GregF

Neither combiner nor exclusive. The only reason these sets might not be available in a store is if, for some reason, the store chooses not to carry them because they are more expensive than the average BIONICLE set (some stores do not want anything higher than a certain price point). Otherwise, they should be available worldwide like any other set. Greg

Sorry, I can't go into detail on the story structure of the years we discussed. And to answer an earlier question, no, I am not referring to playsets either. Greg

Not referring to the titans -- bigger than that. Greg

Chocolate Frogs - You know I cannot give you an answer on what characters are in or out two years down the road. Suffice it to say, none of this has changed the plans we have for the Nuva. As for your comment regarding price -- as currently constituted, the sets I am referring to will be more expensive than $20. That is why there is a risk -- $20 or $30 sets sell okay for BIONICLE, ones higher than that have traditionally not done as well. Greg

Keep in mind I am not referencing all sets -- only a handful of larger, higher priced ones. Canister sets will stay at about the same level of difficulty they have always been. Greg

I'm home again, finally, after two weeks spent largely on the road! It started with a few days in Saratoga Springs, NY, for LEGO Club meetings. Then after being home a couple days, it was off to Billund for BIONICLE story meetings. A few notes from the trip -- -- Billund is becoming the Orlando of Denmark. The hotels were packed, the airport was packed, and I had to stay with BIONICLE web producer Leah Weston Kaae and her family because there were no hotel rooms (and thanks to her for the hospitality). There are evidently plans to build a water park there now to go along with LEGOLAND. -- The meetings went great. We totally mapped out 2009-2011 and everyone from the franchise manager on down was very happy with what we came up with. Enormous thanks to Christian from Advance, our creative agency, and Christoffer, our lead set designer, who contributed a lot of terrific ideas to the storyline. This past year has seen the story team working AS a team more than I think any other time in the history of BIONICLE. Lena and Jesper did their usual great job of keeping us on task, and Camilla let us know when we were going down paths that were too confusing or required too much knowledge of back story. I won't say this was the most intense meeting we have ever had -- there wasn't any fighting, for one thing -- but it may have been the most productive. Over two days, we nailed three full years of story, including set ideas, settings, subtext, everything. I was fried by the end of it. The trip there and back was exhausting, but I have to say, it is really a great experience to be in a room with such creative people and just come up with ideas. When it's working, things flow; and when things stop flowing (as they did during one of our 2010 discussions), then you know you are on the wrong road and it's time to turn around and go back to the start. -- Next step is I have to write up a summary of what we came up with for our next series of meetings in August, which are scheduled for four days mid-month. -- Got to see the (almost) final 2008 summer sets. One thing to note is 2008 will see the return of some more advanced and complex builds, something BZPers have been asking for. I can't say anything beyond that, other than the sets are very impressive and definitely on my shopping list for next year. -- There was a lot of other big news from the meeting, some you will hear about soon and some that has to wait a while. But all of it was good. -- Greg

Still trying to figure out how someone makes it home from school with a broken collarbone, rather than ending up in an emergency room ... Greg

Never received a response to my PM, which would seem to add fuel to the idea that this was all fake. And, thankfully, I received a very nice PM from a member's Mom who had seen the blog entry and wanted to reassure me that BIONICLE was very welcome in her house. Greg

I sent BF606 a PM back asking: -- If the account was created just to talk to me about this, why was it created two weeks ago? Why with that name? And why was he/she posting in "BIONICLE-based creations?" I also suggested that if their story was true, it would make a lot more sense for them to contact LEGO Consumer Service with it, and their school, rather than me. I certainly have a lot to do with BIONICLE, but I work for the company that puts it out -- I don't own the company. My guess is neither I nor LEGO Company will hear anything more about this, as it is probably fake. Greg

I thought they would, indeed, Gravitan, because one of MY problems with the comics is the issue of having to cram 60,000-80,000 words of story into so few pages -- I feel like sometimes I have to take story leaps to fit everything in, and I can leave the readers behind. Greg

Not sure if this is serious, or a prank, but I thought I would share a PM I got today from a "BIONICLEFan606": ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Hello, I made an account on Bzpower specifically just to be able to contact you, Mr. Farshety. I dont know anything about Bionicle, but I got your name from one of my brother's Bionicle books, and decided that you were the best person to come to. My little brother, 15, is a really big fan of Lego Bricks, specifically Bionicle. He goes to Central High and plans to attend their College too. The other day, my brother came home with a broken collar bone and scarred face from some school bullies all because of this stupid toy he like. That's not all of it. I am sick of going into his room, and see it covered and decorated with pictures of bionicles and displayments of his 'masks'. He is becoming a reclusive to our family and is constantly on this website socializing with others about these toys that ruin lives. I blame all of this entirely on you. Please go home and think about how there is one teenage boy who you made into a freakin zombie and sucked into your little world. I am leaving this message anonymous mostly because I will never be on this account again. My brothers name will also be kept entirely secret on this site. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- If it is serious, it raises some interesting questions in my mind -- 1) Lots of anger at me, and at LEGO by extension, but no mention of any for the people who beat up his/her brother -- ignorant, intolerant people who would hurt someone for having an interest different from theirs. The evil here is people who want others to think like they do and act like they do -- they are the ones trying to create zombies incapable of independent thought. 2) If the account was created specifically to tell me about this, why was it created 12 days ago, and includes posts in the BIONICLE-based creations forums? And why keep it anonymous when you could simply cancel the account, and thus never hear from me? 3) If true, this is a tragic story. Even if not true, there may well be similar (if not as extreme) situations liek this out there, so it is worth discussing anyway. But I am not sure what BIONICLE is guilty of here other than being entertaining. No one is forced to adopt it as a hobby -- it is certainly not omnipresent in our culture or something a 15 year old is going to feel he has to be involved in against his will. It sounds like this person found an interest they were genuinely enthusiastic about ... so we are to blame for making BIONICLE worthy of interest. BIONICLE is not a cult -- it's a toy line for 7-9 year olds, supported by a comic, a web site, and some books. There is no TV series popping up on your screen, no MMRPG everyone is talking about, or anything else forcing its way into your life. If BIONICLE is part of your life, it is because you actively chose it to be. And, unfortunately, standing up for things you care about can be painful. I know a lot of BZPers can testify to that. If this young man was spending too much time on BIONICLE -- obsessing over it -- then that is something for the family to deal with. If we are going to blame/shut down everything that has the potential to absorb someone that much, we will not have much left in our culture. Any thoughts? Greg

Spent one evening this week at a couple of BIONICLE comic focus groups (there were four sessions, but I only made it for two). The purpose was to basically revisit the comic, see what people thought of it and whether it was helping BIONICLE as much as we think. The good news, at least in the sessions I was at, was that the kids (7-9 year old boys) are reading it, enjoying it (especially the fighting), and getting a lot of their awareness of BIONICLE from the comic and the LEGO Magazine. That is what we wanted to hear. The two things that surprised me was that none of the 17 kids we had in complained about the comic being shorter this year, or were having any problems following the story. No one seemed to realize #6 was online, which suggest to me at least that if we do more online-exclusive comics in the future, we need to really shout from the rooftops so people know they are there. Just booked my tickets for this year's Comic-Con! I will be there for the entire show, for those of you planning to go (I know at least a few BZPers are making the trip). Just finished proofing Bionicle Legends #8 and the new Encyclopedia. I think #8 is the best book I have done since BA #10 -- I ended up being really happy with how it came out. Encyclopedia is about 30 pages or so longer than the first one was, and includes a lot of pics of Rahi and Dark Hunter fan-built models, which is nice. Also has some new info, like a hint about 2008 story, details on the "shadow plague," some more info on what Lesovikk was doing over the last 100,000 years, and more -- hopefully worth picking up even if you have the old one. Greg

No, prototypes shown at focus groups are in color. But we might have something like two different red Toa, for the kids to pick which design they like best, that sort of thing. I understand from the franchise manager that the groups have gone very well so far. Matt Murdock -- BZPers can speculate about all sorts of things, that is part of being fans. They almost always are talking about stuff way in the future, but they don't really have any info on it, they are just making guesses. Ithranna -- Comic-Con is fun and exhausting. I usually bring a few hundred dollars (which I try to get rid of by the end of the weekend, last year on DVDs and posters -- comics tend to be REALLY expensive there). Most of my time is spent sitting at the booth, signing autographs or answering questions. If I don't have to work, I wander the con until it is closing time, then I go back to the hotel, have dinner, call my wife, and sack out. I used to do more traveling than I do now -- back in 2003, I think I had 10 trips -- but now that I am writing for Scholastic, I don't have as much free time to do it. Trips take away writing time. But in the next, say, couple months I am in NYC four times for family or fun, so I bought a laptop to bring with me. Greg

I didn't really pay much attention to the colors -- not being a MOCer, I don't notice things like that. Ithranna - I travel some. I usually have two or so Club meetings a year I have to go to, plus Comic-Con, and now that story is being seen as really important for BIONICLE by the global team, we are spending a lot more time on story meetings -- this is our third one in the last 10 months (used to be once a year). I have done some on video-conference, but they just don't seem to work as well. Greg

Hey guys, Just back from a short trip to Raleigh, NC for a story meeting. Most of the team was over there for 2008 focus groups, so the franchise manager kindly carved out some time in the schedule for me to meet with them (possibly saving me a trip to Denmark next month). A few news items: -- I saw for the first time all the proposed canister figures for 2008. There were 16 figures on display, of which 12 will be chosen to be sold. They looked quite different from the prototypes I had seen and apparently have gone over well in the groups. -- The meeting was on BIONICLE 2009 and beyond -- so if you see someone on here spreading rumors that BIONICLE is ending in 2008, don't believe them. The story is CHANGING in 2009 in a lot of ways, but not ending. It was a very productive three hours, we got a ton done, and I came home with a few new projects I have to work on for the team. Extra work, but not complaining -- it's stuff I volunteered for to help advance BIONICLE. The first meeting at which ideas are presented to corporate will be in mid-May, so that is when the franchise manager will discuss with the big bosses what we decided yesterday. Hopefully, they will like the ideas and we will be given the green light to proceed with story material. Greg

Yay, I am on vacation for a week ... Seven days of baseball, Playstation baseball, and WoW ... Finished Bionicle Legends #8 on Easter Sunday, so am going to try not to do any LEGO writing this week, other than answering questions on BZP. (Yes, I will still be here.) Had a good day today -- went up to Renbrook School in West Hartford and spoke to a few classes of fifth graders. One of the students there (who is also a BZP member, I believe) had sent me a letter a while back as part of a class project. When I saw where the school was (not very far from me), I wrote back and told him if his school would like, I would drop in for a talk. So today was the first of two visits for me there -- great looking school, nice bunch of kids, good mix of questions from them. Next week I speak to the fourth graders. The school seemed very pleased I did not ask them for money to come visit -- I told them it's for young people, I don't expect to get paid to do something like this for them. (They did give me a nice gift, though, which was sweet of them -- restaurant gift cards.) The school personnel were really appreciative and nice to me, and that makes it a pleasure to do things like this. Really recharges my batteries, you know? Anyway -- after this little break, it is on to EXO-FORCE #7 and BIONICLE Legends #9. In the meantime, my Draenai hunter is up to level 25 and has a chalice and some tainted wood to find, so I better get back to that Greg

I don't pay a ton of attention to the news items, CF, unless they have to do with set revelations, etc. BBC contests and all that I don't pay any attention to, they don't involve me, and I have really never paid much attention to BZP's April Fools' Day things in the past -- I have heard them mentioned, but have not bothered to find out what they were. Not interested. Greg

Nope, not a prank. To be honest, if it wasn't for the fact that I know tomorrow is April 2nd because baseball season starts, I wouldn't have remembered it was April 1st today. Greg

In fairness, Beliwa, I do owe you guys something -- I owe you respect, because 99.9% of you have earned it. I owe you the best answers I can give, and I owe you acknowledgment if I screw an answer up because something changed or I misread a question. If you guys take the time out of your day to come here and PM me, I feel I should take some time out of my day to respond to you. Greg

I received this over the weekend from a BZP member who will remain nameless (bold was my addition): Okay Greg, it's time to step up out of the shadows and explain the karazani set. Who are the matoran? Sarda? Idris? Gar? Is this set a store exclusive? What is the strange contraption thing? And here is the deal. You have been holding off long enough. You have to answer these questions and step up. If you didn't want these questions to appear, then why did you put that image out? Its time you got some explanations out to BZPower. Reply A.S.A.P. There are so many things wrong with this, I hardly know where to start. First off, the poster obviously did not read the BZP article, which stated clearly that the image came from a Toys R Us brochure found at BrickFest. I did not release the image -- in fact, in four years on BZP, I have never released a set image to the site. That's not my job. BZP finds them on their own because they have a crack staff of journalists. Second, there's this whole "have to" thing and the implied sense of entitlement. BZP members are entitled to ask just about anything they want to -- if they ask something that's out of line, I tell them. They are not, however, entitled to answers -- some things I won't talk about, some things I can't. Why? Because giving away everything about an entire year in the first quarter is dumb ... because my bosses don't want me to do that ... and because I am not on here to ruin surprises. There are some fans who just want to know everything in January, and then they wind up bored all year long waiting for the next January. Third, I am on here for fun. I respect the site, the people who run it, and the members. I get something out of the interaction, hopefully so do BZPers. But I don't have to be here -- it's not part of my job -- I want to be here. And I don't have to answer questions if they are phrased rudely. Finally, the amusing thing about this issue is that the things he was asking about are not things I was keeping secret. I have told multiple members for months that Sarda and Idris were coming out in a store exclusive set with a third, mystery figure. The only thing I held back was who that figure was, now that's out, and that's cool. This member never asked me about this set before and got refused, so acting like I somehow was holding out on him all this time is just silly. I PM'd him back and explained the situation, and that this info was all already out on BZP. The PM I got back was just a repeat of his request for the info. This is a rare case where I am not going to respond. There are tons of BZPers who send me questions every day -- and I love it -- and ask them as fans and as friends in a polite way. So they are going to get enormous amounts of priority over people who are rude about their requests. Greg

CF -- Outside of Downfall, none of the other titles are in the system yet -- I just gave them to Scholastic today -- so doubt you would be able to reserve them. Greg

Heard from Scholastic today, and this is the way the book schedule is shaping up for 2008 -- In-store December 2007 - BIONICLE Legends #8: Downfall - last book of 2007 story, prologue of 2008 story In-store March 2008 - BIONICLE Legends #9: Shadows in the Sky In-Store June 2008 - BIONICLE Legends #10: Swamp of Secrets In-Store September 2008 - BIONICLE Legends #11: Title TBD In-store December 2008 - First book of 2009 storyline, may be under a different series title Greg

You guys are going to pull a muscle jumping to conclusions - nothing in my post says anything about gears. Greg

Hey -- back from the big story meeting in Billund with various bits of news -- * I met with web producer Leah Kaae for half a day on Tuesday to discuss some future web plans. Then the whole story team met on Wednesday for about 9 hours. * Got to see about 16 of the 2008 sets -- winter releases, one store exclusive, and some of the big sets for next year -- the big ones, I have to say, rival the Ultimate Collectors Series Star Wars sets for sheer, striking look -- plus some really nice functionality. Hope they do not change too much between now and end of next year. That was, of course, not all the sets for next year. * Part of our time was spent discussing the "titan" sets for 2008 and the other store exclusives and what/who they should be. Some of the answers may surprise you * The rest of the time was spent discussing the 2008 storyline, which we basically locked down, and some rough ideas on 2009. We are going to probably need another meeting to work on 2009 some more, probably in April or May. My next job is to break the 2008 story down into 24 bite-sized chunks for the team. If you liked 2006 and 2007, and if you like old, familiar faces reappearing in the story, then you should like 2008. If you hated 2006 and 2007, I doubt 2008 will be much more to your taste -- and I have no idea how you will feel about 2009, too soon to tell. * A little bit of book news -- the Piraka and Axonn WILL be appearing in Book 8, as will the Toa Nuva and Artakha. * Glad to be home! I flew in Thursday, the day before the big snowstorm here, so outside of having to drive in it to pick up my wife at work, I was able to stay warm and dry through all the snow and sleet. So working on Book 8 today and then have to get back to WoW. Making a Sherlock Holmes sandwich for lunch as soon as this chapter is done, and then tonight is pizza and movie night around the Farshtey house Greg

LEGO has to work ahead, because we have to have winter sets done early enough that marketing materials can get done for them by summer/fall of the year before, and summer sets have to be done to be able to go to ToyFair in Feb. I saw the first prototypes of 2008 January sets last September. Greg