Raia

Aaaahh I didn't know this happened! I'm not likely to venture back into the Libraries soon, but it's still nice to know I don't need to watch out for cool dudes sneaking into my dialogue anymore. The good old "there are synonyms for idiot, use the thesaurus!" argument irritated me to no end back when I was active in the Libraries. Yes, I have always been aware there are synonyms for jerk and idiot. No, they do not always fit the context or sound right for the character. Moron and imbecile are fun ones to substitute occasionally, but they sound silly when you use them too often.

Apparently I'm not as intense a lurker as I thought, the really hardcore ones are coming out of the woodwork for this topic. I salute you guys. Seriously though, even when I actively decide "I am going to post more!!" I'll browse through a bunch of topics and pick maybe one or two where I feel like I have something to say. Another thing is that I'm oddly self-conscious about not having my username appear as the last person to post all over the front page of a forum, so I try to wait for someone else to post. Now that the forums are much less active, this means I usually give up after making two posts in a single board.

I feel like this art deserves more attention, so here we go! I'm gonna start out by disagreeing with the proportion gripe, at least partly--it depends on what Astris is going for. He's clearly not going for a straight-from-the-set approach, but he does pretty much use the pieces in the sets, he's just modified them somewhat to have a more solid--and yes, elongated--body. Now, if he's going for more human-like proportions, then yes the torsos would be pretty long. If not, though, I think it's a perfectly valid choice, if it is in fact a deliberate choice. The Toa aren't human, after all, and there are a lot of different ways you could interpret them and it wouldn't be wrong. Basically what I'm seeing is that he extended the ends of the leg and arm pieces so that the Toa actually have upper and lower arms and legs, instead of having a single piece to each limb, so that they have more mobility and they can be posed in a way similar to humans, but that he's not trying to create bodies that are just like humans (I could, of course, be wrong). Similar thing is done with the chest area being expanded outward so that there isn't a teeny little "waist" connection point like in the original torso pieces. And I think that's a fine thing to do. If you did want to change the proportions to be more human-like, i'd simply shorten that section rather than eliminating it. Personally, the only thing that really bothers me about the torsos is that they're pretty stiff. Dunno that it would work with the current design, but if the torsos were arched more (Kopaka twisting to block the Bohrok, Tahu in his crouching pose) the poses would be more dynamic. I'm also not sure what's going on with how Tahu is holding his sword...I'm sure he's intended to be holding his sword with both hands, but I can only see his right hand. It might be there where I thought his pelvis is, or perhaps it's supposed to be hidden behind his other hand and the sword, but his arms seem pretty close to his body in any case, doesn't seem like he has enough room to be swinging that sword around like that. It may have to do with the angle and foreshortening, though. The Bohrok seem kinda tiny compared to the Toa (but really cute for that, oh my goodness. So wee!). They'd probably be more menacing if they were more proportionate to the Toa, but that's subjective. Overall I'd say it's a pretty solid drawing! Nice balance between Kopaka's defensive/upward and Tahu's offensive/downward moves, there's plenty of things to keep me looking at it. The Bohrok look really nice, they are indeed difficult, but you've done them justice. Basic backgrounds are fine (and sometimes necessary, if you're pressed for time or have already spent too long on something and want to move on v_v), but I would love to see you work on them more in the future. Backgrounds are intimidating, but if you make that something to work on, that could add a lot to this and other drawings--even a pretty bare background, if done well, can really add to and complement the main action in a drawing. Not that you can't do good work without a background, but I have the feeling that you've got the potential to develop in that area if that's something you're interested in.

I am slow as molasses at replies, as usual! Anyhoo. Just as a general note, I agree that when drawing a female character, she doesn't always have to be super feminine. Being female and being feminine aren't mutually exclusive, after all! It's totally okay to have a female character with some typically masculine features, and/or taking a less gendered approach to Bionicle designs especially since they're not, yanno, human. Designs that don't use boobplates and the like to distinguish the female characters is always really refreshing. It's also great if you do want to use these suggestions to make her look more feminine in the future, but that doesn't mean you should never have a female character with a squarish face or large eyebrows. I think your philosophy is admirable! And variety is the spice of, well, everything. You could always have her still have larger than average eyebrows, if you like, and just make them a little smaller and taper them off a bit. It's no wonder I didn't recognize the joints, I never played that game myself. Bro did but I wasn't particularly observant of the character designs when he played it. It's a cool idea to mix set pieces and design elements from BTG. I really like that color, too.*_*

Gee, that was a while back. I know I found it as a result of my frustrations with the good old Lego.com boards--the lengthy moderation process, general but expected immaturity of the users, and all that jazz. I couldn't tell you how I actually found BZP...possibly through Bionicle.com somehow? It all went down circa 2005-06, I think (I'm rubbish at remembering what spinny goes with what years). I lurked for a while, finally joined so that I could use the members-only functions, and then largely continued lurking.

I couldn't say what my very first avatar was, but among my earliest was Riley Poole from National Treasure. I don't think I ever actually had a Bionicle-related avatar. >_> Well, I take that back, I think I might've picked a preset upon initially signing up, but quickly decided to use my own avatar. I can't remember what that preset would have been, though. I had forgotten that was even a thing that existed.

Ugh, man, you are so on point. Most of of the Toa annoyed me in MoL but Onua was probably the most unsettling.v_v Pohatu and Lewa lacked their usual depth (well all the Toa did, but they suffered in particular I think), Tahu was reduced to a dramatic little fireball of rage...Kopaka was cool. Kopaka's always cool. I'm honestly not sure how I feel about MoL Gali. I guess she was okay, but I don't love that version. MoL was exciting when it came out cause OMG BIONICLE MOVIE buuut. Once LoMn came out there was never any going back for me. The Toa Metru and their era were sort of a heyday for me and I have a lot of love and nostalgia for them and the movie by extension. The environment of Metru Nui was exciting, the graphics had improved since MoL, the characters were fun and relatable, and well, the music is great. WoS was okay, but whenever I watch it I mostly spend the whole time being annoyed with Vakama and wondering what happened to all his character development in LoMN. I guess it's reasonable that his character could go in that direction after he gains confidence and continues into overconfidence, but the U-turn from self-deprecating, I'm-not-a-real-Toa Vakama was too sudden and violent for me. Plus most of the rest of the Metru team got shunted to the side in favor of Vakama's angst party slash tango with the dark side. Roodaka is the best part of WoS and its main redeeming feature for me; she's such a great villain and her VA is delightful. I do agree that her interaction with Vakama is interesting, though if Vakama's conflict had been more believable, it'd be more compelling. I dunno, it just didn't fit with the events re: the novels, as mentioned by others. I would have to watch Legend Reborn again to fairly compare it to the others, just cause I've rewatched the others recently but not TLR. At the time, though, I found it pretty cringeworthy. It has its good moments, of course, but I honestly can't come up with any of them right now.>_>

Of course Boidoh! Somehow I didn't realize that TNT wasn't the topic starter, my bad.

Ohh, I like these a lot. The way you handled the design of the torsos, in particular, is really nice. Brownie points for paying attention to practical posing for archery, as well. The multiple-piece approach to the mask and head is interesting, I too would like to see some different views of them. In some places you're already doing a good job of creating a sense of volume, especially in Jaller's upper arms, but I'd love to see what your work would look like if you did more of that. Drawing is a 2D medium and embracing flatness is good for some things, but I think it'd add some dynamism to this kind of sketch if there was more of that sort of roundness and the armor visibly curving around the body. Hopefully the way I worded that makes sense. Anyhoo, I'm gonna have to dig up some more of your art to look at.(:

Nice OC, Holo! Plant life/the Green is really underappreciated, IMHO. I love your choice of making her weapon out of wood, it suits her element better than your standard protodermis tools. However, the spike at the end looks more like a large tooth or claw to me. A lot of it is related to the color, but the shape may contribute as well—when I think of a “spike” I usually picture something straighter, perhaps slightly curved, but not quite as curved as yours. Of course, artistic license is a thing. I think your choice of pieces to use as inspiration is fine, they’re recognizable but I can tell they aren’t based off one single build. I can see influence from the Metru, Inika and the Nuva in there. As far as having a masculine mask goes—a lot of it comes from the large, thick eyebrows and the wide, squared off chin. If you want to make it look more typically feminine, you could always tweak the shape of the mask a bit (I assume you’re referencing the appearance of Matau’s kanohi in Legends of Metru Nui?). If you make the chin and mask overall narrower and make the eyebrows more thin and curved, that will help a lot. It’s tricky to capture the look of an existing mask while altering the shape, but if you experiment, you may be able to come up with something you like! Color schemes are tricky to figure sometimes, especially for an element without any sets assigned to it. I’m guessing that you aren’t entirely happy with her colors because they’re a bit overwhelming—they’re bright and saturated. Of course, that’s kinda the way Toa armor colors are. In the sets for the main elements, usually you have one main color and then a neutral such as gray or tan—but Plant Life’s official colors are blue and green, so you have a challenge to work with. Here are a few things you could try, possibly in combination: • Desaturate one of the two colors, so that one is brighter and stands out while the other recedes a bit. • Choose either green or blue as the “main” color and only use the other color for small details. Right now your use of the two colors is pretty even. You already have some gray in there for some areas like the joints, which I’m personally fond of and would keep…so that would mean you would have very little of your secondary color. • Make the green and blue closer in hue. Right now they are close to “pure” hues. You could make your blue more greenish (like a teal color), or your green more bluish (like some kinds of turquoise). You could easily fiddle with these changes using the Hue/Saturation options in whatever art program you are using. If the blue and green armor aren’t on separate layers, I’d suggest separating them so you can manipulate one or the other. Unrelated to the art, I’m curious about her background—do you know what she did as a Matoran? You mentioned that she misses her old life, so I wonder whether she had a job/task that she was passionate about, or if she just misses the simplicity and not having powers and responsibility.

My little bro was the major collector of the two of us and we sort of share the collection. (I only legitimately own three sets: Toa Iruini, Hahli Mahri, and Mazeka, the latter of which I only got cause my parents accidentally bought the same set twice for bro and I asked to keep it) We have most of the sets from 2003 on. Since he/we didn't get into Bionicle right at the start, we didn't get the 2001-02 sets, and by the time we started wanting to collect the old ones they got expensive.:/ Personally I'd love to have any of the Mata, especially Kopaka or Gali. The '01 Rahi and the Bahrag are also pretty cool, but if I had to choose just one it'd be a Mata.

Yeah, my anti virus deleted the text file for saving on both my mnolgs. is there a way to get a new one without downloading the whole thing again? TNT, I happen to have this version of MNOLG II and I would be happy to send you the text file. I can upload it via a filesharing site and link you via PM if that is okay (I haven't been on BZP on a while and while I've been refreshing myself on the guidelines, I'm still rusty). There are also instructions about saving your progress manually if you still have difficulty with the automatic save. You can edit the progress text file manually to tell the game which scenes you've already complete and to add to your item inventory, though it may seem like a bit of a cheat. If that's what works for you, though, it's certainly an option.(:

Hey dears! You may have noticed that I am -never- on BZP and I really don't pay attention to my messages or the forums. A lot of that is just me being a busy highschooler, but it's also cuz BZP just doesn't really hold my interest anymore. I love you guys but it's time for me to move on. My BZP premiership is going to run out soon, and I've decided that it's pointless to renew it, seeing as I rarely blog or do anything else that requires premiership. I keep telling myself I'll eventually come up with some Bionicle art to post here, or I'll write a fic or somesuch, but really, I know that's not true. In the chance I did create something, it wouldn't get any recognition anyway, and it's just pointless and frustrating for me. I'm not a total goner...I will check up here every once in a blue moon, see what's happenin'. But I guess this is mostly goodbye. I keep in touch with some of you outside of BZP and will continue doing so, and I will also definitely continue to be around in other venues. If you want to see what I'm up to, I'm on deviantART on a regular basis, and my account there is talebringer.deviantart.com. (I dunno if you are allowed to mention this site on BZP so QUICK HURRY LOOK BEFORE IT'S GONE.) Anyhoo, hope everyone's had a good summer (better than mine, anyway xD)! This coming year is going to be nuts for me, but I'm determined to enjoy it, even if it means "officially" leaving this site, on which I've had lots of fun and made some wonderful friends, some of which I hope will be lifetime friends. And even if they don't turn out to be, I'll be eternally grateful to have had the opportunity to meet them because of BZP. Peace out, -Raia-

Hola, people! HEY LOOK ANOTHER MONTH WENT BY. And of course, Raia here was lame and has been long absent from this site. Bah. Anyhoo, my friends, I am in Santa Fe as I am typing this! My fam is on vacation here. Or really, it should be called "Annual Activity in Which We Force Ourselves to Have Fun (and try not to strangle each other)."xD Family vacations are always crazy, amirite? Family drama and health issues aside (i.e. altitude sickness and car sickness and general lameness I always seem to experience), it's been fun. Some of my adventures have included hiking on an extinct volcano called Capulin and also in several local parks/sanctuaries, meeting local artists, eating spicy, delicious New Mexican food, and...facing down a rattlesnake in the ruins of the Pecos Pueblo. It was just slithering along casually, so we (meaning my dad, brother, and I) went on by and waited calmly for it to go past, but then it crossed the trail with my mom stuck on the other side of it, and she was kinda panicking, and then it started rattling (It was SO her fault), so we got out of there. AWESOME RIGHT? (I have a weird love for dangerous beasties. When it started rattling I was like "OMG YES! THIS IS SO COOL MAN!" and my mom was like "AAAAAGH LET'S MOVE!" I'm so...I dunno. I have thrill issues, I guess.xD) Unfortunately, I have yet to spot a bear. Alas! But we have seen many pronghorn, a mule deer, assorted birds, and many small, skittish lizards. Mmmyes. We're leaving for Colorado Springs tomorrow. We were actually there before we drove here, but it was all rainy and gloomy, and Santa Fe was all sunny and nice, so we drove here early instead of sticking around in rain-city. I'll catch y'all up later, and mayhaps pics! I have a photo of the rattlesnake, and several other critters and pretty things.:3 Love and peace, -Raia-

Oh come on, alchomahols taste disgusting. Seriously. Karzahni, I don't even like coffee unless it has a bazillion grams of sugar in it like them frappes do.xD -Raia-

Those new mocha frappes at McDonald's are to DIE for. Seriously. They are the nectar of the gods. (what, were you expecting something else?) Mkay, anyway, the real reason I am posting is because I'm bored of this blog theme and want a new one, but I can't decide what to do next...the random title "Karaoke Night in Kansas City" popped up in my brain, and I love that idea, but I didn't think it was the "right" one because someone who has never done karaoke simply should not have a karaoke-themed blog. Also I don't know why I am so concerned about the appearance of my blog, sig, etc...I hardly come here anymore except to blog sporadically (and that will not change, sorry guys), and there are a total of like three people who even read my random mumblings.xD Oh well. I am just a perfectionist. Also, doing your homework under a tree in your backyard is sooo zen. You guys should try it.^^ Love and peace, -Raia-

School is oooooouuuuuut. And suddenly, we go from 50 degree weather to high 80's within a week. What the heck?xD Ah well, that just means it's finally time to break out the shorts and sunscreen. (fffffff I can't believe I'm freeee) And I'm officially a senior in high school, and also co-captain of drumline. Sweet. B) -Raia-

That sounds like an awesome birthday plan. Power to your sister for coming up with it, I never would have thought of it.xD Also whatever you do to your blog that you like, I will like also.:3 This is fact. And I fail for not coming around here more often and reading your updates.Dx -Raia-

So last night was the final concert of the year for band and it was both epic and fail on several counts. But the coolest thing that happened was definitely the first song the other band did.* It was based off a battle in the Korean War and it was WIN. They had all these nifty percussion parts where they made it sound like the ocean, and then there were parts where some of their percussionists went to the back of the auditorium and whacked these old drum heads so it sounded exactly as if there were helicopters zooming around. There were also parts where it sounded like machine guns were going off all over the place. SO AWESOME. I am going to try to get a copy of the recording of it. Of course, there were some fail things as well, like how one of the percussion guys in my band decided to simply leave before it was our turn, so we had to juggle parts around. Fortunately, said guy only shows up every other day, so we were used to it. I could go on forever about all the different songs and associated mishaps, but I won't.xD I need to be studying for my math test, anyway. *There are two concert bands: the main band and the audition-only one. I'm in the audition-only one.;D Peace, -Raia-

Aaagggh so cuuuute! *squeals* -Raia-

Exactly.D: Also zomg-SPIRIT-in-my-blog.[noobishfangasm/] Sssshhh, nobody is supposed to know that those exist! I think I might have taken both without my awareness, if that's even possible.o_o It would explain the conflicting signals being sent to my brain... -Raia-

Don't feel stupid, FIGHT THE POWAH--I mean, the Mac.^^ I full support any endeavors against those machines, uppity, impossible-to-operate things that they are. -Raia-

You know what's really creepy? Having a conversation with a computer over the telephone. ...somebody invent the dang time machine already so I can go hide in a different era. Preferably one where AP classes haven't been invented, REAL PEOPLE talk to you on the phone, and horses are the main mode of transportation.o_o; Not that I don't love things like laptops, Instant Messaging and mp3 players, but...it all just makes me wonder, you know? (this explains why I enjoy writing about medieval-esque settings so much...>>) -Raia-