jimmybob

Do you mean Domain of Evil, the roleplaying book? A search for "Jim Bambra" & "Planet of Evil" turns up nothing for me. I can't comment on Star Trek or superhero comics since I don't care for either, but I do consider myself a huge fan of Star Wars; I don't get into the role-playing adventures, however. The problem I have with NW being set on this other planet is that it has zero connection to Bionicle as we know it, and I can't even come close when trying to think of an analog in Star Wars. In the popoular series of Rogue Squadron books, which had very little to do with the "core" cast of characters or Jedi, etc, the fact is they still had Imperials, x-wings, aliens, etc. While not containing Luke, Han, Hoth, Tatooine, etc, if you pick up one of the books it's still 100% obvious that it's a Star Wars book. This simply isn't the case with this new "Bionicle" project. It has no connection to Mata Nui, the Great Beings, Toa, Matoran... It would be like having a Star Wars story that had zero to do with Jedi, Sith, the Force, any galactic government or space travel. I can't think of a Star Wars story like that. If there WAS a story like that, would it have any business calling itself "Star Wars"?

I certainly agree that just complaining won't help anything, but if someone sees the entire core idea of a project to be silly, (ie, the setting being a disjointed separate planet,) will it help at all to make suggestions about what happens on said planet? I wish I could be more involved and help keep various projects from disolving into mindless drivel, but with finals week creeping up on a student double-majoring at a large universiy and preparing for 10 weeks of independent summer research, my plate's a bit full.

Yes, we have plenty of elements. More than enough, in my opinion. I don't understand this sudden urgent need to know all the colors, either. People have just been using their own imagination for mocs up until now, suddenly it's not good enough?

Fantastic work. Such a terrible shame Bionicle had to end just as things were getting this good; still can't say I understand what Lego was thinking. BTW, how was there an Earth glatorian?

I wasn't expecting colors or Matoran info, very nice. Although I'm not used to having a Toa who's basically a Kanohi hodge-podge. Correct me if I'm wrong, but a Toa with a Suva and a Matatu, Suletu, Volitak, Mahiki and Komau would be able to do pretty much everything a Toa of Psionics could, only better, right? (Better because of no "organic only" limitations and the Komau beats hypnosis.) Don't get me wrong, I know that in actual practice most Toa don't devote themselves to gathering a Kanohi collection, so it's unlikely you'd find a Toa like that, but still.

Dunno if you saw my edited last post so here goes: ----- "Notice that this makes the Miru exactly qualify for the overlap problems you have brought up with some of the new powers." Well, I still wouldn't say so, no. I think the distinction for me lies in the ammount of effort involved. And no I don't mean the mental Kanohi-concentration sort of effort. I mean the difficulty of "hover" and "go down gently" commands compared to "Ok, go up a little let me fall a little go up a little let me fall a little..." I imagine myself as a non-Earth/Stone Toa and I need to explore the bottom of a mine shaft. I'd personally vastly prefer the Miru to let me get down safely than having to rely on a Kadin and being forced to do a sort of "boost myself up a few times so I don't hit with splattering force." Also, I'd imagine painting the Sistine Chapel would be easy with a Miru and not feasible with a Kadin. In my book that definitely qualifies as a job the Miru can preform that the Kadin cannot, hence, not complete overlap. To relate this again to something actually on-topic: to a Miru you can think "hover" and it can, to a Kadin you think "hover" and it cannot. Yet you can say "Kanoka, return" to a Matatu and it can, and it also can equally well with the Rebounding. Hence my opinion of overlap. (Since I'm not a Toa though, I can't judge to what degree the mental command is easier to execute.)

No disrespect intended, but I'm 99% sure you're not correct about the Kadin completely overlapping the Miru. Firstly, I think you either took me too literally or I misspoke. The Kadin doesn't allow ZERO vertical movement, I mean obviously you have to get off of the ground. What I meant was, you behave like an airplane or fighter jet. You need to be moving forward to stay aloft, you can't just hover there or safely land without coming in at the ground like a little runway. I remember the whole debate at the time and I rememer very specifically the answer Greg sent me then, because I was convinced that the Miru was useless too! I asked him, in what possible situation could the Miru beat the Kadin? He said, well what if your island is in a cavern where all of the fruit grows on the ceiling? Would you rather have a Kadin and zip around trying to grab the fruit without hitting the roof, or would you rather have a Miru that allows you to getly float up and then float back down once you've picked a basket comfortably? But back to more on topic: "Well, as I clarified, you were mostly mistaken about most of the powers as far as them being all that rarely useful." Really? I can see how some of them may not be rare-use to the people who do choose to don them, but I still maintain that those who would chose to use most of them would be few and far between. There are four immoral masks; I consider the group of beings who would use them to be rather small based just off of what we've seen in the Bionicle universe; not all that many bad guys besides Makuta use Kanohi, and we know most of their favored masks. Very few use the Conjuring, by the very description. Fusion is rare, as you say. Rebounding, I do admit would be useful if one is has taylored one's attack style for it, but I still maintain that the use of retrievable projectiles is uncommon for Toa. Perhaps "rare" is to harsh, but would you agree to uncommon? Just as I'm sure the Rau is uncommon. By my personal reconning, 6 rare and 1 uncommon leaves 4 that are not uncommon or worse. But that's just how I see it. A more personal question, did you actively seek to give all the Karzahni Matoran evil shapes? We do know that all of the Inika Kanohi came form there and none of them have ever been considered immoral, right? "Wait wait, what's up with the part in italics there? I thought you were using italics for quotes. I must have missed something... I didn't say that. " No, you're right, I meant to put ( ) around that. But I.... didn't. For some reason. My mistake. The sentences in question were of my writing. But, hammering out the details and getting more info is what we are doing here, now, yes? And I dunno if you've checked out the individual Kanohi pages that are alread there but let me tell you, some of them are pretty information-poor themselves. So do you have to ask Greg about details like, the Incomprehension targets to get them cannonized, or are things like that up to you? EDIT:

A few general things come to mind, first of all: 1) It was my understanding that the Miru allowed you to hover and achieve verticle motion like a helicopter/hot air balloon, while the Kadin did no such thing. The Kadin allowed you to "fly" forward quickly, whereas the Miru's forward motion was much lazier, like a hot air balloon. I also believe that while Lewa was close to flight with a Miru when he also used his Air power, he couldn't truely fly like a Kadin until he got his Nuva weapons. 2) Also, about my arguments of, as you put it, "rare use = shouldn't exist" etc etc that seem to have become the main focus of most of this: I'm not exactly arguing that all of these masks shouldn't exist at all in the world of Bionicle. When you're mixing melted Kanoka together, some similar-powers, sub-powers and werid-powers are bound to come out. (As far as repetitive sub-powers we already have Freezing and Weight, which I'd forgotten about.) I guess what I'm arguing and what I'm a little upset about is the fact that, when the opportunity persented itself for you guys to cannonize some new masks, the waters were further muddied with these kind of masks (rare immoral masks, masks one might not use unless the superior mask wasn't available, sub-power masks etc.) instead of going with powers that would probably be more traditional and widely-used, like Healing for example. I'm no logician so I can't say it any more eloquently than "I think it would have made a lot more sense to go with A instead of B," but there you have it. More my opinion on what kind of things were accepted into cannon rather than saying "there's no way they would ever even exist." I feel like I worded all that exceptionally poorly so do tell if I still wasn't clear enough about my personal feelings, lol. Absorption: "For now it's basically, you temporarily get the power of another being, as long as they're in range. And probably it is a very limited range. The details aren't quite established yet." I highly suggest we get this sorted out before anything else. See Pouks': "“What makes you think Teridax is down here?” asked Toa Pouks. The others knew Pouks was just buying time. His mask was analyzing and copying Miserix’s power, but that took a while to do." It doesn't mention copying any specific power, but Miserix wasn't performing any specific power at that moment. He HAD just teleported a few moments before, I suppose it's possible Pouks needed to see the power in action to copy it, but I don't know. Also, he was standing right next to him. So so far, they both probably have a short to semi-short range. They both copy single a power of another being. I think they are similar enough to be called the same, in my opinion, but then again I'm not the one who created it and got it put on BS01. If you can't think of something to differentiate them, would you be willing to just eliminate this from the official listing in favor of Pouks' mask? Just a thought. Also I had no idea the poll on the name was actually happening! Exciting stuff. Mechanics: "One great benefit of this mask is you could "telepathically' give out orders to clockwork-brain robots like Vahki, Nektann, etc. If you manufacture an army of robots without clockwork brains, you could control them directly. A disposable army (because they're not alive) under your instant command." Again, just a misunderstanding of mine from BS01. They made it sound much more limited than that. A quick aside, do you know why there is any debate about this at all? Every other official mask has it's own individual page. For better or worse, these are official masks. What's there even to debate about (since the decision of them existing is final) ? So you're saying a wearer of this would be able to control Vahki and Bohrok completely? And more than one at once? How far does the extent go with normal biomechanical beings? (After all, the muscles that cause movement are organic, right?) Sensory: Sorry if I was unclear, I realize the Arthron doesn't increase hearing. What I meant was, if you can use super hearing to detect a stealthy adversary crawling along the wall behind you, surely the Arthron would detect the same adversary, just using Sonar instead. Untranslation: I like "Incomprehension." But for the record, it only does work on a single target? I guess my beef with it is, in 9 out of 10 situations, having Tahu give specific orders isn't going to be crucial to the immediate situation's success. The other 5 Toa all have brains and have all saved the day themselves on occasion. If Tahu suddenly spouted jibberish, couldn't Kopaka step it and give valid orders? At the very least, everybody would be put on the alert. Not saying it wouldn't freak them out and sow a little confusion if they'd never been "Incomprehended" before, but I think they'd get around it without much incedent 9 out of 10 times. For the sake of random discussion: Local Omniscience: I'm making this up as I go along so I probably didn't word it very well. What I was thinking was something like this: You could assign the mask to a specific single room. Due to the small area, you get more detailed feedback if an enemy enters, if something goes wrong, etc. If it's power is widened to the max, say a whole Metru, the effect is a much more vague "disturbance in the Force, somewhere a little north of here" kind of thing. I don't think that's any more over powered than Adaptation, personally. Edit: Might I also ask what the specific effects and benefits are from this generic energy the Vulture absorbs and what time-table they are on?

Well, even if these are here to stay I think more discussion is certainly warranted, so here goes: Vulture: Well I was thinking pretty much like Twilight Jack’s 2nd to last post in your blog entry. “Vulture” is a physical noun, not a verb or something obvious like “speed.” (For the record, I never liked “Mask of Fate” either.) If I described someone as a vulture, I’d be describing them as an opportunistic scavenger, not someone who eats dead things. If you like animal analogies I believe Maggot actually fits better… As far as, how did you put it, being a mind-expander, I don’t know… Just my opinion, but naming something in a not-entirely-obvious fashion is different than having entire elements of a story branch into unexpected plot points. (If that makes any sense.) Untranslation: So, one DOES have to be in range to scramble a message then? One can’t scramble it and leave it be? The written aspect still seems very limited to me. Now on the spoken aspect, the EU pdf says “targets.” If you can scramble a whole battlefield, then I concede that this mask has its uses. However, the wiki says “target,” singular, and if this can only be done to one target, I retain that it’s pretty much on the side of useless (1-in-a-million) when you consider how you can just use a Mask of Silence on the order-giver or otherwise dispose of him violently. So which is the correct case? A quick separate note, if these things are here to stay, (siiigh….) at lease give them their own pages on the wiki that include the info from the EU pdf file. The brief descriptions that are currently there do not paint as complete a picture as is needed for these still-not-understood-by-many-people masks. On the word “Untranslation” itself… How does your argument for the name of the Mask of Vulture, (that it may not be 100% obvious or 100% accurate but expand your mind to it) coincide with the minute language nitpicks against names like Encryption and Scrambling? Just a thought. Adaptation: Like I said, I actually like this one, although I still personally think it’s a little over-powered. I mean, I if I drop a wearer into the ocean, he gets gills to breathe, right? Who then would willingly choose a Kaukau over this mask, which can do other things besides? Also, how would the Noble work? Sensory: It’s just a personal taste thing I suppose; I’m not a fan of multi-powered masks, (i.e. Crast.) The Ruru & Akaku cover the vision, the Arthron covers knowing your physical surroundings better than hearing would, and taste and touch would be rarely used. (Yes, that leaves smell.) Absorption: Forgive me, I was never and will never be a fan of the Piraka so I don’t recall the intricacies of what exactly Vezok could do, and also not a Heroes fan. I will say this, if this is going to stay an official mask, we need to nail down the details of all these masks. I move in favor of it being Pouk’s masks simply because it sounds extremely similar. (Even though, to me, it looks just like a Jutlin. Ew.) If it were a different mask with a SLIGHTLY different power, things would just be way too confusing. Aging: I’m afraid I don’t see how slightly aging a rock would be any better? Or almost any inanimate object, for that matter. If I age a Toa Tool that can survive 10,000 years by 200 years… so what? And I was under the impression very old beings like Helryx were fairly uncommon in the world. So my opinion on this is still 1-in-a-million. I think, though, a lot of questions about this mask could be answered by learning just how much/fast this thing causes aging. (And would the Noble just age things even less?) Undeath: “I don't see where you get the idea that evil or questionable beings don't have goals, any less than good guys do?” That’s not what I was saying, although I probably didn’t make it clear enough. What I’m saying is, from my view-point, most if not all villains in Bionicle, (those who would wear such a taboo, immoral mask,) have selfish goals that are only of good use when you are alive to see them accomplished. Makuta sought the admiration of the Matoran at one point, how could he enjoy it if dead? Most villains seek to increase their power and rule over a certain population, how can they enjoy their rank and status if dead? I suppose I can see how a villain could hold some deep vendetta against a certain hero who has foiled him and would like to know he’d keep hunting him even after death, but we’re getting into some really far-out uses here. I’d also point out that since bad guys usually succumb to death in the heat of battle, if the bad guy is Kanohi-capable, why not be using a mask suited to combat so that he has a better chance of not dying in the first place? And we don’t have any evidence of Suva being used by anybody besides Toa, do we? So mask switching before death sounds improbable... BASICALLY what I’m saying is, “1-in-a-million.” Also: How does the mask react when death doesn’t leave a functioning body? How are its deeds executed when a corpse had the lower half of his body melted? Conjuring: I just keep thinking about this: A Bionicle story is written, this mask is used by a character, and just when all hope seems lost and the team is an inch from death, someone comes up with a perfect power and saves the day. In my personal opinion, that would just seem cheap. (Like the magic freezing zamor used to defeat Kardas the first time.) My other opinion is that I just don’t like the vague nature of it. So, some powers would just be too powerful to copy ever? (Vahi?) What determines that? And these weaknesses, do they have to be weaknesses dealing with the new power itself or can they be unrelated? (I am now super strong, AND allergic to milk.) And how would the Noble function? Rebounding: I did indeed misunderstand, from the wiki’s description. (It mentions nothing about returning to the person who threw it.) Perhaps 1-in-a-million was too harsh, but still, 1-in-a-thousand? Not many Toa use ammo/projectile on a regular basis. (Wasn’t Vakama berated for using Kanoka as a Toa? Admittedly, mainly by Matau...) Now, if I have a huge Suva, I concede that I’d probably want this in my collection. But unless something’s happened recently I haven’t heard of, (I haven’t been an active watcher of the Bionicle world in a while,) not many Toa at all seem to use Suvas. So the question is who would use this as a primary mask? I also think it’s a bit unfair to compare the Matatu-Rebounding relation to the Miru-Kadin relation. The Miru and Kadin both allow the user to do something that the other cannot. The Matatu can do everything the Rebounding can do, (even if it needs more concentration,) which is my main problem with it. Also, separate question: what happens if you shoot and miss an opponent in a large flat field with nothing to bounce off of but the ground, does it still return? Mechanics: The wiki says something about "Computations." I didn't realize we had anything like computers in Bionicle? Other than that, again I don't see who would wear this when given a choice. As s substitute to other masks, maybe. But why bother inventing it (as in us, not the characters) in the first place? Slow down somebody with a Komau, etc. Fusion: As odd as it sounds, I actually like your “obscure” use best of all. I’m a huge Kaita fan and am sad we haven’t seen any in yearrrs. For the rest, it just again comes down to, who would wear this in favor of something else? It seems very much like a last-ditch sort of mask through and through. How many surroundings exactly would give your opponent an advantage, but not you? Even in that situation, why not choose a Kakama, Kualsi, Mask of Intangibility to escape and force a pursuit instead? Or a Komau, Matatu to force your enemy from the area altogether? In General: “Also, you said "super" powers -- they're not supposed to be unusually "super" powers, they're just supposed to be powers” If you are talking about Kanohi in general, I’d have to disagree. Super speed, super strength, levitation, x-ray vision, perfect night-vision, invisibility, telekinesis, mind control, flight, perfect accuracy, telepathy... Pretty much all of the previously known Kanohi fit my description of “super,” although that is just my personal thought. “And what better powers are those? It's one thing to tear down, it's a whole 'nother to suggest alternatives.” I came up with these in about twenty minutes. 1) Healing, inspired by Iruini’s Rhotuka. 2) Elasticity. I’ve debated with myself if the Mahiki could perform this function but since we’ve never seen it do anything like that I’m leaning towards No. 3) Freezing. We know there are simple freezing Kanoka. 2+2=4. 4) Confusion/Mind Scramble. If you want to sow confusion among a group of attackers, why settle for doing it indirectly when you can do it... well, directly? (I contrast this to the Suletu as I would contrast the Komau and the Mask of Rahi Control. Just as a Komau has a greater range of applications, the Rahi Control allows you to influence more than one individual in a more specific way, just as this mask would.) 5) Precognition. Like the Jedi have. Whereas the Mask of Clairvoyance is uncontrollable and projects far into the future, this mask would always inform of important events (attack, etc.) a split second before they occurred. 6) Limited Area Super Knowledge. (Not the best name for a mask...) Since Toa usually are protectors of a certain Island or region, this mask would aid in having a detailed knowledge of the area. For example, perhaps Toa Naho could have worn and set this mask to monitor Ga-Metru. If an enemy with hostile intent entered Ga-Metru, she’d know. If there was threat of a fire from some lab experiment gone bad, she’d know. OR, if that’s too powerful for use over a whole Metru, we could dial down to some sort of “disturbance in the force”-esque feeling. Maybe level of detail depends on size of area? SO, those are my quick suggestions on what I personally think would have made some better powers. (It’s all for naught but... whatever.) Another question though: If the whole, grand point of all this is just to expand our knowledge of Kanohi, why weren’t some of these unused shapes used for known-but-unseen masks like the 4 Hagah’s, Tuyet’s, Helryx’s, Nikila’s, etc.? (Example, in my own perfect world I’d like to see the new depiction of the Mask of Fusion be used for the Mask of Possibilities.)

Good to see you post, Greg. So, there's a new, great movie coming out, that may well boost and revitalize Bionicle interest, yet the book company isn't willing to see if they can profit from that? Sad.

I think the only thing that would make this movie better would be if it came out in June so I could have it to look forward to right after finals...

I like the sound of this.

Thanks so much for the kind words, Greg. Truth be told, the chance to interact with you personally is probably the only reason I'm an actual member of BZP and not just a lurker.

-Commando-

Terakk

Entry 8

-Commando-

Darkness Exedos

Attei

Toa Robert Phantoka

Darkness Exedos

Toa Valtika

Attei

-Commando-