Greg Farshtey: the writer who wrote almost all of BIONICLE

Gregory Todd Farshtey is the author of nearly all the books and comics in BIONICLE's original run between 2001 and 2010. Almost every piece of story the line produced in that decade passed through one writer, which is why so much of the canon can be traced to a single desk and, later, to a single forum account.

How did Greg Farshtey end up writing BIONICLE?#

He came into it sideways, as a magazine editor rather than a fiction writer, and the comic job was something he applied for once the new range was already in motion. Born in New York State, he spent most of his childhood in Connecticut, and his writing career began with journalism outlets and newspaper reporting. He joined the LEGO Group in 2000 as an editor for LEGO Magazine.

The comic series that was to accompany the LEGO Group's new BIONICLE range needed a writer. Farshtey applied, got it, and joined the story team. In 2003 he was asked to write Tales of the MasksThe Quests for the Kanohi NuvaThe six expeditions through which the Toa Nuva recovered their Great Masks of Power after the Bohrok-Kal crisis, told to the council that decided whether they had earned the truth about Metru Nui., and the following year he replaced Cathy Hapka as the author of all BIONICLE books. He also wrote for other LEGO themes over the years, among them LEGO Exo-Force, LEGO Hero Factory and LEGO Ninjago, and he was editor-in-chief of LEGO Magazine for many years.

Beyond the printed material he wrote the web serials on BIONICLEstory.com, and he voices the narrator and the male characters in the audio serials.

Why does his forum posting matter to the canon?#

Because a very large amount of BIONICLE fact exists nowhere except in answers he typed to fans, which is unusual for a licensed toy line and is the reason his posts are cited as sources. While the Ask Greg service ran on BIONICLE.com and then BIONICLEstory.com in 2007, fans could submit questions about the story. The web team filtered them, and selected questions were answered and posted on the site.

He was also a member of BZPower, of BS01 itself, and of other BIONICLE fansites under the username GregF. He went by ScribeGT6817 on the LEGO Message Boards and goes by LEGOGreg on the TTV Message Boards. He made a point of answering questions asked by fans directly, through personal messages on BZPower and by other means elsewhere, though he began a hiatus from most of these sites in 2011.

In 2013 he started using a topic on the LEGO Message Boards, Chat with Greg Farshtey, to answer questions about any of his works. On 28 February 2017 the boards stopped accepting new posts, and on 6 March 2017 they went offline completely, taking that topic with them. The TTV Message Boards opened an Ask Greg category on 22 May 2017.

Preferences on the record#

His favourite BIONICLE book is Time Trap, and he enjoyed writing sub-plot books the most. His overall favourite character is KopakaKopakaKopaka was the Toa Nuva of Ice, deputy commander of the Toa Mata, and one of the six warriors crafted on Artakha to defend the Matoran Universe., because Kopaka was the very first character he ever wrote about. The characters he most enjoyed writing include Kopaka, KarzahniKarzahniBionicle reused one cursed name three times, and every instance earns it, this is the article that finally untangles all three., TeridaxTeridaxTeridax orchestrated a thousand-year scheme that ended with him occupying the Great Spirit Robot itself before his death on Bara Magna., KrahkaKrahkaKrahka is a Rahi affiliated with various groups and known to have worn various Kanohi; only one of her kind remains., TakanuvaTakanuvaHidden among the Ta-Matoran as Takua, the disguised Av-Matoran who became Takanuva was the sole Toa of Light produced in the Matoran Universe's full history., LariskaLariskaDark Hunter defined by discipline and tactical competence, Lariska was one of the Shadowed One's most dependable operatives before joining Brutaka's desperate mission., VelikaVelikaVelika is a Great Being who disguised himself as a Po-Matoran on Mata Nui, wearing a powerless Komau and bearing an affinity for Stone. Colored in golden brown, grey, and orange, he worked as an inventor and carried Power Carvers as his tools. He was last known to be located on Bota Magna. and VezonVezonHe started as a weapon misfire and a throwaway joke, and the canon spent four years quietly turning him into its most useful expendable asset..

His least favourite are the VahkiVahkiMetru Nui's mechanical law enforcement squads, designed to maintain rigid order but ultimately undermined by chaos beyond their programming., which he considered very basic clone enemies, and any character who speaks TreespeakTreespeak: The Slang of the Le-MatoranTreespeak was the distinctive slang of the Le-Matoran, a form of speech that fused two words into one. Known as treespeak on the island of Mata Nui and chutespeak on Metru Nui, it marked the air-dwelling villagers and was spoken most famously by Matau.. His favourite element is IceIceIce was one of the six primary elements of the Matoran Universe, tied to preservation, stillness, and the cold reaches of Ko-Metru and Ko-Koro., and he enjoyed creating new RahiRahiThe Rahi were the biomechanical wildlife of the Matoran Universe, built largely by the Brotherhood of Makuta, ranging from background fauna to engineered war beasts..

On how the setting works, he put it plainly enough to be quoted ever since: real life physics don't apply in BIONICLE, unless scientists discovered ProtodermisProtodermisThe engineered substance building the Matoran Universe, protodermis exists in countless refined states from mundane metal to diamond-hard crystal to the destruction-or-transformation force of energized form. yesterday and nobody told him.

Leaving LEGO#

For the 2015 revival of the theme he acted as a creative consultant rather than the author. On 1 March 2022 he announced on his LinkedIn account that he would be leaving LEGO in July, after 22 years at the company. He later clarified on the TTV Message Boards that he was one of multiple employees laid off when LEGO Life was restructured and moved to a different team in Europe.