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Black Six

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Blog Entries posted by Black Six

  1. Black Six

    'tis The Season

    By Black Six,

    For what, you ask? Why all sorts of things. Lots of videogames, for one. Mass Effect has been sucking up my free time, and when I'm not playing that it's either Guitar Hero III or Halo 3. I haven't even been able to touch Hellgate: London for more than a few hours, which is ok, because I hear it needs some patches. Aside from that, my school recently subscribed to Ruckus, which gives me access to a whole lot of music for essentially free. It's covered with DRM, but hey, music is music, and you can't beat the price. Then of course there's the holiday shopping. I did 95% of my shopping online this year, and all that's left is a quick trip to pick up some cards and other miscellaneous gifts. The Internet is amazing.
     
    I'll hopefully be going to the Giants-Redskins game this weekend, unless the weather is bad. The company my dad works for got an entire luxury box and they had extra tickets, so I get to go too. I'd say look for me, but you really wouldn't be able to see me in the box. But if they win they should clinch a wildcard playoff spot, which is better than last year where the last game of the season decided if they got in or not, plus a bunch of other teams losing.
     
    Finally, I'm almost done with my internship with the Army. Next Thursday is my last day, then I have a few weeks off before I go back to school. It will be a nice break.
     
    Oh and if anyone has seen the video of the house with Christmas light synchronized to a Trans-Siberian Orchestra song, I'll be seeing the display live this year in a couple weeks, which should rock. I don't know what music they're doing this year, but it's all an impressive programming feat. I'm looking forward to it.
     
    That's all for now!
  2. Black Six

    2013 Fan Conventions

    By Black Six,

    So what conventions is everyone going to next year?
     
    My current plans include BrickFair Alabama, BrickFair New England, and BrickFair Virginia. I think there's a pattern there... I'm actually going to be the Bionicle Coordinator at New England, so expect me to bug you guys about sending in MOCs.
     
    Anyway, I'm considering seeing if I can squeeze in a fourth event, because I'm crazy and stupid like that. Bricks Cascade is unfortunately out, because they moved it to right around the time that PAX East is, and two vacations that close just isn't feasible. Bricks by the Bay is out too, since that's the week after Brick Fair Virginia. Apparently Brick Magic isn't happening next year, so I guess I can't go there either.
     
    The top two I was considering then were BrickWorld Chicago and Brick Fiesta. They haven't released any details for the latter yet, but I recall hearing it was going to be in San Antonio or Dallas next year. Neither is really high on my list of places to visit, and I've never been to Chicago, so I'm kind of leaning towards BrickWorld.
     
    I'd like to see where other LEGO fans will be though, since that could help my decision.
  3. Black Six
    So, as you may or may not know, there is going to be a LEGO Store opening at the Westfield Garden State Plaza in Paramus, NJ. I'm not sure exactly when yet, but it's opening. I find this funny, because there used to be a store nearby in the Paramus Park Mall and another about an hour west at the Rockaway Townsquare Mall. There still is one maybe a little over a half hour away at the Palisades Mall in West Nyack, NY. Yes, the New York Metro is inundated with shopping centers (and I haven't even mentioned a bunch of others).
     
    Anyway, I've been in contact with Steve Witt over at LEGO about the opening, and it looks like I get to be the main contact for organizing fan activities concerning the store since the NJ/NY area doesn't really have an active LUG (LEGO Users Group). This means I get to be in charge of building all the models that will be on display at the store and also means that six huge boxes of LEGO bricks appeared outside my home today. If anyone out there is interested in helping me build some stuff I'm thinking I'm going to try to organize a day or two on the weekend sometime for some people to get together and just build for a while.
     
    If you'd be interested in such an undertaking (maybe this could be the start of a new LUG?) let me know. FYI, I live in Hoboken, so if you're anywhere in that area there's plenty of mass-transit ways to get there.
  4. Black Six

    A Quick Update

    By Black Six,

    It's been a while since I posted here, so I figured I should say something. There's not much to add, however. Between school, work, and BZPower, I'm kept pretty busy, barely even time to play Halo and such. I'm in the middle of midterms for the summer semester, so halfway there; though I wish I could say it's all going to be downhill, hehe. I'm working at a small company that designs and manufacturers control equipment for die-cast machines; it's a good job and I'm enjoying it. It's definitely better than working retail, which I've done before and loathed. It's good to think that we're only a third of the way through June, and although the past few weeks have gone by fast, there's still over two months of summer to look forward to. Recent signs suggest that I'll be attending Brickfest, so if any of you will be there too be sure to say 'Hi!' I know a few other BZP staff members will be attending as well.
     
    Well, that's all for now...
     
    ...See you space cowboy.
  5. Black Six
    Readers of the popular webcomic xkcd will know that Randall Munroe posted a revised 'Map of Online Communities,' today. I'm not going to link to it because there's lots of things on there that we can't talk about on BZPower. There is one thing, however, that we can:
     

     
    It's not quite as awesome as if BZPower was on there, but it's still pretty sweet.
  6. Black Six
    I have recently added a donation goal for the site, in the hopes that we can get some add-ons to help improve the BZPower experience. If you are willing and able to donate, it would be most appreciated.
     
    I don't want to reveal what the add-ons are, as that would spoil the surprise for some of them, but I'll give some (hopefully) tantalizing hints:
    One will help bring back an old feature of the site that you once saw represented in many members' signatures.
    A couple others will be part of a process to help encourage more people to join the site.
    Another one will help people find content that lots of other people like on the forums.
    Our goal is $50, which hopefully isn't too unreasonable. Every little bit helps though - all we need is fifty members to donate one dollar to get us to our goal!
     
    Please be aware, once we hit the goal, it will take some time for us to buy, install, and set-up all the add-ons, so don't expect to see them overnight.
     
    Thanks so much for reading, and thank you even more for donating if you're able!
     
    -B6
  7. Black Six

    Ahoy Mateys!

    By Black Six,

    Avast ye swashbucklers and misanthropes and adventure-seekers all. Welcome to me schooner, I be Admiral Six, and ye be workin' fer me now!
     
    So git ta work! Hoist the sails! Swab the decks! Raise the anchor! Set a course for Treasure Island!
     
    Yo ho! once we git there I'll be an even richer man than I am now. But don't ye be gettin' any crazy ideas 'bout taking any of me gold booty or ye'll be findin' yerself walkin' the plank and spending a long evenin' in Davey Jones' locker.
     
    What're ye all starin' at? I told ye what ta do, now get to it before I flog all yer hides. I want ta 'ear an, 'aye aye Admiral!' from all-a ye.
     
    Yo ho, yo ho, a pirate's life fer me....
  8. Black Six
    Yannick (ToM Dracone) came to visit this weekend for ToyFair. Last night we got some Chinese food for dinner. As is customary, at the end of our meal we each got a fortune cookie. I opened mine up and started laughing. It said:
     

     
    How much more dead on could they get?
     
    Then Yannick cracked his open, and it said the exact same thing. It was rather disappointing, but still pretty funny.
  9. Black Six
    So, yesterday was the Lego Collector's Party for Toy Fair in New York City. Being that I live nearby I headed over into Manhattan to attend, accompanied eventually by that other Andrew, Smeagol4, and later, by LehvakLah. It was a fun and dangerous trip, one that shall be made into songs and epics, and perhaps even a full-length motion picture.
     
    It begins... at the beginning...
     
    (Note: I apologize for the darkness of some of the pictures. Some of the settings on my camera got messed up and I didn't realize it at first. But hey, better with these photos than inside Toy Fair, right?)
     
    I started out by taking the PATH train to 34th Street and Broadway, which I was able to follow all the way to my first destination up on 50th Street. I'm a fast walker so it didn't take much time, I was only slowed down by the need to document my travails. There are always many interesting things to see in NYC, from famous landmarks to street performers to public disturbances to hobos, but I tended on focusing on the former on this occasion.
     

    This store is named after the famous parade that takes place on Thanksgiving.
     
    Talk to someone from NYC and ask them about Starbucks, and they'll tell you there are a lot of them. To you that may mean three or four, but in truth it's a whole lot more.
     

    Could it be?
     
    What are the chances I would come across another one? After all I was only walking a few blocks.
     

    Pretty darn good...
     
    Since there's been a lot of discussion about economies and the values of money and the prices of goods with the WalMart story recently, this seemed like an apt picture to take.
     

    Trivia Fact: Andrew's Dad has appeared on that screen.
     
    The NASDAQ sign marks the beginning of the Times Square area, which is neither a square nor does it have a time piece readily visible. There are many places to have food there, from the hardcore...
     

    An omen of things to come.
     
    ...To the pop-culturey...
     

    That's no planet, it's a restaurant!
     
    ...To the artery-clogging.
     

    The brightest McDonalds you'll ever seen, and those lights run 24/7.
     
    If eating's not your thing, there are plenty of other places to go. Like this little toy store, for instance.
     

    By 'little' I mean it only has a ferris wheel, not a roller coaster.
     
    Oh, and could it be..?
     

    What a surprise!
     
    There's no way there could be another, right? Right, but close...
     

    Ziggy played guitar...
     
    Finally, after rendezvousing with Smeag, we headed back downtown towards where Lego was having the event.
     

    The lovely (yet blurry) Westin Hotel.
     
    At this point Toy Fair happened. You can see all of our pics from that over the next couple of days on the front page. It was a good time and as always we appreciate The Lego Company's hospitality and thank them for inviting us.
     
    After the Collector's Party, we headed back towards Times Square (only a block away) and got on line for the incredibly crowded Hard Rock Cafe, since you know, someone is a huge Rock N' Roll fan. An hour and a half later, and after much oohing and ahhing (and bowing in the majesty of The Beatles) we were finally seated, with LehvakLah in tow. Thank you so much St. Edmunds and your party of 47 people for making the wait take forever...
     
    Dinner was quite tasty, and afterwards we went wandering about Times Square, since this was Smeag's first time in NYC. Of course we had to go to Toys 'R' Us and look at the Lego and laugh at the Mega Bloks. Unfortunately our visit was cut short by the store closing. Party poopers.
     
    It's just as well though, because soon we were in for the run of our lives. Almost as soon as we left TRU, we were attacked!
     

    If you don't move, he still sees you, so you had better run.
     
    It was a mad dash for our lives. Things got even more dangerous when a brawl broke out in the streets in front of us. You wouldn't believe it unless you saw it, so I took a picture.
     

    Shark vs Pegasus
     
    Fortunately these beasts turned out to be a more attractive meal to the T-Rex, allowing us to escape for the time being. Soon after Smeag jumped into a passing cab and LehvakLah into the subway, leaving me to fend for myself back to the PATH station.
     

    As I rushed for the train, fearing for my life, I accidentally took a picture.
     
    Once I was back on the other side of the Hudson River, I finally felt safe. There was no way that thing was fitting into the Holland or Lincoln Tunnels, and I sure hope it can't swim...
     
    Back in the comfort of New Jersey, I was able to spot the T-Rex as it scaled a famous landmark.
     

    If you squint and tilt your head, you can just make out its silhouette.
     
    And that is the end of our tale. I hope you enjoyed it and I hope you enjoy all the rest of our Toy Fair coverage.
     
    Until next time...
  10. Black Six
    I recently made a comment in a blog that was worded very poorly. It did not properly convey my thoughts and I apologize to anyone who felt offended or restricted by the statement I made. I have since edited the comment to try to be more clear, but have been contacted by people who still have questions.
     
    It is the view of the Administration (and my personal view as well) that everyone should be afforded the same natural rights regardless of gender, race, sexual orientation, religion, political views, or however you'd like to categorize people. I would say anyone who disagrees with that and expresses views as such would be considered intolerant and/or discriminatory.
     
    In the specific context here, I want to be clear that you can talk about marriage on BZPower. You can say who you want to marry, who you're married to, what kind of person you'd like to marry, whatever, no matter your gender, race, creed, sexual orientation, etc...
     
    On the flip side, you cannot talk about political or legal cases of any kind on BZPower. Nor can you talk about political activist or lobbyist groups. Politics as a whole are not allowed to be discussed on BZPower.
     
    So if there is a legal case about marriage, such as United States v. Windsor, or a lobbying group, like the Human Rights Campaign, you cannot discuss them on this site. The same goes for any case or group, no matter what they are supporting. No politics are allowed.
     
    Remember, we are a site about a children's building toy. That is our focus here. I understand and appreciate that many of you have strong views about such cases and the causes they affect. But BZPower is not the place to talk about those things.
     
    Again, I apologize for my poor choice of words in the situation. It was not my intent to offend and did not reflect my views. I simply want to keep BZPower a safe, family-friendly website for everyone.
  11. Black Six

    An Update

    By Black Six,

    Well, so much for keeping on top of this thing...
    Anyway, finished classes last week, did pretty well I hope. Gotta keep that GPA up.
    So now I'll be working more, but don't worry, there will still be plenty of time for BZPower, the front page is evidence of that.
    In other news, it looks like I'll be going to Brickfest this year, along with quite a few other staff members. So if you can be sure to drop by and give your support to Bionicle! I've been toying around with the idea of having some T-Shirts made to sell at BF, would anybody actually be interested in these?
    I'll try to update some more later, but off to work for me now!
  12. Black Six
    Well, it's been a fun almost three weeks, but the RPG Contest #2 is finally winding down to a close. Be sure to VOTE in the Final Poll, it's going to be close I'm sure, and the more entries the merrier. Good luck to all the finalists!
    I'm really proud to see how the RPG Forum has been growing recently. After I helped to create it around four and a half years ago it was a thriving place; but that slowly changed over time and it became less and less active. The inception of the RPG Contest has helped to change that, along with other members' great Software-RPG projects as well as the continuing BZPRPG. None of this would be possible without our great members, creating fantastic RPG entries that have really stirred up interest in the forum. Thanks guys!
    As for general BZPower News, I hear the S&T Contest is coming along nicely, and I can assure you that it won't be the last contest we have on BZP this summer, so if writing isn't your thing, keep watching.
    As you can probably guess, I'm trying to update this more often, we'll see how long that lasts...
    Until next time...
  13. Black Six
    Hey there everyone, thanks for stopping by and reading my blog. This will be pretty short, since I have lots of stuff that needs to get done today. Taking summer classes is really great in the long run, but in the short term it's hard to balance between doing homework, a job, and trying to have a social life. If you ever have the chance to get ahead in school by taking courses over the summer, go for it, but just beware of the consequences. You have to work hard, but just remember that it pays off in the long run.
     
    Besides that, I finished Moving Pictures, by Terry Pratchett, the other day. A great book, I encourage anyone that like a good laugh to read some of his Discworld series. The man truly is the Douglas Adams of fantasy.
     
    That about wraps it up, I suppose. See, I told you it was going to be short.
     
    See you on the forums...
  14. Black Six

    And So It Goes

    By Black Six,

    I figured I should do something to get the birthday message out of my sig, since that was over a week ago.
     
    So, let's see, what happened since then. I went camping with some friends, good times spent around the campfire having fun. Then me and some other friends went and saw the Colbert Report being recorded. We actually made it on the show for a split second! Finally I went p to Connecticut for what was actually some BZPower-related business, but I can't really talk about that right now. :X It was a fun road trip though.
     
    I'll hopefully be headed down to the shore this week. With all this fun and excitement, who has time to do things like go to work or check BZP? Just kidding guys, I'll still be here, so don't think you can start goofing off.
  15. Black Six

    Anime Boston

    By Black Six,

    I'm posting this entry from Omicron's computer, because he won't let me hook mine up to the internet. It's ok though, when I get home I'll ban him or something.
     
    So, I'm here at Anime Boston for the day. I never knew there were over 12,000 people obsessed with it enough to come to Boston and dress up like characters from shows and games. Omi has one of the better costumes, but that just means he has too much money and free time. Not my kind of thing, but if they want to do it, they can go right ahead.
     
    Rooster Teeth was there, which was the main draw for me. I got my DVDs and Soundtrack signed, awesome stuff.
     
    Well that's it for now...
  16. Black Six
    Recently with the new Tracker, I made some blog entries about some of the tickets that were resolved, to help get the word out. Now I know not everyone reads my blog and it seems clear that not everyone has quite gotten the hang of the Tracker or is aware of it yet, so I'm trying to figure out the best way to make people aware of tickets that have been closed.
     
    I don't want to keep posting blog entries, because I feel like I have better things to post here, plus not everyone reads it. (But they should!)
     
    I'm considering a topic in GD that would keep a running tally of things that are fixed and added. Maybe pinned, maybe not, but as tickets get closed, I'd make a post so people are aware and can comment or discuss it.
     
    What do you guys think? Any better ideas?
  17. Black Six
    So I bought some awesome posters back in January, but between the plaster walls of my apartment, the sticky tack, and the weight of the posters, they wouldn't stay up. So I had to put up hooks and put wire on the posters and all this other stuff to get them hung, and by that time classes had started and I was way too busy to actually do it. Now that I have a little break though, I finally have put them up on my wall, so I thought I'd share them with you guys:
     

     
    And while I'm at it I'll show off a couple of the other posters I have up here:
     

    One of the best movies ever.
     

    One of the best videogame series ever
     
    There's no flash in the first two because I wanted you to actually be able to read them. I need to get a new flash for my camera. Any suggestions?
  18. Black Six
    At BrickFair New England, LEGO set designer Jamie Berard will be on hand to give a talk. He has also agreed to do an interview with BZPower. This may just be a text interview, but we might try to do a video for our YouTube channel.
     
    What questions would you like to ask him?
     
    GO!
  19. Black Six

    Ask LEGO Questions

    By Black Six,

    BrickFair New England is right around the corner, taking place from May 9th to the 12th in Manchester, New Hampshire.
     
    LEGO Community Coordinator for North America Kevin Hinkle (kevinhink on BZPower) will be there representing the company. On Friday he's holding a Q&A session where attendees get to ask questions. I love thinking up questions to ask Kevin, but I can only ask about light grey 9 volt Bionicle monorails so many times.
     
    That's where you come in.
     
    Give me some questions to ask Kevin about LEGO - they can be funny or they can be serious (or somewhere in between). I'll pick a few and ask them during the Q&A, and provide you all with the answers (hopefully). If there's a lot of good serious ones, I'll ask him those during other parts of the weekend and get you the answers too.
     
    You have until Tuesday, May 7th to submit them here!
  20. Black Six

    Audiophilia

    By Black Six,

    A week or so ago I brought my car into the dealership for service and was sitting in the waiting area listening to some music when I realized someone was trying to talk to me and I couldn't even hear them. That reminded me how much I enjoy a good pair of noise-isolating earphones, which in turn reminded me how awesome it is to listen to music on quality equipment.
     
    The phones in question were Etymotic hf2s, and I could not recommend them any more highly. Before these I owned a pair of Etymotic ER 6is, which have been sadly discontinued. What makes these so good? They create a seal with your ear that virtually cuts out all background noise, meaning you don't have to crank the volume up nearly as loud and can hear a lot more detail. If you've been using a pair of Apple earbuds or other cheapies and then switch to these, you'll be entering a whole new world of music. If you're looking at any of their other offerings (or those from another manufacturer), make you you look at ones with a balanced armature versus a dynamic driver, they perform much better. I don't recommend them on planes though, as the pressure changes combined with the seal they create can mess with your ears.
     
    For home use (and planes) I use a pair of Sennheiser HD 380 Pros. They're closed back, over-ear cans. Compared to open-back ones, they're better for listening if you have other people around or are recording (like the Powercast) so you don't have any echo. They have a pretty good seal over my ears and help cut out a lot of noise. They're fairly low impedance too which means my iPod has no problem driving them.
     
    Okay, I lied, also at home, I have an Astro A40 Audio System for gaming. They're open-back, over-ear cans. They have some more bass to them, which is good for gaming, and since it's a headset I can use it for in-game chat and such too. Astro makes some quality products and I suggest them if you want surround sound but don't have the space or if you don't want to bother roommates, siblings, or parents while gaming.
     
    Finally, at work, I have a Sennheiser PC166 USB headset (apparently it's been discontinued). They're closed-back, on-ear cans, so they don't block out as much noise as the others, but they also don't bleed sound. Those are good things, because I need to hear phones ringing and people talking to me and don't want to bother co-workers with my music. I originally used the headset to record the BZPowercast, but have since moved on to a more advanced setup (detailed elsewhere in my blog).
     
    So yeah, I think I might have a headphone problem, especially since I've had my eye on a pair of Sennheisers from their 5xx series for a while...
  21. Black Six

    Back in a Bit

    By Black Six,

    So the military base I work at is closing tomorrow because of the hurricane. If it's that bad, then at the very least I'm expecting to lose power at some point over the next few days. So my presence here may be a little scarce. As it is, here's my plan:
     

    Go to bed tonight.
    Wake up tomorrow, work from home for as long as I have power.
    Edit the Powercast while I have time.
    In the event of a power failure, break out the dead tree books for some reading.
    Hope I don't lose power for too long.
    Repeat.

     
    Depending on if/for how long I lose power, the next episode of the podcast may be delayed. I've got everything recorded, I just need to edit it all together, master it, and upload it, which is probably about three hours worth of work at least. Between battery backups and my wireless hotspot, I should be able to stay connected for a while even if I do lose power, so I'll do everything I can to get it up on time.
     
    I hope everyone stays safe during the storm and that damage is minimal.
  22. Black Six

    Battle For The Bookcase

    By Black Six,

    So I did 100% of my Christmas shopping online this year, which is awesome. Stores crowded with people beating each other up over the last Princess Unicorn on the shelves is not my idea of fun. On my last order, which arrived today, I added a couple Halo figures that Amazon had on sale for like 50% off. So I added the Series 3 Brute Chieftain and Elite Combat to my existing collection. They're now fighting each other for control of my videogame collection:
     

     
    A couple notes:
    No, that's not all of my Xbox/360 games, I have another stack elsewhere as well. That's not all of my Halo figures either. Maybe I'll take some more pictures another time. Is anyone else annoyed that the Elite and Brute can't even hold their own weapons? I had to cheat to get what I was able to. The picture was taken with my new camera: a Canon Powershot SX10 IS. I love it.
  23. Black Six

    Battlestar Galactica

    By Black Six,

    If you saw tonight's episode, send me an IM (BZP Black Six) if you want to talk about it, because wow, did it deliver on everything they've been hinting at for the past couple shows. No comments here though, as the content is not really appropriate for the site.
  24. Black Six
    I had only one question in my inbox for a mailbag this week, so I thought I'd share that first and then go on to the topic of this entry.
     
    Mailbag
    I like how you tried to set me up for a nice Behind BZP there. Unfortunately, we outline that process very well right here in the Staff Information topic. That doesn't mean I can't use it as a springboard though.
     
    Want to see your questions answered? PM them to me and put 'Mailbag' in the subject line.
     
    Assigning Staff
    So once a potential staff member is selected, how do we know where to put them? There's actually a number of things that go into the process.
     
    First is the team they should be on - forums, blogs, news, or reference. For the latter two we usually pick out people we think would be good fits there. For Reporters we find people that write a lot, either in the blogs or the Library or just in a lot of topics. Reference Keepers need to be people who are very passionate about the story. Forum and Blog staff, however, are very similar in a lot of areas. They need to be helpful, courteous, respectful, and show a good understanding of the rules. Most times we pick someone with one team or the other in mind, but occasionally we give them the choice. Generally the deciding factor is where the member is more active, since that indicates which part of the site they like more.
     
    For forum staff (aside from Mentors), there's then another level of assignment - which forums should they be helping out in? If we've recently had a staff member retire, there are obvious gaps we're looking to fill, but sometimes we're just looking to beef up our numbers a bit.
     
    I'll start off by asking the Forum Assistant or Leader where they'd like to be. I don't want to assign someone to a forum they're not going to enjoy - it's happened in the past and usually doesn't turn out well. I also keep a giant spreadsheet: there's a column for every forum and a row for every forum staff member. I use it to not only keep track of assignments but also to gather some statistics to help figure out who should go where.
     
    Each forum obviously needs at least one Forum Leader - more active forums can get two or more. Some less active ones have them too by virtue of an Assistant getting promoted to Leader and not wanting to leave where they had been assigned. The majority of forums also have Assistants. My spreadsheet calculates the Assistant-to-Leader ratio, which ideally I'd like to be at 2 or greater, but that doesn't always happen. It should always be at least 1 though. In addition to that ratio I also look at the total number of staff in the forum. I've also recently begun keeping track of forum activity in terms of page views to get an idea of which forums are the most active and consequently should have more staff.
     
    Once I figure out which forums need staff, I need to figure out who to put where. The spreadsheet also calculates how many forums each staff member is assigned to and the average number of forums per Leader and Assistant. I try to keep these as low as possible because we obviously don't want people getting overwhelmed. Invariably though I see a few staff members asking for more work, so they'll have more assignments than most. Every now and then I'll shift people around though, just to even things out.
     
    Every time a staff member joins or leaves the team, I make a new page in the spreadsheet and update it. This lets me keep a record of the staff changes, so I can go back and look at how things have been trending over time.
     
    So I doubt that was nearly as exciting as recording the Powercast, but I wanted to share it anyway. As always, if you have an idea for something I can talk about, let me know!
  25. Black Six
    In case you were wondering, I never said I was going to post these every Sunday.
     
    Mailbag
    1. Tough question. I might have to go with Indiana Jones, because he's awesome.
    2. Blue. No, yellllllow!
    3. 6 (See what I did there?)
     
    1. Yes.
    2. Yes.
    3. I'm a computer engineer working for the U.S. Army.
     
    fishers wins with this outstanding suggestion for a Behind BZP.
     
    Want to see your questions answered? PM them to me and put 'Mailbag' in the subject line.
     
    Being an Ambassador
    I had to go back and look it up, but I've been BZPower's Ambassador since June 2008. That's actually shorter than I expected, because it feels like I've been doing this for a while. But since I'm pretty sure that means I've been an Ambassador longer than Kelly was, I guess I'm the best person to talk on the subject.
     
    To start I'll answer fisher's questions: Our relationship with LEGO is great. You can tell this because they spend so much time hanging out with us at fan events. At BrickFair Alabama this year I'd estimate we spent at least a third of the convention time hanging out with Jim Foulds and/or Kevin Hinkle. We talked about LEGO and Bionicle, of course, but also life, the universe, and everything.
     
    There's a bunch of ways they communicate with us. Obviously there's the fan events. Then there's a set of forums LEGO uses for the Ambassadors and other fan projects. Sometimes Kevin or Jim will just email me too if there's something specific they'd like to know. They definitely listen. They want to know how BZPower is dealing with Bionicle being canceled, what we think of Hero Factory and other lines they're working on, and what we're doing to keep the spirit alive. As far as sets to review - we don't get those because I'm an Ambassador. LEGO sends us those because BZPower is still a large LEGO news and community site with a large reach.
     
    They certainly don't think we're crazy for existing. They understand how big of a line Bionicle was and is for many of us. Fun fact: Kevin Hinkle's son still plays Bionicle Heroes, so he's in the know when it comes to our universe. They want to understand what we're doing and how we're reacting and then do what they can to help the community continue to thrive.
     
    As far as the Ambassador program as a whole goes, these days it's kind of a nebulous concept. Back in the day (before I was selected) LEGO hand picked people from the community to give feedback and help give input on new LEGO themes. It was all under an NDA and very hush-hush. When I first joined, they were transitioning to a new mode of operations. There were several projects that Ambassadors could sign up for that were designed to help the community. There were also periodic calls for feedback and just general discussions with Ambassadors asking questions of LEGO.
     
    The projects idea failed when too few of the Ambassadors were actively participating in them and LEGO was unable to provide the level of support we were expecting. So the program shifted to focus more on the discussion and feedback. A couple of times they've tried to encourage Ambassadors to start their own projects, but that's never really gotten off the ground.
     
    All the while LEGO has been letting in more Ambassadors, most of whom rarely post or give off any signs of activity. But with more people come more questions, and the LEGO Community Team doesn't have the time usually to answer everything. As a result, the program has stagnated a bit, which is why you haven't heard anything about it from me of late. LEGO assures us that they're working on things though, so we'll see.
     
    And hopefully that was elucidating, even if it wasn't as exciting as you might have thought. Remember, if you have something you'd like to see me talk about, just drop me a PM!
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