GregF

Cricky - I really suggest until you wait until you see official pics from LEGO before you decide how you feel about '08 sets. As I'm sure you know, leaked images almost always look lousy -- and then there is this mass, "Oh no!" from BZP members until they actually SEE the sets and realize they look lots better "for real." I have yet to see a leaked shot that did justice to a set. Greg

Just some news and notes: -- Got a chance to see the villain sets for 2008 up close -- man, they're nice, particularly the January ones. Definitely buying those -- very BIONICLE, but very creepy. -- Look for more substantial Matoran sets in 2008 than we have done before, and for them to play a more significant role in story. -- Book sales have evidently stabilized. While they are still well below where we were in 2004, the cutback schedule means stores are selling through the new books before they get the next new one, which means few to no returns (always a good thing). No word yet on a schedule for 2009. -- I have a phone conference today to discuss the shooting outline for the BIONICLE movie, which I have to say is just great. (I did the story, but am not doing the script itself, but the person who is doing it is so far doing a very good job.) Wish I could share more about it, but as you can imagine, it is still very hush-hush. -- Also had another meeting this week in New York which I hopefully can share with you soon regarding the comics and some changes and exciting new things planned in that area. -- January BrickMaster is currently scheduled to have a four-page feature on the history of the Brotherhood of Makuta (or it will when I finish writing it! ) -- Big meeting going on in Denmark this week to discuss 2008 and marketing plans for it. Then in October, they start focus group testing 2009 sets in New York. Greg

Actually, I got permission this morning to send two boxes of BIONICLE comics to C4K as well. Speaking of BIONICLE in the comic medium, I may have some exciting news on that coming up soon! Greg

Not sure I agree with you, LK -- a lot of kids, especially younger ones, are more likely to read something that has a lot of colorful art in it. I got started reading because my Dad brought me Batman comics home when he bought his newspapers. That was really where my love of reading started and was my springboard to "real books." Greg

Just wanted to share something I ran across this week. As some of you know, I have a huge comic collection, most of which is "reader's copies" -- not mint, not even near mint, just stuff I have read and enjoyed over the past couple decades. Anyway, with things like entire comic series coming out on DVD-ROM and the various collections Marvel and DC keep putting out, I've been able to replace entire boxes of comics (which saves a lot of space). But what to do with them then? I could, and have, eBayed them, but that takes work and a lot of times they don't sell. And I don't want to throw them out, because that is a terrible waste. So I have just held on to them. But this week I ran across a website, www.Comics4Kids.org -- it's a not-for-profit organization in Washington state that collects comics to give to hospitals, libraries, schools, etc. to help promote literacy in kids. As a writer for kids and young adults, promoting reading is of course an issue close to my heart. So I swapped some emails with the organizers and I am going to start sending stuff their way. I don't know that any of you have comics you are looking to give away, but if you do, or know someone who does, you might want to check out this site. Not only do the comics entertain and maybe even comfort a kid someplace, but they might lead him to buy his own someday and help out the industry as a whole. Greg

Jaller's there, but remember, Matoro is the bearer of the Mask of Life -- that kind of makes this his show, because he is the most important Toa at this point. Greg

Sneak preview of BIONICLE Legends #8 in my Amazon.com blog today -- intro to a battle that won't be in the comics, just the book. Greg

ET is correct, they are on Daxia. So they are not "where they were made," as they were made on Artakha. I had toyed with the idea of doing a Bionicle Legends #4 and making this the whole book, but it wouldn't have matched the book title at all. So I am going to cut back and forth, but will probably write these sections first as they go faster. Greg

It was censored by BZP's filter (and my apologies to BZP, did not know that word was not allowed, since it's not obscene or anything). And yes, I can tell you who the speaker was at some point, but first I need to confirm the character's name -- I have to make sure the one I chose off the list hasn't already been used for something else in '08.

Since you guys have been waiting so patiently for the last book of '07, which is still a ways away, I thought I would give you a little something to tide you over. This is a fragment of BIONICLE Legends #10, which is going to feature, in addition to 2008 main story, a flashback to the early history of the Toa Mata/Nuva. This section starts with the moment the six of them first woke up on the island of Daxia, long, long ago. (Since this doesn't give away main storyline, I figured it would be okay to share.) Enjoy! The crimson-armored being opened his eyes and looked around. He did not recognize where he was, nor did he have any idea who the five figures nearby might be. Each of them was lying on a slab, just like him, and each wore colored armor and a mask. But where he was red, they were other hues: white, blue, green, black, and brown. Of course, it came as no great surprise that he didn’t know who these others were. After all, he wasn’t sure who he was, either. He started to rise, then found he could not. Thick metal straps encircled him, keeping him pinned to the slab. Unsure of his identity as he was, he still knew that he didn't like being bound. He tried to exert his strength against the bonds, but without success. His frustration and anger grew. And then suddenly the metal of the straps was growing soft, turning to molten liquid, running off him and onto the floor. Did I do that? he wondered, as he sat up. On the next slab, the white armored figure had frozen his straps and then shattered them with the merest gesture. The others had all found unique ways to escape their bonds as well. “Well, we’re all free,” said the red armored being. “Now what? Anyone know where we are … or who we are?” The answer came then, but not from any of them. Rather, it was a voice that seemed to come from every part of the room that spoke in reply. “You are Toa.” The figure in the brown armor jumped down from his slab and onto his feet. “Toa! Hey, that’s great. I always wanted to be a Toa.” He looked up and addressed his next words to the ceiling. “Just one question: what’s a Toa?” “A Toa is a hero,” the voice answered. “Every Toa commands an elemental power, which can be focused through your weapons. Each of you also wears a Great Mask, with a power all its own. You will learn about these powers in time, as well as how to control them.” The white armored figure frowned. “To whom are we meant to be heroes, and why? You say we have great abilities, but what are we meant to do with them? Too many questions, for my taste …” The unseen speaker laughed softly. “You underestimate yourself, Kopaka – yes, that is your name. Questions will always whet your appetite for answers. But now it is time for you to meet.” A lightstone illuminated on the ceiling above Kopaka, as the voice said, “Kopaka, Toa of Ice.” One by one, the lightstones lit above the others as the speaker recited their names. “Gali, Toa of Water.” “Pohatu, Toa of Stone.” “Onua, Toa of Earth.” “Lewa, Toa of Air.” The last to be named was the crimson armored figure. “And Tahu, Toa of Fire. He will be your leader.” That seemed to startle Kopaka, who said sharply, “It seems to me we should be allowed to choose our own leader.” “I have to agree,” said Gali quietly. “I mean, none of us know anything about this Tahu. What if he’s too impulsive to be a good leader? What if he lacks the ability to work with his team members, or can’t motivate, or --” Lewa chuckled. “Or what if he’s just a #####?” A bolt of flame shot from an irritated Tahu past the Toa of Air, close enough to heat his mask to an uncomfortable temperature. Lewa reached up and yanked the mask off. Immediately, he felt so weak he almost fell over. Pohatu and Onua rushed to support him. “You must not remove your masks, unless you are replacing one with another,” the voice said. “Without them, your strength is halved.” Lewa gingerly returned the hot mask to his face. “Thanks … ow! … for telling us.” He turned to glare at Tahu. “And as for you, fireflyer, better be careful a big wind doesn’t blow you out one of these days.” “Big wind,” Tahu said, nodding. “Yes, that’s you, all right.” Kopaka decided to ignore the argument. “So we are a team,” he said to their unseen host. “Again, I ask – for what purpose? What are we meant to do?” A panel slid open in the far wall. Beyond, there was only darkness. “The gateway to another mystery, perhaps,” said Onua. “I wonder if a Toa’s life is filled with them?” “Then this will be just the first of many we walk through,” Tahu replied. “Let’s go.”

I believe at least some of the books are sold through the Shop At Home site, but not sure if there is a link to that on BIONICLE.com -- good question. One piece of good news I have is that there WILL be a comic in January, as opposed to a poster. Far as I know, at most we will go back to the 12 pages an issue, and I think the "what has happened before" section may come back -- a lot of kids asked for that. Greg

We are planning to do something online to promote the books. Doing it in the magazine or in instruction books is more problematic, simply because Scholastic has to pay for that space and they don't have much of a marketing budget for licensed titles (apparently). V.K.'s idea of footnotes in the comic is a good one and one that I like -- last time we did that, though, as I recall, BZPers had a fit about it. People were screaming that they didn't want to have to spend $5 to find out what happened, etc. (I think the comic being free has sort of spoiled people -- I mean, you don't get the Star Wars story for free or the Lord of the Rings story for free -- you have to buy the books or go to or rent the movies). Greg Greg

Cap'n -- My last info is that sales have not improved that much. On the plus side, Scholastic has some new people working with us on marketing ideas for the book (including the Amazon blog I have started doing) so maybe those will help. I firmly believe a lot of the issue is awareness -- most BIONICLE fans simply have no idea there are books at all. Greg

ET - I definitely do see your point. At the same time, the books are only selling to maybe 30,000 people, while the comic is going out to 1.5 million. So I haven't really been in a position to say, "This was covered in the book, don't have to do it here" because most comic readers aren't reading the books. Greg

Just a few things you can expect to see in BIONICLE Legends #10, in addition to the already confirmed return of Takanuva: -- The return of Toa Krakua -- First appearance in story of the leader of the Order of Mata Nui -- Just what are those krana-kraata hybrids from way back in BA #10? -- The origin of the Bohrok While Book 10 will feature some of main story, it is probably going to start a trend of the books being a little bit more side story and mystery revelations as opposed to having to carry the entire load of telling story for the year. In part, this is because of the reduced publication schedule, in part because it is the ideal format to be able to resolve old mysteries (since comic has to focus on current characters only). My best info right now is that books will continue into 2009, but how many and what format is still being discussed between LEGO Company and Scholastic. Greg

We are looking at a lot of different things we could do with the comic. Graphic novels is one thing, but you have to have a certain number of pages before the book can have a spine, and since our issues are only 12 pages long or so, it takes a long time to get enough pages of new content. Other things we might think about are inserting the comic in other magazines, doing more giveaways of it, or selling it in stores .. but they are all just ideas right now.

Just a couple minor things -- 1) I start work on BIONICLE Legends #10 this weekend, which will open with the return of Takanuva to the storyline. 2) Watch for Gali Nuva Blog chapter #6, which will feature the return of six heroes long thought gone for good! 3) At the suggestion of a BZPer, I am trying to convince my wife to do the voice of Toa Hahli for an upcoming biocast chapter 4) Since I got approval from Kelly to do more biocasts this year, expect the saga of the Staff of Artakha to spill over into the biocast -- also watch the Gali Nuva blog for the appearance of one of next year's new villains! 5) I have another conference call today with the movie people re: the BIONICLE movie. Still very early in the process, but so far things are going smoothly. 6) I have a meeting next week to discuss future plans for the comic and maybe ways we can get it more exposure outside of the Club. More news as I get it ... Greg

Well, keep an eye on it, I will be adding more in a couple days, about some of the unique challenges that come with writing for BIONICLE. Greg

Hey guys, Just FYI, at the request of Scholastic, I have started a new blog on Amazon.com as part of their Amazon Connect service. This will NOT be in place of this one or the same as this one -- different blog. Anyway, so far I know of two ways you can see the entries -- if you have purchased one of my books through Amazon before, you can click on Amazon Blog in the upper right hand corner of your homepage and you should see the first entry there. OR, you can simply go the product page for any one of my books and the blog entries will appear there. Since I am about to start Bionicle Legends #10, I figured I would use that blog to sort of track its progress. I could have just linked this blog to that and duplicated entries, but the BZP blog tends to be aimed more at people who really are BIONICLE experts and might zip a little over the head of the average Amazon.com visitor. But hopefully there will be enough interesting material in it for fans to enjoy. Greg

Nuva King - Thanks for the advice, that seems to work. Odd. Greg

I haven't heard anything on a videogame, but that doesn't mean there isn't one -- just that no one has told me about it yet. Not sure how well the last one did, though. (The LEGO-based games that seem to do the best are the cute ones like Star Wars -- it seems like the "serious" games are maybe not violent enough to compete with what's out there). Greg

Sorry, Taki, I did not make myself clear -- I didn't mean I would be blogging on here about Amazon. I meant I will be doing a blog on the Amazon.com site -- they have a set-up where authors can blog there. Takatu - No, the number of movies they are doing doesn't affect the length of any given movie. Greg

Night - Basically, it says the page is done loading but I just get a blank screen. Happens with both Messenger and the forums section on my desktop. My laptop works fine. They are running different versions of Windows (laptop is Vista). Takatu - Movie would be post-2008 story. You basically need six months or so to do a script, another 12 to animate the movie, and then a few more to get it duplicated, packaged, and shipped to stores. So the earliest we could possibly get a movie out would be 2009, at which point there would be no point in telling 2006-2008 story. Greg

Hey, sorry to be so long in updating this -- I have not been home much lately. Let' start from the top -- 1) I have had two meetings so far with the movie folks and one with Universal (the Universal people are REALLY sharp -- really know their business). Too soon to tell when something will come out or exactly what it will be like. Right now, it is looking like it will be my story, but I won't be doing the screenplay (just consulting on it). But things can change as projects proceed. Right now, I am waiting for something called the "beat sheet" from the screenwriter, which is a document that outlines the major events of the movie. I will be looking it over to make sure it is "BIONICLE enough." 2) Comic-Con was fun, but hectic. I didn't do quite as much shopping as last year -- got some Corgi Batmobiles and some Dr. Who stuff. 3) Please forgive if I am slower than usual responding to PMs. I am one of the people having tech issues with BZP - my Messenger loads on the my work machine and my laptop at home, but not on my desktop at home, which is where I normally answer PMs. So that is slowing me down a bit. 4) I am going to be blogging on Amazon sometime in the near future -- I will keep you up to date when I have more info. That's all for now! Greg

There will certainly be things in the 2009-2011 story, if it stays as is, that should appeal to people who have been following the story all along -- that is part of my plan for it, dealing with some larger issues than we have been and ones that have been in the background a lot. But the intent is also to create a jumping-on point for new fans, so it is not going to be "overt, pound you over the head, you have to have followed the story for seven years to enjoy this one," kind of stuff. It is going to be more subtle. Greg