Opinions on Greg Fashley's Writing.

[Toa o Uria]

What are your thoughts on Greg's writing of Bionicle?

[Akaku: Master of Flight]

It was great, imo. Bionicle wouldn't have gone as far as it did if it wasn't for him, I think its safe to say.... Though at the same time, the Glatorian era was when I started loosing interest in the story, though that could've just been a part of me growing up and being more critical of the story. Is he in charge of the reboot? I think I remember hearing somewhere that he wasn't...

 

--Akaku: Master of Flight

[Irrie]

A lot of people don't like what he did with the serials, but I really liked where he took the story with the alternate dimensions and whatnot. 

As for his actual writing style, aside from his comments about "no villain can be redeemed", I think that he's pretty good. A lot better than Hapka anyway.

[fishers64]

Greg Farshtey is Bionicle's best writer to date. 

[Tarvaxx]

It was awful. I really didn't like where he took the story. All of the mysticism and wonder fell flat and never appeared again after 2003. After that most of the story was about an island we didn't stay on long enough to know anything about, Matoran that we didn't spend enough time with to care about, and random freaking explanations that often contradicted past story elements for things that didn't need to be told in depth. Eventually it felt less about mysterious beings with mystical control over the elements and prophecies that could give a glimpse into the future and more about lying Turaga and Sci-Fi technology mixed with a logical in-universe explanation for every single strange occurrence. 

 

The fantasy part of BIONICLE died wayyy too soon for my taste. Don't get me wrong, I liked BIONICLE despite all of its flaws, but those flaws still exist and stick out like a sore thumb if you're willing to acknowledge them. 

 

Edit: I also think he had a bit too much control in specific aspects of the canon during the later years such as making romance non-canon.

Edited September 28, 2015 by Tarvaxx

[Irrie]

It was awful. I really didn't like where he took the story. All of the mysticism and wonder fell flat and never appeared again after 2003. After that most of the story was about an island we didn't stay on long enough to know anything about, Matoran that we didn't spend enough time with to care about, and random freaking explanations that often contradicted past story elements for things that didn't need to be told in depth. Eventually it felt less about mysterious beings with mystical control over the elements and prophecies that could give a glimpse into the future and more about lying Turaga and Sci-Fi technology mixed with a logical in-universe explanation for every single strange occurrence. 

 

The fantasy part of BIONICLE died wayyy too soon for my taste. Don't get me wrong, I liked BIONICLE despite all of its flaws, but those flaws still exist and stick out like a sore thumb if you're willing to acknowledge them. 

 

Edit: I also think he had a bit too much control on specific aspects of the canon during the later years such as making romance non-canon. Seriously though dude, just because you and your wife got a divorce doesn't mean romance in BIONICLE is bad. Sheesh.

Too far. Way too far. 

That post was salty enough without you attacking his personal life, which is none of your business in the first place. 

[Tarvaxx]

 

It was awful. I really didn't like where he took the story. All of the mysticism and wonder fell flat and never appeared again after 2003. After that most of the story was about an island we didn't stay on long enough to know anything about, Matoran that we didn't spend enough time with to care about, and random freaking explanations that often contradicted past story elements for things that didn't need to be told in depth. Eventually it felt less about mysterious beings with mystical control over the elements and prophecies that could give a glimpse into the future and more about lying Turaga and Sci-Fi technology mixed with a logical in-universe explanation for every single strange occurrence. 

 

The fantasy part of BIONICLE died wayyy too soon for my taste. Don't get me wrong, I liked BIONICLE despite all of its flaws, but those flaws still exist and stick out like a sore thumb if you're willing to acknowledge them. 

 

Edit: I also think he had a bit too much control on specific aspects of the canon during the later years such as making romance non-canon. Seriously though dude, just because you and your wife got a divorce doesn't mean romance in BIONICLE is bad. Sheesh.

Too far. Way too far. 

That post was salty enough without you attacking his personal life, which is none of your business in the first place. 

 

Nah, it wasn't an attack at all, nor was my post salty. Everything I said was either derived from things that had happened in the story or other things of factual nature. Of course my dislike for its direction was an opinion.

[Rahkshi Lalonde]

i admit i didn't read much but i've read all the serials and i can say that overall they are the WORST and honestly barely feel like bionicle. :0

 

he can describe and write well enough yes, but this guy just cannot tell a coherent, believable or likeable story for his life. :t

 

(he also seems to have some sort of evident disdain for mystical or tribal religions, or, if not, he sure gives the wrong impression.)

 

 

 aside from his comments about "no villain can be redeemed",

 

I just realized he himself contradicted this because he tried to redeem both vezon AND roodaka at the same exact time.  :0

[Irrie]

 

 

It was awful. I really didn't like where he took the story. All of the mysticism and wonder fell flat and never appeared again after 2003. After that most of the story was about an island we didn't stay on long enough to know anything about, Matoran that we didn't spend enough time with to care about, and random freaking explanations that often contradicted past story elements for things that didn't need to be told in depth. Eventually it felt less about mysterious beings with mystical control over the elements and prophecies that could give a glimpse into the future and more about lying Turaga and Sci-Fi technology mixed with a logical in-universe explanation for every single strange occurrence. 

 

The fantasy part of BIONICLE died wayyy too soon for my taste. Don't get me wrong, I liked BIONICLE despite all of its flaws, but those flaws still exist and stick out like a sore thumb if you're willing to acknowledge them. 

 

Edit: I also think he had a bit too much control on specific aspects of the canon during the later years such as making romance non-canon. Seriously though dude, just because you and your wife got a divorce doesn't mean romance in BIONICLE is bad. Sheesh.

Too far. Way too far. 

That post was salty enough without you attacking his personal life, which is none of your business in the first place. 

 

Nah, it wasn't an attack at all, nor was my post salty. Everything I said was either derived from things that had happened in the story or other things of factual nature. Of course my dislike for its direction was an opinion.

 

Did he say that because of his divorce that he will not allow for romance to be canon? If he did, may I have a source for it? 

Because I seriously doubt that's the case, he repeatedly said that he did not want romance because of the nature of the Matoran, not because of his personal life. 

[Toa Imrukii]

I don't dislike Greg's work, but I feel like either he started to loose touch in the later years, or LEGO started to loose touch and his work didn't really help with bionicles issues at the time (as in the set design, especially withe the Phantoka and Mistika, I felt like they where lackluster at best, the Makuta, or at least most of them where fine sets, though I do know that they base the story off of the sets, perhaps they should have done the reverse in 2008)

 

 

Now the Glatorian.... Yeah them, oh, um well....? I like the idea that they where going for, a new world, new characters, new species, ect. But they way it was done felt extremely rushed to me, granted the sets where unique for what they had on hand but still, at that point the Inika build was just disgusting and lame at that point, not a lot of new pieces, plus the ball sockets where very weak, which only made them worse, add to that, that they used the Av-Matoran build for the Agori and we ended up having what I felt was a rerun of 2008, but worse in my eyes. The story I felt was poop and as stated earlier the sets didn't help, it just didn't work with the majority of buyers. But that's a long, long story that I wish not to get into right now.

 

 

All in all I feel like his writing helped BIONICLE greatly, just not in the last three years of the original run.

Edited September 28, 2015 by Toa Imrukii

[Tarvaxx]

 

 

 

It was awful. I really didn't like where he took the story. All of the mysticism and wonder fell flat and never appeared again after 2003. After that most of the story was about an island we didn't stay on long enough to know anything about, Matoran that we didn't spend enough time with to care about, and random freaking explanations that often contradicted past story elements for things that didn't need to be told in depth. Eventually it felt less about mysterious beings with mystical control over the elements and prophecies that could give a glimpse into the future and more about lying Turaga and Sci-Fi technology mixed with a logical in-universe explanation for every single strange occurrence. 

 

The fantasy part of BIONICLE died wayyy too soon for my taste. Don't get me wrong, I liked BIONICLE despite all of its flaws, but those flaws still exist and stick out like a sore thumb if you're willing to acknowledge them. 

 

Edit: I also think he had a bit too much control on specific aspects of the canon during the later years such as making romance non-canon. Seriously though dude, just because you and your wife got a divorce doesn't mean romance in BIONICLE is bad. Sheesh.

Too far. Way too far. 

That post was salty enough without you attacking his personal life, which is none of your business in the first place. 

 

Nah, it wasn't an attack at all, nor was my post salty. Everything I said was either derived from things that had happened in the story or other things of factual nature. Of course my dislike for its direction was an opinion.

 

Did he say that because of his divorce that he will not allow for romance to be canon? If he did, may I have a source for it? 

Because I seriously doubt that's the case, he repeatedly said that he did not want romance because of the nature of the Matoran, not because of his personal life. 

 

That part, my dear condescending and generally enraged friend, was to be considered a jest. Quite sorry that your didn't have the right sense of humor for that. Of course if you would have noticed, that part had been edited out anyway so all of this should be of little importance to you.

Edited September 28, 2015 by Tarvaxx

[Lyichir]

 

 

It was awful. I really didn't like where he took the story. All of the mysticism and wonder fell flat and never appeared again after 2003. After that most of the story was about an island we didn't stay on long enough to know anything about, Matoran that we didn't spend enough time with to care about, and random freaking explanations that often contradicted past story elements for things that didn't need to be told in depth. Eventually it felt less about mysterious beings with mystical control over the elements and prophecies that could give a glimpse into the future and more about lying Turaga and Sci-Fi technology mixed with a logical in-universe explanation for every single strange occurrence. 

 

The fantasy part of BIONICLE died wayyy too soon for my taste. Don't get me wrong, I liked BIONICLE despite all of its flaws, but those flaws still exist and stick out like a sore thumb if you're willing to acknowledge them. 

 

Edit: I also think he had a bit too much control on specific aspects of the canon during the later years such as making romance non-canon. Seriously though dude, just because you and your wife got a divorce doesn't mean romance in BIONICLE is bad. Sheesh.

Too far. Way too far. 

That post was salty enough without you attacking his personal life, which is none of your business in the first place.

 

Nah, it wasn't an attack at all, nor was my post salty. Everything I said was either derived from things that had happened in the story or other things of factual nature. Of course my dislike for its direction was an opinion.

 

No. Bringing his divorce into this is not only inaccurate (that happened after Bionicle's end and long after he had created the "no romance" rule), but also way out of line. Even if it was meant as a joke, it was a mean-spirited and offensive one. Edited September 28, 2015 by Lyichir

[Irrie]

 

 

 

 

It was awful. I really didn't like where he took the story. All of the mysticism and wonder fell flat and never appeared again after 2003. After that most of the story was about an island we didn't stay on long enough to know anything about, Matoran that we didn't spend enough time with to care about, and random freaking explanations that often contradicted past story elements for things that didn't need to be told in depth. Eventually it felt less about mysterious beings with mystical control over the elements and prophecies that could give a glimpse into the future and more about lying Turaga and Sci-Fi technology mixed with a logical in-universe explanation for every single strange occurrence. 

 

The fantasy part of BIONICLE died wayyy too soon for my taste. Don't get me wrong, I liked BIONICLE despite all of its flaws, but those flaws still exist and stick out like a sore thumb if you're willing to acknowledge them. 

 

Edit: I also think he had a bit too much control on specific aspects of the canon during the later years such as making romance non-canon. Seriously though dude, just because you and your wife got a divorce doesn't mean romance in BIONICLE is bad. Sheesh.

Too far. Way too far. 

That post was salty enough without you attacking his personal life, which is none of your business in the first place. 

 

Nah, it wasn't an attack at all, nor was my post salty. Everything I said was either derived from things that had happened in the story or other things of factual nature. Of course my dislike for its direction was an opinion.

 

Did he say that because of his divorce that he will not allow for romance to be canon? If he did, may I have a source for it? 

Because I seriously doubt that's the case, he repeatedly said that he did not want romance because of the nature of the Matoran, not because of his personal life. 

 

That part, my dear condescending and generally enraged friend, was to be considered a jest. Quite sorry that your didn't have the right sense of humor for that. Of course if you would have noticed, that part had been edited out anyway so all of this should have no importance to you anyway.

 

I'll check the statistics, but I don't believe that most people find it humorous to make jokes about something as serious and painful as a divorce. 

[Tarvaxx]

I think all of this has gone off topic, considering that specific remark was edited out quite a while ago for the sole purpose that it was scathing and rude, which I hadn't intended for it to be. 

Edited September 28, 2015 by Tarvaxx

[Toa Imrukii]

I think all of this has gone off topic, considering that specific remark was edited out quite a while ago for the sole purpose that it was scathing and rude, which I hadn't intended for it to be. 

 

Knowing my history with you, I doubt that very much.

 

 

 

 

 

ANYHOW. I think that Greg was and sill is a great writer, and I hope that he works on his own series eventually. Or even better gets back into BIONICLE sometime, somehow, in someway or another.

Edited September 28, 2015 by Toa Imrukii

[Toa Smoke Monster]

Overall, I liked Greg's writing of the Gen 1 story. I do think that he spent time on certain characters that could've gone to others, like Vezon. And I think he got a little carried away with the alternate dimensions in the serials. But regardless of those nitpicks, I still liked all his Bionicle books and the majority of his serials. 

[Ford]

I liked it when I read it, but I couldn't get over how he wouldn't plan anything out. I mean, it's my understanding that if you're going to write a story, you should plan out how you are going to go about writing said story and map out the events from beginning to end. I'm speaking more to the serials, of course. I know he had to meet an end for the main stories.

[Sharnak the Bohrok Lord]

Greg, to me, is a good writer. I don't agree with all of his decisions and viewpoints, but I think he did a good job of making the BIONICLE universe feel real. My only major complaint is that the serials made the lore messy and hard to follow. I liked them better when they were contained side stories.

[Lyichir]

My opinion on Greg's writing is that it's variable. His writing for Bionicle ranged from good (much of the books and comics, especially the earlier ones) to regrettable (a huge portion of the serials and some of the other later stories). His work on Ninjago has been fantastic—particularly the first four chapter books, which did an excellent job of capturing the spirit of the TV special while at the same time enlivening and expanding the theme's world. I'd probably go so far as saying those books are better than any of the ones he wrote for Bionicle. I'd consider his work for Hero Factory and Chima somewhere in between—the Chima books are solid children's stories with an almost fable-like quality, and I liked them better than what little I saw of the TV series, while his Hero Factory stories may have occasionally indulged in some of his worse habits from his time writing for Bionicle, but were generally solid and usually a good deal better than the actual TV series.

 

He's far from a J.R.R. Tolkien or a J.K. Rowling, but to be honest I don't see why he should need to be. His job was writing books and comics to promote Lego toylines, and for the most part, he did that job adequately.

 

And beyond his writing, for what it's worth, I'd say he had a heck of a lot of patience for putting up with the fandom as much as he did. Your mileage may vary about whether the Ask Greg here on BZPower and elsewhere was a good or a bad thing for the series, but the very fact that he made himself available to the fandom at large (a fandom that's about as chaotic and hard to please as any) showed a great deal of dedication.

[believe victims]

For a man vocally opposed to outlining, he really worked best with a solid structure to support his stories. His books, while part of the reason for the ridiculous plunge into gritty grimdarkness that plagued the end of Bionicle, were usually solid stories, while his serials were sprawling tangled messes.

 

edit: oh yeah and he thinks redemption stories are unrealistic which is completely laughable

Edited September 29, 2015 by Signal Lancer

[unknown456]

Eh, I mean, I'm over all fine with his writing style. Admittedly, it's been a very long time since I've read any of the books or comics, so my opinion over the specifics of them might change if I ever go back and read them, but, speaking as my younger self, I thought it was fine overall. 

 

And as for the serials, I liked them as well.  I thought (and do think) that they added an extra... something. Those little details that we wouldn't of otherwise have gotten without them, and I like that aspect of them.  Now, does that mean I think they were perfect? No. Thinking back, Reign of Shadows, for example, could've had so much more opportunity.  He could've gone anywhere in the M.U. and shown different locations with a lot more diverse cast, and shown their efforts to resist Makuta, but no, instead we were stuck on Metru Nui for the most part with pretty much the same cast as the past 8 years... but at this point, I'm rambling. The long and short of it is that I was and I am fine with both the serials and the books/comics, and how he went with them.

 

Now, again, all of that doesn't mean that I totally agree with everything he's done, like lack of redemption or no romance in the M.U., but I'm willing to overlook all of that for the big picture. Was the story irreversibly ruined because Hewkii and Macku didn't get together in the end, or that Teridax couldn't be redeemed. The answer, imo, is no. But again, at this point I'm afraid I might be rambling again...    

 

(Also, what's with the alt. universes hate? There were like, what, 2-4 of them featured prominently? I dunno, maybe I'm just a sucker for that stuff...)  

Edited September 29, 2015 by unknown456

[Master Inika]

I liked it when I read it, but I couldn't get over how he wouldn't plan anything out. I mean, it's my understanding that if you're going to write a story, you should plan out how you are going to go about writing said story and map out the events from beginning to end. I'm speaking more to the serials, of course. I know he had to meet an end for the main stories.

I think Greg's method works well in terms of character reactions, but not plot points. When this is done well, it forces the character to grow and change in natural ways, but if you put them in too bad a spot with no way out, you end up having to compromise the quality of your story to keep them alive. For this reason, I try to adopt not planning my characters' reactions to things, but still make sure there is a clear way out.

 

On the whole, I love Greg's style. BIONICLE is what inspired me to begin writing, and my friends into BIONICLE tell me my style matches his in a lot of ways--quick action with enough descriptions to get an idea of what's going on. I consider Greg's style easy to visualize and quite cinematic. The downside, which I also have, is it's difficult to introduce the reader to bizarre, foreign ideas like BIONICLE. (Early versions of my long-term book project had a similar problem, being set on an alien planet with no humans.) Overall, LEGO kept him in charge for a reason.

[Naota Takizawa]

I don't mind Greg's writing, but I don't like his style of not planning when writing his stories, it's like he's making a rookie mistake that he refuses to fix. I like the worldbuilding he did, but I do wish he continued the mythological and tribal feeling the 2001 story had. 

 

If Greg ever gets the time to write a story, no matter how short it is, I  would love to see him cover stuff that we've never seen before, such as the life of Miserix or give those islands in the MU a chance to stand out. 

Edited September 29, 2015 by Arnold Schwarzenegger

[YoYoSirRahka]

I haven't read Greg's work in a long time. I will always love Time Trap and the rest of the Bionicle Adventures series. What always bothered me though is how much control he had over the lore in the later years. I might be wrong, but sometimes I feel like most fans treat his word as the be-all and end-all of the Bionicle canon. I know I'm not the only one who feels this way. It felt like he really changed the premise Thompson, Faber, Swinnerton, and Anderson came up with to suit his own interests. Bionicle started as a mythological adventure about heroes fighting gods and beasts and then ended as a fantasy war epic with many factions and conspiracies. It felt like a Greek Myth that decided it wanted to be the next Lord of the Rings instead. Neither is better or worse than the other, of course. I don't blame Greg for pursuing his interests in story direction and I'm not against change, but I just wish he hadn't completely overlooked the older fans who's favorite part of Bionicle story were the mythic/tribal elements. One big change that is an example of this huge tonal shift (and one that is constantly referenced) is Makuta's portrayal. I liked Makuta as a vengeful God who tortured an entire people over his petty jealousy. This Makuta felt more human to me than how he was later depicted: a cold, calculating, scheming mastermind who was always 10 steps ahead of everyone else and had 42 powers that he always forgot to use around the toa.
But that being said, obviously Bionicle was never just for the older fans. The entire fandom owes a lot to Greg. He kept it going on as long as he could and gave a lot of fans, new and old alike, a childhood that is irreplaceable because of his stories and characters. I will always have fond memories of going to the bookstore to see if the newest novel was out yet. I may not like every story decision he made, but I am still deeply grateful for his giant contributions.

[Toatapio Nuva]

I'm gonna repeat what many others have already mentioned: Greg's writing is ok, even good, but his ability to tell and keep a story coherent was seriously lacking. I enjoyed his books a great deal, while I positively hated the nonsense that went on in his serials.

[The Hip Historian Iaredios]

I really liked his stories. He was an early influence for me in writing, with the likes of John Tolkien and Clive Lewis joining him later on. The only bit of the stories I thought could have been better was Reign of Shadows and the stuff that came from that. I haven't read any of the 2009 books, but I did read the Bara Magna serials and I absolutely loved those. The fresh start that 2009 brought accompanied by his serials that largely left behind the baggage of a greater part of a decade's worth of story while still acknowledging their existence really drew me into it's lore, which is why I found it to be quite a shame that it was taken away so quickly with the cancellation of Bionicle. And I am sure that people know about my feelings on the basic structure of The Legend Reborn's plot: absolutely fantastic and epic in theory, but could have been executed much better.

 

I haven't read it, as previously stated, but how does TLR as a novelization do when compared to the movie? Is it the same? Is it better? Also, would it be worth reading all of 2009's (non-toddler) books?

 

 

 

As for the rest of his stuff, please do bear in mind this: A lot of the gripes that people have about the revelations of mysteries was planned all along, except things that came after 2008's finale. Also, most of the characters in Bionicle didn't know as much as the reader did. The world was still mysterious, we just got to have a deeper look behind the fog of time that only a small group of people got to know about.

 

I can't imagine what it would be like to be a simple little bio-mechanical emp and fish hunter in one of the southern isles and experience a great earthquake like none before, a thousand years of dim lighting, rumors of dark conquests by large spider armies with suited slug monsters and tall auto-piloted mechs by their side all led by god-like demons, hearing about wars and rumors of wars, the universe dieing and then getting comfortably warm again, and then rumors of the dark armies return (possibly not hearing Makuta Terida's boasting), and finally another gigantic earthquake followed by the death of the world you have known and everyone is traveling by ship past your little shore line home, thinking it to be a great idea to leave and go with one of the vessels.

This little guy had no idea about the great events that unfolded and probably thought that, from his upbringing from a village that the turaga had told of well established myths, that he was going to work and survive to please his creator Mata Nui and if he was lucky enough he would go work under the prosperous eye of Artakha in the after-life, all the while the other stuff happened and eventually getting the feeling to leave his home with other immigrants.

[Aanchir]

I haven't read it, as previously stated, but how does TLR as a novelization do when compared to the movie? Is it the same? Is it better? Also, would it be worth reading all of 2009's (non-toddler) books?

IMO, the young readers books in 2008 and 2009 were excellent and definitely worth reading at least once, if only for the illustrations! Original illustrations (i.e. not just stock art) are something I always appreciate. Given their age range, these stories also managed to avoid the "grimdark" tone that bothered people about many of the later books and serials.

 

The TLR novelization was probably the least entertaining Bionicle movie novelization for me. It wasn't outright bad, but I don't remember it adding a lot, whereas the novelizations of the second and third movies included both scenes that got cut from the movies themselves and some impressive internal monologue.

 

Overall, I think Greg Farshtey's work was fairly good, for what it was. He's a more versatile author than a lot of people who only know him for his Bionicle and Hero Factory work give him credit for. I definitely recommend his Ninjago chapter books/handbooks and Legends of Chima storybooks. His Ninjago graphic novels can be a bit more iffy story-wise (they generally don't fit neatly into the canon), but I still think they're worth a read. And let's not forget how much great work he did for the Bionicle comics from the very beginning.

 

His dialogue with the fan community also deserves great respect. Even if at times it could result in storytelling foibles (like canonizing random details that aren't so much as alluded to in the actual media, or providing an easy avenue for retcons when he carelessly contradicted himself), the fact that he made himself so available to an incredibly demanding, sometimes nigh-unpleasable fanbase really went above and beyond what a lot of writers would be willing to do. The fact that so many fans (including myself) are used to referring to him by his first name speaks to how close he was with us.

[Scanty Demon]

I really didn't like where he took the story. All of the mysticism and wonder fell flat and never appeared again after 2003. After that most of the story was about an island we didn't stay on long enough to know anything about, Matoran that we didn't spend enough time with to care about, and random freaking explanations that often contradicted past story elements for things that didn't need to be told in depth. Eventually it felt less about mysterious beings with mystical control over the elements and prophecies that could give a glimpse into the future and more about lying Turaga and Sci-Fi technology mixed with a logical in-universe explanation for every single strange occurrence.

 

The fantasy part of BIONICLE died wayyy too soon for my taste.

The quoted statement I agree with whole heartedly. Greg I felt was mediocre writer. He couldn't handle multiple story threads and let his favorite characters steal the show. A great example of this is Vezon. Honestly I think Greg shouldn't have been placed in total control of the story. He should've had someone to tell him when his ideas were dumb or needed reworking.

[Lyichir]

 

I really didn't like where he took the story. All of the mysticism and wonder fell flat and never appeared again after 2003. After that most of the story was about an island we didn't stay on long enough to know anything about, Matoran that we didn't spend enough time with to care about, and random freaking explanations that often contradicted past story elements for things that didn't need to be told in depth. Eventually it felt less about mysterious beings with mystical control over the elements and prophecies that could give a glimpse into the future and more about lying Turaga and Sci-Fi technology mixed with a logical in-universe explanation for every single strange occurrence.

 

The fantasy part of BIONICLE died wayyy too soon for my taste.

The quoted statement I agree with whole heartedly. Greg I felt was mediocre writer. He couldn't handle multiple story threads and let his favorite characters steal the show. A great example of this is Vezon. Honestly I think Greg shouldn't have been placed in total control of the story. He should've had someone to tell him when his ideas were dumb or needed reworking.

 

I've been seeing this a lot... let's please keep in mind that Greg never WAS placed in total control of the story. The main story for each years was determined by a full story team up through the end, for which Greg was only one member. He was just the most visible, since his job was to flesh that story structure out and make it into something fit for publication, and if that wasn't enough he also took it upon himself to interact directly with fans on websites like BZPower.

 

As a result, blaming Bionicle's overall story direction on Greg is a mistake. Things like Bionicle's tendency to opt for sci-fi over fantasy in later years generally had very little to do with his direction and a lot more to do with what sorts of sets he was tasked with promoting and what sort of story and setting were developed to go with them. 2004, for instance, would have shifted to the futuristic Metru Nui with or without his involvement. Greg's involvement was mostly limited to the details—the characterization and dialogue of the various characters, side-plots unrelated to the current year's sets like those explored in several of the serials, and other things of that nature. If you're criticizing things like major story beats or the trajectory of the theme as a whole, Greg usually isn't the only one to blame.

Edited September 29, 2015 by Lyichir

[Inferna Firesword]

Greg's writing is what got me into writing stuff in the first place, so I owe him that at least. The books, at least I enjoyed, and there were a few gems in the serials. I will admit, I began losing interest around the Glatorian arc, but I think if it was allowed to continue I would've taken a liking to it. I think it was mostly the lack of time we had with it, and the lack of closure afterwards, that made me lose interest.

 

Yeah, there were some things that could have been better -- less focus on Vezon, less abuse of AUs (though the Toa Empire one was pretty good), and more character development for other species instead of relying on the Planet of Copyhats trope -- but it at least gave us a lot of fodder for headcanons and fanfiction. =P

 

-Inferna

[Eyru]

Lyichir hit the nail on the head: Greg was never in charge of the main story, so it's unfair to single him out as the "reason" for BIONICLE's departure from its earlier themes. 

 

I always thought Greg was a decent enough writer. He definitely wrote well for BIONICLE's target audience: the books and serials are action-packed and focus more on character interactions than on character development, if that makes any sense. While some might see that as a flaw, I see it as Greg writing for his target audience. Would I have liked to see characters fleshed out a bit more? Sure. Would I have liked the serials to focus on bringing a few characters to life rather than focusing on new characters and places with each update? Definitely. At the end of the day, however, if I were 10 years old again, I wouldn't have a single complaint.

[Wrinkledlion X]

I wrote this in 2012, and I stand by it to this day:

 

 

On the subject of Greg's writing abilities...

I would say that he's a very uneven writer, but not a bad one. When he's writing in an elevated style, he's fantastic. The main problem with Greg is that he can be self-limiting; he'll write in jokes and one-liners where they don't belong, and it comes across as lacking in confidence. (Think the embarrassing Wizard of Oz references in "Brothers in Arms.".) When he treats the story with appropriate dignity and really gives it room to breathe, however, he can produce some great stuff.

His 2001-2003 comics kept a straight face, and allowed you to take them seriously. Same thing with the first half of the 2006 novels, before they degenerated into monotonous action sequences; those Karzhani and Voya Nui scenes were wonderful, and contributed to some of the best worldbuilding since 2001. Parts of the 2008 books were very good as well—Krika had some great character moments, and I was a big fan of the ending. Makuta's appearance in the stars was as dramatic a moment as anything from 2001, and in a sense it re-deified him. He was suddenly Nothing and Everything—a god of destruction not seen since the MNOLG.

Greg's biggest problem is that he'd always let too many mundanities seep into the story. The worst example I can think of is the way he handled the big reveal of Mata Nui's true form. Watching Mata Nui awaken in that CGI animation was awe-inspiring: what WE saw was a towering god, his head reaching into the clouds, rising from an endless sea. His body contains the entire universe that we've explored for years. All-encompassing.

But what did Greg call him? A giant robot.

Well, jeez, I guess. Technically speaking, yeah, sure he's a giant robot. But isn't he a bit more than that? I mean, he's alive, he's full of living things—is he really any more of a robot than, say, Tahu? What a shockingly boring way to talk about something so grand! Now, for contrast, let's look at a quote from Makuta's Guide to the Universe. Narrated by Makuta himself, Greg adopts an elevated style:
 

The heroic Toa returned to Metru Nui, even as the Great Spirit Mata Nui began to rise. Of course, no one but I truly knew what that meant. I had been to places no one else had ever seen. I have learned the ultimate truth - that Mata Nui did not rule the universe of the Matoran - he was the universe. The Great Spirit was a vast being of metal, a thing of armored power, within whom dwelled the Toa, Matoran, Makuta, Vortixx, Skakdi, Zyglak, and every other species. The land masses we dwelled upon were but parts of Mata Nui's substance, existing to keep him functioning. We had looked to the heavens for our Great Spirit, when he was truly all around us.

That's what I'm talking about! Grand, eloquent, mythological... Effective! Why did Greg have to refer to him as a "Giant Robot" every other time when he's clearly capable of writing stuff that captures the grandeur of BIONICLE? Why did he have to hold back and give us mundane one-liners and comic book action when he could write so much more? I think it's a shame, because he really can be a great writer when he pushes himself. Even his simpler stuff can be great when he handles it without a sense of irony; look at Journey of Takanuva. It's a wonderful little book that quickly establishes a vivid world and mysterious tone, and it works as well as anything from 2001. And to boot, it's a story about parallel dimensions, which I've always hated in BIONICLE... But it makes it work.

Anyway, I think it's unfair to say that Greg is a bad writer. He's produced so much that I sincerely love, and beyond that he's also a great, hardworking guy. His main flaw is that he often chickens out and fails to live up to his potential.

 

 

 

I agree with Lyichir--it's definitely important to keep in mind that he wasn't the sole writer of the story.

 

But he was the main guy when it came to presenting the story and determining its tone, and in later years I think he lost sight of the things that made Bionicle unique and interesting. The serials, as I remember them, are about 90% banter. I think at one point one of the characters even makes a Wizard of Oz reference, which was a real lowpoint in Greg's writing. (Who was that character? He was a little evil red guy who road around on a hovercraft.)

[Xarok]

He was a decent writer. Not the best, but his work was usually inoffensive at worst. If I were to judge the writing based off writing in general, it's nothing to go crazy about. Solid world building as far as I remember and I enjoyed the character interactions, but there were some bizarre spelling errors in his earlier novels. I felt like some of the villains were a bit copy-paste later on, I always loved Teridax or Makuta, whatever you wanna call him, but some of the threats and dialogue from the villains felt very cringe-worthy. I would have liked the villains to be not so one-note. All things aside, when you look it for what it is, which is a story designed to sell toys, it's a very well-written thought out story for the most part and I think Greg did well with the material he was given. These books are written for kids who like the toys so of course it's not groundbreaking literature, but I have very fond memories of staying up late, sipping hot cocoa and reading the Adventures and Legends series. I remember when I read about the Toa Nuva losing to the Piraka, I couldn't believe what I was reading, my 11 year old mind was so shocked. After while I mostly stuck to the comic books because I still had my lego club subscription, but I liked the books when I was part of that target audience and hey they got me interested in reading in the first place so that's always a great thing.

[Toa Smoke Monster]

But he was the main guy when it came to presenting the story and determining its tone, and in later years I think he lost sight of the things that made Bionicle unique and interesting. The serials, as I remember them, are about 90% banter. I think at one point one of the characters even makes a Wizard of Oz reference, which was a real lowpoint in Greg's writing. (Who was that character? He was a little evil red guy who road around on a hovercraft.)

That Matoran was Vultraz.

Edited October 1, 2015 by Toa Smoke Monster

[Wrinkledlion X]

That's the guy!

[Logan McOwen]

The movie appearances of characters being considered canon, even though the toys are the primary media for Bionicle? The tubes on the Toa Mahri being organic gills, even though they're silver and attached to what pretty clearly looks like scuba gear? The Glatorian and Agori being fully organic beings in armour, even though they don't look at all like they are? The GSR being immeasurably, unrealistically gigantic?

Yeah, I'm not keen on a lot of Greg and the story team's decisions. Sure, they made Bionicle interesting, but they also made a lot of choices which just leave me thinking "What?". It didn't help when Greg was just canonising random titbits of headcanon here and there, even after G1's end.

 

I'm hoping this won't happen with G2.

Edited October 1, 2015 by Logan McOwen

[The Hip Historian Iaredios]

The movie appearances of characters being considered canon, even though the toys are the primary media for Bionicle? The tubes on the Toa Mahri being organic gills, even though they're silver and attached to what pretty clearly looks like scuba gear? The Glatorian and Agori being fully organic beings in armour, even though they don't look at all like they are? The GSR being immeasurably, unrealistically gigantic?

 

Yeah, I'm not keen on a lot of Greg and the story team's decisions. Sure, they made Bionicle interesting, but they also made a lot of choices which just leave me thinking "What?". It didn't help when Greg was just canonising random titbits of headcanon here and there, even after G1's end.

 

I'm hoping this won't happen with G2.

Really? I thought the external gills were unique and interesting. I mean, I am not sure I would have ever come up with that, and I consider myself a creative person.

[Stroxx]

I'm really grateful Mr Farshtey went as far with the story as much as he did. I'm in love with the world building he did in earlier books, especially at the Metru Nui saga before the whole thing was hijacked by the necessary Web of Shadows movie "transcript". I was all kinds of amazed how different book Sidorak was from movie Sidorak. Not even start with how the whole Voya-Nui arc took off. And I was ordering books from across the ocean at that time.

 

In general I really liked how he managed the characters even if he didn't have as much moving space for characterisation in certain eras. One of the things that I really enjoy in retrospect is how he kept teasing us with "love is not cannon, but here, let me throw you this bone" thing several times in lore. He may not be an Asimov, but he certainly wrote a LOT of ENJOYABLE stuff for the fandom. And it's certainly stuff that not only 13-15 year old me, but 24 year old me reads with mirth too.

[The Hip Historian Iaredios]

I'm really grateful Mr Farshtey went as far with the story as much as he did. I'm in love with the world building he did in earlier books, especially at the Metru Nui saga before the whole thing was hijacked by the necessary Web of Shadows movie "transcript". I was all kinds of amazed how different book Sidorak was from movie Sidorak. Not even start with how the whole Voya-Nui arc took off. And I was ordering books from across the ocean at that time.

 

In general I really liked how he managed the characters even if he didn't have as much moving space for characterisation in certain eras. One of the things that I really enjoy in retrospect is how he kept teasing us with "love is not cannon, but here, let me throw you this bone" thing several times in lore. He may not be an Asimov, but he certainly wrote a LOT of ENJOYABLE stuff for the fandom. And it's certainly stuff that not only 13-15 year old me, but 24 year old me reads with mirth too.

Well put.

[believe victims]

 

The movie appearances of characters being considered canon, even though the toys are the primary media for Bionicle? The tubes on the Toa Mahri being organic gills, even though they're silver and attached to what pretty clearly looks like scuba gear? The Glatorian and Agori being fully organic beings in armour, even though they don't look at all like they are? The GSR being immeasurably, unrealistically gigantic?

 

Yeah, I'm not keen on a lot of Greg and the story team's decisions. Sure, they made Bionicle interesting, but they also made a lot of choices which just leave me thinking "What?". It didn't help when Greg was just canonising random titbits of headcanon here and there, even after G1's end.

 

I'm hoping this won't happen with G2.

Really? I thought the external gills were unique and interesting. I mean, I am not sure I would have ever come up with that, and I consider myself a creative person.

 

 

Not being able to come up with something doesn't mean it's a particularly useful use of creativity. I'm sure many people wouldn't come up with a story where the Earth turns into a cheese curd; that doesn't mean such a story is a good one.

 

That said, I think the "tubes=gills" thing was just an unfortunate incident where sets did one thing, and story needed something else. When the set designers were told to make underwater Toa, they thought "scuba gear" and designed them as such. However, when the story came to explaining how they stayed underwater without ever needing to surface, gills made more sense than scuba gear (which would need to be refilled, among other things), so what was clearly scuba gear was forced into being gills, even if it didn't really make much sense when all put together. Of the things I would blame solely on Greg, that would not be one of them.