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Out With The Old


Aanchir

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Not sure if anyone is still following this blog. Can't think why anyone would be; there haven't been any updates since 2009 (and the updates weren't that interesting even back then). But if you are, I'd like to update you on how I've been doing since I was last active on BZPower. I'd also like to offer a warning: Things are going to change here. I can't say how much, or how soon, but things are going to change.

 

Where have I been since I was last active on BZPower? Well, I think I stayed active on BIONICLEsector01 a bit longer than I did on BZPower. But in the meantime I became a member on another forum. Can we mention those here? I'm going to play it safe and leave that other forum a mystery, but just know that if you've seen a guy named Aanchir posting on a general AFOL forum, it was almost certainly me.

 

Being at college means I can only have a certain number of LEGO sets with me at any one time. In my first semester in 2009, I had my whole 2009 BIONICLE collection with me. Moving into 2010 I had the Stars with me, but refocused my attention on System themes like Power Miners, Space Police, and Atlantis. LEGO Digital Designer took the place of any themes I didn't have the parts on hand to play with.

 

I watched the emergence of Hero Factory with amusement, and a bit of disgust at the many noisy BIONICLE fans who couldn't see value in anything that wasn't BIONICLE. Hero Factory was new and different. It was campy. But in some ways it felt like a more authentic LEGO experience. The limited-use parts and my foolish hopes of limiting my LEGO buying, however, kept me from investing in the theme.

 

And now in 2011 I have become a huge fan of Hero Factory and Ninjago. The new Hero Factory building system feels a lot closer to the core of the action figure building experience than BIONICLE ever quite reached. And the story, as I mentioned, is fun and campy. Plus, it feels like something that can last just as long if TLG plays their cards right.

 

I haven't read updates to BIONICLEstory.com in a long time. As far as I'm concerned, BIONICLE reached its ultimate conclusion. I'm sure I could enjoy the story updates of the past several months as much as I enjoyed BIONICLE during its heyday, but while it would be satisfying I don't feel obligated to read it when I enjoyed the BIONICLE story so thoroughly without having to fill in the gaps it left.

 

Why did I leave BZPower? Well, it might partly have been how welcoming and inviting that other AFOL forum was to me. It might have been just the fact that after the end of BIONICLE, being a site I was newer to, this other site offered a fresh start. Or it might have just been college dragging me away from what I once had so much more time for. As I drifted away from BZPower (and consequently, the Ask Greg topic) I drifted away from BIONICLE. But it will never be forgotten entirely.

 

Will I be back here for good? It's hard to say at this point. BZPower is a big, imposing community, not like the close-knit communities I've joined before and during its downtime. And if BIONICLE fans here seem irately resistant to themes like Hero Factory and Ninjago that have succeeded BIONICLE, then I can't say I'll be able to enjoy my time here too much.

 

But one thing is certain: The Sugar Bowl won't be around for much longer. At least, not in its current form. Back when I was a teenager, I used to value posterity far more than I should have. I wanted to remember my mistakes and hold on to the things I once cherished. But I'm beginning to realize change might be for the best.

 

The Lemony Snicket theme will be gone-- ASOUE is as finished as BIONICLE, and my attempts at matching Mr. Snicket's ingenious writing and storytelling style were shallow to begin with. What is a narrative style worth if it doesn't fit the story you are trying to tell? And what is your life if you can't take the time to tell your own story your own way?

 

I may even delete entries that I consider "old shames". I was, after all, a teenage boy, and while I value many of the same things and the same people as I did then, there were many things like romance and philosophy which I thought I understood much better than I actually did. If I don't delete those entries, consider them irrelevant from this point forward: with a new name for this blog will come a new beginning.

 

At the same time, you can count on some things to stay the same. The walls of text, it seems, may never go away.

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