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Ah, yes. "Hello, I'm calling on behalf of someone on the internet who says she didn't get her Delorean. No, I dont actually KNOW her, per se, or have proof she didn't get it, but she hates phone calls so this is a completely viable alternative."

Dekar's Kanohi. Love rendering this stuff.

>Start the required programs >Start Skype call >Play a level >Best episode yet with hilarious commentary >Nearly a half hour to beat level >Realize you never hit the record button > TN

Just talking about our favorite hat-themed bread simulator.

Topic! Next I will build non-Gundam MOCs again. Man I am going to have just a ton of new MOCs for Brickfair this year. MOCs I have now that I didn't have last year: Hahli Husky Kakaru Janus Tufi Piyufi Toro Gundam SD MS-026 Sunset Gundam Onua Samus Jack Noir The other MOC I've got half-built I think this is as many MOCs as I brought to the first Brickfair in 2008. But these are all new as of October!

The word is properly pronounced the same as "mock" as anyone who has attended a convention can attest to. (We could get into the difference between initialisms and acronyms, as per publishing rules in newspapers and copyediting, but few are interested in that, I think.)

I say MOC as in 'mock', but to be honest I think it sounds pretty ridiculous either way. "I built a creation" is just all around the better phrase, as it makes more grammatical sense than "a my own creation."

"What do you mean you need the order number?!"

You should just set up cameras and microphones everywhere to constantly record you in case something awesome happens. Kind of like Russian dash-cams, only moreso for chronicling your coolness and not so much avoiding vehicle insurance fraud.

Do they notice the irony? (Yes, I just complained about people who complain about people who complain about people who complain. So complain about me. ) Seriously, if someone complains to start out with, why can't they stomach a little complaining about them? If it's okay for one, it's okay for the other. (Yes, I posted a random blog entry. I'm busy. Dogsitting three dogs and working heavily on the FCG entry. Two of the dogs hiiiigh energy. )

Having only returned twenty-four hours ago, I get just a few days off to unwind and rest from the trip ... ... except not. I'm finally starting on the BIG THING that Pablo and I have been talking about for a while, but - and this is SUPER EXCITING NEWS that I literally only had confirmed earlier this week - I must practice and prepare all of the pieces that I've ever written for solo piano because I'm having a RECITAL DEDICATED TO THEM. A RECITAL DEDICATED TO MY COMPOSITIONS AND I'LL BE PLAYING THEM. THIS IS A MAJOR EVENT. It'll be part of a composition workshop that I've attended and had great fun at for the past two years, but this is a much bigger deal, for in the concerts that have capped them off I've played the piano part of various trio ensembles. I'll do that again this year (piano, viola, and percussion), but I get THIS AS WELL. In terms of number of pieces played this will be the most and longest I've ever performed at one sitting. It's EXACTLY TWO WEEKS FROM NOW TOO LIKE AHJSAHJASJKHFGUASGKHSAHJSAHJFSHJGASFFHFAK I"M REALLY SORT OF UNPREPARED FOR THIS I MUST GET TO WORK IMMEDAITRELY

Can we talk for a minute about how awesome the Toa Nuva's double-function weapons were? Looking back I think that might have been one of the coolest features they brought to the table. Swords that turn into a surfboard! Blades that turn into ice skates! Axes that turn into flippers! Chainsaws that turn into caterpillar tracks! You saw a bit of this with the Toa Metru designs as well (Vakama's launcher/jetpack, Nuju's spikes/snowshoes, and Matau's swords/wings), but I don't know if it was quite as elegant as with the Toa Nuva weapons since some of the weapons had to be a rather peculiar shape for that dual functionality to work. I can't even quite tell what Nuju's crystal spikes are supposed to resemble in weapon form, unlike the Toa Nuva where the function of the weapons was fairly clear in both forms. After that, BIONICLE didn't do a lot with dual-function weapons again, which is kind of disappointing. The Hero Factory rookies from 2010 sorta-kinda did this, but it wasn't very heavily advertised, and wasn't quite as dynamic a transformation. Furno could use his dual fire shooters either together or separately, or attach them to the back of his arms to act as jet propulsion. Surge could use his lightning shooters as two shooters, one dual shooter, two swords, or one dual sword. Breez could either throw her boomerangs or use them as harpoon guns. None of these transformations were nearly as radical as the Toa Nuva's tools. After that, it seems like the LEGO Group has adopted a much different design philosophy with weapon pieces, creating them with designs less specific to a particular character or tool, and while I appreciate that as a designer and as a MOCist, it does mean the closest thing we've seen to a Nuva-style dual-function weapon was Stringer's BRILLIANT guitar/sonic cannon in 2012. I guess it makes sense. The most versatile of the Toa Nuva weapons, after all, was also the one with the least dramatic transformation Lewa's Air Katanas, which only vaguely resembled wings when he held them a particular way. But at the same time, this remains one of the features of the Toa Nuva that feels incredibly special to those sets, even in hindsight when other special features they boasted like silver weapons and sturdy plate armor are no longer so unique or revolutionary.

I pronounce it Em-oh-see too! I've been ridiculed for this. Because I usually say things to myself as I type them, I believe I usually say "an MOC", which probably bugs other people.

Is it bad to say that as soon as Takuma told me he hadn't hit the button my first response was to laugh for about 30 seconds?

Well, I feel conflicted. The baker in me wants to congratulate you, but the part of me who is constantly lost on TF2 references wants to smack you upside the head...

Today the package I ordered three days ago came. I ordered the LEGO Movie on DVD, ECTO-1, and the Delorean. I opened the box only to find that the Delorean was absent from the box. There was no indication that it was on back-order or anything; according to the site, it shipped with everything else. But it's not there. (I opened the box myself, so it's definitely not that it was stolen by a family member.) I should probably call customer service about it but I'm terrible at phone calls XP

Source: Songs for the world of BIONICLE Topic will be updated as I make and post things.

If you bought them direct from LEGO, I know you can get in touch with LEGO customer service via e–mail.

I generally disliked Colosseum and XD, and now that we have 3D games that are actually as good as the rest of the games in the series with all the benefits that come from handheld gameplay, I don't really see the point of further console RPGs like Colosseum or XD anymore. I do, however, think the Wii U is ideal for a new Pokémon Snap.

OOOh. Good words and sentences everyone!

It also needs to be legible to all non-beings that lack the divine capacity for both bloodlust and insanity that you hold. =P

The second one's going to be more fun, for it's waaay shorter, and on a topic I can choose myself. In my case, it's going to be about comics with a very short intro guide on how to make them yourself. I guess I might make the last part into a proper tutorial in case anyone's interested (it'd be short, though, since altogether I'll only be able to talk about it for roughly 4 minutes...) Best part: Illustrations! =D Worst part: I probably will take too long, as I could go on and on about this topic for hours...

Ooh, I'm good at those things you said! I can do it for you. =P

BRILLIANCE! Now do it again. =P

This was one of my favorite things about any Bionicle sets ever. They were just so cool, so well designed.

For multi-weapons, don't forget about the Piraka. They weren't as elegant as the Nuva or the Metru but each one definitely had two functions. Which as actually more than we can say for the Metru where only three of the sets had alternate weapon configurations with a recognizable function. But, yeah, the duel functionality of the Nuva weapons is part of why I love them so much as sets. I thought they were elegantly integrated and added lots of fun playability, with the exception of Pohatu. I still have no idea what his alternate thing was supposed to be.

All of them. Almost everything I have built since 2008.

All that trans blue... I really like how you used different colors to make it visually interesting, and I love how you used the 1x1 plates to create that spinning column effect. The only real issues is that the wall looks awfully gappy. I know it's ice and ice is usually see through but in the film it was pretty opaque. You could try using pieces like this or this as a backdrop behind it. It also might help increase stability since you'd have something to connect the top of the columns to. A non grey baseplate would be beneficial as well, though I don't think many (if any) exist in trans blue. Also, I really hate being that guy, but I think you might want to work on photographing these better. Even if you're using a camera phone (which is kind of what it looks like?) you could try to put them in better lit areas to up the brightness. I'd love to see that second picture with a little more light to better see the colors.

I have no idea what is going on. 8D

Somebody did the math. Assuming Soldier ONLY teleported bread for three days straight, he teleported 25,920 loaves of bread.

"Hmm...should I use my advanced gravity powers or my standard falcon punch?"

who said he was anywhere near it he is all cloudy and stuff, he's probably really far away gonna do a run-up falcon punch

Think Mata Nui ought to be a fair bit taller than that. The HF building would probably fit inside him.

GOOD NEWS WE ARE NOT DYING WE ARE GOING TO LIVE FOREVER -

I AM NOT ONE OF YOUR FRIED-CHICKEN TRAMPS But I'm wedging my head through a door to tell you I'm sorry D: Final question: You have a dinner date for seven. What time do you arrive? - Seven. AM. Case the restaurant, run background checks on the staff. Can the cook be trusted? If not, I gotta kill him. Dispose of the body, replace him with my own guy, no later than 4:30.

You guys are great. Thanks. ^^ But, believe it or not I do feel like I've slowly but surely been getting better. It's all still fairly new to me, you know, noticing and analyzing these things in depth, but that's why I'm doing these entries. It's just a way for me to get things off my chest while I try and figure things out (I don't have the best of social lives at the moment, so I generally don't talk about this with too many people). So, yeah, I do have a ways to go. Honestly, I think the worst is behind me. I just have to keep analyzing myself, keep thinking things through, decide on what kind of person I want to be and give it a shot. The first step, I think, is to figure out the issues I still have. Believe me, I'll be fine, even if I'm not now.

http://vocaroo.com/i/s1Ap5yzzFVNH

I feel like people don't introduce themselves enough before posts like this, and it makes people think that they're somehow just crusading machines, desperate to spew social justice on people who just want to live their lives without being looked down on their beliefs, and I'm totally okay with that, so before we get started, hiya. I'm Ty. A bunch of you guys may know me because I'm a compulsive RPer in the BZPRPG and OTC. Some more still know me because I have a Tumblr I use like once a month (haha jk no one knows me on tumblr) A bunch of my friends know me because I'm a very pretty young man. Some of you don't know me at all, and that's totally okay. Thing is, I have a little bit of an anger problem. It doesn't come out often but, as anyone close to me will tell you, when I smell blood in the water, a different Tyler is born. I get volatile. I curse frequently. I throw statistics and papers like a baby flinging spaghetti bombs in Olive Garden and I won't let you breathe long enough to so much as mount an argument around them. Why not? Because I was born and raised in an environment that has allowed me the unique perspective of knowing what fights are worth fighting, and knowing people based off merit. I am a cancer survivor. My father was emotionally and occasionally physically abusive - and not in that copout way you use to get numbers at speed dates. I am bisexual, and I realized it partially because of this website - there's a straight guy on this forum (h i y a a a r o n) who I jokingly called my first love until sometimes I questioned whether I was really joking or not anymore. I was in Ambage for a year and a half, and I made many conservative friends. Their beliefs all made me incredibly uncomfortable. They have made me incredibly angry, make no mistake. You wouldn't know it by talking to me. I have an encyclopedia of pop culture references in my head and I'm the king of Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon. I play Cards Against Humanity with friends on the weekends. I tip waitresses 20%, I can flirt with my eyebrows, I spend ridiculous time on my quiff, Arrested Development is my anti-drug, and I put on my skinny jeans one leg at a time just like anyone else. But make no mistake. I am furious. People don't want me to be, and I can understand it - I was affectionately given the moniker 'The Oakland Mafia' by a BZP member I highly respect not too long ago, and I'm okay with that. People vanish from their keyboards when I challenge them on a point, and I'm okay with that. I've seen a couple people on this website use the defense that their beliefs are a product of their environment. And that's okay, actually - I'm completely cool with that. Because I am a product of my environment, too, and my environment has made me mad as ######. I'm mad now. Didn't mean to get mad, but I'm mad now. It all started with this, in Fishers' latest blog entry, My lecture for the night: Make no mistake, Roablin (and I plan on posting a link to this in the blog entry in question, because if there's one thing I have never done it's talk behind someone's back without the intention to shoot straight and say it aloud) I don't think you meant to offend anyone here. Your comments are innocuous enough; you looked at the status quo and followed suit, and I don't feel a thing against you specifically for it. Honest. I harbor anger, but not grudges. There's an innate difference in my mind; the worst thing I could do is delete you entirely from my memory banks and worldview, which I believe only serves to worsen the matter. So this is nothing against you personally. This is against what you're defending - a culture and environment that shapes negative worldviews in subtle, clever little ways in people who would otherwise totally be able to see what HH, DeeVee, Makaru (and other people who are totally quicker on the draw and smarter than me) fight for regularly, because while you yourself may not intend to cause harm, your beliefs certainly do. Remember what I said - I'm mad as can be, but I don't want to pummel you. I want to inform you, in frank terms, yeah, but terms that I would use and have used on several close friends before. It's what I would tell anyone. First off, I know this term is beaten to death, but I think it needs to be said over and over and over, not so it annoys you but because of the simple fact that people don't like to talk about: you can beat a million terms into the sands of time, but it rarely means you can beat down the system itself. What you are defending from your past writings is a patriarchy. The very notion that you used solely white males (presumably straight) males when until 2008 with the election of Barack Obama, we had nothing but cisgendered white men with heterosexual tendencies (with one notable exception; James Buchanan, people, look it up!) does nothing but indulge a status quo that is corrupt and derogatory to the core, and even dangerous; sexual and racial minorities are at greater risk of suicide, homicide, harassment, and incarceration by broken systems and broken social codes, and it is our job as a generation to begin to turn the tide. In 2008, we elected Barack Obama as U.S. President - and honestly, I think it's great that changed your worldview! It was meant to! For a country to, just a century and a half ago, go from human slavery to electing a biracial President is a huge accomplishment, and I'm really glad that it affected you. But that's just a baby step - it's only a start. You have to realize that the unspoken social rules that kept minorities like Barack Obama and strong, intelligent women like Hillary Clinton and Elizabeth Warren out of office are still intact and out there today; when we reinforce the stereotypical image of the white man as the leader of the "free world," we're only breathing new life into those codes. But how does this relate to you, you ask? All you did was write stories, and they were purely for fun's sake, because you love writing. That's totally okay! I've been RPing for four years, and there's nothing on this site I love more (besides the people!) so I totally get where you're coming from. But you know the rough thing about the BZPRPG? I've been in it for four years, and in that time, I've seen: - Two gay relationships; both of which came about only in the last few months, and both characters were RP'd by the same character - Two lesbian relationships - One male-to-female transsexual involved in a relationship; one transsexual in general, actually And that's still a big problem, because while we just write about it, we write based on our environments and our experiences. And even if nobody ever sees it, the people who write the movies we watch, the shows we DVR, the books we read and rave about - they all were raised in the same constructs, and people do see their works and take inspiration from them. And then they show their kids. And then their kids show their kids. And it all comes back to what I was saying about breathing life into these tired, backwards notions. They're there; they've always been there; most of them were disguised, shown under different names and with different twists, but they're there, and they had impressions on all of us to some extent. That's where the saying "everyone is a little prejudiced" comes from. It's true! We can't help but be a little prejudiced! But it's part of the struggle to grow as people - it's our responsibility to overcome it so we can grow as people. You also said that race and gender shouldn't have impact on a person's decisions, but that, again, is basic human instinct. If a minority is picked on and abused for years, and then gets into power, why wouldn't they let their past experiences color their decisions and try to improve things? Who wouldn't try to make things better after working years being paid less than her male counterparts just because of her status as a woman; who wouldn't be bitter about being refused the basic human right to plan a wedding ceremony and see it through - something that is a lifelong dream of most people! - while their heterosexual friends are sending them wedding invites every year? How do you expect people to lie down and let themselves be kicked and spat on while never once implementing solutions to fix it? It's absurd! It's absurd and it's hurtful, and it's almost entirely subconscious in the day-to-day lives of most people. And what do I do all the time most people do when they feel offended, or hurt, or want to bawl their eyes out after a long day? Curl up with some Americone Dream and turn on the TV, or read a good book - two mediums where transsexual characters and even bi/homosexual characters are still sorely underrepresented, where the phrase "token minority" is still a thing, where characters like Catelyn Stark or Skyler White are hated or reviled for not stepping back a tick or two so that they can let the men in their lives make the decisions. The prejudice has already permeated our laws; as ordinary people, how can we allow it to seep into our entertainment, too? Is it so wrong to ask for a black Human Torch, or a female Doctor Doom, or a gay superhero in a Marvel film? Why can't we have a same sex relationship in the new Star Wars mythos? Why couldn't Michael Fassbender and James McAvoy at least share a bed in X-Men: First Class, I ask you? That chemistry was there and no one will stop me from saying otherwise! How does it make the lives and experiences of those characters any less realistic - and if you can't work with characters outside your normal worldview, why are you writing at all? But again, none of this is a slam on you specifically, Roablin - they're things I've wanted to get around to saying for a long time in debates and have never been able to for fear. But I'm not scared anymore. I'm just angry. Angry, and a little hopeful that someone will read this and understand what's being done wrong, and maybe think of ways we can fix it. We have a wealth of possibilities and talents that no other generation has ever had - we could be the first wave of a new beginning in society. If we let ourselves be. Now if you'll excuse me I'm going to go grab some ice cream. Regular cookie dough, unfortunately - out of Americone Dream. -Tyler Durden / Aegon Targaryen / Tyler St. Francis

*sigh* Why does this subject keep coming up, seeing that it is a complete stack of illogic? I don't know. But I guess for me the concept of gender stereotypes is dead because I naturally subvert almost every female stereotype known. This is not something woke up and suddenly chose to do for fun, it's just an irrevocable part of my essence. Stereotype: "Girls don't like Lego." Me: *pulls out cardboard box full of Lego* *shows MoC pictures* Stereotype: "Girls like fashion." Me: *walks past, wearing my usual comfortable attire with zero attention to fashion* Stereotype: "Girls like animals, especially horses." Me: *looks around for missing animals* Stereotype: "Girls are less likely to enjoy courses in science and math, and rarely do they program." Me: *pulls up Java program on my computer screen* Stereotype: "Girls are soft." Me: *rides past on mountain bike* *comes back, carrying pickaxe on shoulder* Stereotype: "Girls like jewelry and painting their nails, etc." Me: *holds up hands, revealing no jewelry or nail paint* Stereotype: "Girls can't use logic." Me: *walks over to computer and starts printing off examples of me using logic* *has to stop printer because I ran out of printing paper in the house* It may not be an exhaustive list, but I think you get the idea. What is all this fuss about? Is it really that hard to accept that everyone is different? For some reason, given this, I think the stereotyping problem tends to be overstated. That's because all of us defy stereotypes in one way or another, I think. Once we recognize that we defy the very things we are stereotyped as, I think it may be easier to view other people not as stereotypes but as people. At their best, IMO stereotypes are theories. Like any theory, it is best not to assume it to be true. But you can't assume it to be false either. I know many girls who like horses. I know this because I talked to them and saw them riding horses. This is evidence; therefore it is a verified theory. The thing is about stereotypes is that they are group theories. This, thanks to the conform-to-everyone-else thing and the agreement-makes-a-thing-true myth (sometimes, but not always) people tend to assume that they are true even though they are just theory. This is called misconception. But the misconception part of it could easily be ended. "I am stereotyped as this, but the stereotype (theory) is not true because I don't like this. Therefore my stereotype (theory) about this person could be wrong, too." I never consciously thought of this logic, but I've known this, intuitivelyish, for at least a little while. This is not a knock on theories. Theories are pathways to truth. The secret is telling a theory (what you think could be true) from what actually is. Theories can be verified. You can ask the girl next to you whether she likes horses or not, or observe her painted fingernails. In fact, sometimes such theory is a bridge to get to know the other person - unlike with some people *raises hand* who are so wacky and subvert everything you know so much you don't even know where to begin.

But we do believe so many lies fed to us. It doesn't make us helpless. Countless women, men, and other people believe the drivel that the media and other sources lay before us and ingrain in us. A lot of sources don't even realize the harm they're doing. Men come to expect things from women. Other women expect things from women. People shame women for not being some sort of norm. You know this; I can tell from this blog entry because you fight to be who you are. The struggle you have is real. Women damage their bodies and their lives trying to lose weight. Girls of color in our culture believe they are not beautiful because they are not white. They try to straighten their naturally curly hair. Women try to wear clothes that make them unhappy. They are shamed into speaking quieter and not laughing as loudly. They are told to "be like this so guys will like you". And it's good that you fight that. It's good that you decided to be yourself. But this doesn't mean all other women are going to do this. Too many of them don't even realize what is happening, and that's why we're having this problem. I've known so many girls and women who try to be what we are told to be, verbally and by implication. Shave your legs because you have to. Cover that face with makeup. Be cute. Be dainty. Be submissive. Be feminine. No man will want you if you don't. No one will respect you if you don't. I starved myself. I picked at my face until it bled trying to get rid of acne. I'm in therapy because I have anxiety and depression resulting from expectations that I should be a certain way "because I'm a woman". I'm not alone. I'm nowhere near being alone. Countless women have hurt themselves, hurt each other, been killed, settled for less, been denied privileges given to others, and ended their own lives over this stuff. But at the same time, there's an overwhelming voice that tells us something else. You shouldn't shave. You shouldn't wear makeup. Don't be cutesy. Be outgoing. Be a STRONG WOMAN who likes fighting and guns and "manly" stuff. Don't be what we told you to be, and you'll be praised as "not like other girls". This compliments some women by shaming the lifestyles and preferences of others. This is also very, very wrong. I copied this from something I can't share as a whole: The point isn't that we shouldn't do certain things because they're a stereotype. The point is that you need to be who you are and don't shame other people for being who they are. People in our culture seem very concerned with telling women what they can and can't be. That's the problem here. And like Pat said, we're gonna come across this stuff in our lives no matter what. We can be all they tell us, and they say we're trying to hard and we're mindless conformist bimbos. We can completely ignore it, and we get ignored or told to "freshen up", "smile", "reinvent our wardrobe", "don't speak up for ourselves". We can do our own thing, and we still get fussed at for "being or not being a certain way". Now, I'll get to why I'm saying all this on this entry. I don't like speaking up on things like this because I get nervous and have trouble expressing myself, especially on BZPower. Guys on BZPower have tried to shame and argue with me too many times, and also done the same to many other girls. But unless they're trans and lived through these struggles, they don't have that firsthand experience. They may accept what we tell them happens. Some of them see all this garbage at work in the world. They want to help. That's why DV and Makaru speak up. I always appreciate what they have to say. They've learned from women around them, such as myself, Nukaya, and Tufi Piyufi. You say you're speaking to an audience of guys, but to be honest, several women are reading this blog entry. They read the topic about more female characters in the next Lego movie. They love the idea of more women being represented. I know this because they're my friends. But why don't they speak up? I wonder if it's because of the backlash we've received, both here and in other faucets of our lives? In the end, yeah, the only one you can control is you. You have to go into this stuff being willing to let go and know that you're not going to change the entire world by yourself and in one go. But I'm not going to give up or fall into "all or nothing" thinking. I haven't changed the minds of plenty of people. But I have friends now who have watched me and what I say and support, and they understood and now stand beside me. Some of them are content creators who are writing excellent balances of men, women, and non-binaries in their works. Would that have happened if I hadn't been fighting and speaking out on my blog and other internet spaces where they could see? I'm not sure. Other, greater content creators have seen this huge outcry for equal representation. That's part of why we have the Lego Movie creators so ready to include more women in the first place. We shouldn't get angry over every single lie told to us, no. But I think getting fired up over feminism is a really excellent cause. Why? Hey, I've got another quote. We don't have to explode or lose our minds. I mean, in this entire post I'm not upset or angry. But as a woman, I want to speak up. My voice is important here because it's about the representation of women, the lack of which has discouraged and hurt me inside. I am passionate about my cause and ready to educate anyone willing to listen to me. And if people don't, okay. But I'll still speak out. I'll still speak up for equal rights and representation and a proper treatment of all women. We need to see more varied women in our media because it reinforces that we all exist outside the stereotypes and we're more than what people say we should be. There are just as many women in this world as men (I hear that it's more women than men actually but I'm not sure atm.) So why are there way more men in so many movies and comics and games? And why is this so when women and girls are close to half of the consumers of said media? If we can have something as "nonsensical" as a giant floating cloud city or mecha cyborg pirate with a live shark on his arm in a movie, then we can have something as "nonsensical" as more female characters, too.

my friend has created a spotify playlist devoted filled with 100 songs all of them are "kiss from a rose" by seal i'm 12 plays in and send help -Tyler

I guess you could say that the more you get of Seal... *sunglasses* ...the stranger it feels. YEEEEEEEAAAAAAHHHH!

What you prefer Cthulhu or Shoggoths? That's the only help I can offer.

Oh yes I forgot to mention that I got to use the chainsaw too.

Well, I don't believe in being offended (except in extreme cases lol), but I am a little confused. Are you saying I don't have much experience? I'm not sure I understand on what basis you seem to assume I don't? Are you familiar with my art? Not to get all prideful on you or anything... But I've got, what is it now... Oh gosh, at least ten years experience at quality art, and a lot more than that at art in general; I've been drawing since I was a toddler and I'm in my mid-twenties. And again, not to be prideful; I don't believe in using a positive such as my own abilities to turn it into a negative to insult anyone else, but since you seemed to imply I couldn't do anything like what you showed, I can, and do all the time. (Well, not in that style, but you know.) Just to clear up the record; I don't care about pride but I do care about accuracy. But for the sake of conversation, how would you define the level of experience and/or proficiency you would think someone should be at before they give advice? (I'd define it in the obvious way; if people are curiuos about my methods for something that I'm better at than they are, I'm gonna let 'em know what the methods so they can try it... at least assuming I don't want to keep them secret XD. So anybody that knows something more than anybody else, in any category of life, is qualified to give at least that as advice.) And I'll repeat what you said; don't think I am trying to put you down either, or take my message the wrong way either. I just don't want other people assuming from your post that somehow I am inexperienced due to a misunderstanding. However, of course, being Mr. "Learn from when I'm wrong," if you CAN show something I am lacking in the art department in whatever time you have, I'd love to know what it is so I can improve. (And likewise, there are several suggestions I could make for the pieces you posted above, if you're interested, that I would do if it was me, at least depending on what the style intent was for them, which does matter a ton. Mainly the changes I would make are in the lighting category, and some attention to details such as gravity etc. Though the first pic I mostly wouldn't change anything, assuming there's a slight breeze to explain the hair not quite obeying gravity...)

I'm complaining about Bones who complained about people who complain about people who complain about people who complain because he made my head hurt. So there. =P