It's been three years since I got my first Bionicle set (Thursday, July 15th, 2003 my mom bought me a Lehvak) and almost the same amount of time that I've been a member of this site. The impact that both have had on my life have been... phenomenal. BIONICLE almost instantly became one of my biggest inspirations as well as the subject of so much creativity; the amazing tribal island of Mata Nui and it's unique people, their wisened elders and their heroic guardians, and the mysterious secrets has kept my interest for three years and still counting. That first summer, and by extension that whole half-year, of BIONICLE was wonderful. I found the comics on the BIONICLE website and though I really had to strain my eyes to read them, I was entranced with Carlos D'Anda's amazing pencilwork and Greg's quick writing. It really expanded the characters of the Toa, and buying the comic anthology the next year was worth every penny. The website itself was chock-filled with all the information I could handle; almost literally, as I never thought of my treasured Lehvak as being a "bad guy" until I read it on the site. It was fun teaching myself to read and write the Mata Nui alphabet, just another little niche in the deepness of the story. I played the Mata Nui Online Games and met the brightly-colored Matoran (then Tohunga) and discovered the story from their point of view. Every single one, even those whose names we never learned (at least until MNOLG2) had a unique and quirky peresonalities, and their duties on Mata Nui and their relations and bonds with each other, it all just made them REAL. They were real people, and I was welcome to explore their world.

So of course I started drawing them. BZP gave me an opportunity and motivation to showcase my artwork. Learning to draw these characters was a huge challenge for me. They had proportions and perspectives and appendages I wasn't used to (not to mention pneumatics I couldn't figure out), while more experienced artists made them look like a breeze to draw. But I kept trying, and I loved seeing what other people created (well, maybe not most sprite comics, but it was underneath the so-so stuff where the real treasures lay.) There are so many talented people I've met here, I don't know where to start (while some won't admit it, they know who they are ). I've made some of the best friends I've ever had.

Happy Birthday BZPower. Thanks for being such a fun, clean, helpful place to go on the web. Even more thanks to the Admins and the people who made it possible, and thanks for the week-long PMship. It's just a party favor compared to everything else you do for the site and it's members.

Sorry to get all... monologuey, and maybe a little cliche. I doubt that's what you clicked here for, but I just wanted to let you all know. Nothing like a good speech to open up a blog.

In interest of making the most out of my blogging privilages, I'm going to try to post an entry a day, preferably with a little art in each or something interesting like an intro to the amazing world of working retail or an editorial about the eggs I could fry on the sidewalk this week.

Okay, so. Here's some art.

Remember the original Toa Kaita? Most of you should. Those first combiners that were acknowledged in the storyline, the truest symbol of the Toa's Unity. They kicked so much Mana treads in MNOLG.

Here's Mr. Wisdom himself, in sketch form as practice for a big poster I'm doing. I took apart Gali, Lewa, and Kopaka just to build him for reference, which I've never done for any big combiner before. Quite a milestone.

Nothing really interesting otherwise because I spent most of the day trying to think of a title. Tomorrow you'll probably get to hear about how much my feet hurt. I bet you're REAL JAZZED for that, right??