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Calvirick

Outstanding BZPower Citizens
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About Calvirick

  • Birthday 01/01/1994

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    'Merica

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    http://http://www.bzpower.com/board/index.php?app=blog&module=display&section=blog&blogid=783

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  1. Calvirick

    17 5/6

    Are you making comics again!? I used to follow your matoran comics over 10 years ago.
  2. I never realized how much I loved Matau. If it wasn't for Matau, the Toa Metru would be such a downer party, and if it wasn't for Matau, Vakama wouldn't have changed his mind in WoS. Tahu Nuva I remember that set being the moment I fell in love with Bionicle, and I just asked my mom randomly to get it. And I got it!
  3. I'm looking to buy a new hat! And I've seen a black hat with the typical logo font Trajan Pro "BIONICLE" written across the top. Nothing is popping up on ebay or Amazon, can anyone help me out? Not sure what this hat goes for.
  4. Hey everybody, Little story about me, I've lurked on BZPower for years, and used to be part of the weird subculture that was Artwork III, a.k.a. the Comic section of the forums. I used to make sprite comics when it was popular. I'm currently working on a secret project, and thought I'd just share with you a screenshot of my progress. It's been a long overdue project for me, and it's been too long since I've posted. Honestly, after 4 years of marriage, one kid, and a couple of job promotions, I'm still passionate about pixel art, BIONICLEs, and BZPower. Stay tuned for more of this project! WIP Project title: Project Living Dead For those wondering, I'm simply using MSPaint (left) to display the image references, while doing the pixel art on Aseprite (right). Aseprite is fantastic for doing pixel art if you haven't tried it! It's constantly being updated, and the toolsets are configured to be similar to that of Photoshop's keyboard shortcuts, so if you're already used to Photoshop, then Aseprite will come a little more naturally, skipping the learning curve (which is a huge plus if you're just starting pixel art for the first time seriously).
  5. Are you the original creator the Razor Sprite kit from the early days of the BZPower comic forums?

  6. Speaking to the topic's first initial questions (specifically in the parts themselves), I primarily want to respond with a question. Are we restricted to using the parts provided by LEGO? Are they patent protected? (meaning that we can't just 3-D scan the parts presently and reproduce them again with 3D printing ourselves?) My brain goes to, oh lets just reproduce the parts again ourselves and keep the systems alive, (hence keeping BIONICLE alive). I'm legitimately wondering this and want your guy's input.
  7. Crainy, the creator for Bionicle: Quest for Mata-nui recently implemented Mata-Nui Online Game's (MNOLG) soundtrack into his game and it brought me to tears at my work while I was at lunch the other day. MNLOG's original soundtrack hits somewhere deep in my soul deeper I think than most music. (my proposal and marriage song will never be topped, but MNOLG OST is up there.)
  8. Hi! I greatly appreciate the compliment. Some updates: - I'm building a personal website for when the comic actually appears. In the long run it saved me a lot of trouble than attempting to post it in twenty different sites. I don't think there should be any issues with me linking it? If so I'll work something out with moderators. - A short comic series should appear before the actual release of Catalyst. Mostly to dip my toes into the whole comicking business. - I suppose it's apparent I'm behind on the actual release. Oops. Sorry guys. Health has been finicky. I really have no ETA now on release, but it will be coming out this year. Delays stink, I know. - I think that's all the news I really have? Anyway, here's some recent art: The makuta head concepts give off this impression that I've seen before in Ganondorf appearance. Thumbs up to you! Hoping your health doesn't linger forever. :/
  9. Gentlemen and Ladies, we must discuss the interest thing that is the Nintendo Switch! This thread will focus on talking about anything relating to the Switch! *obligatory switch noise that sounds like a snap* We can talk about the pricing, culture exchange, tech specs, usability, the fact that it's so strangely proportioned and cumbersome! I'm literally looking for people that find this piece of gaming goodness a worth while topic to discuss. Whether or not you have bought it, there's already an opinion arising in your beautiful heart! Because this is modern technology and a mark in history of gaming. That is so spectacularly cool to me to think that I, no, WE get to experience this console while we're alive! Lets talk!
  10. Okay so this part depresses me the most because I'm right there with you (by the way - hey Cal! It's Kahi! Long time no see!) Comics, back when it was Artwork III, was my childhood. I have a lot of memories and made a lot of friends there. And no matter how hard I've tried, I can't seem to replicate that genuine subculture that drew me in so heavily back then. I've been in other fandoms - sprite comics just weren't a thing there like they were on here. That heyday has passed, and I think it's honestly been lost to time. So many series have been lost to time with the downtime of Maj and Brickshelf, anyways. I was fortunate enough to save a bunch of my favorites before the first downtime, but even still. Relic of a time gone past, you know? Alright, fine. Elephant in the room. TTV Message Boards are doing well. Like, not BZP in its heyday well, but well enough that I'm pretty happy with it. Live stats on the boards are telling me that ~400 users have logged in and posted 1.3k posts in the last 24 hours. We've seen a bunch of growth in the past several weeks because we've started some new initiatives on our YouTube channel to get people on the boards and talking about stuff, but throughout last year we generally averaged 700 posts a day with an absolute low of 400. Granted, it's a different place with a different audience. Our boards were made to engage our audience on YouTube, so there's a bunch of younger members with a different expectation of interaction, a more neo-millennial (I don't actually know the correct term? Basically kids born after 2001) level of instant updates. We have to moderate a lot more posts because the younger kids use chatspeak a lot more, and they're only recently learning how to do longer, essay kind of posts. They're also more highly critical than I'd like - I think it's a holdover from how everyone comes from a YouTube personality wishing point. And the fandom focus is different. A lot more people do videos now than stuff like sprite comics or like RPG Maker games (both things I miss about the old fandom). MOCs are still super popular, that's not changed; stories are kind of popular. Art is super popular, there's a lot more really, really good artists doing consistently amazing art stuff now than I feel like there used to be. That's a carryover from Tumblr and how artists are discovered nowdays. Oddly enough, text games are really popular, like the ones they have in Completely Off Topic. I would think that that's something that would fade away, but I guess that is a level of interaction with the other members that you can't really get on social media like Tumblr or Facebook. I don't really mean this to be blatant self-advertising (only lowkey self-advertising ), but I'm seeing a lot of posts here that are kind of pointing towards social media as the reason forums aren't doing so well. I'm not so sure - and trust me, we've done a ton of investment into researching the Bionicle fandom on different social media outlets. They all have their own niche. Tumblr focuses mostly on MOCs or Art, stuff you can see, like artist stuff. Facebook is how a lot of people get their news. YouTube seems to be either stop-motion or MOC review based. Twitter is personality and comedy based (180 characters make it hard for anything else!) The engagement is spread upon different social media, and there's definitely aspects of the fandom that aren't being met anymore. For instance, fanfiction doesn't really have a one stop location or social media destination like it used to. But regardless, our social media engagement on all of these platforms (outside of YouTube) is distinctly much, much less than the direct engagement we have on our boards. I do think there's still some room for forums, based on how many people are using ours. And I think BZPower has a distinct place in the fandom that has definitely been shifted, but hasn't been lost. I definitely don't want to see this place die, it's very nostalgic for me and it's how I met some of my best friends online. There's still ways for this place to be more active. So before you guys all write the activity here off as forums being dying, maybe there's another explanation for it? Just throwing my perspective in the mix. KAHI! OH MY GOSH I MISSED YOU! I think you bring up some extremely interesting points! I think all of you bring up good points. This thread actually doesn't seem that bad than I initially expected. I was expecting some strange remarks about the end that was probably coming. I think in my opinion one the decisions the forum makers need to consider is BZPower's future. An overhaul might take some planning, and I think it might be putting us back in the stasis stage again. (like the downtime) But I think if the forum makers intentions are to keep the site around, they should think about it. One aspect I would say is really research how websites or writing/reading networks are currently working for the contemporary teenager/kid/college student that's into lego. I think they need more visuals and buttons. Keep the traditional BZPower feel and vibe for the old cronies like the rest of us, but design a little more for the younger crowd. The dynamics, just from reading Kahi's resourceful claims I think drive this point across pretty strong. I think one good decision BZPower made was allowing the forum users to discuss other websites, and sort of turn BZPower into the Living Room. Like for example, you got a kid that loves LEGO. He goes to Youtube because that's also where he watches Minecraft, which I think is a huge chunk of what kids do these days. They see youtube, and then if they are interested, they can find links to BZPower where they can write and discuss about it. (and in my opinion, discuss in a place that is MUCH safer than most Youtube or Tumblr communities.)
  11. Calvirick

    yay...

    AI? As in Adobe Illustrator?
  12. Sweet! Somebody is making comics again!! I fully support this! Onua looks like a beef cake.
  13. I can definitely sort of agree. I took a leave from BZP after Bionicle's end due to the bitterness and whininess that manifested when Bionicle ended, and even after things had settled back down I came back more to discuss new things than to continue mourning Bionicle's end (even to this day I'm much more interested in current or recent themes than wading into G1 topics that have been discussed to death. That's part of why I do think that while Bionicle discussion should always have a place on BZP, its continued survival requires an emphasis on other ongoing Lego themes. I probably would never have come back if discussion had remained focused primarily on a theme that was no longer resulting in new content. I've been thinking about that too. I would totally join discussions about other things related to Lego. If we could just keep going and talk about something else, then I would say it would flourish again. I think I missed out on the whiny-ness back then because I was wrapped up in the comic section and trying to get through college.
  14. I didn't join until 2010, but I was lurking here for years beforehand, and it was indeed awesome. '09 in particular was a fun year, because story-wise it was completely new ground for everyone. I concur. I didn't join until 2010, but I was lurking here for years beforehand, and it was indeed awesome. '09 in particular was a fun year, because story-wise it was completely new ground for everyone. I only joined three years ago, way after G1 had already ended, and I can only imagine what this place was like back when BIONICLE was in full swing. I hope it doesn't go away anytime soon, I love reading the fanmade stories and seeing everyone's creativity. It's basically the nostalgia that's keeping me here to be completely honest. Lots of Server Busy messages. So many Server Busy messages. But how well has the neighbor site Eurobricks been doing? But how well has the neighbor site Eurobricks been doing? Generally Eurobricks seems to be much more active than BZPower, but at the same time I'd say the Bionicle or constraction-specific activity on BZP still outweighs that on Eurobricks. Lots of Server Busy messages. So many Server Busy messages. So true, lol. So what I'm gathering is that the answer to whether the platform is dying or not is more relative than expected. (Like it's a a matter of opinion). It's a high possibility because of social media platforms taking over, but I guess this doesn't mean that the community is obsolete. I would agree that with the downtime, and G1 closing on us it pushed a lot of us off the forum to other places and helped branch out. But still we stayed connected (I didn't. haha) Maybe what I should do, at least while the time is still at hand, is stick around the more public areas and stick to those. I know we all miss the high traffic though. HUGELY! BZPower will always stay awesome in my mind. So it sounds like the BioniLUG discussions, and other creative outlets are still in activity correct? Are there other cool places?
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