Jump to content

Poll: Greg Farshtey


fishers64

Everybody Loves GregF (Not?)  

132 members have voted

You do not have permission to vote in this poll, or see the poll results. Please sign in or register to vote in this poll.

Recommended Posts

After witnessing my brain shift around on this, I have decided to try to get objective data on this subject. 

 

Please no flamewars. :( Criticizing Greg and saying that you don't like his writing/stuff is perfectly fine, but I'd rather not see people insulting Greg as a result of this thread. 

 

Go vote!

  • Upvote 3
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Yeah, I've been having a "brain shift" as well. I really loved a lot of Greg's earlier works, especially Time Trap (who doesn't?), but I will agree that by the end, there was not enough planning and way too many threads going all over the place. Just asking him questions on the LMB shows how little he actually thought anything through. If you're going to be developing a massive story and have extra plots all over the place, you need to be able to plan what will happen and how some threads will tie together before you end up with a big tangled mess.

 

As far as writing goes, I recognize he was writing for kids. It doesn't have to be, and shouldn't be, Shakespeare. Maybe I just need to reread some books and clear out the disillusionment of youth though. :P

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I voted "I liked the books, but didn't like the serials" for the first question. Mind you, that's a bit of a simplification. The serials weren't all bad—I particularly enjoyed the one focusing on Lesovikk and Karzahni—but the majority of them amounted to little more than fanservice (Let's team up old villains and see how they work together!) and many managed to make the Bionicle story more complex, not less. By the time the main story ended I was so sick of the serials and their propensity to leave loose plot threads via irrelevant characters toying with alternate dimensions that I was fully willing to ignore the rest of them and consider the story a closed book. The books, in general, were great, and managed to tell the full Bionicle story better than any other medium.

 

For the second question I voted "Yes, and they are the same quality as the Bionicle books." That's not to say they are the same—Greg's work on Ninjago, Hero Factory, and Chima is quite different from his work on Bionicle. His Hero Factory books alternate between feeling like a police procedural or other genres like space horror or post-apoc stories, and I feel he got to flex his creative muscles a little better with that series than he could with the epic Bionicle saga. It's a shame that book series was not successful, because the books were miles better than the Hero Factory TV episodes even at their worst. His Ninjago books tend to tell shorter, episodic stories. They're excellent, and would fit right in with the feel of the show. They feature amazing character development and if they differ from the show in any way, it's by featuring fewer crazy action scenes and more mysteries and innovative applications of character powers and skills. His work on Chima is also vastly different from either of the above, or Bionicle: the stories are sillier, more fable-like tales with clear morals and plenty of comic relief. I honestly like these a LOT better than what I've seen of the TV show—stories about Cragger drinking a fake invisibility potion and trying to spy on the lions or Wonald the vegetarian wolf hold more appeal to me than the few episodes I saw that couldn't seem to adequately balance the humor of the character interactions with the severity of war. As a side note, the Chima books are fully illustrated, as are the European Ninjago chapter books. It's a lovely touch that gives you a better picture of the diverse locations and characters.

 

For the third question I answered "Him writing stories is fine, but the fan questions are annoying and should stop." I love interacting with the creators of the content I enjoy as much as anyone, but I feel the obligation Greg had to answer as many fan questions as possible was a detriment to the story both in terms of overexplaining the minutiae of the series as well as distracting Greg from his actual work writing. I wouldn't want to lose the ability to ask him about the story completely, of course. Perhaps a middle ground would work—BZPower staff could field questions from the community and a select few (the best of the best) would periodically be chosen to ask Greg about. That way really pressing issues like plot holes could still be addressed, but interacting with him would no longer be a free-for-all. This would also have the benefit of allowing him to interact with BZP in the first place, since I don't believe the issue with him interacting with kids online on sites other than Lego.com was ever really addressed.

  • Upvote 6

Formerly Lyichir: Rachira of Influence

Aanchir's and Meiko's brother

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Greg's books were THE best books I've ever read.

He should be MORE involved.

  • Upvote 1

Add me on 3DS: 0516-7750-0068

Add me on Wii U: Boidoh

 

"I am Lloyd Garmadon, son of Lord Garmadon." - Lloyd, Episode 4: Never Trust a Snake

"I am Lloyd Garmadon, son of Lord Garmadon." - Lloyd, Episode 44: Corridor of Elders

Like, Comment, And Subscribe for Nintendo Content - NinBoidoh

Link to comment
Share on other sites

He's a decent writer, not a great one, but a decent one. He had good work (Time Trap, Matoro's sacrifice) and he had bad work (the unfinished serials, alternate universes). I don't count Bara Magna as one of his failures, because even though it was poorly written, it wasn't Greg's fault. The Bara Magna arc was originally supposed to go 3 years, but Lego decided to cancel Bionicle. So Greg was forced to cram 3 years of story into one year. His work on Ninjago was mediocre at best. I read a few of the books and they are quite childish, but I still think he did an overall good job on Bionicle.

POWER TO THE FANS

LETS TAKE BACK BZP FROM THE HERO FACTORY FANBOYS

STOP THIS POINTLESS CENSORSHIP AND SHEATHE THE BAN HAMMERS

BRING BACK THE FRIENDLY AND INFORMATIVE BZP

SUPPORT TTV AND GET ON THE HYPE TRAIN

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I liked his writing, all around. He was far from the best I've read, but good enough for Bionicle.

 

Unfortunately I haven't read his work for other series, though I'm rather interested in his HF books. I might try to buy them sometime.

 

I'd be cool with his staying on the story team, and writing stories for it, but the whole fan question thing....I didn't mind it at the time much, but looking back that was a huge mess, and while I don't think there should be absolutely no interaction, it should be a lot less than it used to be.

AXKP5KC.png


 


 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

1. While they weren't the best books I ever read, I did really enjoy all the Bionicle books and serials that were released over the years. 

 

2. I haven't read any media on any of the themes mentioned that Greg has written books for, so I can't comment on them.

 

3. I'm fine with him staying on and writing books and/or serials for Bionicle again. But I do think the fans questions either need to be stopped completely or have a system where certain questions are sent and then Greg just answers those and those alone.

Everyone is one choice away from being the bad guy in another person's story.


 


pc0lX6T.png

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I think Greg's a good writer as long as he's kept in check a little bit. He should never be the sole head of story, and he should have to run his content past other good story people so that his worst writing habits don't rear their heads. I think the arrangement that they had from 2001-2005 was really good, and I'd like to see something like it again. 

 

EDIT: Does anybody remember Tales of the Masks from 2003? One of my favorite books by him, and a great collection of Toa Nuva stories. (Makes me wish he had been writing them from the start instead of Cathy Hapka.) His books from TotM to the early 2006 books are all gold, and I'm convinced that it's because he wasn't head of story until after those were written. 

Edited by Wrinkledlion X
  • Upvote 6
Link to comment
Share on other sites

There's nothing wrong with him being involved just as long as it's kept to a certain level. He's great at writing comics and individual scenes, but his writing isn't quite strong or varied enough to hold up a whole universe of story. And whilst the information he's provided about 'behind the scenes' stuff has certainly been interesting, on the whole I think Bionicle as a developing story would've benefited from fans being left to think and decide about some things themselves, rather than running to Greg for answers on every last point.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I want to keep Greg because it will keep some of that classic factor. 

Steam Name: Toa Hahli Mahri. Xbox Live Gamertag: Makuta. Minecraft Username: ThePoohster.

Wants: 2003 Jaller (from Jaller and Gukko), Exo-Toa, Turaga Nuju, Turaga Vakama, Shadow Kraata, Axonn, Brutaka, Vezon & Fenrakk, Nocturn, ORANGE FIKOU.

I got rid of my picture, are you happy?

 

 

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I like Greg's work, but I agree that he shouldn't be the head of story again.

Also I find the fan questions kind of stupid. You shouldn't get all your questions answered as easily as that, the story should motivate you to think about these questions yourself.

I've seen many people who want Bionicle to have that mysterious feel to it again, that won't really work if Greg answers every irrelevant little question instead of letting us draw conclusions on our own, or even leaving us completely in the dark.

  • Upvote 1

Hail Denmark

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I consider Greg one of my favorite and most influential writers. There are no BIONICLE books or serials I don't enjoy. Sahmad's Tale is actually one of my favorites, although I do agree the quality declined post-2007.

 

I've only read one non-BIONICLE work by him, Hero Factory Secret Mission 1: The Doom Box. He brought the same snarky charm he brought to BIONICLE, although I still dislike the overall concept of HF compared to BIONICLE enough that I must say I enjoyed it less.

 

I feel I should remind everyone that Vakama's much-maligned defection in 2005 was done against Greg's adamant protests, and we'd probably have had a much more natural 2005 if Greg had more control. Despite his faults, what he says about treating characters like personal friends is true. He knows how to humanize these foreign characters better than anyone else. It wouldn't be BIONICLE without him, frankly.

  • Upvote 2

"You are an absolute in these uncertain times. Your past is forgotten, and your
future is an empty book. You must find your own destiny, my brave adventurer.
"
-- Turaga Nokama

nichijou2.jpg

Click here to visit my library!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I wonder if Harry Potter forums have polls over whether J.K. Rowling is a good author.

 

Farshtey may not be the best author ever, but he's the one we ended up with. And considering Bionicle is a toy line, what he's done for the fanbase is beyond compare. He's written dozens of books, made sure the comics were inviting to casuals as well as involved fans, and on his own free time wrote like a dozen story serials and answered thousands of fan questions - even the stupid ones. Even if he's not exceptional as a writer, per se, I still maintain that he is a very, very good storyteller.

 

If he comes back for Bionicle's reboot, I'd be pleased, especially when you look at the silly, juvenile turn Lego's brands have taken (Hero Factory and Chima). If he's part of the story team for next year, I'm sure he'd remember us old-timers and try to make the line appealing to both old and new fans.

  • Upvote 4

 

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I really, really enjoy Greg's work. BIONICLE is seriously the best storyline I've every read, and I have Greg to thank for that. I haven't read any of his Ninjago or Chima stuff, though. I hope that he has a lot of involvement in the new line, but he doesn't HAVE to be the main man again. I'd like to see someone else's vision of a rebooted (or continuing) universe.

Edited by Toa Green Ninja

"We didn't lose the battle. Today, we just lost the fight." -Lloyd Garmadon
ninjago-green-ninja.jpg
Avid collector of LEGO for many, many years. Feel free to private message me, or email me at greenninjaatcp@gmail.com, and I'll be happy to help. A ninja never quits!

Visit the Mixels Wiki! http://www.mixels.wikia.com

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I feel I should remind everyone that Vakama's much-maligned defection in 2005 was done against Greg's adamant protests, and we'd probably have had a much more natural 2005 if Greg had more control. Despite his faults, what he says about treating characters like personal friends is true. He knows how to humanize these foreign characters better than anyone else. It wouldn't be BIONICLE without him, frankly.

I do not have any problem with Vakama's defection in 2005, and that's on account of Greg's writing. Even though he didn't think Vakama deserting his team was ideal or realistic, in the 2005 chapter books he managed to create a brilliant motivation for Vakama to do so — angst over Lhikan's death combined with planted evidence that convinced him he and the other Toa Metru were never meant to be Toa in the first place. Convince a Toa that his unity, duty, and destiny were all built on a lie, and that the consequence of believing this lie was the conquest of his homeland and the death of that homeland's only real hero, and it's no surprise that he stops believing in anything other than his basest instincts.

 

Personally, I think Greg has done a very good job writing stories for LEGO, and he has learned a lot since he started writing for BIONICLE. I would certainly trust him to write stories for the new BIONICLE. With that said, I think some people also tend to underestimate the contributions of other members of the story team as well as Greg's ability to write for a franchise that he's not on the story team for. His Hero Factory, Ninjago, and Legends of Chima stories have demonstrated a brilliant degree of versatility on his part, even though he's not on the story team for any of those themes. So I do NOT think that Greg necessarily has to be on the story team to contribute to the new BIONICLE in a meaningful way.

 

I have mixed feelings about the fan questions. It's great to be able to ask an actual writer for the theme to explain his thoughts behind a confusing story decision or an apparent contradiction. It's not so great when this becomes an avenue for people wanting to put their own stamp on the official story or demand answers to questions that have not become relevant enough to be addressed within the story itself. Towards the end of the BIONICLE theme, it was difficult to properly understand the storyline without keeping up with all the questions that people asked Greg on a regular basis, and that's not how things should be.

  • Upvote 2
Link to comment
Share on other sites

His work on Ninjago was mediocre at best. I read a few of the books and they are quite childish, but I still think he did an overall good job on Bionicle.

Which do you think his Ninjago stories are? Mediocre, or childish? Because it sounds an awful lot like you're using the two terms to imply the same thing, and I think that does a disservice to the art of writing for children. Good writing doesn't need to be mature or gritty or self-absorbed—it takes just as much craft to write an innocent adventure story as it does to write a dark and complex saga. And frankly, I might even argue that Greg is better at the former than the latter. His Ninjago stories are self-contained and packed with humorous and heartfelt character interactions, and on the whole I would consider them less flawed than the Bionicle story was.

  • Upvote 2

Formerly Lyichir: Rachira of Influence

Aanchir's and Meiko's brother

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I voted that I liked his writing. I honestly enjoyed most of the serials in 2007/2008 before they got too convoluted in 2009. I have read the Hero Factory books that he wrote, and while I enjoyed his Bionicle stuff more, I thought they were still really cool, especially with how they were essentially "One-off" adventures that tied into the main storyline of the year in a different way. Rather than chronicle the main storyline of the year in them, the books were about separate encounters with the villains of the year, or explaining backstory regarding the villains. If they can find a way to make books like that work for Bionicle I'd be all for it. As far as his involvement with new Bionicle... I'd rather have new people writing everything and for the most part new people on the story team just to keep it fresh; however, having a few old faces on the story team like Greg could help to balance it out and keep the spirit of old Bionicle alive.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

To be honest I don't mind Greg's writing but it could be better. Most of the books felt meh to me. I haven't read his work with Ninjago or Chima so maybe he improved, I don't know.

 

If he is involved with the 2015 reboot, then I say keep him on the story but give him some limitations. Someone to tell if his ideas are bad and to try again. I think he was given too much control and made some bad decisions. That's just me though.

overwatch-pharah-mission-statement_Thumb

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I've never had an issue with Greg's writing, I've always felt like the fandom starting expecting more and more as the years went on until it just went into unrealistic territory; Bionicle had a story written around the toys, not toys built around a story, and I can't help but roll my eyes when folks go into an outrage that we're not getting JRR Tolkien quality of writing and worldbuilding. Let him keep doing what he's doing, it's great work for a children's story and it sold the toys well enough. It'll have been almost 5 years since the line ended and I'm sure he'll have improved and taken earlier criticisms into account. 

He could do better and I always miss CA Hapka's writing from the very first books, but Greg is a very important part of Bionicle, at least to me, and it would be lovely to have him back; it's unfair to blame everything on him as well, as if having him on the story team was the sole reason things went downhill. It's crucial to remember that the point of the story is to sell toys, not win any awards. It's always good to have high expectations and ask for quality work, but that's not the primary goal and it seems like people forget that, along with the fact that a majority of us are no longer the target audience and our standards are higher than ever.

 

What I really like about Greg is his dedication, and that he managed to crank out so many stories consistently for a decade and still communicate with the fans and just work work work nonstop. If we do have a new lead writer I would hope they have the same amount of enthusiasm and patience.

Edited by Pomegranate
  • Upvote 7

pomegranate-banner-sm.png .

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I think Greg is fine as a writer. He knows what the audience wants and why they came into the particular story, and he delivers on all fronts (including the alternate dimension stories). He writes with fans clearly in mind, and that makes his work accessible and enjoyable. In the whole picture, it may not always work out, but considering what he had to work with, he did a great job. And for some characters, he was able to give some depth where none had been before. 

 

His writing style is simple enough for younger readers to associate with, but not played down to the point of boring the older audience. I think the stories where he has a lot of control are when his writing really shine through, and it can be seen in a lot of serials that focus on one or two characters.

 

Yes, the alternate universes started to get boring and convoluted and I will not try to justify that. Some of the later serials only amounted to "let's have character A team up with character B and see what happens" and it just wasn't special anymore. It felt like it was trying too hard to cater to the fans.

 

Yet in the main story (told in books and comics), the story was straight and true. It never really fell off track and each plot point was reached with progression. In the main story, I hardly felt like there was a point of regressing back, because the pacing was tight and really kept pushing forward to a single climax. Now, I don't really remember the writing in the books but I'm sure having to write for a more accessible audience was actually what made the novels really work on a narrative level.

 

Its great to hear Greg's writing on Ninjago and Chima are varied. I haven't read them myself, but that proves (to me) that he a competent writer who can achieve narrative cohesion without relying too much on tried-and-true techniques.

 

I would love to see Greg return for Bionicle in 2015. I'm sure the novels and comics (if we have them) will be excellent as always. Story serial-wise, well, why not? I mean, it's not like we had to read them. When I read serials like Destiny War, I always had the impression that Greg was just enjoying writing it. And I definitely dug that.

 

-NotS

Edited by Nidhiki of the Shadows
  • Upvote 5

tahubanner.jpg

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Greg can be somewhat hit-and-miss. I enjoyed a lot of his work with BIONICLE, even though I admit some was pretty mediocre. Haven't read his other LEGO works, so I can't judge on that front. He seems to work well without as much creative freedom, as he basically went full-on comicbook near the end.

 

Him returning will be good, but hopefully what he puts out will be less confusing.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Greg can be somewhat hit-and-miss. I enjoyed a lot of his work with BIONICLE, even though I admit some was pretty mediocre. Haven't read his other LEGO works, so I can't judge on that front. He seems to work well without as much creative freedom, as he basically went full-on comicbook near the end.

 

Him returning will be good, but hopefully what he puts out will be less confusing.

Honestly, I felt he did best with a very balanced level of creative freedom, like he had for Time Trap. That was basically free from the shackles of the convoluted 2005 story and the freedom that gave him allowed him to tell a really unique story with only a few characters. But importantly, he still had something to work toward—both foreshadowing the 2006 storyline and bridging the last of the gap between the Metru Nui and Mata Nui arcs. That's what I feel sets it apart from his less impressive work like the serials, especially the later ones: Time Trap did a good job of resolving a lot of Metru Nui's hanging plot threads and pointing the future story in a clear direction, as opposed to piling complex plot threads onto the story at a time when the main story needed to be wrapped up, and sending characters off on a bunch of different missions.

  • Upvote 3

Formerly Lyichir: Rachira of Influence

Aanchir's and Meiko's brother

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I think Greg's a fantastic writer and storyteller. I'm not sure why since classic BIONICLE ended it's become popular in  parts of the fandom to hate on him (and yes, I mean "hate," not "criticize"), but he really gets a lot of negativity for reasons with little validity. He wasn't perfect, of course, as when given complete creative freedom he sometimes let his stories get away from him and become a bit messy, and at times in the later years his writing erred on 'grimdark', but otherwise he was fabulous. I've reread many BIONICLE novels over the past few months, and not only do they hold up extremely well, in some cases they even came across better than when I read them when I was younger. I picked up on a lot of subtle characterization, clever foreshadowing, and some very interesting themes that remained consistent from novel to novel. 

 

Greg's on record on saying that he views BIONICLE as a character-driven story, and this is really evident in most of his work. A lot of people might wax poetic about how superior the early years were to the later ones, but the way I see it, the characters of BIONICLE's Mata Nui years were very archetypal and had a limited amount of development. It was in the later years, from Metru Nui onwards, that the characters really became fully-rounded, fleshed out, and very real, and this is almost entirely thanks to Greg's talent at writing them. I always felt that he understood his characters very well, understood what made them tick, how they thought, how they felt in different situations, etc. He's said over and over, in interviews or otherwise, that the most important part of writing is to properly understand your characters, because if you don't, the story will become unpredictable and messy, because you won't know how the characters would act in a given situation. I think Vakama's turn to evil in 2005 is one of the best examples how skilled Greg is at this, as mentioned earlier in this thread. Greg said that he felt Vakama betraying his team made no sense and that it should have been Matau, and yet I have difficulty believing that when Vakama's betrayal came across as the most natural thing in the world in the novels.  Even minor or side characters got a decent amount of characterization, because Greg knew how to give them that with only a little space to work with.

 

Aside from all of that, Greg always wrote thematically consistent stories that were really about the minds of the people in them than whatever conflict there was. This is most evident in his bridge stories, like The Darkness Below and Voyage of Fear, and especially Maze of Shadows. In the plotline of each of these books, there are clear themes and ideas that drive the story and really make each a cohesive, compelling narrative with an actual greater purpose outside of 'adventure' or whatnot. Someone on LMB recently asked Greg why Matoro was the one that died. Greg's answer was something along the lines of "Matoro was always the one who thought least of himself and never viewed himself in a heroic light, so it made dramatic sense for him to be the greatest hero of all." Small things like that show Greg's understanding of the mechanics of telling a story. Also, I would like to point out that Greg was never the one who decided the story on his own; he was just one member of the story team, albeit with a little more freedom due to the serials.

 

Greg's received a lot of backlash since he revealed he doesn't like planning ahead exactly what he's going to write, and a lot of people use this to mock and degrade his storytelling. All I have to say is, people take this statement too literally. Rereading his bridge stories specifically, there's always a lot of foreshadowing to the end of the book, and the narrative is always very cohesive and consistent. I think it's plain Greg has a few ideas of what the story is going to be about, the themes, and writes with those as his guideline. There is more than enough evidence that it worked almost perfectly with the novels, but less so with the serials, where Greg went a bit haywire in the last years. 

 

And even if you dislike Greg's writing, give the man a little credit for devoting so much of his time to BIONICLE fans, even when he didn't need to. He has an obvious love for the series, and it's sad to see how dismissive some fans have become of him. 

 

I've only read one non-BIONICLE novel from Greg, and that's the first Hero Factory book, which I enjoyed a lot, one of the only pieces of HF media that I actually liked. He has a wide range, that much is obvious.
  • Upvote 5

toakopaka.png
Credit goes to Linus Van Pelt (Formerly known as Cherixon) and Spectral Avohkii Enterprises

My Memoirs of the Dead entry, Reflectons:

http://www.bzpower.com/board/index.php?showtopic=7351

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Greg's interaction with fans was great. Some of the serials, however, were not. He's told us that he has interacted with the story team, and I hope he has some involvement, but works in tandem with this story team, so that if we do have online serials, they don't peter off into drivel, like Riddle of the Great Beings and The Powers That Be

index.jpg


 


Twitter: @enkindle_this


 


 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

i'm not a fan of his writing, largely later on as his characters kept to the same sorts of archetypes and most were fairly flat and underdeveloped (and a lot were useless and just kinda -there-). i dislike the process he had to writing, which was make stuff up as he went (at least for the serials) as it caused a lot of issues with the plot, with implications his writing created, and... well, to me, it made it seemed like he didn't really care about the story that much.

 

kinda in the same vein with all the canonizing he allowed BZPower to do. it by and large felt like he didn't want to write the stories, or develop the world, so he decided to let the fans do that instead (with results i still cringe at).

 

i don't know if he ever read criticism, like that of the Orde Ordeal (im kinda tempted to just call it the Ordeal), and i really dont know if he ever cared that his female characters needed more work, that his characterizations of them needed more work, that he wrote them incredibly similarly or within the boundaries of overdone and trite archetypes. the fact that, by and large, there seemed very little change made me feel like he didn't really care that much about the criticisms, about how his story was appealing to some fans (at least the serials, since, tbh, he didn't really have to care at that point).

 

i'd rather have an enthusiastic writer who wants to put together a fun, neat story that has an interesting and unique plot and atmosphere. someone who cares more about their work, who thinks critically about their work, who takes in and filters criticisms made of the story in order to try to make it better/remove problematic issues from the story as they crop up. someone who might take risks and make unconventional and interesting characters (no not vezon, vezon was terrible) that help represent a wider swathe of fans.

 

and someone who makes an interesting, compelling antagonist who isn't purely evil because "we need an antagonist to do stuff" like... like give the antagonist some interesting goals, interesting dreams -- maybe they believe they are helping the world somehow, but through a largely misguided means? or something (if Pokemon could pull that much off in White, i feel like i can reasonably expect lego to put some effort into the antagonist and their goals/ideals).

 

and no. more. canonizing. sprees.

  • Upvote 3
Link to comment
Share on other sites

If 2015 is going to be a continuity, then I'd say yeah, have him on the story team for sure, it'd be great help with keeping to the existing continuity and such.

 

If 2015 is a new canon? I feel Farshtey would be completely optional. He's done some great things for the Bionicle line, but if LEGO wants a fresh take on the series it'd be good to have different, new talent holding the reins this time.

 

</opinion>

  • Upvote 1

~Bionicle Online Games Guru~
Current Bionicle Sets: 232/250
2001: 23/24 2002: 20/21 2003: 22/22 2004: 22/22 2005: 23/23
2006: 16/22 2007: 22/22 2008: 25/27 2009: 26/26 2010: 4/6
2015: 18/18 2016: 11/17

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 3 weeks later...

I said "they're okay" because he's not a terrible writer, just a mediocre one, and then i said "other" because while i'd be fine with him on the story team again, I'd rather have new blood in the story writing bit.

 

This is about the way I feel. The only difference is that I think that he ought to lay off canonizing things about the old BIONICLE universe because he has no real reason to worry about consistency in the old canon anymore. (As if that really stopped him before.)

 

I liked the fact that the fans were able to give so much input (Psionics is an awesome element, hush your mouth) but I don't think he even cares at all about the decisions he rubberstamps anymore.

  • Upvote 1
How well will you die?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I do enjoy his stuff, although it's not like it's totally the best stuff I've ever read in my life, but he's kind of up there. He had a way to bring these characters and environments to life and I really enjoyed that about his writing.

 

I've only read the Hero Factory books, and from what I have read of them, they're almost the same quality, but obviously just different characters, locations, etc. In some ways, it's a little more mature than the old animated mini series that was on the Spongebob channel for a little while. 

 

I'd have to agree with a few people who have pointed it out on here. Greg, while being the overall story master of the Bionicle universe, did not seem to sure about a few things when asked on various message boards. Not just the Lego ones, but even on here, some information doesn't seem consistent. Sadly, the 2001-2010 story became very jumbled up and confusing after 2005, so in a sense I can sort of understand. So bottom line is maybe keep him around if possible, but otherwise maybe it's best to not have him totally overseeing every bit of story media. I'd maybe like to see him just come out and say how the serials end because after 3 (almost 4) years of not knowing, I'd like to hope we ought to get something out of it. I don't care so much if they get "posted" anywhere, but maybe just some story boards or notes, something. 

 

With this new reboot with a new story and setting, I'm hoping they have a better idea of what to do, what worked, and what didn't work. Maybe simplifying the story will help younger fans feel more comfortable and not so overwhelmed if they were to try and look into it. And maybe a new sense of writing and style will also help it move along smoother, so as much as I like Greg, I think perhaps it is best to move along with a new story crew. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I really loved all of his Bionicle books. I do think that the serials had its share of rough edges, but I do not think that those were Greg's fault. The bad parts of those were because of the story team enforcing a silly rule about having to end each chapter on a cliffhanger.

 

I do not believe he is the greatest author who ever lived, but I will read a book just because he has written it.

 

Also, since it seems that a lot of people have not read them, Greg's books from the other themes are pretty good.

PSN ID: darthlego
Gamertag: SPARTAN J46
Steam name: jumpy46

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I'm indifferent about his books, mostly because I didn't have very high expectations of books about a toy line. But the ones I've read were enjoyable enough. :)

 

I wasn't sure about his involvement in the new story, but now that we know for sure there's a new time I'm excited to see what they have planned. It didn't really make much difference to me if Greg is involved or not.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

... but I don't think he even cares at all about the decisions he rubberstamps anymore.

 

Well, should he really care? I mean, the old Bionicle is purely for the fans now. The Powers That Be and The Yesterday Quest were made just for us BZP fans, and with 2015 seemingly being a reboot I think we'll never be able to revisit the original Bionicle. If a fan asks him to canonize something that doesn't contradict canon or isn't extremely radical, since it doesn't affect the new line at all, why shouldn't he indulge the fanbase and canonize it?

 

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.
Note: Your post will require moderator approval before it will be visible.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

×
×
  • Create New...