Stryker055
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Posts posted by Stryker055
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Vultraz confirmed for Bonkle 2015 villain mastermind.
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Hi. I, uh, I heard Bonkles is back. So I'm here. I used to write a lot of epics and go by the name "Iranu." Not sure if I'll be doing that anymore, but there's still a community here and stuff, so I wanted to pop in and see how cozy the water is.
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So it's time for my annual post here where I ask if anyone here has been reading the current IDW Transformers comics and smack everyone who isn't.
Also, Age of Extinction was the best Transformers movie. FACT.
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BONKLES ARE BACK.
The hype train has reached its zenith. The station is in sight. Get your tickets ready, my brothers and sisters, because they will soon be punched.
Wow so bionicle is really returning. I won't be buying any sets since I'm too old but the is exciting.
"Too old?" What are you even saying. I'm a freshman in college and I buy toys.
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A lot of Metro's stickers were a pain to apply (took me about an hour to get them all on), but they haven't been peeling yet, so that's a one-up on the Arms Micron stickers. The big guy is pretty fantastic, though.
Also, do not hesitate to buy MP Soundwave. For the price you're paying (I believe the total on mine came out to $132), the TRU set is an incredible deal. Frenzy and Rumble are worth deluxe pricing each. Laserbeak and Buzzsaw are marvels of engineering, as well. Ravage is a bit of a blunder compared to the others, but he's still better than the one that came with Universe Hound. I was lucky enough to stroll into a TRU last week and find the last one on the shelf, but he's a hard one to find. If you see him, buy him.
I also just realized that Metroplex and Soundwave are roughly the same price. I still say Soundwave has the most value for your dollar, as while Metroplex has the sheer impressive size, Soundwave still is the Masterpiece toy.
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I heard some bad news about the next series being more 'kid-friendly'.
That sucks, because anything less awesome than TFP would be disappointing.
indeed. I really, REALLY hope the simple figures don't become the norm.
They won't be, at least not widespread. The Generations line will still be the same collector-oriented line, but the TV show toyline will be simplified to reflect the more kid-oriented nature. As far as TF4 goes, it's anyone's guess, but I'd say it'll be a mix of the simplified toys and a few regular-difficulty toys.
Also...
"I thought I was supposed to be the masterpiece!"
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As a quick explanation before you read this story, I have barely paid mind to the Bionicle story since I began losing interest in 2009. Something compelled me to read up on the story's conclusion, which I found truncated, illogical, and unsatisfying. My original intent was to write a three-part epic that would be my own end to the Bionicle story, but due to upcoming time constraints I feel that it may not be a possibility. The following story was my initial prologue to my epic, and though I have gone through many ideas on how it would play out, this one is the original, and the perhaps the best standalone story. So, I figured that, though I am not an author, instead of letting it gather virtual dust on my hard drive, I'd share it with the Bionicle community here on BZP.With that said, I do hope this very brief story is of some worth to someone.
------------------------It was over.Tahu looked down at the golden mask that he held in his hand. It was the goal he fought for and failed on Voya Nui, his valiant comrade in Karda Nui, and now the final resting place of what he had believed to be his god. Yet, despite his history with the mask, he felt nothing when he looked at the Ignika. Its glow no longer bathed him in golden light, and he no longer felt the warmth of its raw power. Tahu felt nothing, and it frustrated him.It was over. Makuta was dead. Mata Nui was the salvation of all life on Spherus Magna and within his body. Yet despite all this, Tahu could not feel joy. He felt even no relief at the end of a terrible battle.The sound of hushed murmurs and scuffing footsteps brought him back to the reality of the situation. He was standing on a hill. Behind him was an enormous machine that the Great Spirit had used to defeat the Makuta once and for all. Before him was a crowd of thousands. Most were confused and desperate for answers. Many were seeking words of victory as an excuse for celebration. Many were barely containing a desire for more combat. All of them were anxious to hear the words of the Toa of Fire.Tahu struggled to find words. Nothing could capture the magnitude of the situation. He didn’t even think he realized the magnitude of the situation. Surely the crowd did not.Everything had changed in the last year. Everything. His team had finally fulfilled their destiny, only for Makuta to have been one step ahead of them all along. They awakened Mata Nui, but the Great Spirit was not there. Tahu and the others spent the next several months in a universe of darkness, but the confusion was what tore at him the most. He kept the questions at bay by focusing on the present. Fighting Rahkshi and Exo-Toa, protecting the Matoran, and resisting Teridax became his duty, and he accepted it. There was no concern of the future. When he was forced to leave behind the universe he had known for an eternity and step into a new world, he asked no questions. When he was given a vision and devolved to his initial form, he asked no questions. When he was forced to retrieve a mystical armor with the aid of strange beings, he asked no questions. When he was granted the powers of the Makuta, he asked no questions. He simply accepted it all and focused on the mission.Now, the mission was over. Nothing had been explained. The questions flooded Tahu’s head like Gali’s nova blast on Karzahni. The future had been thrust upon him, and he was not prepared.Without thinking, he held the mask above his head. A few small cheers could be heard from the Matoran in the crowd.“We... will honor Mata Nui.” The words struggled to come out of his mouth, “and all those who fought for him, in our memories.” A few more cheers and a brief applause, this time from more of the crowd, still mostly Matoran.He brought down the mask and looked upon it again, desperate to find something in the Ignika to fuel a grandiose speech, but all he could see was the sandy ground through the empty eyeholes. The world below him. The world that was restored. The victory Mata Nui had granted everyone.There it is. So you are still there.“But,” he directed his gaze back upon the crowd, “the time has come to move on.” He raised the mask once more, “His destiny is fulfilled...”Tahu paused. He looked down at the Ignika once more, then he turned towards the fallen machine behind him. Separate, it formed small settlements in a barren wasteland, giving its inhabitants safety and comfort. United, it was something else entirely, and Tahu could see it. He saw a massive city, built from the body of the titan. Citizens of all species, organic and biomechanical, living and interacting together in peace.“... and for many of us, it has yet to be written.” Tahu closed his eyes and smiled. He faced the crowd once more, and stretched his arm out towards the foundation of their new home, to the lush paradise beyond. “My friends, it is time to go.”The cheers were not deafening, and the applause was not thunderous. But the crowd did cheer, and it did rejoice. Not because their fears were comforted, not because they understood their situation, but because, at that instant, they all knew they had a common destiny. Perhaps not all responded to that destiny with hope or even happiness, but it was present in their minds as every one of them stepped towards their future.Tahu smiled to himself. The answers would come in time, but he didn’t need them. He saw the future. He knew it would not be an easy journey. Not only would peace need to be found among the races in the Matoran Universe, but the task of having them coexist with the Agori would be a formidable one.But unity will be found, no matter the cost. So it is our duty. So it is our destiny. The questions that swarmed Tahu’s head were no more. He did not seek wisdom in answers, and valor was of no worth to him as the battle had been won. All that remained was faith. Faith in himself, faith in his people, and faith in the future.And faith will overcome all. -
If it's any consolation, I broke the LED switch in his head the second day of owning him. Third party toys have gotten extremely good, quality-wise, but they're still not totally polished like a mainline Hasbro toy.
Soundwave is proving to be very difficult. He hasn't shown up on the east coast yet, and nobody's really sure when he will. Odds are I'll only get one shot at finding one... I really hate Toys R Us Masterpiece releases.
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The most frustrating part of the finale was that the majority of the twist's impact was essentially spoiled by their whole "BUMBLEBEE TALKS GUYS IT'S SO AWESOME" thing at Comic Con. But whatever, it was still a pretty great finale, especially in light of all the show's shortcomings.
Also, just to give a bit of clarification on the simplified toys thing, Hasbro has stated that the upscaled Cyberverse figures were just the easiest and quickest way to test the concept; future figures will be designed to fit the pricepoint. Also, Generations will be completely unaffected by the simplifications, just the TV shows and possibly (most likely) the upcoming movie.
(and come on guys srsly the comics are where it's at with Transformers)
Also, it looks like my Masterpiece collection just got a bit more... logical...
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1. Bad, generic, boring basic story. Some guy comes to a place where some people are trying to take over some other people for no adequately explained reason, and he stops the bad guys. Not a whole ton of interesting stuff going on.
2. Boring, lifeless, overly toyetic character designs. Complete with annoying inconsistently spinning pins, giant screws that make them look comparatively tiny, and red pins like in the sets.
3. Slow, boring, thoroughly uninteresting fight scenes.
4. Really boring cinematography. There's very much a minimalist effort approach to it. Few of the shots are composed in a very interesting way. For instance, the Mata Nui robot scene at the beginning should have looked incredible like in the Ghost animation, but it looked like just another toy.This is likely indicative of Mark Baldo's relative inexperience as a director.
5. Terrible boring thoroughly underwhelming sound editing. Giant boulders crashing sound like pebbles. This contributes to the dull and toyetic feel of the whole movie.
6. Awful score. There's the forgettable and somewhat annoying main theme, some pseudo surf music, the music they play when they go to Tesara (best music in the movie), the music in the credits, and some Mickey Mouse esque cartoon music throughout. Aside from that, not a whole lot. The overly uplifting but sweeping and epic scores of the first three movies were better than this.
7. Cartoon sound effects throughout. Godzilla roar, crickets chirping, etc. It's stupid and annoying.
8. Voice acting. Jim Cummings gave a serviceable performance as Ackar. The rest were either terrible deadpan schlock or stupid cartoon characters lazily intended to appeal to small children. I don't blame any of the main character actors, however; the script was terrible and they did an okay job with what they had to work with. Then there was the background Agori. The voice acting there was inexcusably horrendous.
9. The story was bad enough as is, but then the execution of said story was even worse. Nothing is adequately developed. Mata Nui's initial circumstances and his exile are barely featured. It is never explained what a Toa is, even though they throw the word around a lot. There is no adequate reason for why life on Bara Magna is so harsh, and we don't really see enough for it to appear so. A total example of telling without showing. The tribes on Bara Magna are never developed; as far as the movie is concerned all they do is watch Glatorian matches all day to settle "disputes," which are never explained either. Metus is given no real reason to betray them. The villains aren't portrayed as anything but essentially chicken-sounding imbeciles. They have no motivation to take over. They make a big deal about Skrall and Bone Hunters being rivals or whatever, but the layman probably wouldn't be able to tell them apart. The Ignika and its powers are never adequately explained. The Great beings and their laboratory is never adequately explained. The whole premise of the villages actually being a giant robot is bizarre and preposterous and illogical and stupid. This whole story reeks of lazy, terrible writing.
10. Too much boring and oftentimes vestigial expository dialogue. Bone Hunters and Skrall are rival tribes, Gresh is just a rookie, Ackar isn't as skilled as he used to be, etc. Much of it goes nowhere. The whole thing comes off as a rough draft.
11. There was way too much effort to pander towards lazy studios' inaccurate perception of the little kid audience. Anybody who thinks kids like slapstick humor and uncool heroes and villains doesn't understand how imagination works. Kids want to project themselves onto cool heroes and like to be a little over their head in movies content-wise; it makes them feel mature. So, basically, all the stupid humor and non-threatening villains, etc. was not entertaining and both distracted and detracted from the overall film. The plot had to slow down every time Kiina and Berix got in some stupid argument, and having villains like Tuma who weren't scary or intimidating at all made the film lack suspense. Once again, it was boring.
I could go on and on, but I'll summarize it right here: the movie was BORING!!! The animation, voice acting, dialogue, music, cinematography, sound editing, characterization, and story were all mind-numbingly dull. At least the other films, regardless of their execution, felt like some degree of passion and creativity went into the production. This feels like a cynical, cheap, lazy, unenthusiastic half-effort to make a few bucks. So, there you have it.
This guy, he gets it.
It's such a shame that TLR couldn't even live up to the previous films.
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Has anyone else been keeping up with Transformers lately? I know there are dedicated forums for it, but it's a shame to see such a pitiful fan community here...
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If Boba Fett and Han Solo were caught in a fight to the death, who would win? Who would win in a dogfight? Or in a firefight?
The better question is who would shoot first?
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1. LOTR/The Hobbit: I love the detail that goes into these sets, and I love the movies.
2. Galaxy Squad: I think it's a really interesting concept and has some really neat vehicle designs. I hope we get at least one more year out of it to see some new alien designs. (I'm honestly surprised this theme doesn't get much love...)
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I'll be honest... that looks pretty bad. Granted, the original model wasn't very impressive, but the whole front of the car looks awful. The rest of it looks neat, but it just looks like very little effort was put into it when it could have been much better.
That being said, I'll still buy it.
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A rather cluttered bunch of interesting stuff. And that's a cool gif.
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So... does anyone here read the current IDW Transformers comics?
If not, you should.
Because they're really good.
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The twist is...
*drum roll*
... he doesn't actually die.
You'll just have to read it yourself!
The new G1 comics may not be for everybody, I'll admit, but I absolutely love them. The writing is simply phenomenal. It's full of entertaining characters, hilarious humor, shocking and downright disturbing reveals, moments of real emotion... it's got it all.But, uh, I'm gonna stop gushing about it now, haha. On a side note, has anyone been getting the new wave of FOC figures? The Deluxe Ultra Magnus is downright gorgeous.
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(Generation 1 based, but it's from the current ongoing comic run.)
If that's a guy, why does he look so much like a woman?
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Ponies.
And by "ponies" I mean one pony, singular.
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"Reign of Starscream" and "Alliance" were fun reads, but "Foundation" was incredibly good, mostly because it (as well as "Convergence" and everything else John Barber wrote) reconciled the billions of continuity errors and plot holes that plagued the movies.
Honestly, though, every Transformers fan should at least read The Death of Optimus Prime. That's, like, a fact.
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Goodness gracious, how is this thread so dead? I know Prime kinda sucks, but has no one been reading the current ongoing comics? It's easily the best Transformers fiction yet, next to Animated and Beast Wars.
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Am I the only one that doesn't enjoy The Clone Wars? It seems a little bit boring, but the corresponding LEGO sets are quite good.
How much of the show have you seen, exactly?
Looks like this season is finally picking up. The premier was good, if obviously mixed up. The Onderon arc was pretty decent overall, but far from the best. The younglings arc was mostly mediocre with only Hondo's comic relief keeping it afloat. The D-Squad arc was some of the worst writing to come out of the show, which is downright disgraceful to a show well into its fifth season. Even the clone commando element was wasted and executed poorly.
Why can't we have another Umbara arc? ;_;
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Tip to all it applies to; the small grocery store chain called Aldi have just got in Transformers Prime figures from waves 3 and 4. Especially Vehicons. Like, ten Vehicons lined up, and all for the cheap price of $9.99. So if you've yet to find a Vehicon, try to find an Aldi.I think he's referring to the fact that Vehicons are sold out pretty much everywhere due to their army-building uses. -
Actually, you will be able to buy them, assuming those are what the "Jet Vehicon General" we saw listings for are.
Favourite voya nui character
in Bionicle Discussion
Posted
Thok is the best Piraka and everyone else is wrong.
Nuparu's the best Inika because he's Wolverine.