Entertainment Article:
By: Ben Reisig Entertainment Writer 4/18/23 Bionicle, the biological chronicle, was a toy line Lego released in 2001. This toy may seem like nothing special at first, many will say discussing this toy line is pointless as it was canceled in 2010. However, this toyline not only saved Lego but served as an analogy for the creators struggle with cancer.
In the late 90’s Lego was struggling hard with sales as they had created far too many specialized pieces and began bleeding money. Pokémon had also stolen lots of Legos potential sales. To combat this Lego decided to try a “get rich quick” campaign through cheap impulse buy sets. These sets had extremely low piece counts to maintain Legos quality while keeping the cost below 5 dollars. Bionicle was built off this idea, but was accompanied with an expansive story and deep lore to keep audiences interested and buying. The first wave of figures was a smash hit with each set costing only $8! |
However the story of Biological Chronical is actually pretty sad :( the creator of Bionicle, Christian Faber, was diagnosed with cancer a year before Bionicle and intentionally made the story reflect his experience. When he was sick he imagined wanting to switch his body parts out for ones that were better and imagining the pills he took turning into soldiers inside of him.
This is why Bionicle sets came in cans instead of the typical Lego boxes, even the first trailer shows the characters tubes crashing into an island, it was later revealed the island was a big deal. Overall, its clear that Bionicle made a big SPLASH in the toy industry, while Lego has been unable to successfully introduce the theme, failing twice, without the Biological Chronical its clear to see they wouldn't be where they are today. |