JAG18

Umbra

I suppose 2006 has a special place in my heart, because of all the great action in the Inika's quest for the Mask of Life and of course the introduction of such memorable characters like Axxon and Brutaka.

2006 also was a pretty good year set wise what with the introduction of the (in)famous Inika build, which worked so well Lego never got rid of it.

This is cool, I see how the Matoran language influenced this. The only thing that bothers me is that it looks a lot harder to hand write than Matoran;

still your alphabet looks like it would make whoever came up with the Matoran alphabet proud.

What do you plan to do with it, if you don't mind me asking?

@Mohammed

Don't worry, you weren't coming across as rude, but I guess I've never paid much attention to what a Chimerae was.

(P.S. I suggest we continue this over PM, if you want to, so as to not clutter up this topic)

Speaking of U. S. Grant...

Grant loved horses and once, before a battle, had a teamster tied to a tree mistreating a horse.

Grant always ate his meat well-done because he would faint at the smallest sight of blood on his plate.

Grant was born Hiram Ulysses Grant, but a clerk at West Point en-rolled him as Ulysses S. Grant, not to

create a fuss (Or risk being nicknamed "Hug") he kept it.

And now for a fact not involving the 18th President.

At any one time their are anywhere from 50 to 100 active serial killers in the U.S. ...that's a conservative estimate.

Edited; for spelling and grammar.

 

Very cool, at first I thought that having so many colors splashed in the front was a bad idea, but I marvel at how well you made it work.

On the one hand I sort of think that the rest of him should have that kind of multi-colored look, but on the other hand I think doing that might rob it of

some of it's charm and uniqueness, so I wouldn't think too much about changing the colors much. I like how you used the Vakama Hordika head on the red dragon to make it look like it has nostrils, nice job there.

 

As a whole, solid build on the rest of the dragon, especially the heads and front legs.

The back legs look a bit more like hoofed feet rather than imposing claws, buts that I think is minor.

 

Octharius, is also pretty neat, I love how at first glance your mind just screams "Gladiator". A lot of techniques you used, especial the helmet design, really contribute that feel.

 

Very good work, Mohammed Marei, first rate stuff this is.

 

One last thing, I don't believe for second that Octharius could bring down that dragon by himself.

 

Cheers!

 

The back legs are completely intended to be hoofed feet. This is basically my translation of the concept of an actual Chimera, a beast from Greek mythology. A chimera is meant to be a mixture of several different animals: Lion, Goat, Dragon* and its tail a Snake's head. The theme of this build was 25/25/25/25, much like the original idea of the 50-50 Challenge over on MOCpages.com.

 

This Chimera is meant to be built from several parts of these 4 animals; heads of a lion, goat, dragon and snake (in place of a tail), SUPPOSEDLY the upper body of a lion and a lower body of a goat. I opted in to translate the beast a bit differently, in order to better suit the Challenge's theme. The front leg+head of a dragon (25%), the chest, head and front leg of a lion (25%), the head and hind legs of a goat (25%), and the head and body of a snake in place of a tail (25%). I was going to include a dragon wing on one side but realised it might look a bit too cluttered and therefore carry a risk of putting viewers off.

 

N.B: It's worth noting that the proportions are intended to be hypothetical; I have not used a specific proportions of pieces for each part of the chimera.

 

*Some depictions of the chimera did contain a dragon head, though more commonly without one.

 

All that being said, thank you for your feedback! Truly appreciated!

 

Oh well, now that I know what a "Chimera" is, I take back what I said.

The more you know I guess...

@Angel Bob: forgot about the Mind Wipe for a second there so I guess your right.

Meta-perspective - it was the other way around. Greg probably based the factions of the Civil War off the way everyone acted to Vakama.

 

Besides, you can't really say that it was "racism". More of the fact that the Metru were pretty much loners and passive-aggressive maniacs who barely managed to band together and save the world.

I think that pretty much hits the nail on the head. (The first part, not the second one, although that could work too.)

Very cool, at first I thought that having so many colors splashed in the front was a bad idea, but I marvel at how well you made it work.

On the one hand I sort of think that the rest of him should have that kind of multi-colored look, but on the other hand I think doing that might rob it of

some of it's charm and uniqueness, so I wouldn't think too much about changing the colors much. I like how you used the Vakama Hordika head on the red dragon to make it look like it has nostrils, nice job there.

As a whole, solid build on the rest of the dragon, especially the heads and front legs.

The back legs look a bit more like hoofed feet rather than imposing claws, buts that I think is minor.

Octharius, is also pretty neat, I love how at first glance your mind just screams "Gladiator". A lot of techniques you used, especial the helmet design, really contribute that feel.

Very good work, Mohammed Marei, first rate stuff this is.

One last thing, I don't believe for second that Octharius could bring down that dragon by himself.

Cheers!

Oh man, this is amazing.

The head design is great as are the arms, legs, torso, there's almost nothing not love.

While, at first, I too was a bit turned off by the unusual long legs (when compared to the arms) I don't see why

he can't have those proportions.

intriguing use of pieces like the Golden Armor on the feet, and Rocka head on the sword.

Great work man, hope to see more of them in the future.

"Thrill Stealer" by Xplode

"The Mother we Share" by Chvrches

So, once upon a time on the old forums of yore, there were about four or five topics called "Useless Facts" topics, which I always thought were pretty cool,

so I thought I would resurrect the trend as the "Interesting Facts Topic"!

So basically, just post interesting facts here and see how things go!

I'll start:

You probably know that on the second day at the Battle of Gettysburg, Col. Joshua Chamberlain lead his Maine Regiment a bayonet charge down the hill right into an Alabama Regiment,

routing them, saving the battle and the entire Union cause. What you might not have known is that his Maine regiment was from a small town 400 miles from Gettysburg and that the

men they capture were from a town also 400 miles from Gettysburg. An almost completely straight 800 mile line can be drawn from one town to the other, with Gettysburg being

right in the middle.

Yeesh, sorry it was kind of long, but anyway go post way!

I just finished reading "Pride and Prejudice" last night.

Boy! Was it hard to get into; good book, but not really up my alley.

Hmm...I wasn't around much in 2004 so I can't verify that all that drama happened among the Toa Metru, but I see no reason to doubt that it did.

Anyway, I think you might just over-thinking this, since the '04 storyline was written about four years before we had any hard facts about the "War".

Of course, I have sometimes wondered, how much effect the "War" had on both later Metru Nui and by extension Mata Nui, like whether any

prejudices (like the ones you seem to be suggesting) evolved among the Matoran.

Interesting.

I'm not much of an art buff, so take what I have to with a grain of salt.

First, I like how you including all the BIONICLE different pieces, from the Toa feet to the nuva armor.

Coloring looks well done and is what really attracts me to it.

The only thing that bothers me is the thinness of the wrists, they just don't seem to me as being sufficient to hold that huge

scythe, but that's probably just me.

All in all, you did a good job here Tattorack.

On Christmas day 2001, I receive Pohatu Mata and somehow managed to build him wrong, despite the simplicity of the old BIONICLE sets.

Very next day, I bought Lewa Mata and needless to say I was hooked.

 

Anyway, on to the moc, the design seems a little basic, but considering it fits on your hand, obviously works well. I am however impressed that's it's not pinching your hand

too much as mocs like these tend to do. I'm not sure if you meant for the fingers to move with your own, but considering that would probably require rubber bands I'd say

that that's fine as it is. The only thing that I would suggest is perhaps using larger blades on the finger tips to make it look more intimidating.

Finally, nice little moc you have there.

 

• I made a lot of adjustments to make sure it doesn't restrict any movement or cause pain, so it fits well without slipping off.

• As for finger mobility, I DID try rubber bands, but it's hard to work out at the moment (it both hurts my fingers and I don't get full mobility).

• I'm considering using larger blades. I'll see what I can do with my available pieces.

 

Thanks for your insight!

 

Well, then good job on the first point, and that's what I would have expected on the second point.

And you mean the insight of a noob?

Wow, that's cool.

Like really cool; I do really like how you gave it a medieval look and feel to him, the ax and use of the Kardas skull really help, and that helmet the skeleton has really complements it.

Nice build all around, from the colors to the sturdy looking limbs. Nice job.

Now this is an impressive moc.

First the Queen, I like how you designed the head so that at first glance I couldn't tell that that was a Metru-Nui head, I also like your use of Rahkshi heads for armor.

They are a lot of nice subtle building techniques here that really add to this moc's look.

Nice, work on the legs, while I admit that their a little standard (but still cool), I'm just happy to see a fictional spider with the correct number of limbs.

Shame, you couldn't do something about the hollow body.

The Royal Guardian, seems to not have the same hollowness problem, which is nice. He seems a bit less complex, but that doesn't detract from his great build.

Great work, Mate.

Never heard of the story behind this so I can't commit on how well it does or doesn't resemble the source work.

Anyway, on to the moc, the design seems a little basic, but considering it fits on your hand, obviously works well. I am however impressed that's it's not pinching your hand

too much as mocs like these tend to do. I'm not sure if you meant for the fingers to move with your own, but considering that would probably require rubber bands I'd say

that that's fine as it is. The only thing that I would suggest is perhaps using larger blades on the finger tips to make it look more intimidating.

Finally, nice little moc you have there.

The limbs are kind of genetic, but get the job done; the torso is the highlight of this moc for me. Looks both armored and feminine, nice work there.

Color suits her well, wait with being the "Iron Huntress" and all.

Overall I like it; its a nicely made medium sized moc.

"Time of Living (Fast)" by Three Le-Matoran

Heh, I know not the best.

"You Belong with Me"-Taylor Swift

(By the way, great idea for a game Windrider)

I'll admit that I've been ignoring this new theme up until now, but I thought since BZPower was reporting on it that I might as well takes a look at it.

My first impression is that they all seem just a little...babyish; course I doubt these are aimed at older LEGO fans so I guess that's fine.

I like the new parts and more importantly, the new, innovative, use of parts.

Probably won't pick any of them up, but I'll try and keep an open mind towards these Mixels.

Gerlicky is back! I always liked your old picture comics.

Anyway, these comics are great, humor is good, artwork (the photography I mean) is nice and nice alternative to sprites; the episodic nature of the comics is cool enough.

Hope, PIRAKA comics becomes more popular on BZPower and that you keep on making them.

Katuko,

This is a fun action packed BIONICLE game that I've played and enjoyed many times, and think you've done great work on it. I think the actually game play, if not overwhelmingly challenging, is my favorite part, along with the rad character building options and decent graphics.

Judging by all the new features and changes you've been mentioning in the past few pages, I think Bionicle Fighter has nowhere to go, but up and up.

Keep up the good work and I'm looking forward for the next update.

Hello BZ-Metru! Always wanted to say that; so here's a little short story I wrote a while back. I'll admit I'm not much of a writer, but I hope the premise is decent enough to make the story at least somewhat interesting. Anyway, this story was inspired by a blog entry written by Aho-Chan (an entry that has since been deleted), which mentioned something about how the Hero Factory Dropship Pilot (I named him Parker) could tear villains apart with his bare fists if he every got shot down. Hope you enjoy it and constructive criticism is appreciated.

The Day Parker the Pilot saved us all

Sirens rang out calling Hero Factory member, Jacob Swift, to action. Jacob ran into the Hero Factory Mission Control room, where all Hero Factory heroes get briefed before taking on the worse that the universe has to offer. It was here that Swift found mission analyzer Nathaniel Zib.

“What’s the mission Zib?” The hero pondered.

“There appears to be,” the mission analyzer said with great drawl,

“A disturbance in sector 3, which as you of course know is a mining colony.”

A dull look appeared on Jacob Swift’s face before he nodded slowly.

“Probably just some rampaging space monkey,” Zib the floating robot said, “Go check it out.”

“I’m on it Zib.” And with that, our hero ran to the elevator, which took him to the hanger on the top floor.

In said hangar, Parker the Hero Factory pilot was having a cup of tea while leaning on his state of the art Drop ship with its sleek and elegant frame, its rocking yellow paint job, as well as its extremely powerful rotor blades; allowing it to reach subsonic speeds. This ship was made for a hero.

Parker noticed Jacob Swift entering, “What’s up?” The pilot asked Swift.

“We need to get to Sector 3, now!”

And without any further delay Jacob Swift entered his cramp Hero Factory pod, which then was grasped by the Drop ship’s powerful claws.

The Hero Factory HQ tower elevator raised the great ship on to the roof. The Drop ship then lifted off the ground and off into space.

They got to Sector 3 in record time and Parker hovered above Sector 3; a remote mining colony located on a perpetually moving space asteroid, where you either ship up…or get hurled into the black, grimy, darkness of space. Not a nice place to visit. “What do you see, Parker?” The anxious hero asked his pilot. “Not, much,” Parker started, “Just the usual stuff, miner bots, mining vehicles, and a giant rampaging robot, an awesome-“

“Wait,” interrupted Jacob Swift, “Did you say giant rampaging robot?”

Parker used his ship’s binoculars and identified—“Hacksaw!” Parker shouted…rudely interrupting the narrator. Ahem, yes Hacksaw, wanted for destruction of private property, in over six sectors.

“You know what we need to do?” Swift jokingly asked his pilot.

“ahhhhh, yeah.” Parker said before shouting, “Pod’s away!”

The Hero factory pod was hurled at the robot villain. The pod’s thruster kicked in causing the pod to slam into Hacksaw’s midsection.

“Alright, hero,” Hacksaw said menacingly as he staggered on his feet, “You asked for it.” The pod opened and Jacob Swift emerged twirling his duel energy knives, “No,” Jacob said, “You’re the one who asked for it tusk-face.”

“Hey, good one Jacob.” Parker radioed his hero, ignoring Hacksaw’s very apparent lack of tusks.

Hacksaw chuckled coldly before speaking in a gruff voice, “No, hero you asked for it!” Just, then two other villains rose from the asteroid’s rocks and dust behind Swift, like two zombies from their graves, or like hero Daniela Web arising from a pile of candy wrappers after ever crazy candy Tuesday.

Parker gasped in astonishment as he quickly identified the villains as Inferno and Wolfgang. The former wanted for arson in five sectors and the latter guilty of a heinous crime too ghastly to write here.

Putting all witty dialogue aside Hacksaw hurled his rocket powered buzz saw at Jacob who skillfully dodged it, only to be grabbed by the fearsome claws of Wolfgang. The wolfish criminal slammed Jacob into the ground of the rocky asteroid like a rag doll, first one time, then two times, then three and four…five, six, seven…

Meanwhile, Hacksaw’s buzz saw returned to its master via remote control and then the power tool wielding villain eyed the Drop ship in the sky, before firing two buzz saws at it. Parker acted quickly yanking on the Drop ships controls, he evaded one saw, but had his wing damaged by the other.

Lights flashed in the cockpit as Parker tried in vain to gain control; the ship crashed not forty paces from the spot of such a tragic defeat for the once glorious Hero Factory. Jacob was shocked at the sight he glimpsed upside down, while strung up from Wolfgang’s claws. Once again, Hacksaw retrieved his weapons and then turning towards his unimpressed cohort said, “Make sure he won’t be getting back up.” Inferno nodded and then sprinted towards the crash site. Then, waiting until Inferno was good and gone, Hacksaw hulked over to Jacob, put his saw up to the hero’s face and mockingly said, “Ain’t no one gonna help you now.”

An explosion occurred. Hacksaw looked into the eastern sky and saw Inferno flying for brief time before crashing hard on the roof of a miners building, in the mining town, near where such a momentous encounter between hero and villain was taking place. Then emerging out of a cloud of smoke, ten feet in front of Hacksaw was none other than, Parker the Pilot. “How did?” Hacksaw said still mystified at what he just witness. “Now then,” Parker said challengingly, “Let’s try this again.” Hacksaw commanded forth his robotic ally, who then dropped his captive, before violently and ravenously, surging forward like a wolf to his prey, or like Daniela Web to a Reese’s Peanut Butter Cup. Parker wasn’t fazed. Wolfgang lunged forward extending his neck, widening his jaws, preparing to tear into solid metal.

But this robot wolf shall do no tearing this day. Fore, the pilot dove and weaved, and then jabbed, right hook, left hook, sucker punch, low-blow. Until a pulverized Wolfgang collapsed like the shattered hunk of scrap metal he now was. Astonished, but not the least bit demoralized (well, maybe a little) Hacksaw hurled his two rocket powered saw at the fistful fighter named Parker; who then leaped in between the two saws fists first, before activating his rocket boots. And so, Hacksaw for the first (but, not the last) time today was slammed into with immense force. Hacksaw was now flat on his back looking up at the azure Hero Factory pilot who was raising his fist high.

And then it all went black.

A few hours later, Parker and Jacob Swift arrived back at Hero Factory HQ, with villains in tow. After, dropping them off at the holding area, Parker and Swift found Nathaniel Zib where anyone would expect to find him, at the Hero Factory Control Room.

“That was absolutely phenomenal.” The, oddly, ecstatic Zib told the returning heroes, “Parker the way you tore those villains a part with your bare fist was amazing, and we caught the whole thing on your’s and Swift’s surveillance cameras.”

“What, a nanosecond,” snapped Parker before being continued by Swift, “You mean to tell us that you were watching us get our rears handed to us and didn’t ever try to help us?”

“Well, yes.” A slightly apologetic Zib replied, “But, you were doing so well.”

The two heroes remained unconvinced. “And, besides,” Zib continued, “It looks like you really didn’t need our help.”

“Tell, that to these guys,” Parker said referring to his badly dented fists.

“Err.” Zib said, “Why, don’t you two just go to the Recharging Area and get refitted for your next mission.”

Content not to push it any further, Parker and Jacob, headed over to the Recharging Area and began discussing some small affairs, like how the vending machine on the forth level (Daniela Web’s floor) is always under stocked.

Nathaniel Zib whipped the sweat from his brow and got back to his job of analyzing mission.

The End