1womanarmy
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Posts posted by 1womanarmy
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On 9/15/2019 at 6:04 PM, Tyler Durden said:
I can't stress enough that the BZPRPG and the RPG forums (BRPG and the criminally unloved crew at OTC) are the most important part of this website to me. Put aside the fact that we're the most prolific posters on the site by a gigantic margin, just the bonds the community has formed within itself over the last decade (or two, in some cases!!) are more than enough reason to keep dragging me back here even though the forums are hardly at the most lively they'll ever been.
I would hazard an disagreement here - the only active RPG here seems to be Six Kingdoms: Escapement. The BZPRPG is now currently dead.
As for why I'm here, it's to convince people to leave. Bionicle is dead, constraction is dead, and everyone's sitting around licking their wounds. Time to bail. Unless Faber can revive it with his far-fetched pet project. That's why I'm still here, to answer the question for myself: Is Bionicle truly dead? Is there truly no hope? I have my suspicions that the answer to that question is yes and that we are all sitting around in denial, but if there is any life left in this lumbering giant robot, I'm here to know.
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On 3/19/2018 at 10:57 AM, Smudge8 said:
Welcome to the Island of Terra-Dra Home of adventure and danger. Amongst the peaceful grasslands, calm beaches, dense jungles and tall mountains matoran live side by side with giant, dangerous Rahi. Their survival depends on YOU the hunters. Grab your weapon, put on your mask, and get out there to defend civilization and blaze new trails into the wilds of Terra-Dra. Happy hunting!
The Island
Terra-Dra is a rough and harsh landscape with five areas. Planes-Dra, Beach-Dra, Jungle-Dra, Mountain-Dra, and Sand-Dra. The Hunters Guild monitors the environments of each area closely, and travel into each area requires the Guild’s permission.
21 minutes ago, 1womanarmy said:I'm not an approval overlord, but I have to say that this RPG looks good. I would play it.
I think that it needs a second profile form, though, because some people might wish to play as Rahi. And it needs some player objectives: why are we hunting the Rahi, exactly? To free them from Makuta's control like in 2001? I feel that this needs clarified. Perhaps if we manage to complete a quest or hunt a Rahi, we get to a higher level.
Also, what are the Guild's objectives? If they aren't to be revealed immediately, how do I as a player work toward unraveling the mystery? Why does the Guild exist? What am I doing as a player? These are concerns that I would like to see addressed in a revised draft. Thanks.
11 minutes ago, Eyru said:Hey @1womanarmy!
Just so you know, this topic is strictly for RPG applications and approvals. The only people who should be posting here are RPG applicants and the RPG judges.
But we'd love to hear your thoughts on potential RPGs. We just ask that you post them in the Official RPG Planning Topic. Thanks!
Yeah, sorry about that man. I just noticed that this planning topic existed after I had made my post. Whoops. Noob facepalm. But here it is.
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On 3/19/2018 at 10:57 AM, Smudge8 said:
Welcome to the Island of Terra-Dra Home of adventure and danger. Amongst the peaceful grasslands, calm beaches, dense jungles and tall mountains matoran live side by side with giant, dangerous Rahi. Their survival depends on YOU the hunters. Grab your weapon, put on your mask, and get out there to defend civilization and blaze new trails into the wilds of Terra-Dra. Happy hunting!
The Island
Terra-Dra is a rough and harsh landscape with five areas. Planes-Dra, Beach-Dra, Jungle-Dra, Mountain-Dra, and Sand-Dra. The Hunters Guild monitors the environments of each area closely, and travel into each area requires the Guild’s permission.
I'm not an approval overlord, but I have to say that this RPG looks good. I would play it.
I think that it needs a second profile form, though, because some people might wish to play as Rahi. And it needs some player objectives: why are we hunting the Rahi, exactly? To free them from Makuta's control like in 2001? I feel that this needs clarified. Perhaps if we manage to complete a quest or hunt a Rahi, we get to a higher level.
Also, what are the Guild's objectives? If they aren't to be revealed immediately, how do I as a player work toward unraveling the mystery? Why does the Guild exist? What am I doing as a player? These are concerns that I would like to see addressed in a revised draft. Thanks.
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14 hours ago, Sir Keksalot said:
The Lego Movie and The Lego Batman Movie.
I'm slightly confused as to how these qualify as comedy shows. I mean, they have jokes in them - I seriously dug President Business' reaction to the double-decker couch - but there's like action and actual storytelling in there. And the Lego Batman Movie is comedy? The film that has "One is the loneliest number" played in it and a super-grief-tear-jerky lesson about family? You would call that a comedy movie?
Besides, I think we might be able to agree that TLM/TLBM blow Ninjago out of the water far and away - I mean, we can actually compare apples to apples since Ninjago actually has its own movie (cringe). The Ninjago movie's plot was terrible because it was a rehash of the Lloyd vs. Garmadon plot that no one wanted and was actually worse than the original TV show version of those events. The comedy thing there managed to swallow the theme, so idk if it was a comedy movie or not. It just sucked.
Regardless, I would not consider "inclusion of comedic lines or scenes" suitable to render the entire work a comedy, because Bionicle has some jokes in it, and we just agreed that Bionicle is not a comedy. So to label something a comedy, I would have to judge that the purpose of the work is to make people laugh, or it would have to meet the formal professional definition of satire (like the Onion, for example).
14 hours ago, Sir Keksalot said:I--what? Alright, I guess you, uh...don't find things funny? I can't recommend you anything comedic if you just don't like comedy, unless you've somehow never seen a good comedy.
I tend not to understand the sense of humor of the general population. It escapes me. Sometimes I get some of the Lego-fandom "in-jokes" like the couch reaction about impracticability. I also got some of the Lego Batman references to TV Tropes story deconstruction in the beginning of movie with the helicopter.
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12 hours ago, Alexander123 said:
Teridax is teleported to Star Wars right after his "I am the ground you walk on speech" but before Mata Nui is expelled from his body. He is teleported into his 2003 body. Also if the other Makuta are the Grand Moffs then the imperial remnant/warlords/First Order just got lot scarier.
With that in mind, if Makuta got control of the Empire, I suspect he would build a giant Mata Nui-esque robot and crush Rebel Ships with his bare hands.
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On 3/26/2020 at 10:32 PM, 21Boomerangs said:
I recently re-found a blog entry by an old friend:
I think this man has an important point: Ninjago is a comedy series. Bionicle is not.
This may explain some things going on here. If you're into Bionicle because it's Serious Fantasy Story that takes itself and its storytelling quality Very Seriously, then Ninjago may not be for you. Granted: Bionicle does have its share of jokes, some kinda silly: just as Templar Studios. But I think Ninjago is much more of a kids' comedy show than Bionicle ever was. It kind of got dark near the end.
So in that respect, Ninjago is not the next Bionicle because it doesn't take itself as seriously as Bionicle. Do you see what I mean?
I have never watched a kid’s comedy series that didn’t suck, so this is supposed to make me like Ninjago? How? Actually, to be honest, I hate all comedy TV and theatrical films. And you’re not winning any points on that by referring to bonesiii.
The parts of Ninjago I like are the not-comedy stuff, like the training course montage from the first season. The jokes are universally horrible. At least when Bionicle made a joke, it was dark-humor enough to be funny. The Ninjago jokes aren’t funny.
6 hours ago, Sir Keksalot said:Kids' comedy doesn't have to entail low quality; heck, look at TLM and TLBM, both strong films regardless of their genre or target audience
What is TLM and TLBM? I don’t know what you’re referring to. Hopefully it’s not something involving minions. Blargh. But if there actually is a good kid’s comedy film in existence, I’d like to know about it. (All of my favorite kid’s comedies are books, not film...)
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8 hours ago, Sir Keksalot said:
I didn't necessarily mean Faber, just anyone qualified. Hopefully, Faber has the sense to hire a writer who has proven his/her mettle. And it's quite likely that nobody in charge of IFB actually put in any, well...effort into the thing. I feel like apathy more than incompetence was the driving force there.
Out of curiosity, have you seen this?
That’s where I got my assessment of IFB being all about art. He doesn’t talk much about story other than to say that they had to fit all of the products in.
This topic is talking about Faber bringing Bionicle back, though. I think it’s important to understand what we can and can’t expect from him. If anyone wanted to do it, you have to have writing and art, at least. There’s a visual component to Bionicle which is important, even without the sets.
The counterpoint to this would be the Mata Nui Rising video, which does have some really complex story elements in there involving the Mask of Life and Makuta taking over, but without Greg’s story to explain, it may not have worked as well as it did or have been such an epic moment. That’s why I’m using IFB as an example of “Faber without Greg”, as opposed to the Mata Nui Rising Video, which is what Advance is capable of with the Bionicle story team behind them.
8 hours ago, Sir Keksalot said:I hope not, subscription models are incredibly sleazy. Just let me buy the game once and charge me for DLC/skins/whatever, as long as it's not P2W or lootboxes.
I’m with you on this - the story updates could work as DLC.
But all of that is being incredibly optimistic. They probably will do some weird digital building thing in Lego development with story update videos produced by Advance, with ads for other sets thrown in to annoy us all. But like, it could be totally awesome as a game: build the hero, then put them into action for story stuff and have glorious cutscenes...it would be like the HF Breakout game, only it would have a story and be much better. Maybe more MNOG-like...
6 hours ago, Sir Keksalot said:My point is that there are lots of franchises that consist solely of the work of fiction used to deliver their narrative and nothing else, save for some merch which other companies acquired the rights to sell.
I mean, if Advance and Ghost can produce a well-written Bionicle theatrical film, I’d be first in line to see it on opening night. I’m pretty sure film franchises are what operate on the model you’ve described.
In that case Lego would be really stupid to not make sets to accompany the film’s release, though.
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20 hours ago, Sir Keksalot said:
Even if an actually good writer is put behind it instead of Greg?
Keep in mind the context here; Faber might be a jaw-droppingly amazing concept artist, but an actual writer he is not. Faber and the team at Advance made the “Invasion From Below” TV episode that had no storytelling depth and crashed Hero Factory. So if making a setless Bionicle is beyond the storytelling skills of Greg Farshtey, Faber and Advance are hopelessly underwater.
Further, starting with art and not focusing on story is what crashed Bionicle G2. I still have so much beautiful art from G2 still on my hard drive, but the story limped, and we all know what happened.
I did see Faber’s “Evolution of Storytelling diagram” in his stream, so maybe he’s learned his lesson. The problem is, the Rebel Nature thing hasn’t produced a story either: all art, no story. Writing a story is a skill - I’m in college for creative writing, so I would know - and there are parts to it, like characters and theme and plot and conflict, and how all of those parts work together with the person’s writing voice and character voices. You can’t just skip over an entire area of expertise, and if you don’t want to learn it, you have to hire it. I’m not sure Faber is ready to swallow his pride enough to do either.
Greg had some problems with not making his characters all sound the same, but he kept the Bionicle storyline alive for ten years. I’d breathe much easier if I knew he was writing the story here. At least he is an actual writer. Faber + Greg = Bionicle G1.
20 hours ago, Sir Keksalot said:Oh, obviously Faber has to profit from this; but one AAA game, if it's even that, won't cost $150-200.
I was thinking they would go on the subscription model for a MMORPG, like Lego Universe or Chima Online. Check out the price table for Lego Universe: https://brickset.com/article/656/lego-universe-subscription-costs
Chima online had premium bricks that made gameplay easier/much faster. Purchases of them could run up to $60 for a pack.
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On 4/2/2020 at 12:10 PM, TheZOMBIEJ said:
nope! it was Alastair Swinnerton! nice try tho!
I can't tell if this is a joke or not.
On 4/2/2020 at 2:58 PM, Nidhiki of the Shadows said:I have to assume there is some sort of NDA attached. He doesn't own Bionicle, so I don't think he would be able to discuss the talks he's had with his potential partners freely. He was being vague but at least we know something is happening behind the scenes.
This is a fair point, but that doesn't mean he is functionally incapable of being concise. He could say "I have a proposal for something going on with Lego that could be a Bionicle thing but I'm not sure how this will turn out and I can't say anything but it's all very exciting! Also the coronavirus got in the way and delayed the meeting."
23 hours ago, Bonkle said:Gotta say, I LOVE G1's story but I can't make myself care if there are no sets involved.
We don't know that this is not the case. Besides, even if they are not, I suspect that there will be instructions for sets built into the thing that we can build using existing parts. Or like if it's a game, many people will take out existing parts and make MoCs for it. So I think sets will be involved, even if there aren't any new ones.
The obvious problem with that model is if you don't have any old Bionicle sets left or you never got the chance to buy them in the first place. For example, I have tons of G2 parts but not nearly as many G1 parts, which could prove annoying if the instructions have spaces for, say, Titan Mata Nui's shoulders or something.
I'm hoping for a Bionicle MMORPG out of this one to be honest, or at least something in league with Glatorian Arena 3. I hope Lego licenses it out to Advance so we don't get like severe chat restrictions and the asking price to buy it isn't sky-high.
22 hours ago, Sir Keksalot said:And, frankly, our wallets will thank us all if we're buying less bonks.
If this is a game like I think it is, I mean, games ain't free either. Faber and his creative team have to eat somehow. I can't remember what it cost for premium Chima online and Lego Universe, but it was high enough to make me pass on it. Over time, a game subscription can easily add up to more money than the $150-$200 it was to buy the entire 2015 Bionicle wave. And if this is full VR, VR equipment represents a monetary investment as well.
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8 hours ago, admiraltyphoon said:
he's the mastermind behind Bionicle's original concept
I thought that was Bob Thompson.
I agree with you though - we don't need a rush job here. That could give us another G2-style disaster. Let's take it easy and sip some tea.
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Basically the entire CCBS system blew my mind when it first came out.
The 2015 Toa deserve an honorable mention for combining CCBS with gears, which really was a mind-blowing thing.
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No offense to Faber, but his stream is too long and he's talking around the information. How hard is it to say "I have a proposal to Lego to Bring Back Bionicle as a VR thing, but it got postponed because of corona, so the big day is a flop?"
On the positive side, maybe Faber bringing us along for the journey will tell people how to get ideas approved by Lego and how hard the process is and what really goes into it, so people stop making irrational assumptions about it.
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1 minute ago, Lenny7092 said:
Faber noticed that and have been teasing it for a year. That’s my theory. Or, he is just writing a new Bionicle story, maybe a G3 story judging from the picture of the three-like “B” that he just posted.
What I remember from Bionicle 2015 was that they kept it a big secret until a few months before they were ready to release the line. The NYC comic-con reveal was late 2014 and the 2015 thing was a Spring 2015 launch. If Lego was planning to release a new Bionicle, and involve Faber, they would put him under a non-disclosure agreement, and these images would be leaks.
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Is Faber even allowed to use Bionicle at all? It's not like he owns the trademark or the building system. This looks like Faber trying to interest Bionicle fans in his Rebel Nature thing by incorporating more Bionicle elements to get more customers.
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16 hours ago, That Matoran with a Vahi said:
REALLY love a guide book first to how to run an RP the BZP way, I've never done it before xD
Honestly man, the way they run RPG over in Bionicle RPG is still baffling me and it seems to move too fast. They have 3 topics: discussion, playing, and profiles for each RPG. Here in this forum, it seems to be all in one topic. So most of the profiles appear to be posted first and linked in the first post, then they move into the game play, with discussion conducted using OOC: (out-of-character) marks. IC means in-character, and often you'll see stuff like IC (character name) with means that they are playing as that character.
GMs appear to advance the storyline by having their own characters or story disruptive digressions where they just intervene and change stuff. This appears to happen at the host's discretion. I think the idea of GMs having characters is a better model, but idk because they can get OP (over-powered).
I actually don't know anything about Rock Raiders, other than the fact that the theme is about mining, though. I've found that I can just usually join RPGs without worrying about story beyond what the GMs give me anyway. Less arguments with them about canon and more time firing lasers.
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5 hours ago, Sir Keksalot said:
...You know, I would actually watch this. Well, up until that last part.
Yeah, you have a point. The fighting between Aira and Rascal would get annoying. Fortunately, I have a convenient solution: enter Azari to blast Rascal into an active volcano. Runtime for that whole sequence would be less than 5 minutes. Rascal leaves for Chima in a huff and does not come back to Elves airspace. Problem solved.
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It would be 2015 Tahu and Kopaka chasing after Speeda Demon while Stringer supplied an epic soundtrack. Rahaga Norik and Turaga Vakama would bet on the race between Tahu and Kopaka.
Meanwhile, Gali and Naida and Aira would all be having tea around Naida’s boat. And that would be just the beginning, because the fights between Aira and Rascal (from Chima) would be endless.
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18 minutes ago, 21Boomerangs said:
The serious problem is that Bionicle 2016 ended on an admittedly tragic note. That is not Bionicle. Bionicle ends with the good guys winning. Granted, individual years ended in tragedy (2004 and 2008, for example) but the good guys won in 2010.
I thought the "dark universe" thing was a really cool twist. I think it might have been better if they had allowed for one more episode to develop it and maybe get the Toa to convince the trapped characters to escape, but at least they stopped Makuta's plan and Gali escaped.
I would have liked to have had more time for the story to explore the dark world as well as a way for the Toa to solve it, rather than it being left as a hopeless situation. But I don't think it has no precedent in G1. G1 had plenty of characters who got trapped in bad situations and never escaped, like the Red Star. The problem is that I think the Dark World was supposed to be a G2 Mangaia parallel, not a Red Star or Pit or Karzanhi parallel. But those parallels still work, so...yeah.
I don't think we should throw out G2 or the 2010s just because G2 has a Karzanhi/Red Star place.
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To answer the topic question, I really liked Hero Factory and thought it was funny. It seemed have a lot of underused story potential that was great for fanfiction. I also seriously dug Bionicle's return in 2015 and 2016 as well. I also liked Elves - I loved the boat set and the cute mini-dolls in fantasy form. So cool!
I loved all of the potential for jokes.
So all in all, I really liked the 2010s. We had a good line in HF that revolutionized constraction, we had the return of Bionicle (yasss!), and we even had the Elves line. We had the Faber files and the LMB Greg too. I think even some of the last Bionicle G1 serials were posted in 2011. Then there was Erebus talking with Greg. The Nathan Furst movie soundtracks for the first 3 Bionicle movies came out after years of waiting! We finally found the original files for the Map of Mata Nui game against all of the naysayers - holy Kanohi!
The decade kinda ended on a low note, but that doesn't mean that we should discount Lego or Bionicle for the entire decade. That is incredibly short-sighted. The 2010s have shown that the fans, artists, and writers of Bionicle can carry the torch onward into the future. Here's to the 2020s!
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Fishing, you say? I look up from my fishing boat that just so happens to glide nearby and watch a lion pull a Kanohi Mask out of the water. The Ignika?
I aim my spearfishing gun at the unfortunate lion and harpoon him in. Thus entangled in my cable, I use other lines to help me reel him in and take the mask. Then I cut him loose and speed away.
My Mask.
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Onua 2015
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I dig that llama. Thanks for the pictures @Black Six!
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How to construct a good Bionicle theatrical film:
Hire Greg to write it, set the story in an alternate universe version of the Red Star. Have all the dead people fight each other and comment on their miserable lives while drinking refreshing beverages. Since the dead characters on the Red Star are all interesting characters with cool backstories, they could just be introduced to a new audience without getting too involved in the other stuff.
Instead of randomly throwing Kopaka and Pohatu in there, make it so the characters’ backstories contribute to solving the mystery that allows the characters to escape the Red Star. That way we can throw in the old theme of teamwork to appease all of the fans from 2001. Then we also get the scene of overcoming everything, even death and the evil Kestora, and the heartwarming scene of all of the dead people being reunited with their friends. For added tears, set it during a war on Spherus Magna so the audience is rooting for the dead characters to escape. Would fly off shelves.
is bzpower dying?
in General Discussion
Posted
Yep, it's on its last legs. We've been waiting for its demise since 2011, though. This place is more undead than bonesiii, and it's a crying shame.
I'M IN.
I have a video camera. Let's DO IT.