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xccj

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Everything posted by xccj

  1. Funnily enough, I think I might've had the two penguins on the left as a kid, or at least ones that looked very similar. Nice collection!
  2. Hey, so I'm going to try something different here; instead of posting a story one chapter at a time, I'm just going to link to the Google Document and have this open for comments and reviews. So without further ado, let me introduce my latest story... Dark Core: A Hero Factory Story This is an ongoing story I am working on for NaNoWriMo. Today I'm posting the chapter I wrote up last year (although only recently got around to proofreading) but the story has a long way to go, so hopefully I will be able to provide plenty of other updates in the future. And in the meantime... well, the Epic forum is not as flush with activity as it used to be, so let's contribute something to the library! As for the story... in case it wasn't obvious, this will be a bit of a darker take on the Hero Factory story. While I am taking a lot of names and concepts from the original theme, I have reinvented the universe it takes place in to have a darker setting, allowing me to explore some concepts that Lego wouldn't have wanted to. The story will focus on the exploits of the latest crew of recruits, Evo, Nex, and Rocka, and follow them as they journey to become true Heroes. Anyway, feel free to comment here or in the document. And fair warning, it's a lengthy read, as I had to hit 50K words to make it qualify for NaNoWriMo, and I'm hoping to have another 50K finished by the end of this month! Plenty of room to explore this new Hero Factory universe I've put together! Thanks again for stopping by!
  3. The strangest situation I can recall was I was working at a campground and checking in an older couple and somehow referenced BZPower and they knew about the site because their kid was a member. Don't remember all the details of the conversation but it was quite the coincidence. More recently, I had a gas station attendant recognize my Kanohi bumper stickers as Bionicle masks.
  4. If you consider the start of the Internet to be in 1983 (when TCP/IP officially became the standard for connecting computer networks) then one could make the claim that the BZPower forums have existed for over half the lifespan of the Internet.
  5. Almost enough entries for two polls, but not quite. Also surprising how many of these are BioCup MOCs too. A lot of great ones here, very hard to choose. Can't wait to see who pulls out ahead!
  6. xccj

    Green Stuff

    Oh no, you have both a coyote and an owl hanging around in your garden! So dangerous!! Anyway, looks pretty cool. Nice job! Hope you get some big pumpkins!
  7. Of course Andrew has the limited edition recolored set, XD. Hope you enjoyed the build.
  8. End of the month snuck up on me, heh. Well, it's not water themed, but last year I had this idea for the 20th Anniversary of the Rahkshi, so why not.
  9. Oh no, it's already time for this! I have ideas but no idea how to properly make them into reality! 😮 Looking forward to seeing what people submit.
  10. I dunno, at this rate we're potentially looking at a Tahu vs Kopaka showdown with Lhikan as a third wheel. But hey, maybe the numbers will change this time; they already have less of a lead than when I checked this morning.
  11. Ahaha, the Nuva Pens. I don't even remember them being advertised back in 2002, and I was hyper focused on the theme back then. Crazy. They have not been easy to track down. Black Six found Pohatu Nuva at one of the BrickFairs once and I bought it from him, and two years ago Onua Nuva and Kopaka Nuva popped up on Bricklink at fairly expensive prices and like a fool I purchased those too. Still, I've been keeping a tracker on Bricklink for these for almost 10 years now and have hardly gotten any hits. (Although looks like Pohatu, Onua, and Kopaka pens were purchased on Bricklink last December, but that wasn't me. So I guess they do periodically pop up now.) If you can browse thru vendors at Lego conventions, that's probably the best way to locate them. I can think of three or four different occasions when vendors have had Bionicle pens (mostly the Mata, but as I said earlier Black Six found a Nuva). They seem to be a novelty item that most of the fan community didn't pick up back in the day, so hard to tell if a lot of folks have em here still. Best of luck in your hunt for em! (Nope, not selling mine, sorry ) :music:
  12. I mean, not particularly. I got most of the sets when they came out (because who needs any other hobbies in the 2000s?) and the ones I missed out on I'm fine with. And since my sets are parted out for MOCIng, it doesn't really bug me that I don't have a full Mahri collection. I have all 72 masks of the Toa and Turaga (plus gold and silver) which was a huge goal of mine as a kid and I'm super pleased to have pulled it off a decade later. And I have all 144 of the krana. I had started on the Nuva, but I dislike those masks so I gave away most of them a decade ago. The kraata never really interested me either. I do have 12 of the 14 misprints, but the ones I'm missing are so expensive nowadays that I doubt I'll ever get them. I have a handful of prototypes, but it was more fun to spread those out to the community at Conventions. (Even found the original Mata pens so I have those pen masks! Technically only have half the Nuva pens but they're less interesting.) There are other things that I am missing but I'm cool with it at this point. In truth, I'm more interested in current sets (CMFs and Ninjago) to spend much time looking back on Bionicle. I'll buy the occasional piece for MOCing but that's about it. So I'm pretty set with my current Bionicle collection as is.
  13. Very neat. The artwork for Hahli Mahri didn't make her the easiest character to make a mosaic for, but looks like you're getting a good start on it. Hope to see the final design!
  14. Historically, it's been the first option. (With deals like Only Star Wars or Only Ninjago). The GWP will pop into your cart on the website once you've qualified for it, so if you don't see it, then you're probably missing. And if you visit a Lego Brand Retail Store, the employees should be able to help you figure things out.
  15. The Toa were selected as sets, so that's why there are seven different entries for Tahu, and why there's one option that has Lewa vs Lewa. But there's no standard for making the choice; if there's a storyline reason you like one set over the other, that would still be valid.
  16. I’ve been involved with a lot of awesome Bionicle Collaborative Mosaic projects that’s wowed the public at various conventions. (Or so I’d like to hope.) So I’ve decided to compile a list of em, with their size, where they showed up, and who helped make them. (I’m seeing a lot of repeated names too.) I've included some images, where I can find them. The first is the final design image that I got from the Mosaic Makers. (I still use Pic-to-Brick.) The second image is the finish mosaic at the convention. I’ll try to keep this post updated for future projects as well. Kopaka Mosaic Displayed at: BrickFair 2010 Size: 96 x 96 studs * This is the first BZPower Bionicle Mosaic, organized by Chocolate Frogs and Nukaya. (Well, I did some of the initial design work.) Kopaka was selected because of his neutral color scheme, which was easy to convert into a mosaic. Arpy made the largest contribution to this one, with the 64x64 upper right corner all being his. Contributors: Letagi Xccj Arpy Kohila Piraka* Jedi Master J Black Six Onua Mosaic Displayed at: BrickFair 2010 Size: 96 x 96 studs * When the Kopaka mosaic got filled up, we pushed harder and came up with a second mosaic. Onua was selected because he also had a neutral color scheme with blacks and grays. This was again organized by Chocolate Frogs and Nukaya, and I provided the initial design. Contributors: Nukaya Jedi Master J Chocolate Frogs Xccj Black Six Toa of Dancing* Mr. Fibbles* Sisen Toa Mata Mosaic Displayed at: BrickFair 2011 Size: 192 x 64 studs * The following year, Chocolate Frogs and Nukaya went all out and organized a brilliant mosaic with all six Toa Mata. (This time, I did nearly all the design work.) Even with all the awesome Bionicle creations that year, this mosaic was the highlight, IMO. Plus, this had most contributors so far! Contributors: Arpy Letagi Xccj Jedi Master J Black Six Sisen Chocolate Frogs Kakaru Razlak* Nukaya Disky Kaukau Waterfall Mosaic Displayed at: BrickCon 2012 Size: 96 x 96 studs * This year I helped put together a mosaic based off a classic scene from the MNOLG. This one was a bit more challenging with the dithering pattern on the cliffs. Although for some reason I never got a full shot of the mosaic on its own, but luckily we did take a group shot. Contributors: Kopakanui Xccj Kakaru Razlak* Swert Letagi Lewa Protodermis Mosaic Displayed at: BrickCon 2013 Size: 128 x 96 studs ** This year I designed a mosaic based off a classic Lewa promotional image from 2002. Contributors: Xccj Chocolate Frogs Kakaru Brickthing Swert Razlak* Kopakanui 55555 (I think... otherwise why'd we let him in the group picture?) Gali Masters Mosaic Displayed at: BricksCascade 2015, BrickUniverse 2015, BrickFair 2015, BrickCon 2015 Size: 96x128 studs * I put together a new mosaic to celebrate the reboot of Bionicle, featuring the new Gali design taken from the animations. This one was interesting because I tried to include the dark azure color, which is still fairly rare. I did end up building nearly half of this mosaic myself, but it is also the first of our collaborative mosaics to show up at multiple conventions. Contributors: Xccj Chocolate Frogs Black Six Kayru Razlak* Danny316 Pohatu Masters Mosaic Displayed at: BZPower 2015 - 2016 Convention MOC Circuit Size: 64x64 studs * This was a leftover design that got voted out against the above Gali design for the main mosaic of the year. But then Danny316 and I decided to throw this together at the last minute. The biggest change here is the use of side brick design for the mask, as opposed to the studs-out view of the rest of the mosaic, which gave it extra detail at a smaller scale. Contributors: Xccj Danny316 BioniLUG Lenticular Toa Mosaics Size: Four mosaics at 96x128 Displayed at: BZPower 2016 - 2022 Convention MOC Circuit ******* * This was easily the most daunting mosaic project I’ve been a part of. I had been contemplating the idea of making a Bionicle themed lenticular mosaic for a while. (These mosaics would have two designs that would change based on the angle they’re viewed from.) Because the number of cheese slopes required would be quite expensive, I never truly considered it, but then Black Six suggest utilizing LEGO’s RLUG Project Support Program to get all the elements we’d need. But the program had some requirements, so we had to think big for this! The basic idea was arrived at fairly easily; the lenticular mosaics would showcase the classic Toa in their 2001 Toa Mata forms and their 2015 Masters forms. We selected the four brightly colored Toa: Gali, Lewa, Pohatu, and Tahu. (Unfortunately, Kopaka and Onua didn’t make the cut with their blander color pallets.) I designed 8 mosaics with contrasting backgrounds, with some input from other members. Even with RLUG Support, we still spent over $1000, but we bought nearly all the available colors of cheese slopes available at the time. Black Six hosted some builds at his place, but we were still constructing these during BrickFair Virginia 2016! (I was lucky enough to attend that year and actually got to help build these, having spent months on the design process.) We got them completed just in time for the public event, and they’ve shown up to nearly every Lego Convention BZPower has been a part of ever since. There has been some discussion about dismantling them and making something new, but we’re not quite there yet! Overall, it was a probably the most ambitious project BioniLUG has done, but we rose to the occasion and got these ordered and pieced together! (And my design and parts inventory helped quite a bit too, if I do say so myself.) It was awesome to finally see these in person, and even more awesome watching the public’s reactions when they realized that the images were changing. Contributors: Too many people to count! We had a good number of BioniLUG members who provided the funding required to pay for the pieces, and then we had multiple members building the sections both before and during BrickFair Virginia 2016. And Black Six has continued to display them at various Lego conventions ever since. Onua Uniters Mosaic Displayed at: BZPower 2016 Convention MOC Circuit Size: 96x96 * I wanted to complete a classic mosaic featuring the current (and ultimately final) line of Toa. We ended up selecting Onua, Uniter of Earth, with Terak, Creature of Earth, who had a significant purple presence. This has been the last big group mosaic we’ve put together. Contributors: Xccj Black Six Danny316p Valendale Shilo Kurahk Mosaic Displayed at: BZPower 2016 Convention MOC Circuit Size: 64x64 * Chocolate Frogs and I decided to continue making smaller Bionicle mosaics, and CF wanted to focus on one of the Rahkshi. We eventually landed on this menacing design of Kurahk, the Rahkshi of Anger, with a contrasting blue background. Contributors: Chocolate Frogs Xccj Thok Mosaic Displayed at: BZPower 2018 Convention MOC Circuit Size: 64x64 * After a year’s break, Chocolate Frogs and I tackled another classic white Bionicle character. This time we chose an image of the Piraka, Thok, with a striking red background. Contributors: Chocolate Frogs Xccj Slizer Ski Mosaic Displayed at: BricksCascade 2019 and BrickFair VA 2019 Size: 64x64 * Chocolate Frogs wanted to switch themes but stick with a ice character, so instead we made a mosaic of the Slizer Ice / Throwbot Ski, based on one of the disc artwork designs. Contributors: Chocolate Frogs Xccj Takanuva Toa of Light 20th Anniversary Mosaic Displayed at: BrickFair VA 2021, BricksCascade 2022 Size: 96x128 * It's been a while since we last had a big group mosaic, but BioniLUG came together to celebrate the 20th anniversary of Bionicle with this Takanuva mosaic. It also features lights behind the eyes, which is a first. Contributors: Allan O'Mara Black Six Chocolate Frogs Danny316p donutsftw Grayson Kanakalackin Ⲙⲁⲕⲩⲧⲁ Ⲗⲩⲣⲟⲕⲁ Xccj Gahlok Mosaic Displayed at: BrickFair VA 2022 Size: 64x64 * To celebrate the 20 year anniversary of the Bohrok, we created a last minute Gahlok mosaic, complete with new DOTs style lettering. Contributors: Danny316p Xccj *Names have changed since then, but this is what I had listed in my blog entries.
  17. Oh hey someone else is doing NaNoWriMo. Don't see that too often in this community anymore. What's your username so I can stalk you follow your progress?
  18. I liked Kazi, what he lacked in articulation he made up for in style. Av-Matoran / Agori / Stars sets were all pretty awful IMO. Clunky single mold bodies and limbs that lacked the aesthetic of early sets and the mobility of newer designs, and happened to be in the era of weak joints while they're at it. Some of the canister sets were less than the others. The Nuva and Bohrok Kal suffer from being inferior recolors when compared to the originals, but they could still hold up on their own. The Hordika, however, only ever contributed the Hordika skull limb piece to the theme. And I was less than impressed with Gali Mistika and Matoro Mahri. Plus, let's be fair, outside of the golden Ignika mask, the large Toa Mata Nui was a mess. Not to mention that a lot of the System playsets from 05-07 were far from great. I dunno which one I'd classify as the absolute worst. Probably an Av-Matoran design. Maybe Radiak or Atakus. Zesk gets a free pass tho, 'e's alright.
  19. Heh, there's a name I haven't seen in a while! Hello! Think we have the BZP 20th birthday coming up soon.
  20. In an effort to procrastinate and put something else off, I spent a little bit of time throwing this joke together. It's some entry fodder anyway, haha.
  21. Based on BS01 it sounds like the mask was only good for water; I recall somebody asking about this before and it getting shot down by Greg. But let's be honest, of the six original Toa masks, the Kaukau got the least amount of attention, with the only presented use of it on BS01 being attributed to only a semi-canon book. Part of it is that the power is passive when a character is underwater, and it's also far less showy than levitation or shielding. There are plenty of ways the Kaukau could've been actively utilized but the story just never seemed to care. (Heck, in 07 when there was a big deal about needing to breathe underwater they still didn't refer to the mask.) So canon wise it's really hard to tell what the limitations of the Kanohi could be because it was just never used. (Of course, BS01 says something about time limitations and inability to handle difficult pressures, although this was a retroactive explanation from a reference book released years later.) It was one of my favorite masks so it was always disappointing that it got so little use in the stories. Having the Kaukau work as essentially an air tank would make it particularly more useful indeed. And given some of the multiple uses of other masks, it seems like it wouldn't be an unreasonable extension of the mask's power. But if the power is only to extract oxygen from water as opposed to having a reserve of breathable air, then water would be required.
  22. Teacup ride with off-color statues or nothing at all.
  23. Protodermic Kanohi were only introduced in the Krana-Kal battle packs of 2003, likely as incentive for people to keep buying them even if they had all the other Nuva masks. If these packs were indeed from 2002, then it's to be expected that none of them were Silver. I don't think there were ever any crossover between krana types. Early 2002 has generic krana and gold/silver Mata masks, late 2002 had generic krana and Nuva masks, and early 2003 had krana kal and Nuva masks with potential for silver. At least, that's how the boxes that sold in the States worked. Interesting analysis tho.
  24. xccj

    Musings of an old man

    There was a ridiculous amount of celebrity worshipping that seemed to happen on the forums way back then that's really awkward to look back on. Combination of us being young and socializing the internet also being fairly new, I guess. From what I remember, you were always a cool and funny member. Glad to hear you're doing alright IRL!
  25. Metru Nui Mosaic by Jason, on Flickr Metru Nui, the City of the Great Spirit, the City of Legends Introduced in 2004, Metru Nui was the original home of the Matoran and the setting for both the 04 and 05 stories, and remained a focal point for Bionicle Gen 1 universe. This is created using the pieces of 31203 World Map. Well, not entirely; the additional dishes are pieces I added separately, and the set was short by about 100 coral tiles, so I needed to buy some more of those... but the majority of this model comes from the one set. When the World Map was first introduced, I immediately know I wanted to recreate one of the Bionicle islands with it. But, alas, a couple of different people beat me to remaking Mata Nui, so I decided to go a different route. Figuring out the backgrounds was a challenge with most of these map designs, because the oceans were what the colored tiles were meant for rather than the land. Some of the ocean designs I've seen have been just too chaotic, so I wanted something that was a little cleaner but still relevant to Bionicle. And as it would be, 2004 Metru Nui was associated with six Kanoka symbols for each Metru that would be simple to recreate and not too parts intensive. Each Kanoka symbol was made using two colors based on the selection from the set. Some of them were trickier to choose from than others. I was originally going to place them in a solid grid, but unfortunately that meant the ones in the middle would've been mostly covered by the island, so I moved them all around a bit so the defining details could all be clearly seen. This did leave a small gap around Ga-Metru, so I added a UDD symbol to fill in the empty space. The island is mostly made of white studs, but I wanted to make sure I included enough details to make Metru Nui stand out from Mata Nui, since the island shapes are very similar. Metru Nui is distinctive because of the many canals, chutes, and buildings. The canals were added using teal as the primary water color and shows the clear separation of the six Metrus. Tan tiles are used to form the Chutes that interconnect the island, creating pathways from one area to the other. Various buildings and towers were also included, and I recreated these using white dishes and set their locations based on various landmarks off some of the details maps on the island. Each Metru has a central hub facility that is slightly larger than the others, and the Coliseum rises out of the center of the island using a larger cone piece. This took me a couple of weeks to get the designs and colors selected. Then I waited until double VIP points to buy the actual set; after that it took me about five days of building sessions to put the full mosaic together, teasing it on Instagram as I went. I had to wait on a few separate orders to get the domes all finalized, but now that they're in I've got it all put together and photographed. (I mean, it's not the greatest photo, but it gets the idea across.) Since it's a fairly big and costly project, this one will probably stay together for a while and hopefully will show up at a few cons. It will most definitely be at BricksCascade 2022, and maybe I'll eventually fly it out to BrickFair. (It'll have to get broken down for transport but I think it's possible.) I'm fairly pleased with how it turned out. And for a quick summary, here are the colors I used: Ta-Metru: Coral and Medium Azure Ga-Metru: Medium Azure and Lime Po-Metru: Orange and Bright Light Orange Ko-Metru: Medium Azure and Lime (I'll be honest, I plan to switch the lime out for another color like Aqua, but I don't have the pieces for that yet.) Le-Metru: Bright Green and Lime Onu-Metru: Dark Blue and Coral Water: Teal Land: White Chutes: Tan Thanks for looking.
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