- "Your face is a skull!"
- ―-Eljay to Mesonak, MNOG with Meso
Eljay is a founding member of The TTV Channel. In recent years, he has hosted the Recap Reviews, and was most recently the host of the Ninjagocast as well as the show Pins & Axles. As of August 31st of 2017, he was let go from the group due to internal conflicts with the cast.
Background
Not much is known about Eljay, mostly because he historically preferred to keep his normal life hidden by a cardboard Miru that he wore at all public appearances for most of his career as an entertainer. He did so to conceal his identity and maintain personal privacy, while also cultivating an aura of mystery and a memorable, iconic appearance.
Eljay is a bit sheltered, as commented on in the Roodaka Recap Review numerous times. However, in reality Eljay can be a nice guy, even if he's a subject of teasing by the other TTV cast members.
Eljay is also known for his excessive knowledge on BIONICLE, often correcting people like Kahi about things they assume. However, his knowledge does not always lean on his side, sometimes proving his ideas wrong. That's not to say Eljay is a walking BIONICLE encyclopedia, because he does not know everything. However, Eljay naturally has a deep love for the BIONICLE canon and story, and when it's challenged, he will often defend it.
History
Eljay was first recruited into TTV by Mesonak, who he knew from BZPower and the BZPC chatroom community, and remained in the cast ever since. Eljay began his career on YouTube by announcing a film series, called BIOCraft, based on classic BIONICLE lore as told via the Minecraft medium. That became cancelled went on hiatus in 2014.
In January of 2013, Eljay began his most popular series, Recap Reviews, starting with the Toa Mata in 2001. Near the end of June, he briefly hosted a play-through of the 2004 game Maze of Shadows; however, the series ended less than a month later. After a brief pause, he was careful to consistently update his review series throughout 2013 and into 2014.
In February 2014, Eljay and Mesonak began a series where Mesonak played through old BIONICLE games, with Eljay providing assistance. The first episode of MNOG with Meso aired on February 18, 2014.
Eljay became upset when Greg Farshtey confirmed the "Gold Good Guy" set to be canon, and, as a result, had to do a recap review on him, delaying his review on the Piraka.
At some point before July 2014, Eljay briefly went on hiatus due to work. However, on July 1, 2014, TTV received, from an unknown benefactor, a black-and-white picture showing a display stand of BIONICLE sets -- the first real indication of a BIONICLE 2015 return -- and Eljay joined with the others for an impromptu discussion video about the image.
On October 17, 2014, Eljay hosted his fifth video Q&A, at the end of which he announced that he would resume his Recap Reviews on October 28, 2014, starting with the Voyatoran.
On November 2nd, 2014, Eljay joined with Varderan, Kahi, Venom, and Mesonak for the livestream celebrating TTV's achievement of reaching 10,000 subscribers (They had hoped to have Viper, too, but technical difficulties didn't let her join). Eljay was the one asking the trivia questions for the prize giveaways. It was also revealed during the livestream that BIOcraft was going on hiatus.
In 2015, Eljay completed his collection of BIONICLE sets, which he uses for the Recap Reviews.
Varderan's "Reveal" poster for Eljay
On TTV episode 137, which took place shortly before April 1st, 2015, Varderan fired Eljay from the Podcast. However, this was simply a set-up for an April Fool's prank, in which Eljay took over the channel and the Message board, deciding to host the show himself. On April 1st, The first (and last) episode of TTE premiered, at the end of which Eljay and the rest revealed that it had all been a joke.
The Reveal
At one point in time, Eljay had promised to reveal his face to the TTV community during a Makutafest. However, on July 2nd of 2015, Varderan posted the "Big Reveal" poster on a topic. It was quickly flooded by the TTV message board users who anticipated Eljay's reveal of his face.
However, as the big moment drew closer, it turned out that Eljay couldn't reveal his face due to "copyright issues" and instead appeared in his new form, as shown in the first picture on this article. It also turned out that it was all a marketing scheme used to sell TTV's new tee shirts, which featured Tahu's "I can feel the power" line and Eljay's choice of a blue and red pin/axle. (Here's the video )
He also revealed his new Miru, which can be seen here.
Near the end of his final recap review on December 13, 2016, Eljay took off his mask and showed his face to his fans.
After the recap finale, Eljay produced a few episodes of a new show called "Pins and Axles".
When Ninjago: Masters of Spinjitzu Season 7: "Hands of Time" launched in the US in May 2017, Eljay began hosting a Ninjago podcast, dubbed NinjagoCast, to which is often appended "Masters of Podjitzu".
On August 31st, 2017, Eljay was formally let go by the channel due to internal conflicts.
Shows
- Recap Reviews (2013-2016)
- Legends of Chima Coverage (2013-2014)
- Ninjago Coverage (2014-2017; integrated into Ninjagocast)
- Recent Reviews (2014-2017)
- The Three Eljays Podcast (2015; April Fool's joke)
- Build-Up (2015)
- Don't Fight (with Kahi) (2015-2016)
- BIOcraft (Canceled)
- Ninjagocast (2017)
- Pins & Axles (2017)
Gallery
Trivia
- There is a recurring joke by the rest of the TTV cast members that he is the most hated of them all. Of course, not everyone hates him, and often this jokes is just used to tease him.
- The first topic on the TTV Message Boards was a joke topic on this, titled "The Official 'I Hate Eljay' Topic".
- Eljay refers to himself as a Toa of Mangosteen, which, sadly, is not a canon element.
- That said, hd did try to get Greg Farshtey to canonize the mangosteen fruit in BIONICLE.
- Eljay's favorite Toa is Lewa.
- Eljay was raised in Palo Alto, California.
- Eljay is sensitive to radiation.
- Eljay's first set was Gahlok-Kal.
- Eljay works in irrigating a farm, where part of his job is to kill pests, such as gophers.
- Eljay's younger brother, Speeder, happens to be much more socially active than Eljay.
- Eljay has his own bot, the aptly named "Eljaybot" that is a sound-box of his common sayings, sometimes used by the other cast members when the real Eljay is absent.
- Aside from the skit for the last episode of the Recent Reviews, Eljay has not worn his mask on video since revealing his face.
- In summer 2017, Eljay designed minifigures to represent each cast member, which he calls "sig figs".
- When Eljay ships things (incoming or outgoing), be it sets, books, or video cameras, antics often ensue.
- Starting with his entry into the Fall 2015 Maskmaker contest, Eljay entitles his contest entries "... of Victory". In his opinion, this makes him ironically victorious in the likely event that he loses.
The TTV Channel
Current: Varderan • Mesonak • Eljay • Venom • Tenebrae Invictus • Phweffie • Takuma Nuva • Exxtrooper • Prpldragon • Deadmatoro • Avohkah Tamer • Hayley • Leo • StarBreaker • Sokoda • Ulti • AJ
Former: Jonathan Juan • Ian • Alena • Tom • Sumiki • Nyra • Kini