The cover of Bionicle Super Chapter Book #1: Raid on Vulcanus.
Aside from the toys in the LegoBionicle franchise, Lego has also marketed an ongoing book series, several video games (mostly for the Game Boy Advance), and four computer-animated movies which feature important plot points. A Bioniclecomic book was also published by DC Comics and made available free to members of the Lego Club with some issues of the Lego Magazines. Some comic issues were also posted on the official Bionicle website, Bionicle.com. There are also various other ancillary products available, such as watches, toothbrushes, and backpacks, as well as online adventure games. Much of the additional content for Generation 1 that was originally available on the now inactive official websites Bionicle.com and BionicleStory.com is now available on an unofficial website called BioMedia Project.
Rise of the Toa Nuva – The Toa Mata arrive on Mata Nui—but is it already too late?
Challenge of the Rahkshi – The Toa Nuva have to fight Rahkshi and Bohrok-Kal to prepare for the coming of the seventh Toa.
City of Legends – The Toa Metru fight to save their city from a terrible evil.
Trial by Fire – The Toa Metru, mutated into Toa Hordika, must save the Matoran, defeat the Visorak, and find the legendary Keetongu before they become beasts.
The Battle of Voya Nui – The Toa Inika must fight the evil Piraka to save the Great Spirit's life.
The Underwater City – The Toa Inika have to retrieve the Mask of Life from The Pit before it is too late.
Realm of Fear – The Toa Nuva have to fight the Brotherhood of Makuta to save a lost Matoran tribe and awaken Mata Nui.
Legends of Bara Magna – Old stories of Bara Magna will be revealed.
The Fall of Atero – The Bara Magna residents fight for their freedom against the Skrall.
Generation 2
"Gathering of the Toa" – The Toa arrive on the Island of Okoto and battle the evil Skull Spiders.
"Battle of the Mask Makers" – The story of events leading up to Ekimu and Makuta's confrontation centuries before the Toa arrived.
A third graphic novel was planned, but was ultimately never released.
Cancelled graphic novels
Power of the Great Beings (Issue #10) – Mata Nui must find out the dark secrets of his creators, the Great Beings, and save Bara Magna from a force so evil, it could destroy the entire planet. The project was cancelled while it was a third of the way through.
Journey's End (Issue #11) – An eleventh graphic novel by the name of Journey's End was planned in advance of the release of the tenth graphic novel. Upon the cancellation of Power of the Great Beings, plans for Journey's End between Papercutz and the Lego Company were abandoned. It would have included the last 2 Bionicle comics and a few Post-Journey's End stories.
Games
There are also several video games based on Bionicle.
Generation 1
Lego Bionicle: Quest for the Toa – released for Game Boy Advance in 2001; is also known as "Tales of the Tohunga" ("Tohunga" being an early word for "Matoran"). It acts as a prelude to the Bionicle saga, telling how Takua gathered the Toa stones and summoned the Toa Mata to Mata Nui. Unlike most games, it is considered canon.
Mata Nui Online Game – Considered to be one of the best Bionicle stories in the whole franchise, MNOG was episodically released onto Bionicle.com from January to December of 2001. It continues the story of Tales of the Tohunga and follows Takua (known in-game as "The Chronicler") as they journey around Mata Nui. The game was removed from Bionicle.com in 2003, but returned as a download in 2006 due to high demand from fans.
Mata Nui Online Game II – released on the LEGO Bionicle website, it is the sequel to the Mata Nui Online Game and takes place before and during the events of Bionicle: Mask of Light, in which you play as Hahli of Ga-Koro.
Bionicle: Matoran Adventures – released for Game Boy Advance in 2002, you play as Matoran fighting against the Bohrok swarms.
Bionicle: Maze of Shadows – released for Game Boy Advance in 2005, this game expands on the story of Bionicle Adventures #6: Maze of Shadows.
Bionicle Heroes – was released for PC, PlayStation 2, Xbox 360, Gamecube, Game Boy Advance, and Nintendo DS in November 2006, with a Wii version released later in 2007. In the game you play as both the Toa Inika and the Piraka. It was produced by TT Games, the team behind the Lego Star Wars games.
Generation 2
Bionicle: Mask of Creation – released for iOS devices in 2015.
Bionicle: Mask of Control – released for iOS devices in 2016.
Canceled Bionicle games
Lego Bionicle: The Legend of Mata Nui was planned to be released for PC and would have covered the events of the 2001 storyline. The player would have been able to play as each of the six Toa Mata, exploring the island and battling Rahi. Though widely marketed and advertised in the months leading up to its original September 2001 release date, the game was suddenly and unceremoniously cancelled by LEGO. Varying reasons for this cancellation were circulated, not least of which revolved around the recent September 11th terror attacks, and subsequently that LEGO thought Legend of Mata Nui was too violent a game to be released to a North American audience so soon after the attack on the World Trade Center. However, according to interviews with former Saffire, Inc. developers, many former members of Legend's development team do not believe this to be the case. In the late 90s and early 2000s, LEGO's various media departments were used to regular mass employee turnover, often to the frustration of LEGO's contracted development studios. Former Saffire, Inc. developers say this was a key reason Legend of Mata Nui was canned. In 2001 a shift in LEGO's management allowed for a pitch from eventual Bionicle: The Game developer Argonaut Games to catch LEGO's eye, and combined with Saffire's well-known financial woes led LEGO to pull the plug on Legend's development.[1] In communication with Bionicle fan forum MaskofDestiny.com, a LEGO employee only specified as "Michael" cited Legend's chip compatibility and the timing of the release as reasons for the cancellation.[2] In February 2018, a functioning alpha build of the game was recovered[3] and through the diligent work of fan developers a beta version of the game was released to the public on May 12, 2018.[4]
Bionicle: City of Legends was a planned sequel to Bionicle: The Game set for release in 2004. Intended to tie in to the 2004 "Metro Nui" storyline, it is presumed that players would control the Toa Metru. Argonaut Games liquidation prevented City of Legends from being completed, but a small playable tech demo exists.
Trading card game
During the first year of the BIONICLE toyline, in 2001, McDonald's distributed packets of cards with their 'kids' meals. There were five cards in each one: four regular, and one holographic or "special" card. The packet came with a mini comic that had an instruction booklet telling the person how to play the game. There was another card game that was sold (instead of collected, like the above) which included a board along with other accessories to play the game.
In 2008 LEGO also distributed the "Phantoka Trading Card Game", which were given away for free in little packages which included about six trading cards with a picture and information of one of the Toa Nuva, Makuta, Av-Matoran or Shadow Matoran. The package also included one holographic card, which featured the combination of a Phantoka and a Matoran. The packages were given away for free in many toy stores in Europe if you bought a Phantoka set.
More media
Besides the movies, books, comics, et cetera, there are other ways parts of the Generation 1 story have been told. Much of this content is now available on the unofficial BioMedia Project website.
Reading materials
Bionicle.com had some information about parts of the Generation 1 story, including some character biographies.
BionicleStory.com had several sections containing information about the Generation 1 characters, locations, and more. Among the offerings were also story serials and "blog" chapters, the latter being each one or two pages of story text styled as a journal entry from one of the fictional Bionicle characters.
Audio
Bionicle.com had two downloadable MP3s (as well as two PDF files with the "lyrics" to the MP3s) that describe the rise the giant robotic body of Mata Nui out of its slumber and his exile from said body when Makuta Teridax took it over in the Generation 1 plotline.[5]
BionicleStory.com also had many podcasts recorded by Bionicle writer Greg Farshtey available for download in the "Latest Story" area of the site that tell much of the Generation 1 story.[6]
On the homepage for Bionicle.com, there was a collection of audio recordings, called the Mata Nui Saga, that told some of Mata Nui's story. Each one had a picture, text, and music with it. They were split into thirty-four "chapters."
There were also downloadable songs and other things on the website that were inspired by different sections of the Generation 1 storyline.
Notes
^The seventh edition was originally set to be a novel titled Invasion; it was scrapped due to low book sales.
^Only physically available in Polish. The English version was posted in segments onto the official Bionicle website in 2010.
^Issue 0 is an exclusive comic featuring an interview with artist Stuart Sayger.
^Also known as Web Comic due to initially being released online.
^The script for a scrapped comic that was due to be released between Issues 12—13 was published on the official Bionicle website as Comic 12.5.
^The Legend Reborn was originally planned as the first film in a new trilogy, but its sequels were scrapped following Lego's decision to discontinue the Bionicle toy line.
