#buildable figures

[sonichedgeblog]

Photos of the Sonic Buildable Figure toy, released by Just Toys Intl. in 2023.

[gender-luster]

absolutely losing it at this description for a k-2so lego set

[teethpickles]

cub's museum as a lego postcard!

this style was surprisingly difficult to work with as the scale is so small but i really like the lego postcard sets and wanted some practice :D

[tributron]

Been making some new parts followed by a new set.

Be sure to go to AscendingDepths.etsy.com for availability.

Consume the eye candy. ...

Eye Candy....

[kageokami21]

Got this cute little Shadow figure in the mail today. He's a little buildable figure by a toy brand called Just Toys. So, a little different from the Jakks that I usually get 😛 when he got here though, his nose - unfortunately - was broken off, so I had to glue it back on. (I'm just glad his nose was still in the box it's so small 😂 Otherwise I think I might've had to return him 😬) The paint job on him is a little uneven and kinda messy, but I still like him

[moomeecore]

g4 merch thats just incredibly, ridiculously goofy. for some reason rainbow dash and twilight are the main victims of the silliness

what was described by equestria daily as the "blob rainbow dash travel cube" - from 2017, and confirmed officially licensed by hasbro

these purses / coin bags made to look like the ponies heads, using a more horselike appearance - confirmed officially licensed

this twilight sparkle pillow - confirmed officially licensed

rainbow dash slippers, aka "stompeez" - confirmed officially licensed

rainbow dash bubblegum flavored mouthwash - officially licensed

this christmas ornament from 2017 - confirmed officially licensed

a???? drum set??? this is just goofy conceptually - officially licensed

twilight sparkle sleeping bag where she eated you up - idk if its official

twilight sparkle launchable dog toy from walmart - officially licensed

mlp potato heads - versions of these were sold previously but not listed as my little pony themed even though they obviously were, which is strange bc theyre both owned by hasbro - although it seems the mcdonalds happy meal series from 2022 was willing to admit it

the buildable vinyl figures by takara tomy, which come in pieces and you have to put them together. they have these akward long faces that make them more horselike but also very strange. i do think that the twilight, rarity, and fluttershy are charming enough that id actually want one ... also, they have the cutie marks printed on both sides, which is a rare W for mlp toys, AND they gave aj her hat - they come in little eggs in those toy gumball machines :3

also, bonus mention for the busy book toys! but everyone knows them i think lol. i really like this picture of the scootaloo one sitting in a big white void

[egg-emperor]

EGGMAN MERCH SIGHTINGS AT THE TOY FAIR 2025 LET'S GOOO

Modern Eggman bag clip hanger! I have the classic from the first series and I was sad to see they didn't include him in the modern series. He's finally here!

I love his pose, he looks ready to fight 💜 vaguely reminiscent of the two Uekawa official art pieces with his fists up

Judging by the figures he's surrounded by and the way he has no arms, they're making a buildable/arm changing Eggman!!!

I was also sad when they didn't make a classic or modern Eggman one of these so here we go, looking forward to seeing his hand options and accessory

And a little buildable figure you get in one of the mystery boxes that you can slot together to create a little diorama. which I was ALSO sad that they didn't make an Eggman of those, so they're finally giving me everything I want XD

And some kind of Sega Genesis Console Heroes display diorama thing with Eggman, Death Egg Robot and Mecha Sonic Mk II that goes so hard

And some kind of small plasticy squishy version of the ever so rare and expensive standard squishmallow Eggman plush. Maybe with this I'll finally have at least one version :P

I'm really happy 4/5 of these are so on model or at least full body/regularly proportioned over stylized and gimmicky. These are the type of things I always want to add to my Eggman collection the most

I can make an exception for the squishmallow Eggman too because he's literally Become Egg. Nobody fits that mold better than him and of course it's Eggman, I'll get everything of him no matter how stylized it is but I have a big preference for him being on model lol

[sokoda]

Last year I built a MOC called Astarr and Soluu.

This model was a bit of an experiment of a technic based and system enhanced buildable figure.

I recently, finally got around to build it physically.

(I made some minimal changes because of current parts availability)

I'm very happy with Astarrs posability.

They can pull of some really cool and dynamic poses and the gear function and posability can coexist quite well.

Maybe a little more friction for the gear function would be nice.

Soluu is a very fun little build, that can also achieve some nice stepping motion poses with the little feet and the waist rotation.

[sepublic]

I remember hearing an interesting theory; That Ninjago and Hero Factory, which came out at more or less the same time, were both meant to be successors to Bionicle. Because in addition to the parallels people have already pointed out, the theory suggests that Lego created both themes to explore different aspects of Bionicle, and see which one fared better as a way to decipher which aspect of Bionicle made it so successful?

So Hero Factory carried on the constraction, buildable figure aspect of Bionicle. While Ninjago carried on its story and elemental character aspect. In the end, Ninjago proved to be the more popular one by far, suggesting it was the story that made Bionicle resonate with fans (and Brickonicle proves this imo). Which makes it baffling that when Lego revived Bionicle, they gave it even less lore than not just G1, but also Ninjago and Chima in their early years as well.

My best guess is that Lego decided Ninjago already fulfilled the story driven niche and wasn’t ending anytime soon. So instead of making it compete with Bionicle G2, have G2 replace the dwindling Hero Factory, so it can inherit the focus on the constraction system with less emphasis on the plot; To its detriment, as it turned out…

[vrahno]

I'm not that into Star Wars but I have an immense fondness for strange action figures from the 90 and early 2000s, especially Lego's early attempts at buildable character sets, no matter how clunky and janky they are -- that just makes them more charming. So I wanted to get this Technic Stormtrooper when I saw someone selling it. Its promo image has practically carved itself into my mind from all the time I spent looking at Lego product catalogs.

There was the magic allure of obtaining "fresh", never used vintage Bionicle, Slizer and RoboRider pieces, such as the black Toa Mata/Nuva torso in the year 2024. The last time I got one of those was probably 21-22 years ago.

I wish I could say the building process was fun, but the set had a faulty ball joint that was molded to be too big. Kept pushing out the axle and its outer layer was sheared off into black powder when it moved in the socket. It was a huge hassle to replace and some pieces got scuffed during the process. But at least the model now stays together, built around its Mata torso core, standing on Slizer heads for feet, in all its experimental glory and clunkiness.

[caelwynn]

Aimon's Fancy Farmhouse

...and other fun with mods.

I've been meaning to make versions of this post for, like, a month at this point. Well, more accurately, I intended to do a series of posts cataloguing my process, but instead wound up posting things in Discord.

Pour one out for all the Stardew Fanfic Girlies (gn) who listened to me bitch and moan (and squeal) about this damn build.

But! On this most recent save, I pushed the 'fuck it' button and chose to cheat to hell and back because I never play the same save long enough to properly kit out my farmhouses/farms. And I miss building houses in the Sims.

So this is a fully upgraded version of Aimon's Fancy Farmhouse:

Close-ups/details found below the cut--including the bar I had to excise once Callie married Sterling for the nth time.

All of the aesthetic/furniture mods and the AT packs I make use of can be found in my mod lists. I've done my level best to point out particular mods I made use of in the descriptions below, though I'm sure I missed stuff.

First Floor

So, my original first floor had Callie's bedroom where the nursery is, and a bar where the primary bedroom is:

I could not resist playing with HxW's Winery Furniture, even though I knew I'd have to change it out once Callie got married to her pair of recovering alcoholics. (I also had far too much fun with Orangeblossom's Antique Bedroom set.)

A better look at the bathroom. My girl is not going to traipse her ass all the way to the spa every day. Decor is pulled from several different furniture mods, including HxW's Bathroom Furniture, Plant Lovers Furniture, and Decorative Plants Furniture sets. I cannot for the life of me figure out where I got the toilet from, and Lookup Anything is being less than helpful in this particular case.

I love putting clutter into builds way, way too much. But look at how cute this is! Yes, I have both sunflowers for the sunflower boi and chickens for the chicken man. Your point? The crib is from MolaMole's Nursery, the little bookcase is from SVE, the toybox is from Lumisteria Furniture, and the table and t-rex are from Fellowclown's Passerby Cemetery.

Two of the issues I ran into with doing a Stardew Valley build is A) a lot of furniture cannot change orientation and B) you can't put anything at a 45-degree angle (this is not shade on the game or modders, for the record, but still a frustrating limitation). So, I wound up making use of screens, rugs, or other furniture to divide rooms into thirds or quadrants so it didn't have these huge empty spaces. Also, a shoutout to Teaiscoldagain's Tea's Cozy Modern Bathroom Furniture for the dressing area. (Also, more of HxW's Plant Lovers Furniture, because I'm mildly obsessed.)

I hate carpet but love rugs, so I spent far too much time stitching together these runners. Also, I love the Knuckles plushie way too much (it's from Mineral Town), as well as the butterfly rug from Prophet's Rugs.

The study is so simple, but I love it anyway. (Also rather pleased with how I used the table between the chairs to give the illusion of one long rug there instead of two side by side.) I want to say most of this furniture is from either skellady's Green Grove Furniture or HxW's Plant Lovers Furniture.

Speaking of HxW, I used the buildable version of their Ripley's Country Kitchen along with a ton of clutter from a couple of their other packs (Bakery and Farmer's Market, I believe). The dining set is this one from Prophet.

Second Floor:

Upon climbing the stairs, you walk out onto a landing with a lovely little crafting nook:

One of Callie's hobbies in Choices is embroidery and other needlework, and this was the closest I could come to reflecting that. (The furniture is mostly from SVE, though the sewing table and Mannequin are from Ferngill Fashion Festival.)

From the nook, the room opens up into a large sitting area. I actually had the hardest damn time trying to decide what to use this space for. Still not entirely sold on having a television there, but working in bookcases meant I couldn't use Platinum Cats' awesome wall art that I'd picked out and... *sighs* That said, most of the furniture here is from either Platinum Cats' Rattan Furniture or HxW's Plant Lovers Furniture.

As is the furniture in the sunroom! (I included a pic from a rainy day so that the glare wasn't so bad.) The plants not from the Plant Lovers Furniture set come from HxW's Decorative Plants Furniture or Greenhouse Furniture.

To the right of the main room on the second floor is the spare bedroom, which will probably get a child overhaul once I reach that point. But, for now, I really love how soothing this turned out. The bed, wardrobe, and vanity are a part of Orangeblossom's Vintage Chic Interiors, while the rug is from Logo's Even More Geometric Rugs for AT. Also, please let me take a moment to rave over the windows! I think every window I placed in this house is from Orangeblossom. I love them so much!

Below the spare bedroom we have the armory, which I suggested in jest and the Guild encouraged me to follow through on. I had to go download GrendG's Weapons on Display, but it was totally worth the hassle. Also, all the love for farmerbeans's Pirate Furniture that I originally downloaded for my Mateo run.

Just like I couldn't make my girl walk to the spa every day, I also provided her with an in-home laundry room that I'm mildly jealous of. Most of the furniture comes from Tea's Cozy Modern Bathroom set, but a few pieces are from HxW's Bathroom set or Bakery set.

Attic

The first time I played with this farmhouse, I made this Quinn's bedroom, but it royally screwed things up when they married Mateo. So this time, I made it a game room in honor of Callie's love of retro gaming:

So much of this is from Mineral Town, which I didn't even realize until I started looking everything up. The display tables are from Ferngill Fashion Festival, the little snack area is from HxW's Winery, Greenhouse, and Bakery sets, the couches are from Skellady's Cozy Chocolate Furniture, and the coffee tables are from hypnagogie's Hearth and Home AT pack.

I've tried to give credit where I can, but I have no doubt that I've missed details. A full list of my mods can be found here.

[sonichedgeblog]

The Amy Rose Buildable Figure toy, released by Just Toys Intl. in 2023. Support us on Patreon

[cordiwinkswinsagain]

Wanna trade au infodump stuff

bestie absolutely

Arggg I don’t have any like big plot things I want to infodump T-T yall will have to wait for the Playlist Explanation posts/the fic to really get all the good stuff

So! Today everyone, we will be reviewing all the cut plot points!

Would you believe me if I said back in the very beginning stages of this AU Purpled was not infected??? The idea of him being infected only manifested a whole week or two after my original idea. But I had an idea before that.

The idea was that he’d be in an illegal fight ring to earn himself money, becuase that was dramatic and I liked it. But as I realized I actually wanted to have a plot for this AU, I scrapped the idea in favor of the vaguely similar but more buildable “Purpled is also infected” idea. 

In this alternate scrapped ideas universe, Tommy did not know about the fight ring but was suspicious because the ring operated at like midnight and Purpled was losing sleep over it. I wrote out a couple of blurbs when this was still canon.

The part that made it into canon was (vigilante) Tommy busting the fight ring, actually! In the og, he did this and finally figured out what tf Purpled had been doing at 1 in the morning for four months. Now, in the canon version, he does this and meets Phil along the way, kicking off the hero subplot. Purpled is not part of this.

Now, the second scrapped idea! Punz pushing Purpled off a roof. He technically didn’t die in the og version, but he was kidnapped by Quackity after like two minutes of being a little bit dead. This was used as a way to seperate Tommy and Purpled, and not much else. I actually only scrapped this fairly recently compared to the other scrapped ideas (a week or two after I actually started posting about the AU on this blog I think) 

It was actually like weirdly not thought out??? I was just listening to “Fall Little Wendy Bird Fall” on the Playlist and vibing tbh

So the scene was supposed to go like Punz had beef with Tommy for some reason (which he doesn’t anymore but Tommy certainly still has beef with him) and he confronts Tommy on the roof where Tommy was like frolicking or whatever with Purpled and Purpled doesn’t really show up until the end of the scene but Punz shows up like “Its Brittiny bitch” and Tommy is like “FUCK” and Punz tries to kill him by either slicing him up like prime sushi with his axe or pushing him off the very tall apartment building.

He ends up backing up Tommy to the edge but right before he’s about to kick him off Purpled yanks Tommy away and trips over the edge himself

And ofc Tommy’s like “WHAT THE ACTUAL FUCK JUST HAPPENED IS MY BEST FRIEND DEAD WHAT IS GOING ON” and Punz is like “I just fuckin pushed my brother off a roof what the fuck” and he runs away like the sad man he is

Tommy runs down and finds like some blood. But no Purpled. And he’s kind of relieved but also kind of breaking down because at least he knows Purpled is alive because there’s no body but like is he ever going to see his best friend again wtf is he supposed to do now.

And so Purpled wakes up in Unfamiliar Location #38743786 and is like “Hurh wut” and Quackity’s like “Hey bro you just fell off a roof but don’t worry I saved you from those people who pushed you off” and Purpled’s like “ONE OF THOSE WAS MY BEST FRIEND ASSHOLE” and Quackity’s like “Is this your tragic backstory” and Purpled’s like “HE’S PROBABLY HAVING A MENTAL BREAKDOWN” and like. He’s not wrong. He totally would.

Unfortunately this was scrapped because I had a better idea but something else like it may come up in the story ;)

[matoroblogs]

LEGO Almost Went Bankrupt. These Heroes Saved Our Bricks.

How a brain tumor inspired Bionicle, one of the most popular toys of a generation.

BY DAVID LUMB PUBLISHED: JUN 21, 2020

The Platinum Avohkii mask, a rare one- of-a-kind piece made of solid platinum purchased by Andre Hurley, who has The Bionicle Archives collection

Courtesy Andre Hurley/The Bionicle Archives

In 2003, LEGO seemed to be riding high after shrewd licensing deals brought Star Wars and Harry Potter sets to the masses. But unbeknownst to many—even those inside the company—sales were plummeting, and there were only guesses as to why.

Some blamed poor strategic choices in the 1990s—Legoland theme parks, forays into digital products—for LEGO’s hemorrhaging. All that misguided development time slashed profitability, and even Star Wars and Harry Potter sales shriveled between movie releases. It’s hard to conceive of now, but at the turn of the millennium, beloved LEGO might have been headed toward a pitiful end.

During this fallow period, one product line stood apart with startling, consistent success: Bionicle, a series of buildable action figures backed by rich worldbuilding and cross-platform promotion. Inspired by co-creator Christian Faber’s battle with a tumor at the base of his brain, the toy warriors of Bionicle wouldn’t just conquer their fictional enemies. They’d pioneer innovations that would transform LEGO and rescue the company from possible doom.

Courtesy Andre Hurley/The Bionicle Archives

Today, Christian Faber looks a bit like a Danish Paul McCartney. His youthful smile pairs well with his genial nature, which one might mistake for meekness until he starts talking about his creative projects. The 54-year-old embodies the unchecked enthusiasm you’d expect from a 28-year veteran of LEGO projects. If Faber’s long-time illness dimmed his appetite for play, you wouldn’t know it.

In 1986, Faber began working for Advance, a Copenhagen- based marketing firm that partners with LEGO. But shortly after his career began, Faber’s vision began to falter. A doctor found a benign tumor inside Faber’s pituitary gland that was impeding his sight, a condition called prolactinoma. Doctors said the tumor was maybe in the least accessible spot in the body for surgery, so they prescribed Faber daily medication to keep the tumor from growing. Among the drugs’ side effects, however, were severe nausea and dehydration, effectively sidelining Faber from social activities.

Courtesy Christian Faber

“It was the strangest mix of feelings,” Faber says. “I was happy at the job, but faced the physical and mental strain of the medicine and a long-term illness.”

Faber’s side effects attacked him hardest in the mornings, so he found most of his energy for work at night. Early in his career, Faber designed brochures for LEGO toy lines. Exposure to the different products, including the undersea-based Aquazone and the sophisticated Technic series, gave him experience with LEGO’s standards and practices—a moving target in the mid- 90s, when the rise of computers and video games pressured LEGO to move from their traditional years-long R&D cycle toward what Faber calls ‘craze products,’ toys tuned to current market tastes with a planned one-year shelf life.

The craze-products movement was rife with experimentation for LEGO, and it materialized soon after a medical breakthrough for Faber. After 10 years of daily medication, Faber’s physicians moved him on to a new treatment which, in Faber’s own words, gave him his life back. The new treatment was a regular injection scheduled just once every two weeks, allowing Faber to engage with the world relatively free from side effects. He could chase higher ambitions than brochures, and he had an idea for a new kind of LEGO toy: a sort of Bionicle precursor called Cybots.

Courtesy The LEGO Group

“I was sitting with LEGO Technic and thought I would love to build a character instead of a car,” Faber says. “I thought of this biological thing: The human body is built from small parts into a functional body just like a model. What if you got a box full of spare parts and built a living thing?”

With his assistant graphic designer Jan Kjær, Faber pitched Cybots, a line of humanoid action figures with attachable limbs and ball-and-socket joints. LEGO didn’t furbish Cybots, but they would implement Faber’s concepts in craze products like Throwbots in 1999 and RoboRiders in 2000. By 2001, LEGO was testing a line called Bone Heads of Voodoo Island—masked robots with heads that could shoot off their bodies like Rock ‘Em Sock ‘Em Robots. Most of Bionicle’s look had been seeded: masks, buildable bodies, articulate limbs.

Courtesy Andre Hurley/The Bionicle Archives

Bone Heads of Voodoo Island was a bust—focus groups demonstrated kids didn’t respond well to detachable heads—so that same year, LEGO pivoted to focus on Bionicle. The plan was to take a more holistic design approach with these new toys than with craze products, but LEGO extended that comprehensiveness to the worldbuilding around the toys, too, a new strategy for the company. Faber and LEGO design manager Martin Riber Andersen were joined by former BBC film and TV executive Bob Thompson and writer Alastair Swinnerton to refine the Voodoo Island concept and pitch a new story. Faber, fresh from working on Star Wars LEGO sets, imagined something massive.

“After being on Star Wars, I was thinking that the only thing to do from here is our own stuff, but it should be as big as Star Wars,” Faber says. “It should be a big, full universe.”

For the storyline, Faber drew on his experience with prolactinoma. To him, his every-other-week injections seemed like sending in a new wave of protectors to battle his tumor with every dose. Faber imagined this group of disease-fighters arriving on an unknown beach with no memory. The story of these warriors would be called Bionicle, a portmanteau of ‘biological chronicle.’

Courtesy The LEGO Group/Christian Faber

Courtesy The LEGO Group/Christian Faber

Courtesy The LEGO Group/Christian Faber

“We took an episodic story line but chose not to play it out in any single medium,” Thompson told Kidscreen in 2003. “We would take that story and scatter it like a paper trail through different types of media.”

Bionicle’s in-world story evolved through comics and chapter books, written in large part by Greg Farshtey of LEGO’s promotional periodical LEGO MANIA Magazine (also known as LEGO Club Magazine, but now called LEGO Life Magazine). Farshtey followed Bionicle’s story bible from the original team, but as he began accounting for character changes correlating with new toy sets, he added his own takes. By the end of Bionicle’s run in 2010, he had interwoven the story with three feature films and shepherded the comic series that, at its peak, reached almost 2 million readers per month, making it the most widely circulated monthly comic on the planet.

Courtesy Andre Hurley/The Bionicle Archives

By all accounts, Bionicle was the hit LEGO needed. In 2001, its first year on the market, the line brought in over $160 million in sales, it was declared “Most Innovative Toy of the Year” by the Toy Association.

"Flat sales and profit decline made LEGO believe the brick was passé and it needed to move to digital and virtual toys to remain relevant,” David Robertson, author of LEGO history book Brick by Brick, told Popular Mechanics. “But as Bionicle became a success, LEGO learned the difference between sufficient and necessary. It wasn't sufficient to just offer customers another box of bricks, but it was necessary. If a LEGO toy didn't have interlocking plastic pieces, consumers didn't want it. But to succeed and grow, it was necessary to embed a story in that box of pieces and tell that story through comics, books, video games, movies, and events at the LEGO Stores."

Courtesy The LEGO Group

In other words, Bionicle had all the ingredients of a fun LEGO toy, but Faber’s inspiration was key to making it a smash. “[My condition] had a direct effect on my career, and especially on the creation of Bionicle,” he says, ticking off the allegories. “A biological robot attacked by ‘illness,’ waiting for the right ‘medicine’ to arrive. Even the canisters the Toa warriors arrived in resembled the medicine capsules I had to eat every day.”

Bionicle hit its stride just as LEGO’s financials were bottoming out. While LEGO flirted with bankruptcy in 2003, Bionicle accounted for 25 percent of the company’s total revenue and 100 percent of its profits. As LEGO slashed its workforce, reduced the number of pieces it produced, and increased its range of licensing deals, Bionicle continued to diversify. Partnerships spawned. There were Bionicle-branded Nike shoes, McDonald’s Happy Meal toys, even Colgate toothbrushes. The cross-promotion paid off: By the end of Bionicle’s initial run in 2010, it sold over 190 million toys.

All the newness shook up LEGO’s tried-and-true project structure. Bionicle’s multifaceted development process blended design, marketing and engineering teams to hash out new sets, ingest market feedback, receive directives from LEGO executives, and issue their own directives to subsequent narrative and design teams. Under the new dynamic structure, development time for a new toy line at LEGO accelerated from three years to less than one. The rapidity created an exciting energy.

“We broke a lot of new ground experimenting and pushing boundaries,” Bionicle co-founder and design manager Martin Riber Andersen says. “One of the key ethos of the core team was this is a shared collaboration: We stand together. We all believed it was so in contrast to ‘the normal LEGO company’ that we might as well direct our energy to the team instead of our individual career objectives.”

Courtesy The LEGO Group

Courtesy The LEGO Group/Christian Faber

From 2003 to 2005, Bionicle was the reported top-performing LEGO toy line, but after that, sales dipped below expectations. The decline continued to 2009, when LEGO handed down word it was time to end Bionicle. The creators wrapped up the narrative in 2010, but it was hard to let go. Farshtey wrote Bionicle stories on the now-defunct BIONICLEStory.com until 2011, fans dissected the line’s mythology on BZPower forums, and custom Bionicles continued to appear. In 2016, Faber wrote to series fans: “The stories we hear and the stories we tell shape who we are and what we do ... through almost 30 years [of my career in storytelling], no story has proved this stronger than Bionicle. The fans were, are, and will be the true heroes of this ... great adventure.”

These days, you still see Bionicle at toy conventions, and the r/bioniclelego subreddit is alive and well. In fact, the front page of Reddit was graced in November 2019 with an essential, timeless question: “What is the appropriate amount of time to wait before showing your new significant other your Bionicle collection?”

The toys’ invigorating combination of articulate LEGO figures and intricate, multimedia story resonated with the LEGO company as well as fans. The brickmakers use the business strategy they honed on Bionicle with lines like Ninjago today, to great success.

"It's hard to overstate how important the Bionicle line was for LEGO,” Brick by Brick author Robertson notes. “Without the sales and profits of Bionicle in 2003 and 2004, the company would not have survived. Bionicle taught LEGO that success depended on the ability to hook kids on characters and story, and LEGO was smart enough to spread those practices throughout the company."

Courtesy Andre Hurley/The Bionicle Archives

After Bionicle, Swinnerton moved on to write children’s books and TV scripts, Andersen took on a senior position

at a European consulting agency, and Thompson founded a media production and consultancy firm. Farshtey, meanwhile, still edits LEGO’s free fan magazine. All cite Bionicle as high points in their careers.

“We should all be proud of what we achieved individually,” Thompson says. “But in my view, more important is what we did collaboratively. After all, LEGO fans are still talking about what we did with Bionicle—after two decades.”

Faber moved on from his design job at Advance in 2014 after 28 years working on LEGO. His medical journey continues to inspire his creative work, including a post-apocalyptic world he’s designing filled with adventure, danger, and a pro- environmental bent. Looking back, Faber sees the impact his illness and treatment had on the stories and projects he’s touched. Almost 20 years after co-creating the action figures that sustained LEGO through one of the darkest times in its history, talking about Bionicle still makes him reflective.

“Biology is a balance more than a battle between good and bad,” he says. “Ever since Bionicle, balance has been my goal in the stories and pictures I create.”

Courtesy The LEGO Group/Christian Faber

article graphics faber bs01

[minotaursauce]

Not to gloat but I am thoroughly unsurprised that those rumours of Bionicle returning again in 2025 look to have been total bollocks. At this point it's pretty clear that Lego has retired the IP and will only return to it in a referential capacity, like they do with many older themes.

Also, considering what their current crop of buildable action figures are like, being either nice looking but expensive or basic and inarticulate, I honestly would not want a Bionicle reboot right now unless they were taking a new approach to Technic-based constraction, which would be a big gamble.

But, again, I just do not see it happening any time soon and I am very much at peace with that fact - There are over 12 years worth of toys, media and story to look back on fondly and if ever you want more people are constantly creating their own amazing stuff and likely will for decades to come!

[lecaudal]

My ideas for new waves of STH Lego sets that would focus on new characters

Sol Castle: A castle and tower build with fire elements (50 dollars)

Minifigures: Blaze the Cat, Silver the Hedgehog, Zavok the Yeti

Team Chaotix Battlepack: A jungle tree with a flat canopy (20 dollars)

Minifigures: Vector the Crocodile, Espio the Chameleon, Charmy the Bee, Crabmeat

Team Eggman Battlepack: A platform build with an arm to move Badniks around (20 dollars)

Minifigures: Metal Sonic, Caterkiller, Balkiry, Snail Blaster

Team Dark Battlepack: A bit of smashed road (20 dollars)

Minifigures: Shadow the Hedgehog, Rouge the Bat, 2x G.U.N. Agents

Echidna Temple: A simple temple build with a giant Perfect Chaos figure that the minifigure can sit inside (45 dollars)

Minifigures: Tikal the Echidna and Chaos

Tails' Performance: A stage build with a tower and stairs (30 dollars)

Minifigures: Tails in pink dress, Marine the Raccoon, Cream the Rabbit, Cheese the Chao

Big's Pond: A small pond build with a deck and a buoy (15 dollars)

Minifigures: Big the Cat, Froggy

E-123 Omega Polybag: A buildable Omega figure (5 dollars)

35 years of Sonic the Hedgehog (2026) Midi Scale Death Egg or ARK Colony: A small model of the Death Egg that has an alternate build as the ARK Colony (80 dollars)

Minifigures: Doctor Eggman and Doctor Gerald Robotnik

Exclusive Minifigure: Maria Robotnik

25th anniversary of Sonic Adventure 2 (2026) Finalhazard Showdown: A large model of the final battle scene in SA2 (60 dollars)

Minifigures: Super Sonic and Super Shadow

Exclusive Minifigure: Barry the Quokka

Minifigures Series: Tom Wachowski with Donut Box, Maddie Wachowski with Tails' Tech, Dr Robotnik (Jim Carrey version) with new mustache piece, Agent Stone with goat figure and coffee cup, Mighty the Armadillo, Ray the Flying Squirrel, Fang the Hunter, Merlina with cape and custom staff, Mephiles the Dark with power blasts, Sage the Al with "Let's Go Dad" folded shirt tile, Infinite the Jackal with Phantom Ruby, and Black Doom with alien