ToM Dracone

It's been a long while since I've gone out and taken photos of Tohunga around my yard. I miss it. I mean, partly it's because I've been at college and all that, but it's also been because of a lack of new Kanohi from which to make new Tohunga. But I have some now! First up is Shenyu, whom those of you who have been with me for a loooong time just may remember. He's the reason I've been craving a dark blue Miru since 2003. He's a Ga-Matoran (and yes, male) who goes on a series of adventures with Hahli way back before Metru Nui (please pay no attention to canon right now), and was transformed into a Toa of Water by Mata Nui to save her from drowning in a storm, after which she never saw him again. I originally had him as a Toa of Gravity, but eventually decided I like water better. Next! This lovely lady does not have a name yet. And no, I don't actually own a dark blue Matatu. It's from Six's big bag of prototypes; I brought down Hahli's body when I stayed with him for ToyFair expressly for the sake of taking this photo. I wish it were mine, but hey, I have a dark blue Miru at long last, I can't possibly ask for more! But she does still need a name. Please suggest one. Keep to 2001 naming standards. If I see x's and multiple consonants in a row besides ng, nk, and nt I will bite you. And finally – no more photos because I don't like the ones I took – I also need a name for a Ta-Matoran with a yellow Komau, red body, and yellow feet. I think he's a lava farmer for some reason. This came about because I was at one of my friend's houses recently going through a big plastic set of drawers he has filled with his old Lego stuffs, among which were a bunch of Bionicle sets. He had the Manas and let me keep their masks, so now I finally have the yellow Komau and an orange Ruru! It also made me realize how drastically I lack the Turaga's Kanohi. I need to work on that. ~ ToM

An awesome non sequitur for an awesome piece of artwork. I love how you've managed to make the dragon transparent, and the trees at the bottom are really nice. The touch of blue to the wings is an interesting addition; I think maybe it ought to be a darker blue just slightly, to better match the brightness of the other see-through areas... Likewise, the glow around it is a bit too strong, I feel, but I really like the aqua tones on the edges thereof. All in all it's great.

Honestly, I think you're inviting ridicule more than staving it off by calling it a manpurse. Just call it a bag or a messenger bag and you'll be perfectly fine. And your manliness will remain intact. And yeah, buttons are fine. If you go overboard it gets silly, but I don't have to tell you that.

That play is absolutely fantastic. One of my favorites by far. Don't even try to summarize it. Bunburying can really only be explained by watching the play. It's also so much better performed than read. I've been lucky enough to have seen it twice, the first time before I ever read it. Cucumber sandwiches. Seriously. <3 It's like the entire reason I love Oscar Wilde.

I usually don't get involved in these mass popular effort-type things, but I had an idea last night for a banner for the 10th graphic novel, and since I can never resist making banners, here it is: That's a link, by the way. Seems like a worthy cause. Feel free to comment on the banner itself and things like that here. ~ ToM

DV ~ You're too kind! I feel like we should at least engage in some kind of bartering. How do brownies work for you? Janoos ~ Sorry dear. I like the ice blue slightly more than the yellow. Shine ~ Oops. His was the only place I had seen it. *gives recognition* Blue Diamond ~ Oh, wow, I completely forgot about that. I don't, but the chrome Hau is another one that's high on my list... Woah, I hadn't considered that. That's gonna be fun. I've never seen someone else's MOCs in person! I trust you've had fun with mine the past couple years?

There are several of them. Though speaking of DV, I forgot – the lime flares on the Inika legs are his idea. And a brilliant one. So he has credit for them. Edit: dang, where did you come from? That was sneaky.

Just felt like taking this picture, which I've kind of wanted to for a while. The rarer masks that I have. I was debating between the infected Hau and the gold Vahi for the seventh slot and eventually chose the Hau just because I felt like the Vahi was slightly more common. Slightly. More opportunities to get it, and in cheaper sets. Plus I have four of them and only one infected Hau... so yeah. Still on my list are a copper Komau, maybe a yellow Kaukau, and really any of the misprint Matatu. And of course the prototype Kanohi from Six, or at least the ones I can get my hands on. Next order of business, a WIP: Which I shall be bringing (yes, bringing, not sending) to Brickfair. I'm looking forward to finishing it, because it uses some of the flashier ideas I've had drifting around... Currently just having a lot of fun making the texture smooth. And I have some more new things I'm working on and planning to bring besides. ~ ToM

I do understand that, which I guess makes me just surprised that a story set up with such a pervasive sense of mysticism would go on to so thoroughly demolish that when rather a lot of time and effort was spent to establish it. Thinking about it, I think what it is for me is that I both understand and don't understand why Bionicle started out as a mystical, mythological story if it was only going to turn into a decidedly sci-fi one. I understand because, well, if it was always planned that way, then, well, there's nothing to argue with. But I don't understand because I guess I just feel kind of ... cheated, as a reader, to have been hooked into the story by an element that was always planned to be gotten rid of, and yet seemed to be the core of the story at the beginning. I can't really quantify it; it just seems ... unfair? Something like that.

Respectfully, I'd like to throw another way of framing 2001-3 vs. the rest into consideration here, which is the reason that I have always liked the first three years the best: the balance between fantasy and science fiction. 2001 to 2003 maintained a perfect, equal balance between fantasy (the island of Mata Nui, the legends surrounding it, and the magic of the Kanohi and even the Toa's powers, for that matter) and sci-fi (the actual characters and some of the technology). It was unusual and brilliant, and, analyzing it in retrospect, I think that was why I loved it so much. The reason that I never liked the rest as much is that I felt that starting in 2004, the balance started shifting more and more toward an almost exclusively sci-fi story, which is where we are now. There's little sense of mysticism and wonderment left (which I think of as elements of the fantasy side). To take a prime example, Makuta went from being a dark, mysterious, spirit with powers whose limit no one really understood to a scientist with an enumerated list of powers whose job was to create Rahi. He used to be a quintessential mythological figure of evil, now he's become characterized as a sci-fi villain. And, I mean, obviously we had to find things out about him, and the Brotherhood, as the story progressed, but I just feel like we found out too much when we didn't really need to. Especially in 2008, we found out so much so fast that the Makuta became really simple and everything about them was now out in the open. Anyway. What all that goes to say is that, in general, I feel like the story lost the mystical, fantastical quality as it went along as a result of things being explained in too concrete terms. Like, we'd get a cold, specific, detailed answer for things that could have managed fine with a vaguer answer that still left room for mystery. It became all science and no fantasy. I recognize that the situation is much more complex than that generalization, as there has still been some mysticism, some things left unexplained, post-2004, but we're talking about general trends here and I feel like I've gone on long enough that more examples would really be more tedious than necessary. (Though I should throw out that I have seen a lot of places where I felt like there was a mystical element waiting to be explored, and then the story just completely ignored that opportunity. For example, the wild regions of Voya Nui, the depths of the Pit, anywhere at all in Karda Nui – they were all introduced as the setting, yes, but then there was never any discussion about the environments of those stories after that introduction. And I feel like that was something 2001-3 did perfectly, reminding us constantly that there was a whole world to explore beyond just the action of the story.) Wow. That was long. But I think you get my point. We could have avoided losing the sense of wonderment if the explanations given for the mysteries weren't always so detailed and non-mystical.

I feel the need to splurge about this somewhere. Yesterday, at long last, I watched Glee for effectively the first time (all I had seen before was about fifteen minutes from "Wheels"). Since, you know, I've been at college the whole time it's been on (no time to watch) and don't ever watch TV or TV shows anyway. But, a couple friends and I got pizza and had a Glee-watching party for the benefit of the two of us who hadn't seen it before. And. I'm in love. Only an afternoon and I'm addicted to Kurt. And Chris Colfer. It's only been eight episodes! I felt great pain handing in the DVDs we had rented; I didn't want to part with them so soon. Sigh. Forcing myself to wait for the next time we can do this will not be easy. (Though I already had a few things spoiled for me thanks to wikipedia... oops.) Real life needs to include more spontaneous musicals to express our feelings. I do my best to make them happen with my friends every now and then. ~ ToM

Clearly. I mean, like, wow.

Really? Did I really let that happen? Dangit. I guess I did. Yeah. I wasn't planning on going the whole second half of the semester without an update here. It just sort of happened. You know how it is. Especially if you're in college. In my defense, I'm not sure I've ever had a more eventful two months. Performed in two concerts with my acapella group. Went on a date for the first time. I had three weeks of insanity at the very end – one week with an enormous assignment or a test every single day thereof, then two weeks of constant paper-writing and studying for finals on massive amounts of material. (Which I couldn't write beforehand because of all the other assignments I had, of course.) But, punctuating that were some fantastic times with some fantastic new friends I didn't meet until just this half of the semester. I've also been experiencing severe tech crew withdrawal. Can't wait for next semester to get started again. Also because then I'll have a single and I have some great ideas for my room. (Oh, and, I guess there's that whole alternate universe Makuta thing. Thanks, guys. <3 Loving Shan's Iron Wolf, too.) I think I'm going to have to imitate DV and make one of those lists of things I learned this year to cover it all. On the whole I'm glad it's summer. I've only been back for a day and I've gotten a lot done. But, I miss my college friends a lot. Really acutely so for a select few of them. But then, I have all summer with my high school friends and that'll be fun. Also expect some more Bionicle stuff from me soon. For real now. I might even make new graphics for this... ~ ToM

Things like this make me want to break BZP rules. I'd have to break many of them to go into more detail. I grew up in Texas, I didn't dislike the experience, and I have a fair amount of friends from there... but gods I'm glad I'm in the northeast now and out of the public school system.

Oh -gods- I feel the same way so much of the time. The world would be so much better off if one could just sit said people down and make them listen for a little and own up to their own blatant lies. But it probably wouldn't work anyway.

Wow. That's really impressive, actually. Really, really impressive. It certainly looks accurate on the outside; for the inside, I couldn't say, since I can't make it out. Heck, I can't even make it out on my own photos. But you seem to be doing an amazing job! And I'm sorry not to have answered your request for photos yet! I'm at college right now again, and I won't be back home until mid-May, but send me a PM or something then and I'll gladly provide. You'll almost definitely need them for the inside of the torso.

It's allowed as it's a pretty well-known title. But if you start getting ideas you can bet you'll end up in big trouble.

Since I missed it, thanks for all the birthday wishes over in my birthday topic, guys! Sorry I didn't post in it; I saw it earlier in the day and then kinda forgot to check back until it was too late... Spring break ended two days ago for me, so I actually had a couple festivity-things before coming back here. One was just with my parents, where I got Enchanted and Slumdog Millionaire (<3 both), the new Celtic Woman CD, Songs from the Heart (as great as ever), and a couple more practical things, one of which was a Macy's gift card I used the next day to get a couple shirts in aquamarine and lime. And then the day after that, I got to see two of my best friends in the afternoon, who I haven't seen since I left for college, so that was excellent. Then I had a proper party in the evening with four of my other friends (who are still in high school). There was cake and pizza and Bananagrams and Inglorious Basterds and it was a ton of fun. And now I'm back at college. I didn't really do anything special yesterday beyond letting myself goof off more than usual. But it rained and so the weather was perfect, and I also had some fun with a clip-on earring and got a haircut. Combining the latter two made me look like a lesbian for a while. It was funny. Oh! I also got star!Tahu for myself. He's a fun little set, definitely a good tribute to the original Tahu. But I changed the Nuva shoulder pad to black and now he looks much more natural. And more 2001-like! The health care bill was kind of like an early present too! So yeah. I've actually even had less homework than I expected! So it was a good birthday all around. ~ ToM

He is a dashingly handsome man.

Did I say far right? I meant far left. Gods. Oops. Fixed that. 'Cause, uh, yeah, that photo's a lot better.

There we go. As always, you can find more pictures over in the gallery (once that becomes public). There are a few alternates of the entry picture (the far left) using different lighting; I eventually settled on the one I did because I thought it best combined aesthetically pleasing light with clarity of the details of the MOC. And if I may say so myself, that hammer is one of my favorite things I've ever built. Had a lot of fun with it. Now, off to enter this on BS01... ~ ToM

I finally went out and got some large sheets of black construction paper. Well, thicker than that, slightly. 'Posterboard,' I guess, but I think of the thick kind when I say that... moot point. I put it to good use today already. You'll see the fruits of that tomorrow. (Though you might be able to guess from the above teaser.) Also, I left my normal camera at college, so I got to use my dad's professional one for these... gods, I love having actual depth to MOC photos. My normal camera's really not good with that, cheap old thing that it is. Sometimes I feel like I live in Grand Central Station... ♫ ♪ ~ ToM

This is a bad thing?

So, uh, having never actually seen the Lion King (a shameful thing), I just went and listened to Be Prepared for the first time ever. And it's more than a bit awesome. And in my range, I think! So I might well do that, if our director lets me. But thanks muchly for suggesting it. This could be very good indeed! (I was leaning toward Hellfire, from the Hunchback of Notre Dame, beforehand, since I can sing all of it even though it's a bass part, but this would be even better. :3 )

Oh, we're going to. Brickfair!