fishers64

GM NPC STORMER "This way, Heroes." He approached the sign. A waist-high fence with a padlock surrounded a boarded-up building. The boards were painted black in a vague attempt to look spooky. He froze the lock and smashed it before thinking about diplomacy. GM IC ??? The being slapped his hand down on a control button, and the giant portal above Mechna vanished from the sky. No one from the universe the Heroes left could now follow them into Mechna...and no one in this wretched universe they had entered, would be able to follow them out. "Dismantle the portal," he snapped at his underlings. "We will destroy this substance, and then the Heroes will never return." GM NPC XT4 (MECHNA UNDERGROUND) The mining and construction bot known as XT4 sauntered through his newly constructed tunnel, past metal of outdated machines that gleamed in his headlamp. Some days he just enjoyed wondering, fantasizing about turning all of these old machines into new ones. But XT4 was a simple mining and construction bot, so that was out of his reach. For the most part, he just smashed them. Now, he revved up his drills to do just that, emerging in a very old, abandoned building. He had been dispatched by the government to destroy an amusement park ride as an excuse to get Foreman Decon involved. He wondered if they knew about his secret tunnel when they asked him to do that. But more likely they just viewed him as expendable and dense, and probably thought he was in a cell right now... Ha. He climbed up the wall, using his clawed arms for grip. At the top, he unclipped a sheet of black fabric, revealing a sign for all the world to see. Given that it took up the entire wall of the building, it would be hard to miss. It read "TOURIST RIDES, 'HEROIC' COMBAT, AND REVENGE. FREE." An arrow pointed to the door of the building. GM IC GREF (TOURIST DISTRICT) Gref, from his post, noticed Foreman Decon looking for the entrance to the tourist district. "Hey old man!" he shouted at the construction bot. "The entrance is that way!" He pointed to the tourist district main gate, which wasn't really that big. Will this be added to the first post? EDIT: Yes. It has been added. I rearranged some sections in the FP to make it easier to read. Now, all those profiles I didn't add...

GM IC GLEAM If Gleam moved in much closer, she would feel a warning jolt of electricity. It wouldn't be enough to knock her out of the sky - yet. If she proceeded in spite of it, things would get much worse. GM NPC SURGE "Geez, you're...I can't put my finger on it, but I don't like it very much," Surge said. "It's about as appealing as Tratix reptoid breath. Or being in asteroid war with a guy who can't agree with himself. Ugh."

Thankfully, Chro is gone now.

OOC: Bit of world-building stuff here. Feel free to call me on inconsistencies, on things you think should be different, etc. Basically this is how I picture the galaxy to look, in 2-D. Sort of. Obviously, I think Streptos would have some 3-D offset from Makahero city. I picture Sigma Sigma to be somewhere in the middle of the asteroid area. Also there are things missing but this is what I think I've established so far. GM NPC STORMER Stormer nodded. "Stay close, and stay away from any...rides...that could attack us." He looked over at a sign that read: "Try the spooky portal of doom. $5" on it that was covered over with a "Closed" sign. "Hmm." he said, walking that direction. GM IC LARE & GREF & ??? Lare picked up the phone. "Boss? We have a problem. Heroes in the tourist district. One of the rides just came unhinged." "You're calling at a really bad time," snapped the voice at the other end of the phone. "What do you want?" "I want cookies," grumbled Gref. "Gref want to smash Hero." "We also have a bunch of villains trying to invade the tourist district," Lare said. "The civilians are fleeing. Should we let them in?" "No villains in the tourist district," snapped the voice at the other end of the phone. "You know the rules." "Yes boss," said Lare. He turned to Gref. "No Hero smash today. Villain smash." "Villain smash!" said Gref excitedly.

All added. 8 spots remain. fishers cannot do math.

It's a column of light.

OOC: What am I supposed to do? Have some character break in to save him? That doesn't make any sense, considering that Epix captured him.

GM NPC FURNO Furno sighed. "I didn't exactly expect a group of villains to take us on vacation." The two approached the main city, only to see the massive fleet that they were following land in front of a vicious looking dark castle, right where the main Hero Factory would have been. The radio continued on. "The manhunt for Mr. Makuhero continues after his daring escape from prison last week. The appearance of the strange portal in the sky may or may not be connected to his violent dissappearance." Indeed, as Furno and Flood circled the castle, they would notice that part of the walls had been ripped into, leaving a black hole. Faint traces of energy could be seen crackling on the inside. GM IC ??? (TALKING TO ARSENAL) "They are not important. If they are valuable, we will keep them safe. If not, we will dispose of them." GM NPC SURGE (TALKING TO RIOT) "It's this way. I'm Surge. You're Riot, right? The secret agent?" OOC: Except Hero Factory doesn't seem to care about other planet's laws. For example - not turning Rotor over to his home planet for execution. In Kaiba's case, though, most of the charges against him probably came from Hero Factory itself. So, uh, I guess he can go complain to Makuro or something? OOC: Kaiba hasn't really been charged with anything. Stormer might charge him with fighting him. Epix could bring charges if he wanted to, and lock Kaiba up for what he did. Makuro would probably ask Zib if Kaiba was an actual threat. He's an inventor, not a judge. GM NPC STORMER "We're going for a fair mix of diplomatic and forceful here. We'll talk first, but keep our hands on our weapons." He then turned to the civilians. "Get to a safe place, and stay away from these ships. We don't want you to get hurt in a fight or in an evacuation situation." GM IC ??? A loud crash sounded near the Heroes as a Tilt-a-whirl wheel came off of its moorings, spinning over the Astral's thick armored wings and landing next to the civilians. No one was riding the ride at the time - and no one was hurt - but it was enough to convince all of the civilians to get out of there, heading to the tourist district spaceport.

All added. 9 spots remain.

I now officially owe SPIRIT $20. (seriously man, totally amazing singing. I don't deserve this masterpiece.)

I don't know what to say about the rest of your post yet - I wish that you had not used a tone that was so bitter, so I could see things more clearly - but I have to say that this statement is absolutely correct. Whoops.

All added. 18 spots remain. Unit, you have spot 14 because Blade claimed spot 13 before you. And because 13.1 is closer to 14 than 12. This discussion is only at least a year old...and nearly everyone who participated in it is gone. Plus also, self-styled free donuts.

Go to town, kids.

Signups are now closed. Time to resolve this in the only way we know how. Break out the shotguns, warhammers, and flamethrowers, and let's murder all of these stupid fools. THIS. IS. MAFIAAAAAAAA! MOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM! Roles: Theorist x1 – Can investigate a player each night. Is responsible for preparing a message that the Game Host (me) will read off to all of the players each round, stating their conclusions as to what’s going on. Problematic Complainers x5 – Your standard Mafia, can kill a player each night. Members x14 – Standard Matoran voters. Forum Leader x1 – Can protect a Member each night OR make it so that a Complainer cannot kill for the night. Cannot protect a Complainer – if he accidentally does so, the Complainer’s identity will be revealed to him. If he dies, one of the Problematic Complainers will assume his role. Secret Role x1 Canonization Proponents – x3 – They can change the results of the round by their own secret devices. Game will have 24 hours for night roles and 24 hours to vote. Members/Players/Victims: 1. Voxumo. Complainer, killed by Secret Role Night Two. 2. Boss Manducus. Canonization Proponent, killed by Mafia Night Two 3. Lynn. 4. Taka Nuvia. Master artist. 5. Lenore. Nevermore. Villager, killed by Secret Role Night One 6. xccj. In it to win it. 7. Ghidora. No, this is not the comedies forum. Member/Villager, killed by Mafia Night Four 8. Rider/Phillips. 9. Nato. Sadly, Australia is not a member of it. 10. 11. Pulse. Yes, I disagree with this theory. It doesn't make any sense, and I remember Greg disproved it. 12. ToaTimeLord, from Dr. Who. 13. Blade, an inanimate object until it finds its chosen bearer. Villager, lynched day one. 14. Unit. Maths and stuff. Canonization Proponent, killed by Mafia Night One 15. Ehks. XXIX. Member/Villager, killed by Secret Role Night Three 16. -ToaD 17. Reyn. 18. 19. Lucina, who posted in that one topic that one time...argh, why can't I remember! 20. FF. Yes, I know I have memory problems. Please don't remind me. 21. Shadowhawk. Canonization Proponent, killed by Mafia Night Four 22. Ta-metru defender Member/Villager, lynched by sheep Day Three. 23. Rahkshi Guurahk. 24. Makuta Luroka, who has an odd way of asking for spot 24. 25. Toa Smoke Monster. I like LOST too. Wasn't that an awesome TV show? Villager, killed by Mafia Night Three 26. 27. 28. 29. Underscore - common_key Member/Villager, lynched Day Two SIGNUPS WILL REMAIN OPEN UNTIL 29 SPOTS ARE FILLED!* (AND NO LONGER!) SO GO TELL YOUR FRIENDS, ENEMIES, AND OF COURSE, YOUR FAVORITE FORUM LEADERS TO COME PLAY! *unless it takes like 2 weeks to come up with 29 people.

Since I actually remember SPIRIT's voice acting talents, I would actually pay for him to sing an Adele song. I think that would be entertaining. How much money are we talking here? $20 USD. Considering that I've paid $16 for full-length musical albums, and this is not an album but a single song. But then of course, I'm specially requesting it and then I'm taking up your time to record it, which has to be worth something.

Or, at least, not a very good one. It has no meaning, and very little life. Source The reason I'm including this is that I know that it will come up in the ensuing discussion. When I say "has no theme" what I mean is that Bionicle G2 has no unified message that it intends for kids to grasp. Other than "buy this toy". But if the toy doesn't symbolize a theme or message, it's not really something one would be proud to display on their shelf and call themselves a Bionicle fan over, would it? Instead, we would be more likely to complain about it. I'm not going to argue that Bionicle doesn't have design motifs anymore, because there is a strong case that they do. But there is not a unifying subject of discourse - the only thing left to discuss is factual surface details of the sets or story. 1) "I am here to battle evil, claim my Golden Mask of Power, and save the Island." is NOT a theme. This is not a theme, this is a commitment to a certain action. If I say: "Today I am going to write ten lines of code, find my old book on dinosaurs, and sharpen ten colored pencils" nobody would call that a theme of a story. What is evil? Why is claiming your Golden Mask important? Why does the Island need saving? You can argue that the Legends video answers these questions: Evil is Makuta, because he was jealous of his brother and made this dangerous overpowered mask, the Golden Masks are needed to give the Toa elemental powers and a fighting chance, and the villagers are at risk of being mind-controlled by "evil" undead bugs. But that doesn't answer this question: Why should I care about what goes on this island in the middle of nowhere? Why should I care about whether the villagers get controlled, whether the Golden Masks get found, whether evil gets defeated here? Who says the Toa are correct about what is evil and what is good? So far I haven't seen any proof that they have things figured out. In fact I see the exact opposite. That's where all the "evil Ekimu" theories come from. 2) "Unity, Duty, Destiny" is NOT a theme. It's merely a trite list of values, thrown together. Also, the concept of unity is distinct from duty which is distinct from destiny. I can have unity with a group of friends with no duty (we could just be hanging out at the mall), and I can be sitting all alone in my room with a destiny. So it's de-unified in and of itself. Further, it isn't a theme because it raises questions about itself. Unified with whom? Duty about what? Destiny where? A theme needs to say something about the concepts it raises. Is it good? Bad? You can argue that "these concepts are good" is implied, but why are they good? Because they are more effective in battling evil? So can my commitment to sharpening colored pencils. Even further, it was mostly introduced this year - it wasn't really a point of 2015's story anyway. 3) "Teamwork" is NOT a theme of Bionicle G2, and neither is overcoming adversity in spite of setbacks (which was Bionicle G1's main theme IMO) The teamwork theme in Bionicle G2 exists in isolated incidences, and is frequently contradicted by the actual story itself. Yes, the Toa have to band together as a team to beat LoSS. Yes, they must unify with their creatures. Yes, Lewa wanders off on his own and gets de-masked by Skull Slicer. But this is contradicted by other parts of the story. All of the Toa get their Golden Masks on their own. Granted, they have the Protectors to help...but then all of them have to rescue their respective Protectors. (Unlike in G1 where they DID have to ask other members of their team for help.) Lewa swoops in knock off the shooting Skull Warriors single-handedly. Kopaka puts up a shield that isn't needed. Pohatu breaks down a door by himself. Lewa beats the Skull Scorpios alone. Onua rescues everyone from being crushed...by his own actions. And Lewa fights Umarak on his own without any sort of loss in the end. The Skull Basher battle is a perfect example of this gone wrong, as the number one advocate of teamwork runs into battle alone, gets defeated, and then the Toa go on to beat Skull Basher...without Onua. The Skull Grinder battle: all the teamwork in the world didn't work. Screw teamwork - I have a hammer that can shoot lasers. The myopic focus on Tahu at the beginning doesn't help, and neither does Narmoto's prideful boast against the horde of spiders when he is off claiming his Golden Mask. As Unikitty would tell us, there is absolutely no consistency. * * * Finally, as I mentioned before, the Toa of G2 treat adversity as if it were a light snack. Enemies? Not really that hard. The amount of success they have is completely unexpected. It took the Toa of G1 eight years of story to accomplish what the G2 Toa do in 8 months, approximately. So that's definitely not a theme of the story. In large part, I think we want G1's theme back, or if not that, some other theme. It is the message, the statement that evil could be overcome, even if it fought back and plotted against me, that once left me proud to say that I was a Bionicle fan. Now, that theme is gone, and I'm still waiting for it to come back. Or for something to come back. The Bionicle I know has not returned.

*minds Windrider* Everyone stare at Windrider.

So am I approved to start?

Since I actually remember SPIRIT's voice acting talents, I would actually pay for him to sing an Adele song. I think that would be entertaining. You can ask. The best answer I can give you is "some people left". I'm not going to name names on this, out of courtesy for the poor people. Basically I'm the last (or near last) of a particular group of people that existed here once and no longer does, and I reacted to the slow whittling away of that group by adapting to how things were, which eventually got to being unacceptable and self-destructive. I can also say that it involves changes in S&T, which is where I started on BZPower. Many of those changes are for the better, some are for the worse, but it all combines to make me no longer necessary there. Aside from Categorical Greg stuff - that's why I'm finishing it. That's why it's also okay for me to run XXIX and Tales and stuff. I just have better ways of doing what I did there, and am doing there, elsewhere. Further, the current environment actually runs counter to it, which is fine. As does most of the forum. Again, there's nothing wrong with me, and there's nothing wrong with the forum. I'm doing what I'm supposed to, and the forum is doing what it is designed to do. We just don't fit anymore. As for the projects that are evaporating right now, not all of them are fully secret from the internet. Some of them are, but not all of them. I have to say that you were one of the people I was thinking of when I penned that line.

It appears that without the input of the ice fisherwoman, nearly everything goes haywire. I have to return from the dead to stop the insanity. Again.

Yes, you read the blog entry title right. I'm quitting BZPower. Go and yell WHYYYYYYYY!!! at me and scream your heads off now. Let the panic wash over you like a big bucket of ice water. Now let me reassure you, please, I shall not just cut and leave all of the loose ends to rot like a dead tree like some other people I happen to know. That is a terrible thing to do, and I shall not do it. Before I leave, I will do the following things: 1. The Categorical GregF Reference will be finished. 2. Mafia XXIX will run. 3. Tales of Externix will be finished. 4. The contest I started will be finished, judged, and shipped as expected. 5. The HF RPG will be resolved, minimized, or handed off. I will be running Mission #4 as normal, and I want the players who want to continue it to be able to continue it. I expect that it will take a considerable amount of time before I can pull myself out of it (several months) There is a few other private things and minor details I will be attending to. What you will see change immediately is that I will stop doing things that are NOT related to 1-5 above, and I'm asking that you should not pressure me to take on more of them. I know that some of you make it a practice of not listening, but now is not the time to use that skill. If there is something legitimate that I forgot about, however, do bring it up. * * * Some of you might be wondering why. The reason why has nothing to do with life or the demands of college work or any of that nonsense. I refuse to blame external circumstances for my problems. I always found that to be pathetic - you make time for what is important to you. You use the time you have for what is important to you. In fact, I could indeed balance college and BZPower easily enough - I have done so easily for the past 3-4 years. What I have found is that there are things more important to me than BZPower. In fact, I have found that BZPower is now at odds with my purpose in life and existence. (Some fools would call that an existential crisis - I think that too is the wrong definition. An existential crisis is when you discover your life has no meaning and you try to patch it. I have always known that my life has meaning, so need for that. What changed was understanding what the meaning is. The question "What is the meaning of life?" has a different meaning for each person. ) This was not a change in me as much as a change in BZPower. I didn't change to not fit BZPower; BZPower has changed so it no longer fits me. I don't blame BZPower or anything, or even the people who left to make it this way. I'm going to miss some friends anyway, who didn't leave. But I can't sit here and watch my more important projects go by the wayside and watch my life slowly drain away. As old Vakama said, it is time to move on. Or, you know, whoever said it.

This is correct. I was looking to start that either today or tomorrow.

OOC: In some cases this RPG has run that way, already. In some cases, not. It's something I might incorporate, but I'm not sure it fully fits. Thanks for the suggestion, though.

Av-Matoran have this ability, though. I don't like that it takes away from them. I agree with this. It was refreshing to see that, in a world with strictly defined Matoran types and jobs, some oddballs who were different. Again, not calling me narrow-minded and ignorant now are we? To go from agreeing or a least thinking it's a good theory, to completely changing your mind to make for some oddball character possibilities? I must be dreaming. Clearly, this must be an illusion brought on by my Bell's Palsy and possible brain damage. What does my post have to do with this paragraph? I'm confused as to how you got from that post to your conclusion. That's not what I meant. I meant that Bo-Matoran having a camouflage ability takes away from the variety of the Av-Matoran power sets, since the Av-Matoran already have a camouflage ability, which I don't like. Further, color of armor or camouflage doesn't have anything to do with plants, so I'm confused as to why it's a good idea. I'm not judging this theory in any sort of rational way. I was just posting my preference, what I would like, about certain things people said. Now that might have been a stupid thing to do, but I am allowed to say whether I like something or not on this forum. It's not against the rules. Further, I refuse to get involved. Both sides have made valid points. To be honest, man, I know what betrayal feels like. I also know what it is like to be so certain of something only to have the rug pulled out from under you by new evidence and new information. And I will agree with you: it sucks. But the problem in that situation is never the people who brought you the new information that proved you wrong. The problem is that you assumed certainty too soon. You picked your side, because you felt you had to, and now you have egg and blood all over your face because "everyone thinks you goofed up". (But to be honest, Imurkii, nobody is judging you personally here. I don't really have an opinion of you, because I don't know you very well. I think you're an intelligent person with the guts to post a theory, but that's all I know.) Having a bad theory doesn't mean you're a bad person. Having a theory people don't agree with doesn't mean that you are wrong or bad or evil or broken; in fact it can mean just the opposite. Sometimes in certain situations, having people oppose your statement means it's more likely to be true, because it's against the lies the crowd blindly swallows. The thing is, people are not omniscient. I am wrong every day. I make mistakes every day. People try to prove me wrong every day, even though they are sometimes wrong themselves when they do. Because the world doesn't align with me. How can it? It knows more than me. So you being wrong isn't your fault, if you are. People opposing your viewpoints is not a betrayal. It is something to learn from. People opposing what you say is an ever living constant of this world. Even when you are right. I have had the truth, and I have KNOWN I did, and people STILL fought me on it. That doesn't make them evil, it just makes them wrong. If you rely on other people to reinforce what is true and false in your life, they will ALWAYS betray you. People's beliefs change. They get taken in by lies. They find truths faster than you. You find the truth, regardless of what the other people think, in the face of what other people think. You will have to fight for it every single day of your life against all of the people who don't believe the truth. But there are methods to fight for the truth that work, and there are ones that don't. I can tell you that feeling betrayed and attacking people using the pain-riddled language that you have been using does not work. You need to adopt another method. Also, there are truths that aren't worth fighting over. It is my judgement that this matter falls into that category. It is merely a matter of what affiliation you prefer Tamaru to be. I have stated my preference on this matter. There is nothing more to argue. I am sorry that you are injured and in physical pain. I know from several personal experiences how nightmarish that can be. I also had a friend who had Bell's palsy, and it's one of the diseases I pray I never get. Ugh. Hope you feel better soon.

OOC: Again, noted. This NPC/GM relationship is a problem that I'm working on a solution for.OOC: I was thinking that you could choose a backup GM for when you're too busy to tend to the RPG. You would tell them exactly how the current mission is supposed to unfold, so they could advance the plot in your absence. OOC: You're the 3rd person to have read my mind. But I figure I should know what I'm doing myself, and actually do some real posting, before implementing a co-GM plan and shoving that poor person into the shark tank. If I'm not willing to put in effort myself, I should not expect that from someone else. Previously I've had some negative co-GMing experiences that I don't want repeated. Therefore, I shall not repeat them. Further, I would like input from the players as to who it should be, as opposed to me just selecting someone, to avoid the "this player is better than all the others" thing going on. If that cannot be done, I will pursue another solution.