Toy Review : Lego's Bionicles

When I was a kid, Legos were standardized blocky pieces - primarily ones, twos, fours, eights, and plates - that could be put together only in standardized blocky ways. There were a few specialized pieces, like blocks with faces or wheels with metal axles, but mostly they were square.

Today's Legos are very different, with many more specialized pieces, tiny people you can disassemble for scenes of horror or just putting the boy head on the girl body, arcs, round gears, even tiny Lego Star Wars figures. The most radical change from the Lego of yesterday, however, is the Bionicle. And my son is mad for them.

Bionicles were conceived as an extension of Lego Tecnic toys, a line of complex Legos that incorporated gears and motors in minutely-detailed models that even attracted my adult and gainfully-employed brother. But while Tecnics were primarily realistic models of sports cars and military vehicles, Bionicles stray into a world of myth and science fiction. Their appearance owes more to H.R. Geiger's work than reality, with spikes and skeletal framework supporting a multitude of toy weaponry. In the best figures, some parts even launch tiny missiles like discs and rockets.

The best part, in my son's opinion: Bionicles can be mixed and matched at will, creating spaceships or vehicles, gigantic robotic monsters or tiny versions of the larger figure. They retail at between $8 and $15 each, and each new release includes six separately-sold figures in different colors/themes: blue/water, red/fire, green/air, brown or yellow/stone, black/earth, and white/ice. Currently, Bionicle names are based around Maori or Polynesian language themes, but due to lawsuits this is converting slowly to English-based names.

What does this mean to the adult buying a Bionicle as a Christmas gift or for some other reason?

First, look for the colors your kid already has, and for Christmas purchase a Bionicle in one of the other colors. Second, don't even try to remember the names. You won't. If your kid wants a specific Bionicle, ask them to write the name down. If you happen to buy a Bionicle your child already owns, it's not the end of the world; like standard Legos, Bionicles can be mixed together, and the child can create monsters with four arms, or have one that has two weapons instead of one. This, trust me, is a selling point for that disappointed face.

If you want to get your child something a little different, you also have the option of buying the comic books or children's books that tell the story of the Bionicles. For a child fanatic about his Bionicle figures, this can be a means of getting him to read a little more. Remember, also, that Bionicles are compatible with standard Legos and Tecnics, though not all sets will go together well.

Bionicles are marketed primarily toward boys from age 7 to teen. Pieces are small and may be too hard for younger children to put together. It's not an appropriate toy to start buying for children in a family with very small children or babies; some of the parts are just the right size and shape to be swallowed or cause serious choking, and it's hard to keep up with all of the toy parts.

The quality of Bionicles is pretty good, though not quite as good as I remember from earlier Legos toys. Despite having some seemingly-flimsy parts, I've only seen one piece in my son's collection break. When the Bionicle is put together, it stays in one piece even when dropped or tossed, and if put together properly they can stand well.

Overall, I highly recommend Bionicles for boys who are reasonably mechanically inclined, who are beyond the age of toy-eating, and who do not have small siblings who find small plastic pieces to be a tasty snack. For gift buyers, Bionicles make great inexpensive toys that will be appreciated for more than five minutes, even for kids who prefer video games. (And as a great bonus, Lego toys are not made in China; instead, they are manufactured in three locations in Europe and a fourth in Canada, where toy safety standards are comparable with those in the U.S.)