GregF

Average time between finishing and publishing is really up to Binkmeister and how busy he is. I send it to him and he posts it on the site.

LOL, I am delirious with joy that I actually got a next serial chapter done while you guys are still young enough to care ...

Prisoner still managed to be a 50-50 thing ... half the fans loved it because nothing was ever explained, and half hated it. So, as with any story, you still lose a big chunk of your readership.

See, I was just as hooked by 2001 as you guys were. But I found writing on Mata Nui to be very confining, because none of the answers to any of the mysteries were there. So if we had stayed there, we would still be telling the "Toa fight something, go underground, defeat it, and basically learn nothing. Rinse and repeat" story in 2009.

What I probably would have changed is 2005. In retrospect, I would have had 2004 be maybe half a year, dropped '05, and then gone right to the '06 story. We stayed on Metru Nui in 2005 largely because a lot of time and expense had gone into designing Metru Nui and it seemed wasteful to abandon it after just one year. But the '04 story was designed to leave it after one year, which is why '05 was so confusing in terms of continuity.

Could the transition from 2003 to 2004 been handled differently/better? Sure, if this were JUST a story. But I had Metru Nui sets coming out in January that I had to promote. I didn't have time to do, "Ongoing tension between the Toa Nuva and Turaga and the truth comes out in dribs and drabs" -- I had to promote the new sets, and the new sets were from the flashback story, so it had to start abruptly in January, 2004.

A LOT of the criticisms I see on here of the story are dead on the money -- but they miss the point that the story had to promote toy sales. So the option to do a lot of the things you guys suggest simply did not exist. It wasn't a case of the story team saying, "Should we approach it this way or that way? How can we build up to this slowly?" We had toys to sell in January and July, and story had to mold itself to fit that. If you are looking at it as story and nothing else, it is easy to find fault. But it was never story by itself, guys, it was part of the overall marketing plan. So if you want to rip current story for some of these things, go right ahead, because now it is a story on its own -- but it never was before, and so some criticisms of it are just off-base without taking the context of the work into account.

ToM - I see your point, but this was never a story about mysticism. It was science-fantasy, yes, but always planned to be about nanotech inside of a giant robot ... the explanations were never going to be mystical in nature. The whole point of 2001-2003 was that the Matoran were misremembering their origins. It is sort of ironic because a lot of the comments about people not liking what BIONICLE "turned into" are really complaints about what BIONICLE always was and was always meant to be.

As for the explanations being too detailed ... well, one man's meat is another man's poison. For every fan, like you, who didn't want all the detail there was another fan who did -- otherwise, my PM box would not have been filled these last seven years. So if we do it your way, we upset them, if we do it the other way, we upset you. It's a no-win situation.

The Maori objected to the use of some of their native terms in BIONICLE. It did not have to do with MNOG, specifically, because it was terms like Tohunga which were also appearing in other places. They never filed a lawsuit to my knowledge -- I believe LEGO met with their representatives and a compromise was reached in which we were allowed to keep using some names, like Turaga, Tahu, etc. and changed other ones, like Jala, Tohunga, etc.

Keep in mind that would have been made during the very stringent anti-violence era of LEGO, which is probably why you didn't have Tahu shooting fire at someone, etc. In those days, our action games were not known for a lot of action.

GT - The legal dept. already made their decision, so I am not sure what it is you are waiting on. They aren't required to provide justification for their decisions.

I can't speak to BIONICLE: The Game, never played it. At any rate, point is moot because LOMN is not being released.

Actually, GT, you pretty much did. These were your words:

"Most Bionicle fans were unhappy about the cancellation of the toyline, and the die-hards are boycotting the new Hero Factory. I just think this would be kind of a "we're sorry, but here's something else to cheer you up" thing."

So you basically positioned the release of the game as us having to somehow apologize to you.

And to an earlier point -- I never heard that the game was cancelled because of bugs. What I have always heard (and I was good friends with the LEGO producer working on the game here at the time) was that the game's quality was not up to LEGO's standards.

GoldenTahu -- I have said what I have to say on this subject. Like I said, I am not in the legal dept. and cannot speak for them. If you choose to just keep asking questions about this, I will pretty much have to ignore them because I can't help you anymore than I have.

As for somehow owing you guys something -- I believe doing comics in 2010, keeping the serials going through 2011, and my being here still pretty much all constitutes things LEGO does not need to do for a cancelled line. If you dislike Hero Factory, I can't see how releasing what has accurately been called a 10 year old, bug-ridden, unfinished game is somehow going to make you like it more. While we would love it if you guys were jumping for joy about Hero Factory, we also knew going in that some of the things you loved about BIONICLE were not going to be present in this line. Our assumption was this would remain a fan community for BIONICLE and not become a fan community for HF -- HF will no doubt spawn its own community, just as BIONICLE did in 2001. Frankly, I have actually been pleasantly surprised by the number of people on here saying they will buy HF sets so they can get the new pieces ... that does not sound like a "boycott" of the line to me.

BIONICLE is what it is ... HF is what it is ... people who like to MOC will find things to like in both, no doubt. People who loved an epic, 10-year long, in-depth storyline probably won't find that with HF, as that is not what HF is intended to be. You've certainly got every right to say HF is not your thing, but that does not obligate LEGO to do all sorts of extra things for you to somehow make up for your not liking it.

Probably my fault for not making it clear I wasn't looking to open debate on this -- I was just conveying information. The situation is what it is and I doubt will change, so no point in wasting energy arguing about it.

Protohuman -- Since it was not my decision, I can't give you all the reasoning for it. All I can tell you is what Legal told me, and has told people who have emailed about this issue -- LEGO has no plans at present to distribute the game or license anyone else to do so. We hold the copyright to the game, which means that anyone who has a copy of it outside of the company has an unauthorized copy that was made in violation of our intellectual property rights. Those copies can't be used without the express permission of the LEGO, and since we are not prepared to release the game, we are not giving that permission.

Not much point in debating this with me, because like I said, I don't work in Legal and don't know all their reasoning for it. I am simply the messenger in this case, and the message seems pretty clear to me. I am conveying it in order to forestall more PMs to me about this issue or more people asking our lawyers about it.

Well, let me put it to you this way -- suppose you wrote a fan fiction story that you ended up really not happy with and feeling wasn't a good representation of your writing? Would you want someone posting it publicly, and having it reflect badly on you? The game was not of the quality LEGO wanted, so we have no interest in the public seeing it.

GoldenTahu -- Boost enthusiasm among BIONICLE fans to what end? There is no more BIONICLE, beyond the story serials, so boosting enthusiasm basically does nothing for us at this point.

And to answer the earlier -- based on my conversation with Legal, no, I would say it's highly unlikely anyone else will be allowed to do anything with the game. The statement I heard was pretty unequivocal on that point, so I would say it's a dead issue.

Yes, a LEGO employee got a copy of the game -- that's who I spoke to. But as I said, the "game" he got was just sound files.

There would be no point in my posting the list, as none of the names have been approved by Legal yet. And I most likely won't post the list when they are -- I never have before -- I will just use the names as I need them.

No -- it was not a messenger box was full message. It was a "this member has chosen not to be contactable by personal messenger" message.

Bones hits it on the head -- until you see how New World shapes up to be, you don't know what connection it will have to this universe. What if Mata Nui learned something from observing it that may later influence in some way the society that does or does not get created on Spherus Magna? Or what if it in some way influenced his behavior during the 2009 story? Who knows what direction the creators may someday take it?

Just as an example -- let's say New World had very sophisticated astronomers and they saw the Shattering happen (obviously some time after it really did, due to the time it takes light to travel, etc.) They don't know what caused it -- maybe it was an attack from some alien race? Maybe that race is going to target them next? They go into a panic, build shelters, starting warring with each other over who gets to be in them, etc. By the time Mata Nui gets there, most of the population is hiding underground and the ones on the surface are sure they're doomed. Quite a lesson to be learned from observing this civilization, and it is directly tied in to events in the main story of BIONICLE. And that's just one direction ... not the best, no, but I whipped it up in a minute. Imagine what a whole team who spends weeks or months could come up with?

What NW is trying to do is to give writers and artists a new place to play, where they don't have to constantly worry about stepping on toes of the official story. They won't do all this work and then have something contradict them next year or something. Makes perfect sense to me.

And if it doesn't to you, well, don't read it. Simple as that. Some of you guys act like you are required by law to read anything that has BIONICLE in the name -- you're not. If the project doesn't appeal to you, and you don't want to give it a chance to catch your interest, then ignore it. What's so hard about that?

ET -- If you have an issue with the membership, then you should take it up with Nuhrii or Bonesiii. If there are legitimate reasons people should not be on the team, bring them up.

Each segment of the team had one person who made recommendations for who they thought should be on it from their area, with the exception of the basic BZP segment, which came in part from my recommendations to Nuhrii and his back to me. There were names I did a little bit of a double-take on, but let go through because I don't want it to be a team of yes-men.

Again, if you know some substantial reason someone cannot or should not serve, you should address it with the team leaders. If it's not based on anything but personal dislike, then that is different and probably not worth mentioning.

I would hold off on declaring NW "fan-created canon." The last plan I heard was that it was going to involve multiple story contests where I would have to look at winners and then rule them as being canon or not. As I told the organizers, I have no idea if I am going to have the spare time to be able to do that. I hope I do, but I can't make promises as my life, particularly in the second half of the year, is going to be exceedingly hectic.

One other point I would like to make - there are two major things in comics that I can think of that I either have no interest in (Marvel's Ultimate books) or that I think are poorly executed (Grant Morrison's Batman work). I choose not to spend money or time on either. But can either really be said to be bad ideas?

I would have to say no, because both have resulted in great sales and lots of buzz for their respective companies. The fact that I personally dislike or have no interest in something does not make it a bad idea -- just an idea that does not resonate with me.

Each of these fan initiatives has a goal. You measure success by how well they meet that goal. And none of the goals include "please every member of BZP," because that is not possible to do. So before you condemn any of these initiatives, I think you need to ask yourself -- is this actually an idea that will not achieve its objectives, or is it simply any idea you personally don't find interesting?

Jimmybob -- Understood, but WHY is it silly? Star Trek has done it. Star Wars has done it. Marvel has done it (what did the Squadron Supreme world have to do with Earth-616? Next to nothing, yet it not only got mini-series but graphic novels written about it). DC has done it. Not every story they tell in their extended universes deals with the major characters or the major worlds we have heard of before. One of the best SW stories I ever read was Planet of Evil by Jim Bambra, which had virtually nothing to do with the main characters or Tatooine, Coruscant, Hoth, etc. It's a big story universe ... why is it silly to explore a part of it?

If you have legitimate issues, then yes, bring them up. Talk to the people running the project and tell them why you think it isn't going to work. Like I said, they may not listen to you, but you can at least make your opinions known. Just saying something is silly doesn't rate as constructive criticism, and I am sure you wouldn't say it without substantial reasoning to back it up.

One point I would add to Spink's comment -- "they" won't be choosing to canonize anything. I will. BSS does not have the authority to do canonizations.

There seems to be this mistaken impression that the BSS is suddenly going to mean lots more canonization or lots more canonization suggestions. I can say a definite no to the former, and as for the latter, I was already buried in canonization suggestions. I see no reason there will be less or more as a result of this. If you have an issue with that, you need to take it up with your fellow BZPers who are desperate to get something in story as opposed to the BSS people ... they have no control over who makes suggestions or how many they receive.

And as I pointed out in another topic, this is what LEGO Company wants. They want fan involvement in story. That was mandated late last year, and this is one of the ways we are choosing to execute it, and probably the least intrusive way.

Bones -- I can't promise anything on prefixes, because those too have to be run through Legal.