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.”

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

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

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

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

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

Not sure if this is serious, or a prank, but I thought I would share a PM I got today from a "BIONICLEFan606":

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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.

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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

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