Recently, there has been a lot of confusion on BZP over the plans for an alternate model of Jetrax in the November LEGO Magazine. Apparently, a lot of people have thought that refers to the yellow Jetrax store exclusive set, so I thought it was time for a little Alternate Model 101:
Q. What is an alternate model?
A. It's a new model built using pieces of an existing one.
Q. Would the yellow Jetrax be considered an alternate model?
A. No. You cannot build yellow Jetrax using pieces
In honor of the 30th birthday of the minifigure, here is a quick contest -- winner gets an exclusive surprise BIONICLE prize! Post your answers in response to this entry, and first one to get it right wins -- question is:
1) Two Hollywood celebrities have been made into LEGO mini-figures twice, as different characters. Name the actors and the characters.
WE HAVE A WINNER! Congratulations to lisa garber -- lisa, PM me your mailing address so I can send you your prize.
Greg
-- Saw the first animatics for the 2009 movie, with voice actors -- nice. Hard to judge what the animation will be like from it, but it's obvious that the director is very skilled and the acting is good. Not sure if the voices are final cast or not.
-- Working on the screen treatment for the 2010 movie now, along with the first 2009 comic book and the first 2009 chapter book.
-- If ~Bio~ is out there, you sent me a PM with a question, but it says you have chosen not to be contacted by boar
With the latest round of supposed set names and images floating around on the Net, I am getting a lot of PMs asking about 2009 sets, names, and a few about story. In a few cases, I have been able to provide answers, in many more cases I cannot. And most BZPers know that they cannot expect answers on the next year's product this early in the year before.
So that said, I am not going to spend time writing "I can't discuss this" over and over to people who already know that. PMs asking me about
Some of you may have read that BZP member Nuhrii the Metruan made some suggestions regarding the name of the Mangai/Mangaia which I really liked and told him could be official.
Ever since, I am getting buried in PMs from other people trying to find other uses for existing names or "explain" other storyline things, in hopes of getting to say they came up with something official too.
I appreciate the enthusiasm, but I really don't have the time for this. Having to go through these suggestion
Just a note that I am not going to be around much the next few weeks -- I leave for Comic-Con Wednesday and will not have Internet access, and then I am moving when I get back. So expect waits for answers to Q's.
Greg
Another library event to announce -- Saturday, October 18th, 11:00 am at the Fairfield-Nichols branch of the Trumbull library in CT.
Also -- if you send me a PM, please make sure your settings are set up to get messages back. Lately, people have sent me lists of questions and when I respond, I get a message that they have chosen not to be contactable by Messenger. As a result, I waste my time answering and they can't get their answers.
Greg
Nothing too earth-shaking, just bits of news --
-- Probably the one of most import to you guys will be something I did yesterday -- the first ever official map of the BIONICLE universe. I sketched it out for a Polish BIONICLE guidebook set to come out this fall, and it will now be redrawn by some people who can actually draw So if there are Eastern European BIONICLE fans on here, expect to see some scans of it later this year.
-- Busy month just past, getting that book done for some very
We have already discussed the price increase on the BIONICLE canister figures in this space, but I am seeing a lot of people for whom it is apparently news. So I thought repeating some of what I said before might be a benefit to at least a few people (even if you guys know this, you can pass it on to people who do not).
Q. Why are BIONICLE canister prices going up?
A. The simple answer is that BIONICLE sets are costing more to buy because they are costing us more to make. Oil prices have dou
I finally got to see the animation test for the new movie last week -- wow.
For whatever my opinion is worth, it blows away any character animation ever done for BIONICLE and speaks to a lot of things BZPers have said they wanted in a new movie. If the whole movie can look like that, we are going to have quite a film.
The latest news I have heard is that a lot of concept art is done, voice recording should be done soon, and the studio is straining at the leash to get started on the script
Hey guys,
For those of you who bought Bionicle Legends #10 and wonder what the web code in the book will lead to -- it looks like it will be a new short story called "The Kingdom," which will take place between Bionicle Legends #10 and the first BIONICLE Level 3 reader. It will include how Takanuva lost the Staff of Light and got the Power Lance, and introduce you to the "Kingdom of the Great Spirit," the somewhat bizarre ruling council, and of course, the ruler of the kingdom -- Turaga Takan
Hey guys,
Recently, in answer to a question, I had stated that Krakua was a MEMBER of the OOMN. This was a mistake on my part (unfortunately, with all the BIONICLE I write, sometimes I confuse things I thought about doing with what I actually did).
So, to make up for the confusion, I am going to give you guys a sneak preview of Bionicle Legends #11:
Divide and conquer, Pohatu thought as he piloted the Rockoh through a tight turn.
The Makuta forces had split up. Gorast and Vamprah had
Doing another library event -- July 10th, 1 pm, Willimantic Public Library, Willimantic, CT.
Also, visit info for me will be posted on the www.scholastic.com/authorvisit site soon, so that schools and public libraries in the Northeast interested in having me come speak can find out how to make it happen.
Greg
Many of you may have heard or read or even seen a video that popped up on Amazon.com and elsewhere recently that involved BIONICLE in general and summer 2008 in particular. So let me address some of the Q's you may have about it:
Q. What was it?
A. It was the first draft of what we call a "sell-in" video. That's a video we prepare to show buyers from dept. stores, Toys R Us, etc., to get them excited about BIONICLE for the year. It is not something shown to the public.
Q. So how did it ge
A few pieces of news today --
1) I finally got a look at a pic of Mazeka today -- looks from the photo like he's an Onu-Matoran.
2) The Jan. 2009 sets are in our showroom now. Gotta say, very impressive. The new mask pieces are particularly cool shapes and the weaponry is slick too. On the whole, they manage to stay recognizably BIONICLE while still looking nicely different from past sets. I think the new pieces will probably be good for those who like to MOC, too. I will tell you up front
I mut say, Dark Mirror has provoked some of the most interesting discussions and PMs I have seen in my time on here. It has been really interesting to see the reaction to the story, with Tuyet's Toa being branded as "evil" and "corrupt." And yet ... let's consider:
"Toa Tuyet announced today that the Brotherhood of Makuta poses a potential threat and should be eliminated before they threaten the peace of the universe."
OR
"The leader of a major nation announced today that the country of Gaz
Just finished writing DM 7, in which you will meet the other members of Lesovikk's resistance group, travel to the Throne of Stone, and get prepared for the slam-bang finish in parts 8 and 9.
Next up is FOF 8, as the team has to go forward but can't go back ... and in MC 8, more on the mystery of the Lohrak and the raid on Artakha.
Now back to opening up contest entries ...
Greg
Just a few things today --
-- The event at the Booth-Dimock library in Coventry, CT next week is shaping up to be fun. For those of you who might want to attend, there is still time to register by phone. Just call the library at 860-742-7606.
-- Big week here. After only two weeks of searching, my wife and I bought a new house -- and it has room for all my comics and toys! Anyway, I will most likely be offline some during the first week of June as we move, but will keep you up to date on
Just talked to Scholastic today and got the current 2009 schedule --
It looks at this point like there will be a total of five books in 2009, three the young readers and two chapter books (potentially larger than the normal ones, but don't know yet) --
The readers would be out in January, April, and September, with the chapter books out in summer and fall. The hope is that between the buzz the readers are generating among the retailers (apparently, they are going to get into some big store
BZP has been hopping lately, which is great, because it means people are excited about the new story and looking forward to 2009.
However, it also means I have been really busy lately, with somewhere around 8000-10,000 questions in my inbox just in the last month. As some of you noticed, not all of them have been getting answered promptly (or at all), simply because of the crush of them. Since I REALLY don't want to ignore anyone's questions (that's not why I'm here), I thought I would pass
As we are just about to start production on the new film, thought it would be a good time to share some script news with you guys.
As you know, I got the chance to write the story for the movie, which was very exciting and fun to do. The script itself has been written by Sean Catherine Derek, who I must say has done a fine job on the project and has been very willing to work with me to make sure it came out "BIONICLE." It's been a very smooth process, and we will most likely be working togeth
I am sure 99% of you already know all this, but in the wake of the Makuta contest, I thought it would be a good idea to post these LEGO Magazine contest tips again for any newer BZPers.
-- If you are entering a building contest, please submit either a photo or an image printed out on photo paper (which you can find at any Wal-Mart, Target, office supply store, etc.). Photos printed out on regular printer paper won't be accepted, because they will not scan well for reproduction in the magazine
This is really more of an FYI than anything else, as many of you already guessed this -- but to make it official, the grand prize winner of the BrickMaster Makuta Building Contest will be considered Makuta Miserix for the purposes of the story.
Greg
Back from a brief trip to North Carolina (and warmth!) ... here's the news:
1) We had a one-night story meeting to discuss first half 2009 story. We got the bare bones figured out, now I have to get to work on the story bible.
2) We discussed any number of things, including beefing up BIONICLEstory.com in 2009 and possibly doing a serial or something similar that woud focus on the current universe while main story focuses on the new one next year ... I really like that idea, since there is
Recently, there was a very interesting discussion on BZP about people who no longer buy sets (what we in the biz call "lapsed users") and how much influence they can or can't have on product.
There are, based on what I have seen, three main types of lapsed user. We will call them Joe, Bill, and Tom. All three have stopped buying BIONICLE sets, and all are in their teens, for the purposes of this example:
Joe still thinks BIONICLE is interesting, but stopped buying sets in 2004 because he
