Bionicle Guru

You're not the weird old guy. That would be me. Nice to see you got some real-world friendships and experiences out of BZPower. I always envied that a little regarding all the missives I read between staff, retired staff, and their friends and sycophants alike. I think BZPower in the "real world" was mainly an east coast phenomena, and people like me here in Texas weren't really "in" on the community that was concentrated around the Bos-Wash metropolitan corridor. I always wanted to go to BrickFair and co-mingle, but it never happened. Thank goodness for Brick Rodeo here in Texas, even though I have met no BZPower members nor even BIONICLE fans through these Texas-based conventions. Anyway, I'm rambling, as old people do.

Name is familiar, yes. But there were tens of thousands of us on BZPower back in the Before Time. My exploits and writings were numerous and widespread, and even then, people from that time do not recall the name of "Bionicle Guru" with any feeling. That is the way with ghosts and ghost towns, it seems.

No, it doesn't sound mean, but the rant seems more like the standard, boilerplate reaction leveled against the hordes of more unreasonable BIONICLE fans who are screaming into the void about a complete resurrection of BIONICLE officially from LEGO. You have conflated my (admittedly) rambling frustration regarding a tribute or homage (not a set and definitely not a whole branch of merchandise) with some greater disgust of BIONICLE being the shamed, hidden titan that LEGO buries while uplifting the Harry Potter franchise. You can read that into my blog, but let me tell you, I'm well aware of how internally LEGO honors BIONICLE as well as how fans keep extracting life from it in numerous ways. Frankly, that's not my thing. I lived for the official legend of BIONICLE, not whatever fans managed to extract hungrily from it (hence my "blood from a [Makoki] stone" comment). Good for them getting a "canon" appearance for some minor character or making the original BIONICLE PC game a reality. But as a life-long fan of LEGO, I will always first and foremost be interested in what LEGO (the company) releases. That's what matters. All I hoped for was a minor tribute. I address my anger at finding out the possibility that such a tribute, if it exists, may only be a tiny sticker in a completely different theme which is celebrating, ironically enough, their 20th anniversary.

I don't blame you for having the conclusions you did. But I figure if you took the time to write such an essay, I'd at least better follow up with an explanation of myself!

4 hours ago, Bambi said:

I had no idea Lego was celebrating 20 years of Lego Harry Potter. After all these somewhat recent controversies surrounding JK Rowling, you'd figure Lego would want to celebrate a theme that hasn't really had its reputation tarnished. :\

I will concede that in spite of the controversies around JK Rowling, nothing seems to have dampened fan enthusiasm for all things related to the books. At my local LEGO store where I used to work, Harry Potter sets flew off the shelves frequently. People of all walks of life snatched up sets large and small, and if they harbored private reservations about supporting Rowling in spite of herself, they never alluded to them. I guess Warner Brothers Studios is determined to keep "The Wizarding World" a "thing" that it can milk into perpetuity, just like the Lucasfilm of today plans to milk "Star Wars" for all its worth. In that case, LEGO has to play along otherwise they lose a good revenue stream. I did state matter-of-factly that LEGO loves money, after all.

On 3/27/2021 at 9:26 AM, Mushy the Mushroom said:

Glad to see you back in the blogs.

Magnificent artwork, such impressive detail work! I was in disbelief for a second upon reading you drew that at 12! 

Did not expect compliments on the drawing, but twelve-year-old me thanks you! I had been fond of drawing for years at that point in my life, but I was a slow learner. Very little progress could be seen in my work that wasn't traced (did a lot of that when I was in elementary school), but something about BIONICLE helped drive my natural talents forward. These toys and characters were so intricate that I wanted to convey that, do it justice, in my drawings. Hence Tahu here in March 2001. It's interesting to compare this drawing to the one from my other blog entry of Lewa in the trees from August 2001, five months later.

On 3/26/2021 at 11:43 PM, Bambi said:

You did a great job on that drawing; I'm sure many fans of Bionicle will always remember the first time they saw that canister on the beach. <3

Thanks! Yes, the imagery is burned in my brain. Even more so the MNOLG version of the scene, which I often puzzled over on school computers in the nebulous time between getting Tahu and getting BIONICLE comic #1 in May. But that is for another blog!

Carlos D'Anda's art really set the style for BIONICLE. Though it was only two years, the influence was clearly felt by Randy Elliott (who was the colorist when D'Anda was drawing) when he took over as artist from 2003 through 2005. Nevertheless, it was a step down, as the art seemed "stiffer" with the posing of the characters, as if there was a mandate to show them in positions that could only be replicated by the toys themselves whenever possible.

The 2006 through 2007 art really suffered from Sayger's style. That's not to dig on him as an artist, and his enthusiasm for BIONICLE seemed genuine. However, as atmospherically compelling as he made the scenery, the characters suffered mightily. Every Matoran, Toa, Piraka, and warrior looked stretched, squashed, and crude, drawn with a carefree hand that seemed more intent on capturing atmosphere, not physicality. Again, might work out in other types of comics, but it was not good for BIONICLE. So many crucial scenes were rendered into murky messes, it makes it hard to re-read those comics now, as pivotal as the story was.

Leigh Gallagher brought a most welcome return to form in 2008. Evocative of Randy Elliott's style, Gallagher did not feel as limited by the toys' posing abilities (granted, BIONICLE sets had gotten more articulated since Elliott last drew them), and the coloring was as bright and vibrant as it was back in the D'Anda days. Not sure why Gallagher left the team, but Pop Mhan hewed very close to Gallagher's style, adding a bit more personality to the characters, thanks in part to new pieces like the Glatorian head and hand socket (with fingers).

As someone who has been on the job hunt now for over five months, I feel your exhaustion and newfound relief at having employment. However, the red flags you pointed out here are definitely troubling. In a normal economic scenario, I would definitely say you should bail out as soon as possible. But considering how the COVID-19 pandemic's effects still haven't abated, it might be too risky. Perhaps best to stay on for the next four months or so, especially if the healthcare benefits (medical, dental, and vision?) are substantial enough to cover you in the worst case scenario (i.e. getting COVID-19). To be fair, this company might seem to be in such a disarray as a result of what has happened due to the pandemic, but I wouldn't give them that excuse for very long. If by four months you still see vagaries in their pay scales to you, miscommunications about basic duties, or worse, definitely look to find employment elsewhere that will (most importantly) utilize your abilities and skills to the utmost, not leave you bored or wondering what is going on.

I'm sure you did your research beforehand, but what is this company's reputation? When you do a Google search, what kinds of reviews and comments come up from past employees or other competitors? If the word is not good, you definitely don't want to spend too long there as the harm done to your resume will affect you almost as much as being unemployed with no benefits. Over the past five months, there were definitely opportunities where I could've said yes to jobs that were definitely beneath my skill level and for companies with less than stand-out reputations. In spite of my need to have income again, I rejected them in order to keep my career goals on track. But I understand that can be hard if you don't have other assets (IRAs, unemployment benefits, stock dividends) to provide you with essentials until you get that better job.

This is a tough time, but I hope for the best for you. Hopefully, my perspective helps you out, even if just a little.

4 hours ago, Valendale said:

Wait, which of the rahi was yours?

I called it the "Protodermic Swamp Chomper", but in spite of being one of the 50 first prizes, it was not chosen to be in the Official Rahi Guide that Greg Farshtey wrote and was published later that year. See below!

2 hours ago, Bambi said:

"For those who may be sitting on their own MISB BIONICLE stockpile, I encourage you to build them whenever you're able."

I don't own any (because let me tell you, when I got a new set that box was opened as soon as I got home lol), but if I did I don't know if I could bring myself to open it. Well, I guess it depends on how old the set is. Like a Titan from 08 or 09 wouldn't be a problem. But if I had something like the Exo-Toa, it'd either keep collecting dust or end up getting sold... Probably to someone like you. :V

By all means, I'd be happy to take new, MISB Exo-Toa sets off anyone's hands! That is probably one of my absolute favorite BIONICLE sets, and part of me always wanted a full set of six for all six Toa. But seriously, as you can read, I was like you in that every BIONICLE set I got, I immediately opened and built. I assumed when I put Brutaka away in 2007 that BIONICLE would still be going strong in 2011 and beyond. Boy, was I wrong! Now everything is a collectible, and growing rarer by the day. Now that Brutaka is deprecated by me building him, I still have the Nui Rama, Maxilos and Spinax, Nocturn, Lesovikk, Gorast, Rockoh T3, Tarduk, Tuma, and Skopio XV-1 still new and un-built.

46 minutes ago, JAG18 said:

You wanna talk about huge, one of the benefits of having Axonn and Brutaka was I was able to build Botar and see him in all his glory.   

From pictures, I can tell Botar is truly a behemoth to behold in terms of size! When I first saw him in 2006, though, I thought he looked too much like a BIONICLE version of a Gremlin. You know, like from the movies with the three rules and whatnot. It was hard for me to take him seriously with his story role, looking so strange. But yeah, I'm missing out on the sheer awesomeness that is his mighty size.

51 minutes ago, JAG18 said:

Brutaka is such a great set to build and look at; he and Axonn are two of just a few sets I still have on display. 

He is huge! Eventually, I need to open and build Maxilos and Spinax, and I wonder if Maxilos manages to stand as tall as Brutaka.

I never got Axonn because he was smaller and I disliked the usage of Metruan limbs for fingers on his hands. I know LEGO was trying to push the envelope here, but it just didn't look so great in my eyes. I do like those giant axe pieces, though, and the overall color scheme is great.

38 minutes ago, Valendale said:

Man, I remember you from the old comedies guide that used to be pinned in that forum. You were probably long since gone by the time I became active. Hope you're doing well and enjoy looking around here, but you've come after many people have left and the last few remnants are starting to.

Wow, people actually noticed that thing! I only remembered that pinned post today going through my saved PM folder, where I messaged the Forum Moderator (who was Hahli_Husky back then) about my idea for a round-table topic on what makes a Comedy a "comedy". Back then, that subforum was notorious as a dumping ground of sorts for only the most juvenile and incoherent writing. I did not see it that way, and wanted to help elevate my fellow comedy writers to a better standard. Hahli Husky approved, and with a gaggle of other members, I took turns describing some basic do's and don'ts of writing, using jokes, timing, and structure. Most of my fellow contributors fell by the wayside, but it had grown substantial enough to just leave it as is, as a pinned topic. Plus, it gave my comedy, BORNICLE, a bit more traffic!

Says you joined in October 2008, and yes, that was indeed the start of "hiatus" from BZPower. I still checked it regularly, but my participation in the life of the forum dropped off. I was a sophomore in college back then. Thanks for the good summary on the changes. Time was, even after 2011 (at least until 2015, I think, maybe longer), even though your old, pre-2011 posts were gone, your total post count was still preserved. I know I had over 1300 forum posts! But it looks like these are new boards, and they scrubbed that. I also remember your member number used to be under your avatar along with the proto bar (when did that disappear???) and rank. I still remember being BZPower Member #12599. Part of the first 15000 BZPower members! Eventually, the site grew to have more than 30,000 members (and even more!), so I felt like part of the "old guard" in spite of not having been an official member since the Kanohi-Power or BZCommunity days. Ahhh, a legendary time. *sips*. 2003 was a good year. Yeaap.

Well, nothing has happened to me yet, so I guess...

P.S. Love how all the old emoticons are still here. I spent extra minutes before replying just admiring all the old BIONICLE-themed emoticons available.

So, I know Bink's blog entry here has receded into the cobwebs of the Internet, but in the years since he wrote of this idea, I think now, more than ever, is a good time for it. BIONICLE's 20th anniversary is next year. What better time to release an adult-sized, coffee-table type book filled with high-res scans and pictures of BIONICLE concept art and models from 1999 to 2010? I am particularly interested in the early years (2001 through 2004), and especially in stuff no one has seen before (or at least, not in high resolution). Christian Faber did a wonderful gesture by posting some of this stuff on his blog, but that has fallen by the wayside since he has his own projects going on.

Would the fact that the original story bibles, concept art, and prototypes are still considered by LEGO to be viable seeds for future sets be what's holding back the creation of such a book? Perhaps this was the case ten years ago, when it was hoped that BIONICLE would come back and constraction themes were still a mainstay in LEGO's lineup, but now constraction is dead and BIONICLE has rebooted and died again. C'mon Kelly, use that old LEGO employee clout to get us BIONICLE geeks the book we deserve!

Just make sure to take the love of your life with you, so you don't come back to find her tragically dead.

Duh, well, yes, I better bring my current girlfriend, then. She'd actually be really upset if I didn't bring her to an exo-solar planet. After all, somebody has to rule it, so in order to establish a royal house, she would have to come along to rule beside me!

Oh, you're right. Warping is totally the way to go. Some method to fold space is ideal, but I suppose if I am left with just good old fashioned light-speed, six years at the expense of 1400 back home is a small price to pay. Hope the locals don't mind me moving in!

I just now saw this blog entry. I'm touched, and thankful that one of my lost posts from the Old BZPower was preserved here. That, my friend, is an EPIC win!

See, that's what I figured, Aanchir. There's something unique to BZPower, even without BIONICLE to perpetuate it alone, so maybe it should continue with focus just on the constraction and "toy saga" lines (like Legends of Chima and Ninjago). Maybe now I see the real reason I've gravitated towards Brickset more often, and it's because the themes that BZPower focuses on are ones that do not interest me, and I have been blinded by that. But Brickset gives plenty of press to Mixels and Chima, less for Ninjago and almost none for Hero Factory, so perhaps that was my initial response upon switching to BZP News, then back to Brickset, and seeing little in the way of differences. I always assumed BZPower would just focus on Hero Factory and Ninjago, the obvious heirs to BIONICLE's legacy, but it seems it can operate as such for all toy lines that Lego makes for the (typically) 6 to 10 year old age range.

I want my Swiss Cheese Vahi! It sounds delicious.

 

~B~

It was the best part of my lunch sandwich. Collectible, yet a bit sharp in flavor. Time dilation effects were minimal once I got the thing into my stomach.

Yes, a nice, large, coffee-table book. "The Art of BIONICLE." Huge, glossy pages covered with concept drawings, paintings, early CGI renderings of the toys, advertisements, promotional images, box art, you name it. I'd pay premium if it was mostly (like, at least 75%) images never-before-seen by the public. Kind of like that stuff that popped up on the Advance website by Christian Faber. Although we have already seen those, having them in a larger size would be a lot better.

Though I know this won't happen, if this kind of book was released next year, I'd probably buy it over the entire range of purported BIONICLE Stars sets being released. I am a HUGE fan of conceptual art, as I think pieces such as those, so-called works-in-progress, really reveal a lot of open imagination that ends up being trimmed or left on the cutting room floor entirely when the final product, be it a movie, TV show, video game, or even a toy line like BIONICLE, is released.

Boy, I can only imagine. I hear they feed patrons well and in good amounts in restaurants across the water. I wish I could visit the UK one day.

What is going on with the comics this year?

I am really concerned, because since 2006, we've lacked a physical Bionicle comic in January. While an online supplement in January 2007 somewhat made up for this, it just was not the same. There is a gap in my collection now, unless I print off color sheets of the online comic.

But now, with this year setting the stage for the final battle between the Toa Nuva and the Brotherhood of the Makuta, the story should be quite expansive. There is no January comic, and the first book of the year, concerning the Phantoka, is not even available for another couple of months. And if there is no May-June comic, what are we supposed to do then? Is everything just going to "explode" towards Fall 2008?

Or did I misunderstand your post? Sorry if I did. I just really like the setup for this year with the wonderful website, four-minute retrospective video, awesome online serials, and of course, the return of the Toa Nuva. It hinted at an awesome story to come. But here we are in mid-February, and there is absolutely no concrete story to speak of concerning the Toa Nuva and the Makuta. Any clarification would be most appreciated.

Ummm...some of us still try to elevate the art of Bionicle parody (if elevate is even the right word here), but you see, it is hard to see the forest for the trees when some of the best trees keep getting pushed to the rear of the forest by BZPers.

I can only wonder excitedly if the Toa Nuva will inadvertenly encounter their old foes. This reminds me; the one big BIONICLE mystery that I would like to see revealed is the nature of the relationship between the Bohrok/Bahrag and the Toa Nuva. Even four years later, Gahdok's (or was it Cahdok?) enigmatic line, "You dared to oppose your brothers!" keeps me up on some nights. Two different groups, each serving different purposes; how could they ever be linked?

This sounds very nice. I never really read Bionicle short story fanfics, since the few I did read were -so- fantastic (and I use the definition of the word that means a tendency towards ridiculous and outlandish). I think this will be very fun. I do not know if I will be able to enter (I am kind of busy too), but I will try my best.

Well, I am not complaining, but a BIG part of the reason I never posted the dozens of pieces of Bionicle artwork I have is because I always assumed everybody would just ignore it because they did not know who I was on BZP. I -really- went out of tradition by entering the contest with "Be Kold." At first, I kept telling myself, "no, Bionicle Guru. What makes you think you would even win the preliminaries?" But eventually, I decided that I had a good enough idea, and my skills are only getting better with the pencil, so I whipped up an entry. With a lot of luck (I think), I won my poll (only by one vote). I probably will not win the contest (for reasons stated elsewhere), but I like to think I, the unknown Bionicle draw-er (that is probably not a word) "beat the system" and managed to defeat a "well-known" Bionicle artist in one poll. I takes what I can gets.