From the Writer's Desk

(GregF's blog on BZPower)

Bionicle Legends #10 Web Code

Hey guys,

For those of you who bought Bionicle Legends #10 and wonder what the web code in the book will lead to -- it looks like it will be a new short story called "The Kingdom," which will take place between Bionicle Legends #10 and the first BIONICLE Level 3 reader. It will include how Takanuva lost the Staff of Light and got the Power Lance, and introduce you to the "Kingdom of the Great Spirit," the somewhat bizarre ruling council, and of course, the ruler of the kingdom -- Turaga Takanuva!

Should be up on the site early this week.

Greg

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Apologia

Hey guys,

Recently, in answer to a question, I had stated that Krakua was a MEMBER of the OOMN. This was a mistake on my part (unfortunately, with all the BIONICLE I write, sometimes I confuse things I thought about doing with what I actually did).

So, to make up for the confusion, I am going to give you guys a sneak preview of Bionicle Legends #11:

Divide and conquer, Pohatu thought as he piloted the Rockoh through a tight turn.
The Makuta forces had split up. Gorast and Vamprah had gone after Icarax; Krika had vanished; Mutran, too, was nowhere in sight; and as soon as he spotted Takanuva, Antroz had sent Bitil and Chirox after him. That left Antroz alone against Lewa, Pohatu and Kopaka.
Not that the Makuta seemed to mind. In full control of the Jetrax T6, he had darted around, over and through every obstacle Pohatu or Lewa had thrown in his way, and outpaced Kopaka with ease. Hitting and running, he had already done significant damage to the Rockoh.
Now Lewa was on Antroz’s tail in the Axalara T9. The Toa of Air was buffeting Antroz’s ship with gale-force winds in an effort to crash it into the forest of stone pillars created by Pohatu. Earlier, Antroz had used his magnetic power to send the Axalara into a spin, and only quick action by Pohatu had kept it from crashing into the swamp.
Antroz spotted the Rockoh and fired. The Jetrax’s Skyblasters hit their target, sending the Rockoh into a spin. Pohatu fought to right the ship, but it was headed for one of the stone pillars he had created. Quickly, he used his elemental power to shatter the rock before the ship collided with it.
Lewa banked to the left, trying to flank Antroz. The Axalara was a more powerful ship, but the Jetrax was faster. He needed to box Antroz in somehow.
Further behind, Kopaka had been working at the same thing. But every ice wall he threw up got blown to pieces by the Jetrax’s weapons or smashed by the vehicle itself. Every rain hail stones had been shrugged off by Antroz and bounced harmlessly off the Jetrax’s armored hull.
Pohatu was back in the fight now, and he was angry. Timing it just right, he made a hand of stone erupt out of the swamp and grab the Jetrax. Before Antroz could power it free, Pohatu hit the controls and pulled the Rockoh’s wings in for a dive. Firing as he flew, he raked the side of the Jetrax with bolts of energy.
Antroz jolted the craft free of the stone hand and wheeled in mid-air, firing at the Rockoh. When Pohatu dodged, Antroz used his gravity power to send the Toa’s ship plunging toward the swamp.
Lewa closed in, rocking the Jetrax with fire from the Axalara’s Skyblasters and shattering the Makuta’s concentration. Free of the increased pull of gravity, Pohatu managed to right his ship just as it skimmed the surface of the water.
Then it was Kopaka’s turn. He used his power to drop the temperature around the Jetrax hundreds of degrees in an instant, slowing down the vehicle’s engines and cutting its speed. Lewa and Pohatu closed in from both sides, ready to destroy the wounded craft.
Only Kopaka was close enough to see what happened next. Just as the two Toa vessels came in range, Antroz disappeared from the cockpit using his power to teleport. Acting quickly, Kopaka threw up ice barriers in front of the Axalara and the Rockoh, shouting, “Stop!”
Neither craft could turn in time, smashing into and through the ice. But the barriers had delayed them just long enough for Kopaka to climb behind the controls of the Jetrax. “All right,” said the Toa of Ice. “If this is the final battle, let’s make it one to remember.”

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New Event

Doing another library event -- July 10th, 1 pm, Willimantic Public Library, Willimantic, CT.

Also, visit info for me will be posted on the www.scholastic.com/authorvisit site soon, so that schools and public libraries in the Northeast interested in having me come speak can find out how to make it happen.

Greg

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2008 Video Faq

Many of you may have heard or read or even seen a video that popped up on Amazon.com and elsewhere recently that involved BIONICLE in general and summer 2008 in particular. So let me address some of the Q's you may have about it:

Q. What was it?
A. It was the first draft of what we call a "sell-in" video. That's a video we prepare to show buyers from dept. stores, Toys R Us, etc., to get them excited about BIONICLE for the year. It is not something shown to the public.

Q. So how did it get online?
A. Accidentally. We send electronic files of our TV commercials to Amazon to show on their site. Someone accidentally included the file of this video on the CD mailed to them.

Q. I noticed (fill in the blank) on the video -- does that mean ...?
A. This was a first cut -- it was not the final version of the video. Certain elements in the video shown on the web would have been cut from the final version, for reasons of time or because the content was no longer valid. So while there are certainly things in the video that would have been in the final version, not all of it is final and official.

Q. Now what?
A. Billund has taken steps to severely tighten up the process we use for these sell-in videos. They will not be stored in a totally separate area of the server and branded "Confidential" so this won't happen again.

Q. Can I still see it?
A. Amazon has taken the video down, and the other sites that had it up have either also done so or probably will have done so by the time you read this. As a reminder, BZP has banned any discussion of the video on this site.

Greg

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Set News

A few pieces of news today --

1) I finally got a look at a pic of Mazeka today -- looks from the photo like he's an Onu-Matoran.

2) The Jan. 2009 sets are in our showroom now. Gotta say, very impressive. The new mask pieces are particularly cool shapes and the weaponry is slick too. On the whole, they manage to stay recognizably BIONICLE while still looking nicely different from past sets. I think the new pieces will probably be good for those who like to MOC, too. I will tell you up front, having only seen pics up to now, the pics do not do the sets justice. They are much more striking in person.

I am definitely inspired to do a Club building contest once those come out, to see what fans will build out of them.

3) 2010 story conference next week, so we can clear the decks and I can get moving on the screen treatment for 2010 movie.

4) I am going to be signing up for something on the Scholastic site where teachers and librarians can find authors to come speak at their schools/libraries. Not sure it will produce anything, but at least it will put me out there for folks who might want to do a BIONICLE event as they did in Coventry. So maybe there will be more school/library appearances in the Northeast in future, we'll see.

Greg

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Thoughts on Dark Mirror

I must say, Dark Mirror has provoked some of the most interesting discussions and PMs I have seen in my time on here. It has been really interesting to see the reaction to the story, with Tuyet's Toa being branded as "evil" and "corrupt." And yet ... let's consider:

"Toa Tuyet announced today that the Brotherhood of Makuta poses a potential threat and should be eliminated before they threaten the peace of the universe."
OR
"The leader of a major nation announced today that the country of Gazistan poses a potential threat to the peace of the Middle East, and preemptive strikes have been ordered against their military facilities."

"Matoran are being monitored, and anyone who speaks out in support of the Makuta or the Dark Hunters, or against Toa Tuyet, will be arrested and imprisoned."
OR
"In the interests of national security, security cameras are being mounted in many public places, and telephone calls and email are being monitored for suspicious language."

"The Toa have learned the whereabouts of the dangerous Dark Hunters, a gang of criminals, and are moving in to smash their operations."
OR
"The police have learned the whereabouts of the dangerous Daniels mob, a gang of criminals, and are moving in to smash their operations."

Would we brand the governments or police in the real world examples "evil and corrupt?" Or would we say they were trying to keep peace? I think the answer is different for everyone ... but it is important to remember just what Tuyet did. She took the basic core belief of the Toa -- that the Matoran must be protected -- and simply spun it that the best way to protect them was to smash potential enemies before they acted. The Makoki stone engravings prove the Toa had suspicions about the Makuta from early on, and the DH had a long history of immoral acts -- so how hard would it be to persuade Toa that they should be crushed? And can you argue that, despite all the negatives about Tuyet's society, Mata Nui is still awake there, and hundreds of Toa and thousands of Matoran who died in our universe, didn't die there?

I am not saying she was right, by any means -- but I think it important to understand the world of Dark Mirror. It is a world really governed by the fear of external enemies, the same as many societies in our world are. Instead of finding strength in fellowship, in prophecy, in the three virtues, these Toa and Matoran let fear and hatred drive their actions. The result was shattered Makuta and DH, but also Toa who then became repressive and dictatorial, all in the interests of protecting their people.

So the scary thing to me about DM is not Tuyet, or what happened to Brutaka or Toa Naho ... the scary part is that these Toa are not that far removed from the ones we know. The only real difference here is one of philosophy -- the Toa in DM act without provocation, the Toa in our universe normally wait for provocation and then react. The Toa in our universe wish to set an example and be looked at with respect, and so they don't stoop to the lethal level of their enemies; the Toa in DM believe that the best way to protect the Matoran from a foe is to kill that foe and don't care if they are looked at with fear. There are probably some Toa on Tuyet's side who aren't 100% comfortable with what they have become, but they look around and see a universe with no BOM and no real threat from the DH or anyone else, and so they do nothing.

Lesovikk is really the one who sees the slippery slope -- who understands that today it's Makuta who have to be wiped out, and tomorrow it's Turaga who object to new laws, and the day after it's Matoran who aren't working hard enough. Fear of enemies, real or imagined, can be used to justify any action, and often have been. Any of us can look back in our history and see instances where otherwise good people sat by and did nothing in the face of repression or even murder, because they believed the victims constituted some kind of threat.

So lots to think about in this story, at least for me ...

Greg

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News and Notes

Just a few things today --

-- The event at the Booth-Dimock library in Coventry, CT next week is shaping up to be fun. For those of you who might want to attend, there is still time to register by phone. Just call the library at 860-742-7606.

-- Big week here. After only two weeks of searching, my wife and I bought a new house -- and it has room for all my comics and toys! Anyway, I will most likely be offline some during the first week of June as we move, but will keep you up to date on that.

Greg

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2009 Book Info

Just talked to Scholastic today and got the current 2009 schedule --

It looks at this point like there will be a total of five books in 2009, three the young readers and two chapter books (potentially larger than the normal ones, but don't know yet) --

The readers would be out in January, April, and September, with the chapter books out in summer and fall. The hope is that between the buzz the readers are generating among the retailers (apparently, they are going to get into some big stores that the chapter books currently do not), the increasing sales of BIONICLE and the movie coming, and the chapter books being more of "event books", that chapter book sales will go up and we will be able to do a more extensive schedule of them in 2010. Scholastic does not want to abandon them, but sales continue to be in a trough for them, so right now the two is the best they can manage for the schedule.

I will still be doing them, but will probably also be spending some time on my own, non-LEGO writing, since the readers don't take much time to do.

Greg

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These are all from Greg Farshtey, Bionicle writer.

Also, a bit of a spoiler for the top post.
If you don't have Swamp of Secrets, the exclusive web code is: SCL411.