The new year is almost here and that means the LEGO convention circuit will be starting soon. The first big event is BrickFair Alabama, taking place January 17-20 in Birmingham. The Bionicle display last year was pretty nonexistent, and we want to change that this year. In fact, we want to make sure the Bionicle display at a bunch of events is amazing - and we need your help. Read on to see what you can do. UPDATE: BrickFair Alabama is over, so this article has been updated for Bricks Cascade.
We're currently entering the final phases of prepping a new feature for BZPower. It's something I've had in mind for a while and finally found a tool we could use to accomplish it. I'm looking forward to seeing what you guys think and hope it will help in determining how we can continue to improve BZPower. I need you guys to help me out though. The feature will only help if you actually use it and use it as intended, so you all have to promise not to be silly. Think you can do that? Didn't
Somehow over the past few years I've accumulated a bunch of Nerf guns that have been taking up a lot of space. I'm looking to remedy that issue by getting rid of some. Most of the below were bought used, but they all work and I've cleaned them all up to the best of my ability (in some cases that includes taking them apart and running the plastic pieces through the dishwasher). I've removed the air restrictors from several of the spring guns. No ammo is included. UPDATE: The Titan, Hornet, and
So what conventions is everyone going to next year? My current plans include BrickFair Alabama, BrickFair New England, and BrickFair Virginia. I think there's a pattern there... I'm actually going to be the Bionicle Coordinator at New England, so expect me to bug you guys about sending in MOCs. Anyway, I'm considering seeing if I can squeeze in a fourth event, because I'm crazy and stupid like that. Bricks Cascade is unfortunately out, because they moved it to right around the time that PAX
I'm looking for some help from one of you creative types out there. I would like some overlay images we can use during BZPower's streams, both for builds and games, to help share info for people who tune in part-way through and give them more of a BZPower-feel. For a visual style, I'm thinking something like the overlays we use for our YouTube thumbnails, with the angled line and the gears, but obviously smaller so it takes up less space. Maybe one in the bottom left and one in the top right.
For better or worse starting July 8th I'm going to be off every Monday for eleven weeks. As those of you who have spent time with me on days off know, they're usually spent on the phone or replying to emails for various work-related things. For the government furloughs, however, we are expressly forbidden from doing any work-related activities. What am I going to do with my extra day off then? I know, maybe finally play some of the many videogames I have acquired over the years but never finishe
Every now and then in conversation someone will mention a movie they love that I haven't seen. There's also a bunch of films from the past few years that I wanted to see but never got around to. So I've decided to finally make a list of all these films to keep track of and help motivate myself to actually watch them. Below is the list I have so far, but I'm sure it's not complete. That's where you guys come in. What are some of your all-time favorite movies, or movies that you think are worth
I have a lot of stuff to send to people, now that BrickFair is over. I hope to get things sent out as soon as possible, but as you'll see below, there's really a LOT. If you don't see your name on the list below, add a comment or PM me to make sure I'm not missing you. Right now I'm not adding any names (except for a couple exceptions) because I don't have all the MOCs and prizes in front of me. As I have time, they'll all be added to the list. Convention MOCs All the people who sent MOCs that
BrickFair Alabama is eight days away! So much stuff to worry about! To help me not forget anything, I'm going to make a list here. Let me know what's missing. Clothes Toiletries Wallet Passort/drivers license Boarding passes Snacks MOCs Brick badges Prototypes and other pieces to give out BZPower Guestbook BZPower business cards Camera Laptop Phone Other phone iPod Packing tape Umbrella Tablet (maybe) I'm sure I'm overlooking something...
That's what I said almost a month ago when I decided to dig out my Gameboy Advance and copy of Pokemon Blue. I kept reading people talking about the newer games and it made me recall the fond memories I had playing the original back in the day. I've been going through the game again, having a lot of fun the whole way. I even picked up a used GBA SP because how did we ever live without backlit screen? I mean seriously you expect me to play in only the most ideal lighting conditions? Anyway, I'm
I meant to get something like this posted earlier this weekend, but commitments to BrickFair New England prevented that from happening in a more timely manner, so I'm sorry for that. In light of some recent developments on and off BZP, I think it's important for us to talk briefly about how the staff take action. Sometimes a situation arises and the staff need time to sort things out, so member accounts are suspended to stop further posts until we can get to the bottom of things. This is gener
So tonight I finally sorted through all the pieces Kelly (Binkmeister) gave me at BrickFest this year. These are all for contest prizes and other giveaways we'll be doing in the future.
Sorting is not something I do much of these days, especially with so many pieces, so it was a pretty interesting time.
Click for larger versions.
The pieces mainly fell into two categories: old 2001 masks and 2008 and 2009 color test molds. Lots of them are just variations of the sa
I really wasn't satisfied with my recent set review pictures, they were way too dark despite me having tons of lights on and using my flash (indirectly). So I did some research and pulled out my camera's manual and learned how to adjust the shutter speed. A bit of experimentation later, and brighter pictures appeared. The only problem is that now I have to make sure to be very still so that I don't shake the camera when I hit the shutter button. I'm doing a 0.5 second exposure so that can have
Tomorrow is August 2, 2012. That will be the eleventh anniversary of my joining BZPower. It is also the first day of BrickFair 2012 Virginia, the fifth such event held. (Congrats Todd!) BrickFair 2012 Viriginia will be the tenth AFOL fan convention that I've attended. Sunday, August 5 is my twenty-fifth birthday. A quarter-century! Monday, August 6, will mark my eleventh year as a member of the BZPower Staff. All this right after BZPower celebrated its eleventh anniversary. It's craz
I've seen lots of events and a few websites do parts drafts over the years, but I've never seen one done with a constraction set. So I thought, 'we should fix that!' For the uninformed - a parts draft is where you gather a bunch of copies of the same set, open them up, mix all the pieces together, then sort each different type of part into its own pile. Then people take turns picking piles until they're all gone. There's a little more too it, but that's the main gist. In the end, you get a bun
Recently with the new Tracker, I made some blog entries about some of the tickets that were resolved, to help get the word out. Now I know not everyone reads my blog and it seems clear that not everyone has quite gotten the hang of the Tracker or is aware of it yet, so I'm trying to figure out the best way to make people aware of tickets that have been closed. I don't want to keep posting blog entries, because I feel like I have better things to post here, plus not everyone reads it. (But they
It's time.
So, here's how it goes: You ask questions, I answer them. Anything BZPower-friendly is fine, though I reserve the right to not answer any given question. Questions of inappropriate nature will be deleted.
So tell your friends and let's get this started!
Another one bites the dust. You should now be able to be logged into the archives and the main forums at the same time. Alright, I think that's enough BZP work for today.
I'm still catching up on a lot of things after BrickFair New England, which was a blast. I had some of the most fun there that I've had at any other convention, met a bunch of awesome people, and caught up with some old friends. But before the convention, I asked you guys for some questions. At Kevin Hinkle's TLG Q&A I asked a few, but wasn't able to get them all in. So on Saturday during the public hours we sat down away from the crowds for a little bit to chat and go through some others.
No, BZPower is not getting incorporated. Halo 5: Guardians is releasing next week, and today 343 Industries announced their clan feature for the game and started to allow people to make and join them. BZPower, the Halo 5 company. I'm pretty excited for this game, although I'm sure I won't be able to play as much as I'd like. Still though, I think it might be fun to play with BZPower members. If you're planning on picking up Halo 5, feel free to join the group!
The Bionicle RPG forum has some of our most active topics and the BZPRPG is a pretty popular game. The LEGO RPG forum, not so much. I've been thinking a little bit about what we can do about that. I'm open to suggestions. I have considered merging the two, but then we'd have to figure out what to do with Bionicle RPGs selected via contests and LEGO RPGs selected via judging. Certainly not an insurmountable problem, but something to consider. I'd like to hear what you guys have to think abo
The past few days have been full of milestones that really have been putting things in perspective for me. I was born on August 5th, 1987. Today I turn twenty-eight! Go me for surviving this long! I joined BZPower on August 2nd, 2001. I've been a member for fourteen years now. This site has become a huge part of my life for so many reasons. An interesting thing happens when you combine those two dates and do a little math. Thanks to the wonders of the Internet I can tell that I was alive f
So I mentioned over here about some hiccups during the upgrade. Nothing major, but it was all your fault. Yes you, the blogging populace of BZPower. Here's a quote from the IPS rep we worked with: Geez guys, you got a little carried away over here, you think? Anyway, they got through all the tags in the end, and hopefully it won't cause any problems in the future. As a result of this, however, I have changed some settings for tags: Maximum length per tag: 20 characters Maximum tags per
