GregF

Couple of quick points here -- -- I have no doubt all the "can't answer its" and the "weasel word" answers (which I freely admit to) drive people crazy sometimes. But bluntly, if you ask me direct questions about things I am not allowed to disclose, I have only two choices -- not answer it or dodge the question. If I give you a direct answer, I will be asked not to come here anymore by my bosses. -- When presented with theories, a lot of times my answer amounts to this -- you have no evidence for what you are suggesting. Does that mean the theory is WRONG? No, and I didn't say it was. I challenged the person to give me evidence, and nine times out of ten, either they can't or their evidence is based on wishful thinking or on misinterpretation, which I point out. Again, I don't say the THEORY is wrong -- I simply point out they misinterpreted the evidence. They then jump to the conclusion that the theory is wrong. Now there WERE people this year who totally guessed the end of 2008 as early as last summer -- should I have come on here and confirmed that and ruined the end of the story for all of you? What sense would that make? -- The whole Takua-Takanuva thing was a challenge, because the answer was out there already and my job was to kick up dust. I couldn't flat-out deny it, but I had to sow doubt about the story without actually saying "no" or else the whole movie would get blown. My two options were to handle it as I did or simply stop coming here until the movie came out. -- Some things I say prove to be wrong, simply because I am mistaken. For example, I gave a lot of answers based on what the story bibles said about Mata Nui and the island of Mata Nui -- a relationship that ended up being somewhat different when the actual CGI got made in 2008. Was I lying all that time? No. I was working based on the best info I had, which then got changed in Denmark this year. I have no control over that. -- If you are concerned/disappointed about the quality of my answers, the simple solution is -- don't ask me about things you know I can't answer. It doesn't take a genius to know that if the nature of Mata Nui has been a secret for eight years, I can't just give it away on a website when somebody asks. Every year, I start getting questions about the next year by July or so, as if people reasonably expect I can give info away that early ... I can't. I'm not allowed to. Simple as that. If, on the other hand, you are one of those people who think I come on here to lie to you, well, why are you wasting your time PMing me if you feel that way? -- Let me reiterate -- I CANNOT GIVE YOU DIRECT AND CLEAR ANSWERS TO SOME OF YOUR QUESTIONS. I am on here with the permission of LEGO Company and the BIONICLE team, and I have to respect that and respect corporate policies regarding confidentiality. If I don't, I will at best be asked not to come on here and answer questions anymore. I don't think anyone will benefit from that. Basically, if I don't answer your question or I give a very ambiguous answer, it is because you have put me in a position where I cannot do anything else and still honor my obligations to the story team and my employer. Greg

Yesterday, I got some sad news -- Fiona Simpson, my editor at Scholastic, has decided to move on from her position there. This is a great loss to the world of BIONICLE and I thought it would be a good time to talk a little bit about her. I first met Fiona in summer 2003. She had recently taken over as editor for the BIONICLE line. Prior to that, the books had been done by Cathy Hapka, a very talented freelancer -- and although I wished I could write them, there didn't seem to be much I could do about it. I met with Fiona to brief her on 2004 story, and during the conversation, she said they had one extra book for '03 they needed done and could I do it? It was to be a short story anthology, and it would be due in a matter of weeks ... but the implication was if I did a good job, I would get to do another book. Of course, I said yes, and that book ended up being Tales of the Masks, the first of the more than 20 I have written since then. Over the last five years, Fiona has been my editor, my friend, and an unsung hero in the BIONICLE universe -- a Toa in her own right. When book sales dropped and it would have been easy to just cancel the series, Fiona fought for it. When it would have been easy to drop the novels and just do the young readers, Fiona managed to keep at least a couple on the schedule for fans like you. Most of all, she showed the rare quality in an editor of trust for her writer -- she let me take the storyline where I wanted it to go and had faith I knew what I was doing. The result was some of the best books in the series, like Time Trap. Since I don't know the future of the book series beyond 2009, I am not sure how much longer we would have worked together, and I am sure Scholastic will put someone professional and solid into the role. But there will not be a day that I work on these books that I do not miss Fiona -- if not for her, I would never have gotten the opportunity to do them -- and if not for her, I would have missed out on a wonderful friendship. I am happy to say that we do plan to stay in touch, and I wish her all the best, as I hope all of you do too. A lot of the stories and characters you guys have enjoyed and talked about over the years happened because of her faith and her belief in me and in this line. She is a rare editor and an even rarer human being, and her absence will be sorely felt. Greg

Jalaguy » Click to show Spoiler - click again to hide... «1) Has to be a mistake, as he only went to sleep 1000 years ago. 2) Yes. 3. No, it forms as needed.

In the wake of the new animation appearing on BIONICLE.com, I am of course getting loads of PMs with questions. So I thought it would save time to just answer them here. I am going to put the answers in spoiler tags, so if there is a question you don't want to know the answer to, you can skip it. So let's get started: 1. How tall is Mata Nui? » Click to show Spoiler - click again to hide... «The conservative estimate I have seen from the story team is about 40 million feet high. 2. Is Mata Nui the Matoran universe? » Click to show Spoiler - click again to hide... «Yes. The actions of 2004-2008 all took place inside the Great Spirit. The action of 2001-2003 took place on the surface of Mata Nui's "face." Since Mata Nui is not normally laying still, that explains why Matoran were never meant to live outside the domes. 3. Why did Mata Nui have trees, rivers, etc. on his face?? » Click to show Spoiler - click again to hide... «One of Mata Nui's jobs -- though not his main one -- was observation of other worlds. To achieve this, he had the ability to conceal himself underwater and camouflage himself with something resembling local flora. In the case of this incident, the Great Cataclysm damaged the EP system and caused a wild growth of plant life without the system really being triggered. 4. What were the Bohrok for? » Click to show Spoiler - click again to hide... «When it came time for Mata Nui to move onto another world, the Bohrok would clean the "camouflage" off so he could operate efficiently. This also had the effect of loosening/weakening the stone/soil base the plant life grew on, so it would fall away when Mata Nui rose. 5. Is Mata Nui a robot? » Click to show Spoiler - click again to hide... «That is an accurate term in that his body is fully mechanical, not bio-mechanical, but he is much more than how we define robot. He is alive; he is intelligent; he can think, feel and reason. In that respect, it can be argued he is more of a "synthezoid" -- a living being made of artificial parts. 6. Does Mata Nui wear a Kanohi mask? » Click to show Spoiler - click again to hide... «No, he does not. 7. What was Mata Nui's main job? » Click to show Spoiler - click again to hide... «This gets dealt with in future story. 8. Why didn't the Toa/Matoran/Turaga etc. know they were inside Mata Nui? » Click to show Spoiler - click again to hide... «Well, some of you might remember the old story about all of Earth's universe being a microbe inside the bloodstream of a larger being -- and if that were the case, how would you know? 9. Was Mata Nui always on this planet? » Click to show Spoiler - click again to hide... «No, he was not. That's all I can think of for now, but I am sure these answers will prompt other questions Greg

They contacted me this week and asked if I would be interested in writing something for them, and I said sure. I used to write for the Crypt roleplaying game back when I worked for West End Games, so this is not my first dance with the Cryptkeeper. Greg

I believe the Papercutz TOC books are available in the same places their BIONICLE ones are -- comic stores and major book chains. Greg

Just FYI, branching out a bit ... http://www.papercutz.com/crypt/comic10/cryptcomic10.html Greg

I don't have a big issue with picture-taking, but I tend to doubt you will be able to get a very good picture. The poster is about a foot or a foot and a half across, and probably three or four feet long. So to get the whole thing into a pic, you are going to have to stand pretty far back, and you will lose the detail of the image. Greg

Just a reminder that I will be doing another library event this month. Here are the details: Saturday, October 18th 11:00 AM Fairchild-Nichols Memorial Library 1718 Huntington Turnpike Trumbull, CT 06611 (203) 452-5196 As a special treat for those attending, I am bringing a copy of the Mata Nui LEGO BrickMaster poster for them to see as a sneak preview. If you want to attend, you need to call the library to register -- registration is limited to 40 people, so don't wait! Greg

My inbox is full, that's why -- I got a couple hundred PMs while I was in Denmark, and had no online access, and I have not had time to get through them yet. And yes, story potential remains huge -- but story is not why the line would get cancelled, it would be set sales. That's what decides it. Greg

I get a lot of questions about when BIONICLE will end, and I see a lot of topics on here about whether BZP would survive its ending. Well, all things end, eventually -- it might be a year or five years or 20 years or 100 years, but everything ends. But as someone who loves BIONICLE as much you do, I will give you some free advice: On the day it does end, assuming it is a time when you are still into it -- don't give up on it. Keep building models, writing stories, making theories. Someday, when the line ends, you guys will be the keepers of the flame, just as Star Trek fans were and Star Wars fans were (very few people remember that in 1991 Star Wars was considered a "dead license" -- it was the fans who kept interest alive until new books and movies came out). Never let anyone else's decisions -- not mine, not LEGO Company's, not anyone's -- dictate whether you maintain your interest in something you love. Don't walk away from BZP, which may be the place BIONICLE lives on for years after its "official passing." And from this one site on the web and others like it, who knows, perhaps someday a new universe will grow. Hopefully, this is not something any of us will have to worry about for some time to come -- but I thought it was important to say. Greg

I will be largely offline this coming week, until probably the 27th or so, so any PMs sent during this week will have to wait a bit for answers. Greg

Don't think there are plans to change colorist -- I doubt they will go back to the Sayger-era coloring style, as the Brand team feels the comic looked too dark in 2006-2007 and it put a lot of younger fans off. Greg

The person we chose was chosen specifically because he can keep the flavor of Leigh's art. We weren't looking to do another radical change in style, since Leigh's art is so popular. Don't know how long the chapter books will be yet - I have an okay to make them a bit longer if I want to, but may not have the time to do so. We'll see how it flows once I get writing. It took me a while to find a "voice" I liked for the 2009 material -- so I am kind of calling on the style I used back when I did River of God way back when. Greg

Some comic, book, movie updates today: 1) The first full-length chapter book in 2009 should hit stores around June. 2) There will be at least three Level 3 readers next year. 3) Plans are for five comics next year, same size as this year. We will start with a new issue #1, which is already written. 4) Story will flow like this -- January comic, March comic, then the first chapter book, which will lead into the July comic. So the chapter book will not duplicate story from the comics or vice versa. 5) On a disappointing note, November 2008 will be Leigh Gallagher's last issue. Leigh has a lot of projects going on and felt that he did not have the spare time to devote to BIONICLE, so he has bowed out. We have already named a replacement, with an eye toward maintaining a similar style to Leigh's, and I will share his name as soon as DC gives me clearance to do so. 6) First draft of the 2010 screen treatment is out in Billund with the story team for approval. I have a conference call on Monday with the movie folk to discuss it. Almost certainly a second draft will be needed, but we'll see how harsh the rest of the team is about it Greg

TT -- I don't believe the UK magazine is carrying the page, but the instructions will be up on the Club website, not in the magazine, so it's possible you may still be able to access them. Greg

Recently, there has been a lot of confusion on BZP over the plans for an alternate model of Jetrax in the November LEGO Magazine. Apparently, a lot of people have thought that refers to the yellow Jetrax store exclusive set, so I thought it was time for a little Alternate Model 101: Q. What is an alternate model? A. It's a new model built using pieces of an existing one. Q. Would the yellow Jetrax be considered an alternate model? A. No. You cannot build yellow Jetrax using pieces from existing 2008 models, because none of the sets have those pieces in yellow. If you have to paint existing pieces to build the model, it's not an alternate model Q. What is the difference between a LEGO Magazine alternate model and the yellow Jetrax? A. Besides what's already been stated, a LEGO Magazine alternate model is designed exclusively for Club by our Master Model Builders. Instructions are provided either in the magazine or on LEGO Club website. Club alternate models are not for sale in any store, though obviously the models they are based off of are. Yellow Jetrax is a store exclusive model. It has its own packaging, it's for sale, and it includes its instructions just as any other LEGO set does. So to sum up -- if we were doing a page showing the yellow Jetrax, it would not be referred to an alternate model page in the magazine, more likely as a feature page (since it shows an existing set available for sale with its instructions included). An alt. model page features a new model constructed using pieces from an existing one, with instructions available only through LEGO Club. Make sense?

Spielberg is not an actor, and both mini-figs were him as a director, so that doesn't count. Nor is Gary Oldman correct, as the Batman mini-figs are not based on the movie characters -- we don't have the rights to the movie, only to the comic universe. So the LEGO Batman figure is just Batman, not Christian Bale as Batman, etc. Greg

Torhukki -- It's actors who have been made into mini-figures TWICE, as different characters, not just once. Greg

In honor of the 30th birthday of the minifigure, here is a quick contest -- winner gets an exclusive surprise BIONICLE prize! Post your answers in response to this entry, and first one to get it right wins -- question is: 1) Two Hollywood celebrities have been made into LEGO mini-figures twice, as different characters. Name the actors and the characters. WE HAVE A WINNER! Congratulations to lisa garber -- lisa, PM me your mailing address so I can send you your prize. Greg

* No, no one from the first three movies is in the fourth, to my knowledge. Tinseltown Toons uses Hollywood talent for their films, the same way they do in the Batman cartoons, etc., Creative Capers did their casting in Canada, as I recall. But I can't release names, that would be up to the studio to do. * We have a contract with TT for three films. Yes, if the 2009 one bombed, there wouldn't be a 2010 one, but that's normal. If "Batman Begins" had bombed, there would have been no "Dark Knight." Greg

-- Saw the first animatics for the 2009 movie, with voice actors -- nice. Hard to judge what the animation will be like from it, but it's obvious that the director is very skilled and the acting is good. Not sure if the voices are final cast or not. -- Working on the screen treatment for the 2010 movie now, along with the first 2009 comic book and the first 2009 chapter book. -- If ~Bio~ is out there, you sent me a PM with a question, but it says you have chosen not to be contacted by board Messenger, so I cannot send you a reply. Greg

Iro is correct -- LEGO releases images and info on the upcoming sets to retailers, as they need to place their orders well before January to insure they have the sets on shelves then. Those catalogs are specifically not intended to public view, but every year, there is some retailer somewhere (in this case, it looks like Portugal) who either scans the images himself or gives it to one of his customers to scan. In their rush to be first with news, these so-called "fans" never consider how early publication of these images can hurt LEGO's business, by giving other companies time to rush out knock-offs of our designs. Greg

With the latest round of supposed set names and images floating around on the Net, I am getting a lot of PMs asking about 2009 sets, names, and a few about story. In a few cases, I have been able to provide answers, in many more cases I cannot. And most BZPers know that they cannot expect answers on the next year's product this early in the year before. So that said, I am not going to spend time writing "I can't discuss this" over and over to people who already know that. PMs asking me about 2009 will, until further notice, simply not get answers. I cannot very well ask BZP to respect LEGO's policy re: leaked info (real or not) and then disrespect the policy myself by commenting here. So if you are planning to send me "Real or fake?" PMs or anything like that re: 2009 sets, please don't waste your time. You won't receive a response until LEGO Company clears me to discuss next year, which won't be for a few months at least. Greg

No, I don't regret it at all. Nuhrii's suggestion kind of reminded me of the old "No-Prize" thing Marvel used to do decades ago. They challenged their readers -- instead of complaining about mistakes in comics, they asked the readers to come up with reasons why the things they noted WEREN'T mistakes. In this case, the connection between Mangaia and Mangai was not an error on our part, but it was something that begged for an explanation, and I thought Nuhrii came up with a very plausible and artful one. And it's true that when I get these things not in an avalanche, and have time to read them and consider them, sometimes I can say, "Hey, makes sense, let's do it." But when I get 15 of them in a day, it gets to be a little much -- it stops being someone wanting to just help explain something away and becomes about just wanting to be able to say you added something to the universe. Both are legit reasons to do this, but I prefer the former to the latter. Greg