Here are the answers to some frequently asked questions in my PM box.
Q. When will BIONICLEstory.com be updated?
A. Every two weeks.
Q. When will the 7th Mahri game come out?
A. By the end of October.
Q. Somebody stole my MOC and put it on the BIONICLE.com gallery! Fix it!
A. Can't, not my department. I'm working on a longer blog entry to more fully explain this.
Q. Tell us about the 2008 stuff!
A. Sorry, can't talk about upcoming releases.
Q. What's your favorite color?
A. G
After some sweating, things seem to be coming together. Saw the graphics for BIONICLE.com's wallpapers, screensavers, building instructions, etc. today - they all look good. Saw the second round of comps for BIONICLEstory.com - much improvement over the first batch, which didn't capture the essence of what we're going for. The new design is much closer to what I expected, and it's very classy to boot. Finalized the new logotype for BIONICLEstory.com. Got most of the content for BIONICLE.com rea
It's deadline week. BIONICLE.com's update is 98% complete... just a few things left to do, which will get done by end of day Wednesday. The new BIONICLEstory.com is getting there, it's gonna be done a week later. Then it's Juletime holidays and I can r-e-l-a-x for the first time in a long time. (I spent all weekend writing BIONICLEstory.com content.)
OK, so I just took delivery of the first of the 2008 games that will go live in early January. They're better than I had expected. The graphics and game play are very fun, and there's even better to come. I think you'll like it. It also included 45 seconds of CGI, which was just finished today.
It's fun being the one to set the deadline.
It's also awesome to see this all come together... the project really started the second week I was at LEGO, back in August, and here we are in December
Just saw a rough cut of what's coming for 2008 in January. For fans who've been with BIONICLE for a while, it'll be extremely cool. For newer fans - it'll knock your socks off. Lots of good stuff getting ready for '08.
Woo. The last few weeks have been somewhat intense work-wise, with lots and lots of stuff happening at once. It's like surfing a killer wave on a Pop-Tart sized board. Deadlines breathe down my neck like werewolves with halitosis, ready to rip me if I falter. Herds of butterflies rampage in my stomache when I think about all that's due and the very short timeframes in which to do them.
So here I am, working on a weekend, pounding away on a spreadsheet with all the content for the next site la
I've gotten several PMs about comics on BIONICLE.com, so thought I'd answer that here.
It's been May since the comics have been updated - that's way too long. But ever since I've been here, I've been trying to get up to speed on the right processes, the right people to do things. By the time I found out who should do the comic conversion to Flash, he was already busy designing for BIONICLE.com and BIONICLEstory.com - priorities that come first.
So it's a resource and priority issue. My goa
Well, it's been more than three months since I started working at LEGO as the Internet Content Manager for BIONICLE (and Racers and Technic). I've gotten to the point where I feel I actually know what's going on, what I'm supposed to do, and when I'm supposed to do it.
Not only that, it feels like I'm making a difference, too.
I've been lightly involved in the '09 movie, lightly involved with watching the development of the '09 sets, but more heavily involved and driving the 2008 web prese
I'd like to thank everyone who cast their votes in the Sets DB over the last week. The information was very helpful, and I've passed the rankings on to the BIONICLE development team. I think this will help everyone understand what the uberfans like, anyway.
The top 10: Toa Lhikan and Kikanalo Exo-Toa Muaka & Kane-Ra Lewa Mata Toa Norik Takutanuva Vezon & Kardas Keetongu Oohnorak Maxilos & Spinax
One of the fun things about working here is getting to see some artwork that might otherwise not be released. One is of the Ignika, which I'm turning into a wallpaper. It's an excellent image, and I'm using it as my desktop wallpaper now - it'll be on BIONICLE.com downloads next year. But I thought you might like a little preview...
Are you a Premier member? Do you want to let the BIONICLE team know what sets you like best (or, alternately, dislike the most)? Now's your chance!
Go to the Sets Database and vote for as many sets as you like. In a week or so I'll get the full list and present the results to the BIONICLE development team.
Voting is limited to Premier members and staff (and OBZPM), and you can only vote on a set once.
I'd like to be able to present a fan's-eye-view of the entire BIONICLE line. This is a
Ever since I started at LEGO, one of the major responsibilities has been to create specification documents for the web site(s). In fact, those docs were due a few short weeks after I started, but I was busy getting up to speed on everything. So they languished, needing love but finding none. While I did other important things (like budgets), the unfinished specs for BIONICLE.com and BIONICLEstory.com loomed over my shoulder, begging for attention I couldn't afford to give.
Until today.
At
Got back from LEGO World today, after being buffeted by thousands of people a day. Since mere words are unable to describe that much brick, I present pictures - nearly two hundred of them, on my Brickshelf account.
There were a lot of BIONICLE displays, including a display that included most sets that have been released to date. Here are a few thumbnails (click for bigger pictures); view my main Brickshelf account for more.
Tomorrow I'm off to Zwolle, The Netherlands, for LEGO World. They expect some 40,000 people to go through the gates over the course of the event, so it's a pretty big deal. This will be my first public event as a LEGO employee. Of course, I've been to plenty of US-based fan events, but they're more fan conventions than expositions, so LEGO World will be pretty different for me.
Since I couldn't go to NW BrickCon, I'll have to settle for LEGO World.
Back in the office, I'm just finishing up
Everything tastes better with mustard. When in doubt, inflate your tires. BIONICLE 2008 is gonna be fun. Frodo lives. There are only three kinds of people: those who can count, and those who can't. Keep your ears warm, even if the hat makes you look like a dork. KP continues to rock, even after cancellation. I now know how much fun Greg has in watching the S&T forum. It's so much more satisfying when you've skipped ahead a few chapters. Walking is highly underrated as exercise. I highly reco
Well, I hope you'll all forgive my lack of posting this week... but I've received my review copy of Bionicle Heroes and my time has been sucked into the game. It's a fairly big game, so it'll take a while to review, but I hope to have a comprehensive review by early next week.
In the meantime, if you're so inclined, you can always buy it yourself. It's definitely worth the price.
This is sooooo typical...
I have two equally compelling things that happen at the same time. And yes, I could do both, but it would mean delayed gratification and I'm just not into that. So I'm the donkey stuck between two piles of food.
One the one hand, I've been invited to the LEGO "Toy Fair" preview in New York next month. They'll have events and information and a preview of the 2007 lineup (some of which has leaked already). It's an invitation-only party that I've been invited to for
I just found out that I'll get to go to LEGO World for a couple of days - woohoo! It's being held (as usual) in Zwolle, The Netherlands. I've been to several US events (notably BrickFest and NW BrickCon - which is coming up) but never to the European ones. I just missed 1000Steineland, but I'm hoping to go next year.
LEGO World is a huge public event with thousands of visitors. It's more of a public expo than an AFOL convention, although there are elements of both. I'll get to go in my offici
Man, what a tough week.
I'm sure you don't want to hear a sob story - after all, I work for LEGO! How hard could that possibly be? But let's just say a combination of jet lag, tons of work, working outside of the office for several weeks, and an intense 2-day marketing meeting in Copenhagen have taken their toll. So even though I was supposed to visit Skærbæk for an AFOL event this weekend, I stayed in Billund instead, recuperating.
And doing laundry. Very important, that.
Anyway, even
There are times when my new job bumps up against years of being an AFOL. Today was one of those times, for a couple of reasons.
I'm currently working on what'll go onto BIONICLE.com and BIONICLEstory.com for 2008, and I just finished a design comp for BIONICLEstory. At the bottom is the legal disclaimer, of course, which I had to type in in Photoshop. So I started typing in the "standard" disclaimer, which I know by heart, having typed it into so many fan sites over the last half-dozen years.
Well, it’s officially announced: I’m the new webmaster for BIONICLE.com and BIONICLEstory.com. Specifically, my job title is “Internet Content Manager” for Product Group 3. That means in addition to BIONICLE, I’m also ultimately responsible for the LEGO Racers and LEGO Technic web sites. But there are others working on those sites, which takes a load off me – at least to start.
The new job involves much travel. I’m currently in Denmark, and will be attending meetings in Copenhagen and Connect
It was a long week, but one in which I knew a lot more on Friday than on Monday. I've been learning a lot, getting my head around all the tasks and processes that I need to know to do this job, and there's a lot more than you might imagine.
But one part stands out - I pushed my first change live on the site. It was a small little thing, really... finding a song lyrics file that was too big (5MB for a one-page PDF), I sampled it down and went through the process of updating BIONICLE.com.
Wh
I just realized how negligent I've been with my blog. Bad Binky.
Second week at The LEGO Group of companies. Weather here in Denmark has been stormy at times, sunny at times - but more former than latter. Commuting by bicycle has been fun, and I think I'm losing weight. Which is only a good thing. (Although I've had homemade tacos for two nights in a row, so I might actually be packin' on the kilos [note the European weight measurement - I appear to be assimilating].)
I'm starting to get m
