Episode 25, "Return of the Overlord", airs tonight at 7:30 in the US! And next Wednesday there is going to be a Ninjago marathon leading up to the series finale! All this season's episodes will air starting at 1:30 in the afternoon and continuing until the finale at the show's usual 7:30 airtime.
The new My Little Pony game for iOS is excellent. It's a lot like LEGO Battles. Only without the battles. Or the LEGO. And with much better graphics. OK, perhaps this wasn't the most apt comparison.
There are microtransactions, but I don't plan on making use of them. Certainly it's possible to advance in the game without them; from what I've experienced it just means you have to wait longer for buildings to be constructed and other jobs to be completed.
Also the Ponyville in this game reminds me of Zoombiniville, and anything that reminds me of Logical Journey of the Zoombinis is definitely a good thing. I'm talking to you, Seymour Eyeclop (no, Seymour is not in this game, but he is still best Zoombini pony).
Meanwhile, we have confirmation of BonBon's name, along with the names of several other minor ponies like Rarity's dad (Magnum) and the Big Lebowski shout-out ponies from "The Cutie Pox". Also lots of excellent voice acting, great music, and enjoyable minigames (though it may be a while before I'm any good at them). Fun times.
So I saw the new Ninjago episode tonight! It was pretty intense. The series is definitely moving towards a conclusion that will do the series as a whole justice. A short summary of the coolest parts and my thoughts follow:
Spoiler
The episode introduced Lloyd's mother, Masako, who gives us some insight into what the final battle between Lloyd and his father will entail. There is apparently an evil character called the Overlord who fought with the First Spinjitzu Master in ancient Ninjago, and the world of Ninjago was split into light and dark portions. But the dark portion disappeared for many years. The Overlord's existence was foreshadowed in the fourth graphic novel, Tomb of the Fangpyre, where it was announced that "in all things, there must be balance. And so darkness crept upon the land, and came upon a lone snake in the grass..." That snake, of course, would become the Great Devourer, whose venom is apparently still connected to the powers of the Overlord as it is potent enough to awaken his indestructible stone warriors.
The music in this episode was great, and the story was told very well. We heard (perhaps for the first time) the brilliant leitmotif that appears so prominently in the Ninjago track I Have You Now from the upcoming episode 21, which should be airing next week. One thing we haven't learned is how Masako ended up hooking up with a guy as evil as Lord Garmadon, but there's a chance we'll learn that in a later episode since she will be traveling with the group from now on.
There were a couple great easter eggs among this episode's visuals. For instance, there are a couple LEGO dinosaurs from this year's Dino themee in the museum gift shop towards the beginning of the episode!
In other Ninjago news, I found a Japanese online shop today that had descriptions of next year's Ninjago sets. I obviously can't share this on BZPower since this site probably wasn't supposed to disclose this so soon... but at the same time, it gives some insights into how the story Masako told might relate to the upcoming sets and the story that ties in with them. It won't be too long before we get to that point in the TV series, and at that point the next wave of sets might be officially revealed so I can discuss some of these particular observations.
Also, anyone want a wallpaper of the NRG Ninja from the LEGO Ninjago sets? Because I got one, and it looks great on my new laptop:
Click here to visit the topic in the General Art forum!
also jeez somebody post in the Ninjago: Master of Spinjitzu TV Series Discussion Topic already. It's been a week since anyone's posted there, and ten days since anyone other than me posted there! And new episodes have started airing again!
Didn't want to double-post in the Ninjago: Masters of Spinjitzu TV series topic, so figured I'd post it here to make sure the BZPower crowd knew to expect a new episode.
If you've seen the trailer for this one (which aired during the LEGO Star Wars special The Empire Strikes Out), you know that this upcoming episode introduces the Stone Army as well as
Spoiler
Lloyd's mother. And here I was thinking his mother would never even be mentioned, like Bowser Jr's real mother (if he's not some kind of freaky clone, which is probably more likely than Mario's nemesis ever finding love, so yeah).
Also I have it on good authority that this next episode will start the plot moving along at a rather exciting pace. There's lots of good music to enjoy in the remaining half of this season, including a brilliant piece titled The Temple of Light which I encourage everyone to listen to-- it features Lloyd's leitmotif and is part of the not-yet-aired episode 23, "Island of Darkness").
Of course, we have good reason to believe that this season is the last one, but if things are brought to a fitting conclusion I will have no problems with this, and I look forward to seeing how things turn out.
One of the course materials for one of my new classes was Adobe Illustrator CS6. I look forward to learning the ins and outs of the program so I can attempt to make quality pony vector art.
In the meantime, to practice some of the features I traced some of my old pictures into vector-based images. One of these was my MLP/BIONICLE crossover image Swarm of the Century (do not post; topic is dead) which won third prize in GAC #18 Battlescapes here on BZPower and was on display in physical form at Brickfair. Surprisingly, one of the image trace filters actually made the resulting image look more like how I had intended it than the original art did-- as in, cleaner colors, less scratchiness, and a more dynamic background.
Thought some of the folks in this topic might appreciate this, since I know MLP fans probably made up a good number of the people who voted for this image in the Battlescapes contest.
Also, since I'm in a big city for college for the first time, I'll be attending my first brony meetup next weekend! I'm really looking forward to it!
Now, my next challenge on Illustrator was to see if I could vectorize and color some existing lineart of mine. The only piece I was able to successfully color with the tools I have now was my picture of Kai and his family from LEGO Ninjago which I posted in a previous entry. The result, in flat colors for now because I don't know the tools necessary to shade it to my satisfaction, can be seen here:
Over time, whether inside or outside of class, I anticipate learning more tools with Adobe Illustrator so I can do more of the things I've been looking forward to doing, such as designing custom minifigure decorations.
My classes so far are going smoothly, and I look forward to all the things I will learn in them. Each day brings me closer to my goal of becoming a product designer for The LEGO Group!
So I will be attending Brickfair this weekend, and it will be my first Brickfair since BZPower forums came back (as it will be for a lot of people, I'm sure). Want to find me? Chances are I'll spend some time at the BIONICLE table with the BZPower crew and some time wandering the floor, but as identification I'll be wearing my 2009 BIONICLE hat and, of course, my name badge.
My name badge this year is smaller than it has been some years, but should be just as distinctive with its four differently-colored Hero Cores. The blank 1x8 brick is a stand-in for my Brickfair 2012 brick while the blank 1x6 tile is a stand-in for a tile printed with my screen name (Aanchir). Both will be added as soon as I've checked in at the registration desk tomorrow.
The Ninjago Wiki tile is a gift from my brother Meiko. He and my twin brother Lyichir will also be attending. As I mentioned in the last entry, MOCs Lyi and I will be displaying include Rise of the Dread Colossus, Sophia Blaze, My Little Tahu, and a CubeDude of webcomic character Axe Cop. I will also be bringing some drawings for the BIONICLE table.
I plan to attend on all four days (Thursday, Friday, Saturday, and Sunday), though I will probably not arrive right when it opens on all four days since I live a good distance away and will not be staying at a hotel. Hopefully I will also make it to the BZPower luncheon Black Six and the other staff have planned. I look forward to seeing everyone there!
So here's the highlights of my past week. I'm going through them briefly because I just spent an hour or longer typing out an entry about them and then hit the back button and lost everything, but brevity probably would have been better in the first place.
Watched the second episode of this season of LEGO Ninjago: Masters of Spinjitzu. Lord Garmadon's mega-weapon is a great addition to the story and is truly in line with the LEGO spirit of creativity. And it's great getting some backstory on the Destiny's Bounty. However, the characters and music of this new season haven't totally impressed me-- the characters pale in comparison to the depth of mainstays like the ninja and their families, and the music has not included any new pieces as emotionally compelling as some of those in Home, The Snake King, and Tick Tock.
Went to see The Legend of Zelda: Symphony of the Goddesses at Wolf Trap, performed by the National Symphony Orchestra. It was great hearing orchestral renditions of music from both Zelda games I've played or watched and ones I haven't. Props to conductor Eímear Noone and all the others who made this breathtaking experience possible.
Went to stay at my grandparents' river house in Maryland with my parents, siblings, and some fun-loving relatives from Scranton, Pennsylvania.
While doing laundry and preparing to depart from the river house, finished watching Avatar: The Last Airbender with my mom and siblings. She really enjoyed it, as did I. The finale remains a masterpiece, and I almost cried when Zuko reunited with Uncle Iroh, when Toph was hanging onto Sokka for dear life, and when Azula was wailing helplessly after her defeat. I hope my mom enjoys The Legend of Korra just as much-- my dad, for one, has no interest in watching A:TLA with us but loves Korra, partly because the more modern Asian-inspired setting doesn't create such a pronounced sense of culture shock.
Now, what's in the forecast for the coming month?
Brickfair. I will be exhibiting my MOCs Rise of the Dread Colossus, Sophia Blaze (who has undergone some modifications since the picture shown was created), and My Little Tahu as well as a CubeDude of the webcomic character Axe Cop. I also plan to bring some drawings including Swarm of the Century which took second place in the General Art Contest #18: Battlescapes!
College. I will be preparing to move in at Wentworth Institute of Technology in Boston where I will be studying Industrial Design. I'm somewhat nervous, but am hoping my time at Landmark College has prepared me well for this new and different learning experience.
Overall, I've had a lot of fun this summer and still have some more adventures to look forward to!
Posted by
Aanchir: Rachira of Time
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Jul 25 2012
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68 views
Most of this post shamelessly copypasted from a post of mine on another site, with minor adjustments
I just happened to stroll to a downtown bookstore during my lunch break on Monday, and found the newest Artemis Fowl book (Artemis Fowl: The Last Guardian). I was quite surprised as I hadn't realized it was out yet, but apparently it came out last week.
Having read it, I think it was a phenomenal capstone to the series, and am glad Eoin Colfer didn't take the "final book in the series" thing lightly. Rest assured that its ending isn't the kind that implies the adventures have completely come to an end, though, and I would be perfectly happy if Eoin Colfer ever decided to write more Artemis Fowl stories, perhaps not as proper installments in the series but rather as "side-stories" like those in The Artemis Fowl Files.
Spoiler time for those who have read the book:
Spoiler
As always, Mulch Diggums ranged from grotesquely disgusting to hilariously disgusting. I wonder how a movie adaptation of the series would ever handle him, as a lot of his gags would be much more distasteful visually than in writing, and there wouldn't be Eoin Colfer's humorous, euphemistic narrative to add humor other than the more juvenile potty humor inherent to those scenes.
I greatly appreciate the detail this book gives Foaly and Caballine's relationship. It really helps flesh both of them out as characters. Foaly got a lot of great scenes in this book, actually.
Opal was treated well, I think. It was very surprising how the story began, with the younger Opal a pawn of the older one. I had always expected things to work the other way around, since with her enhanced magic the younger Opal seemed like much more of a threat. What with the obvious pattern to her appearances as a villain (Every. Other. Book.) and the brief plot synopsis we learned in advance, I was worried another Opal Koboi story might feel repetitive and dull. But then again, I should have known better as I thought the same thing when I read the plot summary for The Time Paradox, since we had just had a time-travel adventure of sorts in the previous book, and that one turned out splendidly.
My biggest disappointment was the lack of much Arty/Holly romance, since I have succumbed to the temptation of shipping those two ever since I first began reading the books in more detail and picking up on the obvious ship tease starting with the UK edition of the second book (the American edition left out the shippiest passage there). There were still some passages that referred to Artemis's attraction to her, but the ending of the story didn't really imply that either was ready to think of the other as anything but a very good friend.
Overall, a really good book. I hope I will not be alone among Artemis Fowl fans in thinking this was a great end to the series.
And now the BIG spoilers. As in, the revealing-details-about-the-end-of-the-book, don't-read-this-just-because-you're-curious-what-it's-about spoilers:
Spoiler
All in all, when Opal did in fact die, it was easy to understand Artemis's reaction-- no sympathy, just a bit of sadness at the waste of life.
Artemis's death and subsequent resurrection were well-handled, IMO. Ending a series on that note could easily fall into the trap of copying other series that have followed that pattern, such as Harry Potter. But this book did it in a way that I think fits perfectly with Artemis's scheming nature. The callback to the first book at the very end felt a little tacky, but being able to emphasize with the characters' joy at Artemis's return kept me from having any bad feelings at that moment.
I've started writing a review for my local newspaper, where I work part-time getting their database up-to-date. I've never really been in touch with the Artemis Fowl fan community, and can't find much discussion of this book on fansites, so I can't tell if other people feel the same as I do about this final part of the series. And there's been woefully little fanart on that one fanart site I use since this book came out, so there's very little to get me my shipping fix after reading it. I might have to draw some myself to make up for that (although, you shouldn't count on it being especially good fanart compared to some of the more talented artists out there).
On the last day of the entry period, I completed my second drawing for the Flash Fire contest. The venerable Turaga Vakama can be found in the same topic as my Jaller drawing which I mentioned in the previous entry.
It feels good to have completed two entries, but if the entries before I had submitted my own were good, the ones that followed in the final hours of the entry period included several that could only be described as stellar. Truly I'm having a hard time deciding what to vote in any of the categories!
Flash Fire voting has begun, and there's a lot of talent in all three polls. My entries are Entry 8 in the Matoran poll and Entry 10 in the Turaga poll, but there are many other entries I would consider voting for including Entries 3 and 12 in the Matoran poll and Entry 11 in the Turaga poll. Later today I'll probably come to a decision on which entries I should give my votes to, but it's a tough decision even knowing all the hard work I put into my two submissions.
Overall, I'm certain that whichever entries end up on display at Brickfair will fully deserve it! For such a quick contest, I'm surprised how many more artists let their talents shine here than in the Battlescapes contest. Guess it's just a subject more artists could find inspiration in!
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LEGO, Ninjago, TV
