Why is it that people who like one fantasy series tend to dismiss another as terrible?
I first saw this with Eragon. People dismissed it as a ripoff of various series, including The Lord of the Rings and The Dragon Riders of Pern. I haven't read the latter, but I've read the whole Inheritance Cycle so far, and it has a fairly unique plot with a heavy dose of fantasy-world politics.
Next came Twilight. People dismiss it as a bunch of teenage, hormonally-influenced emotions packaged up in a
Dear Reader,
I would like to begin by saying that I would love the readers of this blog to show their support for my entry, entry 3 in Poll F, titled "To Cerule".
However, I find that so far the poetry contest voting has gotten little attention. Not a single entry at the time of my voting had even ten votes! At such a state, even the slightest vote cast for reasons of bias could upset the fairness of the competition, and I do not wish for a winner (even myself) to be decided due to campaig
This poem is an excerpt from my commonplace book:
Despite its Very Fearsome Denotation (that means "name")
its Venom doesn't Feel quite as Deadly as they claim.
In fact, instead of frightful,
why, the Viper's Found Delightful,
but it's feared by all the experts, what a shame.
About the Viper's Friendly Disposition, this I say:
He's Visitable, Fun, and quite Distracting, in a way,
and at the time Vital For Dreaming,
his eyes stop their jewellike gleaming
as he curls up at your feet
I was thinking about how Ninjago's story compares to BIONICLE, specifically on the subject of character development. Now, naturally, what I'm about to say is going to be disputed. But personally, I feel Ninjago is stronger than BIONICLE in terms of character development, and here's why: Compared to BIONICLE, LEGO Ninjago explores its characters and shows their development on a much more individual level than BIONICLE often did. Obviously the TV-series format is a major asset here. Certain epis
Recently I embarked on a quest to identify LEGO's official RGB values for the colors used in BIONICLE. Yesterday, out of boredom, I took it upon myself to transcribe these as well as the color names on my BS01 Sandbox. Some observations:
First, BS01's Kraata Variations page is a fabulous resource for identifying official color names, especially metallic color names. The Kraata, despite their bizarre color combinations, managed to stick to colors that had previously appeared in BIONICLE. The fi
This concerns all of the people who post "anti-Chuck Norris Facts" or just post the "truth" about Chuck Norris to spoil everyone's fun
News flash: No one takes Chuck Norris Jokes seriously.
They are not meant to tell the truth about an aged martial-arts film actor. Their only purpose is to parody the butt-kickin' attitude and aura of the characters Chuck Norris portrays, and in some cases to parody the egotism he is accused of having. No one truly thinks Chuck Norris is some omnipotent bei
All right, I just realized a few minutes ago that BZP was back. Which is good, but at the same time which lends me a lot of catching up to do (apparently, the holiday season gives many people free time for posting). Other sites, too, have come back at this inopportune time, lending me extra grief as I desperately try to catch up. And schoolwork doesn't even factor into those needs, despite that I have a lot to work on over break.
For starters, I was ill-prepared for Christmas this year. I fai
Still need to get a more reasonable set of categories for my blog. How long ago was it that these ones made sense? If ever?
Anyway, in regard to the title...
Gallery
Voting has begun! You can find my Certavus as Entry 2 in Poll 6!
As always, I encourage people who choose to vote in the contest to make the best decisions they can-- if you think another entry in my or another poll is the best, by all means vote based on your own choice. Of course I wish my own entry good luck, but I
HS01's full coverage of the 2012 LEGO Collectors Preview from the New York International Toy Fair is still forthcoming, but in the meantime Cholie has finished uploading our photos from the event! They can be found here! The LEGO Collectors Preview didn't extend to full Toy Fair admission unfortunately, so we couldn't see other exhibitors' displays. But Chols posed for this pic as we were leaving. I'm sure many BZP members will appreciate it!
Everyone loves the Takanuva. He is a terrific athlete.
Now back to business.
I attended Brickfair yesterday. I had lots of fun, but I'll probably wait to describe it in-depth until the official BZPower coverage does a good deal of that for me. But I'll tell you that I got to meet Omicron and Roa McToa, plus got to see ChocolateFrogs again. A worthwhile experience.
At the event my family managed to purchase the Tarakava set, and afterwards got to go to the Tyson's Corner LEGO store, wher
Hey, everypony! I know I haven't blogged in a while but I figured I ought to share what my plans are for Brickfair VA this year. Yep, my brothers and I will be going again this year, as has become a tradition. I'm a bit sad that this means I can't make it to BronyCon, which is going to be in Baltimore the very same weekend, but hopefully next year the two events will be scheduled on different weekends but BronyCon will remain near my home in Virginia. Anyway, I've already registered my MOCs fo
I am way behind writing up my Brickfair recap, so I'm going to just go over some of the highlights. Shortly after I arrived, I learned that Delwyn Buckler got featured on the back cover of the event program! Awesome! Here's my haul from vendors and yard sales. It includes a lot of cool stuff, including a bunch of useful Hero Factory parts, six LEGO Friends mini-dolls for customizing, and a UV light for my MOC during the World of Lights event on Friday. At the live auction on Friday, Nukaya's B
Welp, I'm pretty close to prepared for Brickfair. Got my clothes, MOCs, name badge, and art all packed up. MOCs I'm exhibiting this year include Caitlyn Gauss XL, Delwyn Buckler, Blacktron Vivisector, Kit Martello, Hero Factory Canine Buddy, Rise of the Dread Colossus (submarine only — I had to borrow some of the Dread Colossus's tentacles for Delwyn's hair, so he's out of commission), and My Little Tahu. I think Delwyn Buckler and Caitlyn Gauss XL will probably be the most popular of those se
-The following is copied shamelessly from my comment in ChocolateFrogs's blog-
I'll be there Friday, Saturday, and Sunday. Not sure what times. My family's registered this time, so hopefully some of the activities and such will be cool. And we're bringing several MOCs-- three Agents MOCs, a sort of Space Police III spinoff, and one that's either BIONICLE or System depending on your point of view. I haven't (yet) been able to convince Lyi that we should bring our Toa Nidhiki MOC, but if we do
I was just thinking about the Hero Factory Brain Attack sets and was struck by something unusual. Obviously, from a story perspective, it's obvious that the theme for the year was a combination alien invasion/zombie apocalypse. But has anybody noticed that the sets almost had more of a historical fantasy flavor to them? Think about it — the heroes had helmets with visors that folded down over their eyes, and segmented metallic armor. Rocka, Furno, and Stormer all carried a traditional sword an
Beautiful. Did you hear that music? It's brilliant! It's like a blend of the very rhythmic Cryoshell stuff we've been treated to for the past few years and the MNOLG and animation music from the days of old!
I liked the old movies' music, but daaang. This right here... this is BIONICLE at its finest.
Some of the clips and concept art would seem to foreshadow that the BIONICLE of the past should not be discounted as a future plot element.
Also, the Mata Nui render seems to stylize the wa
I was just listening to some BIONICLE movie soundtracks on BioMedia Project. While it's good for a nostalgia kick, I'm finding that much of the music is just as generic as I remembered. I don't mean that in the sense that it's not memorable or distinctive. It definitely checks both of those boxes. But there's nothing about it that makes it a particularly apt fit for the BIONICLE story and universe in particular. A lot of it sounds like it could just as easily belong to an adaptation of any adv
A topic about Matoran forms in S&T inspired me to try making some Matoran on LDD. Then I remembered that the most consistent post-2003 Matoran forms (i.e. the ones I tend to consider standard or near-standard in my headcanon) have extremely restrictive proportions. Very unrealistic, though in an almost comical way. Then I decided I'd try making some Toa. But Toa don't even get the "comical" excuse. Any post-2004 Toa proportions tend to be quite unrealistic. It's funny; I always quite l
Anyone who read my last entry on Mistika height might get the impression that I have dabbled before in BIONICLE heights for set and story, and so I have. In fact, a few of my recent PMs to Greg have dealt with the height of certain characters in story. But anyway, I've managed to get a decent word document together for my own reference when dealing with issues of height, and decided today while updating it with tentative information on the canon height of Takanuva that it was worth posting here,
Two of my BIONICLE 2015 set reviews for The New Elementary have now been posted, with a third still forthcoming. I received six BIONICLE sets from the LEGO Group to review for that site: three Toa and three Protectors. Check out my review of 70788 Kopaka - Master of Ice right here! Check out my review of 70784 Lewa - Master of Jungle and 70786 Gali - Master of Water here! And finally, because I was lucky enough to receive these three particular Toa, you can see my attempt at building a 201
The first of two articles I wrote for New Elementary previewing the new BIONICLE parts has been posted! Check it out here! The second post, still to come, will be focusing on the new mask and weapon pieces. And after that, expect some actual set reviews! I've already mostly finished writing the first, and I've recently gotten word that another shipment of sets is headed my way for review. I'm hoping for one of the Protector sets — I could probably spend at least half a post talking about their
In my last entry, I shared my first two BIONICLE 2015 set reviews for The New Elementary. Now, I can share the third and final (for now, at least). Check out my review of 70778 Protector of Jungle, 70780 Protector of Water, and 70781 Protector of Earth right here! In addition, I've managed to draw something I'm really proud of for the first time in months! Check out my drawing of Gali - Master of Water right here in the General Art subforum! I'd love to draw some other BIONICLE characters, i
Not going to go into details, but I am convinced by the leaked images that have been seen. They are consistent with a lot of the hints we've heard, and the person who originally photographed and posted these images seems trustworthy. Furthermore, they seem consistent with BIONICLE on a thematic level: masked heroes with fantasy weapons versus beastly-looking villains. If it turns out they are fake and I have been tricked, I will not be the least bit ashamed, by this because these are the most
Dear friends, The past year has been really bumpy for me in a lot of ways. I’ve grappled with emotional dependency, depression, anxiety, and more. One good thing that has come about over the past year, albeit with some challenges of its own along the way, is thinking critically about my gender identity, which has led to some big realizations. For a long time I have related really well to my female peers and have felt deeply invested in their personal struggles. Many of the fictional characte
