That Matoran with a Vahi

Two days until my 20th BZPversary! Next annual spinny mask, here I come! xD

Don't suppose anyone knows of any ongoing Bionicle collaborative project that's looking for artists, do they? I know this is random, but I just... sometimes get hit with the nostalgic itch to work on some big project or other for Bionicle, but I don't have the ideas or time to do something of that scale by myself. I remember back in the day here on BZ there used to be big collab projects from time to time, and I'd love to contribute to something like that; I've just no idea where I'd find them nowadays.

This is just random musing really, but...

...me not even noticing that my BZ-versary had passed for like three days and only realising because I happened to see I had a different spinny now?

I'm observant sometimes. This was not one of those times!

Nineteen years ago, I first joined up here? Wow...

Huh, I didn't know BZ now pops up a little notification when your posting rank increases! That's pretty cool ^^

Swarm Awakened, hm...

"What's he saying, Tahu?"

"One word, over and over. Bohrok. I must return to Ta-Koro immediately."

I can hardly believe what I've just learned. We've probably all heard of Alastair Swinnerton as one of the co-creators of Bionicle, of course.

...it turns out he was ALSO one of the writers on my favourite TV show from when I was a little kid: the 1996 reboot of the British series The Wombles.

That two of my most key childhood interests had a creator in common is honestly blowing my mind right now.

...I just was rewatching one of the old episodes out of nostalgia, just because, when I saw "Written by Alastair Swinnerton" in the opening credits. And I stopped and went "I know that name, why do I know that name?" I had to look it up, but now that I know...

WOW. That was a connection I never would have made on my own xD

SO I only just realised in Legoland Windsor today that that giant technic dinosaur - the one based on the design from #8485 is ACTUALLY brick-built? I thought it was just one of those ones that were sculpted to look like giant Lego bricks; but my gf and I got close enough to it today to see that, no, it is *genuinely* fully built out of normal Lego pieces! And the sloped edges on it were made with lots of technic slope pieces, explaining the smooth edges to them which were what had fooled me into thinking it wasn't brick-built.

My mind was blown when I realised that xD

Just something I'm wondering, but.

How far does a fan-work have to differentiate itself from Bionicle before it can be considered an original work inspired by Bionicle, rather than something based on Bionicle?

See, I've got this story project that I'm working on. It started off as just, you know, your typical reimagining of the 2001 Bionicle story, only with several things changed about a bit, and the characters as fully human. All good so far: but the thing is, while it's currently the furthest I've got on any project to date, and the one that I'd love to see through to completion... at present, I really need to instead be working on a project that's more of an original work, so that I can put my own name on it and include it in my creative portfolio - something that, as you possibly know, is frowned upon with fanart.

Since I've already deviated in my own way from the actual Bionicle story, I've been thinking of 'filing off the serial numbers', so to speak: replacing the key characters with original equivalents, making the setting a land of an quite different design, and pulling any other changes I can think of to make it stand on its own. While this seems plausible so far, the basic premise (six powerful heroes arrive on an island to vanquish a great evil), some of the themes (the MNOG climax's creation vs. destruction), and several other elements (e.g. Kaita fusion, Toa Stones, infected masks) still remain from Classic Bionicle. I'm not altogether sure if the differences I have so far are enough to push it into its own thing, or if it still seems hopelessly derivative of its source.

On the one hand, since I don't intend to directly make money off it, it shouldn't be a problem even if that is the case, as long as I credit it as my basis for the concept. On the other hand... I guess I'm still a bit worried that it may just come off as too much of a copy for anyone to actually enjoy it?

I dunno. I guess I'd appreciate thoughts, if anyone has them to share.

I didn't want to revive the thread since it's been a few years now, and it's closed to comments on YouTube; but I just watched your Water Pressure animation a couple of days ago, and I hope you don't mind me dropping by to say I thought it was absolutely FANTASTIC!

I love that you gave Kotu a chance to shine - her being a prankster was never shown in canon, despite being part of her official bio, so it's great to see that trait brought to the focus - and her dynamic with Maku was just perfect; Gali was super-relatable; and that animation, wow! It was like being back in classic MNOG, but even better. It felt like such a fresh look at the characters, while at the same time feeling perfectly in-tune with the nature of early story material; really, really fantastic work!

On a minor note, also loved that my favourite minor Matoran, Marka, got her moments of screentime, too

Entirely different note: realising just how little I could tell apart light grey and light bluish-grey as a kid. I rebuilt my Toa Mata recently: almost all of them had a mixture of both shades in their gears, from where they'd got mixed up with pieces of other sets and I hadn't realised there was a colour difference.

Undecided on whether to replace them with the correct colours from bricklink, or just let them be as-is...

Since when did buying used Bionicle sets become such an expensive prospect...?

Been feeling a bit nostalgic for some of the sets I used to have, and subsequently sold, recently. But NO WAY am I feeling nostalgic enough to pay £80 for a set that was £20 back in the day, Takanuva 2008. Same goes for several other sets too, it's like... I get that inflation has been a thing since my childhood, though I still tend to measure things by mid-2000s monetary value. But that much?

Though I did scoop up a Zesk the other day for less than its original price, so there are still a few bargains to be had! But I dunno, the amount some of these prices have increased by is just wild.

I just thought: it seems silly to me, to list all my BZP rp characters in my signature when, at present, I'm not active in that forum at all due to other commitments. So I'm just gonna make this post right here as a collection of links to all my RP character bios, past and present... so I can find them again easily as and when I come back to them, but aren't taking up sig space.

Ghosts of Bara Magna, joined January 2023. Jeizmel.

BZPRPG; joined July 2022. Akie.

Six Kingdoms: Rebirth; joined March 2020. Varxii, Rek. Sequel to:

Six Kingdoms: Escapement; joined Jaunary 2020. Varxii, Zecrillia, Jabali.

Skyrise: Ascent; joined April 2019. Tarutu, Kastir, Littiuu, Alarei.

Corpus Rahkshi; joined February 2019, just in time to see it end. Blizzard.

I think I've realised something.

Whatever name I change to doesn't have to be perfect, for now. I'm not going to be stuck with it forever, I can always change to something more suitable in a few months if need be.

It just has to be better than "Darth Jaller".

Which to be honest? Isn't hard to do!

Oh hey, happy sixteenth to my BZPower account!

Sixteen years.

2004 was really sixteen years ago?

Wow. Way to make me feel old xD

Memories from my first few days on BZPower include: Galigee's Makuta Island epic, which was what enticed me to join in the first place. Someone MoCed a modification to Vakama Metru to allow him to carry several disks for his launcher in a backpack; the thread was on the hot topics list on the front page for a day or so. And I chose the most generic username in the history of ever when I joined up because I was new to forums, didn't have a clue that I should be picking something distinctive, and literally wrote in the username field the first thing that came into my head.

I am so glad no-one remembers me as 'supertahu29' anymore... xD;

SO I dunno if anyone's interested, but I'm trying to spark off some fresh activity in the Lego RPG forum. I'm throwing around some ideas for a Rock Raiders thing; feel free to drop by and tell me what I'm doing wrong and how to make it into something actually interesting! ^^

I'm just nostalgic for old Lego themes, dimly in the background of my mind, like... 70% of the time. And I'd like to, you know... do something with that? ^^

I'm in one of those Really Need a New Screenname moods again. I guess I'm just indecisive, but... I don't think I want to be known as "Sith Version of Jaller" anymore.

Watch me change my mind in a few days and decide I'm too attached to this name to let go of it xD;;;

But for real. A change would do me good. The kid who chose this name grew up; and I'd now rather something that more accurately represents me, instead of just the name of an old project that I'm never going to do anything with now.

I think my main decision is whether I want to tie myself to a canon Bionicle character, the way my current name does with Jaller. On the one hand: YES, I would for sure like my new username to still be a Bionicle reference somehow, given the nature of the site. On the other, I feel like naming myself to identify with a specific character ties me down.

But if I didn't go that route... I'm having trouble finding something clever enough that I actually like it xD

Whoop, Stalwart Defender rank now! I'm slowly moving up the ranks again!

On a side note... I have to wonder how the order you achieve the Toa ranks in was determined. I feel like there's some deliberate reasoning at work there; but so far I haven't worked it out yet xD

Ooh, look at that: Aquatic Guardian rank! Nice to be associated with my current favourite of the Mata for a while ^^

Temptation currently is to change my name to That Matoran with a Vahi, as a sort of... nod back to my old (and awful) Bionicle-sona of the day, without directly referencing him. It's something that I feel like I could work with, for sure, while still being tied in to Bionicle lore; and I checked existing member names, it's unique so far!

I'm just still on the fence about whether i really want to bring the "Darth Jaller" name to its end. It's, like... the only thing anyone still here knows me by anymore, it feels wild and irresponsible to change it xD But at the same time, it's a relic of past days, and I'm not convinced it's really me anymore.

HMMMM...

Indecisive about changing my name, heh. Some days, I look at my username here and *cringe*; it's a silly mix of my childhood fandoms, spawned from an overly-ambitious project that never got off the ground. It's something, I sometimes feel, that would do well to be forgotten.

Then, other times...

I dunno, I guess there are days when I feel quite fond of and attached to this name, dumb as it is. It's been 'mine' for the past twelve years, more or less. It's distinctive, and it's what people here know me as, if they know me at all. And, before the post count reset, I looked into it and found I was the 'Jaller' member with the highest content count, which I thought was kinda cool.

I don't know if I want to move on from that, or not xD

Excitedly hoping there's gonna be another BZ Fanfic Exchange announced this year! Last year was such a fun challenge, I'm eager to try it again this time... except, maybe not get quite so ambitious with my project this year xD

I did think of springboarding off my current one and changing my display name to something along the lines of Jaller Back to the Light Side, while I considered something more permanent. But...

Too long to be fit in the New Display Name field xD

Ooh, Lightning Voyager again! Slowly, slowly regaining my lost ranks over here xD

I'm in one of those I reeeeeeally want to change my display name phases again. This one was chosen when I was actively trying to work on a project of the same name - you can probably guess the content, heh - and just stuck around long after the idea itself was abandoned. Now, though, it just feels old and worn; something a lot shinier and newer would be nice.

Only...

I haven't the slightest clue what to change it to.

Just hit Mask of Light Unveiled rank, nice! I... think that may be the quickest I've every climbed a rank recently; I guess being active in the RP forum does make post count go up a lot faster than normal xD

So, I had this dream last night where I found this really cool Bionicle comic in a shop. And I woke up regretting the fact that it wasn't real and I'd never get to read it. (see my replies to this post for more detail)