BIONICLE: Difference between revisions

The [[LEGO]] Company was not doing badlywell during the late 1990s, and decided that a LEGO theme with a storyline would appeal to children. Their first attempt to do so was the [[Star Wars]] line, which became an instant success, but the required royalty payments to Lucasfilm cost LEGO dearly. The company decided that they needed an original story, created by the LEGO group itself and made to appeal mainly to boys aged 8-12.<REF>[http://www.bzpower.com/ref.php?ID=489 The History of LEGO BIONICLE] at BZPower.com</REF>

The BIONICLE line was originally titled "''Bone-Heads of Voodoo Island''".<REF>[http://www.papercutz.com/blog/2009/03/12/bionicle-the-early-years/ BIONICLE: The Early Years] at Papercutz blog archive</REF> Its first year was intended to end with the Great Spirit awakening, but the storyline was changed to last seven years without the Great Spirit awakening, and two years following that. A major influence was Bob Thompson, the leader of the BIONICLE story team, who changed the names of the six main protagonists from Axe, Blade, Flame, Kick, Hook, and Claw to [[Lewa]], [[Kopaka]], [[Tahu]], [[Pohatu]], [[Gali]], and [[Onua]].<REF>[http://www.biosector01.com/wiki/index.php/Bob_Thompson Bob Thompson] at BIONICLE Sector 01 Wiki</REF> The name was also changed to "BIONICLE."

[[File:Screen shot 2009-11-26 at 4.28.25 PM.png|thumb|200px|The Toa Mata]] In [[2001]], BIONICLE was released and became a smash hit in both Europe and the United States. No other themes at the time came close to the amount of profits generated by BIONICLE. The sets were accompanied by a series of comics, truck tours, a contest to build a BIONICLE website as well as computer and [[video gamesgame]]s.

A notable fact about this year is that the Maori people, angered at LEGO's lack of respect for some of their words, sued the LEGO Company and won.<REF>[http://biosector01.com/wiki/index.php/Matoran#Tohunga Tohunga#Matoran] at BIONICLE Sector 01 Wiki</REF> As a result, many characters' names were changed (i.e., ''Maku'' was changed to ''Macku'', ''Huki'' to ''Hewkii'', etc.). LEGO used this to bring the idea of Naming Day Ceremony, where brave Matoran getrecieve longer and better names, though they are still pronounced the same. Takua, who, while he had saved all six of the villages, didwas not get to be namedrenamed, so he had his own private "ceremony" where he renamed his Usual Crab from Puku to Pewku.