All Activity

Chapter 1 – Homecoming From the notes of Chronicler Crisda. Turaga Rost once told me that he regrets allowing the Toa to leave for Xia. Sure, none of us could have known what would arrive in their absence, but he still argued that leaving the city protected only by the few Vahki we could afford to keep powered up was a mistake. The Matoran of Xia, he said, would have been an acceptable sacrifice to ensure the safety of the remaining Matoran. I remember at the time dismissing his words as the grim grumblings of an old man who’d lost his hope. The other Turaga had dismissed him in much the same way when he’d raised his concerns to them. But today, the Toa returned. And after learning how much they sacrificed… I too can’t help but wonder if the meagre number of Matoran they saved was worth the price we all paid. * * * Icthilos Shrouded in mist and murk, a fleet of battered, blackened boats limped through the languid waters of the Sea Gate tunnel, on approach to the Great Barrier. The lightstones that had once illuminated the passage were long dead, with only a few ailing lanterns hanging on each boat offering enough illumination to keep them from running into the walls, or each other. A year earlier, that fleet had left with fifty Toa and high hopes. It returned now with less than thirty Toa, a dozen Turaga, more than a hundred rescued Matoran, and hopes of a different kind. Hopes for a brighter future in a safe city, free from further fighting. Hopes that would soon be dashed. Leaning by the bow of the lead boat, silver-white armour glimmering in the dim light of his lightstone lamp, was a tired Toa of Ice. Icthilos was his name, though his actions before and during the war in Xia had earned him a fair few other nicknames and titles, from enemies and allies alike. Some were friendly, even affectionate. Others… decidedly not. Save for the few crew members quietly going about their duties and the lookout on the mast above, Icthilos was the only passenger on deck. Most of the others were down below, enjoying the first truly safe rest they’d had in months. Like many Ko-Matoran, Icthilos had lived a relatively solitary life as a Matoran, and that trait had never entirely gone away even after he’d transformed into a Toa and become leader of his own team. And now for the first time since leaving for Xia a year ago, he could step away and sit in silence, letting his thoughts drift to tomorrow. Once, he’d looked to the stars for guidance on what the future might bring, but there were no stars left now. They’d gone dark, like everything else. Now, all he had was uncertainty, and hope. Metru Nui wasn’t his homeland. He and his team – the Toa Gelida – had come from windswept mountains and sheer cliffs of the Northern Continent’s southern coastline, being among the many who’d migrated to Metru Nui after the darkness had come. He hadn’t stayed long enough for the island to truly feel like home. It was a strange city, full of silvery steel and sprawling structures, metal and machinery overtaking nature. It was far too similar to Xia for his liking. But the outer reaches of Ko-Metru, where industrialisation had yet to mar the landscape, that wasn’t too different to the mountain village he’d left behind. Perhaps- “Gateway ahead!” Came a shout from above, followed by the frantic ringing of a bell, the sound greatly amplified by the abilities of the De-Toa on lookout. The bells and shouts were soon taken up by the other boats in the fleet, who all slowed their approach to avoid colliding with the first vessel as it came to a halt before the Sea Gate. Splashes echoed through the darkened tunnel as anchors were cast, mooring the fleet in place. “Watch the rocks!” Another Toa called, their Kanohi Ruru cutting through the dark like a spotlight, “The water level’s a lot lower than when we last came through here.” The last ship they’d sent from Xia, almost a year past, had been ordered to ensure all of the Sea Gates and underwater chutes leading to Metru Nui were closed and sealed, preventing any hostile forces from entering the dome or reaching the city. Fortunately, the fleet still had the means to unseal the gates from the outside, possessing a pair of Fa-Toa and Masks Of X-Ray Vision to help guide them in their work. Already those Toa were working their way up from belowdecks, along with a number of Ga-Toa to assist with navigating through the gate, so Icthilos took up his lantern and moved away from the railing to give them room to work. Like the others in the expedition, Icthilos had gotten used to operating in near-total darkness. While some areas in Xia had still had generator-powered lightstone lamps or good-old fashioned flaming torches, light swiftly proved itself to be a hindrance rather than help in battle, marking one out as an easy target for the enemy. So the Toa had learned to coordinate by sound and sensation rather than sight, moving in certain ways or speaking in hushed whispers to announce their presence and position to one another. And though the war was behind them, and many, like Icthilos, now felt comfortable carrying lights, those practices still held sway. The Toa murmured as they moved, speaking softly more out of habit than necessity. A few acknowledged Icthilos as he passed them by, but most were focused on their tasks, too driven by the thought of finally seeing Metru Nui again to care about much else. One, however, passing close enough for his Kiril-clad face to be illuminated by the lamp, stopped to smile at him. “There you are!” Ilton grinned. “I figured you’d be up here somewhere.” Ilton was a Fe-Toa, one of only two that Icthilos knew to still exist. While many Toa in the war had changed their armour colours to better conceal themselves, or confuse the enemy, Ilton wore his heritage proudly, clad in metallic grey and burnished yellow-orange. He’d been a Mask Maker prior to becoming a Toa, and his expertise in identifying and creating Kanohi had been instrumental in the campaign on Xia. Like Icthilos, he was the leader of his Toa team – the Toa Vehi – who hailed from the Tren Krom Peninsula, the southern-most edge of the Northern Continent. Unlike Icthilos, he still had most of his team. Indeed, Ilton’s team held the distinction of being the only one to emerge from the Xia conflict with more than half of its members still alive. It was a grim statistic, and not one Ilton had ever felt the need to boast about. Not that Ilton was an especially boastful person to begin with. Their two teams had essentially been neighbours, crossing paths many times over the years on missions, sometimes loaning team members to each other for missions that needed a particular element. There’d been plenty of interaction during their downtime as well, with tours of each other’s territories, and the occasional friendly sporting competitions. Most memorably, they’d once combined the full forces of both their teams to help repel an attempted Frostelus invasion a few centuries ago. In short, Icthilos knew Ilton well, and trusted him implicitly. “Were you looking for me?” He asked. “Trina was.” “Where is she now?” “Headed to the bridge to look for you.” “Thank you,” Icthilos started to move away, then stopped, “You don’t have to be out here. After everything you’ve already done, no one’s going to think any less of you for sitting this one out.” “Oh, I’m not coming up to help open the doors. Now that we’re stopped, I’m moving to the last boat to help close them once we’re all through. I’m the only one who can make sure the Sea Gates can never be opened again.” “Understood,” Icthilos nodded numbly, unable to find further words before Ilton had disappeared into the dark again. Closing up the Sea Gates for good was an idea that had been discussed on-and-off during the voyage back. Icthilos himself had voted in favour of the plan, but he hadn’t realised it was going to be put into effect right now, without consulting the people of Metru Nui first. Icthilos, like many, still harboured some hope that there were other friendly survivors out there in the dying universe who might still find their way to Metru Nui someday. Permanently sealing the gates like this would close the door on that hope forever. Despite his disappointment at the decision, Icthilos understood the necessity of it. If the Dark Hunters and Skakdi ever got tired of fighting each other, or if any other hostile force managed to make it to Metru Nui… well, these Toa weren’t ready for another war. As he made his way up the stairs towards the bridge, he almost bumped into Trina on her way down. A lanky Vo-Toa clad in blue and black, her face adorned with the helm-like shape of a Mask Of Threat Detection, Trina was Icthilos’ oldest and closest friend, and the only member of his original team still part of the expedition. Their only other surviving member had been one of the wounded Toa sent back to Xia a year ago. “Well, I guess I owe Ilton a few widgets,” Trina grumbled, in way of greeting. “Were you two taking bets on where I was?” “No… well, maybe,” she grinned, leaning back against the railing, “I thought you’d be down below somewhere, napping. He said – and I quote – that you’d be somewhere above decks, brooding.” “I don’t brood.” “Oh, of course not. You just stand still, stewing in stoic silence.” “Well, when you put it like that…” “Brooding is quicker.” “-anyway, Ilton said you were looking for me. What’s wrong?” “Nothing, I just wanted to check up on you,” she replied, “You’ve been even more reserved than usual since we left Xia.” “I’ve had a lot on my mind,” he mumbled, “On Xia there was never really time to think more than a few hours ahead, most of time. But now…” “…there’s so much time it feels overwhelming?” He nodded, “You feel the same way?” She returned the nod. “Once we close the Sea Gates for good, the most we’ll ever have to worry about is the odd rahi. Will the Matoran even need protectors anymore?” “Would it be so bad if they didn’t?” Icthilos replied, “A part of me hopes they never need us again.” “What of our Duty? Our Destinies?” There was a tone in her voice that Icthilos recognised well; she was asking more out of curiosity than umbrage or disappointment. “We’ve done our Duty,” he said, shrugging, “And with the gods of this universe dead and gone, I’m not sure if Destiny even exists anymore. If it does, I’m sure mine will find me eventually.” “So what will you do, once we’re back in Metru Nui?” “I was thinking of settling in Ko-Metru, somewhere on the outskirts, away from everyone. But close enough to the light from the Sun Holes that I won’t have to pester you to charge up this lamp every few hours anymore.” “I really don’t mind.” There was something in her voice that gave him pause, an earnest, almost pleading, sincerity that made the simple sentence come across as something far more profound. But before he could fully process or ponder its meaning, a great grinding of metal rumbled through the tunnel as the Sea Gate began to open. The ships shuddered and shifted backwards as liquid protodermis rushed into the tunnel in a tepid torrent; the water level inside the dome seemed to be much higher than it was in the tunnel. With it came an unpleasant scent that stung Icthilos’ nostrils and made him gag; the acrid reek of seawater that had long gone stagnant. The tides had died with everything else. Disappointingly, there was no great ray of daylight coming through to greet the expedition, just murky twilight seeping through the dim, distant specks that were the Sun Holes high above. It seemed that it was night-time in whatever world lay beyond their own. Lower, through the mists that hung over the sea of protodermis, the lights of Metru Nui twinkled. There were fewer of them than Icthilos remembered, but they shone all the same. The city still stood, safe and awaiting their arrival. “There it is, Brother,” Trina’s arm draping over his shoulder stirred Icthilos from the sight, “Let’s bring these people home.” The two Toa made their way down the stairs and back towards the front of the boat, where the Fa-Toa duo who’d opened the way were now standing by to watch the approach. The fleet’s crews were bustling about, pulling up the anchors and bringing engines, sails, or oars to bear to move the fleet forward once more. Ga-Toa manipulated the waves, reversing the flow of the water to allow the ships to move through into the dome. The last ship – the smallest of the fleet – didn’t follow the others, instead moving just beyond the Sea Gate so that Ilton could seal it up when it was closed. In the lead ship, Trina and Icthilos stopped near the front of the deck, gazing out at the city. “I’ll be honest,” Icthilos said softly, “There were times I really thought we weren’t going to make it to this moment.” “Oh, thank the Great Spirit,” Trina exhaled, “I was worried it was just me.” As the boat rolled forward and the city steadily drew closer, Icthilos felt a strange sense of dread whirling within him. The thought of the pomp and parades of the hero’s welcome that no doubt awaited them turned his stomach. This didn’t feel like a triumphant return. In many ways, it felt like a defeat. A defeat that many of these Toa personally blamed him for. He didn’t resent them for feeling that way. Most days, he blamed himself as well. As the shoreline grew close enough for the keen-eyed to make out the shapes of Le-Metru’s chutes and spires, a babble of noise broke out behind the gathered group as a panicked Le-Toa blundered up from below, clutching at his temples as if he were in the throes of a terrible headache. Such a sight might have been strange were it not for the fact that this Toa wore a Mask Of Clairvoyance. “What’s wrong?” Trina asked, only for the Le-Toa to brush right past her. He shouldered through the group to stop at the very front of the ship, where Icthilos himself had been ruminating earlier, and stare out across the water for several seconds. “This is it!” The Toa blurted out, whirling to face the crowd. “Here, now! We have to turn back. We have to leave! The city isn’t safe!” “What did you see?” One of the Fa-Toa asked, taking the Le-Toa by the shoulders and shaking him as if he were a faulty appliance. The seer looked crestfallen. “Death.” “What death? Whose?” “Yours…” the seer’s eyes widened, surprise and despair filling his face as he seemed to only now recall the most important part of his vision, “…mine.” With a warbling whine, a silvery disk streaked out of the sea mist and struck the two Toa, randomly reconstituting them into a mangled mess of meat and metal that sloughed apart almost instantly, splattering across the deck and its occupants. Icthilos could only stare, shock and sorrow paralysing him more effectively than any stasis field could have managed. Not again. Not here. The murderers made themselves known a moment later, as ranks of airborne Vahki came flying out of the night, unleashing volleys of Kanoka and stun blasts upon the boats.

IC: Selamat - Iron Canyon Cave Selamat nodded as Tueris spoke. "I can take the first watch as well," he said. Better now than later; he was already on-edge with adrenaline, and when that subsided would come the crash. OOC: @a goose

You know the saying, 'April showers,' and all that. Well it's a rainy day here and it seems as good of a time as any to remind you that there's only a few days left to enter the 2024 Member Raffle #4! Up for grabs is the LEGO Star Wars buildable figure 75116 Finn from the sequel trilogy. Love it or hate it, the set does have some great uncommon parts for you to get your hands on. Good luck to everyone who enters!View the full article

That's fair. Hero Factory's bright, cartoony style doesn't lend itself super well to tonally darker stories like this one. Once again, I commend you on your ability to deliver twists. I didn't go into this chapter expecting the entire story to be wrapped up here, but the ending certainly delivers. Great work.

are you looking for Kraata in general? i still have some for sale/trade.

Thank you for the kind words. In writing this, I took some of Greg Farshtey's advice to put my protagonist in situations without planning how he'd get out of them, and I have to admit, you can surprise yourself with what kind of plot twists you can come up with by doing that. Hero Factory had a lot of potential to be almost like a kid-friendly version of Blade Runner and I'm pretty disappointed it never tapped into it, but I guess I can't be surprised LEGO went for something light and approachable after BIONICLE. You're totally right about me not describing anything. I have no idea why it never occurred to me to. Descriptions are usually one of my favorite parts of writing sci-fi. To be honest, this was almost a personal challenge to me. Some parts of the Hero Factory storyline were better than others, but I would never necessarily say it was actually good, so I wanted to challenge myself to make something readable even if I didn't think all the parts were there. Usually, when I write BIONICLE fanfiction, I just naturally describe stuff because I'm interested in what they look like, but Hero Factory's design language I just find goofy and hard to take seriously, so I might have subconsciously not wanted to bring attention to that. But you're right, it would have made the story better to offer something. If it had been pointed out to me earlier, I would have tried factoring descriptions in more, but I have just published the final chapter (which I had written before I got this message). I will definitely keep that in mind in the next venture.

Chapter 10 The craft landed on the outskirts of Bardobi City, though with Motherboard plugged into their planet-wide defense grid, the villains certainly knew of their approach. The only reason they were not blasted out of the sky, Wane surmised, was because the villains wanted to see if they were emissaries of the Factory come to accept the villains' terms. That, or the villains looked forward to an old-fashioned fight with the privilege of seeing their victims' faces up close. From a distance, Bardobi Prime appeared a clean, crisp green. The planet-wide ecumenopolis was covered with artificial foliage and automated self-maintenance systems, both of which appeared green. The capital, though, stood out by its new color: blue, the color of Motherboard's corrupting influence. "That's another drone, point five-three of us," Rush announced. It was the fourth such drone the group had noticed. "Ignore it, for now," Fall ordered. "They're not going to give us trouble until the bad bots realize we're not here to accept their terms." Crossing the hill, the three Heroes found the capital city. Even from a distance, they could make out the look of terror on the civilians' faces. The civilian hostages formed a ring of living shields, protecting the crooks from a direct assault. The civilians were not physically bound in place. Had they all run away at the same time, some of them might have escaped. The dozens upon dozens of floating sentinels, though, made it unlikely the survivors would be very many. Fall leaned into Rush as they approached. "You ready?" Rush replied: "It's charging up. Get Gravedigger talking. I just need another minute or two." Gravedigger, clad in black armor with a skull-like helmet covering his face, looked more like a student-bot dressed up for a costume party than an actual criminal mastermind. Wane supposed that was part of his cover, though, appearing less fearsome than he really was. Motherboard and Heatwave, though, looked every bit as dangerous as he had been led to believe, standing on either side of their leader. "Welcome, Heroes!" Gravedigger called. His voice, too, was high and not particularly commanding. Wane wondered just what Gravedigger had said to his two accomplices to gain their trust in the first place. "I trust your creator has made the right choice?" Fall stepped forward, nodding to Rush before she did. "That depends," she called out in response. "He's told us, against my own advice, to offer you one last chance to release these innocent bots. It's not too late, Gravedigger. Call this off now, and your cooperation will be duly noted at your trial." Behind his mask, Gravedigger might have frowned. "You don't get it, do you, Hero?" he said. "The cards are not in your hand. Perhaps you need a demonstration..." Gravedigger whispered to Motherboard, who, with a wave of her hand, beckoned a pair of floating sentinels to single out a random civilian from the trembling crowd. Goaded to the center of the square, clear in the sight of everyone, the civilian was made to kneel before the Heroes as the sentinels' weapons charged up. Rush's own device had been fully charged, though. Without a word, he raised his own arms and mentally activated his antivirus, sending a wave of power surging through the entire square. Every sentinel fell to the ground as the blue energy on the walls and floors, representing Motherboard's influence, fought chaotically against the green energy of the city's systems for control. One of the sentinels, as it fell, fired a blast of energy which narrowly missed the civilian's head. "Everyone, run!" Fall ordered, and chaos and pandemonium broke out in the square. The sentinels which had been hovering high above everyone were damaged when they struck the floor, but none of them had been fully disabled. In only a few minutes, Motherboard's influence would be reestablished, and since she knew what Rush was capable of now, she wouldn't just stand back while he recharged for another antivirus surge. Motherboard bore the full brunt of her power on Rush, swinging her powerful legs at his head, forcing him onto the defensive as he moved backward, careful not to bring their battle closer to any of the fleeing civilians. Heatwave moved against Wane, but Fall intercepted him, Heatwave's fireblasts and the constant stream of water from Fall's hose quickly covering the entire battlefield in a thick layer of misty fog. Wane could still see Gravedigger retreating deeper into the city, though, and following in pursuit, dodging blasts from the reactivated sentinels and distressed civilians rushing about. Exiting the storm of mist and screaming, Wane found his target attempting to board the Chain Reaper. Just as Gravedigger entered the craft, the cockpit about to close and seal, Wane's knife flew through the air, lodging itself in the seat by Gravedigger's leg and preventing the cockpit from properly sealing. As the villain reached down to remove the weapon, Wane himself flew through the air next, landing a kick to Gravedigger and sending him flying out of the side of his own vehicle. Retrieving his tool, Wane slowly moved toward his captive, who was still on his back, crawling backward away from him. "So, that's it?" Wane taunted. "Your plan's gone bad, now you're just leaving your friends to clean up your mess?" Beneath his mask, a smile was visible on Gravedigger's face. "I could say the same about you, couldn't I, Hero?" Wane stopped, his confidence shaken. It was all he had just to keep his grip on his weapon. "Oh, yes, I know all about you," Gravedigger continued. "You don't get as far as I have by not keeping your finger on the pulse of the galaxy. Your defection is the talk of the criminal underworld, you should know. Everyone has their own take on it. Sure, most of us think you're just plain coward, but not me." Standing up and dusting himself off, Gravedigger still stood shorter than Wane, but his confidence projected a much taller persona. "Why, now that you're here, the ideas are just coursing through me... Think about it, ex-Hero. Someone like you, with someone like me calling the shots, could get a lot done in this galaxy." Wane knew better than to take Gravedigger's offer seriously. At the same time, though, he knew that all Makuro was offering him was, as he had stated, "a head start." Even if this mission succeeded, it was either go back to the Factory, or go back on the run, with no allies or places to go. Gravedigger had networks, allies and safehouses. Makuro would never see him again. The sounds of battle were growing closer to them, though. Apparently, Gravedigger's lackies were falling back, hoping to regroup with their leader. Gravedigger wasted no time reminding Wane that he did not have all macrocycle: "So, what's it gonna be? A few more moments, and the choice will be made for you." Wane knew Gravedigger was right. If he did not make a choice, someone else, Gravedigger, Makuro, Fall, he did not know exactly who, would force him into another unwanted role. Wane would make his own choice. *** Fall and Rush inspected the site of the battle as Motherboard and Heatwave were loaded into the prisoner hold of their Hero Craft. The civilians were safe, but no one had seen Gravedigger or Wane. It was not until they had reached the center of the city that they discovered, with a rebar wrapped tightly around him, a diminutive figure, stripped of his armor and tools, trapped and left, as it were, to be found as a gift. "Is that who I think it is?" Rush asked in disbelief. "Gravedigger," Fall confirmed. "Only, without the mask." "Not to mention his ship," Rush added. He looked to his partner, an even more cynical dryness in his optical sensors than usual. "I've got a good guess what happened to both." *** As Wane had hoped, by the time the Heroes caught on to his plan, he was already clearing the planet's gravity well, preparing to take the nearest hyperspace route as far as it would go. Right as he was entering in the final calculations, the holo-projector lit up. Seeing no reason not to, Wane accepted the incoming transmission. "Gregory!" Fall cried. "What are you doing?" Wane had to admit, he had not been expecting her to appear so... emotional. So vulnerable. For just a microsecond, he wondered if he was making the right choice. But the microsecond passed, and only his resolve to forge his own destiny remained. "That's not my name anymore, Petunia," he said calmly. Picking up his new mask from beside him, he donned it. He could see the unique blend of shock and horror on Fall's face. "No, stop! You're making a mistake!" she pleaded. "We saved people, together, you and me! Didn't that feel good, Gregory? Didn't it feel like you were doing what you were made to do?" Gravedigger had to admit, a part of him had been hoping she would have contacted him before he jumped to hyperspace. But now that the moment was here, he found everything he had rehearsed in his head did not feel right to say. "I can't make it make sense to you," he admitted. "Maybe I'll never be able to fully justify it to myself, but this is something that I have to do. Maybe just doing 'what you were made to do' is something that sounds rewarding to you, but to me, it just sounds... suffocating." He took a deep breath. "I can't live a lie. I can't fill a role, answer to a name that someone else forced upon me." Punching in the final coordinates, he said with finality: "So, if you'd be so kind, my new name is Gravedigger." As the ship jumped to hyperspace, the transmission cut out. Even though there was now no one listening to him now, he still declared: "It's the name I chose for myself." The End Review Topic

idk I think with OP around there is no way we could possibly forget about it lol

IC: Lutenus (Outskirts of Atero, Training Ground) - Eye See You The Glatorian’s head snaps to gaze down on Mard and Ahmoa, cyber-eye looming over them, as if looking straight through them. His smile said ‘OK, I believe you,’ but his eye said ‘you ####ing liars’. “Kind of you to say, but there’s no need for…” But then, his voice trails off, and his smile fades, replaced by tiredness and confusion. “For… for… for…” The eye loses focus on the two Agori and the aperture begins opening and closing rapidly while making noises it probably shouldn’t be making. “For your ah, ‘pity bet’, as it were.” He finishes, and suddenly its as if nothing strange happened at all, and he begins to walk away. But then… “Well, we should be going - oh!” As he pretends to only now suddenly remember, he stops and turns back to the training ground proprietors. “I never asked. Who was that Iron Glatorian you were with, earlier? I believe I vaguely remember them from somewhere…” He did not, of course, but moving his gaze towards the horizon while holding his chin in his left hand in thought may convince them he did. @Techn0geist @oncertainty IC: Vraek (Tajun Arena, Hotel Reception) - No Reservations About a Reservation Though she had briefly entertained notions of letting Jeizmel stay with her at her lodgings in Tajun, Vraek knew this couldn’t be so. Her room at the arena’s hotel would be a one-Glatorian sized room - if Metus knew what was good for him that was, as bookings for people who weren’t named Strakk or Gelu were under his jurisdiction. Or at least, Strakk was. Gelu had quit and taken up a disreputable mercenary profession. Which left the position of Iconox’s Second Glatorian open… not that Vraek cared about that sort of thing. She didn’t. Didn’t at all. Catching a brief glance of what she assumed was just a sleeping vagrant and not the recently murdered body of Tajun’s Atero councilor, she enters the arena building. Vraek walks up the counter and dings the bell. Reserved or not, she refused to spend the night in Scarabax’s Delight. Again. @a goose IC: Taldrix (Bone Hunter Stronghold, the Tower) - Be Aware of His Stinger Tail! She was beginning to doubt that the Ghost respected anything, much less his own people- Wait… four eyes… were… could the Zesk… the Sand Tribe… what?! Taldrix wants to look to see if there was a stinger tail or a scar where a tail would be on the Ghost’s waist, but there’s no way for her to do that without looking like she was checking out his- “No sir, I believe that’s everything. I’ll continue to monitor the Aula Agoria and report on her condition.” @a goose IC: Xyde (Iron Canyon, Cave) - Bat Cave “I’ll take third.” Xyde trudges into the cave alongside the others. It didn’t seem any more inviting than the valley itself, but it was a shelter - in the same vein that a dagger was a scalpel. They imagine that this is the sort of place that Ash Agori were expected to live in and swap stories about any recently ‘defiled’ graves. What was it with people demanding that their belongings be buried alongside them? They were DEAD. Did they think they’d be able to take their prized possessions with them into that undiscovered country, from which no traveler returns? Hopefully, the people of Ferrum hadn’t been summoned to that place just yet… @Nato G @~Xemnas~ @a goose @oncertainty @Burnmad

Please don't bother Lego's customer service on this.

Hello, I have no idea how, but somehow an unedited zip file of the very very original Legend of Mata Zuto for RM2K survived on a backup of an old hard drive I had. If anybody is curious I've uploaded it here. The game was made using an "RTP add-on" that most people won't have, so I had to add those files to the game folders myself to make it playable. (Didn't modify anything else, though I can upload the original installer if anybody really needs it for some reason.) I haven't managed to find any more of LeKal's games, or the second demo of Twin Matrix's game (I actually have a bunch of rar fragments I suspect to be the latter but they seem to be missing one file and I can't get them to extract). I wonder if there's even a single remaining copy of either of them on any computer anywhere...

IC: Gayle - Iron Canyon Cave No one wants to stand watch, she thought to herself, resisting the temptation to give voice to the remark. Instead, she said "I'm happy to take the next watch," and followed Tueris towards the cave. OOC: @Burnmad @oncertainty @~Xemnas~ @Toru Nui @a goose

IC, Aurax: Iron Canyon Aurax grunted in acknowledgment before turning to the rest of the group. "I'll take whatever shift nobody wants," he said bluntly. OOC:@Burnmad @oncertainty @Toru Nui @Nato G @a goose

IC: Tueris (Staff NPC; Valley of Death) Though Tueris looked unimpressed with the quiver in the the Vulcanusian’s voice and the condescending tone of the Tajunian, he held his tongue, and nodded. “Alright. We rest here, and keep watch in two-person shifts. I’ll take the first, and the rest of you can decide the remaining assignments amongst yourselves.” He walked towards the cave as he spoke, hardly even looking at the rest of the party. OOC: @Burnmad @oncertainty @~Xemnas~ @Toru Nui @Nato G

That subreddit is quite interesting as it seems to be exactly what Lego had in mind for the theme. Lego intentionally simplified constraction because they felt Bionicle was too restrictive with its' complicated storyline and use of very specific pieces. Lego seemed to have gone through some kind of internal backlash to their early to mid 2000s days of distinctive characters with heavier focus on storylines. It was this exact marketing which pulled me in and from what I understand ninjago also follows this line (although its' story cannot hold a candle to Bionicle). This strategy seems to work whereas the HF strategy did not. Admittedly it would have been cool to see the world of Hero Factory fleshed out more as they could have had a cool universe with so many planets. Maybe there was a big intergalactic crime syndicate that caused the Hero Factory to form or something. Either way this caused a loss of interest in Lego on my end and to this day I have no interest in rekindling it.

I’ve been waiting for someone else to comment so that I could avoid double-posting, but it’s been over a month, so I figure it’s safe to do so. I’ve been loving all of the twists and turns so far. Poor Wane has been getting his hopes squashed at every turn, so I’m hoping this next mission sees things improve for him (though it sounds like he’ll need to get through some formidable villains first). You did a great job of emphasising how existentially terrifying the idea of reprogramming is, and in just a few scenes you’ve managed to transform Mr Makuro into quite a menacing figure. My only criticism is the lack of description. Sci-fi is a great genre for crazy vistas and visuals, but there hasn’t been a lot of that so far. We’re nine chapters in and I still have no idea what Wane or the other heroes really look like. We don’t need entire paragraphs dedicated to description, but even just a line here or there about the colour, build, mannerisms, etc. of characters can help readers build up an image in their minds. I look forward to seeing where things go from here.

At the risk of sounding harsh: what fans? And where are they talking about it? I just had a skim of the main Hero Factory-related sites, and the only active username I see on most of them is yours. According to the changelog on HS01, you're the only person who's contributed to it in any way in months. The same is true of the Heropedia wiki. The Custom Hero Factory wiki has a little activity happening, but it all seems to be in relation to a single ongoing Youtube series. r/HeroFactory only has 369 members, weeks go by between posts, replies are in the single digits, and once again it looks like you're the most frequent poster by a vast margin. The only outlier is r/HeroFactoryLego, which has 3.4k members, and averages few posts a day, but that one seems to be used for general CCBS MOC-posting now rather than HF-specific discussion. I'm not saying that HF has no fans, or that it doesn't deserve to be remembered, but the general attitude of the wider community seems ambivalent at best. No one else seems to be anywhere near as fixated with the theme as you appear to be. Instead of sitting around making wistful posts hoping others will recover old content for you, why not create new content of your own, or engage with some of the existing fan content that's currently running? (Such as Master Inika's current HF story on this site).

The lack of such a button makes me quiver-wonder if staff can see the 20+? Accident-when-site-was-having-an-error clutter of empty entries. I thought the delete entry button existed before? 🙈😆

I mean I would say it's already been forgotten outside of this niche corner of the internet. I would even go as far as to say it was forgotten from its' inception as it was always an afterthought after Ninjago and Chima. I don't know if any numbers exist but I honestly believe a good chunk of people buying HF toys were those of us left over from Bionicle. From what I recall most actual kids at the time (defined as people below the age of 12) were more interested in Ninjago. Hero Factory certainly did last longer than most Lego themes but not enough to have a large fanbase today. Most people that have any interest in it today are mostly people interested in CCBS and don't seem to care for the very lackluster story and characters. That's what I seem to recall when I sold my collection of the stuff off. A lot of the costumers were people in it for the pieces. Admittedly these pieces were very good from a MOC perspective but other themes were also using them and Lego had wanted to simplify constraction since at least 2010 so I don't think it's right to credit Hero Factory specifically. The whole CCBS experiment has since ended and Lego no longer make anything resembling constraction in line with the original slizers theme. HF was just too bland and boring to make a significant dent in my memory.

IMO, Hero Factory just wasn't that good. It was tonally inconsistent and the TV specials got worse as they went on. I never got too many of the sets, but I think the Fire Villains and 2.0 Heroes were the best of them. Breakout had some good building techniques but I didn't care for the aesthetic as much.

I called LEGO Customer Service for the first time in 2006 when I bought Brutaka and his weapon pieces weren't included, and they sent me replacements for free. I called them again in 2008 over some of the new joint pieces breaking and also received complementary replacements (which also later broke, but that's not Customer Service's fault). They're not really there to answer the kind of questions you were asking.

Three more levels fully completed, despite needing multiple attempts for one of the minikits (certainly easier when its at the beginning of a level rather than the end). Also, don't worry too much about not affording those larger stud multiplier red parcels right away. Keep in mind there are three bonus levels, and while the first is that Young Indy story level, the other two are the "collect a million studs" type of bonus levels, so you'll definitely get there (even if you must repeat those bonus levels a few times to get the several millions of studs like I had to). Anyway, thanks for letting us know you'll be off for the next two weeks, so I'll look forward to what's next when you come back.

The customer service page clearly lists the topics they're responsible for. No Lego representative is going to answer questions about sets that haven't been officially announced, and digging up archived content from long-dead themes isn't LCS' responsibility. Complaining that Lego's customer service didn't adequately answer questions that don't fall under their purview in the first place is like complaining that a restaurant couldn't service your car. It's not their job.

IC: Jeizmel, Tajun Streets As Vraek had noticed, evening was rapidly drawing in; and down here below surface level the shadows were already long. Getting work would have to wait until the next day; for now, Jeiz figured her more pressing concern had to be finding a room at an inn. From there, maybe she could talk to the owner in the morning, see if they were hiring any extra hands during the tournament season; and so with that thought in mind, Jeizmel glanced around for the nearest signs pointing in the direction of the Arena. She pointedly ignored the various rustles and sounds of the oncoming Tajun night, the subtle hints in the shadows that pointed towards petty crimes being planned to carry out once the cover of darkness fell. Wasn't her business, not here so far from her treasured home of Iconox... still, Jeiz fingered her new bracelet, wondering if even here she couldn't do something. Waiting tables in some bar might pay her way through life, but wouldn't be satisfying; maybe Tajun had some kind of law enforcement that she could hook up with, do a bit of good for her living even in this cesspool of a town. A thought for the morning. She scampered through the last fading slivers of daylight. The Arena Hotel was probably way out of her budget, if they even had free rooms this close to the tournament which she doubted; but surely there were other less-prestigious places to stay around, too. Just had to find one. ooc: Jeizmel is open to interaction!

Hi, guys. When you are wondering about something or you need something, you would ask Lego Customer Service to help you with something. However, there can be some unhelpful situations. Here are my experiences: 1. When Bionicle was 19 in 2020, I asked LCS if they got any plans for Bionicle’s 20th anniversary. However, they said nothing about it (Bionicle’s 20th anniversary sort of wasn’t celebrated), but they said “what you said would give our designers good ideas” (I don’t think that’s helpful much in my opinion). They also told me to focus on today’s themes like Ninjago. 2. A few months ago, I asked LCS if they would be willing to share Hero Factory’s preserved online and print content to the fans. However, they said they can’t do that. They keep changing people. They still want me to focus on today’s themes. Basically, the people that I talked to did not help me much with Bionicle’s anniversary and Hero Factory’s preserved online and printed content. They should focus on the past things again, so legacies will be preserved. It doesn’t hurt to do it, does it? This is a good reason why we have to ask Mask of Destiny and other Bionicle fan communities like them to contact the guys who worked on some Bionicle works and Hero Factory, and these guys could hopefully uncover the mysteries of some of Bionicle’s media (last year, Mask of Destiny contacted a guy named Peter Mack, who worked on the Mata Nui Online Games and the online animations), like Bionicle: The Legend Reborn’s soundtrack, and restore Hero Factory’s lost stuff. Anyway, have you guys contacted Lego Customer Service before? Did they give you the same problems, or did they help you a lot on a certain situation?