There's been a lot of rumours lately, followed by the fact that the only 2010 sets consist of six smaller figures and no canisters.
And now a LEGO employee in France has left the following message on a french board:



Bionicle's successor/replacement will begin in September next year, then.


Well, it had a good run.

It's kind of a shame that the line is ending with a whimper, as the Heroes sets look sucky.

I think they're great for small sets. Just not line-enders.

I hope Makuta wins.

The only thing that really bothers me here is that Bionicle's so close to 10 years.

But seriously, if these Stars are going to be the last sets, then I am rather disappointed.

Why? The guy is a douchebag.

Technically, it has been ten years. Just not in North America.

...

Shut up Sakuya ;_;

So they're basically pulling an SD Gundam- each of the final wave give Tahu a piece of armour/weapon to win the final battle.

Whilst I'm kind of glad to see an official end, this does seem a bit sharp. Did the new Glatorian stuff not sell well?

No idea. Bionicle has never sold as well as City and Star Wars and other licenced brands, but it's been steady. I think that with the introduction of Ben 10 next year they figured they'd just shrug off all the convoluted mess of a story and start over with a similar line, the one we'll be seeing in September.

COME ON EXO-FORCE II!

Exo Force already died. It isn't going to replace Bionicle

But ah well, it had a good run. Maybe we'll see Slizers back again, Judge was always some sort of awesome robot

Here's hoping it's better paced/edited then. I respect how much effort went into creating the Bionicle universe, but it's pretty much flatly written. Greg isn't a million miles away from Simon Furman. I'd welcome his input but hopefully they get better writers too.

We asked Greg for his opinion on this. He said "Replace me, eh? Fool. I am Greg Farshtey. Long was I here, before the protodermis and the Bohrok swarms. Run home, tiny fanboy, before I smite you like an insolent.....Duplo snake!"

**** that jive.

Makes me nostalgic...it is sick to think how much I spent on Bionicle and Slizers back in the day. I stopped actively collecting the line around the end of the Rahkshi era iirc. Been so long.

Might pick up a few of the new sets for nostalgia purposes, we'll see.

That reminds me, I still need to get a MataNui before he leaves the shelves for good.

... *Looks at LEGO company* KIIIIIIIIIILLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLL

Awww, right when I was getting back into it, too. Ah well, I still want to track down most of the Mahri stuff that I missed during the time that other interests were distracting me, so...plenty of building yet to be done!

I remember that first 2 pack well

It's really sad to see the biggest part of my childhood, the toyline that inspired me to draw, to make comics, to lead me here, where I'm at in life, just go away...

Such an important influence on my life, I never thought it'd end...

*Sigh*

... its okay Caboose. Its not like Lego Space stayed dead ... twice... give it some time... if sales drop... you'll see them again

*falls to knees* POR QUE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

maybe that lawsuit the Swedish chef filed finally went through...

apparently he got tired of lego using his copyrighted words as bionicle names

*Sniff* This must be what transformers fans felt like after G2 ended...

Waitaminute...

Just an aside:

They're killing the Bionicle brand and story, not the jointing systems developed for the Slizer->Roborider->Bionicle series, correct?

I'd assume they'd bring in a similar line, yes. It's probably for the best, the story was getting mega convoluted anyway last I checked.

Most likely. Hell, there's a chance they might even keep the brand, just wipe clean everything else. Too soon to tell, all we know is that Bionicle as we know it is ending.

Bionicle as we knew it ended when we went to Metru Nui, too.

Good point.

Mixed emotions with it ending. It's okay, the story will still be there, and will get cooler because it doesn't have the reins of sets holding it back.

But eehh still wish there were sets for MOCing.

Can't wait to see what they pull out in summer.

Well, the Ben 10 figures seem to be keeping the Bionicle joints, although I've heard the joints for Knights Kingdom/Exo Force are apparently better. I wouldn't know: the unconventional nature of the line only intrigued me enough to pick up up an original Toa Tahu. I liked the seeming mystery surrounding their origin, but mostly I was just put off by the fact that there was no clear idea what the creatures of Bionicle were. To quote South Park's 'Chinpokomon' "Are they animals or robots or what?" I liked the toy concepts, but the fiction never really drew me in, and that's what gets me buying toys. But that's me. I feel for the fans, because God knows I've seen franchises I've loved snuffed out, but I just couldn't get into Bionicle.

I will say though, Ben 10 is not the license I would have gone with. Batman, Avatar, the Lucasfilm franchises, those suited Lego's spirit for not going with the obvious licenses and/or ones that had a certain element of 'prestige' to them. But not only is Ben 10 obvious, it's played out: Bandai's already got a ton of Ben 10 toys on the market, and more than a few have building and interchangeability gimmicks. I'd suggest Halo but Mega Bloks won't be letting go of that one anytime soon, I'd wager.

Wow, that looks pretty dull. Guess I can stop glancing down the Lego aisle for a while.

Don't leave too quickly. The official letter sent out by LEGO says that two lines will be replacing Bionicle. A "more flexible" figure theme made by the Bionicle crew, and a younger brand built from a pre-existing franchise, Ben 10. So there's gonna be another, hopefully more interesting new line that premieres in September.

A bit saddend by this, Bionicle was one of the few lines left that I collected, and it was nice having such a storyline heavy line out there in the market.

My first kit was the origianl Tahu and this weekend I found the Stars. Strangely enough, Tahu was the last one I built of the batch, so the circle pretty much closed.

Looks like Tahu is going to be the one to end things, which I think is kinda blah. He was the most bland of the original six, but he is the red one, so ti makes sense. Now I woudl have prefered if Takuanuva did it, he was the closest thing the series had to a main character.

Takua/Takanuva ending it would be good. He was the first Bionicle character we meet, as the player in the old online game. He should be the last hero.

I kind of agree. Ok, so a bunch of the other cast give him armour/weapons, but it seems to fly against the entire 'teamwork and unity' moral that ultimately one character gets to be the ultimate hero.

The new figures are out, by the way (Tahu, Takanuva, Skrall, Rahkshi, Piraka and, I think, Gresh.). Saw 'em at Toys R Us yesterday, and got the Rahkshi. I'm glad that although it took a long time, they finally made a yellow one. The Rahkshi appears to be a new design to a certain extent...I haven't had time to put him together, but the head looks to be connected to the back area by a "spine" sort of connecting piece.

Still, they were 7.99 (Less than the Agori!) each, and in small packages...kind of a lackluster way to close things out.

All good things must come to an end, Well I have enjoyed what the Bionicle series has given. Hopefully this dosnt mean the last 2 movies wont be made, I do hope Mata Nui eventually in the end regains control of his body and defeats Makuta.

My first set was Lewa....sigh. I'm gonna miss em...more money for ramen noodles and transformers I spose.

I will get those stars.

Wait, wait, wait... It's not all bad, guys.



Ben 10 isn't the replacement line! Something else is! Something that makes the MoCist in me excited.

Furthermore:




Source

We knew this. But it helps quoting the official source (and often repeatedly) to keep people from jumping to conclusions.

I'm really curious about the whole "more flexible" deal though. Maybe it will be a more thorough mating of Knights Kingdoms system-ness with Bionicles Technic-ness? Who knows.

As long as they bring back teal, purple, and metallic blue, I'll be happy.

I'd love that. I'd also like brown.

Eh brown I'm not too worried about, we had that all the way up until '06.

Only one set had metallic blue as a major color and it wasn't even Bionicle, we haven't had purple or teal since '01.

Fair enough!

Although I must say, I am grateful for the delicious splash of tan from Zesk and Vorox! =D

Mmmm, lovely tan.

I miss the tribal element from Bionicle >_>

Me too. I'm a Bionicle G1er.

B)

Summer line = Bionicle G2?

Suddenly, I want to see a Bionicle Animated and some live-action Bionicle movies. Directed by Michael Bay, of course.