Azani

If it wouldn't be too much trouble for you to find it, I'd love to have the script for the BNG version of Dark Mirror. My project differs from a Next Generation film in that it won't be following the canon exactly, instead deviating a little bit and telling a different version of the same story. In my case, I'm adapting the 2001 story in musical form, and the rule that all matoran on Mata Nui, excepting Ga-Matoran, are male is ignored.

Well, thanks for giving your time, regardless of whether or not there's a list. I've managed to find a few archived pages from January 31, 2010 on the Internet Archive, also known as the WayBack Machine; here's an archive of the voice acting auditions topic: https://web.archive.org/web/20100131041731/http://www.bzpower.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=318428&st=0& and here's the scripts review topic: https://web.archive.org/web/20100131041319/http://www.bzpower.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=318213&st=0& Unfortunately, only the first page of each is accessable, and those are the only pages which I've been able to find.

I always thought that your team was making steady progress at a good rate, at least until you guys switched to 2D. The fans who attacked BNG don't sound as though they had any idea of what they were talking about. I have been spending some time on the old BNG wiki at redstar.wikia.com, getting an idea of which people were involved in the project. I'm glad to hear that you'd be interested in either a new project, similar to BNG or a revival of the old team. I've actually been considering shooting the adaptation of the 2001 story which I've been working on in live action; to my knowledge, it would be the first time ever doing it. There are several drawbacks, particularly cost wise, in shooting in live action, though I'd think that it would save me some time in making a feature-length film. If the first film is successful, I'd be sure to consider making more, adapting more of the storyline. If anyone would like to read a preview of the screenplay for the film, the link is in my signature. Jam Pot, I'd really appreciate access to a list of former members of BNG, so I could contact them. Does any sort of list like that exist? If you have access to one, or even a partial one, then that would be very helpful to me.

I'm glad that you're doing these Tolkien, and I've been reading them for quite a while. If you ever assemble your Matoran dictionary into PDF or physical book format, you should make sure to include these individual analyses in an appendix. You really are similar to J.R.R. Tolkien.

More like 200. And most of us aren't video designers/3-D modelers. I'd agree that 200 is probably a more accurate figure, but we wouldn't need nearly 200 people with 3D modeling, video editing, or filming skills. Many more members here are talented writers and artists, and concept art and script writing would need to come first in such a project, anyway. The BNG project never had more than 20 active modellers or animators at any point in time.

There are, however many situations in which the physical laws of our universe are shared by their universe; two examples that immediately come to mind are that time always flows on a linear path there (excepting the Mohtrek) and an analogue to gravity exists, which behaves similarly to the force of gravity which we live with. The universe couldn't dispense with all of our physical principles, and doesn't, because that would alienate many of the fans and cause their universe to be very challenging to understand. Due to the fact that theories can be composed to reconcile the sizes of the planets with our force of gravity, as you have, why couldn't this be a situation in which their universe shares the same physical principle as ours; i.e., gravity exerted by an object is directly proportionate to its mass, unless EP is present inside it?

There's an inherent challenge in persuading multiple persons to be productive in working on a fan project; because the content is copyrighted by another legal entity and not the property of the team, which is composed of fans, the team cannot sell their product for money, and thus they usually lack the monetary funds to pay members of their team. Without regular payment, the risk of team members eventually losing the motivation to continue putting their time and energy into said project is much higher than if they were paid workers. I myself wouldn't expect there to be any trouble in attracting members of the community to a project similar to BNG, even now. In the case of another Lego theme which has been discontinued for a similar amount of time, I'd think it a bit unlikely, and I would believe the same about the Bionicle community had I not seen this site. However, the Bionicle community is still remarkably strong; this site is still primarily centered on Bionicle, excepting the news, and how many active members are there? 600? 700? Definitely enough for a large fan driven project.

I felt the same way, Aanchir, although I did care about their actual goal of retelling the story. (I'm pretty sure that they never had any plans to continue it, only to retell it in video form) Regardless of whether or not they've entirely ceased work and disbanded, they definitely haven't released any new content since the short this past summer, and prior to that it had been even more time since their last update. I really don't want to see Solis Magna.com fail in their goals, because I saw it happen to BNG, and I had had a lot of hope in their ability to make a large mark on the Bionicle fandom. I'm supporting them, as well as planning to purchase several sets from their first wave. If you don't want them to fail, then join the site! http://forums.solismagna.com

This link will take you to a couple of Kopaka Mata sets: http://www.ebay.com/itm/Lego-Bionicles-KOPAKA-8536-2-Bionicles-the-Same/390815442417?_trksid=p2047675.c100005.m1851&_trkparms=aid%3D222005%26algo%3DSIC.PROD%26ao%3D1%26asc%3D20131003132420%26meid%3D6158520693303651794%26pid%3D100005%26prg%3D20131003132420%26rk%3D2%26rkt%3D6%26sd%3D251497485504&rt=nc Within the U.S., shipping is $13.25, and the figures themselves are currently $6.00 total. That's $8.62 per Kopaka.

It's great that you took the time to do this, and all of your calculations appear to be sound; however, the full map of the MU which you're using isn't considered fully canon, unfortunately. It originates from the guide book Makuta's Guide to the Universe, and was inserted mainly to provide a sense of the scale and the rough placement of the islands and continents in the MU. Greg Farshtey provided the rough sketch which formed the basis of the map, and even he has stated that several parts of the map don't correspond with facts which are established parts of the canon. Unfortunately, I can't find his exact quote at the moment, but he said something to the effect of his skill at drawing being not so good, and that furthermore, precise accuracy was never one of the main goals of the map. One noteworthy example is the size of Voya Nui, particularly relative to the size of the Southern Continent, which it was a region of prior to the Great Catacalysm: it can't possibly be as large as it is shown on the map, nearly a third of the size of its continent, because the MU was fully below sea level on Aqua Magna when it "burst out" to the surface, and the entire MU would have been flooded in a matter of days; that includes locations such as Metru Nui and Karda Nui, which were clearly not entirely flooded. Karda Nui was partially flooded, but it definitely would have been even more damaged had Voya Nui been the size that it was shown. Metru Nui, also, is considered to be smaller in the canon, though Mata Nui is much larger. This image, which I believe is considered canon, shows the size of Metru Nui relative to Mata Nui, and it's own dome quite well: http://www.brickshelf.com/gallery/Geek7734/BSMU/bionicle_dome_3d_by_bonesiii.jpg Credit to Bonesiii for that one. It isn't your mistake, however; the map which you used was, to my knowledge, never officially stated to have been non canon by an official source, only by Greg in a passing comment. I believe that the one which you used is the only rendering of the all the land within the MU ever made, canon or otherwise.

That's a good point; a low-key continuation of the project on a much smaller scale isn't too unlikely. In fact, I'm recalling now that a recently produced 2D short was posted on their youtube channel this past summer. Their original wiki, at redstar.wikia.com, is definitely abandoned, though, and Lewa Krom mentioned to me that he wasn't affiliated with them anymore.

The first time that I truly discovered BZPower, albeit as a lurker, was in early 2010. I had heard the site mentioned, and visited its front page, as early as 2008, but I didn't visit the forums or begin to really understand how great the community here was until early 2010, because that's when Bionicle: Next Generation was active. I first saw mention of their project in the old hot topics list on the front page, and after I visited their topics, I was blown away by the dedication, at least initially, of the BNG team to their fan continuation. I hadn't ever heard or seen of a person or group putting so much effort into fan made media, within any fandom, and before I visited BNG's topics here, and subsequently their wiki during those months, it hadn't even occurred to me that fan made films, or games, or comics could be possible on such a massive level. Though BNG quieted down very quickly, and ultimately didn't produce their adaptation of Dark Mirror or any other films, save a few teaser trailers and one 2D short, they've inspired me now to consider my own fan-made Bionicle film, which I am now writing. Without them, I wouldn't even have considered for an instant that a fan-made film could be possible. Is their any spark of activity left in the BNG community, or have they entirely disbanded and ceased to work on any films, short or feature length? Would anybody be interested in restarting BNG with their original goal?

I see; sorry, I'm completely new to CinemaSins and their videos. I checked out their youtube page a minute ago, and they look quite interesting. I just realized, however, that this might belong in Bionicle Discussion rather than S&T; you might want to consider moving the topic. I didn't mean to discourage you from producing more of these; I get it's charm now, and I'm sure that at least a few other people will too.

Is this supposed to be funny? No offense to you or whoever put these together, but most of these are based on incorrect assumptions or mistaken logic. I might be taking this the wrong way, and I'm sorry if I am, but I'm not familiar with "cinema sins", and thus I'm not really sure how I should take this.

In fact, unless I'm mistaken, both of those pieces originated in slizer sets, therefore predating most Bionicle pieces.

It wouldn't have been possible for the collision to burn antidermis all through the robot, though, wouldn't it. Would the entirety of Teridax's antidermis have been concentrated in a location in the head of the GSR? If it wasn't, he would be dead already; spreading their antidermis out too much is just another way of saying the cloud dissipates, which it slowly does when antidermis clouds are loose, which in turn was stated to be their primary weakness -- that's why they need to inhabit some kind of body most of the time, to contain it. In fact, rapid spreading out of his antidermis is the primary effect of the impact that killed him; the impact heat did not even need to be enough to actually burn him, though it likely was. There's also the idea that since his mind was "downloaded" into the Core Processor, which was destroyed, even if antidermis was left in a cloud, it would have no mind, and quickly dissipate on its own, unable to move to a container. I was under the impression that "translating" his consciousness into the core processer freed Teridax's essence from the negative effects of dissipating, because his consciousness would have remained intact and working in there even if his antidermis was lost. Was his "brain" in the core processer still made up of antidermis, along with the rest of him?

I can't read it or write it; learning how to do either was never something that I took the time to do, though I've realized that there's nothing stopping me from doing so now. Wouldn't it be amazing if the Matoran language was developed extensively enough that it could actually be spoken, in order to allow people to converse using it?

Following up on my relatively recent return to the Bionicle fan community, I have begun work on a large project: a film adaption of the 2001 Bionicle story. The title is tentatively “Mysterious Island”; it turns out that it’s already the title of a Jules Verne fantasy novel, but it’s not going to be the final title, and of course I don’t own the rights to Bionicle, either. I have decided, after a lot of thought, to make it a musical in order to distinguish it from similar projects. There has been an enormous amount of care into composing original songs which fit the tone of the 2001 story, and my hope is that none of them will disappoint. This preview is technically two scenes, one of which is closely connected to the next. It's written in screenplay format, or as close to it as Bzpower formatting will allow, though that shouldn't make it challenging to read. I picked the fifth scene to showcase as it is the only one which I have a complete musical number for as of now. Any comments, criticism, or questions are greatly appreciated. 4 EXT. SAND BEACH – MIDDAY TAKUA, a curious, outgoing, Ta-Matoran who dislikes following rules, walks from the TA-WAHI BEACH towards a forest several hundred feet away from him, beyond a ROUGH BASALT OUTCROPPING He hopes to find VAKAMA, the elderly yet clever sage who governs TA-KORO, in order to question him. As he scales the outcropping to approach the forest, he notices that it appears to have been severely damaged by a wildfire. 5 EXT. HEAVILY BURNED FOREST – MIDDAY Though it is noon, the trees of the vast forest blot out much of the sun’s light. Takua’s pace slows and his face begins to reflect his increasing nervousness. TAKUA Vakama? It’s Takua; I’m sorry for being so unannounced. Could you remind me of which way the city is? A breeze rustles several of the many dead leaves which cover the forest floor. The sound is frightening to Takua, who is already fearful. TAKUA ‘Cause I’m pretty sure it’s somewhere- ummm, around here. But I don’t know where. Help, please? Realizing quickly that Vakama does not hear him, Takua frantically looks around himself. He notices KAPURA, a Ta-Matoran with little patience yet is himself prone to philosophical musing, several hundred feet away. He is jogging between trees. TAKUA (Softly) Excuse me sir; do you know the way to the city? Sir? Kapura does not hear him. TAKUA (Louder) I’m near the beach; do you see me? Help, please? Or could you use some help? Kapura does not waver from his jogging. TAKUA (Louder still) You there; yes, with the Ruru: can you hear me? Do you need help from me? Or should I call someone? Takua pauses, worried. TAKUA Hello? Kapura notices Takua and turns to face him, running toward him. KAPURA What do you mean, need help? You've got to have seen me here before; I'm here almost every day. TAKUA Well, I-I... KAPURA I know this place so well, I could label every tree in here on a map. Come to think of it, I can't even remember the last time I went home to Ta-Koro... my, does time fly when you're having fun. TAKUA Are you sure you're okay? KAPURA Why wouldn't I be? TAKUA Well, you're running around alone... in a dark forest....full of dead trees. KAPURA They may look dead, but they're very much alive. Living in a different way as they did as simply trees. TAKUA Isn't that all they are still? Just trees? Uh...all dead, of course, but- Kapura cuts Takua off. KAPURA (Interrupting Takua) Not at all. These trees; really, everything in this forest holds a different kind of life. Takua has decided it best to simply play along with whatever Kapura is saying; he is now nodding silently and hoping that he isn't asked a question. KAPURA That is why it is such a good place for me to practice. But I didn't say that the trees are kind. TAKUA (Feigning Interest) I see. KAPURA They stare all day long, staring and hating me. We are kindred spirits, to a degree, so they do appreciate my practicing, in a way, but in between, they hate me. TAKUA Of course. KAPURA They were once all part of Ta-Wahi, but now they are part of something else. Takua is no longer able to contain all the questions which are constantly popping into his head. TAKUA But they're all dead! They're dead trees! Not alive! KAPURA No, you don't yet understand. The spirit of the MAKUTA dwells inside each of these trees, each of these leaves, each rock and each pinch of dirt. The air is the Makuta's, and he grips it tightly, living in it also. The Makuta can appear however he likes, and know whatever he wishes. Kapura suddenly tenses up with no warning, spins around and pointing a finger directly at Takua, shouts: KAPURA Are YOU the Makuta? TAKUA Ummm, I-I guess so? Kapura gasps, his face frozen in a stare reflecting a degree of horror completely unfathomable to the average person. KAPURA (Boldly) Creature, I h-have the c-c-courage to face a th-thousand demons of your kind! If y-you value your l-l-life, step away from me, now! In total panic, Takua raises his hands above his head and runs backward several yards as quickly as he can. After a few minutes of frightened staring, both completely unsure of the next move of each other, both Takua and Kapura begin to lose their fear. Each assumes a casual, peaceful posture, in stark contrast to their previous positions of fully willing warriors. KAPURA You know....you just might not be the Makuta, actually. Yeah, you're not. The Makuta would never act so frightened. (Beat) Kapura gestures for Takua to walk alongside him. KAPURA (Welcoming) Come with me. They begin to walk side by side towards Ta-Koro. It can be seen lying just outside the forest. KAPURA Do you even know what the Makuta is? TAKUA Not exactly. KAPURA Oh... someone's got to explain that to you, sooner or later. Kapura breaks into song at his next line. KAPURA Forced to sneak out one night I’d lost my shield Couldn’t allow another day Jala’d punish me Made my way to Tren Krom Break I found myself In the midst of a little quake Only me and my board Over lava Suddenly lost my balance And with it All my hope For even without rahi The lava’s not easy He is Makuta The spirit of hatred A demon who lusts for command He is Makuta And for centuries now He’s held his dark mark on our land.

This is part of what I was going for in my previous post.

There isn't any reason to avoid an audience of children by artifically creating or modifying the content to be more mature. The majority of us seem to enjoy the tone of Bionicle the way it is, with it's fair share of corny jokes, ridiculous names, and weak plotlines. It has moderate amounts of each of those things; however, little enough that it could probably pass for a sci-fi story targeted at adults. It could gain quite a bit by allowing itself to be classified as one; mass media which is primarily aimed at adults typically receives more funding and better advertising. Talented and well-known actors are more willing to give their talents to the work, and even the books, films, and episodes themselves tend to be longer in length. Though there are definitely exceptions for works which are known to be famous or of high quality, Bionicle no longer qualifies for either of those categories.

It wouldn't have been possible for the collision to burn antidermis all through the robot, though, would it? Was the entirety of Teridax's antidermis concentrated in a location in the head of the GSR?

I wouldn't think so; considering that he's still needed to postpone the completion of the commission several months after he was originally notified that the necessary funds had been raised, he's probably in the midst of several other major, long-term projects which he has committed himself to. He isn't just doing nothing.

Regardless of his response, it's at least good to know that he's been in contact with the BS01 staff, yourself and Swert included. I definitely should have mentioned something about it to him when I saw him at the ECC last weekend.

For the last year and a half, it's been all disassembled and organized by year (very roughly) in ziploc bags. Before today, in order to see which ones I still had, I hadn't taken them out in several years. My focus is almost entirely on the story now, very little on the sets. 2001: Tahu Mata 2x Turaga Vakama 2002: None 2003: Levahk-Kal Lerahk From this point on, I began to buy most of my Bionicle in stores. (All 2001-2003 was purchased later, excepting Lerahk) 2004: Tehutti Whenua Metru Matau Metru Onewa Metru Nokama Metru Vorzakh 2005 Matau Hordika Onewa Hordika Battle for Metru Nui (Playset) 2006 Dalu Nuparu Inika Jaller Inika Brutaka 2007 Defilak Dekar Thulox Morak Kalmah Carapar Pridak Jaller Mahri Matoro Mahri 2008 Radiak Tamna Chirox Phantoka Antroz Phantoka Lewa Phantoka Kopaka Phantoka Toa Ignika Krika Mistika 2009 Atakus Tarduk Gresh Mata Nui Kiina Toa Mata Nui (titan sized set) 2010 Skrall Tahu Gresh Rakhshi Piraka Takanuva