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Pahrak Model ZX

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Blog Entries posted by Pahrak Model ZX

  1. Pahrak Model ZX

    Entry 99?

    By Pahrak Model ZX,

    How strange.
     
    Anyway, I added some new Spirits to the Bioni-Lords Spirit Index, hoping to get a few more up soon. We're over 1600 now, believe it or not.
     
    As for Kako...well, turth be told I haven't really made any progress in a while. I've been procrastinating because I'm not sure if I can do the next chapter as well as I would like...and because I've been attempting to rebuild as many of my Bionicle and Hero Factory sets as possible, which has taken up a lot of time.
     
    Hm, I already made a post about Pokemon X and Y...oh, apparently the next Pokemon movie will actually feature a total of five Genesect? I mean I like that they're using the shiny version, and the other four are each holding a different Drive, but couldn't they have just had one shiny Genesect capable of switching between Drives? They didn't use 17+ Arceus, after all.
     
    Next blog post will be my 100th, and the best I've got for that is a preview involving Aile and Zempyst towards the end of Kako. I'll post that either today or Monday.
     
    One last thing: my next semester is starting up on Monday, and I'm thinking this may actually help me to be a little more motivated to do more Bioni-Lords work. It is my best form or procrastination, after all.
  2. Pahrak Model ZX
    If you were not aware, Episode 11 has been released (in Russian), and it has murals. Steven Universe has taught us that murals are important, so I took a closer look at the murals.
     
    Here is one of them
     

     
    Now there's a lot that can be taken from this, but the most important thing?
     

     
    Mario, Master of Plumbers, has been confirmed!!
  3. Pahrak Model ZX

    Escapism

    By Pahrak Model ZX,

    I’ve seen other people making lists of good things that are happening soonish so that they have something else to focus on and I really have no clue what else to do. So we’re gonna think about things that don’t suck here on Mt Coronet! (This means you, vampires.)
     
    Let’s see…oh, there’s an episode of Steven Universe next week! A half hour special on Thursday. And I believe more new episodes in early December?
    Not to mention next week is Pokémon Sun and Moon! Of course, they’ve already leaked online so we know everything already. I’m cool with discussing it with you, but we should probably use spoiler tags. I think it mostly looks good from what I’ve seen…aside from a few things like one of the Pokémon I was most looking forward to being a version exclusive and forcing me to switch my pre-order. I’m going to try and pretend this is my biggest problem right now.
     
    Hm, I am really enjoying this current arc in Dragon Ball Super. Next week’s episode looks particularly good judging by the preview, and I’m really interested to see how this resolves and what’s coming next. I think Goku and Vegeta might finally be catching up to Beerus, which means we can start bringing in bigger and badder enemies, and that’s gonna be cool. Not to sell the current arc’s villain short, though—he’s the first real villain Super has had, and I really liked how this arc came together. Zamasu might be able to replace Cell as my favorite villain in this franchise. Honestly this is probably the most I’ve ever enjoyed Dragon Ball, due in part to this all being new stuff I can’t just look up online.
     
    I don’t know if I mentioned this here: the Steins;Gate 0 visual novel is being officially released in English at the end of the month! Still no news on the anime, but this means I should be able to watch someone else play the novel through December, so no more dodging spoilers!
     
    And I mean, I guess Thanksgiving and Christmas are coming up. I’m not much of a holiday person anymore, but who knows, maybe I’ll indulge.
     
    Early next year brings us Kingdom Hearts II.8, which should be interesting. Following that should also be some more Kingdom Hearts III news, and I am looking forward to something on that. Oh, and Unchained will be updating then as well…though, I still haven’t managed to beat Mission 475 or get much Admantite…
    Though, the Scorpio Charm being given out this week in Unchained is adorable. And, looking it up, there are indeed more such charms of Chirithy imitating the Zodiac signs, so I’m looking forward to seeing those go around.
     
    Star Wars Episode VIII is next year! Late, but…next year. And there is Rogue One this year, though admittedly I haven’t been paying any attention to that. I’ve really only ever followed the Episodes to be honest.
     
    Ah, Nintendo Switch as well. When did they say, March I think?
     
    Hmmmm, I’m probably forgetting some things, but the beauty of blogs is that people can add to this if they want. I’ll just sit down and play my Azure Flute for now.
  6. Pahrak Model ZX

    Excited

    By Pahrak Model ZX,

    Well, I have to go back to school on Monday. Oh well, I'm sure the day won't be completely ruined. If nothing else, it'll get me close to GameStop, who will be distributing Keldeo to Pokemon Black and White players. And, hm...I think there was something else...
     
    Oh yeah, THAT'S WHEN THE COUNTDOWN ON THE SUBASEKA TEASER EXPIRES WAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!
     
    *Ahem*
     
    ...I'm just...really excited. I even made a The World Ends With You topic so I'd have other BZPers to be excited with (and also to see how many people actually knew about it...it's kind of obscure).
    Sure, there was that thing about the rerelease of the soundtrack and the iOS remake, but I'm still going to hope that there's more to it that that. If not...
    *puts on Minamimoto hat*
    Factoring hectopascals! What a zetta waste of my time. Whatever yoctogram thought this was a good idea is garbage--CRUNCH!! I'll add them to the heap!
     
    ...
    *takes off Minamimoto hat*
    ...Anyway...
     
    I added a few new Spirits to the Index, and I have one more that I'm working on that should be up soonish. I'll also get back to work on Kako, which actually occassionally works better when I'm at school.
    So, yeah, I think that about covers it. Back to listening to the teaser's Day 0 Mix!
  7. Pahrak Model ZX

    Exclusive, Huh?

    By Pahrak Model ZX,

    I fruitlessly check Toys R Us how many times looking for a Greninja amiibo, but one trip to Best Buy
     

     
    I mean, the excitement is stronger than the irritation, this is awesome thank you God
     
    (I feel like the picture is not very creative but I couldn't think of anything, it's actually impressive I was able to balance the thing)
  8. Pahrak Model ZX
    First off, I should tell you I've updated the Spirit Index. It's not quite complete as of this typing, but there's only a handful to add and I should get to that soon. I haven't gotten a chapter up yet, and while I'll try to get that up by the end of the week you just might have to wait until next week...sorry.
     
    But! Since I am now writing Sekai's final arc, I decided now would be a great time to give you all a preview of just what's in store! I'm giving you brief previews of the rest of Draco-Isle, Lost Continent 12, Sekai's Ending, Book 3, and BIONICLE: The Forgotten Bond! No excerpts, sorry, but it should be enough to get you excited! These stories should all be up in 2011, although some may be pushed into early 2012. Previews included excerpts, like those I posted for Book 2, will be posted for Book 3 once Book 2 is complete!
     
    Bioni-Lords Book 2: Sekai
     
    Draco-Isle:
    The remaining members of the group fight for their Dragon Medallions! Can they pass Aile's test?
    Twisted with madness, Kadsura comes after Dranes and Azara! Is there hope for their departed friends?
    The Cueveracios temple awaits! A surprise foe, a risky Double Fusion, and...the Enterprise?!
     
    Lost Continent 12:
    Death vs. Nuvakuta! The Deathtalon and his minions challenge Librum's power!
    Zenrei's battle skills! Darkaea tests his final corrupted Frere!
     
    Ending:
    6 Dark Knights, 5 Squires, 5 Shade-Gang Commanders, 2 Third Favored Pages, D7, and an army of servants! Can Khadaz and his team defeat them all?
    Kharuun and his friends must infiltrate enemy territory! Their foes hold the advantage!
    The Gahu Magna Spell is cast--Element-Lords lose their power?!
    The highly anticipated return of Project Stained Glass!
    The foe you least expected rises to battle?
    Shadow Knight's student, Konpaku's goals, and Kytan Ikhav revealed!
     
    Bioni-Lords Book 3: Kako
     
    20 years before Book 1, the saga truly begins! What caused the 10th Level Bioni-Lord to rise to power?
    Genakex Ikhav, Steel specialist! On a quest without his parents' approval, Khadaz's father uses Gurren Lagann's ability to combine with other Steel types to create unbelievable powers!
    Xyla Pahrop! Khadaz's mother was an Air specialist? She carries a family heirloom which will draw her into a secret conflict! She seems to prefer someone else over Genakex...
    Les Quatre Freres de Lame are gathering again! Is there a traitor among them?!
    Yume was bothering people even back then!
    Bohrok beyond Kal, those who inherited the will of the Bahrag Queens! What are the King Bohrok?
    Before the Shade-Gang, a more sophisticated criminal organization reigns supreme!
    What does Kytan have to do with any of this?!
     
    BIONICLE: The Forgotten Bond
     
    Aonther world, a different time! The four successive buildable action figure lines united at last!
    Slizers! RoboRiders! BIONICLE! Hero Factory!
    A connection no one remembers? A villain with forbidden knowledge!
    After the 2001 story, things take a sharp turn! The Alpha Team on Mata-Nui? The Toa banished from their planet?!
    The true history is revealed!
     
     
    All this and more, COMING SOON!
  9. Pahrak Model ZX
    Just want to mention that I'll be posting three chapters of Forgotten Bond next week--Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday. I have reasons.
     
    As many people already know, the first two episodes of The Legend of Korra were officially released last Saturday. I'm just here to say that they were awesome and I cannot wait until episodes begin airing regularly.
    Related to that, the Avatar Korra Bioni-Spirit I promised: needless to say, with how the fully upgraded Avatar Orbs are, I can't make Avatar Korra until the series ends. However, I am working on a lower level Korra Spirit similar to #480. Avatar. The problem with that is that Korra has yet to begin Airbending, and I can't finish the Spirit until I can give her an Air attack...
    But yeah, Korra is awesome. Even if there is trolling in the first episode...
     
    Didn't have time to type up that story fragment I mentioned last week, not sure when or if I'll get to it.
    Began putting more thought into writing out Khadaz and Amy's wedding as a short story, kicking around some ideas...trying to imagine what marriage traditions might develop in a warrior society and/or Ga-Isle specifically. Methinks I should do more research.
     
    Also, the other day I got distracted and decided to brainstorm, so now I've thought up surnames for all the Element-Lords. I'll put them online when I get the time, but not sure how often they'll be used in the stories. I think something like "Dragon-Lord Aile" carries more force without a last name...
  10. Pahrak Model ZX
    An OC who is forced to go through bad fanfic versions of numerous series, and painfully aware of just how badly their life is written.
     
    ***
     
    "You are one of the chosen few who can wield the Keyblade."
     
    "Okay..."
     
    "And yours is a very special one with powers that no other Keyblade possesses."
     
    "Wait why?"
     
    "Remember, you are the one who will open the door to the true Kingdom Hearts."
     
    "...Is that a good thing?"
     
    ***
     
    "OC, we need your help to defeat Platinum Frieza and gather the Mega Dragon Balls!"
     
    "Uh...sure? I'm still adjusting, what can I do again?"
     
    "Turn Super Saiyan God Super God King Saiyan God Saiyan!"
     
    "...And what color does that turn my hair?"
     
    ***
     
    "Toa OC, you are the only being capable of controlling the Legendary Mask of Life."
     
    "Aside from the Mask itself, you mean?"
     
    "Now, you must defeat Marendar!"
     
    "Oh, so you're sending me, a Toa, to kill the thing specifically made for killing Toa? Alone? I guess things like Unity and logic aren't traits standard to my Element. Which I never did find out."
     
    "You are a Toa of Reality."
     
    "Oh come on."
  11. Pahrak Model ZX
    When I heard about this year’s exchange, I jumped on it right away. This was a great way to stimulate activity in the Library Forum and I’m excited to peruse all the results over the next week or so!
     
    As for my match-up, I was tasked with writing a story for Nick Silverpen, whose suggestions included checking in on alternate universes and taking a closer look at some of the Makuta. Using those it was a quick jump to Melding Universe Makuta, and in a universe where the Makuta are supposed to be good, who better to examine than the supposedly-honorable Makuta Antroz?
     
    The Gargoyle Knight runs about 5500 words and gives us a look at the Melding Universe’s Xia, alludes a bit to how I think the Great Being-run society would function, and features Makuta Antroz reacting to the knowledge of alternate universes as well as dealing with a high-profile criminal. I quite like how it turned out, so I might be doing something else with these ideas in the future, but I’m getting ahead of myself.
     
    Merry Christmas and Happy Boxing Day to Nick Silverpen, and the rest of you as well! Let’s do this again next year!
  13. Pahrak Model ZX
    I've been taking some classes at college for a while now, and this semester I'm taking a "Writing for the Web" class. One of our projects is to create a fake homepage for a fictional business, and I thought I may as well see if the Bioni-Lords website would fit well enough. It seemed incredibly unlikely, but...it did. The Bioni-Lords website, Exo's Desk V2, is about to be submitted for review to my college professor.
     
    For obvious reasons, this inspired me to make lots of updates, to both Exo's Desk V2 and the Spirit Index. I added paragraphs to both main pages that show the date of the latest update, and the Spirit Index now includes a Color-coding Key and a link to Exo's Desk. Exo's Desk has a link to the Spirit Index, links to every Bioni-Lords story (minus the Halloween one...I have disowned it ), a "What's on This Page?" paragraph on most pages, and a few other edits.
     
    And if you read the last chapter of Sekai, you'll know that Jungle and Psionics are now Elements. I've added them to the Elements page on Exo's Desk V2, although there isn't quite as much information as with the others, and soon I'll start editing the pages on the Spirit Index to show which Spirits and attacks have these new Elements.
     
    All this time I've been complaining about how school hinders my work with Bioni-Lords. Irony strikes again!
  14. 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.
  15. Pahrak Model ZX
    Surprisingly, Bond of Heresy won! Victory dance time!
     
    *Victory dance removed for bad dancing*
     
    I'd like to thank the judges for this great honor! It really means a lot to me that you consider my work worthy of recognition!
     
    Moving on to the current FFFC...I have a more difficult time thinking of what to do with OTC contests. "Anything but Bionicle" is so broad that I tend to get lost. However, I did manage to whip up A Recluse's Dilemma, and I have a good feeling about it! It's actually under 800 words (woohoo!), and it features a guy making a very difficult decision that you may be able to relate to. I'd be honored if you check it out, especially if you feel like reveiwing it (even if you think it's terrible).
  16. Pahrak Model ZX
    We're just about to turn in our second piece. I've had it written for a while, and after editing it every other day, I figured I should just go ahead and print it out and stop stressing.
     
    Divine Clash is also up in OTC. It's another story about the Queens, and details an event mentioned in Despair of the Divine and Alignment. I wanted my classmates to give me some feedback on how I write battles, plus this focuses on Queens that are new to all but two of them, so it seemed a good choice. I don't know yet what I'll be doing for the third piece (an entirely different idea is calling to me now...), but even if I'm one of the last ones we go over this time around I'll still have all Spring Break to come up with something, so I'm sure I'll be fine.
  17. Pahrak Model ZX
    (I’ve been in a FFV mood.)
     
    We start on Aqua Magna. A Toa of Air and his trusty Dikapi go to investigate a Toa Canister that has fallen from the sky, and end up teaming up with a Toa of Water who rules over a nearby Wahi (no big deal) and an old Toa of Earth who has lost his memories. They convince a Toa of Fire with a pirate ship towed by a giant Tarakava to take them to the Suva of Air—unfortunately, the Suva breaks apart just as they reach it, but the Toa recover powerful masks and are instructed by a local Turaga to save the other elemental Suvas.
     
    Along the way the Toa of Earth gets back his memories and tells you he and some other Toa from another planet visited Aqua Magna once and used the Suvas’ power to seal a Makuta, and if all the Suvas break that Makuta will be free again. Every Suva breaks. (But you get new masks each time one does!) The Toa of Earth uses his Toa Canister to chase the Makuta back to his home planet of Bara Magna, and the other three Toa find another Toa Canister, go after him, and have to be broken out of Makuta jail. About this time they have their first encounter with a Dark Hunter, one of Makuta’s minions who keeps reappearing and eventually becomes their friend.
     
    The Toa find the Suva on Bara Magna but the Makuta follows them and tries to destroy them. The Toa of Earth breaks free of the Makuta’s hold, shrugs off numerous shattering blasts, and then channels a Nova Blast through his bare fists to force the Makuta to retreat. The Toa of Earth then dies, but gives his masks and a Toa Stone to his favorite Onu-Matoran who joins the party in his place. The Makuta still manages to destroy the Suva, and Aqua Magna and Bara Magna fuse back into Spherus Magna.
     
    A talking Dermis Turtle who likes to make fun of the Toa of Air tells you to find legendary weapons hidden around the world by Artakha, but you don’t gotta do that if you don’t want to. The Makuta gains power over the Zone of Darkness and starts sending everything there, so the Toa go and beat him up inside the Zone of Darkness. Some of them might die, but if they do they get better soon after, and then they all return to their normal lives and occasionally meet up to ride Dikapi together. The End.
     
    (I mean, if you really want to, you can try to fight the Kardas Dragon and Marendar inside the Zone of Darkness, but I wouldn’t recommend it. Though you can scrape by on Marendar if you get one of your Toa to master the Calix-Garai-Kakama combo.)
     
    Tune in next time when I summarize FFVII, starring Spike, Toa of Angst.
  18. Pahrak Model ZX
    I swear I didn’t mean to take nine months.
     
    The plan was to take a short break to detach from Tribe and switch mindsets, then get a small headstart before I began posting. Then Life happened. And Hobbies happened. And Writer’s Block happened. And then I realized it would be really cool to post it on Mega Man’s 30th anniversary, but just recently I remembered today is Star Force’s 11th anniversary so I moved it up…a little…
     
    Anyway, partly to celebrate both these anniversaries, and partly to apologize for the extra wait, I’m kicking off Shooting Star Sonia 3: Red Joker by posting a chapter a day for a whole week! After I hit chapter 7 on Wednesday I’m going to shoot for biweekly like I did with Tribe, and we’ll see how that goes. For now, happy anniversary Star Force! Happy anniversary Mega Man! (I’ll have another blog post on the 17th about that, MEGA MAN 11!) And again, sorry for the wait, and thanks for your support! I wouldn’t have gotten this far without it!
     
    So, I should probably address the title—you may be wondering why I went with Red Joker. I was initially considering Noise as the title, to better fit with Tribe, but that felt a bit too unspecific and I wanted to go with something that felt more direct. And, though you’ve probably guessed, this does mean Sonia will be getting the Joker Program, and we won’t be seeing a Black Ace Harp Note. Let me explain! I originally wanted to use both Finalized Noise Changes, but trying to balance their usage seemed like it would be challenging, plus I would’ve needed to come up with a name for a program that could use both…Jokace? Acer? Meteor G Program? I don’t like any of those names. This is easier. Also, ah, coming up with an idea for Red Joker Harp Note was going smoother than designing a Black Ace Harp Note, so…I guess I wanted to save myself a little work. (What I was thinking of seemed too close to Black Ace Mega Man, and I wasn’t sure how to properly contrast it with my ideas for RJ, it just wasn’t really coming together.) There’s also another very good reason why Sonia’s only getting one program, but I won’t spoil that just yet. Trust me, though: you’re going to love it. There are a few other reasons why RJ got picked over BA (admittedly some bias was involved…don’t get me wrong, Black Ace is awesome, but I’ve always been a power over speed guy so Red Joker was what I grabbed first), but they’re plot relevant so I’ll discuss them as they come up.
     
    That’s all I’ll say here. I hope you enjoy the story!
  19. Pahrak Model ZX
    Mahou Shoujo Mega Man was the only display name option that more than one person said I should go with, so here I am! I also changed my blog title to fit with the name, plus I was beginning to feel like the old one was too "pretentious 12-year-old"-y.
     
    I don't need to change my avatar though, it actually fits better now. In case anyone's still not aware, I got the name from the Mega Man Star Force series, which is basically a magical girl series and totally awesome you should all play it now. At least the first game.
     
    So yeah. When the name expires I'll probably go back to the list, but for now, in the name of the moon, Wave Battle! Ride On!
  20. Pahrak Model ZX
    So I know I said I was going to write a few stories over break, but for some reason I just completely crashed and didn’t accomplish much of anything. I’m sorry about that—I’m starting to get back on track (since my third story for Fiction Writing is due soon), and I’m still going to get all those things up, it just might take a little more time.
     
    First up is Mending. This is a Queen story that began with an idea for a monologue, where the Queen of the Land says she can feel the entire world to make it even more unfortunate that she has been restricted to the queendom of Roche. It’s tied into the problems she and the Queen of Gravity are experiencing with their relationship, so I set it during the novel plot a bit farther ahead of where I currently am. This puts the Queen of Light in Roche and gives Land someone to monologue to (though I tried to make it more of a dialogue), and hopefully it’s vague enough that the plot I’m skipping won’t be missed.
     
    Since this was going to potentially be used for Fiction Writing it makes reference to the second story I submitted for that class, Divine Clash, so it might make more sense if you read that first. Also if you’re interested in the Queens I’m currently trying to make a decision regarding them, and help would be much appreciated!
     
    Next will probably be an original idea meant to be a “pilot” for a story playing with a concept from Japanese mythology. (I was also thinking of using this for Fiction Writing, but thought introducing one weird world per semester was enough. I have a draft, just want to edit at least a bit.) After that, there’s the piece I’m actually going to use for the class (another Queen story, also related to Clash and features the Queens of War and Fire) which is due on Monday and will be posted sometime around then, and the second chapter of Shooting Star Sonia which might have a little difficulty staying afloat in the near future but I will do my best to accomplish nonetheless!
     
    Also I do have a new idea for weekly prompts in mind (I might have mentioned this already?), but between school and other stuff I might not get to this until May. Which is a shame, the reason I keep mentioning it is because I’m really excited about it! I shouldn’t try too much at once, though, it can wait for now…
     
    On a completely unrelated note dreams are weird, in one night I dreamt about making Dragon Ball Z puns to put on cupcakes for Frieza, and Korra and Asami fighting a giant flying robot head with tactical support from Bolin and Varrick. Best dreams I’ve head in a while tbh.
  21. Pahrak Model ZX
    After taking a few months trying to focus on Red Joker, I’ve finally completed it!  There’s one more step in the Shooting Star Sonia project, but I’m putting that on hold for the time being, due in no small part to the fact that I really, really want to get Right of Law moving.  And on that note!
    Section XVI is live!  It’s a little short, mainly because it picks up a couple of loose ends and puts us in position for the next major event, but I’ll do my best to keep the ball rolling and get XVII out soon!  There are a couple projects I’ll be working on simultaneously, but Law is my top priority for the near future—the more I think about the things I want to do in this story, the more excited I get, and I want to put that energy to good use!
  22. Pahrak Model ZX
    I have emerged from Unchained X...to change my display name to something Unchained X related.
     
    This is becoming a real problem.
     
    In other news, The Great Career Fair has wrapped up. Sorry for being absolutely horrible at hosting that, I have no acceptable excuse and realize that I have brought dishonor upon myself. I'm gonna take a short break but I still think I'll be able to run the next Technic Tournament around mid-May.
     
    Also I am going to try pretty dang hard to get RoboRiders Re:Start...well, started. Ideally the first chapter will be up this week. I should have a new chapter of Beyond Ruin up soonish too, I have the basic idea I just need to sit down and write it.
     
    Now that my progress in Unchained X has slowed down immensely I'm hoping I'll actually be able to get stuff done. An attempt will be made!
  23. Pahrak Model ZX
    I mentioned that I wanted to try writing a new epic this year--right now I'm thinking of using the title "Guiding Principles", but I dunno, I might change it...anyway, I've been trying to work out characters for it in my stories Towards No End and Malleable, but the Toa in these pieces still need someone to lead them.
     
    The new story, Pillar and Pedestal introduces Toa Phoeba, though I feel like I might need to work on her a little more before I really start the epic. It refers back to the other two stories, but you don't need to have read them to read this one. (At least, that's my intention.)
     
    Now to work out how I want to structure the epic...
  24. Pahrak Model ZX

    Fish Fry

    By Pahrak Model ZX,

    I was playing Unchained's latest update today and encountered a Trident Tail Omega. Level 1 so it wasn't too bad, but I am a bit puzzled.
     
    Now, Trident Tail has an interesting design, and the general color scheme of the Omega works I guess, but...
     

     
    Did you really need to paint flames on it...?
  25. Pahrak Model ZX
    I watched the first anime and read the manga, but I never actually sat down to watch Brotherhood until now. Disorganized thoughts on the subject:
     
    -The pacing felt a little weird at first. I thought maybe it was just that I’d gotten used to slower series like Steins;Gate and Attack on Titan, but later on it felt like the pacing slowed down to something more manageable, so maybe they were just trying to breeze through everything that was already in the first anime? And a little bit of the new stuff?
    -Also the first three episodes all have a scene where Ed’s auto-mail gets revealed and someone does the whole “Metal limbs? Armor? I see, you did it! So that’s why you’re THE FULLMETAL ALCHEMIST!” thing. I got a little annoyed by the third time.
    -It’s very odd to me that they skipped over Youswell (or however it’s spelled) since Yoki came back later and was semi-important. He just showed up. I guess if they needed space it makes some sense that that’s what they’d cut, but this series has a filler first episode and a clip episode, so…?
    -Definitely a nitpick, but I was disappointed with Slicer’s defeat. I remember in the first series that he was laughing hysterically over the irony of the situation, and I think an episode ended on that, and I felt like it carried some weight. Here he just casually “haha that’s weird” and then gets axed. Then again it’s been years since I saw the first series so maybe nostalgia blinders are on.
    -Funny thing that happened: I was watching this with my dad, and when we got to the episode where Hughes dies and it started out with Winry thanking him, my dad said, “What a nice guy!” Meanwhile I just sat there thinking, “Is it this episode? It seems like it’s going to be this episode.” It was that episode.
    -I forgot that Sheska just kind of…drops off the face of the Earth after they’re done with her. I wonder what happened with her?
    -When they did the flashback to Ed and Al’s time on the island, wasn’t that guy in the mask supposed to be there? It might’ve just been in the first anime, but I’m pretty sure I remember him being in the manga.
    -Somehow Young Pahrak (Pahrak Va) didn’t catch the symbolism in Greed’s death, and it kind of bothers me now.
    -Ling is a treasure.
    -As if I needed more proof that Lan Fan is Best Girl, in the English dub she shares a voice actor with Christina. Amazing.
    -The first time Hohenheim shows up, when Ed’s in Risembool…he acts way different than he does in the rest of the series. That was weird.
    -Why is Envy’s true form CGI? I can’t tell if it bothers me because it’s obnoxious or because I’m being obnoxious.
    -Anyway, Major Armstrong is the best. Also General Armstrong is the best. Ah to heck with it, the entire Armstrong family is the best. (“Being the best has been passed down the Armstrong family for generations!”)
    -Things get really good around Briggs.
    -Another nitpick, after Al’s “hair” gets destroyed in the fight with Buccaneer, it stays that way for the rest of the series, but I’m pretty sure he fixed it in the manga. Weird.
    -It’s a little terrible of me, but the scene where Envy threatens Yoki and everyone says they don’t care if he dies is one of my absolute favorite scenes.
    -So when Envy tricks May into heading back to Central, but then we cut a few months ahead…what was she doing that whole time? I know it can’t have taken her that long just to make the trip. Did Envy tell her the only way she could get a Philosopher’s Stone was to attack on that specific day?
    -Thinking about it, I’m now convinced that the main/only reason the point about Al’s soul being rejected exists is to facilitate his capture in the later part of the series. It’s handled well, though: foreshadowed early-ish, starts to become a problem at a point where it’s only mildly inconvenient before really messing things up, and Pride-controlled Al is freaking terrifying.
    -It’s a little weird how out of the seven Homunculi, Lust is the only one who doesn’t come back for the final arc. I mean, I do get that it would’ve been harder to justify bringing her back, it just feels weird that we’re only missing one.
    -Burn, Envy.
    -I still don’t like the whole bit with Mustang being forced to use human transmutation. It doesn’t make sense to me. Granted, it weakened Pride (somehow) and that does justify why they didn’t do that before, but it still comes out of nowhere and only serves to quickly wrap up the villains’ plan. It feels like Arakawa wrote herself into a corner, not wanting to bring in a new character this late but not being able to justify anyone around using human transmutation because they already know it won’t work. Plus, in the end Marcoh heals Mustang’s eyes so it’s like the whole thing never happened to him in the first place. (And that’s after Hohenheim saying he couldn’t fully restore Izumi’s organs. Not sure how those two points fit together.)
    -Father’s plot is to become the Avatar (and our heroes have to deal with it).
    -The giant Father sitting up from the Earth still looks some silly rock album cover, but ultimately I do like the way they execute the scene of him dragging Truth down to join with him.
    -I’m still kicking myself for never realizing that it makes perfect sense to return Al’s soul to get Ed’s arm back. It was right there the whole time. I never realized. I love it.
    -I can’t believe that Al’s real body was the friends they made along the way.
    -Hmmmmmmm, Selim. That’s an exceptionally risky loose end to leave dangling at the end of the story. I really feel like I need to know what happens with this, but I guess I never will. Hmmmmm.
    -But otherwise, great ending, no question FMA is overall very well-written. It deserves the distinction it’s given.
    -PS the blooper reel is gold
    -I just found out there are OVAs and I might need to track those down
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