First round results of the 90th anniversary set poll

Bionicle is a bad choice...
Hope that one of the 2 others will be selected at the end.

If we get through all this just to get a Bioncle set, I might cry. Not tears of joy.

People, listen up,. Bionicle isn’t a bad choice. We probably won’t get an action figure set, as it’s been proven that these don’t sell anymore and that style also wouldn’t fit the whole massive 18+ set that the winner will receive. I’m expecting them to make a system set, and let me tell you, that would be a way more interesting thing than yet ANOTHER classic space or pirates iteration. Bionicle is known for its insanely rich lore, and with that come many fantastic locations that would simply make for a stunning model. Some examples of this would be Metru Nui (a big high-tech Coruscant-like city island), Mahri Nui (an underwater residence terrorized by mutated sea monsters) Ga-Koro (a fishermen’s village built on and out of giant lily pads), Le-Koro (another one of the villages, this one is built in tall jungle trees) or any of the other Koro-villages and much more! Like I said, if we want something original to come out of this, we need to vote Bionicle as Space, Pirates and Castle have all had their chance to shine very recently already.

Why bring back a theme that didn't work the last time Lego brought back -Bioncle???

Classic space all the way!! :)

Huw, the post says that it would've changed the result, putting the combined Classic Castle vote up to third. That's why they added it, while also still allowing Pirates to be included in the round 2 vote.

As a fan from the 21st century, I have no connection to any of these - revive Tolkien sets! Then I'll be spending a lot of money! - but we could have a seriously cool design here. Let's just hope that the final product is a substantial and satisfying design; ideally I think from Classic Space, seeing as that's the one that hasn't inspired a flagship D2C set recently, but there's a lot of cool options we might see.

The exact results I expected... and feared. I am already not interested.

Oh no...Castle all the way, or space ... please

Good on them for recognizing the super-obvious, enormous blunder of splitting Castle into a million entries, and for making it absolutely right after the fact. Castle deserved to be on the final short list, and now it is. Same goes for the other three. May the largest and/or most online-organized fandom win fair & square!

Castle! Castle! Castle! They definitely did a disservice by splitting up all the Castle categories, and the casual builder would be forgiven for not knowing all the nuances between those categories. I wish they had realized that flaw BEFORE the first vote, but better late than never! Forestmen forever!

Well if you combine the votes for: Classic Castle -12.603, Forestmen - 8.056, Lion Knights - 7.117, Black Knights - 6.427, Dragon Knights - 6.334, Black Falcons - 4.244 and Wolfpack - 2.111, which I count towards the classic castle theme, you end up with 46.892 votes. So anything castle-related should get enough votes to win this eventually.

Did they really need a histrionic public vote to determine that Classic Space, Classic Castle and Classic Pirates would be the three themes to take the lion's share of the votes...?

Easy choice - Castle! Its been so long since we had some great sets and the Blacksmith set shows what can be achieved with a serious Castle set. Castle sets can be so visually interesting with stone techniques - some great pieces exist now to make it look great. It can be a civilian set, a Castle village set, there are plenty of options. CASTLE CASTLE CASTLE!!!

Surprised my two choices (Blacktron & Wolfpack) didn't get alot of votes, even more since they are beloved subthemes. But maybe that's also the reason: being a subtheme...
Personally I'm not a Bionicle lover at all, but if it dwarfs the competition like this...
But then again, things can change now, because people will now have only three options to cast their vote on.

Adventurers was so close!! Oh well, maybe they'll see how well that and trains polled and throw a little more than easter eggs our way.

100th anniversary here we come!

Mathematically. 58,854 votes combined for first 3 places, 141,530 votes for 4th place onwards.. in the 2nd round looking at themes far more chance more of those 141k votes when picking something else to vote for will choose classic space or pirates over Bionicle... (my opinion) so I expect to see Space or Pirates will win - again my opinion.

Bionicle please!

Yeah, I’m going to go ahead and say that it wasn’t a “mistake”. This was their intention all along.

Disappointed that Adventurers didn’t make it, but I’d like to see a Classic Space set, given that all we’ve had on that front since 1987 is the Exo-Suit, Space Squad, and some minifigures. I’d like to see a large D2C version of a Galaxy Explorer or Commander or the like.

Well that was a waste of a vote, just like the 150 Brickheadz vote.

Bionicle was stopped in 2016 cause it didn't sell well, my local stores had them for up to 75% off at some point and they were still there for a good few weeks before finally selling.

Just my opinion though :(

Bionicle and classic space... urghhh. Pirates please!!!

@Pastatwirls said:
"Why bring back a theme that didn't work the last time Lego brought back -Bioncle???

Classic space all the way!! :) "

Because the BIONICLE fans are now AFOLs like you. And we didn't get a proper tribute because of sets like the Stars and the abrupt end of G2, only small references in other sets.

I won't deny that Classic Space is my 2nd choice, mostly due to a lack of new original sci-fi themes and due to the fact that only the LEGO movies truly maid it real thanks to Benny.

@franko3 said:
"Bionicle and classic space... urghhh. Pirates please!!!"

You already had your two big Pirates sets last year.

@BovineBrick said:
"Adventurers was so close!! Oh well, maybe they'll see how well that and trains polled and throw a little more than easter eggs our way.

100th anniversary here we come!"

Man I know, I wanted a new zeppelin set or a dino transport with a pier and a boat to take it sailing to Jurasssic World or even a X-Treme set to gift it to my father oh well, I am also interested in Bionicle.

@Pastatwirls said:
"Why bring back a theme that didn't work the last time Lego brought back -Bioncle???

Classic space all the way!! :) "

It’s not like Nexo Knights did well... or Fantasy Castle... or Pirates 2015... or Alien Conquest...

To react to all the Bionicle backlash, Bionicle won fair and square. It is fine to dislike the choice, but to act like stuck up, entitled elitists (not referring to the above replied-to comment, that was merely to point out a bit of a double standard) because “Bionicle isn’t true LEGO” is one step too far. For people who grew up in the early 2000s, Bionicle *was* LEGO, and to deprive them the legitimacy of their childhood is snobbish to say the least. Bionicle won because people supported it. Surely, you aren’t implying that your opinion is more important or valuable.

Examples of the type of comments I am directing my criticism towards are “ If we get through all this just to get a Bioncle set, I might cry. Not tears of joy.”, “ Bionicle would be a disgrace. As mentioned above a split of all classic castle theme is a big flop.” , and this outright dismissive gem by berkerdem, “
Bionicle? Cringe.” While not directly stated, the implication that Bionicle isn’t LEGO is certainly there.

Personally, I dislike the ball-and-socket, technic building experience of constraction, but I can appreciate Bionicle’s rich lore, world-building and premise that ‘within every pill is a tiny soldier’. And I definitely won’t throw a fit because other people don’t like the same toy themes as me.

Bionicle is literally the only one of these 30 themes that I don't care about, and Pirates and Classic Space already got more love than most other classic themes. The first theme that IMO truly deserves a remake is Adventurers, which is only on the 5th place.

Well, I don't see the Bionicle appeal myself apparently a lot of fans. I'm hoping castle or pirates will be the winner though. The Pirates of Barracuda Bay or Medieval Blacksmith could use some accompaning sets.

Actually, even though I am indifferent to Bionicle, I am happy for the Bionicle fans who might finally get the recognition they deserve.
I as a Classic Space fan at least got Benny's Spaceship Spaceship SPACESHIP and the excellent Space Squad set as well as well as several other Classic Space throwback sets from TLM2. Which makes me happy ;-)

I voted for Classic Space, as I love space. But I'll be glad to see Castle or Pirates win either.

I've voted for castle.

Now combine all the votes for the Space/Castle/etc. subthemes and make it more fair representation of what people actually want.

Bionicle is an awful choice for a anniversary set since it's in no way representative of 90 years of LEGO, System and Technic is. It's a comparatively minor blip in their history, fondly remember by a small, enthusiastic subset of LEGO fans.

Pirates would have been my top choice, were it not for Barracuda Bay, which already achieves everything you could reasonably ask for from a Pirates set.

My Space vote was for M-Tron, and while I appreciate the nostalgia many have for the earliest Classic Space, I find the ideas and colour palate naturally limit what can be achieved while still remaining true to the concept. I have Benny’s Spaceship from the Lego movie and I think it encapsulates the theme really well.

So ultimately, of the “Big Three” only Castle is lacking a spectacular modern rendition. I have the Blacksmiths on order, and am looking forward to it, but I think many fans would love something more fort-like; ideally with references to a range of the sun themes.

There's always been a big Bionicle following, but I don't know if it's enough to sustain new sets or not. It's still kind of niche, and the more you get away from the general System line, the harder a sell it is I feel like. Which is why classic Space and Pirates pop up frequently. They can appeal to people that aren't even a big fan of those series. Whereas if you aren't a Bionicle fan, chances are very little about it will appeal to you. But still, interesting results.

Bionicle would be a disgrace. As mentioned above a split of all classic castle themes is a big flop.

If you don't care or you're unsure, vote Castle

I am completely off-point as usual. I picked Arctic and Adventurers (though this time I would like to see Adventurers being based upon real historical setting). I wish that we had been asked to suggest 'new' themes.

I honestly think Castle will win this. The three most iconic Lego sets of all time are Black Seas Barracuda, Galaxy Explorer and the classic yellow castle, two of which have basically received modern remakes in the form of Barracuda Bay and Benny’s Spaceship. I wouldn’t be surprised if the 90th anniversary set is a modern take on the classic yellow castle. Also, the only way Lego will do Bionicle is by doing a brick built figure which will piss a lot of fans off so I don’t see it happening.

Didn’t think that Trains would make it through, but happy to see it placed so high! :)

Bionicle? Cringe

Reading the comments reveals the biggest downside of this approach by Lego: It divides the community. There's no need to hate other people's choice. The results were very predictable, so I wonder if all this was even necessary.

In the end, I really hope Lego looks beyond the number 1 and provides a way of making everybody happy.

For anyone wondering, when looking at theme instead of subthemes the Top-5 looks like this:
1. Castle - 46892
2. Space - 38750
3. Bionicle - 24799
4. Pirates - 22896
5. Trains - 14855

(But bear in mind voting behavior would have been different if these were the options from the start)

Good, BIONICLE is where it should be. My friends and I were probably the only people that voted for RoboForce.

Oof the Bionicle hate in here is intense. Bionicle is more than deserving of being chosen for an anniversary celebration; after all, LEGO wouldn't still exist if Bionicle hadn't saved it. Bionicle shows the creativity of the LEGO brand by expanding out beyond the usual, and doing so successfully unlike other offshoot themes. Moreover it had such a rich lore and world that people are still connected to today. Young adults today have nostalgia for Bionicle the same way many Brickset users have nostalgia for Castle or Space or Pirates, and there's nothing inferior about Bionicle even if you don't particularly like its different style.

A LEGO System set themed around Bionicle would be an amazing tribute to a newer era of nostalgia, not just Classic Pirates and Castle which have gotten plenty of love and tribute sets. Black Seas Barracuda and the Medieval Blacksmith are currently on shelves! And Classic Space has had sets like the LEGO Movie 2 minifigure set.

Personally, I'm happy to see something else deserving being given a chance!

Wow, I'm surprised to see this much hate for Bionicle here. I'd be happy with any of these four!

@mr_Fikou said:
"People, listen up,. Bionicle isn’t a bad choice. We probably won’t get an action figure set, as it’s been proven that these don’t sell anymore and that style also wouldn’t fit the whole massive 18+ set that the winner will receive. I’m expecting them to make a system set, and let me tell you, that would be a way more interesting thing than yet ANOTHER classic space or pirates iteration. Bionicle is known for its insanely rich lore, and with that come many fantastic locations that would simply make for a stunning model. Some examples of this would be Metru Nui (a big high-tech Coruscant-like city island), Mahri Nui (an underwater residence terrorized by mutated sea monsters) Ga-Koro (a fishermen’s village built on and out of giant lily pads), Le-Koro (another one of the villages, this one is built in tall jungle trees) or any of the other Koro-villages and much more! Like I said, if we want something original to come out of this, we need to vote Bionicle as Space, Pirates and Castle have all had their chance to shine very recently already."

I wouldn't have any interest in an action figure style Bionicle set. But a system set would be interesting, maybe even spawn a new theme.

I'd rather eat my own feet than buy another Bore-onicle set

a ucs great spirit robot would be great, just make it brick built and have microfigures of all the toa

I'd be very disappointed if Bionicle won out over a Lego theme like Castle. I don't see the appeal in it, at all. It doesn't represent Lego in my mind (emphasis "in my mind"), at least not any more than Scala or Galidor do.
That's just my personal opinion.

People in this thread should have more respect for Bionicle. It is the line that saved The LEGO Group from going bankrupt in the early 2000's, after all. Without Bionicle, there wouldn't have been a LEGO 90th anniversary.

Wow. The hate for BIONICLE here is honestly disturbing. It’s almost like afols can’t accept that their childhood theme lost to another generation’s childhood theme. You do realize that we got two pirates sets last year, supposedly two castle sets this year, and a new classic space set/minifig almost every year? When’s the last time we got a proper BIONICLE set?

To anyone complaining that it didn’t sell well in its last run, neither did any of the other themes. Nexo knights, 2013 Castle, Alien Conquest, and 2015 Pirates were all poor sellers. The amount of times that I saw them on discount is equal to or surpasses how often I saw BIONICLE on sale. The fact remains that BIONICLE still has quite an invested fan base that would love to see their theme get some recognition, like all of these other themes already have.

So if BIONICLE wins, don’t be butthurt. I sure won’t be if any of the other themes win. Let’s let fans enjoy what they enjoy, as it’s clear that whatever the winner is will be representative of what the LEGO community wants.

@LegoDavid said:
"People in this thread should have more respect for Bionicle. It is the line that saved The LEGO Group from going bankrupt in the early 2000's, after all. Without Bionicle, there wouldn't have been a LEGO 90th anniversary."

Lego Star Wars might have something to say about that.

The vitriol on display for Bionicle here is ultimately unnecessary as well, since as the outlier amongst Space/Castle/Pirates, it's just going to get clobbered. It just is, chill yo beans, you'll get your spacemen, knights or Brickbeard.

And from TLG's point of view, it'll probably be the most costly in terms of development as it will either have to bring back a lot of parts, or it'll be the trickiest to come up with a spin that both represents bionicle and uses parts that are still in rotation.

I would have voted for Alpha Team, Bionicle, and Exo-Force if Lego would actually let me into my Ideas account. I joined when it was Lego Cuusoo and apparently the accounts got merged with Lego ID at some point and now I cant recover my original account and if I try to create a new on it says my email is already in use--even if I use a different email address. It's a mess. Lego customer service is swamped so they haven't responded to my email yet :(

Personally, I would like Bionicle to win. Nothing against the other themes, but fans of Lego are perfectly capable of making their own castle and space MOCs. Why do they need an official one from Lego? Bionicle is a unique theme and I'm much more interested in seeing a modern interpretation of Bionicle than another castle or spaceship.

@Nick said:
" @LegoDavid said:
"People in this thread should have more respect for Bionicle. It is the line that saved The LEGO Group from going bankrupt in the early 2000's, after all. Without Bionicle, there wouldn't have been a LEGO 90th anniversary."

Lego Star Wars might have something to say about that. "

Not really. Bionicle has been called out by TLG as the number 1 best selling theme in their annual reports from 2001 to 2005, and still a top selling theme for several years after that.

For the 1st couple of years, the Stars Wars theme suffered from up- and downswings, depending whether there was a Star Wars movie in cinemas. (But even during the good years, never number 1.)
Only years later TLG managed to stabilize that pattern, resulting in it now being their number 1 bestselling theme. (Since 2018?)

The pirates theme could do with a decent sized foil to last years barracuda bay ala a new and improved https://brickset.com/sets/10210-1/Imperial-Flagship
The 2015 pirate wave didn't get an imperial ship.

Kids still like pirates, knights and space right? It’s clear from ideas sets that adults do... I don’t understand what’s taking Lego so long to figure it out. Bring them all back for 2 years a piece - just no cyber knights or neon pirates. Cyber pirates? Maybe

@stlux said:
" @Nick said:
" @LegoDavid said:
"People in this thread should have more respect for Bionicle. It is the line that saved The LEGO Group from going bankrupt in the early 2000's, after all. Without Bionicle, there wouldn't have been a LEGO 90th anniversary."

Lego Star Wars might have something to say about that. "

Not really. Bionicle has been called out by TLG as the number 1 best selling theme in their annual reports from 2001 to 2005, and still a top selling theme for several years after that.

For the 1st couple of years, the Stars Wars theme suffered from up- and downswings, depending whether there was a Star Wars movie in cinemas. (But even during the good years, never number 1.)
Only years later TLG managed to stabilize that pattern, resulting in it now being their number 1 bestselling theme. (Since 2018?)"

Sure. But that doesn't mean it wouldn't have been enough to keep Lego afloat for the duration. You can't say with certainty that Lego wouldn't have been here without Bionicle. That's a strong claim that requires some strong evidence.

Pleasantly surprised by the number of votes for Trains. Not at all surprised by the top 3/4.
Given that we've just had a classic castle Ideas set, and classic space has already been reimagined a few years back with Spaceship, Spaceship, SPACESHIP! it'll be interesting to see where this goes.

My Castle vote was for Forestmen. We miss you!

We've sort of already received modern Classic Space with Benny's Spaceship! and Pirates with Barracuda Bay.

Castle sort of has the Blacksmith now, but that's not really representative of Classic Castle. We need a massive King's Castle with large panel pieces to give it a huge imposing size, but lots of interesting builds and details inside! Just my opinion...

@Nick said:
" @stlux said:
" @Nick said:
" @LegoDavid said:
"People in this thread should have more respect for Bionicle. It is the line that saved The LEGO Group from going bankrupt in the early 2000's, after all. Without Bionicle, there wouldn't have been a LEGO 90th anniversary."

Lego Star Wars might have something to say about that. "

Not really. Bionicle has been called out by TLG as the number 1 best selling theme in their annual reports from 2001 to 2005, and still a top selling theme for several years after that.

For the 1st couple of years, the Stars Wars theme suffered from up- and downswings, depending whether there was a Star Wars movie in cinemas. (But even during the good years, never number 1.)
Only years later TLG managed to stabilize that pattern, resulting in it now being their number 1 bestselling theme. (Since 2018?)"

Sure. But that doesn't mean it wouldn't have been enough to keep Lego afloat for the duration. You can't say with certainty that Lego wouldn't have been here without Bionicle. That's a strong claim that requires some strong evidence."

That's fair enough that we don't have hard numbers to prove that, as TLG being a private company, they don't have an obligation to share everything with us.
However crediting Star Wars (or Harry Potter) is also a stretch, as sales of that theme crashed every year there was no movie in cinemas. TLG also called this out in their annual reports, e.g. in 2003: "The drop in sales of these products accounted for more than 50 percent of the overall sales decrease."

So absent more evidence, I'd credit Bionicle a lot more than Star Wars.

Bionicle? Not my cup of tea. I don't own one set in this theme. I like to see classic space or castle to win.

My guess is that they intentionally split Castle up into the sub-themes so that if (when) it wins, they already have an idea of which one would appeal to the most people and therefore incorporate into the final design.

@Nick said:
"I'd be very disappointed if Bionicle won out over a Lego theme like Castle. I don't see the appeal in it, at all. It doesn't represent Lego in my mind (emphasis "in my mind"), at least not any more than Scala or Galidor do.
That's just my personal opinion."

It does not represent the LEGO System world, but it is a great representative of LEGO TECHNIC, which began several years before BIONICLE.

Scala and Galidor were really different things with dolls, which had a very limited run. Conversely BIONICLE was present for more than 10 years. They have basically nothing in common.

Bionicle
Classic space
And rock raiders was my fav’s 2/3 not bad :) i will be buying any ways :P

Space, pirates, and castle sets have never gone away. Just look to the barracuda bay or blacksmith shop, for some examples. This might be our last chance to see Bionicle on the shelf ever again, and I hope that it comes to be.

Most agree that the reboot was misguided at best, but something like this could really do the theme a proper send off. I understand many users here may look down on it, not see it as "real" Lego, but you all need to keep in mind that Bionicle was the introduction to a huge amount of my generation to Lego. There's a good chance I wouldn't be collecting all the other themes that I do if not for Bionicle to bring me in. Also, let's not forget Bionicle played a very important role in saving the company from bankruptcy in the early 2000's.

Any of these 4 themes would make a great set, but I do believe Bionicle is worthy of the top spot.

I don't consider Bionicle to be a classic theme. Wasn't it mostly North American in popularity?

If the 90th anniversary set is Bionicle, it will be an easy pass for me.

I am not scared that Bionicle is top spot, but I don't care about it. So if it wins, it's not for me (which is not a problem, really).
I also noticed the 'Castle' issue (but again, don't care too much about it, though I bought the blacksmith). Glad they acknowledge their mess!
I think my vote will go for Space :)

The combined number of all space ( 38750 ) and all castle ( 46892 ) subthemes is so much higher then bionicle. What if they chopped-up bionicle in all of their subthemes ( tribes )? The winners are obviously castle and space! ...go Blacktron!....

I foresee a Lion Knights/Forestmen set will be the result of all this. At least I hope so! Too bad about Adventurers

@kaxix said:
" @Nick said:
"I'd be very disappointed if Bionicle won out over a Lego theme like Castle. I don't see the appeal in it, at all. It doesn't represent Lego in my mind (emphasis "in my mind"), at least not any more than Scala or Galidor do.
That's just my personal opinion."

It does not represent the LEGO System world, but it is a great representative of LEGO TECHNIC, which began several years before BIONICLE.

Scala and Galidor were really different things with dolls, which had a very limited run. Conversely BIONICLE was present for more than 10 years. They have basically nothing in common."

Gotta disagree. To me personally, Bionicle parts always looked and felt similar to cheaper regular toys rather than Lego pieces, unlike Technic did.

Regardless of its longer run, it still occupies the same space as Scala etc. just because of what it is. At least, in my own subjective experience.

Honestly they should have started with a vote for theme. Then done votes for subtheme once they had settled on one or two themes.

My issue is that I won't buy a set that has minifigures and aesthetic that don't match. The classic space stuff (i.e. The Lego Movie) works for me because they printed figures and ships that don't look particularly out of place next to my older sets so far. I didn't buy any of the new Pirate stuff last year because the sets were just a touch too modern in design to sit comfortably next to my other pirates.

I am most likely to buy if they do one of two things. Either make a set from Castle, Space, or Pirates that looks like it escaped the 80's/90's nearly unchanged OR if they completely reimagine Time Chasers (because it was a good idea that was squandered) or Adventurers (because I don't have enough of the old stuff to be annoyed) into something amazing. One of these things would get me to spend big.

Also, Bionicle would have to do some out of the park insane reimagining to get my attention. I just don't understand that theme at all.

One thing I've not seen many folk here comment on is the fact that this second vote doesn't really matter - Lego have said that this vote will be secret, so we won't know which has won, plus they reserve the right to pick any of them and the vote is just to give an indication of how the fans feel.

I feel Bionicle is a non starter and their never going to do it - I'm guessing many of the fans that voted for that want something similar to the Gen 1 stuff but they're never bringing back that many moulds. The Gen 2 CCBS stuff was fairly recent and didnt seem to be all that popular/bestselling, and if they did some sort of system interpretation I'm not sure thats what the fans who voted it would want.

I'm not sure I can see Pirates either especially personally, in my mind what I would want from a pirates anniversary set is basically 21322 , Barracuda Bay, not sure what more they could add.

As such I'm definitely going for/predicting Castle or Space, even wondering if Lego had something in mind and might have had an invested reason for putting Castle back into the mix!!

@theJANG said:
"Good on them for recognizing the super-obvious, enormous blunder of splitting Castle into a million entries, and for making it absolutely right after the fact. Castle deserved to be on the final short list, and now it is. Same goes for the other three. May the largest and/or most online-organized fandom win fair & square!"
@JPKuiper said:
"For anyone wondering, when looking at theme instead of subthemes the Top-5 looks like this:
1. Castle - 46892
2. Space - 38750
3. Bionicle - 24799
4. Pirates - 22896
5. Trains - 14855

(But bear in mind voting behavior would have been different if these were the options from the start)"

@theJANG ,
JPKuiper is right. If you're going to combine Castle subthemes, you should do the same for Space.

Personally, I would be delighted if Classic Space won. Castle would be good too, but the word on the street is that there's a Creator 3-in-1 set scheduled for later this year that will be Castle, so that itch will be scratched.

By the way, I love your Youtube channels. If I could afford to, I would become a Patreon supporter.

@ Anyone from LEGO,

It is extremely unfair that people like me who were among the early VIPs aren't able to vote for this (or Ideas projects generally). I suspect that Castle and Space would pick up even more votes if we weren't excluded.

ABB - Anything But Bionicle

Now that Castle gets its own category, I should expect that we’ve dodged a big, visually unappealing bullet.

If Castle wins they should do a SECOND vote for the subtheme people want. Now THAT would be a bloodbath.

@Graysmith said:
"Now combine all the votes for the Space/Castle/etc. subthemes and make it more fair representation of what people actually want.

Bionicle is an awful choice for a anniversary set since it's in no way representative of 90 years of LEGO, System and Technic is. It's a comparatively minor blip in their history, fondly remember by a small, enthusiastic subset of LEGO fans."

Excluding licensed sets like Pirates of the Caribbean, Pirates has ran a total of 13 years (maybe 14 if you count Baracudda Bay). Bionicle ran 13 years (12 full years, plus 1 if we count 2014's NYCC set). The two have nearly the same shelf life so its unfair to call one a "short blip" and the other a "very successful theme." Of course Space and Castle both have absurdly longer lives, but Bionicle very easily stands in comparison to Pirates and certainly eclipsed other poll options like Rock Raiders or Adventures.

I see to many people judging Bionicle by its poor reboot sales and absolutely forgetting it was the behemoth in 2002-2004 for Lego and is (other than Star Wars and Harry Potter) the most beloved theme for the generation that grew up then.

If you add trains, town and paradisa you get about the same as bionicle so I am concluding that its lore is about as deep as Sally getting public transport to meet Jeff and Cindy for an ice-cream on the beach.

A really cool Bionicle set is probably the only one I will spend my money on. The castle set would have to be absolutely extraordinary for me to buy. Don't care about space or pirates.

Ima go get the popcorn to watch AFOLs be salty Bionicle is so high up.

I think it is obvious that the anniversary set should be a Nexo Knights pirate ship crewed by Bionicle. That way all four top themes are represented and everyone is happy ;).
As an aside, I never thought of Alien Conquest as a Space theme, it is a City sub-theme.

Castle all the way, I want lion/falcon/forestmen mega mix. They were all awesome!

Honestly, I'd love to know how in the heck they generated their voting list. Paradisa made the cut, but Technic didn't? Wolfpack was included, but not Fright Knights? Alpha Team got a spot, but not Soccer?

If Bionicle and Model Team are options-- which are the only two that don't generally include minifigures-- then it seems like the choices ought to have been over-arching building systems rather than sub-themes. Maybe instead "LEGOLAND" (or "minifig sets"), Technic, Model Team, Constraction figures, Dolls (Scala/Belville, maybe even Maxifigs?), Fabuland, and DUPLO are the first round choices? And then break it down further depending on the winner (although I think minifig-scale stuff would likely dominate).

Ultimately, I find it difficult to encapsulate the entirety of LEGO in a single set with any of the given presented themes. It's nice and all-- but it hardly seems comprehensive, unless it's got a smattering of several of them, like 40290 (60 Years of the LEGO Brick). I might have been rooting for a Lion Knights/Crusaders set personally, but honestly it wouldn't feel all that representative of 90 years of the LEGO company.

My preference (if they do this again) would be something similar to 40290, but let fans vote for the themes and sets that would have miniature versions represented, and pick the top 5 (say) rather than just 1!

DaveE

Among the 4 themes that they had put up, I chose Bionicle as I grew up with that theme following Slizers and Robo Riders. The creature designs were wonderful (G1 Rahi), though they were much too expensive for me, so I opted for the Vahki (the underwater villains before the Piraka, Phantoka and Mistika arcs were interesting though).

The sub theme that I chose was for the set to showcase the Rahi and various villain creatures, with a specific focus on the Vahki (spider-like machines that can climb cliffs, glide etc for the win!) :D

Bionicle? Seriously? More castle!

Even Lego doesn't want Bionicle to win.

Here is the thing, let me explain why Bionicle fans are more than excited to see this but have been acting defensive here. Roll back to 2001 when Bionicle was first new, and we have been seeing the same comments that have been repeated here in this chat today. "Bionicle is cheap," "Bionicle is not REAL Lego" "Bionicle belongs in the trash" etc. Its been the same comments back on Lugnet 20 years ago that are still being repeated today. But its not real criticism, its always been clearly coming from AFOL's sitting on the sidelines and looking in and judging by the cover of the book (hey, not so different from what Nexo Knights or Chima had received during their runs either).

Its not like Bionicle fans hate Space, Pirates or Castle; many of them love those themes (I even saw someone recently point out the Disney film Treasure Planet is like a wonderful blend of what they love in Bionicle, Space and Pirates into one feature). The problem is that holy trinity of Lego themes has been long held by our "hobby's betters" to be the superior Lego product, so whenever we mention we like Bionicle it was soon followed by "EW, Bionicle sucks. Go buy some Classic Space instead. That is REAL LEGO, that will put HAIR ON YOUR CHEST and make you a MAN." Its not real criticism of Bionicle, real criticism would be say discussing the terrible 2008-2010 socket joints, or something along those lines; something that showed some actual set knowledge. What we received though was dismissal, being told repeatedly that "your theme sucks, like our theme instead." Again, Bionicle fans do not dislike Space, Castle or Pirates; but they have very much come to dislike their fandom.

The difference is now in 2021, twenty years after the first Bionicle set hit the shelf guess what? Of course the Bionicle kids of 2001 are now adults, with wallet buying power. The Bionicle fandom is still rolling strong with TTV, BZPower (more so in their very active private Discord server), the near constant stream of posts on Bionicle Maskposting and such. Bionicle has very much entered the same space that say Classic Space was twenty years ago, long ago since we have had a set but fans are still very actively collecting and buying and discussing the lore. Yes, the lore is a lot more complicated than Jeff and Cindy on an icecream buy (Bionicle is actually a metaphor for get this, cancer diagnoses and treatment but you probably wouldn't know that if you never took five seconds to read up on it), but again such dismissive attitudes from our "hobby better's" is merely repetition of the same dismissal we have had since 2001.

The thing is, we just want respect. We don't need you all to love Bionicle, just merely recognize it for what it has done right and if you want to critique it don't lead in with some lecture about how we should sell all our Bionicle sets and all join you in salivating over some 1982 gray blue wedge with a yellow cockpit on it. Obviously different strokes for different folks, but being lectured to for 20 years about how our favorite Lego theme is inferior is just the reason why the Bionicle fandom has a lot of resentment towards your favorite themes and is more than happy to vote in mass to try and dethrone them from a competition such as this.

From me, part of the charm of Bionicle at least in its early years that drew me in was how well the Rahi sets and other sets had action functions with various simple mechanisms. Yes Technic does much the same thing, but for a kid who was never as big into trucks and cars as some of my peers there was a lot more appeal to something outlandish as say "crab with treads and punching claws." What I didn't realize is Bionicle was teaching me about basic gear ratios, four bar linkages, and various other mechanical functions that have lead to my current course of study in Mechanical Engineering. Bionicle certainly offered a good middle ground between the more complicated large Technic sets and the light on function design of System sets of the era.

@MaxA said:
"Yeah, I’m going to go ahead and say that it wasn’t a “mistake”. This was their intention all along."

Yup! I'm sure they wanted to know how popular each of the Castle subthemes were.

Xboxtravis7992 well said. It's definitely a generational devide thing. I didn't get into bionicle but I saw the appeal.

If anything should be clear, is that there is really a market for some sort of Legends run again like they did in the past. If they would just take all four themes and redo or remake or make a complete new set for all of them: it would sell, no doubt.

@xboxtravis7992 said:
" @Graysmith said:
"Now combine all the votes for the Space/Castle/etc. subthemes and make it more fair representation of what people actually want.

Bionicle is an awful choice for a anniversary set since it's in no way representative of 90 years of LEGO, System and Technic is. It's a comparatively minor blip in their history, fondly remember by a small, enthusiastic subset of LEGO fans."

Excluding licensed sets like Pirates of the Caribbean, Pirates has ran a total of 13 years (maybe 14 if you count Baracudda Bay). Bionicle ran 13 years (12 full years, plus 1 if we count 2014's NYCC set). The two have nearly the same shelf life so its unfair to call one a "short blip" and the other a "very successful theme." Of course Space and Castle both have absurdly longer lives, but Bionicle very easily stands in comparison to Pirates and certainly eclipsed other poll options like Rock Raiders or Adventures.

I see to many people judging Bionicle by its poor reboot sales and absolutely forgetting it was the behemoth in 2002-2004 for Lego and is (other than Star Wars and Harry Potter) the most beloved theme for the generation that grew up then. "

Still doesn't change the fact that Bionicle is a poor representation of what LEGO is, of what people think of when you say "LEGO". At this very moment LEGO doesn't sell any Bionicle-type products. People can harp all they want about how it saved the company and how it ran for X many years, but that doesn't really change the fact that it's not a very good representative of the LEGO brand/product as a whole, which you'd think an anniversary set ought to be. Even the die hard Bionicle fans should have the self-awareness to realise that.

But as I commented in the initial article when they announced this vote, what LEGO should've done is release a handful of 90th anniversary sets. They did several sets for the Star Wars anniversary just the other year, yet somehow it's impossible for them to do 5-6 sets based on the most popular LEGO themes through the years? We should be getting a 90th anniversary set for Castle, Space, Pirates, Technic and yes, Bionicle, rather than pitting all of them against each other.

I want Castle the most, but they should just do all of the top 4 choices as separate sets, that would appease the most people

@davee123 said:
"Honestly, I'd love to know how in the heck they generated their voting list. Paradisa made the cut, but Technic didn't?"

They still make Technic

@Graysmith said:
"But as I commented in the initial article when they announced this vote, what LEGO should've done is release a handful of 90th anniversary sets. They did several sets for the Star Wars anniversary just the other year, yet somehow it's impossible for them to do 5-6 sets based on the most popular LEGO themes through the years? We should be getting a 90th anniversary set for Castle, Space, Pirates, Technic and yes, Bionicle, rather than pitting all of them against each other."

I would be totally down for that. A Lego Retrospective theme like that could not only grab those larger popular themes but some of the other ones like Trains or Adventurers too and create something really neat by releasing small batches of retro inspired sets while also being unique. It would be the win-win situation for us all.

Was really hoping for Paradisa, but I always knew it wouldn't get anywhere close. Though, I would be interested in seeing what a Bionicle set would look like for this, since if that is the one that gets made I imagine it will be done in system as opposed to the usual figures.

Anything but Bionicle. I think its only children that voted for that. It shouldn't even have been included, its not classic theme.

@kkoster79 said:
"Anything but Bionicle. I think its only children that voted for that. It shouldn't even have been included, its not classic theme."

You... do remember this is primarily a children's toy, right? And that many who grew up with Bionicle are grown up now and likely nostalgic?

Look, I'll be honest, I get really disappointed when I see some of the AFOL responses to Bionicle. It's childish at best and rude at the very worst. Imagine an alternate universe where people look towards Pirates/Castle/Classic Space with disdain, Bionicle fans telling fans of those things to give up and play with something better, and everyone rolling their eyes when people express hope when those themes might be getting something new.

Fans of the big three are always going to be getting something. Calm down. Bionicle isn't some threat to what you enjoy. The big three had themes and sets while Bionicle was around, they had sets after it went away, and they're getting even more sets now. Just look at how much Classic Space stuff was mentioned in just the movies alone. Bionicle fans don't necessarily get that. We know we won't be getting a revival anytime soon.

Heck, you saw the Bionicle Ideas sets. We won't even mind if the kit uses System parts. We would just like something outside of a sticker, because we're likely not going to get another shot at something like this for a long time.

I think all these contrasting comments probably show that no one theme is fit to represent what Lego means to every single fan, and therefore no one set could summarise the Lego company’s 90th anniversary...

except, I think perhaps the 40501 Wooden Duck had they saved that instead of making it a Lego House exclusive (or something similar)

@kkoster79 said:
"Anything but Bionicle. I think its only children that voted for that. It shouldn't even have been included, its not classic theme."

You realize that BIONICLE was released in 2001, right? The original wave was marketed at 7+, meaning that most Bionicle fans are in their 20’s. It was originally discontinued in 2011 I believe, so for someone to have experienced even the last wave, they would have to be 11 at this point - and I don’t think many 1 year olds were interested in BIONICLE back in the day.

And with this whole “classic theme” or “perfect representation of LEGO” argument that people keep using - did you even look at the other options? Alpha Team was also released in 2001. Are Divers, Paradisa, or Arctic anywhere as popular as BIONICLE was? I don’t understand what they represent more than BIONICLE does, other than the original style of system builds.

@3arteq said:
"I will laugh at the people who voted for Bionicle and they'll be rewarded with a 40-50 piece set, a great capture of the 90th anniversary.
They could choose a castle or a spaceship made up of several hundred pieces."

I imagine your laugh would sound like Nelson's from The Simpsons.

I voted for Bionicle, but I also voted for Adventurers and Rock Raiders. @Graysmith put it best. Some casual Bionicle fans, albeit a minority, don't even realize Bionicle is a LEGO product. (Not sure how many people noticed that G2 Bionicle has the LEGO logo prominently before the BIONICLE wordmark and is always called "LEGO BIONICLE"; in G1, the LEGO logo is significantly deemphasized in the box art.) The association between Bionicle and LEGO isn't nearly as strong and immediate as it is for LEGO System themes. Not to mention Duplo, which is often treated as a separate brand from "LEGO" despite LEGO themselves consistently calling it LEGO DUPLO.

Not that I don't hope Bionicle wins, but I think Bionicle should be given special treatment separately. It really is in a league of its own altogether. I wouldn't even put Hero Factory or other CCBS themes with Bionicle.

Voted for Castle. I just don't see what Bionicle set they could to, to represent the 90 years anniversary. Lego, as a company is about bricks on bricks and Bionicle isn't.

I only voted for Classic Space in the first round, because in the end that's what I will actually buy.
So my second vote shouldn't be a surprise.

I have very fond memories of Castle and Pirates.
But while the set(s) will be nice to see I know I won't buy it.

I never bought a Bionicle set and my only memories of those are ads in comics.
But if that's what has the majority of the votes after the second round then Lego should definitely make a set.

If anything, this poll shows just how polarizing Bionicle is compared to other system themes like Castle, Pirates, etc. There aren't a lot of people that "hate" any of those classic themes, they just may not be interested. But for whatever reason, some people really "hate" Bionicle. Perhaps it strays too far from regular system sets, I don't know. It was never my thing, and I didn't understand the lore. But it deserves respect in the history of Lego.

Having said all of that, I suspect if Lego did some small set in recognition of Bionicle, that it would disappoint fans. Bionicle ran its course, and the revival didn't do enough in sales to warrant truly bringing it back. So we may get some sort of system set that represents Bionicle, but that's it.

EDIT: Additionally, regular sets like Space, Castle, Pirates can appeal to a wider audience, even if they aren't really into the theme. Parents and the like might pick up the set because it's Lego and somewhat recognizable. Bionicle would be a different matter. Only real fans that are aware of it would take any interest in it. Many people just would have no idea what it is. The mass appeal, despite the number of fans, just isn't quite there. Again, not knocking Bionicle, just acknowledging the challenges it presents.

Playing with Lego as a kid in the late 90's and early 00's, I was super into Bionicle when it first came out - I collected most of the first few waves of sets, read all the comics, etc. And I completely understand having a sentimental attachment to a theme. However, when I look back at Bionicle now as an AFOL, I really don't have the attachment to it that many people seem to have. If anything, my dislike for this theme I once loved has grown during my AFOL years. My best sentimental memories come from my Space and Castle subtheme sets of the later half of the 90's.

Certainly not going to criticize the popularity of Bionicle - but go Space or Castle for the win!!

I'm not knocking Bionicle fans, and they certainly were able to drum up plenty of support (as evidenced by the large number of new Ideas accounts created just to vote). Clearly a lot of love for the theme - as there is for nearly all of us for the first theme we started with as a kid (me too).
I see some challenges to overcome if Bionicle were chosen:
1. How does it get represented to the general LEGO buying public without all of the back-story, lore etc (i.e. as a stand-alone product)? This 90th anniversary set is going to need to sell to more than hard-core fans.
2. How would a set get expanded past the "action figure" presentation into a larger set? As far as I can tell, all the G1 sets are individual figures, and G2 as a smattering of vehicles.
3. Can LEGO actually bring back all of those old, theme-specific piece moulds? This seems to run counter to TLG's current philosophy on parts use & development.

Well I guess I shouldn't be surprised by the amount of toxicity in the comments section. Anyway, I don't understand why we would feel "threatened" by Bionicle winning the original poll. It is a real Lego theme that got kids interested in Lego back in the 2000s. If you can't accept this, then that is pathetic. In fact, Bionicle saved the Lego company from bankruptcy back then, so without it you likely wouldn't have gotten your tribute sets like Benny's Spaceship Spaceship SPACESHIP back in 2014 or Pirates of Barracuda Bay last year. For those saying that "only children voted for Bionicle," I don't understand what you mean. The theme debuted in 2001 (late 2000 in some countries), which is 20 years ago. Most kids who purchased a Bionicle set from 2001-2010 are most likely AFOLs now.

Glad to see Adventures in the top 5!

How about people just vote for the theme they like the most? They are all great options and hating on the one you don’t like is immature and rude.

Although Bionicle is an important part of Lego history, a flagship set celebrating the entire history of Lego should probably actually contain a few bricks.

Half the themes are a narrower focus compared to a broad focus, although not as narrow as they might appear at first;
"Classic" Space is now considered a subtheme of "Space", but at the time it was the only Space. You could argue that there were subthemes of the early Space sets. Over the decade it lasted, color schemes included not just the stereotypical grey, blue, and tr. yellow
Grey, blue, and tr. yellow: used primarily for early ships with clean designs, later models had many hoses, lasers and sensors were added)
Grey, black and t. green: Industrial looking, somewhat gappy designs with a focus on ground vehicles
White, black, and t. blue: Vehicles or facilities which can be used to conduct research, or with a strange "experimental" design. Later adopted by Futuron, Exploriens, and Space Police 3.
White, blue and t. yellow: Uncommon; cargo & supplies related (in Britain 6985 was an ore carrier)
However, it's most likely if a Classic Space anniversary set is made it will use the grey & blue colors.
Pirates is not as narrow as Classic Space, but still much more narrow than the other 2 themes. It is considered to have around 5 subthemes: Pirates, Bluecoats, Redcoats, Islanders, and Imperial Armada. It could be stretched to include the differences in the reboots, or Pirates under different captains, but the focus is still pretty narrow.
Bionicle and Castle are wild cards. Both encompass many factions phased in and out over the years, and there's really no iconic go-to for either of them compared to the Pirates themselves in Pirates or 497-colored Classic Space.
I voted for Castle over Classic Space because in the end I want a surprise set which could possibly include references to multiple factions. I just hope that if Lego does try to include representation of factions it doesn't dilute the set to its detriment and become a "Seige on [Medieval equivalent of Hoth.]"

Lets just have Lego make a Space Pirate Castle set where they defend against the Bionicles & be done with it. Problem solved.

So I wrote this like a week ago to get all my thoughts on the competition out and it ended up being 5 pages long so I’m sorry in advance for the multiple long posts.

First up I don’t think the set should be Pirates at all. Just last year we got Pirates of Barracuda Bay (alongside a Creator set,) and in my opinion it would be impossible to do a better tribute to general Pirates than that beauty. I could see them doing a set based on Islanders or Imperials, but since Ninjago *just* did Islanders and the vote counted Imperials as a separate theme I doubt that’ll be the case.

That means the vote should probably go to BIONICLE or Classic Space.

The chief reason for the large BIONICLE demand is how the theme has largely been ignored in recent years, and while fans have had many attempts to gain new products they’ve all been cut off last minute.

The most notable of these was without a doubt the 2015 BIONICLE reboot known as Generation 2. When Gen 2 was first announced it was met with joy from the BIONICLE community, but as the reboot went on it drew ire. Many fans were upset that we weren’t getting a retelling or continuation of the rich lore of Generation 1, and that many of our favorite characters had been dropped for the new franchise. About the only things to survive from Gen 1 were the six Toa Mata and Makuta Terdiax, and it should come as no surprise those were the only sets that sold well. The general consensus is while the builds were decent, the story was too childish and underdeveloped compared to its predecessor to captivate old or new fans.

The criticism both during and after the reboot made one thing clear. BIONICLE fans didn’t want a new world, they wanted the old world back. This shouldn’t really come as a surprise. Pirates fans can’t stop talking about Redbeard, but forget Iron Hook and Brickbeard exist. Space fans adore Blacktron, but wouldn’t give the time of day to Explorienes or Unitron. BIONICLE has ended up in a similar boat. While the story of the entire run still remains popular, the only toys the fanbase seems to desire purchasing are remakes of the Chronicles sets from 2001-2003, anything else is just not nostalgic enough. But these demands ultimately fell on deaf ears.

The next big blow to the BIONICLE community came with The LEGO Movie 2. One of the core themes of TLM2 was how young teens (typically boys) tend to go through an “edgy” phase where everything has to be gritty and dark. Given that BIONICLE was LEGO’s own edgy phase, it would’ve been a perfect example for the film to discuss, but to the fan's surprise it was missing. This issue only became more apparent when concept art and scrapped plotlines from the film were revealed. In the original script, Takanuva was planned to appear in minifigure scale driving a mech suit as Rex Dangervest’s sidekick. While the design does not seem finalized for physical release it is incredibly faithful to the original figure: https://static.wikia.nocookie.net/thelegomovie/images/2/21/Rex_.jpeg/revision/latest/scale-to-width-down/1000?cb=20190823030514.

In late 2019 things started to look up for the BIONICLE fans, with Sodoka’s LEGO Ideas project The Legend of the BIONICLE: Celebrating 20 Years of LEGO Stories. https://ideas.lego.com/projects/9a9b428b-108e-43bd-8b9e-3fdc7e8ec54a. The diorama featured three iconic points from the franchise’s run. Tahu washing ashore on the golden beach in 2001, Matoro sacrificing himself to bring Mata Nui back to life in 2007, and the GSR and Prototype Robot duking it out above the clouds in 2010. The project managed to gain it’s 10,000 votes incredibly quickly, gathering support in around a month. However, when the review process was completed around a year later, the project was denied. The reactions to that review were some of the angriest I’d ever seen (perhaps THE angriest, not counting the review that followed,) with LEGO’s Twitter feed drowned with people complaining that the likes of a typewriter one over the diorama.

All of this is in spite of BIONICLE’s longrunning influence in story driven LEGO Franchises.

All of this is in spite of BIONICLE’s longrunning influence in story driven LEGO Franchises. Prior to BIONICLE LEGO themes often had named characters and occasionally backstories, but the concept of a plot and character development was unheard of. The success of BIONICLE gave birth to the “Big Bang” approach of LEGO themes, and it’s not hard to see remnants of BIONICLE in some of the most beloved of these stories, such as Knights Kingdom II, Exo Force, and Ninjago. The poseable ball and socket nature of the toys also led to the dragons of Vikings and mechs of Exo Force, two set concepts that are staples of LEGO’s portfolio today.

Of course, there’s one big problem with bringing a BIONICLE set into the modern era. BIONICLE fans are both picky and fickle with what they want in a LEGO Product. Some BIONICLE fans are purists, only accepting action figures loaded with pistons, gears, and tubes. Other BIONICLE fans only want an action figure, and are fine with sets built using the controversial CCBS system. Further still you’ve got the subset of fans I belong too; people who are just in love with the world and universe LEGO has built up and would love to see more of it explored in System. Given that most of the original BIONICLE molds were retired in 2012 and LEGO is best known for the System of Play the 90th anniversary set is a System shoe in, and I’m worried a lot of the BIONICLE voters never took this into consideration.

Classic Space on the other hand has had frequent tributes the last decade. In 2014 The LEGO Movie brought us Benny the Classic Spaceman and his impressive 70816 Benny’s Spaceship, Spaceship, SPACESHIP! That same year Ideas set 21109 Exo Suit brought us two brand new Green Classic Spacemen and a promotional set 5002813 brought us a recreation of one of the old robots. Microscale versions of the iconic Galactic Explorer would then be released in 2015 set 11910 and 2018 set 40290. In 2019 Benny returned to full force in The LEGO Movie 2 with the beloved 70841 Benny’s Space Squad that brought us a brand new Pink Classic Spaceman and the less beloved 70821 Emmet and Benny’s ‘Build and Fix’ Workshop. 2020 continued the CS revival by giving us a book exclusive Orange Classic Spacemen. At the tail end of 2020 a LEGO Rebuild the World ad even featured Purple and Brown Classic Spacemen during a wedding scene, suggesting new CS content is already in the pipeline to come out soon! And that’s not even mentioning all the one-off appearances of the CS logo in things such as CMF and recent Creator sets.

All these Classic Space love is unsurprising. The 1980’s theme is one of the greatest product lines the company has released. The sets featured a plethora of unique elements, but none that were difficult to repurpose. The builds were simple but incredibly impressive and hold up even among today's models. The modular nature of the ships made customization and play easy, and of course the colorful astronauts were collectible and adorable. Many themes have come and gone since Classic Space’s run, but unlike Classic Castle and Town which were improved by successive subthemes CS has remained a gorgeous icon of color balancing, build construction, and play feature integration.

All of this creates an interesting split among our top two contenders. In short, BIONICLE is much more overdue for a new entry to the franchise, but Classic Space is a better representation of the past 90 years of LEGO.

One of the big complaints I’ve seen thrown at the idea of bring BIONICLE back is “Gen 2 failed” to which I have two counterpoints:

While Gen 2 as a whole failed, not all of the sets did. The first wave of the reboot was incredibly successful, especially the six Toa sets that were remakes of 2001 models. Sales dipped when it came to the NEW characters. The BIONICLE fan base had no care for the Skull Warriors or Elemental Beasts, and were instead begging for a rerelease of the Bohrok or Piraka. As they say, nostalgia sells.
So did Pirates 2015! While a lot of talk about Bonks Gen 2 is negative, at least there IS talk about it. The last reboot of the Pirates line seems to have more or less fallen by the wayside, and while I still hear people talk about things like Ninjago Possession or Nexo Knights from the same era I haven’t met anyone who’d call one of those Pirate’s models their favorite set, and while they were on store shelves I didn’t see a lot of hype or attention coming from the LEGO community. To put things into perspective, Pirates 2015 had 1 wave of 7 sets. BIONICLE Gen 2 had 4 waves and 35 sets (not counting promotionals.) As big of a flop as Gen 2 was, it did around 3-5 times as well as the last run of Pirates.

Does this mean there’s no longer a market for Pirates? Clearly not! Barracuda Bay was one of last year's best selling sets, and in my opinion one of the top 10 models of the last decade and absolute best of 2020.

This is because marketing one set to a group of nostalgic adults is much easier than a full line. Ever wonder why we only get more obscure or older (from a child’s perspective) shows like F.R.I.E.N.D.S. or Doctor Who from LEGO Ideas? Because the development work, marketing cost, and distribution concerns of a full line of products are much greater than a one-off product. Getting a bunch of 10 year olds to buy a brand new pirate ship is hard, but getting a handful of 40 year olds to buy a remake of a ship from their childhood is much easier. One-offs do better than reboots, and I think at this point LEGO has learned that. If only 4,000 people vote for a BIONICLE anniversary set, only print 4,000 copies of the set and you’re guaranteed a sell out.

So since I’d be fine with either BIONICLE or Classic Space sets winning, what kind of models would I like to see out of this?

Like I said before, if the set is BIONICLE it would most likely be a System set, and without a doubt would be based on Gen 1 and more likely than not Chronicles (2001-2003.) There’s a number of potential avenues I could see LEGO take.

First up is without a doubt a Kini-Nui set. https://biosector01.com/w/images/bs01/2/22/Kini-Nui_Bohrok-Kal_animations.png. Roughly $120 including the 6 Toa Mata and 7 members of the Chronicler’s Company. While it may be difficult to keep the structures beauty *and* add a function, play features could be added to collapse the pillars for Mata Nui’s Rising and the interior could contain busts for the Toa’s Golden Kanohi. To better replicate the Toa’s descent into the temple, a number of Rahi could be included for the Matoran to fight (most likely a Muaka and a Nui Rama.) I’ve wanted a set like this since around 2013, and when I was in middle school I even created a few (very rough) sketches of how a BIONICLE figure could be created at minifig scale using Battle Droid-esc elements, so this would instantly become my favorite LEGO set of all time.

The next option is a Tahu bust (or all six Mata) in the vein of 75274-75277 for $60. The Kanohi Hau is without a doubt the most recognizable piece of BIONICLE imagery, and Tahu is it’s most prominent wearer. A set like this would be incredibly simple to craft and market, and would clearly be a small scale adult focused product.

To reach a balance between the System crowd and the Constraction crowd the most obvious choice would be a large-scale LEGO mech based on an old BIONICLE figure in the $80-$150 range. The first and foremost choice to me would be a remake of 8593 Makuta Teridax, in a similar scale to Melding Teridax by ToM Dracone https://biosector01.com/wiki/Teridax_(The_Melding_Alternate_Universe). Such a model would likely be a combination of his Shadow Titan form like the previous set and the bat-like wings wielded by his Ultimate Dume form. The interior of the build could use a large number of trans-neon green elements to resemble Antidermis. Much like the original model, the thigh’s could be openable for him to rip Kraata from his “body” and said Kraata could be new custom builds with more flexible spines and distinct legs than their one-piece mold design from 2003.

The final concept I could see them doing is some sort of map of the Matoran Universe. If LEGO wanted to go full out they could create a figure of the Great Spirit Robot similar in size to the above Teridax model. Said robot could have opening panels to reveal the interior domes and tubes of the MU, each with a microscale depiction of one of the “world’s” many islands. Throw in some clouds and the Red Star on a clear stand and you’ve got an epic collector’s item. Heck, the box art is already sorted out: https://biosector01.com/w/images/bs01/7/79/BIONICLE_2001-2010.jpg.

If LEGO doesn’t want to go crazy figuring out the structural supports of a model like that they could just cut it down and do a map of the island of Mata Nui. The original tropical paradise of the franchise has been made into “microscale” models before, and I’d love to see LEGO’s own attempt at it. Construct the island one Wahi at a time on those new Art baseplates and include microfigs of the six Toa Mata in the vein of 76042 Helicarrier and you’ve got a lovely map!

So what if the winner is Classic Space instead? I’ve heard a lot of people say that it should be a remaster of 497 Galaxy Explorer, but I personally disagree. Benny’s Spaceship was essentially a reimagining of the Galaxy Explorer, and the two microscale Classic Space sets of this decade were direct recreations.

Instead, I think the CS set should be a $200 Moon Base. Recreations of sets such as 483, 493, and 6970. If LEGO wanted to do direct remasters they could make the set a “village” of space bases, or they could combine their general shapes and purposes to create a larger station like what we saw in LEGO Universe. https://static.wikia.nocookie.net/legouniverse/images/0/0b/Moonbase_1.png/revision/latest?cb=20120517004636.

Whatever the case, this set should probably come with new runway and landing plates and have a companion set for extras. The original landing plates are ridiculously expensive on the secondhand market and make it difficult to create modern Classic Space displays. For the minifigure collection it should obviously come with the original five colors. Beyond that getting the new helmet mold in green or the teased purple and brown Spacemen would be amazing. If LEGO wanted to make both BIONICLE and Classic Space fans happy, they could give one or two of the astronauts custom printed minifig heads and element 39171 to create a Matoran or Toa. Beyond that Benny from the LEGO Movie or Han Nibble and 2x3 from LEGO Universe could cameo.

If the set does have to be a ship though, I’d rather get a transport oriented craft such as 6985 or 6783 with lots of interior space over the Galactic Explorer. I suppose for a D2C price point, LEGO can even recreate several ships from the original run at their original scale in the vein of 75098 Assault on Hoth (assuming it wouldn’t meet the same controversy.)

All that said, I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again. LEGO needs to combine the concept of the Ninjago Legacy line of sets and the LEGO Legacy Heroes Unboxed videogame to create a full fledged LEGO Legacy theme, remaking old sets from across every franchise. Hopefully this vote is just market research into what themes to include in the first wave of such a line, and the D2C isn’t the last we hear from it.

I submitted my vote with a comment:

Why not mash them up and have space pirates living in a castle that has defensive bionicle mechs or something.

@Nick said:
" @kaxix said:
" @Nick said:
"I'd be very disappointed if Bionicle won out over a Lego theme like Castle. I don't see the appeal in it, at all. It doesn't represent Lego in my mind (emphasis "in my mind"), at least not any more than Scala or Galidor do.
That's just my personal opinion."

It does not represent the LEGO System world, but it is a great representative of LEGO TECHNIC, which began several years before BIONICLE.

Scala and Galidor were really different things with dolls, which had a very limited run. Conversely BIONICLE was present for more than 10 years. They have basically nothing in common."

Gotta disagree. To me personally, Bionicle parts always looked and felt similar to cheaper regular toys rather than Lego pieces, unlike Technic did.

Regardless of its longer run, it still occupies the same space as Scala etc. just because of what it is. At least, in my own subjective experience."

It is not a matter of opinion. BIONICLE was a TECHNIC series. You can still see the TECHNIC logo on the first wave of sets. It is like saying that Roboraiders and Slizers were not TECHNIC sets. That is just how it is.
BIONICLE also had vehicles and in general larger sets which share pieces from other sets of the TECHNIIC line at that time.

Then, naturally, one may like BIONICLE or not.

Alright, I'm going to go into conspiracy mode. Lego doesn't like bionicle. They were hoping it would get beaten by classic space or some other theme. After this poll showed that bionicle would probably win. They sneakily made up an excuse to add castle back in(I personally don't think they Should've added all those themes together under castle) and now they are hoping that everyone who voted for classic castle and those castle like themes with come together and vote for Castle in the second vote which would theoretically garner over 40,000 votes, and beat bionicle. Alright, I'm out of conspiracy mode. GO BIONICLE!

Genuinely don't get the hate for Bionicle. Is it an age thing? All the Gen X AFOLs who are nostalgic for their blocky spaceships and don't like the young whippersnapper? Bionicle came out at just the right time for a millennial like me to be getting into more complex builds, so things that had gears and twisting parts but were also cool animals that could fight each other (oh the Tarakava battles we had...) was right up my street.
I see people saying "But they don't make Bionicle anymore, it's not representative!" but, well, newsflash guys they don't really make classic space or castle anymore either. You know what they do make? Themes that generally have a story and lore behind them with characters for kids to pick favourites from. You know what theme was one of the first they did to do that, that blazed the way for the current crop? Give you a hint, it starts with B and rhymes with chronicle.
You don't like Bionicle because it just wasn't your thing? Fine, I get that, I've never been that into City or Trains and people seem to love those. But you come out with ridiculous assertions that Bionicle "isn't real Lego" and you can get right out of here with that nonsense

Bionicle? Seems like a bad joke, what a shame.

Bionicle should win, just to make all those haters angry.
However, I doubt it will be chosen by Lego in the end.

Friendly reminder to everybody that the second vote will not be transparent, does not decide what the set will actually be, and they won't be making the results of it public.

Lego almost certainly have models already sketched out for the handful of themes that had a realistic chance of making the top spots, and will be deciding internally what they produce in the end (heck, they might have already done so). Vote to your hearts' content; it almost certainly won't matter.

(I could guess which way that decision will and will not go, but I'll refrain from that.)

Obviously they pre planned a castle theme, and that's the one they will do.

As for bionicle, I won't lie, whenever I get a used Lego lot I sort it out and throw it away together with the Megablocks, but I'm happy for then fans! :)

However, I was extremely happy to see Trains getting 4th place! I hope Lego was surprised as well, and will take notice of that.

I get that a ton of people grew up with Bionicle and love it... but I don't get it at all. To me, they're just ugly, unimaginative figures/sets that all look the same.

Bionicle already got its reimagining through Hero Factory. Pirates got its reimagining through the (amazing) Barracuda Bay. And much as I hate to admit it, CS got its reimagining through Benny's Spaceship. Not that it matters, looks like Bionicle is well on its way to sweeping it, which is silly since my understanding of Bionicle is that what made it special was the multi-pronged story/toy/show/game universe of it. A single toy seems beside the point.

So, as a CS fan, I'll throw my hat in for the Castle folks. They need more love.

@3arteq said:
"I will laugh at the people who voted for Bionicle and they'll be rewarded with a 40-50 piece set, a great capture of the 90th anniversary.
They could choose a castle or a spaceship made up of several hundred pieces."

You do realize that LEGO doesn't produce either original Bionicle parts or CCBS? It's most likely that if they someway choose Bionicle it would be a system set, made out of "several hundred pieces" and most Bionicle fans will be fine with it.

@theJANG:
At no point did they say the second vote will have any bearing on the eventual “winner”, an the fact that they said the Round 2 results are “for fun” means we may have just witnessed them rigging the vote. Especially it should be noted that with seven sub-themes each, and three votes to split between them, many Space and Castle fans could have voted for three related sub-themes. Bionicle fans only had one box to stuff, and Pirates only had two. It Castle gets the set, it will be hard to shrug off the appearance that they had the “winner” picked out in advance and just had to make sure it cleared the first round.

@Shropshire:
But everyone got three votes. At on extreme, 60k people voted for one Top 3 theme, and two that didn’t make the cut, leaving only about 7000 voters who picked three choices that all got shut out. At the other extreme, 16k voters all voted Bionicle/Space/Pirates, and closer to 42k voters are not represented in the Top 3 themes. The latter is definitely not true, just due to the hatred so many people have been expressing for the theme that kept the boat afloat, but the math works out. Or there could even be 210,000 voters who all picked a single theme (again, not actually true, but the math still works).

People are complaining about Bionicle, but all three other themes have had a set in the last two years. 21322 last year, 21325 just days ago, and 70841 two years ago. Bionicle hasn't had a decent attempt at a set since 2008.

On one side, you've got people saying "I want the toys that *I* had as a kid," and on the other side, you've got people saying "I want the toys that *I* had as a kid." The only difference is that one group isn't needlessly and cruelly bashing the other group for being popular. The amount of grown adults who are attacking other grown adults because they like slightly different toys is embarrassing.

I'm not a huge fan of Bionicle, I think there's a reason that G1 ended and G2 ended. But the grandparents here who are going out of their way to trash talk people who like a different toy need to ease up. (And also realize that Lego will be giving all of these themes callbacks at some point. Pirates got two excellent, massive sets last year, Castle already got one this year and is rumored to get another, any reasonable person would infer that Space will be getting one or two next year. Quit acting like children.)

I don't think people hate Bionicle. "Hate" is a little over-sensationalized. We just don't like it, and we'd much rather see any of the other 3 System themes be the winner.

It makes sense that Bionicle had so many votes in the beginning, because of it's large fanbase that wasn't being split between sub-themes. But, there really isn't a chance it can win the round 2 vote.

I think it's disingenuous to say that Lego rigged round 2 in favor of Castle, when they clearly (likely by accident) rigged round 1 in favor of Bionicle. Splitting the Space and Castle themes into sub-themes was disadvantageous for both of those themes.

During round 2, all the people who voted for the various Castle/Space sub-themes will end up voting for the Castle theme or the Classic Space theme, easily beating Bionicle. Pirates will likely not win, simply because it doesn't have as large of a fan base as either Castle or Space.

Many Bionicle fans will likely call foul, erroneously thinking that the results of round 1 were an indicator of how round 2 would go. But even if Castle wasn't in the running, I do not think Bionicle would stand a chance against either of the competing System themes.

There are simply far more System fans than Contsraction fans, and none of them are going to vote for Bionicle. You are outnumbered, even with the system vote being split 3 ways now.

One of the things that I think is being lost in all this is that the commenters here, and the people who voted, are predominantly dedicated AFOLs, and not what I would call a "casual" fan. Lego has made several inroads in their attempts to draw in those casual fans with their 18+ branding - it isn't that a kid can't build the 10281 Bonsai or the mosaic murals, but simply to demonstrate to adults who may feel that they are "too old for Lego" that A. that isn't the case and B. Lego can is just as much of a creative art form for adults as woodworking, knitting, painting, etc.

I think one of the appeals to this adult range is that they are done in a way that casual observer asks "wait, that's Lego?" And I think this is where Bionicle is at a disadvantage compared to System in that the casual observer would ask "wait, that's Lego?" but in a totally different and not good way than the first. Keep in mind that TLG does need to appeal to a wide market and while I don't hate Bionicle the way that some posters apparently do, I have to agree that there is something fundamentally different about Bionicle and the CCBS sets. I can't tell you how many times I heard customers look at the Bionicle reboot sets that came out 4 or 5 years ago and say "That's not Lego" - and I'm speaking from direct experience as I worked at an LBR store for 4 years, including the miserably failed resurrection of Bionicle. So if TLG wants to make a set that will appeal to all AFOLS, and they clearly aren't afraid of doing so with PoBB right down to the classic packaging, than I can't possibly admit that Bionicle is the path to do that.

Furthermore, Bionicle has a small but vocal fan base - good for them. But if you ask the casual, non-AFOL (who didn't vote in this competition) which set they'd buy between the 4 finalists, I would bet Bionicle would be dead last. Nostalgia is a very powerful thing, but if there were really that many people who had Bionicle as kids when it first came out and have all these fond memories that people say, that reboot wouldn't have fared as it did. I mean, if the sets came out in 2001 have an age of 7+. that means that audience would be in their late 20s now, with that "disposable income" to spend on a nostalgic theme (hence the votes), but those same now-grown kids certainly didn't spend it on the reboot 5 years ago.

@SaggyCloud said:
"People are complaining about Bionicle, but all three other themes have had a set in the last two years. 21322 last year, 21325 just days ago, and 70841 two years ago. Bionicle hasn't had a decent attempt at a set since 2008."

That's a drastic No True Scotsman comment, as it ignores the 2009, 2010, 2015, and 2016 model years. I suppose it's meant in good fun? In that case I'd say Bionicle hasn't had a decent attempt at a set since 2003: that was the best year for Bionicle in my opinion! :) (But seriously ... I voted for Classic Space in round 2 but I would be happy for a good D2C set in any of the four options. The set designers these days could hit a home run with any of them.)

Y'all are awfully upset. Are you sure this a hill you want to die upon?

@MrJackson

Exactly - a good looking LEGO pirate ship, castle or spaceship will sell to fans of the original theme and people who don't remember it and people who don't care. I really can't see how they could make a Bionicle set that would please Bionicle fans and be something that non-fans would buy. TLG is willing to do some fanservice but not to the exclusion of non-fans.

However, if any Bionicle fans can suggest what they might put in a Bionicle tribute that would make it something with broad appeal, I would be interested to hear that.

@curtydc said:
"I don't think people hate Bionicle. "Hate" is a little over-sensationalized. We just don't like it, and we'd much rather see any of the other 3 System themes be the winner."

"Bionicle would be a disgrace," "only children that voted for that," "Bionicle? Seems like a bad joke, what a shame," "throw it away together with the Megablocks," "they're just ugly, unimaginative figures/sets that all look the same." All verbatim from right here in this article, to say nothing else of previous articles or other spaces like FB.

Bionicle had its time. My kids loved it, and we played with it a lot, lots of great memories. But this kind of promotional activity is obviously directed at AFOLs, and there is no way that Bionicle will appeal to the average AFOL as much as classic castle, space or pirates.

In my mind it's between space and castle. I favour castle.

@UVARiovia said:
"I don't *hate* Bionicle, but it has no appeal to me (without the lore, are the sets really enough? Not for me at least). The reason I'm anti-Bionicle is because of scarcity: LEGO is offering one set (right?) in this celebration so I don't want Bionicle to win because I want something I could be interested in. It's the same reason folks get so worked up when they don't like the SW UCS set; there's just only so many slots. Whether it's reasonable to be upset because LEGO isn't making a toy that we want to buy is... debatable, but it's a thing.

I really like @Graysmith 's idea that they really should do a wave of sets so that there's maybe a little something for everyone. Maybe it would help stop pitting fans against one another?"

What exactly is scarce? There were two Pirates sets last year, one Castle set so far this year and another one rumored to be on the way. Any reasonable person could assume that next year will have some Space. People are acting like this is the one and only chance to get pirates or castle or space back but that's just not true. Those themes have been getting references and one-off sets for quite some time, and increasing recently. But for Bionicle, this could very well be the last shot. There is no scarcity for the other themes

I'm hoping that if Bionicle makes it, it's not like the 2013 reboot. Don't get me wrong! The reboot wasn't HORRIBLE, but it also wasn't great. It by no means lived up to the standards of the original. So if they're doing a large contribution set for Bionicle, it should be based on (in my opinion) the Bohrok, Bohrok-Kal, and/or the original Toa/Toa Nuva.

@gylman said:
"Bionicle had its time. My kids loved it, and we played with it a lot, lots of great memories. But this kind of promotional activity is obviously directed at AFOLs, and there is no way that Bionicle will appeal to the average AFOL as much as classic castle, space or pirates.

In my mind it's between space and castle. I favour castle. "

See this is where you're wrong. Kids who played with bionicle in the mid 2000s are now AFOLS. It's an ever expanding group. As new generations enter the AFOL bracket, the items aimed at AFOLS will shift to represent the new additions. And with time, the 'traditional' AFOL fan favorites (classic space, castle) will die as generations pass on. Such is life

@Bricksrunner said:
" @Brickalili To many people Bionicle is perceived not as something that helped LEGO survive and get out of its late 90's to mid 00's dark age, but as a demonstration of what went wrong with LEGO at the time, along with Znap and Dinosaurs... and they despise it because they see it as one of the (many) misguided initiatives that nearly would have killed LEGO if not for the US market picking up thanks to licensed Star Wars and Harry Potter sets.
And frankly, once you put the nostalgia glasses away if Bionicle was part of your childhood... they might not be exactly wrong.
But then again Bionicle wasn't a complete negative, it brought a few useful pieces to the system."

Except it's been objectively proven to be one of, if not THE main reason that Lego is still around today. Star Wars and Harry Potter floundered between movies but Bionicle was consistently huge for years. I don't see how someone can call it misguided when it almost singlehandedly kept them afloat

So, can we expect some permutation of the classic multi-genre value pack? Like 1891-1

@hewhocaves Except it's not about looking at the core of what Lego is. It never was. The goal here was to "choose a classic theme to be reimagined as a single new product for the 2022 LEGO Adult Portfolio." Pirates got two last year. Castle got one this year and is rumored to get another this year. Any reasonable person would assume that Space will be coming next year **regardless of the poll**

This isn't about the soul of Lego. It's about giving something a chance, and Castle, Space, and Pirates are *already getting a chance without the poll*

@The_Creator said:
"Bionicle doesn't make any sense for one big set... it's a lore rich series with numerous smaller sets built in Technic style, and the reboot already failed not that long ago."
I mean, you could just as easily argue that the latest Space, Castle, and Pirates reboots (in 2013 and 2015) failed not that long ago, and even more quickly than the Bionicle reboot did. It doesn't make any sense to act like failing to achieve the same lasting success as its original run is a deal-breaker for Bionicle, but not for those other themes.

Moreover, I can think of several ways that LEGO could create a big Bionicle set at an 18+ building level. For instance:

• Posable brick-built versions of the original six Toa, with alternate building instructions to reconstruct them into the two Toa Kaita, sort of like a more building-intensive version of the Voltron set from LEGO Ideas. Besides acknowledging the theme's roots, it also helps showcase how Bionicle reflected the broader LEGO ethos of using the same parts to build many different models.

• A fight scene between posable brick-built versions of Takanuva and Makuta, with accompanying scenery representing an iconic setting like Kini-Nui (the Great Temple) or Mangaia (Makuta's underground lair), and maybe even Takanuva's vehicle, the Ussanui. After all, Bionicle: Mask of Light was the LEGO Group's first feature-length movie, which would be a nice milestone to acknowledge for the company's 90th anniversary!

• Large-scale recreations of significant Kanohi masks from over the years (like, say, the Mask of Time from 2001, Mask of Life from 2008, and Mask of Creation from 2015), similar in style to the Star Wars or Iron Man helmet sets. This sort of scale would allow for a strong sense of authenticity, while also offering an adult-level building experience that results in an awesome display piece even for builders who might not be as keen on "action figures". And it would offer great inspiration for MOCists to try and recreate even more masks or design their own at this scale.

• A brick-built relief sculpture of the Island of Mata Nui, with the surface removable to reveal the face of the Great Spirit Mata Nui's robot form. Maybe even a light brick to illuminate his eyes? This would reflect not only the theme's original setting, but also the big secret of that setting's true nature, which drove the theme's story from 2001 to 2008. And again, it would make a lovely tabletop display piece.

There are probably many more possibilities that others could come up with. These are just some that occurred to me which I felt could be particularly exciting!

I love how Bionicle is supposedly so terrible and yet has the largest margin of victory out of any of the themes. I get that dividing some of the classic themes would make it more likely but still.

Surprised Adventurers did so well, but still crushed it didn’t do quite well enough. I would kill for a revival.

Just going to toss in my 2 cents here.

First, to challenge the assertion that Bionicle "won fair and square". An article on stonewars.de seems to point to a coordinated effort by the Bionicle community to submit votes exclusively for Bionicle - that is, refusing to post a 2nd/3rd vote for other themes, which seems not in the spirit of the vote.

Second, most of the parts for a comeback are out of production. I sincerely doubt it'll recapture the magic from your childhood.

Third, as someone who grew up with Bionicle, I don't think it deserves to represent 90ys of a company for a variety of reasons that should be obvious. Of course it deserves some recognition but this is probably not the time for it.

Fourth, the throwbots had better designs. That's my opinion. You can quote me on it.

Finally, I despise that this has turned into a popularity contest pitting nostalgia against nostalgia when odds are the next vote won't matter at all, it'll just embitter people more, regardless of what each theme "gets" in the coming months.

Frankly, a 90th anniversary set likely should have been a Time Cruisers vignette that covered all the bases, or something celebrating all the themes which brought lego to where it is today and not... all of this?? There shouldn't be a lingering dread of "losing" here, yet it seems almost palpable.

Just like the Ideas platform, an unavoidable flaw with voting is that it doesn't necessarily equate with a purchase. Many likely voted simply because they have fond memories of a theme, not because they would actually purchase such a set. Lego keeps these things in mind when they choose winners. What would sell better and be worth their investment time? Bionicle? Castle? Space? I just don't think Bionicle would be able to perform as they want. It's a niche and polarizing fanbase. But maybe I'm wrong. I would be interested to see what they can put out.

Additionally, I don't know if a Bionicle set, regardless of what it actually is, is the best line to reimagine for their 90th anniversary. But maybe a reimagining is exactly how a Bionicle product would work? To me though it's not "classic" enough.

@krysto2002 said:
"Just going to toss in my 2 cents here.

First, to challenge the assertion that Bionicle "won fair and square". An article on stonewars.de seems to point to a coordinated effort by the Bionicle community to submit votes exclusively for Bionicle - that is, refusing to post a 2nd/3rd vote for other themes, which seems not in the spirit of the vote.

Second, most of the parts for a comeback are out of production. I sincerely doubt it'll recapture the magic from your childhood.

Third, as someone who grew up with Bionicle, I don't think it deserves to represent 90ys of a company for a variety of reasons that should be obvious. Of course it deserves some recognition but this is probably not the time for it.

Fourth, the throwbots had better designs. That's my opinion. You can quote me on it.

Finally, I despise that this has turned into a popularity contest pitting nostalgia against nostalgia when odds are the next vote won't matter at all, it'll just embitter people more, regardless of what each theme "gets" in the coming months.

Frankly, a 90th anniversary set likely should have been a Time Cruisers vignette that covered all the bases, or something celebrating all the themes which brought lego to where it is today and not... all of this?? There shouldn't be a lingering dread of "losing" here, yet it seems almost palpable."
Did Rock Raiders represent 90 years of LEGO? Not really. But I still voted for it. If this was exclusively about representing LEGO, then they would probably choose the theme themselves, not give us options. This is about what fans want, and I believe that the theme with the highest vote count should get that set made, no matter what.

And as far as I know, it was not a coordinated effort. Many fans just voted BIONICLE cause that is the only theme they were interested in. I saw many people just vote variations of classic space or castle. People can vote however they want.

I know it's very early, but if they gave us some early scratch concepts of what we were actually voting on, that would really help.

I think that Imperials, that has 7000 votes, was never a theme either and in fact was part of Pirates.

@R0Sch said:
"Maybe you forgot that we had a whole wave of Bionicle sets in 2015-2016. The Pirate fans already got the perfect nostalgia filled set with Pirates of Barracuda Bay last year. Even Classic Space was reloaded in the form of Benny's Spaceship and his Squad of Classic Space fellows. So the only remaining and unsatisfied fan-group is the Castle faction.
Just ask yourselves, is a System brick or a Bionicle part the one that represents LEGO most and is worthy to be included in a 90 year anniversary set? Besides, even if Bionicle wins again, LEGO can pick the next best thing."

You are spot on with the Benny Ship and the Barracuda Bay. . . but couldn't the argument be made that Medieval Blacksmith fills the castle spot? At least as much as Benny's ship did for classic space?

Hmm, having promoted Castle into the mix for the final round might be telling...

In my opinion, something that represents 90 years of LEGO is most likely going to need to include the iconic classic brick and minifigures.

@Nick said:
" @kaxix said:
" @Nick said:
" @kaxix said:
" @Nick said:
"I'd be very disappointed if Bionicle won out over a Lego theme like Castle. I don't see the appeal in it, at all. It doesn't represent Lego in my mind (emphasis "in my mind"), at least not any more than Scala or Galidor do.
That's just my personal opinion."

It does not represent the LEGO System world, but it is a great representative of LEGO TECHNIC, which began several years before BIONICLE.

Scala and Galidor were really different things with dolls, which had a very limited run. Conversely BIONICLE was present for more than 10 years. They have basically nothing in common."

Gotta disagree. To me personally, Bionicle parts always looked and felt similar to cheaper regular toys rather than Lego pieces, unlike Technic did.

Regardless of its longer run, it still occupies the same space as Scala etc. just because of what it is. At least, in my own subjective experience."

It is not a matter of opinion. BIONICLE was a TECHNIC series. You can still see the TECHNIC logo on the first wave of sets. It is like saying that Roboraiders and Slizers were not TECHNIC sets. That is just how it is.
BIONICLE also had vehicles and in general larger sets which share pieces from other sets of the TECHNIIC line at that time.

Then, naturally, one may like BIONICLE or not."

By that logic, no one would ever be allowed to say that something doesn't feel like Lego to them, because every Lego product has their logo on the box, technically. But few will argue this point about Galidor, for example.

And remember how I emphasized in my first post that this is how Bionicle *feels* to me personally. Nothing else. "

That was not what I said. I wrote that BIONICLE was not a new theme by itself like Scala or Galidor, as it started as a series of the TECHNIC line (like Roboraiders and Slizers). It shared many pieces with TECHNIC vehicles, especially evident for larger sets (8558, 8954, 8996 are just three examples from different years).
TECHNIC has been around for multiple decades now as a LEGO theme.

If you identify LEGO only with the bricks, then I can see your point. But I feel that we should consider TECHNIC as a classic theme as well at this point since, according to the Brickset database, it has been around since 1977. BTW, all the other finalists started later than it.

Bionicle is the only choice out of the 28 that I have no desire to purchase no matter what the set looks like.

EDIT TO ADD: I agree with a poster above who wanted a Classic Space/Castle/Pirate homage to look like it had escaped the '80s or '90s nearly unscathed.

That would be a true anniversary set. Designed to look old with a few modern flourishes. For example ,the SNOT techniques were really weak on Classic Space, some pieces didn't exist that would have been helpful (like the right angle piece 2x2 with one stud missing), and add a cheese slope or two. You could modernize the build techniques without the set looking obviously new.

@guachi said:
"Bionicle is the only choice out of the 28 that I have no desire to purchase no matter what the set looks like."

That is understandable, but there are thousands of people who have the opposite opinion. I would only potentially consider 11 of the themes - and most of those spots are filled by Castle. So it is not like BIONICLE is the only theme that certain people would “not buy.”

Here is to hoping that some genius at Lego is looking at all of this and realizes that they should start a Lego Nostalgia line that cycles through all the older popular subthemes to pull in that AFOL collector money and possibly reinvigorate their older lines with the kids. Then we can just be happy that everyone gets what they want?

@ALSTDA said:
"If you add trains, town and paradisa you get about the same as bionicle so I am concluding that its lore is about as deep as Sally getting public transport to meet Jeff and Cindy for an ice-cream on the beach."

I know next to nothing about Bionicle but it’s absolutely the most complex story LEGO has produced. Essentially 1 is Bionicle, then a massive gap to Ninjago, then another huge gap to something like Chima or Fabuland or City Adventures. Even if you don’t like the toys, the Bionicle world is a masterpiece.

I'm super biased because I loved the sets as a child and managed to collect every single Orient Expedition set, but I think Adventurers should have got it. If you look at the other themes, Bionicle aside, Trains, Space, Pirates and Castle all get sets in some form or another, especially most recently Castle and Pirates. It would have been nice to get a set that would never have been made otherwise but I don't think that'll be the case. Oh well here's hoping for the 100th anniversary.

@Nightbeat339 said:
" @guachi said:
"Bionicle is the only choice out of the 28 that I have no desire to purchase no matter what the set looks like."

That is understandable, but there are thousands of people who have the opposite opinion. I would only potentially consider 11 of the themes - and most of those spots are filled by Castle. So it is not like BIONICLE is the only theme that certain people would “not buy.”"

I'm sure that's the case. I am not those people and those people are capable of presenting their own opinion on what sets they will buy and not buy.

I would consider buying any set from any of the other Themes. An 18+ Paradisa set would be very intriguing.

@Aanchir said:
" @The_Creator said:
"Bionicle doesn't make any sense for one big set... it's a lore rich series with numerous smaller sets built in Technic style, and the reboot already failed not that long ago."
I mean, you could just as easily argue that the latest Space, Castle, and Pirates reboots (in 2013 and 2015) failed not that long ago, and even more quickly than the Bionicle reboot did. It doesn't make any sense to act like failing to achieve the same lasting success as its original run is a deal-breaker for Bionicle, but not for those other themes.
"
The last castle theme similar to the '90s was Kingdoms, given the set design the 2013 Castle was geared to include lower age brackets (nothing wrong with that), but it is what it is. Kingdoms has very good resale, and even the latest Castle has decent resale.

The second Pirates reboot didn't do as well, however the resale market is very strong and they did only realase six sets.

Space hasn't had a humans vs humans theme akin to the '80s and '90s since, well, the '80s and '90s. The distinctly alien sets from the last 22 years aren't a good comparison, and the last few flopped hard.

Additionally, the Castle, Kingdoms, and Pirates sets - even when going out of production didn't need 75% off discounts to sell. The Bionicle reboot did. Additionally, numerous of the Bionicle reboot sets have terrible resale value compared to the Systems themes.

Also, as others have brought up - what set will have the widest appeal to bring new adult LEGO buyers into the fold, sell to casual AFOLs, dedicated AFOLs, some TFOLs - and even appeal to a casual buyer in a LEGO store or online? One of the core Systems themes of castle, space, or pirate.

We understand, there is a very vocal and dedicated Bionicle fan base, but from a buisness stand-point it will likely make more sense to appeal to a broader audience. Besides, TLG owns Bricklink - they know the data on what is in demand and what isn't and where, especially on discontinued themes. They'll make a good choice I'm sure on whatever they decide, but it is likely to be a core System theme, or themes.

Additionally, my critique of Bionicle still stands - it did very well based on integrated story telling and numerous sets and tie-ins. A big D2C set isn't that, and would have a hard time fulfilling that role. So, essentially it just becomes fan service to only a small and vocal community and that's it

My 2 cents.

@The_Creator said:
" Also, as others have brought up - what set will have the widest appeal to bring new adult LEGO buyers into the fold, sell to casual AFOLs, dedicated AFOLs, some TFOLs - and even appeal to a casual buyer in a LEGO store or online? One of the core Systems themes of castle, space, or pirate."

You mean like the two Pirates sets that we got last year unrelated to the poll? Or the two Castles sets we'll be getting this year, unrelated to the poll? Can anyone give me a reason why voting for one of these three themes isn't a total waste given that they're clearly either actively being produced or very likely to be produced?

As a kid who grew up mostly with Castle, Town, Space and Pirates, my vote went to Classic Castle.

I would like to see a set that celebrates the modularity of the Classic (post-Yellow) Castle sets. Maybe some form of 3-in-1 set where an Inn, a Tower/Fortification and a tournament/war machine could be built alternatively. I would also like all, or most, of the Classic factions to make an appearance (Lions, Falcons, Dragons and Foresters).

That said, I'll be happy no matter what theme wins. Even if I don't personally have an interest for Bionicle, the theme has a substantial fandom that has been largely forgotten in the last few years.

It would be nice if Lego released sets for the top 5 most voted themes. Even if only the number one spot got a massive set and the rest had $50`-ish sets, there would be much less hate for the main winner. I'd don't want to see a civil war in the community over the 90th anniversary set.

@Nick:
No, it wouldn’t. I went to NYTF in 2002-2004, and one of the things I got on one of the later two trips was a style guide for the entire lineup. Keeping in mind that peak fandom would have run from 2001 (when the first movie came out) to 2007 (when the last book came out), Harry Potter landed in the 4 spot of most popular themes, and tapered off until they released just a single HP5 set (Hogwarts 3) in 2007 even as the seventh and final book hit shelves. I hold gross mismanagement of the theme to blame on that. They were new to the licensed theme game, but almost _every_ set came with the same minifig of Harry, so there would have been a quick burnout rate over the first three movies. From 2001-2007, there was a new movie or book to help drive sales every year except 2006, when there were no new sets released anyways.

In third was something really basic, like Creator or Classic, which isn’t going to have huge profit margins due to the really favorable price per piece (often under $0.05/pc, which is about half what people expect from a minifig-based theme). The overhead is really low, though, since there’s not much to develop set-wise for a bucket of generic bricks.

Star Wars was 2, but the tricky part was that it only really did well in 1999, 2002, 2005, and from 2008 on. Why? The first three years were the prequel films (joke if you want, but Ep1 set a record for the most successful movie merchandising campaign based on the total sales...though it also set a record for the least successful based on all the unsold merch, like an entire warehouse full of Jar-Jar and Darth Maul neckties), and the fourth is when the regular Clone Wars animated series kicked off (with countdown clocks in every TRU, even). Movies and tv shows drove sales, while gap years killed momentum, and it was really lost-2008 when LSW started to turn into the powerhouse it is today.

And in the top spot was Bionicle. Bionicle, which sold so well they installed a new production line to keep up with demand (it was that or System sets would have had production reduced, since Bionicle sets those first few years were like printing money). They paid for that new line by raising the price of Toa pods just $1 each. The theme sold so well that they eventually released a series of direct-to-video movies to capitalize on the popularity of the theme, which is something they’d never done before. And it got into the top spot without any movies or tv shows to drive sales. No theme before or since could make that claim.

In the midst of this, they looked so vulnerable that Mattel actually made an offer to buy the company. Without Bionicle, that offer might would have been a lot harder to turn down. Yes, eventually the demand peaked and faded. Once again, I blame mismanagement, as the theme that ended the original run bore little resemblance to the one that started it, with even a significant increase in the scale of the main characters. Sketchy System sets in a much smaller scale likely didn’t help. I was one original fan who lost interest due to the changes they made, but those few years on top were when the company went from posting annual losses to climbing the pile on their way to becoming one of the largest and most successful toy companies in the world. Without Bionicle, maybe they would have still recovered, but it would have taken years longer to do so.

And the thanks the theme and it’s fans got, and still get, for saving the company is people saying it should go away because “it’s not real LEGO”. Remember, “real LEGO” is what posted annual losses...twice.

@krysto2002 said:
"Just going to toss in my 2 cents here.

First, to challenge the assertion that Bionicle "won fair and square". An article on stonewars.de seems to point to a coordinated effort by the Bionicle community to submit votes exclusively for Bionicle - that is, refusing to post a 2nd/3rd vote for other themes, which seems not in the spirit of the vote.

Second, most of the parts for a comeback are out of production. I sincerely doubt it'll recapture the magic from your childhood.

Third, as someone who grew up with Bionicle, I don't think it deserves to represent 90ys of a company for a variety of reasons that should be obvious. Of course it deserves some recognition but this is probably not the time for it.

Fourth, the throwbots had better designs. That's my opinion. You can quote me on it.

Finally, I despise that this has turned into a popularity contest pitting nostalgia against nostalgia when odds are the next vote won't matter at all, it'll just embitter people more, regardless of what each theme "gets" in the coming months.

Frankly, a 90th anniversary set likely should have been a Time Cruisers vignette that covered all the bases, or something celebrating all the themes which brought lego to where it is today and not... all of this?? There shouldn't be a lingering dread of "losing" here, yet it seems almost palpable."

I would like to argue that Bionicle fans have just as much right to voice their desire for a product as AFOLS have for more of the trinity sets, or even Star Wars fans for a 501st battle pack.

This whole contest is banking on Nostalgia to get it going. LEGO wants to know what people want badly enough to make into a set to sell, and Bionicle fans just happen to want it badly enough to rally together.

There have been many pitches on how to make a Bionicle set tribute of some sort with existing pieces. Just take a look at the recent LEGO Ideas set for an example.

I personally agree that I think having just one theme to encapsulate all of LEGO isn't a great idea. If it were my decision, I'd want to include a little bit of everything. Have some of Pirates, have some of Castle, some Space, adventurers here and there, and maybe some Bionicle characters as minifigures on top of other references to past themes sprinkled throughout.

Anyway, it's not impossible to do something for Bionicle. I'm sure most of Brickset saw that Ideas proposal, on top of possibly others.

@chrisaw said:
"If we get through all this just to get a Bioncle set, I might cry. Not tears of joy."

cry me a river then

@The_Creator said:
" @Aanchir said:
" @The_Creator said:
"Bionicle doesn't make any sense for one big set... it's a lore rich series with numerous smaller sets built in Technic style, and the reboot already failed not that long ago."
I mean, you could just as easily argue that the latest Space, Castle, and Pirates reboots (in 2013 and 2015) failed not that long ago, and even more quickly than the Bionicle reboot did. It doesn't make any sense to act like failing to achieve the same lasting success as its original run is a deal-breaker for Bionicle, but not for those other themes.
"
The last castle theme similar to the '90s was Kingdoms, given the set design the 2013 Castle was geared to include lower age brackets (nothing wrong with that), but it is what it is. Kingdoms has very good resale, and even the latest Castle has decent resale.

The second Pirates reboot didn't do as well, however the resale market is very strong and they did only realase six sets.

Space hasn't had a humans vs humans theme akin to the '80s and '90s since, well, the '80s and '90s. The distinctly alien sets from the last 22 years aren't a good comparison, and the last few flopped hard.

Additionally, the Castle, Kingdoms, and Pirates sets - even when going out of production didn't need 75% off discounts to sell. The Bionicle reboot did. Additionally, numerous of the Bionicle reboot sets have terrible resale value compared to the Systems themes.

Also, as others have brought up - what set will have the widest appeal to bring new adult LEGO buyers into the fold, sell to casual AFOLs, dedicated AFOLs, some TFOLs - and even appeal to a casual buyer in a LEGO store or online? One of the core Systems themes of castle, space, or pirate.

We understand, there is a very vocal and dedicated Bionicle fan base, but from a buisness stand-point it will likely make more sense to appeal to a broader audience. Besides, TLG owns Bricklink - they know the data on what is in demand and what isn't and where, especially on discontinued themes. They'll make a good choice I'm sure on whatever they decide, but it is likely to be a core System theme, or themes.

Additionally, my critique of Bionicle still stands - it did very well based on integrated story telling and numerous sets and tie-ins. A big D2C set isn't that, and would have a hard time fulfilling that role. So, essentially it just becomes fan service to only a small and vocal community and that's it

My 2 cents.
"

I bought the majority of my 2013 castle sets at around 50-75% off. They stayed on the shelves of my local Walmart for around two years after they retired (heavily discounted). Kingdoms and Pirates shelfwarmed for quite a while as well. While the resale price for each is pretty good, so is BIONICLE’s. You can’t find any of the 2015 Toa for under $30 used on eBay. Look up 70795. A set that was originally $30, but goes for $80+ sealed on eBay. And this is just the reboot that didn’t stick to what people wanted, sort of like Alien Conquest.

You can bring up wide appeal all you want, but there are many fans of straight up BIONICLE - people who don’t even know that it’s owned by LEGO. I feel like tapping into much of your own audience, as well as one that wouldn’t normally buy your product would be a smart business move for LEGO. Most of my friends had a BIONICLE or two when they were growing up, and I feel like they’d take a chance to buy a new set purely out of nostalgia. BIONICLE’s audience has also only grown among this generation’s teens. Look at the BIONICLE subreddit if you want proof of that.

@CopperTablet said:
"If there was a demand for massive brick-built Bionicle sets, you'd see MOCs for it on sites like Rebrickable. The top 20 designers there don't build any Bionicle at all. "

Selectively ignoring sites such as say The Brothers Brick that do regularly feature Bionicle mocs?

@Paul_Davis said:
"Did they really need a histrionic public vote to determine that Classic Space, Classic Castle and Classic Pirates would be the three themes to take the lion's share of the votes...?"

Yeah, this is sort of what I was thinking about -- these are four great LEGO fandoms that deserve recognition but they're all such obvious winners. I like Pirates, I like Castle, I like Classic Space, I like some Bionicle, but the other themes never stood a chance against probably any one of them let alone all four. Remember the BrickHeadz poll where Star Wars won of the four options just because it's an insanely popular theme? I'm a Star Wars fan, too. But it feels like those options shouldn't have been in competition.

Like, I know this is unrealistic, but imagine if LEGO did all four of those big themes and said 'you guys vote on the fifth' set. Trains, Adventurers, Town, Studio -- any of those other themes would have been a big surprise.

I'm still excited for whoever wins but the actual poll is boring because there's no wild card

These people are so salty that Bionicle is winning. I will be voting Castle, but it is disturbing to see so much hate towards a theme that’s beloved by many newer AFOLs. 0 chance I’d buy a classic space set, just like Bionicle. A lot of you sound like children in the toy aisle whining. .

I just wanna say that everyone has a right to having an emotional attachment to whichever themes they like and what ever they are, that as AFOLs, we all share a mutual enjoyment and appreciation of Lego. But for all that emotional investment, at the end of the day, Lego is just small bits of plastic made for children. I'm not saying it's silly to care about it, I certainly care about it a lot, but I guess I the plastic pieces shouldn't be worth all this negativity. I hope you all continue to enjoy whatever it is you enjoy and I look forward to seeing what set comes out of this :)

@CopperTablet said:
"If there was a demand for massive brick-built Bionicle sets, you'd see MOCs for it on sites like Rebrickable. The top 20 designers there don't build any Bionicle at all. "

You mean like the Bionicle projects that have hit 10k? https://ideas.lego.com/projects/9a9b428b-108e-43bd-8b9e-3fdc7e8ec54a

Also, BZPower is by far the largest and most active Lego group anywhere, based squarely around you-know-what

@CopperTablet said:
"If there was a demand for massive brick-built Bionicle sets, you'd see MOCs for it on sites like Rebrickable. The top 20 designers there don't build any Bionicle at all. "

There are many Bionicle fans who prefer to discuss the theme and share their creations in Bionicle-specific groups and fansites, rather than general LEGO fansites… and hostile comments like the ones that have been cropping up here and on other sites reporting on this news are part of the reason for that.

There are even many LEGO fans like my wife who have largely moved on from Bionicle, but still avoid more generalized AFOL groups and fansites specifically because of the dismissive and condescending remarks we've had to deal with from other AFOLs (both online and at in-person fan gatherings) for well over a decade.

Moreover, there are plenty of brick-built Bionicle MOCs from accomplished builders (and even official LEGO designers) online if you know where to look. For example, here are some brick-built recreations of the six original Toa by LEGO Masters US contestant Aaron Newman: https://flic.kr/p/2hL52tL

Here's a brick-built bust of the Great Spirit Mata Nui (with downloadable instructions and Stud.io file for people who wish to build it themselves) by LEGO set designer Niek van Slagmaat: https://twitter.com/Toothdominoes/status/1345738488839286785

Here's a series of Kanohi mask and Nuva Cube mosaics designed using parts from set 31197 by LEGO set designer Nicolaas Vás, with diagrams for any other fans who wish to recreate them: https://twitter.com/PrinceGalidor/status/1292817425214443521?s=20

Needless to say, I don't think it makes much sense to act like the creations of popular builders on sites like Rebrickable somehow encompass every type of set that could ever be successful with adult builders. I mean, Ninjago City was far removed from the sort of stuff that most MOCists tend to focus on, yet it still managed to earn widespread acclaim among many AFOLs.

Thumbs up to the insightful folks looking past their disinterest in Bionicle to see why it's part of this fan vote, I will try to do the same. I fully respect the presence of Bionicle here but at the end of the day I voted for Castle, here's what I added in the text box:

"Castles and LEGO have a rich history, the simple yellow castle remains an icon of what could be done with even the most basic of bricks, and the theme was a substantial player in the age that ushered in minifigs as we know and love them today. Castle sets that embrace the historicity of the subject have been slim within the product selection of recent years, and the gap would be well-filled with a model that celebrates 90 years of our favorite bricks. Be it yellow, black, blue or grey, a 2022 LEGO castle would dig deep into rich themes that have guided the LEGO brand through good times and bad. Castle and all its subthemes have proven popular and nostalgic, so hear ye all masons of plastic and bestow upon the fans our regal request!"

How Bionicle is more iconic then a train is beyond me. When I think of a child’s first LEGO I don’t think of Bionicle. I don’t have anything against Bionicle, just don’t feel it screams building block toy.

@Zander said:
"JPKuiper is right. If you're going to combine Castle subthemes, you should do the same for Space."
Space is represented in the final vote. Its split didn't change the results and require additional intervention to correct. Castle's split did. Now all is well, just so long as you don't read peoples' reactions to Bionicle being included in... existence itself X(

@Covi:
It's not surprising at all. With Space, it's super easy to define what sets qualify as Classic-Space (even if the color scheme is a bit nebulous). With Castle, everyone knows the famed Yellow Castle, but once you strip out all of the defined factions into their respective sub-themes, it's really hard to nail down what makes the rest Classic-Castle. The four coats of arms used in the Yellow Castle never show up in any other set, instead being replaced by a few completely new designs that are equally generic.

@monkyby87:
We're not talking a whole new theme, here. This is for _one_ set to celebrate the 90th anniversary of the company. Whatever it is, it will sell just on that milestone alone. Making it something desirable in its own right is just frosting on the cake. Any fans of whatever theme gets picked are pretty much guaranteed to scoop them up just for nostalgia's sake, especially if they haven't had a steady trickle of one-off salutes to their favored theme in recent years.

@JPKuiper:
If you recalculate for one vote per person, those totals could shift as low as:
1. Bionicle - 24799
2. Space - 18171
3. Pirates - 15884
4. Castle - 15631
5. Trains - 14855
6. Adventurers - 13988

Castle and Space each had seven sub-themes represented, so voters could have easily picked any three. Classic-Space was higher than Space/3, so I kept the original number, but Castle/3 shifts down to 4th. Pirates had two, so again voters could have picked both, but the original tally is clearly higher than averaging Pirates with Imperials. Bionicle, Trains, and Adventurers were each limited to one spot on the ballot, so each vote represents a different person, and therefore I have not adjusted the counts at all.

@chaosderek:
If they chopped Bionicle up into its respective elements, Bionicle fans would have voted for their three favorite elements, and the Bionicle total would have combined to a whopping 74,397.

@xboxtravis7992:
What would be more interesting is if we could see sales numbers for the four qualifying themes. I'm pretty sure Bionicle would come out on top in terms of total product sold. Not only did it come along after Star Wars really opened up the North American market, but it was outselling Star Wars right from the start.

@davee123:
You know...that would actually be an interesting option, and it would really shut people up. They've got four powerhouse genre themes to pick between, but certainly if they stretched the rules to allow Castle in to the group, they aren't really bound by any expectation that they pick only _one_ of these themes for the anniversary set. Pick all four, and it's a win-win-win-win situation. Except for people who swore up and down that they wouldn't buy the set if it had anything to do with Bionicle.

Comments section here absolutely reminds me why BIONICLE fanspaces are carved out on their own, lmao. Voted BIONICLE again, glad to see it getting the recognition it deserves.

I have nothing against bionicle, it just doesn’t interest me in the slightest and for me it doesn’t fairly or accurately represent 90 years of lego. Perhaps one theme per decade would have been a better way of capturing Lego’s rich history, although there were a lot of great themes in the 80s and 90s to split the vote.

@kkoster79:
In the mid-90's, Space and Castle weren't even 20 years old yet, and still they were referred to as Classic-Space and Classic-Castle (there were even websites named after them a few years later). Bionicle will be old enough to drink in the US when this anniversary set is released. It's earned its "classic theme" moniker, the same as any of the themes that came before it.

@3arteq:
If all they did was release a 6-pack of minifigs based on the original Toa Mata, I would buy the crap out of that set and make sure all six characters showed up on every MichLUG layout I participate in from now until the day I die.

@crazywitchdoctor:
They had an excellent project clear 10k on Ideas, using only System parts, which they rejected even though they've been pushing for more non-licensed themes (they own it, so it's non-licensed). I'd take that, and the only complaint I'd have is that they should have picked it for an Ideas release in the first place.

@curtydc:
Castle just got to add all their votes back together, even if people voted for three Castle sub-themes. Bionicle got _one_ spot on the card. It didn't split the vote, but you're looking at all there is in that one number. That said, Round 2 is just for kicks. It doesn't appear like it will have any influence on what gets picked. Elevating Castle into the finals possibly will, though.

@MrJackson:
I've participated in close to 200 displays with MichLUG. I've heard a _LOT_ of people ask if our typical layouts are 100% LEGO. I can't remember anyone ever asking that about my Bionicle stuff when I haul it out to display. However, I've had lots of kids who were too young to have owned any Bionicle sets during their original run recognize and call out the stuff I built with early G1 parts over 15 years ago, long before they were even born. It may not be as universally recognized as being LEGO product, but for sure it's still being recognized nonetheless. That's saying a lot for something that a lot of used parts dealers just throw in the trash.

@krysto2002:
You were never obligated to use all three of your votes. In fact, just in this comment section I've seen one person say they only voted for Classic-Space and nothing else. Furthermore, there were no Bionicle sub-themes to vote for like there were for Space, Castle Pirates, and Town. If there had been, they would have voted for multiple sub-themes, and still wouldn't have voted for any System themes, and people would be complaining that they voted for _three_ Bionicle sub-themes instead of just one. It's not like they hacked into the server and added several thousand nonexistent votes to the count.

@Solojif said:
"How Bionicle is more iconic then a train is beyond me. When I think of a child’s first LEGO I don’t think of Bionicle. I don’t have anything against Bionicle, just don’t feel it screams building block toy."

I’m gonna be honest - I do. My first LEGO set was a BIONICLE. My interests eventually expanded to Creator, Knights Kingdom, and basically every original theme after that, but the point is that BIONICLE is beyond iconic for someone like me. I became interested in various different themes in the 2000s, but my interest in BIONICLE never left. If not for that theme I would almost certainly never be invested in LEGO in the first place, much less as an adult.

But hey, trains are cool too. Back in the day, before I found LEGO, I was obsessed with trains. I honestly don’t know how that never translated, because to this day I have never bought a LEGO train.

@Spartan_Ghost:
In my experience, Gen X is where AFOLdom saw its first real surge, since we were the generation that grew up with minifigs. Gen Y is who really latched on to Bionicle, and Gen Z is probably doing the same with Ninjago. But Boomers? You do see some of them if you do many shows or attend even a few large conventions, but they are by no means a driving force behind the AFOL community the way the next three generations have been. That's not to say they don't contribute to the whole, or have value, but that they are a disproportionately small percentage of the whole. They still vastly outnumber AFOLs from the Silent Generation, of which there are a dwindling few who are still active.

@Paperdaisy:
Western for the early Boomers (my dad is late Silent and absolutely _loves_ cowboy westerns and John Wayne). And actually, Space for late Boomers who really grew up during the Space Age and the race to the moon.

@The_Creator:
From a business standpoint...this is not something that is being released to draw in _new_ customers. It's something that's being released to commemorate a milestone anniversary with their loyal fans having a hand in helping them pick the theme involved. Or at least appearing to.

@Aanchir:
Honestly, I'm not exactly crazy about Aaron's rendition of the Toa, who have been given stereotypical superhero proportions compared to their original, somewhat chunky look. The Great Spirit I may have to build. Also, the woman in the pics seems familiar, so I'm guessing he had her model for some of the publicity shots they did for official sets during the lockdown (since I _KNOW_ I've never met either of them in real life). And the mosaic...again, not really feeling that one. I'd love to see something similar done with the Hogwarts mosaic, though, because it's really more an issue with the day-glo color schemes than the designs themselves. Bionicle was from the 00's. It's not best represented in an 80's color scheme (I know, I know, Warhol's Marylin predates the 80's by several years, but that is _NOT_ what 60's decor looked like).

@cheeseontop said:
"These people are so salty that Bionicle is winning. I will be voting Castle, but it is disturbing to see so much hate towards a theme that’s beloved by many newer AFOLs. 0 chance I’d buy a classic space set, just like Bionicle. A lot of you sound like children in the toy aisle whining. . "

Think less children in a toy store; think more sad, old men shaking their fist at young people, demanding they keep off their lawn.

I'm 45 - I grew up playing with the yellow castle. I have fond memories of Classic Space and Town as well. I recall seeing Bionicle on the shelf and thinking "I don't get it." (And in many ways I still don't) But I can't imagine being so arrogant as to think what I played with is innately superior to everyone else's toys.

I'd like to think we return to LEGO in part because it takes us back to a simpler time. It's a shame it also takes us back to schoolyard cliques and bullies.

All right, I am rooting for Castle (and glad it made the cut after LEGO considered how their poll was set up) since I love Castle and we are in dire need of new Castle sets besides the new Blacksmith Ideas set, but I would welcome any of these, especially BIONICLE.

BIONICLE was a big part of my childhood and I still think the stories they created for it (thanks to Greg Farshtey) were brilliant and easily the best original storyline LEGO has ever had (I never really got into the Ninjago story, and nothing else even came close). I see some people are suggesting (if BIONICLE were to win) that the anniversary set would be a brick built tribute to BIONICLE, and while that would be cool, I would honestly be okay with a standard BIONICLE set... imagine getting a set of a character (or characters) that were only ever in the stories and never produced!! For example a set featuring the Dark Hunter Lariska and the Toa version of Nidhiki. Or a set of Toa Hagah besides Iruini and Norik. Or Lhikan's full team of Toa (including a Lhikan that features a yellow mask and armor instead of gold). Or perhaps, going back to the original adventures of the Toa Mata, a set of Shadow Toa.

Personally I think LEGO should make a set for each of the four finalists - Pirates, Classic Space, Castle, and BIONICLE. But I have no doubt whichever one ends up winning can and will be great regardless.

I never understood the appeal of Bionicle... I know is a very unpopular opinion but I always thought that BIONICLE is a boring/lame and a not LEGO-like theme.
But apparently there is a lot of people who like it... Classic space, castle and pirates would be a far better choice.

Just break the rules and release 4 anniversary sets!

I should have gone to bed two hours ago. Instead I read every comment here.

I am one of the few who is likely superstoked that any of these 4 themes is getting a set.

Classic Space, definitely my third favorite Space them after the two Blacktrons, and if this is chosen, which I would suspect it will be, I hope there is a blacktron minifig or two to muck around whatever ship/base we get.

Pirates, I love me some pirates. It's easily my favorite Lego theme, my first two Lego sets were pirates. An Imperial ship would have been AWESOME, but Pirates won, not imperials. Alas, with Barracuda Bay being released last year, I doubt we will get a pirate set

Castle. Man, i would love to have a big old grey OR Yellow castle. Actually, I would like a yellow one more. I would LOVE to see the 4 heraldry from the 375 come back. blacksmith Shop is nice, but it isn't a CASTLE

And Bionicle. Lots of greeat suggestions on how to make a brick built Bionicle set. I agree with every one, and I would KILL to have a set like that. I really really hope it's Bionicle, even though in my heart, I know it won't be

And for all of you who didn't vote Blacktron.... I'm sending my hit squad of black-clad spacemen after you.

@Solojif said:
"How Bionicle is more iconic then a train is beyond me. When I think of a child’s first LEGO I don’t think of Bionicle. I don’t have anything against Bionicle, just don’t feel it screams building block toy."

The only thing your assessment does is identify you as someone who likely wasn't a kid in the 2000's. For plenty of kids at that time, Bionicle might well have been their first Lego toy.

@Solojif said:
"How Bionicle is more iconic then a train is beyond me. When I think of a child’s first LEGO I don’t think of Bionicle. I don’t have anything against Bionicle, just don’t feel it screams building block toy."

By that definition the wooden duck, 50's Ferguson tractors and many other iconic Lego toys are not "Lego". Yes, they were not represented in the poll, but are they not part of Lego's rich heritage from the last 90 years?
Those are a lot more iconic to me than a lot of the themes that were represented in this poll, simply because many were during my dark ages. I have no affinity with them due to a lack of rose-tinted glasses as I didn't play with them as a child.

@captcrouton said:
"I'm amazed at the Bionicle support, and this may have been covered in this huge message board, but where are you guys when there's a Bionicle project on Lego ideas? A group this size could easily bring a Bionicle set to 10k. I seem to remember a system based Bionicle set that made it at some point, and even voting for it. Would love to see you guys more active on Ideas."

Um...

We got it to 10k. We got beaten by a typewriter.

@Bricksrunner said:
" @Brickalili To many people Bionicle is perceived not as something that helped LEGO survive and get out of its late 90's to mid 00's dark age, but as a demonstration of what went wrong with LEGO at the time, along with Znap and Dinosaurs... and they despise it because they see it as one of the (many) misguided initiatives that nearly would have killed LEGO if not for the US market picking up thanks to licensed Star Wars and Harry Potter sets.
And frankly, once you put the nostalgia glasses away if Bionicle was part of your childhood... they might not be exactly wrong.
But then again Bionicle wasn't a complete negative, it brought a few useful pieces to the system."
Misguided initiative? If Bionicle had been some flash in the plan that fizzled out after a year, like Znap as you mention, you might have a point on that...but Bionicle lasted a -decade-. It had enough clout behind it to get comics and video games and -three- movies long before Lego’s current cinematic movie-verse. In many times and places Bionicle was outselling the Star Wars sets for crying out loud, and you yourself just credited that for ‘saving Lego’. And, as I said, it kind of set the trend for Lego’s current MO with its original themes, where’s there’s lore, a story and characters rather than just some sets that sort of go together. The only people showing bias are the ones who want to dismiss all that and say Bionicle “doesn’t count as Lego” just because it’s not their cup of tea

@theJANG said:
" @Zander said:
"JPKuiper is right. If you're going to combine Castle subthemes, you should do the same for Space."
Space is represented in the final vote. Its split didn't change the results and require additional intervention to correct. Castle's split did. Now all is well, just so long as you don't read peoples' reactions to Bionicle being included in... existence itself X("

I agree with this: my list was meant to give some purely objective insights. All is well with this Top-4. I have little affection to Bionicle myself (my Dark Ages were from 1996 to 2014), but please be considerate of other people's fond memories.

If the Lego Group is listening: please release 4 of these sets during 2022. One every three months. Clearly people are looking forward tremendously to a tribute to their favorite (sub)themes. If multiple Lego Star Wars 20th anniversary sets are possible, you should at least consider this for your own birthday party :)

I think I'm gonna vote for Bionicle just because I would be really interested to see what a new set would even look like.

@Spartan_Ghost:
There are always exceptions, though. I’m firmly Gen X, grew up on Space and Castle back when there was no “Classic” attached to either theme, and yet my Bionicle collection dwarfs my non-SW collection of Space and Castle combined. And that was just from the three years that I ran MaskofDestiny.

@Bricksrunner:
I have a rare perspective because I was one of the few AFOLs of the time who embraced Bionicle. Make no bones about it: Bionicle saved the company. The _kids_ who grew up on Bionicle saved the company. When most of the AFOL themes simply weren’t paying the bills, they did it with their allowances, after-school jobs, and requests for birthday, Christmas, and other presents. And for their trouble, they got abuse heaped on them from grown adults, many of whom still treat them like garbage people for liking a garbage theme.

It wasn’t a one-sided conflict, by any means. There were some pretty toxic fans back in the day, but the numbers weren’t in their favor (as one of them prove by picking a fight with the entire Maori people). But the kids who grew up on this theme were treated like dirt by the AFOL community, and that probably kept many of them from developing an interest in System themes, or frequenting non-Bionicle AFOL sites. Now they’re being accused of cheating for _only_ voting for the one theme many of them care for.

Bionicle may not have produced a lasting system like Galidor did, but there are five things I can think of that it did leave us: voodoo balls, throodoo balls, the return of the friction axle-pin, saving the company from bankruptcy, and bringing out the ugly in the AFOL community with nothing more than the mere mention of its name.

Bionicle is amazing. Deal with it AFOLS

@ALEGOMan said:
"Bionicle only came first because it's a meme, people who don't even like lego probably voted, it should be taken off the list because they aren't true votes, adventurers needs to win"
Got any proof of that? Or maybe it’s just that there are thousands of fans who would love for BIONICLE to get some appreciation every once in awhile...

is bionicle even in the running? I don’t even consider it Lego. The only list it’s at the top of for me is my list of most hated themes lego has done.

I should probably add that my years with lego started in the late 80s when I was about 4. I was all about lego until around 2000 when lego made a shift towards themes like throw bots, bionicle, and sets with large single piece molds rather than creating those same things from numerous smaller bricks. It just felt like they got lazy with their themes and intricacy of designs. You might say they actually caused my dark ages. It was the real easy of the modular series, and early times of the creator expert sires that pulled me out of my dark ages.

Pirates: has barracuda bay
Castle: has blacksmith
Space: the lego movie 1 and 2
Half of the comments here: “bIoNiClE aLrEaDy HaD a ChAnCe!”

@Nordbart said:
"I am really indifferent towards bionicle.
LEGO is known for 90 years for the bricks. Let's make it a brick based set.
"

You do know that for a not insignificant part of its history, TLG did not make any bricks, right?

@kkoster79 said:
"Anything but Bionicle. I think its only children that voted for that. It shouldn't even have been included, its not classic theme."

What? Bionicle fans were children 20 years ago. We're all AFOLs now, and at least we don't go around gatekeeping what is or isn't "True LEGO".