GregF

Rayg -- You are pretty much on the money, at least for the first book. Greg

As I finish off the first three Chapter Ones, a quick preview of the winter serials -- #1 - At the end of last year's Gali Nuva Blog, we learned how Tahu and Kopaka had been sent on a mission by the Order of Mata Nui to quell a series of active volcanoes on a southern islands. Now, the Order sends a bizarre team -- Brutaka, Roodaka, Makuta Spiriah, Vezon, Carapar and Takadox -- on a suicide mission to that same island to save a potential wild card in the conflict to come -- the original leader of the Brotherhood of Makuta! #2 - Makuta Mutran remembers the past history of the Brotherhood. Learn new secrets about the BOM and its Plan, as well as more about events like the Matoran Civil War and the exploits of Brotherhood members elsewhere in the universe. #3 (biocast) -- Takanuva journeys to Karda Nui through the unpredictable power of Brutaka's mask, only to wind up somewhere very different indeed -- a pocket dimension where Toa Nidhiki allied himself with Toa Tuyet (during the events of "The Many Deaths of Toa Tuyet") and killed Lhikan. Tuyet's power led the Toa down a dark path of oppression and murder, leaving the survivors of the Brotherhood and the Dark Hunters as the only force left to fight for freedom in the universe!

Lhilertoro -- All the readers will have exclusive content. They aren't going to be new versions of existing story, they will be side stories all their own. And the March comic will have exclusive content as well. Little Zivon -- Bluntly, there aren't enough of you. The percentage of people over age 11 or 12 who are into BIONICLE is so small that it wouldn't translate into enough book sales. (Let's face it, I see very few complaints that the tone of the books is too juvenile for a 14 year old, yet I also see tons of BZPers in that age range who don't buy the books -- they just come here to read spoilers.) The advantage of going after younger kids is that you can hopefully turn them into BIONICLE fans who will then buy sets for the next four or five years. If I capture the attention of, say, a 15 year old tomorrow, is it likely he will suddenly start buying a lot of LEGO sets? Or, like the "Inconvenient Situation" topic starter, is he more likely to face a lot of parental and peer pressure not to buy them?

But ... possibly a gamble worth taking. Right now, BIONICLE has very high awareness levels among 9-11 year olds, but less so among 7-8 year olds. In a few years, a lot of those 9-11 year olds will no longer be buying sets, so we are going to need today's 6, 7, 8 year olds to be into BIONICLE by then. My biggest worry was that the books would be too "juniorized," and the response from LEGO was that the best way to avoid that was for me to write them. So while it is a SHORT story, almost more like a fable, it still works with this year's story, particularly the first half biocast. Greg

A few pieces of news -- -- Scholastic has informed me of plans to do a new, second series of BIONICLE books starting in late 2008, in addition to the regular ones they have been doing. These will be what they call Level 3 Readers and will be aimed at 5-6 year olds -- similar to what they have done for Batman and other lines. I am writing the first one, and we will see how they do and whether they want me to do the others. While I am going to make an effort for these to be canon, they will NOT be referenced in other BIONICLE story areas, because I don't want 14 year old fans feeling they have to read something written for a 6 year old to keep up with story. They are going to be very short (about 1500 words), so if you have little brothers interested in BIONICLE and not old enough to read the comics or books yet, this might be a good way to get them started. It's a little bit of a gamble on the part of Scholastic, because that is not traditionally the BIONICLE audience. However, a lot of the Scholastic audience is that young, and recruiting future 8-9 year olds is important for the health of our franchise. So we will give this a shot and see if we can raise awareness of BIONICLE prior to the movie. Its success or failure will not impact the comic, web site, movie, etc., which will still be aimed at the 9-11 audience. Anyway, on to the timeline for this year, as best as I know it -- The March comic, Bionicle Legends #9, and Bionicle Legends #10 all take place at roughly the same time, along with the Makuta and Brutaka web serials. The Takanuva biocast will take place just after the events of Book 10, but will explain in brief what is going on with him so you won't be lost. The first Level 3 reader will occur between the events of Bionicle Legends #10 and the biocast -- since I am not expecting the reader fans to be looking at any of the other material that much, I am not worrying as much about timeline with those books.

Since it's not actually a Spanish word, and since it's probably not used around the average middle class household, I would tend to think she would not recognize it. Greg

Choco -- Can't be changed, because it is official. Packaging has already been printed, ads have already been done. All that stuff is finished long before we ever put the sets out. Greg

Apparently so, Adventurer -- Someone wrote me last night stating that they had found a reference to "krika" on Wikipedia in an article on Spanish profanity. I checked it out, didn't see it, so I assume it got edited. What struck me was that someone would sit there and read an entire article on profanity, which they knew they would be offended by, just to see if they could find this name and be even more offended. No one involved with BIONICLE sent them on that search -- they chose to do it themselves -- so who is to blame if they are shocked and offended? Why is it that the people most prone to be upset about this are the ones actively seeking it out? Meanwhile, the millions of BIONICLE fans who don't come to this site do not now and never will even know there is such a controversy, because the odds are they DON'T spend their time researching profanity. Greg

I have been surprised to see people actually threatening to leave BIONICLE over this. If someone did drop the line over this, I would expect them to be on the phone to their local furniture stores tomorrow demanding that they stop using the words "table" and "chair" since they are slang for bad words also, according to the same web site. If someone is going to blame BIONICLE for this then they have to give equal treatment to everyone else who uses any of the several thousand words on that site, right? (BTW, the same site also lists "LEGO" as being slang for something not to be brought up on a site with children on it -- so I think we can see how absurd this all is.) Greg

It's also way more likely that a parent is going to look on LEGO.com or LEGOshop.com if they are looking for info on a LEGO set. Frankly, I think parents are going to be more upset that their kids are online researching swear words than they are going to be about Krika's name. LEGO isn't the one sending folks to sites full of curse words, people are doing that on their own. Greg

There are very few words that do not get any hits on Google at all -- everything means something, someplace. Greg

I wasn't going to dignify this issue with a blog entry, but since people keep asking me about it, I guess I have to -- Recently, some supposed names for summer BIONICLE sets hit the Internet, among them "Krika." Some web surfers discovered that there is a site that identifies "krika" as a slang term for something bad. They immediately PM'd me about it in a semi-panic, so I spent my morning doing some research. Here is what I have found out: -- The site claims that the word is used in Puerto Rican or Cuban urban areas, however a check of Spanish dictionary sites reveals that krika has no meaning in Spanish -- so this is a slang term, not a part of the actual language. -- The same site that lists krika as meaning something bad also lists the following words as meaning a bodily part, a bodily function, or something else that would be inappropriate to discuss here: * Chair * Fabric softener * Machete * Macaroni * M&M * Table * Pacemaker * Oh, by the way -- the site also lists BZP as a term referring to a party drug. But we know BZPower doesn't refer to that, right? Right. And that's just a small sample. There are 160 pages of urban slang terms just starting with the letter K! Any word, in any language, can be used as a slang term for something bad -- does that mean we should no longer use any of the words listed above in anything? -- So what does Krika mean? Well -- Krika is a jewelry company in Montserrat that sells silver Wizard of Oz jewelry ... Krika Simo was one of the hikers who discovered the "Iceman" in 1991 .. Krika Peters was an actor in the 1960s ... and Krika is a town in Sweden. There are, in fact, 82,300 hits for krika on Google, only 1 of which refers to it as being a bad word. In fact, krika is being spread around as a bad word more on BZPower these days than anywhere else! So my advice to everyone is to calm down and get some perspective. This is a non-issue, and it's only going to become an issue if people run around and get hysterical about it when it's not warranted. Greg

Pretty sure this is the first blue leader, yes. A few people have PM'd asking why it was that Kirop was not still the leader. Two reasons, basically -- one, the Makuta got Gavla first. And two, remaining as leader would mean the Makuta respected Av-Matoran authority and power structure, which they don't. Assigning their own leader to the shadow Matoran says, "We are in charge here." Av-Matoran bios will start today. Greg

GAVLA Quote: "You might say I saw the light ... by looking into the darkness." Personality: Leader of the shadow Matoran, Gavla's hatred for her own people makes her a formidable enemy. She fights the Matoran of Light as much because she enjoys it as because she has been ordered to. Weapons: Claws blades; teeth Powers: Vertigo -- can disrupt the sense of balance in a target (when linked with Makuta only); shadow energy

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

CHIROX "We knew what to do with Toa on Destral ... raw material for my Rahi, that's what they were." Chirox is one of the Brotherhood's top scientists, but is best known for the fact that the Rahi he creates tend to be vicious and destructive. He is less of a warrior than Antroz, but more cunning, and much more likely to fight dirty. He lives to do experiments, always tinkering with Rahi to make them more monstrous, and is quick to point out how much better his creations are than those of Mutran. Weapons: Tridax pod; blades Mask: Kanohi Shelek, the Mask of Silence -- can cause a target to temporarily lose the ability to speak or hear. KIROP "All those years we spent hiding in the light ... we were wrong. We should have embraced the darkness from the start." Forner leader of the Matoran of Light, Kirop has become their most dangerous enemy because he knows everything about all of them. Powers: Sight stealing -- can make a target temporarily blind; can fire shadow energy from his claw blades

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

ANTROZ Quote: "Toa serve an important purpose in this world -- they help me keep my claws sharp." Personality: Antroz if the leader of the Brotherhood of Makuta forces in Karda Nui and an accomplished warrior. He is well aware that he has to deal with powerful personalities in the other Makuta and the need to make sure he retains their respect. Unlike the Makuta of Metru Nui, he never underestimates a foe. Antroz is a rare Makuta who has some sense of honor and would rather win a fight fairly than cheat. Mask: Kanohi Jutlin, the Mask of Corruption. Causes items to slowly rot and break down. Equipment: Tridax pod; claws; teeth RADIAK As fierce a fighter for the side of shadow as he ever was for light, Radiak was once the biggest hero among the Av-Matoran. Now that he has been corrupted, he delights in challenging his former friends to combat and then seeing them ambushed by the Makuta. Equipment: Four legs blades; teeth Powers: Can shoot shadow energy from his blades; sloth -- can make a target too slow and lazy to get away (accessible only when riding a Makuta).

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

As promised, here is some info on Vamprah (Chirox and a better Antroz write-up to come later in the week): Vamprah (8692) Quote: Vamprah does not speak. Weapons: Tridak pod with shadow leeches; claws; knife-sharp wings Personality: Vamprah is the true hunter among the Makuta, who delights in silently stalking his prey. Even his allies are uncomfortable around him. Thanks to his mask power and his own experiments, he now literally feeds on the hopes and dreams of others. Vamprah hates to see a hunt end too soon and will often toy with his prey before feeding. Mask: Kanohi Avsa, Mask of Hunger -- allows Vamprah to drain his choice of light, energy or positive emotions from a target at a distance. His preference is always the latter, but he will drain energy when in combat.

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