GregF

But Jimmybob, we already have masks covering all those powers, none of which are in this design, so giving him a power that already exists in another mask shape would just be confusing. The point of giving him this mask was that, combined with Kirop, he robs you of all your senses. Makes it kinda hard to fly if you can't see, hear or speak.

Greg

It is actually Tridax, Tridak was a typo on my part.

The teeth ARE a part of the mask, but they are because Antroz shapeshifted so that they would be. So they are still considered teeth as a natural tool in this instance.

Greg

Hyper - A shadow leech has to make physical contact with you to drain your light. If you can somehow pull it off, burn it off, or kill it, then it can't finish the job. Vamprah, on the other hand, does not have to be touching you to use his mask power on you.

Greg

Good point, BFN, I will do that --

Avsa is pronounced "AVVV (pronounced like "have") -- sah"

And the spelling is Tridax, not Trydax

Greg

You are indeed, KoE.

Upcoming schedule:

TOMORROW: Antroz and Radiak

THURSDAY: Chirox

FRIDAY: Kirop and Gavla

NEXT TUESDAY: Icarax

And then we will probably either do Mutran or else go into the Toa and Av-Matoran and then do Mutran. We'll see.

Greg

The kraata powers do not allow you to choose what you feed on -- the kraata cannot consume light or emotions -- and the corruption power destroys much slower than shattering or disintegration, so you can blackmail someone with destroying their mask or weapon etc. rather than just instantaneously doing it.

Greg

Well, good job, Lhilertoro The best spokespeople for BIONICLE are fans who like it.

Mars Mission did very well among LEGO Club members, as did Castle, I don't know its sales overall.

The great thing about City and Creator is that they are good "intro products" -- often, they get bought for younger kids and become a way to get them into LEGO building. We find if kids get into this at a young age, they are more likely to stick with it as they get older.

Greg

No, CF, the "ton of financial issues" was pretty much the 2002-2004 period -- we started turning things around in 2005, built up steam in 2006, and kept it going in 2007. In a very bad toy market, we are one of the few success stories out there.

Another big news item this year has been the continued success of the LEGO retail stores. I'll admit, when we first opened stores, I had my doubts they would work -- but the Brand Retail team we have in place really did a great job. Revenues jumped way over last year's, which were already a big jump over 2005. So the predictions voiced in some quarters of BZP that you would be seeing cascading store closings proved to be wrong, thankfully

Do we face challenges? Yes, the same ones pretty much every other toy company does in 2008 -- high oil prices, the credit crunch, and the weak dollar. Fortunately, LEGO Company's history is that we ride through tough economic times pretty well, so hopefully that trend will continue.

Interestingly, one of our top lines this year, along with Star Wars, was LEGO City -- which makes me think you may be seeing a backlash against all the electronic items and video games, etc., and maybe some parents turning back to really traditional toys for their kids. Outside of Creator, City is the most classic LEGO series we have.

Greg

The display situation is not something LEGO can affect. To get an end cap or a display like that in a store, the publisher has to be willing to pay for that space and the store has to be willing to give it to them. And it ends up a chicken and egg situation -- the books possibly do not sell as well because of display area, but because they do not sell that well, they aren't going to get that display area either. Same way that if you had a LEGO line that was selling poorly, you wouldn't see TRU or Target give an end cap up for it -- the end caps go to things like Star Wars or LEGO City that are selling really well.

At the same time, the books were being shelved in the same way in 2004 and 2005 when they sold like crazy. Book sales are being affected more by a lack of awareness about BIONICLE than anything else.

Greg

Night Terror -- The reason to hold back info on summer sets until July is that the sets don't come out until then. So there isn't much point in discussing them when no one can buy them yet.

Since the winter sets are appearing places now, I can start discussing them -- like I said, I just want to ration the info, because there are no comics or books until March next year and I don't want you guys bored the whole first quarter of 2008.

Greg

My model for this was essentially the old "Dirty Dozen" movie -- where a bunch of convicts have to go on a mission in WWII, and if they refuse to participate, they hang for their old crimes.

So here is how the team was formed ...

Brutaka is team leader because he was an OOMN member, and as gets revealed in 2008, is back working with them again. He is also, along with Spiriah, the most powerful of them.

Roodaka is participating for a very good reason -- self-interest. If the DH know she was betraying them, the BOM know it too, or soon will, and her life won't be worth a widget. So she has a choice -- join the team and have some measure of protection in numbers, or be left on her own to be hunted down by one side or the other.

Vezon -- He is the only Piraka who didn't mutate, and the one whose whereabouts are unaccounted for ... plus he's just really fun to write.

Spiriah -- The most logical choice. If the BOM prevails, he's dead.

Carapar and Takadox -- Pridak and Kalmah would never agree to serve Brutaka, Mantax and Ehlek just didn't have colorful enough personalities ... Carapar brings some brute strength, and Takadox of course needs to get the heck away from the Barraki.

Why choose these six? Because, in the end, the OOMN feels this is a potential suicide mission and they are expendable.

Greg

CF - No, if they were going to be drawn with fingers, etc. it most likely would have been done by Stuart. Before and after Stuart, the mandate is to make the figures look like the sets. Stuart is the only artist whose brief was that he could drift away from the set looks.

Jala12 - Unfortunately, no. We were about a week away from releasing the January LEGO Magazine to the printer when the decision got made on who the new artist would be, so there wasn't time.

Re: the question on the Nuva blog -- the blog takes you up to the Nuva's visit to Artakha in Bionicle Legends #8.

Greg

BFN - Keep in mind that comic artists draw in the style that the book requires. One of the things DC told us when we were making our choices is that all these guys can work in many different styles -- it's really only the top people, the Frank Millers and Jae Lees, who can expect a book to conform to their style, instead of the other way around. The sample he did for us looked like slightly less detailed Carlos D'anda, that strong metallic feeling without the abstract qualities of Stuart's work and with very clear action.

Greg

Yes on the pronunciation --

His style varies, but what we are asking for is a more set-realistic style than we asked of Stuart.

Far as the web update goes, that is something you need to ask Binkmeister, as he is the web producer.

Greg

The last chapters of all three serials are done and with Binkmeister as of tonight.

Greg

No, I haven't met or talked with him myself yet -- choice was made based on art samples he and five other artists submitted. And no, he didn't draw the teaser image for the November magazine, he hadn't been chosen yet at that point.

Greg

What "horrible storyline holes," Night Terror?

Greg

Plan for the new film is to be on DVD.

And to the other poster's question -- LEGO is based in Denmark, which operates in Danish kroner, not euros. When someone buys a set in the US, the US dollars have to be converted to kroner to get a sense of how much profit the company makes. If the dollar is weak against the kroner, then you are making less kroner per dollar and your profits go down.

Greg

Female villain will be in summer. (Yes, I won that argument )

As for the designers knowing who they are designing -- yes, because it was decided in late '06 that we would need to bring the Nuva back in 2008. At the same time, they were not told to prioritize making them recognizable to their 2002 forms, because the vast majority of the 2002 fanbase is long gone. Most of the current six million or so fans started in 2004 or 2005, and have no idea what the Nuva used to look like or any sentimental attachment to those forms.

Greg

Hewkii Mahri - Your question is answered in the blog entry.

Greg

To answer a couple of the questions --

1) The stage we are at right now is called a shooting outline. Basically, it's like a long summary of the movie, shot for shot, but it isn't a script -- the only dialogue that's in it is just for suggestion, it's not actually movie dialogue. Until the shooting outline gets approved, we don't go on to script. Right now, there are changes from LEGO Company that have to be incorporated and also questions from Universal that have to get answered. So the writer is not onto script just yet.

2) My understanding is that the deal with Tinseltown Toons does include other LEGO properties, but I am not involved in any of those projects so have no idea if they have been started or not. I do know there are no plans for an EXO-FORCE movie.

Greg

Sorry, I don't find it funny. When I have to wake up to PMs from people who are taking it seriously and asking me if that's a legit model, then I have to waste my time looking into it and telling them it's fake. He not only posted it as legitimate, but argued with people who said it wasn't, which I think is carrying a joke too far.

Greg

Hi Khote,

Your question gives me a chance to go into more detail on how this movie thing is working.

Basically, we have a movie "core team," which consists of myself, the screenwriter, the VP of development and the president of Tinseltown Toons. Anything that gets done, script-wise or outline-wise, gets approved by the four of us before it gets passed on to LEGO. (There will probably be something similar when we reach the animation phase, but most likely that will involve the set designer and people from our creative agency more than me, since the visuals are their area of expertise.)

Then it goes out to the global head of BIONICLE and the franchise manager and the other story team members, as well as the licensing manager, and they get to have their input. So LEGO is making more of an effort to exert ownership of this project than they have in the past.

At this point, there is no script, but the snippets of dialogue I have seen I am happy with. Obviously, a lot more work to do before it's ready to go, but we are hoping to have a final, approved script by the beginning of next year.

Greg

Some of the summer sets actually went through a major redesign because the feeling among the kids in the focus groups was that they did not look "BIONICLE enough."

Greg

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