NickonAquaMagna

Ooh, I really like that weapon. I'm wondering if the right shoulder "attachment," for lack of a better word, could use some remodeling, though. It seems to throw off the overall balance.

Well, yeah, I understand if the asymmetry is a bit much... but having two such lightning rods seemed redundant to me and, well, it might make her look too much like Mata Nui. I figured the size of the bow alone, when in her other hand, would add some balance. Does it?

Well, the Midak skyblasters are the only launchers from the later years that I really like. The only con is that they're REEEAALLY heavy for the figures. Still, they look cool, have multiple attachment/upgrade points, have a great mechanism, and you don't have to worry about the ammo falling out. They're both attractive and functional!

The ghost blasters, on the other hand... ugh. Those are everything the skyblasters aren't. They're ugly, clunky, they have very little ammo, a silly function, and they just feel really darn cheap.

I never really liked the Thornax launcher much, but I do appreciate how much more simple and efficient they are than the gaudy ghost blasters. I like the new piece introduced in Hero Factory's Breakout! line that makes it feel more like an actual cannon, but I guess that doesn't count.

My favorite of all, though? The disk launchers from 2004... particularly Vakama's. They, along with the streamlined-as-can-be gear functions of the Toa Metru, were the pinnacle of what I like to call "Slizer engineering", and are just another thing that makes 2004 one of my favorite years.

Hey guys.. I know I said I'd work on the Matoran characters next, but on the spur of the moment, I whipped this up and just had to share it. I really love how this piece turned out.

Also, here's the original, higher-res version. http://fc06.deviantart.net/fs70/i/2014/004/a/c/bionicle__nova_orbis__toa_sein_bio_by_nickinamerica-d70thja.png

Behold, the Toa of Plasma!

The background is the ruin Su-Koro was built in, the same place seen in the Su-Matoran background, only now seen from outside.

Su-Matoran are described as having white and orange armor mixed together, which, for a simple design like theirs, can be pulled off pretty easily... this, though? I tried throwing some white bits in there... but it just looked garish and didn't fit the character. But hey, Tahu and Jaller didn't have the same color scheme in 2001, sooo... who's to say the colors of a Toa of Plasma wouldn't differ from the Matoran a bit, as well? He's still orange, which is the most important part, I think.

The pieces underneath the outer orange armor are brown... well, maybe not quite just that. More like Pohatu Brown along with Metru brown, Avak brown or burnt orange. Either way, if the Toa Miro were a line of sets, this would be the line's equivalent of Pohatu or Hewkii or Carapar or Mata Nui or whoever.

Aside from the breastplate, mask and axe blade being new pieces, this guy's construction is very possible. The Skrall/Vorox armor fits beautifully over the Rahkshi legs, and on the outside of the Kiina/MataNui/Vastus bone piece, it leaves enough room on the inside for, say, a Toa Metru thigh armor piece, to bulk it up a bit. Hey, its better than nothing.

Nonetheless, in the context of this character, we'll say that's a new piece as well, about the same size as a Metru thigh plate, but smoother, more rounded and organic -looking.

Still, if you think this would be a fun figure to build, then by all means, try it out!

The axe in particular was pretty fun to draw. The axe has a "+" shaped pin at either end, and a third one on the back... so you could just keep adding stuff to it. Also stuck a Nuva shoulder plate at the end as a sort of pommel to bop someone on the head with as opposed to splitting them in two.

Anyway... the one thing about this background that I don't like, and something that's been a problem with all of these backgrounds, is that they end up looking nice enough that it's such a shame to have a big chunk of it obscured by the character featured in front of it. Most of the Matoran backgrounds are unusable now, but I won't make that mistake again... so I'm saving these new backgrounds by themselves, and I'll release the lot of them together as one big collage, once I've finished designing the Toa Miro.

And yes, I still have yet to make a suitable background and quote for Toa Piras. I'll get around to that, soon.

That's it for today.

Feedback is appreciated.

Hey, guys! Time for another update. Here's a closer look at each of the Turaga, following yesterday's shot of the Suva.

And, as always, I recommend that you check out the original. It's just easier to read, there. http://fc01.deviantart.net/fs70/f/2014/003/b/3/bionicle__nova_orbis__the_turaga_by_nickinamerica-d70n9ka.png

I haven't really come up with an actual build for these guys, but you should recognize plenty of familiar Bionicle pieces. Each has a Bohrok/Bohrok-Kal claw piece on the chest, then there's the Slizer arms, Bohrok arms, Toa Mata feet, Toa Metru feet and Bohrok feet. Then, there's the legs... yeah, those are actually Hero Factory pieces. The smaller bone pieces, to be exact, with Taipu's being the absolute shortest.

So basically, Vesta is haughty and insecure, Taipu is "down to earth" (heheh), Albus is... chipper, and Kopeke is meek.

The most unusual of the bunch may, in fact, be Macku. The Ga-Matoran always seemed to embody unity the most strongly out of all the Matoran, so this emphasis on oneself is something of a compromise, and sets Macku apart from her predecessors. Perhaps something in the past made her this way?

Eh, whatever.

As for their tools... yeah, I know they aren't the most imaginative, most being retools of past pieces. Heck, Albus has a gardening tool. Vesta has a tool, as well, but he doesn't carry it around with him much.

Well, I hope they've made an impression! Feedback is always appreciated.

Next time, we'll get to know a few of the Matoran who will be recurring characters in this story.

I used to work with a mouse before I got my tablet and I can understand the pain that you are going through. Maybe I could give a few suggestions that might ease your troubles.

 

I'm curious what program do you use to color your works, because if that art program you are using has the lasso tool... that might help you a lot, or even the pen tool can make a huge difference. Those tools will come in handy when drawing your artworks, trust me haha!

 

Just remember that if you put a lot of time and effort onto your artworks, it would shows a lot when you present it than a quickly sketched drawing. This is where you can show the craftsmanship and details put on every single part of your art piece. I'll catch you later on maybe on DA or here!

 

-Lehvorak

I may buy a tablet at some point. My problem is that I just have so many projects I want to get around to, I don't want to spend so much time on any particular something that I have to neglect other things, even if it makes that one thing "special". I do have a basic grasp of all the tools you've listed on photoshop, though.

This style you have is pretty interesting, all you need now is to add value (highlights and shadows) to your artwork to make it stand out more and giving that 3-dimensional feel to it! You should give it a try! Overall, these are pretty good stuff!

 

-Lehvorak

I have "given it a try"... trust me, I've been doing this for years... but as much as I'd love to have a two-toned shaded look, that's REEEEALLY hard to do with a mouse. I'd never get any work done if I took that approach. It's just too time consuming.

On another note, guys, here's some new art I just finished today!

Oh, and here's the full version from my DA gallery, if you wanna closer, clearer look at the Turaga. Recognize anyone? http://fc07.deviantart.net/fs71/f/2014/002/3/5/bionicle__nova_orbis__toa_suva_by_nickinamerica-d70ij5z.png

This shrine rests near Onu-Koro. It is here that the Toa Miro came to be, and where the Turaga gather from time to time.

The actual structure of the thing isn't quite like the Kini-Nui you may remember from the good ol' days. The six columns lining the five walkways used by the Turaga form a semi-circle, with the whole thing looking like a stage from the other side.

The elemental... elements are just flavor added to compliment the Turaga, themselves. The Suva grounds are not like this in the actual story. This is just a homage to the backgrounds on the original Turaga's boxart.

Here, we finally get a glimpse of the five Turaga of this island! Some familiar, some we have never met...

From left to right- Kopeke, Macku, Vesta, Albus, and Taipu.

Sorry to say, this is all I had time to finish today. Tomorrow, we'll get a closer look at each of the Turaga and read their bios!

Watcha' guys think?

 

Well, I'd argue that the LEGO Group has ALREADY put a significant effort into lore and story around current products, specifically Ninjago. It's not the same kind of story as BIONICLE, per se, but it's still very complex and engaging.

I agree. Ninjago is very good. In fact, I'd say THIS is the standard as far as Lego's productions go, if not Bionicle. Compared to it, though... Chima and Hero Factory are pretty weak.

Closer to The Truth.

Eh heh... well, Anchir, most of what you've said, set-wise, is pretty much another spin on everything I've said. In terms of story, however...

I think the best approach to take would be a time skip, or a new setting... or both. Start with a fresh cast of new characters, new settings and a new culture with SOME lingering traits left over from the old days. Throw some references to older material in there for older fans, things that they'll get, without it taking away from the new material, which there's no reason they shouldn't also like. Just make a new base to start from, like in the old days, and build from there.

This is pretty much what I've done with Nova Orbis. New setting, new era, and even new Matoran. Not to self advertize but, well... yeah.

I don't think it would be a good idea to bring Teridax back because, well, his story is done. He got what he wanted (for a little while, anyway), his plan succeeded, and now there's nothing left for him to do. In "The Kingdom", they made it clear that the reason he was taken down so easily at the end is because he just didn't have any drive to fight back like he would in the main canon. Without his plan, he has no sense of purpose, and so there's nothing left to him.

That's why there should be a new threat with their own way of doing things, their own drive... until they've fulfilled their role, as Makuta did.

All I can say is that as a dry, soulless toy commercial, Hero Factory, as a theme, is better than Bionicle. Better for Lego, more efficient at selling toys with less effort.

However, as a STORY.... Hero Factory just has so little going for it. As a story, Bionicle is so much better, because it has more... meat to it.

But I understand if people say that for a toy line, that isn't important.

I like the HF toys, to varying degrees, and... well, I guess that's all Lego needs. I guess all any of this really amounts to is what matters more to us fans, and what matters to the company providing these products. Whatever they "should" or "aren't" doing, whatever they can be expected to do, whether or not we're expecting too much of them now that we've seen their a-game, how much we could possibly be invested in what they're creating... things as abstract and subjective as "soul" and "heart"... in the end, it's all down to priorities.

Well... in my opinion, most of the characters in Chima are morons. It's as simple as that. Any conflict that arises could easily be solved if they didn't make it hard. They make bad decisions left and right and bad developments are drawn out to keep the story going because they can't seem to make a better story.

I mean, something like Cragger's sister entrancing him with the flower was a cool idea... but that's the sort of thing that should only go on for a little while, like, two episodes at most. But every time I check out an episode out of curiosity, it's the same ol' thing. Bad decisions, inept characters, cringe-worthy plot.

But, again... that's just what the show looks like to me. Of course there are bound to be kids who love Chima, but only because... well... they're kids.

I see Ninjago as a standard that they SHOULD try to meet with their other cartoons. It isn't really anything that special, but it's entertaining because, well, it isn't as overwhelmingly childish as Chima and Hero Factory are. It isn't so dark and gritty that kids won't enjoy it, but it isn't so dumb that it fails to draw older guys like me in, either. It's just right. Again, I really don't understand why they can't make those shows as intelligent or witty as Ninjago.

Unfortunately, it sounds as though most of the machines used to mold Bionicle pieces (armor an' whatnot) have been melted down, save a few such as the clawed Piraka feet mold, which continues to be used in Hero Factory... so bringing back all our favorite ol' pieces might not be possible.

I do really like the new bones an' shells system they have going with Hero Factory and the ultrabuild series, but I don't think they're doing quite enough with it. Some builds, such as Chi Cragger and Frost Beast mix things up, but aside from that, most of these characters are kinda samey... which, of course, could be said in Bionicle's early days, but there's just a lot more you can DO with the bones an' shells system.

My only beef with the armor is how... plain it is. Now, you can make a figure that looks really sleek and stylish depending on the colors and the size of the shells, but the whole feel of them is, well, flat. They don't have any details like pistons an' grooves an' whatnot. They're just really plain-Jane, cheap and easy to mold pieces that, while less expensive to produce, just don't look that inspired. Now, as the Chima figures show, it is much easier to make a more organic looking creature such as a Glatorian or a Great Being with these pieces, but they don't feel anything like, say, a Toa.

Anyway... if Bionicle was brought back, I would not want it to be a slightly retooled Hero Factory, like the Ultrabuilds, under a new name. Then it would only be CALLED Bionicle while actually being nothing like it.

However, I don't want to give up the bones system, either. These are really strong pieces that aren't as prone to breaking as Bionicle bones, and they come in a lot more sizes an' whatnot.

I'd mainly like to see new armor pieces that have more detail on them, and can be fitted on by other means than just a ball joint (pins, axles an' whatnot) or a "middle" piece to merge the two... or, just make bones that have no balls on the middle and have holes instead, like in the good ol' days. Those wouldn't REPLACE the current bone pieces... they'd just make for more possibilities.

I'd also like to see a torso piece without a neck ball.

I'd like to see something like brain attack heads used that would have a Toa-esque face on one side and a Glatorian-esque face on the other, so they could just as easily wear a Kanohi as a helmet.

I'd like to see more detail and more personality in the armor.

And overall, I'd like to see more experimental builds along the lines of Cragger and Frost Beast.

Well, as I've said... what, twice now? I think Ninjago is great. I think it's Lego's best show. It's playful, but it's also pretty smart. Seeing how that turned out, I was excited to see Legends of Chima.

....yeah, I'm sure you guys can see how badly they've screwed that up.

honestly, seeing what Lego CAN do, how well they CAN make something engaging, I don't understand why they make things like Hero Factory and Chima so... well... stupid. That's what bugs me about these productions. Because I know they CAN do so much more, and kids will clearly still like it, but for some reason, they insist on marginalizing their demographic by trying to ONLY appeal to little kids, even though Lego is supposedly something for all ages to enjoy, whether you're four or forty.

I'm talking about the pistons an' whatnot, things that would be visibly jutting out of the body, like in a cyberpunk world. I think the implants were talking about with the Bara Magnans don't as often tend to be artificial organs as, say, a giant claw for an arm or something like that.

 

 

Step 1: Murdering all the characters you grew up with and loved only ever works for Transformers. Dark and gritty may work for the original fans, but is incredibly detrimental in getting young kids, AKA the buying market.

What are you talking about? Matoro? Not that many characters died.

 

Well, there were a number of character deaths in the serials, but a lot of those characters (Karzahni, Botar, etc.) were not extremely important to the story even when they were new and performed a useful marketing function. Killing off such characters is sometimes superfluous, but it hardly creates major problems with regard to sales.

 

Matoro's death was not a problem from my perspective. It was treated with the appropriate amount of gravity, after all. And since he probably would have faded into nigh-insignificance otherwise, it's not like a lot of story potential was wasted.

 

I know. I agree with everything you just said.

Oh, indeed the sets are much MORE accurate with the MU residents, but still not completely. That's pretty much impossible, that's my point.

But, anyway... I can't help imagining how hard life would be with all those metal parts jammed into someone's body. I mean, it's a desert world. As in hot. Don't these guys ever get seared by their own piston's an whatnot?

Ah, this is one of my favorite topics of discussion! ...However, it is also my greatest contention with The Legend Reborn.

What you said about how the Bara Magnans would view Mata Nui is something that's crossed my mind, however, you must consider that as far as the Lego sets go, such things are inconsequential. They always have been. They reused old Bionicle pieces instead of molding new, sleeker, more "organic" looking molds because, well, recycling older builds is cheaper. Heck, I doubt all of the animals we see, like the Spikit, really have any mechanics in them at all. To be honest, the way I'd imagine the Bara Magnans being if they were real looks NOTHING like the lego sets... or like the character models in The Legend Reborn.

In the earlier Bionicle Movies, very few of the characters looked like the actual Lego sets. Depending on who you ask, this is a bad thing, but for me, not really. In some cases, the character designers did go WAAAAAAAAAY overboard (Nivawk is a good example), but in some cases, they made the characters beautiful (such as the Toa Metru). The movies were where we were really introduced to the idea that the Matoran, Toa and so on have real muscles and organs somewhere in their protodermic exoskeletons, and that they're essentially reverse-cyborgs and not "just robots".

Uuuuggghhhh.... Does it bug anyone else when people call them robots just because that's what's the sets look like at a glance?

Anyway, with the Legend Reborn, I'd just taken it for granted that the designers would take those same artistic liberties and portray the Bara Magnans as they are in the story... but then I saw the trailers. ...sigh.

I guess it can't be helped that they wanted to increase the sales of the toys by making the characters more greatly resemble the toys, but in the end, there's just one problem...

It's extremely inaccurate and contradicts the story. This visual interpretation of them, with the moving axles an' whatnot making the characters look less organic and more robotic than ever is... well... wrong. When that Vorox's tail just... POPPED OFF, I facepalmed. That's just bad, right there.

Therefore, I don't think we can take the movie or even the sets for granted as accurate depictions of Bara Magnan physiology... heck, it was already kind of a stretch with the "Aqua Magnans", as we could call our old heroes... but I guess that could never be helped.

BEHOLD~

I guess it isn't that necessary this time, but here's the original, cleaner version. http://fc08.deviantart.net/fs70/i/2013/362/d/6/bionicle__nova_orbis__toa_piras_by_nickinamerica-d6zqg5u.png ANYWAY....

I made re-do this one at some point, adding a background to make it more epic. For now, though, here's the first Toa we'll meet on Nova Orbis. Ain't he something?

Yeah, I know the colors are a bit crazy, but that's kind of the point. This guy SUPPOSED to be extravagant and over-the-top because, well, that's just the Ta-Matoran's style. Yeah, it's a little garish, but I think this color scheme would look better on a toy than it does here.

An fact, if anyone has some spare knights' kingdom pieces or whatever laying around, how 'bout making their own take on this? Of course it can't be exact, but... you know, something.

The chest, shield, sword and legs were inspired not just by Tahu (as some may assume) but moreso by the weapons of the Bohrok, Bohrok-Kal and Rahkshi. Small, layered flames, you know?

Though the shield isn't depicted this way in the drawing itself, in SET form a shield like this can easily be attached to many limb pieces (especially a Toa Metru leg used as an arm) with one of these, http://brickset.com/parts/?part=4175442 and a rod inserted into the cross shape.

I think it's much better to use a shield this way than to place it in the hand. I mean, if some knight or gladiator was holding a big, heavy shield and threw his weight into it, he would break his wrist. Strapping it around the forearm puts a much smaller strain on key points, and better aligns it with the body.

The armor on his swinging arm is attached similarly. In fact, that's kind of the gimmick of all the armor. The leg armor works the same way, not unlike the ankle guards used on Ackar and Mata Nui. They CAN be worn over almost any limb piece, with something like this, http://brickset.com/parts/?part=4119589 but they fit best over the smooth, rounded Piraka legs, lapping along the calves. The feet and thigh plates are new pieces, as well.

The crotch plate is a Toa Metru chest piece, which is a bit hard to fit over a Toa Metru pelvis, but with the clearance added to the "new" pelvis, well, that's no problem. Also got a new stomach muscle piece and chest piece, and mask. In fact, the most recognizable piece in this whole thing would be... the Piraka Thigh armor on the other shoulder.

The Kanohi Hau is, of course, for nostalgia, but also to show how much the style of... all of this has changed, kind of like Lihkan's Hau.


Well, anyway... Hope you guys like this one. Since he's the first Toa to appear in the story, I wanted to make a heckuva first impression with him.

Feedback is appreciated.

Step 1: Murdering all the characters you grew up with and loved only ever works for Transformers. Dark and gritty may work for the original fans, but is incredibly detrimental in getting young kids, AKA the buying market.

What are you talking about? Matoro? Not that many characters died.

Some ghoulish cyborg. Who and from where, I do not know... only "brand". All I need to know is that he looks cool.

Just another quick update, guys. Sorry for double posting, but this is pretty important. From now on, I'll be posting all the concept art in its own thread, which I'm going to link to in the opening post, and this thread will be reserved for new story entries, though feedback is always appreciated, so feel free to post whatever comes to mind.

For now, here's a peak at the sort of things you can expect to see, there.

Ain't she somethin'?

Once I've settled on a few more of these designs, I'll get around to uploading the first chapter.

Hey, guys. From now on, I'll be posting character designs, concepts for armor, vehicles, locations an' whatnot to this thread and use this thread http://www.bzpower.com/board/index.php?showtopic=11507 for new entries in the actual stories. If you're interested in either, you may want to follow both, since they'll each be used for different things.

For now, here's my first finalized design for a Toa who will be making an appearance in the story!

This is Toa Uira, a Toa of Lightning. She won't appear until later on, but from what I have planned for her, she's quickly become my favorite character.

She's kind of like a punk rocker girl, you know? She's really gruff, but still very much a girl, and just fun to have around.

I've decided that there will not be a Toa of Ice on her team, since the two would end up looking too much alike. Two Toa that look similar yet have completely different powers on the same would be confusing.

She uses the Kanohi Kadin, the Great Mask of Flight, and wields a bow (that can be separated into a pair of curved blades) to focus her elemental power into thin beams of light and release them in the form of arrows. To give you a better idea of how this would work in set form, I've included a couple of spear pieces, which can be pinned to her right shoulder when not used as arrows. These won't be a part of her actual character design in the story, though.



Anyway, her construction is very possible. It's a mix of two Mocs that I've made recently. Her torso is a backwards Inika backbone (which I usually hate, since it's a lazy way to make a character look "different") with three Toa Metru chest pieces bulking her up. Two hang from the top row of pegs near the shoulders, and the middle hole on each plugs into either end of the five holes in a row on the backbone, with the third chest piece fitting snuggly between them. Try this out, yourself! It looks surprisingly good, in real life.

There is a Toa Mata foot on her stomach, making her look more muscular, like she's got good abs or something, and she has the curvy Inika chest piece (Gelu's, for example) on her back, the upper chest of which I think looks great as shoulder plates. Needless to say, she looks RIPPED from behind.

I did still want to make her fairly feminine, though. The Inika shoulders being used to widen her hips, the three Toa Metru pieces sloping over the curved back of the Inika backbone making for a defined chest, and the Toa Mata feet looking something like heels, but not to a point that it's obvious or offensive. With these and the sleek, muscular Piraka legs, I wanted to make her look lean, nimble, and powerful.

Her right arm has one of those 2009 upper limb pieces with the pegs on the side, with another Toa Metru piece on the inside to give her some more muscle (I hate how stick-like those arms usually were) and a Mata Nui shield piece with a Guurahk staff on top to act as a sort of lightning rod, as if she draws her power through that. Her right arm has the Inika shoulder armor moved up a peg (like, say Toa Inika Matoro), and, well, that's it.

Again, I challenge a mocer out there to bring this character to life if they happen to take a shine to her. I'd love to see how that would turn out.

That's it for now! Consider this an early Christmas present.

EDIT

Well, that was a pretty disastrous way to start. I accidentally linked to my DA gallery. Well, nothing a quick edit couldn't fix. Sorry guys, I'm just juggling a bunch of things at once.

 

I'm not sure that one medium could contain that yinourmus complex story Bionicle had. A centralized medium generally means a reduction in complexity.

 

Now, granted, the "new Bionicle" could have a TV show, then serials or books to expand on it like HF, but that wouldn't be as inherently complex and full of mystery because of the need to "cut around" the details in the books/serials for the TV show viewers.

Good- too much complexity was the problem with BIONICLE.

 

The way I see it, Bionicle is like a tree. As I've said in previous posts, there was a simple, basic plot at the root of it all. There were just a lot of other plot threads branching off on their own that added to it. You didn't NEED to read something like Federation of Fear or Brothers in arms to understand what the Toa Nuva were doing in the three books that were released that year. It was just there, and there is nothing wrong with that.

To go along with Aanchir's post, I think something along the lines of Bionicle could easiy be centralized the way Ninjago is. However, the Schoolastic Bionicle books are, in their own way, a good example of this. Even with all the story serials on the side, showing what else was going on in the universe at the time, the books in 2007 and 2008 did well to focus on what our heroes were doing in the moment, which was most important. Yeah, you may not completely understand WHY certain things worked out the way they did, but the central plot was firmly anchored where it needed to be, making things easier to follow for those not interested in delving into all the other going-ons of Bionicle's world.

Now... let's say whatever replaces Bionicle and/or Hero Factory one day gets 13-20 episodes to tell its story, like Ninjago or Chima. That should be more than enough time to cover all the essnetials.

Even then, if Bionicle did have such a medium back in the say... Well, let's say it had a full season of, like, 26 episodes throughout 2008. You'd only need half of those to focus on the Toa Nuva in Karda Nui, and if one was willing to follow some other plot threads, they could dedicate a few episodes to Takanuva's adventures on the side.

And heck, a story like Federation of Fear or Brothers in Arms could EASILY be covered in... like, 2 episodes. 3, tops. They could even be presented like a special, an event, and aired on the same night, a la Justice League.

And then, everything, all those dangling plot threads would coleasce together in a super-tense, three-parter finale.

And I know this may seem like a bit much to you guys, but it's not like this approach hasn't worked before. Heck, look at how long the 2003 TMNT series ran. Now, I know it's a bit of a stretch to compare something like Bionicle, however awesome it is, to a GIANT such as the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, but my point is that long, complex stories featuring different factions comflicting with each other, and journeys to faraway lands and worlds an' all that CAN and DOES work, as that show has proven.

In the end, I'm not saying Lego HAS to go that far or should even be expected to... it would just be nice if they tried.

And as Ninjago has shown, this more focused approach works. I actually really like the Ninjago show. Yeah, it's a kid's show, but it's got just the right balance of playfulness mixed with actual substance. COMPARED to that, Chima and Hero Factory are so dull.

I'm just hoping that whatever they introduce in 2015 has more meat to it than HF does. Something inspired, you know?

 

I have two chapters of Nova Orbis' first arc written down, and I'm working on the third. When I finish these, I will link to them in my Deviantart gallery, if that's okay. That's where I upload all of my comics an' whatnot.

 

Linking to the dA gallery is absolutely fine.

Anyway, this looks wild. The depth of the project is very clear. My only question is pretty minor: the panels in the comic in your opening post look uneven by design. I'm wondering if it would be more visually tidy if you constructed symmetrical and even panels when possible. Was there a specific intent behind the choice?

 

Well, you see, I draw these on paper, then scan them, then use photoshop to color them. I use a ruler to make the borders of the panels, and I rarely make them perfectly straight. Sorry. When I do make the images for the story, though, I think I can just crop out the edges to make them more even.

I like your style here. The Matoran look recognizable, while still having more Agori-esque traits in their armor design. I'm not sure if I'm entirely sold on your Le-Matoran redesign (being quite nostalgic over the classics) but it's definitely a nice idea you've got there.

...yeah, I'm still a little mixed about them, too. As for their build, I wanted to make them bird-like, but I may have cone just a little far with the hands and feet. If it's their color scheme that puts you off, well, I need them to stand out from the Bo-Matoran. Having two tribes that are all green would seem kinda silly to newcomers, and being a fresh start, this is as much a story for them as for people who have been with Bionicle since the beginning.

On another note, when these chapters are finished, I'll link to them in the opening post.