Dr. Bionicle

No excuses!

*sigh*

*gets the mop and bucket*

are you sure it's not just your lazy banner, and you don't want to go to school?

Actually, for reallyious, I haven't been to school in the past four school days. Thursday was sickness, Friday the Kansas Music Educators Convention, and the past two days have been taken up by Model UN (not to mention I'll be dismissed early from school tomorrow for a radio interview). That's a six-day vacation, in all.

And the quarter's about to end.

I should probably start on that gathering Balrog of homework in the closet...

And c'mon, Transformers was awesome. D:

Hmmmmmm... I thought the plot was pretty screeching fast and kind of hindered character development (I had no idea any sort of relationship had harbored between Lebauf and Bumblebee, but by the end of the movie they were together).

Visually, it was impressive. Plot-wise, it could use a few make-overs.

*shrug* Dr. B *shrug*

...

 

So that's what you've been doing this whole time instead of posting in the BZPRPG? Playing Battlefront 2?

 

...?!?!

 

XP

Between writing and music, it is about ten times more stress-relieving to shoot some CGI guy in the head than to write in a completely different storyline which will receive response and reaction which you will, in turn, have to respond to.

I will be returning, hopefully, very soon.

Once Adv. English settles down and the outline gets finished.

*shrug* Dr. B *shrug*

Broke my record with 315 or something like that.

Zzz Dr. B zzZ

Wow, I've been waiting this for a long time.

The only thing holding me back would be the fact that I participated in the last one (though my performance there is what really is pushing me to enter).

Are you thinking of any policy on those who participated in the last one? I'm obviously no shoo-in with all the new members and the other members getting older, but I'm just curious.

? Dr. B ?

Huzzah, Smeag.

Huzzah.

<3 Dr. Bionicle <3

Awesome, now I can let my imagination create your weekend. >

=D

I didn't know that Labor Day had been weekened.

What's a weekened?

<.<

>.>

You saw nothing.

Best weekend ever, huh? Oh, I know. You found my rabid chipmunk in your pants. Yeah, that's always awesome, isn't it?

 

Taki

Nah. It won't come near me after that corduroy incident...

Oh sure, the Doc has a great vacation weekend, while I'M stuck in bed with a nasty cold. Sherking off your duties there, Doc. >.>

Captains only qualify for a doctor once they get scurvy. Where's yer scurvy, Cap'n?

It's the worst weekend Doc, it's the weekend before school

I started school somewhere around two weeks ago, so I feel pretty good.

Dr. B

Am I the only one who has been able to follow all the tubes?

Nope. I've done so before, but it took me a very long while.

 

Mine's better.

Close. Almost. Not quite.

Why is there an ugly french horn in your blog?

 

Seriously, man, trumpets are the way to go. Ya can't play jazz with a french horn, but ya can with a trumpet.

On the contrary, hast thou never heard of fripperies?

And we get more overtones than you anyway, so nyeh... XP

Dr. B

Well? Do you have a cape?

I've had several, but none which I find suitable for gnawing on my brother's neck with.

One of my little sisters, with whom I share a room, reminds me of your brother. She once presented me with the mind-boggling question of, "Turakii, if the Fullmetal Alchemist came to the door, would you answer it or would I?" I can't understand why they think of these things just when the rest of the world is trying to sleep...

 

Turakii

I don't know. But I think this explains it fairly well.

Maybe...

 

Turkey-Eye and Doctor Bee are related!

 

=0

 

-FFBuu

...

Maaaaaaaaaaaaybe...

*snickers SO hard* I have 2 sisters, we're all in the same room, and we had a good spate where we'd tell jokes to each other for at least two hours past bedtime. It was absolutely hilarious - and our youngest member talks in her sleep.

 

There must be something among little sibs regarding this sleep-talking business...

 

-<dd>

It's a conspiracy. It's how they communicate with each other on an international basis. Why else would they be talking about where they planted the DNA evidence?

Thanks for the comments, guys!

Dr. B

Sounds like a really good plot. In various ways better than before. Or maybe you just put more detail into to make me more interested.

Believe me, there are some definite differences here. I've tied together a few loose ends since my first original idea, and I think it's a little more understandable now, although in that it has only become more complex!

After starting to write my own book, I felt I didn't like how it started. Now I'm just writing out the parts that are the most vivid in my mind. I think the plan is working.

That's a good strategy. It's a good idea to sometimes work out the scenes in a 'Dead Zone' style. It's almost like writing backwards. Try and find out what would lead up to that. It's kind of difficult, but it works for some people.

A very good plot, I like stoires where each charector has there own reasons for what the group is doing. If the final product was to be published, I'd buy it.

I can only say so much about each character in the synopsis. In all reality, there are some serious subplots lying beneath each character (Mark Caspian and Drake Jasper, in particular). I only have to give the best overall summary I can of each character's intentions.

That was the irritating thing about my older novel, though. They all were in it "just because". Here I think I've spiced things up a bit, which will hopefully create some dramatic tension between characters with conflicting intentions.

I like the characters, I see you've shied away from sci-fi cliches (except for Mr. Q...that's about as camp as they come)

Admittedly, yes. Mr. Q, I knew, would be a huge casualty to all my attempts at originality. I'm not quite done with him yet, and he might get renamed before all is said and done. In the previous novel, his name was X1011, which is havoc on anyone trying to read aloud. At that point I resorted to naming him Mr. X, which would've been an even bigger casualty than Mr. Q.

But yeah, when you enter the world of Sci-fi, it's very much like fantasy. Cliches are a massive no-no in this genre, because it's such a creative, open world bursting with potential. In this, I've tried to make it very much my own story, and I do notice that a few areas seem to show similarities to other novels. This I can't help, though. There is no 100% original story out there. With billions of novels in the world, it's pointless to pick over originality obsessively.

this is really a very interesting and original take on the humans vs. robots story.

The thing about it that's interesting is that we make robots a part of the humans, which at that point not only makes it Robots vs Humans, but Mechanics vs Flesh. That I hope to play on.

It is important, though, that you make us feel for both sides, and truly make the shades of grey dominant. That's what will turn this very good idea into a masterpiece of fiction.

That much is true. I've been working hard at this point to make some likable characters on the government side. I've also worked hard to make some very unlikable characters on the Cyborne side. Some people seem to be on the wrong side, but only because of the perspective given.

And I'm hoping for some serious controversy to be coming out of the ears of these characters, which ought to make it even more fun to write.

Also I hope this conspiracy plot has a good payoff. That can also make or break the book.

So true. That's part of why this project is estimated to go on for possibly quite longer than a year.

This sounds way better than your old plot. That old plot sounded a bit, err, Star Wars-ish, especially the father-son bit!

That I realized as soon as I reread it months later. I'm reworking that as best I can at this point, and I hope to throw in a different bit of drama between Q and Mark.

But the new plot sounds interesting, even if it follows the thread of motley-crew-overtaking-government line. However, I'm sure you can colour this novel in different ways to make it unique.

Let's hope so.

Thanks for the comments, guys!

Dr. B

Just throwing this out there...would it be interesting to have one of the main characters get badly injured, and have to decide whether to become a Cyborne and live, or die?

 

Just a thought.

 

-Seran

That is a vital part of Mr. Q's past, who was formerly an Anti-Cybornist, but was involved in an automobile accident that threatened to take his life. After that, he began to see both sides of the Cyborne issue.

I also plan to have one of their greatest enemies, a CIA leader that is assigned to investigate the entourage, to be shot and faced with that choice. I am not yet positive whether he will live or die.

. Dr. B .

Yay! Doctors!

Well, it's good to hear you're getting better. And expanding your vocabulary as well! One of the great perks of illness.

Anyway, good luck. Congrats on being interesting!

Dr. B

All I can say is thanks with putting up with us for all those years. We sure appreciate all you've done around here, Bink, and your work as a BZP Administrator will not be forgotten.

Dr. B

Can I see your credentials as a Doctor?

 

-Omi

Well, if I did that, I'd have to kill you.

Dr. B

1.) How many times have I fired you? I keep losing track

That depends. Are we just doing all the times Smeagol's fired me, or are we including Gollum too?

Dr. B

Nother question: Why haven't you ended the Suva Nui battle yet, and when do you plan to?

I actually kicked that back into action today. I hope to draw out the Mythias/Six Duel to a decent extent, and this is a fairly significant battle. There are still a few things that need to come into play before I can end it. I've only been able to focus on these lately because I'm not so ridiculously busy as I was the past three weeks.

Wow. This takes me back... XD

 

I don't you'd remember it, but I used to ask you sososo many questions back in the Ask Dr. Bionicle topic on the Lego Blog.

 

So anyways... Here's a few questions.

 

Zyrul or the Six, which would you preffer to RP?

Also, which of the Six do you like most?

I'd probably prefer RPing the Six, in all honesty, because the characters play off of each other pretty well, and a group of warriors is always way more fun than just one guy. I mean, I gotta' love Zyrul, but the Six are more fun to RP for me personally.

My personal favorite of the Six is probably Tseero. He's a confused character, although he tries to portray himself as very confident. Being the newbie of the Six means he's much more prone and expected to make mistakes, which is what makes him work so hard. I like Tseero's drive, and I think that his conflict with Rashnan could set up some great possibilities in the future.

Not to mention, Tseero's got mad skillz and the coolest name.

Dr. B

Thanks for answering my questions. Also you were correct about why I pick Jedi Master J. as my username here. Well, I got a few more questions, so here:

2) What's your favorite set, this year?

3) Do you still buy Bionicle sets and books?

4) Do you like where the storyline going right now?

5) What's your favorite subject in school?

6) Am I well-behaved member in your opinion?

7) If you were battling Makuta, what would you do?

8) What’s your favorite Kanohi mask?

9) If you could write any scene in the Bionicle storyline, what would it be?

10) If you could change something in the storyline, what would you change?

11) If you could control time, what would you do?

12) Do you want to be an Admin of Bzpower?

13) If you could meet any Bionicle character in real life, who would you want to meet?

14) Who would you rather spend the day with Omicron or Ninjo?

15) What's your favorite food?

16) Do you have any Nintendo games?

17) Have you read any Harry Potter books before?

18) What's your favorite Piraka?

19) If you could make a new Toa element, what element would it be?

20) What character did you like most from the 2006 storyline?

21) Why do most Staff members have brown hair?

22) What job are you thinking of spending the rest of your life doing?

 

~J.M.J.~

2)

3) I buy Bionicle sets when I'm really impressed with them, unlike the past few years where I've basically bought them to buy them. The books I never bought, but I constantly borrow from my friend Alan, who is much more plugged into the Bionicle Universe than I am at the moment.

4) I think the storyline's going in a good direction, it just needs to take on the proper writing technique. I'd hate to play the Pit/Mahri Nui with constant witty banter, since it is a very dark situation. I would like to see a darker, richer side of Bionicle be exposed in this line, and if that were to happen, I would truly be impressed.

5) Music, first and foremost. Band Geek and Choir Boy. Next would be English.

6) Quite honestly, I don't see a whole lot of you, so I can't really judge. Basing off of what I have seen of you, yes, I would say so.

7) Wake up.

8) I'm a pretty big fan of the Hau, simply because it has a very cool power and a very cool design.

9) The final showdown with the Barraki would be a scene I would love to write, especially with all the great dialogue and action that could come out of it.

10) The banter. While I thought the Piraka banter was fairly appropriate, it soon grew stale once it came up every other line of dialog. Considering the Barraki's former glory, I would very much like to see some more elegant villainy. I think that if the overall sincerity of the situation was truly reflected in the characters, the storyline would be batting a thousand.

11) Try and get rid of my power. I don't trust myself with time.

12) Not now, and probably not ever. That's a lot of responsibility and commitment. I'd greatly prefer staying on the lower class Staff.

13) Lhikan, definitely. He's the ultimate Bionicle hero for me, and I'd love to explore his life.

14) Ninjo. Omi's cool and all, but Ninjo pretty much peaks the ownage factor.

15) Probably...pizza. That's really unhealthy, yes, but I sure do love pizza.

16) I used to be a Gameboy addict, though my games were few and all eBay-bought. I did have one Pokemon game, which I was heavily addicted to for a while. A little Star Wars, a little LotR, some random racing games, Mario, and even a Galidor game. But I never bothered with any of the big consoles.

17) I read the Sorcerer's Stone, and while the writing technique was exceptional, I didn't care for the theme or story.

18) Zaktan has the twisted mind of a psychotic, but I get the idea we only saw his "silly" side of the storyline. I get the feeling that there's a wacko inside Zaktan that could unleash some great storyline potential.

19) I think that the Element of Nature would be very intriguing. Lewa appeared to have some natural control, but that seemed to fade away later in the storyline. To see some real nature "benders" would be awesome.

20) I liked Vezok/Vezon, since the conflict there was so tense, and they did a pretty fair job playing that up. I'd still like to see those two duke it out for real, though.

21) 'Cause brunettes have more fun. The T-Shirts say so.

22) Quite honestly, I'd like to be in either the musical industry and/or the writing business, although how I'll channel either of those is over my head, still.

Doesn't it suck that the Ducks won the Stanley Cup?

Doesn't it suck that San Antonio won the NBA Playoffs?

Isn't the weather nice?

Isn't it cold in the winter here (I'm in Canada)?

Is it cold in the winter there (where you live)?

-Don't keep up with NHL...

-Don't keep up with NFL...

-Absolutely.

-I'll bet.

-Kansas, Temperate Zone of the USA. We get hot-hot summers and cold-cold winters. Yeah, the winters do get pretty cold down here.

Thanks for the questions!

Dr. B

1) Why did I pick Jedi Master J. as my username?

Possibly because your first name or something of the sort begins with a 'J', you have a certain appeal to Star Wars, and therefore took that respectable title and placed it with an initialization of your name.

2) Have you read Jurassic Park before? If you have read it, what did you think of it?

No.

3) Do you like Star Wars?

I genuinely like the series, though I think Episode I could stand for a re-make.

4) What made you interest in Bionicle in the first place?

The comic art and storyline together attracted me to buy sets, which in turn attracted me to the storyline, which pushed me back to buying sets, and such. Just a cycle. Pretty soon I was viably hooked.

5) What staff member would you like to meet in real life?

Honestly, I've always been interested in meeting Bonesiii, since he was my idol for a long time, and still is someone I hold in pretty high regard.

6) What normal member would you like to meet in real life?

Either SPIRIT, my former TOTA colleague, or -Kaitan-, my overall buddy.

7) Is being a Premier Forum Assistant, stressful?

Only when you let it. If I don't read my reports or simply go out topic-hunting, then yeah, it gets kind of stressful. But not usually. I've been very lax lately, mainly because I haven't been on a whole lot.

What's stressful is BZPRPG Co-Host. Oh gaaah...

8) Have you ever took CAD/Drafting before in school?

Nope.

9) Am I too formal to people on Bzpower?

*shrug*

10) Are you cooler than Omicron(Volar)?

Heck, I dunno. That's a matter of opinion.

11) Do you know everything about Bionicle?

No. I do know quite a bit, but not all of it.

12) What's your I.Q.?

Hmmmm... I'm not positive. I've taken an IQ Test or two, but I don't remember my exact scores. I'll take another one, and then get you the results.

*sees the number of instruments and faints*

 

One question, for the mercy of the Dr.:

 

Are you, in any way, related to Dr Who?

 

-<dd>

Nope. We pow-wow every now and again, go over the medical records that neither of us really has, but no real relation, no.

Keep 'em coming!

Dr. B

Wow, I remember this topic a loooong time ago on the lego forums. Only you were answering Bionicle questions...

 

1) Is the thing I posted above true?

Yes.

Is the grass greener on the other side?

Yes. Neon green.

How many roads must a man walk?

However many it takes till he hits a rest stop.

What's the Ultimate Answer to life, the universe, and everything?

No.

What's the Ultimate Question to life, the universe, and everything?

Huh?

How many H2GT2G references have there been in this entry so far?

Enough.

Dr. B

Whoo, turns out that thanks to a nifty little scholarship and discount, I'm going back again another week for the Senior Camp, which means the music will be more challenging, the conductor will be more serious, and I'll get to be instructed under Dr. Paul Stevens!

Straight from his bio...

During more than a decade in Hollywood he played on many motion picture soundtracks and television films, including over fifty episodes of Star Trek: The Next Generation, Deep Space Nine and Voyager, many episodes of Jag, and movies such as Ransom, What Dreams May Come, Dead Again, The Land Before Time, Star Trek: Generations, the Flintstones and several Disney projects; including Fantasmic! and Mickey's Nutcracker. He worked with such composers as James Horner, John Williams, Bruce Broughton, Henry Mancini, Danny Elfman and Dennis McCarthy. Audio projects ranged from Placido Domingo to Michael Bolton to the rap group "Outkast."

So yeah, I'm totally psyched.

Dr. B

Just wondering.

 

- Do you have a girlfriend?

- Is she a BZP member?

- Are you this cool in real life?

 

- ?

1) Yes, actually, that's a recent development.

2) No, she doesn't know hardly anything about Bionicle (but I still think she's awesome anyway ).

3) Depends on who you ask. I try to act the same way in real life as I do here, as far as attitude goes. I don't get the benefit of reading every thought in plain text before I "post" it, like I do here, but I think one thing this site has taught me (Yeah, I was actually learning things) is to think before I say things.

So, cool? Eh... I guess so.

Dr. B

Okay...

 

1) What rock bands do you like?

2) What instrument do you play?

3) What would you like to be when you reach adulthood?

4) If you could have a super-power, what would it be?

1) My preferences are generally Relient K, Switchfoot, DCTalk, Queen, and some Kansas. Those are pretty much my top choices.

2) French Horn, Trumpet, Piano, Guitar, and Bass.

3) I'd like the option of being a novelist, though what I'd do for a living I haven't decided on yet. I'd like to stay hooked into the music industry, though, whether just for fun or on a somewhat higher level.

4) Super Strength, FTW.

This is the fourth staff member I've seen start a "Ask me anything" entry...

• Do you have any pets?
• What's your favorite book or movie?

I'll ask more later.

I have an old Bischon Frise named Scamper, and two cats: Beans and Rascal.

My favorite movie is hard to decide. The Lord of the Rings Trilogy is pretty sweet, as are National Treasure, Oceans Eleven, and Narnia: The Lion, The Witch, and the Wardrobe. There are definitely others, but those come to mind at the moment.

As for my favorite novel, I'll have to come back to that later. Too many good choices.

How much wood could a woodchuck chuck if a woodchuck was Chuck Norris?

None. He'd just roundhouse kick it and it'd chuck itself.

Why won't Tufi tell me why 42 is the answer to everything?

Can you tell me why 42 is the answer to everything?

Why is 42 the answer to everything?

42.

Why isn't Mythias beating the tar out of the Six yet?

 

Which three RPG Contest entries are you hoping for?

 

Because my time has been extremely limited as of recent.

And I'll have to come back to that for when I actually get a shot at looking at the RPGC Entries.

. Dr. B .

Do you use a marching F-Horn, or a mellophone?

I use a Concert Horn. Holton.

. Dr. B .

What band instrument do you play?

 

Hee, band camp fun-ness! Have a good time!

 

-<dd>

French Horn fo' shizzle!

*band* Dr. B *humor*

(Not only that, but the poor Doctor would get badly busted if he gets a touchy point wrong with us gals. Spare him this once. )

Boy, you know that's the truth. ><

Hee hee - though, Dr. B, I dare ask what sparked off the blog post.

Heh. I wondered if that would come up. I guess it's just in observation of the guys and girls around me, that it seems to be a pretty important issue. Since my rants rarely sound so good verbally, I figured I might as well vent it here, since I know that a lot of the guys here are going through it.

So a lot of this is just personal observation (and experience).

Dr. B

I think the girls should get the next entry...

I actually considered doing a sort of reverse of this, pertaining to girls as to how we act and some of our motives and ideas.

...for about five seconds.

Problems... not enough of a crowd (sorry, ladies, but you have to admit that you're greatly outnumbered here), and it'd basically sound weird coming from me. Just like guys like to hear about things from other guys, girls generally like to hear about things of this sort from other girls.

So yeah, probably not.

But instead of girlfriends I make friends. And everyone else thinks "Friend + Opposite Gender = Girl/Boyfriend". Not so. Heck, I'm so oblivious and conservative (not a word generally used to described me) that if a girl was openly flirting with me I wouldn't even know it. ><

Dude, you are not alone.

The claim of friend = girlfriend is pretty common. I think it works out this way, though, in my own observation.

As guys get older, we do one of two things. One, we cling to our buds (aka Guys) and try to tackle this whole relationship thing as a team. Or two, we start making friends (or at least more friends) that are girls.

The latter, I think, is tied to a bunch of factors. For one thing, some guys simply mature faster, and in such, might find it easier to find someone of their maturity in a girl ('Cause in case you haven't figured it out, girls basically got us beat in the maturity factor, for the most part). Another thing is that maybe he just wants to explore, wants to find out what girls are like in friendships so as to give him some depth in a relationship. There are other things, but these two I see playing out the most.

And man, there are some of us that are simply oblivious, but generally it's not so much that we're non-observant, but that we don't factor ourselves in.

For instance, if a girl was openly flirting with my best friend and he didn't know it, I'd tell him. It's much easier to recognize someone else flirting with someone else. But when it happens to us, we have the mental disadvantage of ruling ourselves out. In other words, we disqualify ourselves, and so we just remain indifferent to this kind of thing.

At least, that's what I've gathered.

Thanks for the comments, guys.

Dr. B