Since you guys have been waiting so patiently for the last book of '07, which is still a ways away, I thought I would give you a little something to tide you over.
This is a fragment of BIONICLE Legends #10, which is going to feature, in addition to 2008 main story, a flashback to the early history of the Toa Mata/Nuva. This section starts with the moment the six of them first woke up on the island of Daxia, long, long ago. (Since this doesn't give away main storyline, I figured it would be o
Just a few things you can expect to see in BIONICLE Legends #10, in addition to the already confirmed return of Takanuva:
-- The return of Toa Krakua
-- First appearance in story of the leader of the Order of Mata Nui
-- Just what are those krana-kraata hybrids from way back in BA #10?
-- The origin of the Bohrok
While Book 10 will feature some of main story, it is probably going to start a trend of the books being a little bit more side story and mystery revelations as opposed to havin
Just a couple minor things --
1) I start work on BIONICLE Legends #10 this weekend, which will open with the return of Takanuva to the storyline.
2) Watch for Gali Nuva Blog chapter #6, which will feature the return of six heroes long thought gone for good!
3) At the suggestion of a BZPer, I am trying to convince my wife to do the voice of Toa Hahli for an upcoming biocast chapter
4) Since I got approval from Kelly to do more biocasts this year, expect the saga of the Staff of Artak
Hey guys,
Just FYI, at the request of Scholastic, I have started a new blog on Amazon.com as part of their Amazon Connect service. This will NOT be in place of this one or the same as this one -- different blog.
Anyway, so far I know of two ways you can see the entries -- if you have purchased one of my books through Amazon before, you can click on Amazon Blog in the upper right hand corner of your homepage and you should see the first entry there. OR, you can simply go the product page fo
Hey, sorry to be so long in updating this -- I have not been home much lately. Let' start from the top --
1) I have had two meetings so far with the movie folks and one with Universal (the Universal people are REALLY sharp -- really know their business). Too soon to tell when something will come out or exactly what it will be like. Right now, it is looking like it will be my story, but I won't be doing the screenplay (just consulting on it). But things can change as projects proceed.
Right
I'm home again, finally, after two weeks spent largely on the road!
It started with a few days in Saratoga Springs, NY, for LEGO Club meetings. Then after being home a couple days, it was off to Billund for BIONICLE story meetings. A few notes from the trip --
-- Billund is becoming the Orlando of Denmark. The hotels were packed, the airport was packed, and I had to stay with BIONICLE web producer Leah Weston Kaae and her family because there were no hotel rooms (and thanks to her for the
Not sure if this is serious, or a prank, but I thought I would share a PM I got today from a "BIONICLEFan606":
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Hello,
I made an account on Bzpower specifically just to be able to contact you, Mr. Farshety.
I dont know anything about Bionicle, but I got your name from one of my brother's Bionicle books, and decided that you were the best person to come to.
My little brother, 15
Spent one evening this week at a couple of BIONICLE comic focus groups (there were four sessions, but I only made it for two). The purpose was to basically revisit the comic, see what people thought of it and whether it was helping BIONICLE as much as we think.
The good news, at least in the sessions I was at, was that the kids (7-9 year old boys) are reading it, enjoying it (especially the fighting), and getting a lot of their awareness of BIONICLE from the comic and the LEGO Magazine. That
Hey guys,
Just back from a short trip to Raleigh, NC for a story meeting. Most of the team was over there for 2008 focus groups, so the franchise manager kindly carved out some time in the schedule for me to meet with them (possibly saving me a trip to Denmark next month).
A few news items:
-- I saw for the first time all the proposed canister figures for 2008. There were 16 figures on display, of which 12 will be chosen to be sold. They looked quite different from the prototypes I had
Yay, I am on vacation for a week ... Seven days of baseball, Playstation baseball, and WoW ...
Finished Bionicle Legends #8 on Easter Sunday, so am going to try not to do any LEGO writing this week, other than answering questions on BZP. (Yes, I will still be here.)
Had a good day today -- went up to Renbrook School in West Hartford and spoke to a few classes of fifth graders. One of the students there (who is also a BZP member, I believe) had sent me a letter a while back as part of a
I received this over the weekend from a BZP member who will remain nameless (bold was my addition):
Okay Greg,
it's time to step up out of the shadows and explain the karazani set. Who are the matoran? Sarda? Idris? Gar? Is this set a store exclusive? What is the strange contraption thing? And here is the deal. You have been holding off long enough. You have to answer these questions and step up. If you didn't want these questions to appear, then why did you put that image out? Its time you
Heard from Scholastic today, and this is the way the book schedule is shaping up for 2008 --
In-store December 2007 - BIONICLE Legends #8: Downfall - last book of 2007 story, prologue of 2008 story
In-store March 2008 - BIONICLE Legends #9: Shadows in the Sky
In-Store June 2008 - BIONICLE Legends #10: Swamp of Secrets
In-Store September 2008 - BIONICLE Legends #11: Title TBD
In-store December 2008 - First book of 2009 storyline, may be under a different series title
Greg
Hey -- back from the big story meeting in Billund with various bits of news --
* I met with web producer Leah Kaae for half a day on Tuesday to discuss some future web plans. Then the whole story team met on Wednesday for about 9 hours.
* Got to see about 16 of the 2008 sets -- winter releases, one store exclusive, and some of the big sets for next year -- the big ones, I have to say, rival the Ultimate Collectors Series Star Wars sets for sheer, striking look -- plus some really nice fun
Leaving for Denmark on Monday for a one-day story meeting on Wednesday, also a meeting on BIONICLE.com content -- you can continue to PM questions, as I can sometimes access BZPower from the computers in the hotel. Overall meeting is to finalize 2008 and start talking about 2009 and beyond.
Latest word I heard is that there will be a BIONICLE book every three months starting with Bionicle Legends #8.
Initial orders from stores for the Toa Mahri seem to be pretty high, so it looks like they
Just a random assortment of things today --
1) Heading to Denmark in mid-March for a one-day story meeting -- going to lock down 2008 and decide whether 2009 will be a stand-alone story or part of a 2009-2011 trilogy, among other things. I am headed out a day early to meet with the BIONICLE web producer.
2) Working on BIONICLE Legends #8: Downfall. For the sake of variety, I am writing the book backwards -- epilogue is done, working on the last chapter now.
3) Much has been made on BZP
Every year at this time, LEGO employees travel to Toys R Us stores all over NY, NJ, CT and MA, helping out store personnel and customers seeking LEGO sets. This year, staff writer Daniel Lipkowitz and I get the fun of working at the Toys R Us Times Square store in Manhattan. We expect it to be hectic, as we'll be there the 18th and 19th!
This has been a fantastic year for LEGO sales, so I don't know how much will still be on the shelves --people are buying sets as fast as our manufacturing fo
Something cute that happened today ...
I received in the mail this morning at work a copy of Archivaria, the Journal of the Association of Canadian Archivists (number 61, spring 2006). And who do you think is on the cover??
Tehutti!
I had been in contact with the folks there for some time, and they were just thrilled that we made an action figure of an archivist. So we made arrangements to get them packaging art that they could put on the cover of their journal. So Tehutti lives on, in
As promised, more on my week -- after the BIONICLE meetings were through, the LEGO Club/Community team piled into a bus and drove 90 minutes to the very western coast of Jutland to a little seaside hotel. Instead of doing our quarterly meeting in Billund like we usually do, it had been decided we would get away for a little while from the stresses of the office.
Almost the entire team was there, so it was quite a few people. The meeting was about planning our projects for next year and on th
Back from Billund (with a sidetrip to a hotel on the west coast, about which more in a future entry), after a very successful BIONICLE story meeting. So I thought it would be a good time to answer some of the questions I get about how the story is put together and how the story meetings work.
We went into this meeting with a very, very basic idea for 2008, which had been approved by top management. The whole team was there -- myself, representing the actual writing end; Leah, the web producer
Sunday morning and hard at work on Bionicle Legends #7, which is due in a few weeks. Vezon just slammed Matoro headfirst into a wall (bet he will regret that before he gets much older).
Writing to the absolute best music ever invented for writing -- the music of Ennio Morricone, who did the soundtracks for all those old Clint Eastwood "spaghetti Westerns" like A Fistful of Dollars and The Good, The Bad and the Ugly. Boy, if you can't write a good action scene with that playing, you might as w
Almost too hot to write here in sunny CT ...
Started BL #7 today -- I want to spend some of it dealing with an issue that has been brought up a few times lately, namely why don't Toa kill their enemies? And is that a reasonable stance to take when you are fighting for the safety of millions? Is the code of the Toa important, or is it outmoded when you are up against beings like the Piraka? (It's more fun to write if the books aren't just plot, but actually are ABOUT something.)
Some reall
Last blog entry before heading to San Diego on Wednesday --
This weekend was my birthday, so I have been mainly staying away from the keyboard and trying to chill, since I know next weekend will be insane (Comic-Con always is). There is no tired like San Diego tired ...
Had a really great BIONICLE business team meeting on Friday, to discuss 2007 and start talking about 2008. This is very different from the story team -- it's a US-only group, consisting of the Brand Director, Brand Manager,
Still at work on the Atlas -- just finishing the chapter on Roodaka's island, which is my favorite part so far.
Got a nice surprise the other day -- BIONICLE Adventures novels in Russian! (At least, I think it was Russian -- we thought it might be Greek at first, but then someone told us no, it was Russian.)
Time to take a break from writing, play some World of Warcraft, and then take my wife up to the mall for some shopping. Tomorrow is more writing, Monday is another outing, and then Tue
Hey guys,
Just some more tidbits from the world of BIONICLE --
-- Comic #3 is finally done and releasing to the printer on Monday. It is a little behind schedule, but through no fault of Stuart's or DC's -- we had a hold-up getting them sets they needed for art reference, so it threw things behind. Overall, though, it may be the best issue we have ever done -- the writing is better, the art is gorgeous, lots of action. For those of you who have read Book 3, a lot will be familiar, but it i
One more day left in my BIONICLE week in Billund, and thought I would share some notes:
-- Piraka are doing very well, outselling the Toa Hordika and Visorak from 2005. Everyone is very pleased about that.
-- Saw the first Toa Inika commercials yesterday, which were just great. Very different, but still true to the feel of the characters and what they can do.
-- Got some details on some big promotions and some big web news you will be hearing about in the coming weeks.
-- Saw the whole ran
