http://pagead2.googlesyndication.com/simgad/16145316253867347519 This banner ad just showed up when I was browsing BZP. Now, anyone who knows me should know that I am a Unikitty aficionado, so as obviously I clicked the link... but it only took me to the Lego Movie home page on Lego.com. And try as I might I couldn't find any new Unikitty-related content. I WANT TO CONTINUE THE STORY, LEGO. I WANT TO KNOW WHAT UNIKITTY DOES. DON'T LEAVE ME HANGING LIKE THIS. Anyway, while we're on the subj
I hope it's in some postmodern metatextual sense, in which the Toa discover that there are an infinite number of universes, with their own Toa on their own adventures. I'd rather the universes NOT influence each other even if there is a tenuous connection, but if they ever do Lego might as well go full Neil Gaiman with it.
Alright, since a lot of folks have shown interest, I took some quick pictures of the figure I built at the Lego Store building event at Comic Con. Once I get home I can get better pictures, including pictures of his individual parts, but for now what I have is going to have to do. Front Back Close-up on the gearbox (for those who were interested) Any questions? I have a long train trip ahead of me this afternoon so I'll be all ears!
Welp. It seems I just don't learn. Recently I confessed to a friend that I had romantic feelings for them. I did it because they had been expressing feelings of loneliness on their social media, but also because keeping it secret had been weighing on me. Anyway, she hasn't taken it well. I should have known better, because I've made the same exact mistake two other times. I've just been lucky enough the other times to be able to recover from them—the first time, my crush's girlfriend took pity
This past week has been a whirlwind so I figured it would be worth summarizing it both so that people who didn't make it could have an idea of what it was like and so that my experience can be recorded for future reference. This year, unlike past years, Brickfair started on Wednesday. Apart from setting up MOCs, greeting other BZPower members, and attending the opening ceremonies and bingo, not much happened that day. I did pick up and build the set I won in one of the BZP anniversary raffles,
It just occurred to me that Kevin Hinkle proposed a "Bring Back Bionicle" design for this year's BZPower T-shirt contest. And now evidence is mounting that Bionicle will return next year. Kevin KNEW, man. He KNEW and did that just to mess with us. It's a shame he won't be at BrickFair to interrogate about Bionicle's return (along with 2015 Monorails, which are totally a thing that has leaked and not something I'm making up out of the blue, no sirree).
One suggestion I've seen a lot regarding a potential Bionicle return is the return of mask packs. I would normally be quick to dismiss such a notion given the utter failure of the original collectibles packs. But given some thought, and comparison with modern Lego lines, I think a similar product might actually have the potential for success. The original Bionicle mask packs were a failure largely because they didn't offer much play potential on their own. A mask is just a mask (albeit usually
Ugh... Ever since we first had hints of a Bionicle return I've been dreading this. Now that leaks are in the wild, newbies are posting them everywhere they can, including BZP, despite the rules forbidding it and the fact that the leaker could lose their job for such a critical breach of contract. At the same time, I've seen a lot of people dismissing them because they "look shopped" despite the alleged source of these leaks involving what would be a photoshopped image even if it were real (in th
Why? Well, on top of the fact that it might not be the best use of my money (since BrickFair will itself be plenty of fun, and I've already PAID for five days of that), a new expense has recently shown up on my radar. That being... Pokémon: Symphonic Evolutions! That's right: the Pokémon Facebook page just announced an orchestral concert featuring music from the Pokémon series. I had a great time at The Legend of Zelda: Symphony of the Goddesses two years ago, and this concert will be premiering
I've been trying to figure out my plans for BrickFair VA this year and am seriously considering cutting out on Saturday, August 2, and catching a train up to Baltimore to spend the day at BronyCon instead. BrickFair is one of the highest points of my social life each year, but it still wears me out each year and try as I might, I can't avoid being mega-awkward even around my fellow FOLs. I'm worried that an extra day of BrickFair, like we're getting this year, might just push me to my breaking p
http://andrewbarnick.tumblr.com/post/87440485002/pixelkitties-askasanebrony-retake-the I was happy to see this on my twitter and tumblr. There's still not much I can do on my own to make bronies and non-bronies alike reconsider what the fandom really means—but hopefully by sharing this I can add my voice to the choir.
I get that some bronies are awful people. I get that they have a pretty loud voice. What I don't get is the amount of hate bronies get AS A GROUP for the sins of a few. To the right wing they're a symptom of the waning masculinity of society. To the social justice types they're misogynistic brutes who took one of the best modern feminist cartoons and turned it into their sex object, all while adopting a persecution complex that belittles the struggles of actual oppressed groups. Do you know
Another year, another opening for a set design position at Lego. You'd think that'd be good news for someone like me whose life goal is to have such a career. It's not. Let's start at the beginning. In High School when I had to finally decide what I'd do with my life (and after failing an architectural drawing class hard, and giving up on studying to be an architect), I realized that my childhood dream of working for Lego wasn't actually all that unrealistic. Through BZPower and other Lego fan
So, I was thinking about writing another, longer, slightly-more-serious Lego Movie fanfiction (after my Comedies Contest entry from earlier this year). And I was bored, and all of a sudden I found that I'd written about two pages worth. Thought I'd post it here to see what people think of it and get a second opinion on whether I should keep going with it. It's tentatively titled "The Courting of Princess Unikitty". So, what does everyone think? Continue Y/N?
While I was a fan of Bionicle for its entire lifespan, I was often disappointed by its video games. There was obviously one exception—the original Mata Nui Online Game, which I feel was the best tool Lego ever used for establishing a world for a new line of sets. Later settings lacked any such vehicle for immersive world-building, and I think they suffered for it. If I could program in Flash (or anything else, for that matter), I'd love to create a "Metru Nui Online Game" based on the original
I really need to learn to avoid any and all discussions of Lego part quality. The amount of misinformation in them tends to make my blood boil. Like the idea that the plastic formulation in Bionicle parts ever changed across its ten-year lifespan (excepting the introduction of new materials like the rubbery plastic tubing of 2007 onward), or the notion that Chinese production is inherently inferior (and cannot be made better or more reliable). I just read an interesting article about Lego settin
This Saturday I am holding a BZPower Lego Movie Meetup at Potomac Mills mall in Northern Virginia! If you can make it and are keen on seeing The Lego Movie with a bunch of other cool dudes, you should totally come!
Sumiki was 10 back when the Piraka Stronghold was released? Geez. It makes me realize that my mental image of the staff generally makes them out to be older than me (probably in part from having been on the site when I was young enough for the staff to have genuinely been older than me). Still.
It looks like it'll be funny, heartwarming, and spectacular looking, while paying homage to the Lego experience. The sets are fantastic and really capture the spirit of Lego creative play. It seems that it could generate more interest in Lego among the non-FOL population. My upcoming meetup will give me a chance to see some of my BZP peeps without having to wait six more months for Brickfair VA. And finally, it seems like other Lego fans will love it too. Not in the cult "there will neve
I have to admit being a little disappointed by the results of the tiebreaker poll. Not because I lost, but because neither I nor Peabody Sam even got the eight votes we did in the main poll, let alone new votes from either members who hadn't voted before or members who voted for some of the entries that didn't make it. I really think that there should be some direct line of communication between staff who run contests and the news team so that unexpected events in need of immediate attention (li
