JAG18

"Caribbean Blue" - Enya. This song is older than me and was a worldwide hit, but I just heard it in an IG reel the other day and now I can't get enough of this enchantment.

"Manalan Mailla" - Vilma Jaa (for Control Resonant). Finnish lyrics I don't understand (but did look up the translation once). I honestly can't remember how I discovered this, I just found it on my "songs to listen to" playlist and liked it. Probably a Finnish artist I follow on IG used it in a story, but again I have no memory.

I agree, the fact that those cartoons are still remembered decades later is proof they did something right and that the sentiment of dismissing them is a little harsh, but I think it's also fair to a point. I made that statement partly because of something a guy (who grew up in the '80s) in a discord server I'm in said when the topic of the new "He-Man" movie came up. That the show had "no characters or lore", although checking the comment now he also said "G.I. Joe" was great, so I'll concede that. The point is, it doesn't take much to step back and see how shallow old action cartoons often were, especially if you compare them to what came after (the 2000s cartoons I grew up watching). Shows that proved how mature and deep children's TV can be. Of course, other old cartoons absolutely deserve the description of "toy commercial" more, but if I had said "Mortal Kombat: Defenders of the Realm" would it have gotten across the point I was trying to make? It's like how George R.R. Martin likes to point out flaws in "The Lord of The Rings" when discussing why he wrote his fantasy books. But if you read between the lines, his criticisms better describe fantasy books inspired by Tolkien and not actual Tolkien. Books which also hardly anyone recognizes by name. Is it flippant and unfair? True. Am I doing the same thing by lumping in beloved TV shows with actually bad ones? Also, true. But I stand by the idea that the shows I mentioned are closer to Hero Factory on the toy commercial-to-art scale than the greats of 2000s cartoons.

So, I recently discovered that Faber had an idea for Hero Factory where Mr. Makuro is the villain or something. I'm not saying that would have made HF better or that executive/corporate meddling is always bad, but it sounds like LEGO laid out some specific rules for what HF could and couldn't be. It reminds me of "Ben 10: Alien Force" which had 2 great seasons, then a mid/bad final season. According to the crew, that's because for season 3 Cartoon Network told them to lighten the tone of the show and shot down their original idea for the season's arc, so the writers just made up whatever to fill-out the season. I'd be more surprised if LEGO didn't have a similar mandate for HF that didn't include at least one mention of "Don't do what you did with Bionicle." I'm not saying the people who worked on HF were salty and intentionally sabotaged the series, but maybe if a company gets in the way of its talented creative people and hinds their creativity, then it shouldn't be surprised when what they do come up with isn't the best. But that's all just speculation on my part.

"Get Back Up" - TobyMac. "And one day, you gon' shine again/You may be knocked down, but not out forever Lose our way, we get back up again/So get up, get up, you gon' shine again It's never too late to get back up again/You may be knocked down, but not out forever."

Hero Factory is a great example of what Bionicle could have been. I know both were the result of a massive company's mandate, but I think when you look at Christian Faber and Alastair Swinnerton's commentary on creating Bionicle (and throw in Greg too once he became the driving force of the story in the later years) it's obvious they didn't treat it as just another job. It was very much a passion project for them. Bionicle didn't need to go so hard, but these and other people made sure it did. Hero Factory (which I do have a soft spot for) really felt phoned in by comparison. It's kind of the difference between old '80s cartoons like "He-Man" and "G.I. Joe" which were just long toy commercials and later animated shows like "Avatar" and "Young Justice" which were also about selling toys but are also great pieces of art in their own right. It's also probably why we're still talking about Bionicle after all this time, because of how much effort was put into it.

"Wiser" - Beth Crowley. "And whatever happened/to the life I was promised? told I could be anything/if I worked the hardest instead I was handed/a world that's so broken and you act surprised when/I say it seems hopeless"

"Hummingbird" - Kyla La Grange. "Like a hummingbird I'll hover/but never taste the fruit Like a memory of a lover/that flickers into view. And all the things you wanted/that kept on calling you. Oh you try, but cannot choose." Tropical tinged ode to analysis paralysis. Was (is still?) my fave song of 2016.

I initially thought the raffle was for a mini/midsize spaceship I could put on my desk until I saw the word "pilot". Oh well, already participating.

It's a show you've probably already heard of/seen, but I love "The Owl House" and think it's a modern great successor to the action adventures I grew up watching like "Ben 10" and "Avatar". And it's got lots of funny moments involving an owl worm thing.

Bro's been holding out against hope that Lego would announce a continuation any day now but finally accepted this last month that they won't do it on their own.

(I think she would have appreciated anything anime 😝) Happy birthday! 🎉🎁🎂

"when death becomes her" - Kim Evans. Third place I'm posting about this tonight, but this is a surprisingly original paranormal thriller (?) about a woman wronged by her husband who puts her soul in a painting to spread her pain to whoever owns her. Several drinks are poisoned, many people die. This book should not have taken me two months to read and I might be ready to admit I ain't got the cognitive function to read anymore and should probably only read short familiar books from now on. No idea what that means.

"Mountaintop Removal" - Lissie. "My darling, my dear, I'll tell you what is right The moon on the lake and swimming by its light My darling, my dear, I'll tell you what is wrong I went to the mountain, but the mountaintop was gone."

I'll admit, I'm probably gatekeeping too hard. I'm just thinking of how many modern "Ben 10" fans haven't watched an episode in years and just watch the popular breakdowns of them. Or the trifecta of books no one has read (Blood Meridian, All Our Tomorrows, I Have No Mouth...) but have legions of fans who just watched viral videos about them. But then, I was fine with SW fans back in the 2000s who only played the games or only collected the comics but didn't watch all (or any) of the movies. Considering how Bionicle's been dormant, we can use all the fans we can get. Not to mention, at least some of the online Bionicle content is story based. If you watch/listen to a 8-12 hour video about Bionicle lore, then you probably know has much as most fans now or then. I'm not as optimistic as you, but I also hope we get at least a couple more of these minifigures (probably Kopaka or Lewa). It's just Tahu's our Pikachu, the face of the brand. When you need nostalgia, that's who you drag out. If anything, we might just get more Tahu cameos/products in the next few years.

Imagine some kid who was born after Bionicle ended (maybe even after Gen 2 ended) randomly pulling this and being like, "What's a Bionicle?" Maybe they'll go down the rabbit hole only to hit the Wall of History and instead of reading the serials or books they'll settle for watching Bionicle animations on YT and brain rot content on Tiktok. If anyone does become a hardcore fan from this, then they can join us in waiting for the next nostalgia bait designed to squeeze out more money from AFOLs which is all Lego seems to want to do with the theme (I mean, I'll probably try and get this figure, so I guess it worked on me). I know it's just business, but that doesn't mean I have to like it.

"TOMORROW" by Chxrlotte. "It's exhausting everyday, trying to hide your tears and sorrow/and it rained again today/but it might be sunny tomorrow, eh eh, tomorrow eh eh tomorrow, eh eh, tomorrow eh eh."

I don't know if everyone already saw this, but the minifigures have officially been revealed and "Bionicle Cosplayer" is one of them (available May 1).

"Dear Sara" - Lola Blanc. "Dear Sara I wish you could see you've got it all Your mascara is starting to bleed We all feel the terror when we look in the mirror"

I mean, my birthday is still on my profile now. A long time ago, I read some online privacy advice that you shouldn't have your birthday and birth year publicly available ( don't remember why though). Either way, I removed my birth year from my profile after they became available to view by non-members, but that screenshot was obviously taken before that. It's probably silly considering how much of my info is online and how little effort I've made to keep my various online profiles hard to trace, but I think the ideal of privacy still matters.

Well, moderately old. I've had some of this screenshots on my computers since 2014ish. Names and avatars of the most controversial ones have been blacked out and don't ask for the originals unless you're also offering a lot of money. Let's start with a lighter one: There was a weird feature that let people link their Twitter (at that time not known as X) to their status updates and this led to some strange updates (I have another saved that it absolutely NSFBZP). Something you had to be there for, checking BZP one last time before bed and seeing some serious drama starting or rule breaking happening, and then checking in the morning and (if you're lucky) being able to see what led to someone being banned (that's if the posts/blog entries weren't deleted overnight). But for the record, this status update wasn't deleted (probably because it's evidence for law enforcement) so I'm not re-uploading deleted content. On a happier note, I used to keep track of my posts and views but it includes other old info too. This is from August 2016 apparently. I got on the front page once! Finally, one of the few good (?) things about the updates going away is it got rid of a lot of evidence of when I was not okay. I saved the rest of what I wrote, but since no one reacted to it at the time, it's probably for the best I not share it (but seriously that was a rough time for me). Kinda wish I had saved more of old BZP but whatever, today is tomorrow's history. -JAG

"Loveless" - Lila Gold. One of my favorite songs of 2018 but I just found out today that the singer changed her name five years ago which is why I haven't heard any of her new music.

"The Poet and Her Vice (Happy Ending)" - Josie Edwards.

It's that time again (that’s the funny thing about birthdays, they’re kind of an annual thing), it's @Mushy the Mushroom birthday!!! She's the kind and thoughtful hermit, an incredibly talented artist, friend to many of us here, and brings so much light and life to our dusty little community. Everyone wish her a happy birthday! 🥳🎆🎁🎂❤️

"My Heart Wants Me Dead" - Lisa Ajax. I heard we were supposed to be listening to music from 2016 again.