Sybre

Let's face it: if human history's anything to go off of, we'd probably declare war on Spherus Magna.

I already played it through Xbox Game Pass and beat it 100%, achievements and all. It really does unpack the usual LEGO game formula by introducing some cool fighting mechanics that I enjoyed using. The story levels also doubled as the hub worlds, which is something we didn't see often, if at all, in TT LEGO games. Getting the game for free is definitely a good deal and I recommend it. There are other LEGO games that I think are better than this one, but for free? Totally worth it, and it's unique enough to stick out a little.

Never trust American plumbing again. WWYDI you had friendly ghosts for roommates?

$35 for the smallest set... Sometimes, I wonder if there are parents out there paying handsomely for household chores. On one hand, I gotta appreciate that these sets are something of substance. On the other hand, that usually means more pieces, which means the prices skyrocket. I get that there's a lot that I don't know about things like finances and how prices are set, but I'll be surprised if this theme catches on, what with how expensive it is. How are nine-year-old kids gonna afford these sets? Either way, at the end of the day, I'm sure LEGO knows what they're doing.

Man, this feels like a TV show that somebody from Ninjago would be seen watching for three seconds. Apart from that, this theme looks pretty cool. I love the look of that jet with its bold color scheme and the detachable bike. I also love what Mei's got going on; I have a mad soft spot for Power Rangers, especially the green ones. I might actually try and get a set with her in it.

Drat! Basically, Green-Text (Hikra) was being secretive about her element and said that Red-Text (Vance) was right where she wanted him. Oh yeah, character development is one of the hardest things to write, and comics definitely don't make it easier. Trust me, I hope to do more character development in some action, but I wanted to establish the characters first. Thanks a bunch for the well wishes! I hope to get another comic done in the next month or so!

:O Somebody else read the comics. Yeah, I wanted to focus more on the characters with these series, whereas my earlier work was more about events. Your one complaint is something I was worried about, but I'm glad you brought it up. For future comics, I'll take your advice and fix the problem. Were you able to figure out what was being said? Thank you for stopping by and replying!

No problem! Man, thank you so much for reading and taking it to heart. I'm glad I didn't come across as mean because I never wanted to seem that way. It's great that you don't want to make enemies, because who does want to do such a thing? Thank you for respecting my opinions, and I think it's awesome that you love BIONICLE so much to the point where you don't have a least favorite set. Have fun playing BIONICLE Heroes!

Looking back, my problem with Hero Factory was that it should have been a "build your own story" theme, but it was disguised as a spiritual successor to BIONICLE. The setting, lore, premise, etc. is open-ended enough for people to effectively create their own stories, complete with Heroes and villains that you can build yourself. Couple that with HERO Recon Team (R.I.P.; love the figure I bought off it), and there was a cool idea on the table. I think the problem lies in the fact that the lore became the primary focus. Hero Factory looked like it knew what it wanted to do, but didn't know how to do it. Something that helped BIONICLE along all those years was the lore, and Hero Factory's was so soulless and minuscule compared to it. The sets were cool, and that's it. I feel like there could have been a better way to push the "build your own story" envelope, but we didn't get to see that. That's why I rated it below 50%. Great idea, forgettable execution.

I love BIONICLE to the moon and back despite its many faults, and acknowledging those faults doesn't make me any less of a fan than you or anyone else on this site. BIONICLE's never been perfect, especially with its sets, but to me, accepting its mistakes and loving what we've been given is the mark of a true fan. That is, if BIONICLE should even have "true fans" at all. The theme's been a pivotal aspect of my childhood and continues to inspire me to this day, but it's a toy line made for kids. If I don't declare all those toys as perfect and hail them all as a selfless gift from above, does that make me an idiot? Not in the slightest, because as an adult, there are things I need to value and care about more than toys. However, you still have your opinions, and I have mine. I can't stop you from thinking that I'm an idiot, but I want to encourage you to refrain from coming on here and putting people down just because they think a different way from you. I'll admit, I've done that on this site years ago and I'm not proud of it. To show that I've learned from my mistakes, I treated this site as it is: a safe, friendly place to come and discuss LEGO and more without throwing around labels. Mata Nui would say to not ignore the wrong things going on around you, but rather unite with others to fix them in your own way. People make MOCs and redesign sets to right what they perceive to be wrong with those sets. Mata Nui would also say to not call people names when they're just doing their own thing and not hurting anyone. I promise I'm not putting you down or anything like that. You and I don't see eye to eye and I accept that. I just don't want to watch you cross the wrong lines and possibly get yourself in trouble. I want you and everyone around you to have fun, and you getting in trouble is not the way to do it.

I feel like Umbra would have been one of those "highlight of the year" sets had the designers put their backs into it. Call me crazy, but on paper, Umbra sounds like one of the coolest sets in the entire theme. He's got an axe with a sword on the hilt (both weapons light up too), a spinner launcher in the handle of said weapon, a rare color scheme, and roller skates. He should have been an awesome set, but he's widely regarded as the worst of the 2006 Titans, if he's remembered at all. I don't have Umbra, but I like him. Like I said, though, the designers could have put their backs into him. I actually like his yellow, green, and silver color scheme, but the mask was a lazy move. It's bad enough that the lovely citizens of Voya Nui reused masks from two years ago, but then Umbra shares a mask with Garan, down to the color and everything. Idris from 2007 gave us a cool recolor of the Kanohi Ruru, so maybe Umbra could have had his in green, yellow, or silver? A whole new mask unique to him would have been swell, but I'm sure the designers would have done that if they could. I don't know the full story behind Umbra's development, but he really fell by the wayside compared to the other Titans.

They weren't awful sets, but they were underwhelming for a lot of people. I know longtime fans could probably pick out at least three things they'd change about each individual set. Classic color schemes, cosmetic decisions, weapon choices, etc. would have most likely struck the notes a little better.

Been reading them since the second book came out. Saw the first three movies and refuse to see the fourth. 21 years old and I still get the new book every year and read it within a day or two. While not perfect, they're enjoyable reads even today and I always look forward to seeing what Greg Heffley's up to next. If there's a fifteenth book coming out this year, I'll be getting that one for sure!

I gotta wonder why this didn't happen sooner. I know Nintendo has/had a license with K'Nex, but c'mon. Gaming giant here, toy giant there. It's a no-brainer. Not the first time anybody's said it, but this isn't the first thing that comes to anyone's mind when they hear "LEGO Super Mario Bros." Doesn't mean it's a bad idea; not saying that. If anything, I'd have expected some kind of level-building aspect of the theme, much like Super Mario Maker, but with real LEGO pieces. I saw the trailer on Twitter; it looks like level creation is the case. As for what's on everyone's mind, we got the robot Mario minifigure. It's weird to see Mario this way, but he looks happy, so I'm not about to stop him. Of course, the looks department is a minor sacrifice in the quest for innovation, and I know that's what Nintendo and LEGO are going for. They came up with a new way to play with LEGO; a minifigure that actually responds to its resident set. He's also outfitted with technology that kids would know how to use or can learn easily. LEGO's been clawing for ways to marry its plastic bricks with technology, and this mecha Mario is a way to do it. I'm a pretty casual Mario fan, but you can bet money that I'm not gonna hand off my debit card to the nearest LEGO Store for this. Same goes for a lot of other adult fans of LEGO and Nintendo alike. Both companies have very strong and vocal adult audiences, and their essentially being borderline alienated by this product. Of course they're free to buy it and play with it themselves, but they're obviously not the target audience; kids are. Nintendo has a history of making controversial technological sacrifices on their consoles for the sake of preserving fun and making their games appealing to kids, and that's okay. I applaud LEGO and Nintendo for focusing on just the kids this time. I hope the kids who buy this set have loads of fun with it and use their imaginations to create new levels for their LEGO Mario to conquer, eventually moving on to Super Mario Maker games and torturing eager players worldwide. I won't be having a piece of this upcoming set, but that's another copy on the shelf somewhere for whoever does want it and would enjoy more than I ever would. Do I think a line of Super Mario sets with traditional minifigures is on the horizon as well? I'm not betting on it, but I'm not ruling it out, either. I do, however, think we're looking at the birth of a promising license... ...That will hopefully result in LEGO Smash Bros. so I can get LEGO Pichu and Ice Climbers!

Oh yeah, I didn't even think about that! I guess I was trying to give them a little bit of a chance because at the end of the day, they were still McDonald's promotionals (and the best McD's BIONICLE promotionals of all time, might I add). But man, is that point hard to ignore. Okay, you know what, that's a better answer than mine. I'm being serious. The Agori were a rehash for sure, but at least they did a lot of things better than the Av-Matoran (at least the latter had jetpacks). I didn't even give the Agori that. I'm glad you shared your opinion with me. I'm gonna go edit my original post.

In an effort to put out a unique answer, I'll say the Tohunga/McToran. I always loved their charming little size and disk-throwing ability, but the arms wear out after a while, so you have to launch disks sparingly to increase the arms' longevity. Also, I know their grey heads are borderline-universally panned by fans and builders alike. In my opinion, the Toa Mata/Nuva heads are far superior. The 2003 Matoran may not have aged as gracefully (I'm sure someone will disagree), but they were a much-needed upgrade at the time. For an honorable mention, there's also any Agori that isn't Zesk. They brought some recolored pieces to the table, but at the end of the day, they're still a rehash of the Av-Matoran from the previous year. Zesk gets points for his cool scorpion tale that breaks the mold of the average Av-Matoran/Agori, but that's about it. As a side note, I didn't like the extra ball joint behind his head. EDIT: Scratch all that; my opinion is reversed. The Agori may be a rehash, but they did things better than the Av-Matoran did. I wasn't thinking beyond the reused building system. Thank you for sharing your opinion, Ironfist.

I only knew about the Ninjago one. Apparently, a copy of it was sent to the team that made The LEGO Ninjago Movie, but there were doubts that the book was even cracked. I haven't seen the movie, but I played the game that uses footage from the movie, and what I have seen had gone off in an entirely different direction from the mainstream story. I get that it was for the sake of freshness, but I'm sure a lot of cool stuff from the story bible could have made it into the movie if its team decided to peruse it. Doesn't surprise me that ideas from the Hero Factory and Chima ones went unused. I watched the shows/specials for both and I feel like the stories could have been richer.

New comic at last! Sorry that took so long; I've been doing alright and I hope to have a slightly more consistent schedule this year. Hopefully a comic or two per month, and that's just to start. Anyway, the new comic. I understand it could be mildly confusing, but I promise that it's relevant to what I have planned for this series. Just be patient and see if the signs I placed are obvious or not. If not, I need to up my game. Hey, man! I remember you! Yeah, I've been looking around the comics forum for quite some time before starting this up. I was so desperate for anything new around here, that I decided to take matters into my own hands and help out. I remember how much you loved my comics back in the day; reading SybreNetX in an entire night and becoming a part of it yourself. It's great to hear from you again and to take a nice look into the good ol' days. I thought about doing six-shade Chimoru again just to really take that extra step in the SybreNetX throwbacks, but ultimately, I decided I missed the classic bi-shade too much to just ignore it. That, and I wanted to see if I could draw an audience in before kicking things up a notch. I'm doing a horrible job at that. Vance has always been one of my favorite classic characters, despite his under-utilization in Snax. I'm glad you like him too, because you'll be seeing a lot more of him. I feel like this series is going to be about not just Sybre, but Vance as well. "Tsundere," huh? Never thought of him like that, but I don't hate the thought. Potential character arc? Thanks for stopping by and commenting, man! See you next time!

Hey, fancy seeing you here! Anyway, I recognize three of these. I remember the furniture store, the Noobicorn, and the kids from Gavla's Comics. Matau's furniture store, though; man, that was a throwback. I think the author was VakamaTK (now Tavakai) or BladeTitan974. Was probably the former. Now, we both know majhost is done for, so I looked in the old VakamaTK Brickshelf, but my efforts were fruitless. If you can spot the original comic, that's awesome. I might keep looking in the next day or so. As for the other two jokes I know, that'll require some further digging, and I'm willing to help. It's great to have another comic maker that's still here, and I'm gonna do what I can for you.

insert banner here in the future When I was about thirteen, I tried my hand at comic-making. My comics were pretty well-received and I made a lot of them, but I look back upon them with scorn. My sense of humor has drastically changed over the years and I figured I'd succumb to the pull and get back on GIMP. Here's my newest attempt at comics. Serious Intro Stay Mad I understand that having access to my previous work is going to be necessary in order to understand everything, so I'm gonna go ahead and link you to my old Brickshelf. They're pretty bad and have the "lol so rAnDoM" style of humor, but they're there if you want to see them. Thank you for visiting and have fun. Credits Dark709 for the Chimoru sprites Tavakai for the McToran sprites Reznas for the helpful GIMP tutorials

Yes, I called you out specifically. Where's your next comic at?

Sturdier pieces is the first thing that comes to mind. The duration links up with LEGO's vision of quality... Aaaand that's all I can think to say on the matter. I don't really have anything unique to say outside of that, but I like Downfall's point about the HF villains being more interesting than the swarm villains. Personalities aside, the HF villains all had very distinct designs and gimmicks that set them all apart. They don't hold a candle to the non-swarm villains of BIONICLE in my opinion. The Brotherhood of Makuta, the Dark Hunters, Metus, etc. are all more exciting and compelling villains.

I've read both parts of the pilot and man, are you onto something here. A former comic maker struggling to move on and resist the pull of his former passion sounds like a hopeful premise. It goes to show that sometimes, you don't necessarily have to move on from the things you love. If you love doing those things, maybe give them another chance. Also, I gotta comment on the art direction. Razor is a charming little throwback kit and one of my personal favorites, so I was glad to see it here. I also liked that you made use of the character angle rotations, such as the side view of the head. Razor's always felt a little stiff without those, so I stand by your kit choice even more with that. The backgrounds are great, too! It doesn't look like it's made in GIMP, but rather if you spent some quality time in MSPaint, which I consider a good thing. The simple, yet upgraded visuals are a great callback to the classic comics of old, like early Dark709, VakamaTK, Blade Titan, etc. You have shadows, lighting, and shading that give your settings a noticeable sense of depth. And do you have any idea how relatable those two comics were? I mean, tough job hunting aside (I'm thankfully employed), I definitely sit and wonder where the time's gone. I first got into comic making right before the first big forum reconstruction, so near the tail-end of the comic era. The few years I spent making comics were so much fun, even if my comics weren't good. It was still cool to make friends and read their comics and check up on the big-shots every once in while. I still wish that one day, the Comics Forum would gain new life in the next generation of comic makers; aspiring content creators of varying skills coming together in one place to have fun and appreciate the medium. I'll be honest, I've been wanting to go back to comic making. I kept telling myself that I'd be wasting my time, that nobody would even see the comics, and that the age of BZPower comics had come and gone and I enjoyed it while it lasted. However, I also told myself that there was nothing stopping me. I have all my old sprites, I have GIMP, and I have time. I starting laying down the groundwork for a new series; gathering resources, coloring sprites, relearning GIMP. I left my work alone for over a week, but now that you've come along, I feel inspired to go back in and make a comic. As for you, I'll be following your new project and seeing where it goes. Best of luck to you!

I randomly came in the Comics forum for a reason that escapes me and found something brand new. Needless to say, I was excited, but also mildly convinced I was dreaming. Now, onto my thoughts. Welcome to BZPower! I like that you decided to go the MOC comic route. Those are always special; yours in particular. I've never seen a MOC comic show the characters Photoshopped onto a background like that. I've seen characters have their colors Shopped when the creator didn't have the right pieces (I happened to be one of those characters) and I mostly see the characters parading around the creator's house or couch, but never anything like what you did. I was pleasantly surprised by that and I can't wait to see what other places you will take your characters. Also, your lighting on the MOCs is pretty decent. Granted, the colors on the figures are too vibrant, but I'm willing to overlook that because of the camera lighting and quality you had. It looks like you have a great camera. The main character looks cool, at least from what I can see. I love his brick-built head and hands; really open up your options for the character's design and you took advantage of it. In the way of seeing him, I almost wish I saw a full-body shot of him before reading the preview as I thought him and caped figure at the start/with the wanted poster were two different people. Maybe they are and I'm just off my rocker today, but I keep finding myself scrolling back up to make sure. As for the Zyglak, I was happy to see that you incorporated CCBS into their design, resulting in a more modern look that stays faithful to their original model. They look freakishly threatening and I wouldn't mind a full body shot of one of them, either. I only have two concerns about what you put together. I promise I'm not bullying you when I say these concerns; I like what you're doing here and I wanted to bring them to your attention to help you as a content creator. The first and most obvious thing is that you broke a BZPower rule. It was just the foul language rule, so that should hopefully be an easy fix. My other concern is how short the preview was. I get that this is a preview and that there's more on the way, but I could not tell what the plot was supposed to be. The guy gets chased, there's a wanted poster, and the chase ends? Judging from the title and the setting, I can tell that there's a big mystery or a few. Just by looking at the panels of the comic, I can tell that the setting is extremely dangerous and that there are wanted fugitives on the loose, but that's all I could gather. I don't know why the Zyglaks were huddled together, I don't know if that cape was grabbing the wanted poster, and I don't know the significance behind the titular City of Secrets. All that being said, I really hope I didn't deter you from continuing your project. I want to see you keep going so I can learn the secrets of the city and learn more about the guy getting chased by the swarm of Zyglaks. Does he make it out okay? What did the criminals do to warrant a price on their deaths? The Comics forum is basically dead, but if you keep posting comics, I'll keep coming back and reading them. Good luck, thank you for reading this reply, and again: welcome to BZPower!

I've thought about joining an RPG or two back in high school (at least three years ago), but I felt intimidated by it. All the different topics representing locations, the rules, etc. made it feel like too much to get into. I figured I was better off running nearly-everything-goes PM-only RPs with a close group of friends on this forum. But now that you're here answering my question, I feel inclined to go back and really read those RPG topics and see if it's something I want to do. If you guys really will have me, I'll stick to it the best I can.