User blog:Chicken Bond/The Tenth Anniversary - A Decade of the Custom BIONICLE Wiki



In May of 2011, former CBW site leader TheSlicer predicted in his retirement blog that the wiki had only a year left on it, or maybe “more if the willpower of the rest of the devoted fans should endure.” Six years have passed since then, and today the wiki is as strong as it’s ever been.

Ten years ago today, a user by the name of LittlemanJ95 created a wiki. This wiki was called the Custom BIONICLE Wiki. It was created as a place for BIONICLE fans to post their own BIONICLE MOCs and stories. Although it wasn’t immediately successful, it slowly flourished into the largest BIONICLE fanfiction site on the internet.

Now ten years later, we can boast a long and proud history of BIONICLE fanon, ranging from popular creations and stories to legendary users within the community. We’ve also had a lasting impression on the BIONICLE community, with our various social media outlets, such as YouTube and Tumblr. We had great shows like The Skakdi Life and Minicle.

But at the core of our existence, the very heart of Metru Nui the Custom BIONICLE Wiki lies the wiki content.

Famous Stories and Storylines
If there’s one thing we do best, it’s write. Our stories can vary anywhere from slice of life tasters to crossovers spanning universes. As the lifeblood of our wiki, it is appropriate that we remember the greatest storylines to grace our pages.

Characters are the foundations upon which every story is built, and some characters are loved so dearly they leap from one story to another to another without looking back. A notable example of this is Hydros, around whom a veritable world is formed, and on whose shoulders a world relies. His first appearance in The Hydros Chronicles marks the beginning of an adventure through five storyline novels, although his services are called upon in six non-storyline novels. There is Jareroden whose enemies are the evil lurking everywhere he goes, but who most often finds himself pitted against enemies such as Serrakaan and the Dark Lord. The noble character makes appearances in stories to this day, an unfailing source of hope against the empires of darkness. There is Mersery, the Mersion hero with three storyline appearances, but with over fifteen non-storyline appearances. Evil never sleeps, so neither can the righteous, and as such, the services of mighty defenders such as these are called upon regularly in all universes and storylines.

But as integral as characters may be, sometimes they are but players in a struggle that overshadows everything they know. The Fractures Universe, where the absence of Makuta Teridax sees the rise of shadowy organizations with dangerous machinations of their own. The Unending Shadows Storyline, where the arrival of a multiversal wanderer known simply as “The Traveller” corrupts Great Beings and leads to the creation of a power which seeks to enslave Glatorian, Agori, and Matoran alike. The Xaterex Multiverse Storyline, where the Ix vie for dominance over the lives in their realm. The Shadowmaster Continuity, where a mad being walks between universes, working to build his empire while ever-seeking to destroy the greatest tool of his demise. The V Osade Universe, where religious zeal and jealousy lead a species to attempt the destruction of all others, only to lead the entire Matoran Universe into hellfire. The Broken Order Universe, where the fears of a single king gives way to the rise of an empire with the efficiency of clockwork and to which the masses sell their very lives for the promise of security and order in disorder. The Remains Alternate Universe, where an ancient ruler seeks to reclaim his lost throne, to the dismay of the modern natives. The Gigas Magna Storyline, a storyline detailing the desperate struggle in a Matoran Universe devoid of law. The Dark Realities Trilogy, where the downfall of three malevolent warlords and other villains allows entry of the Caller, a phantom force known only for its appetite for universes.

And yet there are those stories or storylines founded upon existing genres, most of which arise from the wiki’s various official contests. Such stories include westerns, noir, or various horror entries, although the greatest of these may very well be the Pirates Universe. If these don’t show the versatility of the wiki’s writers, nothing will.

It is upon such stories as these that CBW claims its greatness.

Announcements
A little while back, Lord President BobTheDoctor27 released a blog detailing the latest announcements of CBW’s Great Relaunching. However, we are proud to say that the wiki is ready to unveil some exciting new projects as part of that same initiative!

But first things first: To reiterate something that has already been made public, the CBW is celebrating our anniversary with an aptly-named Ten Year Anniversary Contest. That’s right! Write entries featuring some of the wiki’s most famous (or infamous) characters and you may win a T-shirt, an unopened box of Ekimu the Mask Maker (both free of charge and shipping), as well as a few other cool prizes. Check that out and we hope you enter! And to those of you visitors who have not yet joined, remember, if you join us within the next five years, your Self-MOC could be one considered iconic enough for our twentieth anniversary contest…

Secondly, the bureaucrats of Custom BIONICLE Wiki have been operating closely with those of the Custom Hero Factory Wiki, and we are proud to say that we are once again sister-wikis.

Indeed, many updates have been made to CHFW primarily due to the efforts of site bureaucrats ChineseLegolas and DeltaStriker, though with many contributions from Bob and Invader, to modernize and streamline the site for a smaller userbase. Additionally, they now have a public server much like our own recently established one which we highly encourage you to check out. If you have any inclination at all toward Hero Factory, we highly encourage you to visit and join them.

Finally, something we have been rather excited about rebuilding. Since the fall of CBW’s first wave of social media outlets, we have been taking steps to restore them. Our new Shivtr forums are operational, our new Tumblr is growing rapidly in popularity, and we have even explored new means of expanding our name.

At the heart of this expansion has been the question of whether or not CBW shall establish a YouTube channel.

But no longer shall that dangle in the air.

We are back! Members old and new have united to work on the channel, and contributors such as SED, Chicken Bond, Aagerds, and others have returned to aid us in this endeavor. We look forward to breaking out the new channel, but do stay tuned for the latest information on that front.

Concluding Statements
It is easy to be cynical about a site like the Custom BIONICLE Wiki. It is easy to smirk at what it strives to do. As a site that allows the enduring fans of a twice-dead LEGO line to write fanfiction, snarking about the nature and purpose of CBW, as with any BIONICLE site, can feel a little pointed at times. What’s the point of it all? But if this summation of the ten year lifespan of CBW is to begin with one of TheSlicer’s gloomier predictions, then perhaps it is only fitting that it ends with one of his sunnier observations. In the heydays of 2011, he noted that one of the greatest enduring strengths of this wiki was the vast creative sandbox it offered its userbase, how it offered them not only an opportunity to let their imaginations run riot - the chance to let them tell their stories with their voices - but also the chance to learn and improve.

The beating heart of CBW has and always will be storytelling, and it is this distinction that sets it apart from some of the other enduring BIONICLE fan communities. CBW is run by people who are passionate about finding ways of both telling and presenting stories better; it is a community motivated by self-improvement. In 2014, a Wikia Central staff member pointed out that one of the community’s sterner initiatives to clear out articles that did not meet the set standards almost defeated the point of the wiki. To eradicate the wiki of its perceived creative warts did not tell users there was room for improvement, it told them they were not good enough. And among the fine, dedicated members of this community, there has always been a spirit of constructive criticism, and from that has sprung many friendships and many members who can positively verify that as time has passed, through keen listening and constant practice, they have improved as writers or as MOCist or perhaps more broadly as creators. And it is this spirit that keeps fans from ten years ago bound, people who joined months prior intrigued, and just about everyone in-between fussing about other people’s weird headcanons. In its best moments, CBW transcends the trappings of the BIONICLE franchise to become a celebration of how much people care - about telling stories and about each other.

Because here on this wiki, there are always better stories to tell, and there are always friends willing to help you find them.

Happy Anniversary, CBW.

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