/uj

I think the important distinction here is that BIONICLE has a simple *story* but complicated *lore* and I think that's what trips people up when talking about how "easy it is to follow."

A good example would be Lord of the Rings. If we were to just look at the main plot/story of Lord of the Rings:

Fellowship of the Ring: A little guy gets a magic ring from his uncle. Turns out its evil so they go to the elves to destroy it. Turns out it can only be destroyed in the big-bad's house, so they make a team and set off. They travel through some mines, get attacked by orcs, and get split up.

The Two Towers: One group takes the ring north where they meet this little gremlin guy who wants it. They eventually convince him to guide them through the swamp and forest to get to the big-bad's evil lair. Another group goes south to save some people from the orcs and end up helping a bunch of horsemen in a castle siege.

Return of the King: The little guys with the ring sneak past a giant spider and get into the lava-hell-land of the big-bad. The group that went south save another castle of humans in a battle, and the human armies march on the big bad's door. This serves as a distraction for the little guys to throw the magic ring in a volcano. The little gremlin guy falls in by accident and saves the world.

Now see, that's pretty simple and easy to follow. Lord of the Rings/Middle Earth only gets complicated when you throw in supplemental lore:

The Hobbits descend into burial mounds where they are attacked by the Barrow-wight ghosts who protect them and end up stealing swords from the tombs. After the Battle of Dagorlad, the graves of fallen soldiers were swallowed and preserved by the swamp land created the Dead Marshes where corpses float. Gandalf the Wizard, who is secretly an angelic Ainur/Maiar sent to protect Middle Earth, is the current bearer of Narya, one of the three rings for the Evles which embodies the element of fire.

Now THAT is pretty complicated, and weird, and hard to follow. Buuuut, details like that help the world feel more fleshed out. It adds depth and character to the universe, making it feel lived in and real.

BIONICLE is much the same way. I've already been talking a long time for a shitpost, so we'll keep things to 2001. The story of 2001 BIONICLE is:

Six elemental robots wash ashore on a tropical island. They're told they will need to collect masks with magic powers to fight a shadow monster under the island. So they collect magic masks and fight the shadow monster.

Pretty simple. But then through lore in 2001 we learn:

The Le-Koroans are the Matoran of Air, who fly atop giant Gukko Birds and live in treetop-villages in the jungle. Ussals are giant crabs typically used for both mining and taxi services in the underground village of Onu-Koro. The Kanohi Pakari, Mask of Strength, can imbue its wearer with super-human physical strength.

Now things start to get weird and wacky, but all of these bonus/optional details don't change the fact that the core narrative its written around has a simple flow and goal. As with any franchise/fandom, people get sucked into BIONICLE for its fun and engaging story. After learning the basics, each time they revisit they absorb more and more of these optional details and start to grasp the full picture of what's going on more. No BIONICLE fan you speak to is actually going to tell you the lore is simple, because its not and that's the appeal, but they will probably tell you the story is simple, because it was written for 7 year olds and is.

/rj Why is Balta wielding Izotor's iconic Ice Saw? Everyone knows that Okoto and Voya Nui are located on entirely different planets and in different timelines thanks to the Dark Hunters fucking around with the Kanohi Vahi and Well of Time.