LEGO Bionicle is Back, Though Not As You’d Expect

LEGO has announced a big surprise for fans of its beloved Bionicle range, with a new minifigure set to launch as soon as next month.

A minifigure version of Tahu, the original fire Toa, will be included in LEGO’s upcoming Minifigures Series 29 range, which will arrive in the usual blind boxes in stores from May 1.

Technically, this isn’t the actual Tahu, of course. (He’s much bigger.) Instead, this character is officially labelled “Bionicle Cosplayer,” and even comes holding a mini replica Bionicle canister — the cylindrical casing that the characters were originally sold within.

That said, not only is this pretty much a perfect Bionicle minifigure design, it’s the latest crumb of… well, something for Bionicle fans from LEGO, more than a decade on from the theme’s original demise.

LEGO Bionicle originally launched back in 2001, and was the toy company’s first major attempt to crack the transmedia market, years before Ninjago. Designed around a series of elemental hero warriors and based on a well of original lore, Bionicle was conceived as brand whose story would be told over successive years via numerous graphic novels, games, movies, books, trading cards and — more recently — a Netflix cartoon.

This idea was unique for LEGO at the time, as the company had previously resisted selling toy sets based on pre-conceived stories. Instead, LEGO had encouraged its young fans to use its bricks and minifigures to make up stories for themselves. This all changed, however, with the explosive success of LEGO Star Wars, and soon the hunt was on to come up with LEGO’s own multimedia universe (for which it also did not have to play expensive licensing fees).

LEGO Bionicle was a huge success, with a decade of toys and multimedia projects that lasted until 2010. In 2015, LEGO then attempted to reboot the brand, though this was short-lived. In the years since, LEGO fans have clamoured for yet another return — though outside of a 2023 freebie, the brand is still being rested. However, additions such as this new minifigure show that LEGO is clearly still aware of the love for Bionicle — and who knows what might happen if demand for this minifigure is as strong as many now expect.

As ever, LEGO Minifigures boxes are sold for $4.99 each, with Series 29 available from the beginning of next month.

Tom Phillips is IGN’s News Editor. You can reach Tom at tom_phillips@ign.com or find him on Bluesky @tomphillipseg.bsky.social