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Bionicle (stylized all caps) is a discontinued Product lining of Lego Construction set marketed primarily towards 8-to-16-year-olds. The line was launched in 2001, originally as a subsidiary of Lego's Lego Technic series. Over the following decade, it became one of the company's biggest-selling properties, turning into a franchise and subsequently becoming one of the factors in saving Lego from its financial crisis of the late 1990s. Despite a planned twenty-year tenure, the theme was discontinued in 2010, citing low sales, but was rebooted in 2015 for a further two years. A single new set was given out free with large purchases in 2023.
Unlike most Lego themes, apart from Pirates, Bionicle was accompanied by an original story that was told across a multimedia spectrum, including books, comics, games, and animated films. It primarily depicts the exploits of the Toa, heroic biomechanical beings with innate elemental abilities whose duty is to protect and maintain peace throughout their universe. Bionicle's success prompted later Lego themes to use similar story-telling methods.
The concept for Bionicle originated from an idea by co-creator Christian Faber named "Cybots", a line of humanoid action figures with attachable limbs and ball-and-socket joints. Faber recalled: "I was sitting with Lego Technic and thought I would love to build a character instead of a car. I thought of this biological thing: The human body is built from small parts into a functional body just like a model. What if you got a box full of spare parts and built a living thing?". He pitched the idea to Lego, but was initially implemented as the themes Slizer/Throwbots in 1999 and Lego RoboRiders in 2000.
A new project called "BoneHeads of Voodoo Island" was later conceived by Faber and Lego employees Bob Thompson and Martin Riber Andersen from a brief by Erik Kramer that was sent to outside writers, one of whom was Alastair Swinnerton, who rewrote the concept and was later invited to pitch it to the Lego Group at their headquarters in Billund, Denmark. The revised concept was well received and Swinnerton was commissioned to expand his initial pitch into a full 'bible'. On his second visit to Billund, the project was given approval and entitled "Bionicle" at an internal Lego meeting (a portmanteau constructed from the words " biological chro nicle", Official Greg Discussion p. 198 on BZPower forums, post #5922 with reference to the word "bionics"). The names "BioKnights" and "Afterman" were also considered prior to the finalization of the brand.
To accompany theme, Lego worked with Swinnerton and the creative agency Advance to create an elaborate story with extensive lore centering on artificial part-organic, part-robotic (3:17 ratio) characters and telling it across a vast multimedia spectrum including comic books, novels, games, films and online content. Māori culture became a key inspiration behind the story and the theme at large. The use of tropical environments and characters based on classical elements were also carried over from Slizer/Throwbots and RoboRiders. The toys themselves would be an expansion of the Lego Technic sub-series, featuring the same building system that was already featured in the aforementioned themes. One particular element – the then-innovative ball-and-socket system which created free joint movement – would feature heavily in Bionicle's run and later across other Lego themes.
As Bionicle's popularity rose, it became one of Lego's most successful properties, accounting for nearly all of their financial turnover from the previous decade. It was named as the #1 Lego theme in 2003 and 2006 in terms of sales and popularity, with other Lego themes at the time failing to match the profits generated by Bionicle. Its popularity led to high web traffic on its official website, averaging more than one million page views per month, which included further kinds of merchandise such as clothes, toiletries and fast-food restaurant toy collectibles.
At his request, long-term Bionicle comic book writer and story contributor Greg Farshtey was given permission to continue the Bionicle storyline, with chapters for new serials arranged to be posted regularly on the website BionicleStory.com. However, Farshtey stopped posting new content in 2011 due to his other commitments and the website was shut down in 2013, leaving a number of serials incomplete. Farshtey regularly contributed new story details and "canonization" of fan made models via online forums and message boards until his departure from Lego in 2022. Nevertheless, he continues to play an active role in the Bionicle fan community.
The reboot launched in January 2015 to a mixed reception from toy critics and fans of the original Bionicle franchise, with the playability of the new sets and the inspiration taken from the theme's first wave being praised, but the simplified story and undeveloped characters receiving less positive feedback.
Lego discontinued the reboot in late 2016, citing low sales, despite plans to release new sets through to at least 2017. It is widely believed by fans that a lack of marketing and reliance on fans to promote the theme, coupled with the new simplified story, were factors in Generation 2's decreased interest.
A direct successor theme to Bionicle, Hero Factory, was launched in 2010. It continued to use the building system introduced in Bionicle before evolving into the Character and Creature Building System (CCBS) that would later be carried over into other Lego sets and eventually Bionicle's 2015 reintroduction. Hero Factory itself ceased after 2014.
Despite its ending as a toyline, Bionicle's popularity has persisted and was acknowledged by Lego in its 90th anniversary poll, winning the first round. A promotional Lego System set celebrating Bionicle was released in 2023, featuring brick-built versions of the characters of Tahu and Takua, to which the community responded well. Additionally, fans have engaged in several community-based projects, including creating a "Bionicle Day" for August 10 (stylized as "810NICLE Day"), story and media archives, and several fan games.
The first story arc (2001–2003) takes place on a tropical island also named Mata Nui and deals with the arrival of the six Toa Mata and their exploits in protecting the Matoran villagers from Makuta's minions. They are later transformed into the more-powerful Toa Nuva. A heavy emphasis is placed on the Kanohi masks worn by the Toa, which supplement their elemental powers with abilities such as super-strength, super-speed, levitation and water-breathing. The second arc (2004–2005) acts as a prequel to the first: set on an island city called Metru Nui, it follows another group of Toa who would go on to become Turaga, the Matoran's elders, and explains how they all came to settle on Mata Nui island. The culminating third arc (2006–2008) sees a new team of Toa (transformed from Matoran) set out on a quest to find the Mask of Life, a legendary artifact that can save the now-dying Mata Nui. A fourth arc (2009), originally envisioned as a soft reboot of the franchise, introduces the desert world of Bara Magna, its inhabitants, and Mata Nui's origins. However, Lego discontinued Bionicle in 2010 and all planned storylines were scrapped and replaced with one that concluded the main narrative.
Characters such as the Toa and Matoran are divided into tribes based on six "primary" elements: fire, water, air, earth, ice, and stone. Less common "secondary" elements, such as light, gravity and lightning, were slowly introduced over the course of the saga. The 2009 storyline, which features a different society, uses a similar grouping method for its Glatorian and Agori characters.
The entire saga was developed by a team of Lego employees led by Bob Thompson for a multimedia platform spanning animations, comic books, novels, console and online games, short stories, and a series of direct-to-video films. The majority of comics and novels were written by Greg Farshtey, who also published a number of in-character blogs, serials, and podcasts that expanded the franchise lore. After the toyline was discontinued, publication of these serials continued through to 2011 before halting abruptly due to Farshtey's other commitments.
The Bionicle franchise was well received over its venture and became one of the Lego Group's biggest-selling properties. At the time of its launch, one reviewer described the sets as "A good combination of assembly and action figure". and first-year sales of £100 million. Bionicle later received a Toy of the Year Award for Most Innovative Toy in 2001 from the Toy Industry Association.
Bionicle's rapid success had a major impact on the Lego Company. Stephanie Lawrence, the global director of licensing for Lego, stated: "We've created an evergreen franchise to complement the many event-based properties on the children's market. An increasing number of category manufacturers want to tap into the power of the Bionicle universe, and the key for us now is to manage the excitement to stay true to the brand and the lifestyle of our core consumer".
Since its launch, toy critics have said that Bionicle has changed the way children think and play with Lego products by combining "The best of Lego building with the story telling and adventure of an action figure". Toy statistics have revealed that as of 2009, 85% of American boys aged 6–12 had heard of Bionicle while 45% owned the sets.
In the story, the reason for certain name changes was dubbed as a Naming Ceremony for certain Matoran after doing heroic deeds (though the pronunciations remain the same), an example being the name change of 'Huki' to 'Hewkii'. Bionicle Encyclopedia, Scholastic 2007 Other names such as "Toa" meaning "Warrior", "Kanohi" meaning "Face" and "Kōpaka" meaning "Ice" were not changed.
Māori language controversy
In 2002, several Māori iwi (tribes) from New Zealand were angered by Lego's lack of respect for some of their words which were used to name certain characters, locations and objects in the Bionicle storyline. A letter of complaint was written, and the company agreed to change the names of certain story elements (e.g., the villagers originally known as "Tohunga" was changed to "Matoran") and met with an agreement with the Māori people to still use a small minority of their words.
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External links
Categories: 2000s Toys, 2010s Toys, 2020s Toys, Mass Media Franchises, Action Figures, Fiction About Cyborgs, Dc Comics Titles, Fictional Cyborgs, Fiction About Parasites, Fiction About Robots, Bionicle, Products And Services Discontinued In 2010, Products And Services Discontinued In 2016, Products And Services Discontinued In 2023, Products Introduced In 2001, Products Introduced In 2015, Products Introduced In 2023, Toy Controversies, Lego Technic
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