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In lugnet.general, Andy Lynch writes:
> Has anyone done a study to determine what is so appealing to the buyers
> of Bionicle? And I don't mean the AFOLs as much as the rest of the
> buyers...
>
> Is it:
> - Because they are robotic/action figures?
> - Because they have a full online story behind them, with characters and
> a specific storyline?
> - The online game, which is different from just a storyline, I guess.
> - Because they are "combat" based? ( The idea of "knocking masks off" to
> "cure" infected or evil enemies)
>
> any other ideas?
>
> The thought I was having was that whatever the reason, it CAN be applied
> to traditional Lego system sets, if Lego wanted to... i.e. Hype the
> minifig, leave less storyline to the imagination (UGH), etc.
>
> -Andy Lynch
I think you have a good starting point as to why Bionicle is appealing, but the
full reason would be 'It's just Bionicle'. It's the flavor of the month. Lego
hit the whole marketing shebang perfectly with this idea, though I believe that
Throwbots and Roboriders were strikes one and two. Bionicle was the home run
that followed. The storyline was needed to help pull in the kids. The
collectibility of the masks was a lesson learned from the Collectible Card Game
industry. The marketing of the name 'Bionicle' as well as the storytelling
aspect came from the licensing of Star Wars, Harry Potter, etc. By owning the
storyline, Lego effectively brings all licensing fees back to themselves rather
than Lucas or Rowling.
Could this be applied to traditional sets? I don't believe so and here's
why...growing up in the late 70's I had two things for toys: Lego and Star Wars.
One was great for building bases and such. The other had the storytelling
aspect. For nine year old me, there was no Lego storyline simply because the
minifigs didn't lend themselves to such a storyline. Not until the Technic figs
(sad as they were) showed up that I started to see the potential. Minifigs were
just figures to show off the models I made and that didn't change until faces
other than smilies showed up.
What amazes me about Bionicle is the potential it has for building complex
models that only a very few people have latched onto. So many hate the idea that
ball socket parts and large torso pieces can be useful in modeling. These are
the people I worry about. The ones that look at Bionicle and say 'well, Lego is
going down the tubes'. The same ones who don't seem to realize that Bionicle
hasn't been seen on store shelves in close to two months in some cases. Gee, I
guess it's a lousy seller and Lego should just go back to giving us more of what
the AFOL Technic srowd wants: cars....<yawn>.
just my $.02
-Dave
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