Media Essays: Growing Up With BIONICLE

Once again, we find ourselves celebrating a huge milestone in the world of media. In this case, it's the 25th anniversary of one of the biggest and most successful toylines of the 2000's decade. A toyline, I hear you ask? Which one? We're getting to that, readers. 2026 marks 25 years since this toyline graced toy shelves and began a whole legion of toy collectors, be they kids or adults, and is still celebrated for its achievements to this day. That toyline...is BIONICLE.

Released in 2001, BIONICLE (the name a mix of the words "bionic" and "chronicle") was a toyline created by the LEGO Group. Yes people, THAT LEGO! LEGO was struggling financially back in the day and they needed something big, eye-catching and engaging to win customers back and make a profit once more. BIONICLE was that idea. Following on from LEGO's LEGO Technic line, the BIONICLE toys were a different kind of construction set from a typical LEGO set in how they came in canisters and were made up of pegs, gears and ball and socket joints and the sets themselves would build up posable action figures that had all kinds of gimmicks and weapons to work with. The toyline also sported a MASSIVE lore that spanned over various medias including direct-to-video films, video games, comics, web animation and many more. BIONICLE was one of LEGO's best selling properties at the time with the sets selling like hot cakes and its presence in media increasing beyond the toyline. Sadly, the toyline came to an end in 2010 following low sales. It DID try to come back in 2015, but it didn't come back for long and ended again in 2016. And we thought the Robot Wars reboot was short-lived. It's ironic isn't it how BIONICLE saved the LEGO company from financial ruin, then the line itself got cancelled due to no longer being profitable?

For this post, I want to celebrate BIONICLE's 25th anniversary by talking about my experiences with the franchise and sharing my collection I still have to this day. Yes, I still own my old BIONICLE toys, what of it? So without further ado, let's begin...

How I Discovered BIONICLE

I can't remember the exact year I first discovered BIONICLE, but I do remember how it happened and where.

As a boy growing up with autism at the time, my parents would take me and my brothers to an autism group gathering to meet up with and play with other kids our age. During one of those visits, I remember me and my older brother seeing one kid with a BIONICLE toy, specifically Tahnok, the red Bohrok that you see in the image above. We were wowed by it and thought it was cool, and so we decided we'd collect BIONICLE toys ourselves.

Also, since me and my brothers were kids of the 90's, we grew up during that wonderful age of television where you actually had to watch stuff as it came instead of binging it all at once and you had to sit through the commercials they would play during the programmes. Bet you can't comprehend such a viewing experience, eh? =P Anyway, after discovering what BIONICLE was, we would learn more about it as we would see the adverts for the toys on TV, namely for the Toa and Bohrok sets since that was where the toyline began. I especially remember this promo video that would tell us about the Bohrok:

We never got any of the original Toa Mata, but we were able to collect all 6 Bohrok characters with my brother getting the red, blue and black ones while I got the white, green and brown ones. Not a bad start for our collection, I say. Now let's continue with...

My First BIONICLE Toy

Not got anything too fancy to reveal for this one, but the first ever BIONICLE toy I got was Korahk, the white Bohrok. Yeah, the white Bohrok of all things is where my collection started. As for my older brother, I don't know what was the first BIONICLE toy he ever got, but I'm pretty sure it was the red Bohrok. Here in the UK, we used to have a store called Woolworths and that would sell all kinds of things, including toys. It was Woolworths where I got my first ever BIONICLE toy. How bittersweet that memory is since both Woolworths and BIONICLE came to an end...

As is, you can imagine this is my most prized possession of my BIONICLE collection, because that's where it all started and it's a nostalgic reminder of when Woolworths used to exist and when BIONICLE used to be on toy shelves. And it only grew from here as me and my older brother would collect more BIONICLE toys...

My Collection

Over the course of a few years, both me and my older brother would amass quite a collection of BIONICLE toys between us. As I'm writing this post, our collection includes:

• All 6 Bohrok

• All 6 Toa Nuva

• 3 Bohrok-Kal (the white, brown and black ones specifically. Neither of us got the red, blue and green ones)

• All 6 Rahkshi

• Jaller and the Gukko Bird

• Takua and Pewku

• The Makuta

• Takanuva and his hover bike

• All 6 Toa Netru

• All 6 Vahki

• All 6 Toa Hordika

I did once have all the Toa Mata after someone gave us a box of spare BIONICLE parts they didn't play with anymore, but I sold them off, so I don't have them anymore. A majority of the BIONICLE toys we would get were Christmas or Boxing Day presents with some occasionally being bought with our pocket money we would save up at the time. Yeah, remember when pocket money was a thing in childhood? Oh the joys of being an adult where you can get more than a £1 a week. XD Anyhow, for whatever reason, both me and my brother stopped collecting BIONICLE after the era of the Toa Hordika, which is a shame as I remember wanting the Visorak (the spider-like ones) to go with the Toa Hordika. The last time I remember seeing any adverts for BIONICLE were when the Piraka and the Toa Inika were coming out. And yes people, I DO remember the infamous Piraka rap advert. What BIONICLE collector doesn't remember that advert? XD

But yeah, that sums up my BIONICLE collection as a whole. I actually still have all the toys listed to this day, both from my side of the collection and my older brother. He grew out of toys years ago, and so all his BIONICLE toys were given to me. And I intend to keep them for many years to come. They're just too nostalgic a keepsake to ever get rid of, especially as they remind me of better, more fun times from the 2000's era and how me and my brothers bonded over collecting and playing with the toys.

And before anyone asks, the Rahkshi are my favourite BIONICLE toys. Why wouldn't they be? The Rahkshi are absolute classics with cool designs, fun builds and it was around their time when me and my brother really got into the franchise.

Now you may be wondering, did I have any actual exposure to the BIONICLE lore, or did I just collect the toys? I pretty much did just that, to be honest. Aside from maybe a comic strip or two that might've been included at the end of the instruction booklet, I didn't really get much of the BIONICLE story, especially as I didn't know where to look. The most I was able to figure out is which were the heroes and which were the bad guys as I was collecting. But I DID get some insight into the BIONICLE story thanks to...

The BIONICLE Movies

In order to cash in on BIONICLE's success, there were a series of direct-to-video movies that were made and released, the first one being BIONICLE: Mask of Light. This...I find to be so confusing. If you're going to make a BIONICLE movie, why not start at the beginning with the Toa and Bohrok story? Why make the first BIONICLE movie a story about finding the seventh Toa and defeating Makuta and his Rahkshi? I get it, those were the toys that were released at the time of the movie's release, but that doesn't mean you can't start at the beginning.

Ah well, I remember when this movie was advertised and was like "I gotta see this!". I did get the DVD, but I can't remember how I got it. I think it might've been a birthday present, or just a gift from mum and dad, I really can't remember. What I do remember is that as a kid, I watched it and loved it. But as an adult, I can acknowledge it's not that great. I feel like it's a surface level depiction of the BIONICLE story, it doesn't work as a first movie, the action scenes are relatively poor, the climax is a joke (like seriously, a Kohli match between Takanuva and Makuta? LAME! It should've been a proper fight scene!), the animation is laughably outdated and Jaller and Takua are the main characters instead of the Toa themselves. But I still like it regardless, even if I can agree it's not very good. The nostalgic charm it has is irresistible, I love the voices given to the characters, the character designs are a fantastic way to bring the iconic BIONICLE designs to life and the soundtrack is incredible. Also the DVD has a great extra feature in where you get to explore Mata Nui and learn more about the characters. That's always fun. One of these days, I'll do a full-on review for the blog, but that's another post for another time...

I did watch the sequels Legends of Metru-Nui and Web of Shadows. I never saw the fourth one, The Legend Reborn, but I do remember seeing an advert for it. As for my thoughts on the sequels? I would tell you them...IF I HAD ANY! Seriously, I can barely remember a single thing about the second and third films! It's so weird! I'm a BIONICLE fan, so you'd think they'd stick in my memory like Mask of Light did, but no! The most I can remember is...I've seen them. That's about it! I also remember Vakama briefly turning evil at one point in Web of Shadows, but nobody liked that part, so it's not a good thing to remember about it. I'll need to rewatch these things at some point, because I really have nothing on my mind about them, the second movie especially. You'd think a BIONICLE movie would be the last thing that would be forgettable...

Aside from that, I've not had any real exposure to the larger story of BIONICLE. I'm aware that there's a lot to go over and if I want the full story of BIONICLE, I'm going to have to do my homework...

Conclusion

And that's my BIONICLE story shared for the franchise's 25th anniversary. It's been quite a trip down memory lane, as you can imagine, as I reflected on the franchise and my childhood experiences with the toyline and the Mask of Light movie, but it's also been a bit of a wake-up call that I've only barely scraped the surface of this franchise. Will I dig deeper into BIONICLE and learn more about it? One day, perhaps. Will I collect any more of the toys? Not a lot, but I may get the ones I'm either missing to complete a set of six like the Bohrak-Kal, or the ones I once wanted but never got like the Visorak. In any case, BIONICLE may not be around anymore, and that sucks, but my time with the franchise isn't over by a long shot. With the franchise dormant, I do have ample opportunities to catch up with what I've missed after all. I may also review the direct-to-video movies in future. For now, I've not got much left to say other than "Happy Anniversary BIONICLE" and I'll be sure to do more BIONICLE posts in future.

Before we wrap up, my friend and another fellow BIONICLE fan, TCH2, would like to give his own piece for the essay:

TCH2: "Greetings, gathered friends, as we talk about the legend... of the BIONICLE.

"BIONICLE was a staple of my childhood. I can still vaguely remember first hearing of it on TV in 2001 when it first began, but it wasn't until the following year that I started collecting the toys, beginnings with the Bohrok and the Toa Nuva. From there, I was hooked, playing with the toys, disassembling and reassembling them frequently and staging my own fights. But it was when I watched the movie Mask of Light that I truly began to appreciate the depth of BIONICLE's lore. I loved the way the world of BIONICLE was brought to life in that movie, and it only grew from there.

As the years passed, and BIONICLE continued, I was constantly keeping up with its vast amount of lore and content, from the comics and the movies and the audio plays, to the web animations, the blogs, prose stories and so much more. I loved the various figures and especially the characters with their distinct personalities and powers and experiences, as well as the sheer depth of the universe and world-building. One thing I truly love is the music they used. Oh yes, the music! Whether it was the techno music used in the early days, the breath-taking orchestral tones courtesy of Nathan Furst, or the various sung songs from All Insane Kids and Cryoshell.

However, I do understand why BIONICLE petered out around 2010. With the constantly expanding lore, often comparable to J.R.R. Tolkien's work, it was hard for fans to keep up and potential newer fans would be put off by how much they'd need to consume in order to understand half of what was going on. Still, it is sad that BIONICLE pretty much ended with a whimper, especially since there was still so much more to be told.

But despite of all this, BIONICLE remains a strongly enduring legend in the hearts of those who knew it and those who came to learn of it later on. United in duty, bound by destiny, we have striven to keep the legend alive. New legends may await, but old lessons must always be remembered.

For that is the way... of the BIONICLE!"

Thank you TCH2. :)

And that's the end of this celebratory post. I hope you enjoyed it and I invite you all to celebrate this momentous occasion by leaving a comment down below. Do you have any BIONICLE memories to share? What's the prize of YOUR collection? What's your favourite piece of BIONICLE media? Do tell me.

Come back again this Friday for my essay on Ash vs. Cameron from the Black and White era of Pokémon. Arceus give me strength...see you then media fans!

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