Okay lol sorry, I had to. 😂 But to make up for it, here’s an actual ask. What is a Bionicle? Is it a robot? Like, how would you explain the Bionicle to someone who’s never gotten into it?
*deep inhale* OKAY. SO.
Bionicle was a series of "constraction" toys made by Lego from around 2001 to 2009, with a reboot that wasnt as cool from 2015 to 2016. They could be played with like action figures, but were built with pieces that are compatible with Lego's brick-building and Technic systems.
And for what it is, it's got a ridiculous amount of lore, world-building, and characters involved in its story, told mostly through comics and kids' books, and created by Greg Farshtey and Chris Faber. The plot actually started out as an allegory for the author's fight with cancer. I think everyone who was into Bionicle as a kid dreamed up and built a self-insert OC for the setting at some point, I know I did. The title Bionicle is a play on words of "biological chronicle," not something that exists in-universe. There's also some misappropriation inspiration from Maori culture and mythology involved.
Most of the things found in the setting are biomechanical/techno-organic; cyborgs, if you like. Characters and even animals will have armored, robotic exteriors and not consume food the way we do, but have lungs and probably brains and can get muscle fatigue. They feel the same spectrum of emotions us humans do, can have the same flaws. They were all created this way. However, plants and a few select creatures are fully organic, while many of the minions fought by the good guys are fully robotic constructs. Towards the end of the series we're introduced to a species that, while they may have some outward mechanical parts, are fundamentally more like humans: they have endoskeletons, need food and water to live, sexually reproduce, and can die of old age.
I and a few of my mutuals could infodump about this all day but that's the rundown without any real spoilers, I think.
