Jump to content

Pahrak Model ZX

Premier Outstanding BZP Citizens
 View Profile  See their activity

  • Posts

    5,462

  • Joined

  • Last visited

  • Days Won

    35

 Content Type 

Blog Entries posted by Pahrak Model ZX

  1. Pahrak Model ZX
    It's a New Year, which apparently is a magical reset button that changes everything, which is why we all resolve to do something new that we apparently couldn't do until hitting the reset button. "That was easy"...but anyway.
     
    2011 means I'm going to start talking about Bioni-Lords Book 3: Kako. The subtitle, "Kako", is a Japanese word meaning "past". That's right. Book 3 is a flashback book!
     
    Book 3 takes place around 1274-1275 A.B.L., approximately 20 years before Book 1. Khadaz's parents, Genakex and Xyla, are main characters in this one, so it completes what I call "The Ikhav Trilogy," and the main point is to show what things were like before the 10th Level Bioni-Lord came to power. Right before. As in, immediately before. (Strong hinting over.)
     
    I'll probably adress a few other points as Sekai reaches its end, but for now that's all I'm saying about Kako. Oh, except this: DON'T SEND IN ANY GUEST STARS OR PLOT IDEAS. I have some ideas and guest star slots, but don't call me. I'll call you.
     
    Sekai is currently on a bit of a hold so I can work on the websites. The Main Site has been updated, although I'm considering a few more things...please give me feedback on the content of the website. As for the Orb Index, I have about 211 Spirits to put up, plus I want to make a Navigation page, so...could take a little while.
     
    But I've already started writing the Volt-Isle arc. It'll probably be pretty short, and I'm skipping a few Medallion battles almost entirely. As said earlier in the book, Nuhvok won't be attacking while the kids are on Volt-Isle, but there is another Twilight Guardian temple there...
     
    And if you've seen my sig, you know that I've decided to finally drop a hint towards The Forgotten Bond. The line under the banner, saying that "Coming Soon" means "sometime between now and 2013" is a bit exaggerated--I'm hoping to get The Forgotten Bond up within 2011, but I'm going to give myself 2012 as a margin for error. I should hurry, because the sequel ideas won't shut up...
     
    Anyway, Happy New Year everyone! Hope it's a great one for you!
  2. Pahrak Model ZX
    Because you can download it. And then use it in documents. And then set the text on your computer to appear in Matoran.
     
    You're welcome.
     
    Also, December 6th was Final Fantasy V's 20th Anniversary!! It's a lesser known Final Fantasy, due in part to the fact that the original SNES version was never released in English, but it has a wonderfully refined Job System, introduced series staples like Tonberries and Gilgamesh, and is somehow utterly ridiculous yet heartwarming at the same time. It's a favorite Final Fantasy of mine, and I strongly recommend it.
     
    Obligatory Bioni-Lords news, then. I added some new Spirits to the Index and updated the Elemental Rarity article on Exo's Desk. Rahaga and Steel are now tied for second most common Element. I've finished writing Kako 35, so once I throw together a psychology project I'll type that up. Worst case scenario, it should be up by next Thursday, but it probably won't take that long.
  3. Pahrak Model ZX

    Pokemon Ultra News

    By Pahrak Model ZX,

    is out for Ultra Sun and Ultra Moon! Key points: 
    -The mascots are, as theorized, Necrozma having absorbed Solgaleo/Lunala. The forms are referred to as Dusk Mane and Dawn Wings, respectively, and enable usage of Solgaleo and Lunala’s signature moves.
    -The special Rockruff has the ability Own Tempo, and knows special moves which differ slightly between US and UM. It evolves into Dusk Lycanroc when hitting level 25 between 5 and 6 PM (that’s such a narrow window argh). There’s also an exclusive Z Move for Lycanroc—all forms too, not just Dusk—called Splintered Stormshards, which looks pretty cool. It also cancels Terrain effects!
    -Something that’s both unexpected and sort of expected: two brand new Pokémon were shown! Both are Ultra Beasts, currently codenamed Assembly and Burst, but that’s basically all we know about them. Well, that and that they’re exclusive. Burst is in US, Assembly is in UM. Guess I need both version after all! Hahahahaughh…I mean I was probably going to do it anyway, but it’d be nice to not need to.
     
    In related news, it’s been revealed that if you get VC Gold or Silver you’ll get a special 3DS theme and a Celebi for your Gen VII games! Sort of tempted to put that on the team now…well, actually, I guess I need an Ultra Moon team now so I can just add it to that!
     
    Makes me wonder if any other new Pokémon will be added to USUM—especially Mythicals. Gen VII might last longer than I was fearing, so that’s some good news.
  4. Pahrak Model ZX
    There's been even more new Pokemon news since my last entry! It's come to a halt for now, so I may post a blog entry about it in the near future...
     
    Also I went to see Star Trek Into Darkness recently. I was quite pleased.
     
    It's really happening...the link to Bond of Heresy is on the front page!! EXCITEMENT!! In related news, a comment or two on the story asked if I had any plans to continue it, which got me thinking. The next logical step, I think, would be for Ahkmou to discover a way to transform into a Toa, and then perhaps gather a few other corrupt Toa to supplement the army of Zyglak he'll be working with. If I do decide to pursue this story, I'm thinking "Chronicle of Heresy" would make a good title. I dunno, I'll have to see how it goes.
     
    In more FFFC news, A Recluse's Dilemma received an Honorable Mention in "The Queens." I've made two entries to the new "Trial By Fire" contest: Averted Trial, about a search for the Kanohi Dragon, and Make It Stop, about a Toa being tortured by Skakdi (yes, the name is terrible).
  5. Pahrak Model ZX
    I was going to go with "ORAS ORAS ORAS" for the title, but it seemed too general and I haven't actually watched that anime so anyway
     
    Mega Slowbro is the Magic Conch. Rather than it obeying your commands in battle, you must obey whatever it says. All hail the Magic Conch!
     
    Mega Audino...for some reason, I get the feeling it wants to make a contract with me...
     
    What surprises me is that several of the most recent reveals are for Pokemon who were not introduced in Generation III. I guess I just sort of assumed that all new Mega Evolutions would be for Gen III Pokemon since these are Gen III remakes, and that assumption went unchallenged for some time--barring Mega Diancie, but since she's the newest Mythical Pokemon I figured that was a logical exception. Seems I was wrong! Well, that's not a bad thing, more Mega Evolutions is good news!
     
    I don't really have much to say on Mega Lopunny, other than "Wow, a new Gen IV Mega Evolution, now there are 4 of them! And we're all going to die because 4 is death!" and "But...why Lopunny??" Mega Slowbro raises the possibility of Mega Slowking, but then again, Mega Gardevoir is in a similar situation in regards to Mega Gallade, and nothing has come of that yet either. Very surprised to see Mega Audino, not so much because I don't see a whole lot of love for that particular Pokemon (although...), but because this is the first Gen V Mega Evolution. Since Forme Changes were in full swing in Gen V, I wasn't expecting to see any Gen V Mega Evolutions, at least not during Gen VI. This opens up a lot of possibility--Gen V is now open for Mega Evolving, which means we could see awesome transformations for Pokemon like Gigalith and Chandelure and Golurk. It's very exciting.
     
    So...three more months. What a coincidence.
  6. Pahrak Model ZX

    Nevermind

    By Pahrak Model ZX,

    Good news: we had an Office disk and I set that up with little issue.
     
    Bad news: the computer just crashed again.
     
    But I got about 24 hours out of it. I guess I can just reboot it every single day, it's better than nothing and it's not like I can actually afford a new computer.
     
    I'm completely fine with this series of events.
  7. Pahrak Model ZX
    (Otherwise known as "An Abridged History of the Bioni-Lords Saga." This was originally done for a school paper, but I've made some edits to it since then. It's still probably not very good. Anywho, here we go...)
     
    I’m not original—never was. That’s why fanfiction has always appealed to me: you already have an idea to start with, you just need to take it and work with it. When I’m in a particularly good mood, I say that my creativity lies in combining and twisting pre-existing ideas rather than creating my own original ones. The rest of the time, I say I have no creativity. I don’t stick with a whole lot of my ideas—most of them end up being abandoned a few chapters in—but there is one major exception: a “saga” of stories that are almost original while at the same time borrowing from dozens of series. It will take a while to explain, but should you have the time, I would be honored to share with you the story of my story.
     
    As you may have guessed, all throughout my childhood one of my most key interests has been the Bionicle series. I have spent a lot of time thinking about things I could do with the Bionicle story or the concept of it, and one was to combine it with the ever-popular Pokémon series. (Please understand, I was 12 at the time this idea occurred to me.) The concept was simple: it was Pokémon, but the Pokémon were replaced with Bionicles. I made a text-based game based on this idea and posted it here on BZP; people could join, collect Bionicles, and have them fight each other. Since I was not a Premier Member, I needed to get someone else to start this up for me…and soon afterward, that person said he couldn’t keep up and had the game shut down. At the time, I was furious. In truth, this was a wonderful blessing.
     
    I could have just restarted the game, but for some reason I thought I had to rework it into something new before doing so, or else I would get in trouble. After some thought, I did what (to me) was the logical evolution of the concept: the player would still fight and collect Bionicle Pokémon (or would Pokémon Bionicles be more accurate…?), but rather than sending these creatures to fight each other, one would fuse with the creature to obtain its armor and abilities in order to fight. (Again, please keep in mind that I was 12.) I decided to name these creatures “Bioni-Spirits” for some reason, and the humans who fused with these Spirits were dubbed “Bioni-Lords.” (“Bioni” for “Bionicle” and “Lord” as in “master.” Essentially, a “master of Bionicles.”) I reformatted the text-based game and prepared to restart it, this time able to do so myself…and that’s when I got the idea to turn this concept into a story.
     
    Since I was 12, the story was set to be very simple. I would just call it “Bioni-Lords: The Epic,” and a Bioni-Lord based on me would go on a quest mirroring the events of the game and end up fighting some cliché villain because he was, in fact, “The Chosen One.” (I. Was. 12. It may seem like I’m overemphasizing this, but I feel the need to do so because of how ridiculous these ideas are.) I didn’t know how long it would take to write this story, so I decided to serialize the chapters one-by-one in the Epics Forum, and since I had seen several other stories who had allowed readers to submit their own “guest star” characters, I said I was open to this as well. So, I began writing Bioni-Lords Book 1.
     
    Oh, what a literary atrocity those early chapters were! Terrible grammar, overly simplistic, poor characterization, virtually no setting at all! I’m amazed that even one single person committed to wading through just one of those chapters! Yet someone did! People came and people went—I’ve never had a particularly large group of readers at any point in time, but there have always been at least a few, and I encouraged them to submit characters, design their own Bioni-Spirits, and even send plot ideas. The thing is, though, I have a tendency to procrastinate, and I suffer from a severe case of writer’s block. Bioni-Lords Book 1 began in June of 2005. Its first version wasn’t completed until August of 2008.
     
    As you can imagine, I developed greatly as a writer over those three years, and made massive adjustments to the story as I went on. I also took some time to go back and rewrite the story, although it wasn’t my main focus (since I was working on serializing Book 2 at the time), and I’m sure it still requires a lot of work. Also during that time frame, I expanded the scope of Bioni-Lords: rather than having Bioni-Spirits based solely on Bionicles, I started to design Spirits based on characters from a variety of other fictional series, and my readers did the same. In a sense, Bioni-Lords has become a “fanfiction of everything”—something that you can throw things from all manner of sources into (although they’re not all used in the story itself). The plot was also influenced in this way—I became a huge fan of the Kingdom Hearts video games, and through that came to like the Final Fantasy series, both of which have fairly convoluted plots that I have attempted to emulate. (Usually, however, it only ends up making things confusing.)
     
    The “Book 2” I mentioned earlier was started in March 2009, and I just put the Epilogue online during November 2011. It might have taken only two years rather than three, but it was actually longer than the first one. (Maybe this means I’m improving!) The second book still mirrored the general course of that game (which I had abandoned by this point), but I extended the primary plot and added a second one, alternating between the two. (It may seem repetitive, but the reason is based in the society of the world—all Bioni-Lords are expected to journey across a string of islands, and Book 2 focuses on the son of Book 1’s main character taking this journey.) Right before I started serializing Book 2, I decided that I needed to add some flavor to the titles, and since I had developed a thing for Japanese media, I decided to use Japanese words as titles for future Bioni-Lords Books. For example, the second book ended up being called “Bioni-Lords Book 2: Sekai”; “sekai” is the Japanese word for “world”, and Book 2 expands the world of Bioni-Lords (mainly by introducing a new Atlantis-style continent). I had matured by this point, so I’m in no hurry to rewrite Sekai like I was with Book 1, but Sekai still has its problems…
     
    This is where my openness to reader input exceeded my skill level. There was so much stuff that I had to try to fit into Sekai! It became a real problem later on, when I was asked to include some new characters who were (supposed to be) very powerful and important…that didn’t exactly happen. In addition, I didn’t do the best job at spacing the secondary plot, and I probably should’ve tried integrating both plots a little better. Also, the son of Book 1’s main character ended up a little…lackluster. He needs more character development. Not his girlfriend, though—I really enjoyed using her as a character, and I think she was well-received. I also introduced a new character who is (supposedly) the strongest person in the world…but she’s so goofy that you can never take her seriously, and she never seems all that interested in helping out. (She easily could have defeated the final villain of Sekai all on her own. Instead, she waits until he effortlessly knocks out almost every other character in the entire book before finishing him off.) But forgetting all that, I love something else born of this book that I feel deserves its own paragraph.
     
    This requires some in-depth info. To enable the fusion that creates a Bioni-Lord, when a Bioni-Spirit is defeated it transforms into a glass Orb filled with a spark of energy. Humans usually use these Orbs to fuse with Spirits, but there is a technology in the timeframe of Sekai that lets people pull the Spirit out of the Orb, convert it to data, and store it in a watch-like device. (For the record, this idea was submitted by a reader. I can’t take credit.) While thinking about this, I began contemplating the uses of these empty glass orbs…what if they still contained some residual power from the Spirit? What if a maniacal glass-maker collected thousands of such orbs? If he were to melt them down into shards, and then place these shards on a robot skeleton, would that robot have the powers of all those Spirits? An android with a nearly unlimited range of powers, powers that came from a unique source, thus making it almost invulnerable to conventional means of attack…the uber-powerful, fan-favorite mechanical menace that I affectionately refer to as “Project Stained Glass.” Stained Glass has seen a few variations, each one granting it an even wider range of powers, and while it has been incapacitated a few times, it has never really been “defeated”…and probably never will. I fully intend to somehow incorporate Stained Glass in the original stories I plan to eventually write and, hopefully, sell, as it is perhaps the only (more or less) original entity in the Bioni-Lords Saga.
     
    I’m sure we all remember the server crash that made BZPower inaccessible for a portion of 2011, something that obviously delayed the conclusion of Sekai. But, thankfully, BZP did come back, so I wrapped up Sekai and began prepping my readers for Bioni-Lords Book 3: Kako, a process which began in the last chapter and epilogue of Sekai. The villain who was defeated in Book 1 showed up, said he was sorry and all, and revealed that he is the uncle of Book 1 (and the saga’s) main character. Book 3: Kako (“kako” being the Japanese word for “past”) is a flashback to 20 years before Book 1, the timeframe where this villain/uncle and his brother were on their standard journey, so that we can see how a polite teenager turned into the world’s most hated villain. Plus, I figure this will give new readers and excellent place to jump in. I was very eager to begin writing it, and it’s been a fun experience thus far.
     
    I started serializing Kako in April, and it seems to be doing about as well as Books 1 and 2. Unfortunately, I have not been able to acquire any new readers as of yet, but my returning readers continue to provide me with helpful feedback, and I am very grateful to them. While I did try to keep out a flood of reader-submitted content (like what happened in Sekai), I did commit to collaborating with a few choice comrades, and I’ve gotten just about all I need out of them. To be honest, I have no idea how long it will take to write and serialize Kako, but I’m uncharacteristically optimistic that I can make it one of my best (and perhaps most original) stories yet. (More so than its predecessors, at least.) I’ve also given thought to what will happen after Kako, God-willing—but I’m cutting this part out since I don’t want to reveal my plans to my readers just yet. Sorry guys, but I have to try my very best to surprise you! How else will I gain your respect?
     
    Bioni-Lords has come a long way, due in no small part to the input of readers, and I’m rather proud of it…though, at the same time I’m embarrassed for putting so much time and effort into mere fanfiction. As of the update to this piece, there are over 1500 Bioni-Spirits, two websites I’ve made (using free, simple site builders) to serve for reference, over one and a half thousand notebook pages that record the Books and some short stories, and around 4 and a half megabytes of data on my computer used for storing Bioni-Lords data.
     
    It probably goes without saying, but if you have not seen the Bioni-Lords Saga thus far, I would like to ask you to take a look at Kako and provide me with some feedback—even if it is negative. I know that my stories need a lot of work, but if no one tells me what is wrong with them, how will I ever improve? Kako is still far, far from over, and I believe that provides me with plenty of time to fix it before it ends, so long as people are willing to share with me how they think I should best proceed. I know that I won’t actually get to do much with this story due to its nature, but I believe it to be a sort of warm-up that will allow me to hone my skills for the day I do, hopefully, develop a degree of originality. If nothing else, I feel obligated to bring this story to a complete close, as it has come to mean a lot to me over the years. There is no way I can forget about Bioni-Lords, and no way I can completely move on until I complete the eventual Book 5 I have planned, and I deeply, truly hope that I am able to learn something along the way.
     
    Is there a moral to this story? Do you mean Bioni-Lords or this memoir thing? Either way…I don’t really know. Honestly, I just hope I did a decent job of explaining the whole thing—exposition has never been my strong suit (something else that causes many, many problems). If you take something from this, then I’m glad; either way, I thank you for your time. We all know that it takes time and effort to become a writer of great skill—I’ve been working for years and I’m still not there. Of course, I was 12 when I started and I’m only 19 now, so…there’s that. On the other hand, I’d like to think that starting early will have benefits later on. It’s too soon to tell, but I hope and pray that I’ll get the chance to find out. Until then, you know where to find me: sitting in the Epics Forum piecing together words and references, trying my best to craft an endearing tale about a land where all of our fantasies can gather.
  8. Pahrak Model ZX
    Kingdom Hearts first, since there’s less.
    -Sora’s going to be in World of Final Fantasy as DLC. Haven’t been following this so eh
    -1.5 and 2.5 are being put together as one collection on PS4. So once this, 2.8, and III are all out, you can have the entire series on one console! I really need a PS4!!
    -The
    has been released. Master Aqua…-Two screenshots for KHIII were also shown, and it appears we’re getting new/modified Drive Forms? One picture shows “Guard Form”, which uses the Keyblade shield we’ve seen previously and has a yellow color scheme. The other is “Power Form”, though…I’m not sure it’s different from the standard form we’ve seen? Also they edited the screenshot so we couldn’t see the new Keyblade he’s using. Boo. But Drive Forms, that’ll be cool to have those back!
     
    Okay then, on to the
    !-The final evolutions of the starters are confirmed! Popplio’s final form, Primarina, is Water/Fairy like everyone expected. In a shocking twist, Rowlet’s final form, Decidueye (how do you pronounce that?) is Grass/Ghost, and Litten’s final form, Incineroar is Fire….DARK! Oh thank God, that was a close call. Anyway they all have new moves too, I hope this stays a continuing trend.
    -The Island Guardians have all been revealed! In addition to Tapu Koko there’s Tapu Lele (Psychic/Fairy), Tapu Bulu (Grass/Fairy, oddly enough), and Tapu Fini (Water/Fairy). They all know Nature’s Madness, have an ability that creates a specific Terrain, and share a Z Move called Guardian of Alola which basically teleports the Yellow Devil over from Mega Man’s world so that the Guardian in totem-head form can sit atop it and smash its foes. Brutal.
    -Clarification on Alolan Persian, it’s Dark type and abilities are Fur Coat and Technician.
    -A new Pokemon named Cosmog is revealed. Pure Psychic, and is very mysterious due in part to its lore (extremely rare, previously known only to royalty, the Aether Foundation is studying it) and a certain thing about it seen in leaks, but I’m not going into that. I’m curious to see what happens with this one.
    -There’s a place called Battle Tree where people are trying to construct a Pokemon League. Not sure if it’s going to be finished later on or not, but for the time being we’ll still be able to battle certain powerful trainers there (and team up with them as well.) Shown are Wally (eh, okay?), Cynthia (!!!), and new redesigns of Blue and Red (he still doesn’t talk, it’s hilarious). This interests me.
     
    We’re getting so close to Sun and Moon now please be good PLEASE be good.
  9. Pahrak Model ZX
    -Type: Null evolves into a Pokemon named Silvally. There really isn’t much change, all it really does is destroy its power-limiter helmet (here I thought that was just gonna be a form change), but in doing so it gains a new ability: RKS System. RKS. Say that out loud. Wanna know what it does? When given certain items, Silvally changes type, as does its new signature move. RKS. Too cool for subtlety it seems.
    -Remember that dragon Jangmo-o? It has two evolutions, both of whom are our first Dragon/Fighting types! Really considering one of these for my team. It’s been suggested this might be the new pseudo-legendary, and I’m willing to believe that. The look is a little weird, but I still think it looks pretty darn cool.
    -Bounsweet evolves twice, both are pure Grass types.
    -Cutiefly evolves into a Pokemon named Ribombee. It’s basically Cutiefly with a scarf, and it’s pretty adorable.
    -Alolan Grimer and Muk are Dark/Poison. I’m not crazy about them, but they’re more creative than their Gen I selves.
    -Two new characters are also introduced: Olivia, Kahuna of Akala Island (Rock specialist), and Trial Captain Ilima (Normal specialist), who will apparently be the very first Trial Captain you face.
     
    Don’t forget that the demo is coming out on the 18th!
  10. Pahrak Model ZX

    Picking a Title

    By Pahrak Model ZX,

    So I mentioned I was writing a new fanfic. I’ve made some progress, but I’d like to settle on a title for it, and I’m not 100% sure about anything I’ve managed to come up with.
     
    It takes place on Spherus Magna 100,000 years after the reformation and the Great Beings’ civil war. Society is still struggling to recover, the feeling of hopelessness is all anyone knows, and the Toa, now all products of the Red Star, are too ashamed of what they’ve become to inspire anyone. A small team sets off to investigate a strange temple, discovering a crystal tied to one of the Principles followed by the Matoran in ancient times—and are told they must seek out the rest, for Velika’s final experiment has awakened at last, his sights set on reducing the broken remains of the world to absolute nothing.
     
    Every title I’m kicking around at the moment involves two of “Inika”, “Crystal”, and “Renaissance”/”Rebirth”, and that alone has a lot of possibilities. But I’m not totally sold on any of them and am open to other suggestions. Some of the titles I’m giving the most consideration to are:
     
    -Crystal Renaissance
    -Renaissance Inika
    -Crystalline Rebirth
     
    So I don’t know. Does anyone have any thoughts?
  11. Pahrak Model ZX
    So Technic Tournament 2: This Time It’s Personal! just wrapped up, with Pridak becoming Champion after gaining nearly one million Widgets in the final round, and then proceeding to curbstomp Granite in the Title Match by raising over six million Widgets (what the heck). Since everyone spent all their Widgets in the last round (and everyone but one player sponsored Pridak), everyone but the one guy who sponsored Granite ended up tied. Super weird…but, thanks for playing everyone!
     
    I’ll probably take a bit of a break before starting Technic Tournament 3 & Knuckles, but while Tournament 2 is fresh in your minds I was hoping to get some feedback on what changes to make! Feel free to share any comments and suggestions you have; I’ve also compiled a list of a few specific things I’m wondering about:
     

    New Additions/Gimmicks -How about this game’s main new gimmick: that the fighter going against the fighter who made the most last round starts with a 500 W bonus? Should I keep that? Should I alter the amount? Should it just be done away with? It felt like it didn’t affect a whole lot.
    -Another new addition was the chance to reroll once per round—how do you feel that was handled, and should any changes be made to it? I’m thinking of making the reroll free of charge, but still using a lower amount of Widgets than what was put in initially. (Maybe 50%?) It’ll still be guaranteed success and won’t count as another use of that promotion type.
    -I feel like I should ask about the option to end rounds early, as well. Should the conditions be changed? Should the standard round length just be shortened? (Even if we do this, I think I’d still like to keep round 1 open for a week, or do something else to provide plenty of time for sign-ups.) I’m trying to keep this as fair as possible, because I hate seeing players get left out because they got busy, but if there’s something I can do so players are sitting around and waiting less, I’d like to pursue that as well. Right now I’m thinking four day rounds for Tournament 3, and we can end them earlier than that if all the players agree on it.
    -I also feel like I should do something to spice up the Title Match, it being the final chance of the game and all. Maybe each player only gets one promotion attempt and they are guaranteed success, but after the initial roll comes up with how many Widgets they raise, I then roll again for a chance for a second multiplier that uses the player’s proficiency for that method to determine whether they get it or not? (Regular bonuses to multipliers and success probably wouldn’t apply here.) This should enable us to destroy Pridak’s record…or, since Pridak will be the Defending Champion, he could just break his own record…again…
    -Another gimmick idea I had was that if you fail a promotion attempt, it could trigger an RNG chance that you might actually raise (a smaller amount of) Widgets for the opponent of your fighter. You fail so badly some people are actually offended by your ad and buy tickets for the other side instead, or something. I dunno, what do you think?
     

    Main Gameplay -Should the use limits on promotions be raised? Looking over the profiles I started to wonder if they provided too few chances per round, but as things played out it didn’t seem to be that much of an issue. Related to this, is 13 points a good amount for profiles, or should it be changed?
    -Is 1000 W still a good starting amount?
    -When a fighter won, I distributed Widgets amongst those who promoted them, even those who attempted to promote them but failed. Now I’m thinking I should restrict the payout to only those who succeeded. (Even if all your promotion in a round fails, you can still ask for a reroll, so this shouldn’t be too harsh.)
    -To encourage some variety in promotion usage, I’m going to split the bonuses. The relationships between each method and line will remain, but using the matching ones will only raise your chance of success. If you succeed using a non-matching method, however, then your result will be multiplied x1.5. (So, using a TV Commercial for a Bionicle is very likely to succeed, but if you promote them with anything else you’ll get more Widgets from success.)
     

    Fighters -I’m planning to hold a poll in the near future so you all can determine which fighters will appear in the next game, but! Since we’ve already used all the RoboRiders and the line was never really popular anyway, I’m beginning to consider removing them. If we were to do that, we could add more fighters from the other lines, or maybe separate Bionicle G1 and G2 into separate lines with 4 fighters each, or maybe bring in a new line? I’d like to keep it restricted to buildable action figures, but there are a handful of lines with Ultrabuilds now so there’s actually a decent variety to choose from. (And this doesn’t have to be four fighters from the same line, we could have a Miscellaneous category with fighters from 2-4 different lines if you wanted.) Either way I’d probably keep Internet Campaign as the fourth promotion method, just have it correspond to the new line(s) instead.
    -As an alternative to dropping RoboRiders that still brings in more lines, we could double the size of the tournament and have an additional 16 fighters from lines other than the four already represented. (And again, separating G1 and G2 could be a part of this.) I’m quite hesitant to do this (32 fighters, 8 rounds plus a Title Match, that’s absurd!), but if there’s a lot of demand I’d give it a try. In this case we’d probably need new promotion methods, which of course leads to reworking how many points to put into profiles, so it might be a little messier if I don’t get that quite right. I really don’t like this option.
    -Another alternative is that we could keep it at 16 fighters but reduce the number of fighters from each line, maybe 8 lines with 2 fighters each? (If G1 and G2 aren’t separated here, then it’d be only 1 from each.) It’d certainly reduce the chances of fighters from the same line going against each other, which I tend to feel is something of a wasted opportunity.

    Eligible New Lines -Galidor (lol)
    -Knights Kingdom II (wow who remembers this)
    -Exo-Force (get in the robot)
    -Ben 10 Alien Force (oh yeah this was a thing)
    -Super Heroes Ultrabuilds (eh?)
    -Chima Ultrabuilds (RIP)
    -Star Wars Ultrabuilds (search your feelings)
    -Metalbeard (he totally counts)
    -Ninjago mechs (probably I don’t know)


     
    After I make decisions on these concerns and maybe implement some other suggestions, I’ll give an update or two, and then I’ll open the poll to determine who will show up in Tournament 3!
  12. Pahrak Model ZX
    G1 is dead. It’s deader than dead, deader than a doornail, super duper mega ultra permanently dead.
     
    Yet there remain a few who disagree.
     
    Tahu has been given great news: Lego wants to reboot Bionicle in 2015! However, there’s a problem. A few characters have been trapped in the dead G1 Universe, possessed and corrupted by the negativity of fans refusing to let go of the story they used to know. As long as they remain there, Lego is unable to reincarnate anybody into the G2 Universe, so Tahu is tasked with returning to the lost world of G1, saving the afflicted characters, and securing Bionicle’s chance at a new life.
     
    Will he be able to save those stuck in G1? What will he learn in his journey through the past and into the future? And these magic boots might protect him and all, but don’t they at least come in a different color than silver?
     
    Seriously, anything but silver would be nice.
     
    Find out the answers to all these questions and more in The Comedy of Our Generation, a seven-part look back at G1 coming soon to the Comedies forum!
     
    Spoiler alert: No, the boots only come in silver. We’re not off to a great start.
  14. Pahrak Model ZX
    You’ve played Pokémon Sun and Moon, you know who Lillie is, she doesn’t need much introduction. It surely comes as little to no surprise that I love Lillie, and while it is due to the main reasons anyone loves her (she’s Totally Adorable and a Well-Developed Character), I’ve recently come to feel that she’s actually rather fascinating when you look at her as a writing technique.
     
    So: player characters in Pokémon. They aren’t characters, really. They’re consistently left totally and completely blank so that whoever’s playing the game can project themselves onto this avatar with as little friction as possible, taken to unnecessarily hilarious ends with Red’s silent reappearances in later games. Naturally, this approach has its fair share of pros and cons. On one hand, this aids immersion tremendously—you’re free to name this character whatever you want, command them to do whatever you want, interpret their behavior and thought processes however you want, and more recently even dress them however you want. Players turn that character into themselves, and are able to see themselves in the Pokémon world, albeit from a top-down perspective. It’s the ultimate extreme of role-playing, giving you a place in this world but then allowing you complete freedom to adjust to it however you like. But on the other hand, this might have some connection to the fact that Pokémon has never really been known for its story. It’s difficult to write a plot centered around an empty shell. The player does things to continue the story, but they’re very much watching it unfold before them, and only stepping in when given the opportunity as opposed to doing much to actively push it forward. Again, Pokémon’s pretty much always done it this way, and it seems to be working for them, so it may not be something you see a lot of people clambering for. But since there’s a boatload of Pokémon media that does feature main characters who are actually characters, I don’t know that we can say people are totally averse to the thought.
     
    It seems to me that Lillie is GameFreak’s attempt to have it both ways. The player character of Sun and Moon remains a void who can be anyone the person holding the 3DS wants them to be, but they have a very close friend who has her own desires and faults, is heavily-entwined in the overarching plot, and develops greatly as a character. Granted, she doesn’t do very much herself in terms of actively driving the plot forward—she spends a lot of time reacting, and not as much time decision-making—but her character is written in a way that that’s actually part of her development. Which is…kind of ingenious, really. Is she meant to be a metaphor for the Pokémon main series games learning to be more active in their storytelling, as opposed to just being an observer? Well, maybe at that point I’m reading a bit too much into it.
     
    For the sake of argument, let’s accept my premise as true: Lillie is an attempt to have a “main character” the plot centers on while still having a totally blank “player character” for absolute immersion. Then the only question becomes: Does it work?
     
    I’d say yes.
     
    People love Lillie. If you looked at a discussion of Sun and Moon prior to their release, you’d see people saying “This Lillie girl is off, we all agree she’s a Nihilego in disguise right?” Check them after its release, and you’ll see dozens of fans shouting about how wonderful she is. Like, I’m sure there are some people who don’t like her, no character can be universally-loved, but…I’m not sure I’ve seen anyone bashing her, and Sun and Moon have been out for close to a year now. When you have to go out of your way to find people who hate a character but get bombarded by people who like them without trying, it’s safe to say they’re pretty darn popular. Has the series had a breakout character like this before? Maybe with N? Certain Hoenn characters certainly had a resurgence when ORAS came out, but even then it seemed to typically be antagonists, plus Steven who just sort of pops in and out on occasion. Even when N does become an ally in B2W2, he’s only in, what…one scene that’s actually plot-relevant?
     
    What I’m getting at is that there’s a novelty to Lillie’s role in Sun and Moon’s story. How big a factor that novelty is in her appeal is something we can only know if this becomes more regular. I do hope to see this technique or something similar employed in future Pokémon games, because while I do like feeling like I’m my own trainer, I enjoy stories as well, and Lillie’s story is one I really enjoyed. I’ve gone on record as saying there are aspects of Alola and its cast I wish we’d seen more of, and perhaps the focus on Lillie has a hand in that, but still: she’s very unique in this franchise, and very interesting. Hopefully, she’s a good sign of what’s to come.
  15. Pahrak Model ZX
    I don't spend a whole lot of time poking around at all the features on the text editor, so I was wondering if there was some equivalent of the spoiler tags that aren't called "spoiler tags"?
     
    Because the ability to collapse/hide text is actually very handy for condensing long posts out of consideration to others scrolling by, or having an extra buffer to hide my soul-crushing insecurity behind.
     
    But, spoiler tags are for spoilers, and I should probably stick to breaking the rules only once a week.
     
    So, anyone?
  16. Pahrak Model ZX
    Asterisk Holder: Geist (warning he's super creepy)
     

     
    Origin: Bravely Second
     
    Was It In Bravely Default?: No
     
    Overview: The Exorcist’s ability has been translated as “Never Happened”, and allows them to undo turns. This can be done by setting HP, MP, or BP of a target back to what it was one to three turns ago. This abilities are said to have a fairly low MP cost.
     
    Personal Thoughts: Sounds like a super broken hybrid of Time Mage and White Mage. Not that I’m complaining (though Geist is creepy as heck and will haunt my nightmares). Well, okay, part of me wonders if this Job will be a little redundant, but Square is going to add it to the demo out now in Japan, so hopefully we’ll soon be able to see how it functions and how it sets itself apart.
     
    Update 1/28: New Magnolia image
  18. Pahrak Model ZX
    Someone has provided English subtitles for the entirety of the 0.2 section of 2.8, so I watched that. Master Aqua is even more my hero than she was five minutes ago, we don’t deserve her, she’s got to be one of the most awe-inspiring protagonists in video game history.
     
    Something else that really caught my attention, assuming the subs are at least approximately accurate there are some interesting lore implications brought up.
     
     
     
  19. Pahrak Model ZX
    Slizers:
    -Torch (Fire Slizer)
    Strength: start 3, current 3
    Agility: start 1, current 1
    Toughness: start 5, current 5
    Mind: start 3, current 3
    Powers and Items: Expert in disk-throwing, Elemental Fire powers, Vent Hand works without using elemental energy
    Sponsor:
     
    -Scuba (Sub Slizer)
    Strength: start 2, current 2
    Agility: start 4, current 4
    Toughness: start 3, current 3
    Mind: start 3, current 3
    Powers and Items: Expert in disk-throwing, Elemental Water powers, Harpoon Gun
    Sponsor:
     
    -Ski (Ice Slizer)
    Strength: start 4, current 4
    Agility: start 4, current 4
    Toughness: start 2, current 2
    Mind: start 2, current 2
    Powers and Items: Expert in disk-throwing, can shoot energy blasts from Ski Pole, Elemental Ice powers
    Sponsor:
     
    -Turbo (City Slizer)
    Strength: start 3, current 3
    Agility: start 7, current 7
    Toughness: start 1, current 1
    Mind: start 1, current 1
    Powers and Items: Expert in disk-throwing, Elemental powers of choice, weapon of choice
    Sponsor:
     
    -Jet (Judge Slizer)
    Strength: start 2, current 2
    Agility: start 4, current 4
    Toughness: start 2, current 2
    Mind: start 4, current 4
    Powers and Items: Expert in disk-throwing, can fly, can shoot energy beams from hands, disks cause target to black out for a brief moment, Elemental powers of choice
    Sponsor:
     
    -Amazon (Jungle Slizer)
    Strength: start 4, current 4
    Agility: start 3, current 3
    Toughness: start 3, current 3
    Mind: start 2, current 2
    Powers and Items: Expert in disk-throwing, disks cause plants to attack target, machete, Toa-level power over Plant Life
    Sponsor:
     
    -Granite (Mountain Slizer)
    Strength: start 4, current 4
    Agility: start 1, current 1
    Toughness: start 6, current 6
    Mind: start 1, current 1
    Powers and Items: Expert in disk throwing, can shoot plasma bolts, can generate plasma shield, pickaxes, Elemental Stone powers
    Sponsor:
     
    -Electro (Energy Slizer)
    Strength: start 2, current 2
    Agility: start 4, current 4
    Toughness: start 2, current 2
    Mind: start 4, current 4
    Powers and Items: Expert in disk throwing, Elemental Lightning powers, can shoot electric bursts without using elemental energy, can fly
    Sponsor:
     
    -Millennia (Millennium Slizer)
    Strength: start 3, current 4
    Agility: start 1, current 4
    Toughness: start 4, current 6
    Mind: start 4, current 7
    Powers and Items: Expert in disk-throwing, can shoot energy beams, Solar Axe, Elemental Light powers, Hex Shield (shared)
    Sponsor: Canis Lyacon
     
    -Blaster (Slizer)
    Strength: start 2, current 2
    Agility: start 1, current 7
    Toughness: start 5, current 7
    Mind: start 4, current 10
    Powers and Items: Expert in disk throwing, has a blast shield that can fire energy blasts, Elemental Shadow powers, Brutaka's Sword (shared), Exo-Toa (shared)
    Sponsor: Makuta Luroka
     
    -Cosmic Flare (Slizer) Tournaments 1 and 3 Champion
    Strength: start 1, current 4
    Agility: start 7, current 9
    Toughness: start 1, current 5
    Mind: start 3, current 9
    Powers and Items: Expert in disk throwing, can fly, Elemental Fire powers, Flame Nunchaku, Electric Atoms, Ice Crystals, Staff of Illusion (shared), Repellers (shared), Staff of Weather Control (shared), Staff of Plasma (shared)
    Sponsor: Pulse
     
    -Spark (Slizer)
    Strength: start 3, current 3
    Agility: start 2, current 2
    Toughness: start 3, current 3
    Mind: start 4, current 4
    Powers and Items: Expert in disk throwing, has an 'energy zapper' that can drain energy and use it to make a shield, Elemental Lightning powers
    Sponsor:
     
    -Luna (Space Slizer)
    Strength: start 1, current 1
    Agility: start 8, current 8
    Toughness: start 1, current 1
    Mind: start 2, current 2
    Powers and Items: Weapon of choice, able to shoot star-shaped energy blasts, Elemental power of choice
    Sponsor:
     
    RoboRiders:
    -Lava
    Strength: start 3, current 3
    Agility: start 3, current 3
    Toughness: start 3, current 3
    Mind: start 3, current 3
    Powers and Items: Can use Wheel Talismans, Elemental Fire powers, axes
    Sponsor:
     
    -Onyx
    Strength: start 3, current 3
    Agility: start 3, current 3
    Toughness: start 4, current 4
    Mind: start 2, current 2
    Powers and Items: Can use Wheel Talismans, lasers, Elemental Earth powers
    Sponsor:
     
    -Power
    Strength: start 3, current 3
    Agility: start 3, current 3
    Toughness: start 2, current 2
    Mind: start 4, current 4
    Powers and Items: Can use Wheel Talismans, Plasma Cannons, Elemental powers of choice
    Sponsor:
     
    -Frost
    Strength: start 2, current 2
    Agility: start 3, current 3
    Toughness: start 4, current 4
    Mind: start 3, current 3
    Powers and Items: Can use Wheel Talismans, ice lances, Elemental Ice powers
    Sponsor:
     
    -Swamp
    Strength: start 3, current 3
    Agility: start 3, current 3
    Toughness: start 4, current 4
    Mind: start 2, current 2
    Powers: Can use Wheel Talismans, machetes, Elemental Plant Life powers
    Sponsor:
     
    -Dust
    Strength: start 4, current 4
    Agility: start 3, current 3
    Toughness: start 4, current 4
    Mind: start 1, current 1
    Powers: Can use Wheel Talismans, spears, Elemental Sand powers
    Sponsor:
     
    -Boss RoboRider
    Strength: start 4, current 4
    Agility: start 1, current 1
    Toughness: start 4, current 4
    Mind: start 3, current 3
    Powers and Items: Can use Wheel Talismans, energy cannons, Elemental power of choice
    Sponsor:
     
    -Virus Rider
    Strength: start 1, current 2
    Agility: start 3, current 7
    Toughness: start 1, current 5
    Mind: start 7, current 8
    Powers and Items: Can use Wheel Talismans, extendable clawed tendrils, can shoot energy blasts and shockwaves, Elemental Lightning powers, CreateRoads.EXE, Hex Shield (shared)
    Sponsor: Canis Lyacon
     
    -Gray
    Strength: start 1, current 1
    Agility: start 2, current 2
    Toughness: start 1, current 1
    Mind: start 8, current 8
    Powers and Items: Buzzsaws that can shoot cutting energy blasts, Elemental Psionic powers
    Sponsor:
     
    -Toxin
    Strength: start 1, current 1
    Agility: start 3, current 3
    Toughness: start 3, current 3
    Mind: start 5, current 5
    Powers and Items: Poison/Acid Gun, Elemental powers of choice
    Sponsor:
     
    -Gale
    Strength: start 1, current 1
    Agility: start 6, current 6
    Toughness: start 1, current 1
    Mind: start 4, current 4
    Powers and Items: Bow, can use Wheel Talismans, can fly using focused wind bursts, Elemental Air powers
    Sponsor:
     
    -Wave
    Strength: start 1, current 1
    Agility: start 4, current 4
    Toughness: start 4, current 4
    Mind: start 3, current 3
    Powers and Items: Harpoon Gun, can use Wheel Talismans, can float on the surface of water, Elemental Water powers
    Sponsor:
     
    -Alloy
    Strength: start 4, current 4
    Agility: start 3, current 3
    Toughness: start 4, current 4
    Mind: start 1, current 1
    Powers and Items: Wields maces, can use Wheel Talismans, can create spikes on wheels to cling to surfaces, Elemental Iron powers
    Sponsor:
     
    -Ion
    Strength: start 1, current 1
    Agility: start 4, current 4
    Toughness: start 4, current 4
    Mind: start 3, current 3
    Powers and Items: Can throw bolts of solid lightning without using Elemental energy, can use Wheel Talismans, Elemental Lightning powers
    Sponsor:
     
    -Demi
    Strength: start 3, current 12
    Agility: start 3, current 12
    Toughness: start 5, current 5
    Mind: start 1, current 1
    Powers and Items: Twin hammers, can use Wheel Talismans, can manipulate own gravity to fly, Elemental Gravity powers
    Sponsor:
     
     
    Hero Factory:
    -Preston Stormer
    Strength: start 4, current 4
    Agility: start 1, current 1
    Toughness: start 4, current 4
    Mind: start 3, current 3
    Powers and Items: Toa-level power over Ice, Multifunctional Ice Weapon
    Sponsor: ]
     
    -Jimi Stringer
    Strength: start 1, current 1
    Agility: start 4, current 4
    Toughness: start 1, current 1
    Mind: start 6, current 6
    Powers and Items: Sonic Boom Weapon, Elemental Sonic powers
    Sponsor:
     
    -Duncan Bulk
    Strength: start 5, current 5
    Agility: start 1, current 1
    Toughness: start 5, current 5
    Mind: start 1, current 1
    Powers and Items: Sphere Shooter, Elemental Iron powers
    Sponsor:
     
    -William Furno
    Strength: start 3, current 3
    Agility: start 3, current 3
    Toughness: start 3, current 3
    Mind: start 3, current 3
    Powers and Items: Elemental Fire powers, Dual Fire Shooter
    Sponsor:
     
    -Natalie Breez
    Strength: start 1, current 1
    Agility: start 5, current 5
    Toughness: start 1, current 1
    Mind: start 5, current 5
    Powers and Items: Boomerangs, Elemental Air powers
    Sponsor:
     
    -Mark Surge
    Strength: start 3, current 3
    Agility: start 5, current 5
    Toughness: start 1, current 1
    Mind: start 3, current 3
    Powers and Items: Lightning Shooters, Elemental Lightning powers
    Sponsor:
     
    -Nathan Evo
    Strength: start 6, current 7
    Agility: start 1, current 6
    Toughness: start 4, current 5
    Mind: start 1, current 4
    Powers and Items: Tomahawks, Elemental Psionic powers, Wing Boosters, Vortex Staff
    Sponsor: Keizah
     
    -Julius Nex
    Strength: start 1, current 1
    Agility: start 1, current 1
    Toughness: start 1, current 1
    Mind: start 9, current 9
    Powers and Items: Weapon of choice, Elemental power of choice
    Sponsor:
     
    -Daniel Rocka
    Strength: start 3, current 3
    Agility: start 3, current 3
    Toughness: start 5, current 5
    Mind: start 1, current 1
    Powers and Items: Weapon of choice, Elemental power of choice
    Sponsor:
     
    -Von Nebula
    Strength: start 1, current 1
    Agility: start 7, current 7
    Toughness: start 1, current 7
    Mind: start 3, current 6
    Powers and Items: Black Hole Orb Staff, Elemental Gravity powers, Aegis Program, Rhoutka Launcher (shared), Dark Field Spinner (10) (shared)
    Sponsor: ToaDraconixMahvi
     
    -Toxic Reapa
    Strength: start 1, current 1
    Agility: start 6, current 6
    Toughness: start 1, current 1
    Mind: start 4, current 4
    Powers and Items: Toxic Jets, Elemental powers of choice
    Sponsor:
     
    -Vapor
    Strength: start 1, current 1
    Agility: start 3, current 3
    Toughness: start 1, current 1
    Mind: start 7, current 7
    Powers and Items: Shoots bullets of corrosive mist, Elemental Water powers
    Sponsor:
     
    -Corroder
    Strength: start 1, current 1
    Agility: start 7, current 7
    Toughness: start 3, current 3
    Mind: start 1, current 1
    Powers and Items: Has sharp claws and a horn, can spit acid, Elemental power of choice
    Sponsor:
     
    -Dragon Bolt
    Strength: start 4, current 4
    Agility: start 2, current 2
    Toughness: start 5, current 5
    Mind: start 1, current 1
    Powers and Items: Capable of flight, spits electric fireballs without using Elemental energy, Elemental Lightning powers
    Sponsor:
     
    -Core Hunter
    Strength: start 2, current 2
    Agility: start 2, current 2
    Toughness: start 3, current 3
    Mind: start 5, current 5
    Powers and Items: Hero Core Removal Tool, Elemental power of choice
    Sponsor:
     
    -Black Phantom
    Strength: start 3, current 6
    Agility: start 1, current 5
    Toughness: start 3, current 7
    Mind: start 5, current 6
    Powers and Items: Elemental Gravity powers, Sabre Strikers, mace, Axonn's Axe (shared), Wing Boosters, Staff of Molecular Disruption (shared), Cordak Blaster (shared), Cordak Rockets (9) (shared), Brutaka's Sword (shared), Power Lance (shared)
    Sponsor: The ShadowVezon
     
    -Thunder
    Strength: start 5, current 5
    Agility: start 1, current 1
    Toughness: start 5, current 5
    Mind: start 1, current 1
    Powers and Items:Crusher Claw, Elemental power of choice
    Sponsor:
     
    -Fire Lord
    Strength: start 4, current 4
    Agility: start 1, current 1
    Toughness: start 4, current 4
    Mind: start 3, current 3
    Powers and Items: Lava Blaster, Elemental Fire powers
    Sponsor:
     
    -Thresher
    Strength: start 5, current 7
    Agility: start 1, current 6
    Toughness: start 3, current 6
    Mind: start 3, current 3
    Powers and Items: Mass Driver Launchers, Elemental Magnetism powers, Staff of Illusion (shared), Repellers (shared), Staff of Weather Control (shared), Staff of Plasma (shared)
    Sponsor: Trijhak
  20. Pahrak Model ZX
    Life as a retired theme is actually pretty great! The extensive cast of the Bionicle franchise has spent the last few years relaxing in luxury with not a care in the world, and is having their annual reunion party as the film opens. The scene focuses on big name characters like the Toa and Makuta, with a few condescending references to “the Gen 2 side of the family” and a small appearance from an old drunk Slizer who rants some gibberish about the prophecy of the Slizers’ return. One of the Toa, probably Tahu, off-handedly turns away one of the minor characters near the end of the scene and goes home to resume his easy life.
     
    Soon, however, trouble begins. Numerous major characters are found missing their masks, which has resulted in them losing all their powers and memories! A few of the Toa are called out of retirement to fix this, but all of their combat experience and character development has gone down the drain after being out of the game for so long, and so they’re barely able to do a thing against the various generic enemies they keep bumping into. Eventually they come face to face with the one stealing masks: the minor character Tahu shunned at the reunion, who is fed up with being constantly shoved into the background even so many years later. Their goal is to steal the powers and memories of all the franchise’s major characters and make them their own, so that they will be the only important character ruling over a bunch of nameless nobodies!
     
    The Toa begin to realize how poorly minor characters are treated, and this leads to them visiting their estranged relatives in Gen 2 to ask for their help. Unfortunately, the minor character has become so powerful and amassed enough generic minions that even the combined forces of Generations 1 and 2 aren’t able to claim victory. (Around this time the minor character will transform and rename themselves Voriki Toa of Energy. The Toa will comment that name sounds really fake.) When all seems darkest, the sound of disks flying fills the air…and the Slizers bust in, shouting something along the lines of “TIME TO FULFILL THAT PROPHECY SON!!” The kooky geezers are enough to tip the scales, and the minor character is defeated by a Toa Seal created from the combined powers of major, minor, Gen 1, Gen 2, Slizers, and…some other sixth thing. The masks are returned to their rightful owners, who regain their memories and abilities, and the minor character laments at how they’re now forever doomed to life in the background.
     
    The last scene is a year later at the next reunion, where all the characters are being treated as equals, including the minor character who became the villain. Major or minor, Generation 1 or 2, Bionicle or Slizers—they’ve come to realize they’re all part of the same gigantic family, and that they should be treating each other with love and respect instead of looking down on each other based on silly things like how many sets they’ve gotten or which island they lived on. Tahu excitedly makes an announcement: Generation 3 is in the works, and he was able to convince Lego to include new versions of a whole slew of minor characters! The celebration goes on and the credits begin to roll, accompanied by a new remix of the Piraka Rap.
     
    (I’ve said this before, but you can hire me whenever you want, Lego. I’m free.)
  21. Pahrak Model ZX
    After some edits for language, I finally put up those stories I mentioned where I’ve been trying out my Queen idea. For some reason I feel like doing a little spiel to go along with it and outline the history or whatever, so…
     
    The idea formed during the Fiction Writing class I took last semester. We were told to write three stories over the course, and since I had few ideas for my first tale, I decided to take A Recluse’s Dilemma, one of my FFFC entries, and rewrite it. The resulting second version expanded on the video game that these Queens were from, and I ended up growing fond of the general idea.
     
    With that in mind, I decided that the second story should follow the conflict established in the second version of Dilemma, and I also wanted to establish the full set of Queens. This gave me Conference of Divinity, which briefly shows all 12 Queens and gives (or at least hints at) a little more info on this world’s political structure and the Queens’ relationships. It also shows how each Queen plans to respond to this new threat.
     
    I wasn’t sure what do to for my third story. Originally, I wanted to show how the previous Queen of Light met the current Queen of Light, to provide more explicit detail on how Queens and their method of passing from body to body works, but…well, I just wasn’t feeling up to it. Eventually I came up with Alignment—not particularly exciting, maybe, but it directly follows Conference, and it can’t hurt for me to practice slower pacing. The class liked it, at least!
     
    For completion’s sake, I’ll add this in too. After the class had ended, I wrote another FFFC story that was related to this world, much more so than the original Dilemma. Despair of the Divine was my attempt to step back a few centuries and try putting some details on an event mentioned in Conference and Alignment that still directs the relationships between the Queens of War, Gravity, and Land. With the word limit, I think it feels a bit rushed, but I may still use it as a basis for the canon.
     
    This idea is still in its very early stages, so everything you read here is tentative. The stories might contradict each other a bit here and there. Even the few character names present are placeholder. As such, suggestions would be most appreciated, since I want to pour a lot of effort into this over the summer if I can. I hope you enjoy meeting the Queens!
  22. Pahrak Model ZX
    I’m Alola’s first ever Champion! But I couldn’t have done it without my team:
    -Boko the Decidueye! My starter, the one who’s been with me throughout my entire journey. Love this archer bird.
    -Onepu the Mudsdale! The freaking MVP of this team! Seriously, if you play Sun or Moon, get yourself a Mudbray/Mudsdale with Stamina. You will not regret it.
    -Wargoyle the Marowak! Still working out her moveset, but no one can say she isn’t reliable! Handled most of the last-minute grinding done on Mount Lanakila, too.
    -Podzilla the Golisopod! Looks awesome and hits super-hard…when she doesn’t use Emergency Exit, that is. I love her and she’s great, but that ability has caused some problems—I wish they’d given her something else.
    -Frost the Sandslash! The whole reason I got Moon. I was a little nervous about his moveset and low Special Defense, but he barreled right through those concerns and made the switch worth it!
    -Nebby the Lunala! Unfortunately I haven’t gotten to use them in battle much yet, but they’re gorgeous and we have a lot of history anyway.
     
    I love this game. I love Lillie, and Hau, and Hala, and Kukui, and the player’s mother…I’m starting to begrudgingly develop an appreciation for Gladion, even. Characters aren’t always a focus in Pokémon games, and I’m so glad they’re changing that. I love the Alola region and so many of the Pokémon found there. I love Z Moves. I love the story, even if it isn’t perfect. (There wasn’t any actual plotline for Type: Null, that’s one thing that disappointed me, but the main plot was really good.) That’s the most touching ending to a Pokémon game I’ve ever seen.
     
    There’s still plenty to do, I know, but I already feel very content. I think I’ve got a second favorite region.
  23. Pahrak Model ZX
    It’s insomnia-fueled idea sharing time again!
     
    Due to some anime I've seen, I want to do a story with personifications of stuff, and right now I’m thinking I may try with the islands in Bionicle. Tentatively thinking title could be “Geonicle” (Geographical Chronicle)…anyway, it’d be about a bunch of Toa-like beings named after the various islands, with traits and abilities tied to that island. Interaction will hopefully imitate canon events. Also thinking each one can summon a “Geo Blade,” with the size reflecting the size of the island they represent. Might also give each one an Element. Anywho, character brainstorming! See if you can get all the jokes!
     
    -Mata (Nui): Male, looks like Glatorian Mata Nui with a Kanohi Hau. Thinks he’s above everyone else, sometimes pretends the other Islands don’t exist. Capable of flinging Bohrok out of his body. Earth.
     
    -Metru (Nui): Female, maybe Toa Metru design? Strict and serious, considers self very sophisticated. Also flings Bohrok. Psionics.
     
    -Voya (Nui): Female, not sure on design. Used to be very sickly, but since getting better she’s become a real travel fanatic. Generally rather quiet, but extremely powerful. Clumsy, usually crashes into Mahri. Stone.
     
    -Mahri (Nui): Female, probably Hahli Mahri design. Though she used to be very kind, over the years she’s grown increasingly crazy and sadistic. However, each day she reverts to her old self for about an hour, which the other Islands refer to as “safe hour”, and she never takes her anger out on Voya. Water.
     
    -Karda (Nui): Female, don’t know about design. Energetic beyond belief, very powerful, capable of charging the other Islands. Also a very good cook. Lightning.
     
    -Karzahni: Probably just going to use the being that’s already named Karzahni. Plasma.
     
    -Artakha: Same. Gravity.
     
    -Zakaz: Male, obviously a Skakdi. Rude and violent, routinely breaks into Voya’s home while she’s gone to try to rob her (usually beaten up by Mahri). Has Utility Vision, which lets him do pretty much anything with his eyes. Air.
     
    -Xia: Female, probably Roodaka-based. Has a mind for business, great at making things, traitorous. Magnetism.
     
    -Stelt: Male, looks like Krekka. Big, strong, and dumb. Obsessed with Visorak, usually manipulated by Xia. Ice.
     
    -Destral: Male, looks like a Makuta. Hates the other Islands, routinely tries to destroy them. Has a habit of popping up out of nowhere. Shadow.
     
    -Odina: Male, probably based on the Shadowed One. Has a criminal empire, along with an eye for business that enables him to get along well with Xia. Often gets in fights with Destral. Sonics.
     
    -Daxia: Female, Helryx-like. Tough and sometimes violent. Likes to watch Destral and Odina fight. Light.
     
    -Nynrah: Male, maybe a Fe-Matoran? Keeps to himself most of the time, but people will often ask him to make things for them. Artakha values his work, but Xia seems him more as a competitor. Iron.
     
    -Visorak: Male, not a whole lot of details aside from ability to fling Visorak and shoot webs like Spider-Man. The Green.
     
    -Artidax: Male, don’t know about design, probably an explosive temper. Stole something from Destral a few years back—Destral wants to retrieve it, but Daxia is also trying to get her hands on it. Fire.
     
    -Thinking I could also include the planets at some point. Bara (Magna) would be very independent, but nobody really likes him. Bota (Magna) is a nice enough guy, but no one knows he exists, or bothers to remember his name or anything. Aqua (Magna) is well-liked, seen as a big sister by the Islands. Not 100% sure on how Spherus (Magna) would be represented though.
  24. Pahrak Model ZX
    So I have decided to go ahead and cut three of the Queens in Divine Strength, and I’m beginning to rewrite what I’ve got so far. One thing that’s coming up is that a Queen who was cut was relating a story to two of the Queens. I could just have someone else tell the tale, but the thing is, I covered the event (and a related event a year later) in two of the short stories I wrote for Fiction Writing this semester, and I kind of like how they turned out. So, I’m considering putting those stories in as flashback chapters. Or maybe just the one.
     
    But, there are some problems with this. The Queens reincarnate (sort of), so this event takes place nearly 500 years before the main plot, when they are inhabiting different bodies and are thus slightly different characters…well, in theory. Since I was just writing these short stories as mostly standalone, I recycled my current designs (with one exception) and general character traits for the Queens involved as their five centuries-ago selves. If I use these as flashbacks, I really should differentiate them a bit more so that this mechanic works the way I intend it.
     
    I’m not sure that’s a good idea, though. If people are still getting to know these characters, I’m worried that seeing two different representations of them could be confusing. Then again, I could be worrying too much—it’s not that different from getting introduced to Doctor Who and then going back and watching an episode with a previous Doctor, really. Also there is a static part of each Queen that remains through reincarnation, and these chapters tie into the character arcs I’m trying to establish that last into their current lifetime. It could probably work? Maybe?
     
    I don’t know. Should I just summarize or use these short stories as flashbacks? And if I do use flashbacks, should I maybe just leave the old Queens looking just like their current selves to avoid confusion, or should I try to make some distinctions between 500 Years Ago Queen and Present Queen?
     
    Does anyone have any thoughts on this?
     
    (And no, Korra using flashbacks to Aang doesn't count as an example. They're different enough people, and they're referred to by different names while the Queens use the same name/title in every lifetime.)
  25. Pahrak Model ZX

    SMASHING

    By Pahrak Model ZX,

    Okay forget my previous vaguely sad post because I just got the mail and
     

     
    My excited flailing is irritating Christina, I don't know why because she's about to become an awesome Mii Fighter, anyway goodbye I'll see you all in November
×
×
  • Create New...