Ah... where to begin? Where to begin?

How about a statement that surprisingly few people would ever believe, that I only though up recently: Not all Geeks are created equal (a really geeky statement, but I just 1-uped it: It shouldn't be Equal, but Equally. Eh, I'll stick with the standard version). I discovered this when I was in some game store that I forget the name of (something with all that Warhammer 40,000 stuff in it). You know that feeling when you could swear your brain just got a short circuit and started frying? That's what I experienced in there... a thousand times over... I'm not saying I dislike it, but I was less familiar with what was there than the surface of Mars. I'm just not that kind of geek. Yes, there are different kinds of geeks out there.

For instance, there's the Card-Game Geek, who knows how to play at least one or two Trading Card Games and has become an expert at playing them. There's the Info Geek, who knows everything about whatever subject he goes into. There's the Math Geek, who can use any formula and knows Pi to umteen-hundred places (personally, I'm happy with the few I know. 3.14159). Then there's the Computer Geek, who make and devise things in code and put them to use. I am a Computer Geek.

Ah, but that's so blatantly obvious. Just look at the topics I've posted. They're mostly in Bionicle RPG, and not for Text-based RPGs. Nope, I make Video Games. Sure, you can call them computer games, but if you think about it, a Nintendo console isn't that different from a PC; they both use hardware to run software and use a button-pressing interface. So, for the record, I will refer to them only as Video Games.

In my mind, video games are like books, and in many different respects. First off, they take a ludicrously long time to make, even with such a simple coding interface as RPGmaker. They also can tell rich and complex stories, or can just be a few moment's entertainment. But one aspect that I find links them even further: The more you read, the better your writing gets, or, in this case, the more you play, the better your coding gets.

Ah, but I didn't come to this site because I make video games. I came because of Bionicle, and even further, because of Lego. I won't call myself an AFOL though. There's just one missing part of that: The A. I'm not an adult yet, so instead, I'm an even rarer breed: a TFOL, Teen Fan of Lego. Look at my room for all of ten seconds, and you wouldn't doubt that fact for even a second afterwards. Sets and MOCs litter my floor, and cram my closet, and are even taking over the house. There are three different Lego aircraft in front of me right now, spanning 13 years of Lego history, and that's just the tiniest tip of the iceberg. To give an estimate, I'd say that iceberg consists of anywhere between 100,000 and 500,000 parts, though that might be a bit conservative. On the other hand, my collection may very well exceed a million parts. But I'll never know, because who wants to count all those bricks, seriously?

For the curious, the aircraft in question are, in order of release: the 1994 Airport jet (from the Century Skyway set, original release, and obivous due to the faded parts, and a great deal at only $10 USD at Brickworld), the General Grievous Starfighter (complete with the '05 version minifig, 'cause he's got a cape!), and a spiffy new Mars Mission jet-thing (or whatever it's called. It's that new).

Speaking of that little flying thing, I'll get to a feature of this Blog: The Review Section, where I review whatever I want to, for some reason I can't think of. This week:

Lego Set # 7695: MX-11 Astro Fighter (now you see why I couldn't remember the name...)

At some point in their lives, every AFOL has to answer this fundamental question: Space or Castle? In this case, it was between the Astro Fighter and Crossbow Attack, both extremely new and just waiting on the shelf, begging me to pick them up. In the end, space won, due to costs (it was a full $1USD less) and strategy (Get the Crossbow Attack and use tat to boost the costs just above the Lego Rewards minimum, so I can get one stamp closer to a gift card). So, did I make the right choice, find out in however long it takes you to scroll down to the review proper.

(Note that I skip the packaging portion, because that just isn't important to me)

Parts and their Usage: 6/10. There aren't a lot of new parts in this set, basically being limited to the martian. There are a few parts in colors I haven't seen, though. The most obvious is the windscreen of the ship, which is just a recolor of the red windshields in the last Alpha Team series. The other is the pilot's visor, which Halo fans will surely find very useful. There are also a few less-than-common parts included, like the Trans Neon Green gem and the black Minifig heads in the laser, as well as some good angle pieces from the wings and cockpit, not to mention the tailfin. However, the new pieces of this set, the Martian, are a mixed basket. To me, he looks like a gummy version of the classic martians back from '01 and Alien, which makes you want to pick it up and see for yourself. But a closer look only yields disappointment. The whole thing is two pieces: The legs, and everything else. The head, arms, and torso are all fused into one piece, and the arms are glued to his sides like a soldier at attention. If you work it right, the '05 Bionicle Minifigs had more articulation than this guy! There's also that hole in his chest... coincidentally, right where the heart would be (on a human, at least)... are Martians heartless now?

Building and assembly: 8/10. The building was straightforward, but took a bit longer than you'd expect for such a small set. The design is rather intricate for such a simple machine, and that makes it that much better. There's not that much to gripe about here, aside from the aforementioned Martian's simplicity. There are also some stickers involved with the assembly, but I don't let that get me down. Sometimes, it's just easier to do it that way.

Functions and Features: 3/10. Look at the box, and you'll see a spacecraft flying over the Martian landscape. Look closer, and you'll see around a third of a Martian sticking its head up from the bottom of the box. There's a reason for this, but I've already annoyed you enough with that. The ship doesn't have much in the way of features, but come on. For five bucks, you can't have too much crammed in there. The cockpit opens, the wings can go up and down, and the laser gun has some limited mobility. It's all as much as you'd expect from something like that, so it's not much at all.

The Fun Factor: 6/10. Is this thing fun? You bet it is! All you need is a bit of imagination and a spare hand, and you'll find yourself flying this thing over the red sands of... your living room floor... well, you can't actually go to Mars, so, eh... What makes it even more fun, IMO, is the fact that the ship screams Sci-Fi. I can't put my finger on it, but it just does that. However, the previous complaints about the Martion come back to bite this set in the afterburners. It's just not that fun to have the opponent of the ship be a little transparent guy who can only bend down to look at rocks...

Overall: 5.75/10. It's pretty good for its size. It's not the best, by any means, though. The Martian is really what brought it down, though. I also get the impression that this is supposed to be bought in mass, so you can have a whole fleet of these things. But, on the other hand, who has the money to do that? I certainly don't. Overall, this set isn't half bad. If you can get past the stickers and that darn alien, definitely get this set.

And I close this chapter with a recent quote, from myself:

I don't believe it; I Just saluted a squirrel.

And thus, I bid you adieu...