast food tie-in, fully developed website and online game, and mini cds included with figures and comic books with club magazines to expand the mythology of the world. All within its first year! Such media along with later adaptations in books, movies, commercials and video games made Bionicle easy and accessible for kids to digest and follow the Toa Mata on their journeys for the next 9 years. It's also revolutionary that outside of City, Town and Star Wars, Bionicle is the longest running LEGO theme and one of the most developed for story.
So now that we touched upon its beginnings, let's talk about its content. As mentioned earlier, toys were released for Bionicle in multiple waves in a single year for 10 years. These often followed a formula of 6 hero figures in canisters, 6-12 supporting figures in small box sets, and 4 or more larger boxed sets containing villains.
Bionicle ended in 2010 with a line of figures that lego group employees pitched called Bionicle stars. This was the simpler wave of previously established figures serving as a "best of Bionicle" compilation. It also included recent additions from 2009 and 2 figures mentioned in Story but never before made into sets, Piraka and Rahski in yellow.
Bionicle rebooted in 2015 featuring revised versions of the original Toa figures with a new story and villains. It also released a few books, online animations and a Netflix-exclusive show. It was planned for a 3-year run but was cut short in the summer of 2016 and the Netflix show abruptly ended.
So what did Bionicle leave for lego? Aside for being the longest running Independent Property, it opened the door to more Story-driven sets and figures. We now see themes like Ninjago, Legends of Chima and Nexo Knights with multimedia to help kids understand the sets and figures. As far as parts we still see ball and socket joints in lego sets and brick based sets have mech figures with more poseability. Some parts have been used outside of Bionicle over the years even while the theme was running but mostly as an aesthetic. Currently the new Creature Charatcer Building System which Bionicle used is carried by Star Wars action figures based on Each of the trilogies. Bionicle added in the gearbox to the CCBS as well as articulated waists and a few decorated panels.
Thanks for watching this video and let me know what you think about this series. Either comment below, like or dislike, or vote in our poll on twitter if you'd like to see more themes analyzed in his style. I'm sure plenty won't have the landmarks we discussed here but each theme is fun to reflect and always brought something new to the table. We'll see you next time with more videos.
So I shared on Instagram and YouTube about starting a new segment on The Brick Theorists. This segment would be our kind of "what happened to" for the channel and might be fun researching and analyzing! Tentatuvely called Back in the Bins, as in LEGO bins, each video in the series will take about a LEGO theme from start to finish, maybe display some stats like number of figures and sets and range of sets, and see what impact each theme had after its cancellation, from pieces, to concepts to figures to building and play techniques. Here is my rough draft script of the pilot, to test out how well it would work with viewers. Let me know if it needs changing. Toodles!
P.S. I figured this would be a fitting title because the theme we talk about are after their cancellation (at least for the most part) so the pieces would most likely be put into bins for building other things, right? And maybe they influence future things to build or for LEGO to develop? Suitable title right?
- Maniac4Bricks
Back in the Bins - Bionicle
In the past few years we've seen an expansion of stories and characters in lego themes. It adds more depth to the figures and playsets and provides a platform upon which kids can build their imagination. Today we're taking a look at the first in-house LEGO theme with a deep storyline, Bionicle. Let's take a dive Back in the Bins.
[intro and music] "brief history, analysis, legacy"
[shows clips of various minifugres, sets, play functions, and ends on a bin of various LEGO parts, overlayed by the logo/text "Back in the Bins"]
Hello everybody this is Maniac4Bricks with the pilot of a new video series called Back in the Bins where we explore the history, development and the legacy of LEGO themes. With a retroactive lens we can analyze what worked and failed with various LEGO properties and see what impact they have on today. And what better way to start things off than LEGO's first major independent property, Bionicle.
Now I hear you saying wait, LEGO had themes with characters and stories before Bionicle. Why don't they get special treatment? Well before Bionicle, many of these themes were loosely structured and the characters weren't often defined, save for a few kid-friendly books or German audiobook tapes. The Lego Club Magazines always had comic book style adventures but these were lighthearted and more often than not, didn't translate to the sets. After all, stories and imagination push the reason for set designs and distribution. How would Nexo Knights exist without story? It would just be futuristic vehicles with medieval flair. But let's get back on track.
During the late 90's, LEGO sets were lackluster in sales and put the company close to bankruptcy. It's saving grace was it's first major license of Star Wars in the wake of Episode I. Again, there were previous licenses translated to lego before but region exclusive and not wide in variety. Star Wars already had an established story, which promotes sale of the sets and collection of figures to this day. With a high success, THE LEGO GROUP wanted to try their hand and make a story-driven lego theme as well. With advances in Technic sets they started with the short lived Slizers or Throwbots in the west in 1999 and Roboriders in 2000. Both themes introduced buildable action figures made out of Technic pieces. The characters each had a unique style and element associated with them and fought against other robots and viruses. But there were still many story elements overlooked or hardly developed like The Boss figure in Roboriders or the conclusion of Throwbots . But as THE LEGO GROUP reworked their ideas they started on a project known as Voodoo Heads. Early designs show buidlable robotic figures that lived in tribes defined by element and would compete for power. Since Throwbots the play features for these sets have moved between gears, elastic bands and disc launchers. Voodoo Heads stepped in a new direction with removable heads from enemy attacks. But the concept seemed less kid friendly as time went on and the project was worked into another angle thanks to Christian Faber and (666). (666) developed an illness and imagined antibodies as small warriors fighting off enemies inside a larger biological being. This culminated into what we saw in 2001 as Bionicle, and the story borrowed elements of previous projects and blended them into a storyline and lore that lasted for years in toy production: 6 robotic heroes wash upon the shores of a robotically tribal island to we awaken the great spirit Mata Nui from a spell cast by the evil and shadowy Makuta. It gets more real complicated after that but what's important to realize is the commitment lego had to the theme. Aside from releasing toys in multiple waves each year, Bionicle also had a fast food tie-in, fully developed website and online game, and mini cds included with figures and comic books with club magazines to expand the mythology of the world. All within its first year! Such media along with later adaptations in books, movies, commercials and video games made Bionicle easy and accessible for kids to digest and follow the Toa Mata on their journeys for the next 9 years. It's also revolutionary that outside of City, Town and Star Wars, Bionicle is the longest running LEGO theme and one of the most developed for story.
So now that we touched upon its beginnings, let's talk about its content. As mentioned earlier, toys were released for Bionicle in multiple waves in a single year for 10 years. These often followed a formula of 6 hero figures in canisters, 6-12 supporting figures in small box sets, and 4 or more larger boxed sets containing villains.
Bionicle ended in 2010 with a line of figures that lego group employees pitched called Bionicle stars. This was the simpler wave of previously established figures serving as a "best of Bionicle" compilation. It also included recent additions from 2009 and 2 figures mentioned in Story but never before made into sets, Piraka and Rahski in yellow.
Bionicle rebooted in 2015 featuring revised versions of the original Toa figures with a new story and villains. It also released a few books, online animations and a Netflix-exclusive show. It was planned for a 3-year run but was cut short in the summer of 2016 and the Netflix show abruptly ended.
So what did Bionicle leave for lego? Aside for being the longest running Independent Property, it opened the door to more Story-driven sets and figures. We now see themes like Ninjago, Legends of Chima and Nexo Knights with multimedia to help kids understand the sets and figures. As far as parts we still see ball and socket joints in lego sets and brick based sets have mech figures with more poseability. Some parts have been used outside of Bionicle over the years even while the theme was running but mostly as an aesthetic. Currently the new Creature Charatcer Building System which Bionicle used is carried by Star Wars action figures based on Each of the trilogies. Bionicle added in the gearbox to the CCBS as well as articulated waists and a few decorated panels.
Thanks for watching this video and let me know what you think about this series. Either comment below, like or dislike, or vote in our poll on twitter if you'd like to see more themes analyzed in his style. I'm sure plenty won't have the landmarks we discussed here but each theme is fun to reflect and always brought something new to the table. We'll see you next time with more videos.