Jacks

I don't know how I missed this, but it's awesome. The references to early DARPG nonsense -- the raptor cult, mysterious black vehicles, etc. -- warmed my heart, but even without them, the story was compelling and awesome. I didn't realize I wanted to see the beginning of the friendship between Rex and Trouble until you were showing it, and it's also fascinating to see an early stage in Rex's journey at which he was less idealistic than the character we got to know in the RPG.

 

It all reminds me of that short story I was gonna write like five years ago about Hotwire's first assignment and never did

5/5 Doomy and spooky. I like

 

it's not bad but there's not much to it.

Well of course there wasn't, you mean you never heard about the great Note Shortage of 1886?

 

It could definitely make sense from a physics standpoint because the Legendary Masks, from what I understand, do not harness their respective powers so much as they function as a physical manifestation of those powers. There can only be one Mask of Time in the Matoran Universe* because the very concept, existence, and function of Time inside the Matoran Universe is tied to the Vahi. This would also explain why the Ignika can be used to resuscitate (or shut down!) the entire GSR -- all Life energy within the GSR is linked to the Ignika.

 

Creation...I don't quite understand how that one would work. Bones will probably explain all this better

 

*_{I suppose there could theoretically be other Masks of Time outside the GSR, since the Vahi was specifically designed to function as part of the GSR, but given how Time is shown to function in the Bionicle multiverse (steady progression, no time travel) it would probably be necessary for a second Mask of Time to tap into the Time of the entire universe, at which point the Vahi would stop working.}

 

This isn't to somehow prove that the G2!Mask of Time MUST BE THE VAHI OMG, because reboot, duh. Just trying to help illuminate how G1's Legendary Kanohi work, nothing more

I've been following this story since the fall and I am rubbish at responding to epics. But I could not let myself remain silent any longer, because the explanation for Kapura's teleportation ability was just too ingenious. It brought so much joy to my tiny blackened heart

I went for five minutes because that was about the average length of the Bohrok episodes in 2002, and I feel like those are pretty much the ideal. One of those per month was plenty to tell a compelling story, without feeling rushed or skimpy.

 

Granted, those had the MNOG to build on -- they did not need explain to the setting, and they only introduced two characters whom we did not already know. But if the update schedule for the g2 episodes is once per fortnight rather than once per month, I still think 5 minutes is enough to flesh out the story.

4.5/5 Lovin the seamless fusion of synth sounds/beats and the guitars -- it makes the track feel like early Bionicle music that got totally out of control in the best way possible. The only complaint I have is that it's a bit long for what it is and the last minute feels just the slightest bit repetitive. Needs more buildup, essentially

 

y'all are posting so much crazy awesome stuff today, though. I almost feel guilty for posting more nerdy hipster trash like I always do Almost. But this has been stuck in my head for two days now and I gotta spread it around:

 

5/5 I know a good jam when I hear one. It's got the perfect balance (IMO) of melodic vocals and screamed vocals, the guitar solo was unexpected and brilliant, and that drummer has a crazy amount of flair. Metal is not really my cup of tea but I could see myself returning to this track

 

4/5 Would've been perfect as an instrumental

 

Hmmm, I'm not sure. I was totally gone for several months in 2008, then in 2010 my activity started to decline, but that led directly into the downtime. However, although the site went back online in November of 2011 iirc, I didn't actually come back until March of 2012. Then in the spring of 2013 I basically dropped off the face of the earth again until this past October, with a brief period of low activity at the beginning of last summer.

 

So I've probably been off the site for about 19-20 months total in the time since I joined. The hiatus in 2008 happened because I was more interested in LEGO Star Wars at the time -- for which I briefly joined another forum -- and then in 2010 I was losing interest in LEGO in general as I began to get more into music. I came back to finish the Dino Attack RPG, and stayed to try and run a TBRPG based on LEGO Universe. I screwed up and it died. By spring of 2013 I was totally burnt out on TBRPGs, and that was all I'd done here for years. Then I stayed away the following year because college courses were burning me out again. It was really the announcement of Bionicle's return that drew me back, possibly for good this time

 

EDIT: Just remembered, I was also inactive for a lot of 2006 and some of 2007 as well, mainly just out of a feeling that the site was too big and there was no niche for me (fortunately I started making some friends in 2007), so the cumulative amount of time spent inactive is probably more in the neighborhood of 2-2.5 years

 

 

- Masks can be made with powers other than elements - Makuta wore the mask of control, that's not an element is it? (Also until we get confirmation, neither is Creation in this continuity)

Well, true, but it is directly stated that the power of Control was created by fusing all the other elements.

 

Are you sure you're not thinking of the Mask of Ultimate Power? As far as I know that was the only one mentioned to contain multiple elements, while the Mask of Control is mentioned only as the one Makuta wore, without referencing its creation.

 

Yeah, although it was referred to as a "special mask" in the intro video, that doesn't imply that it violated the sacred law of One Element Only

I remember KB-Toys used to have a selection of Slizer / Throwbot sets well into the 2000s... I want to say 03 or 04. I picked up a second Turbo from them many years after the theme had gone away and been replaced by Bionicle. In fact, KB-Toys often had a lot of older Lego sets... probably because they weren't selling well, which is why they went bankrupt in 2009 and no longer exist.

 

Otherwise, the stores I frequent do a pretty good job of keeping their selection up to date and rarely have older sets around.

 

Aw dang, I was on the lookout for Throwbots for years and never had any luck. I did, however find a Nuhvok Va (and the hot air balloon set from the 2003 Adventurers line) at a KB Toys in August of 2005

 

 

Let's call them Flame, Bow, Harpoon, Drill, Saw and Blast. A callback to the REALLY old days!

After 15 years, Torch, Amazon, Scuba, Electro, Ski, and Granite have finally returned.

 

 

What's great is all of those fit perfectly except for Ski and Electro.

 

This is a fantastic idea and I don't even care if some of them don't fit. I will darn well refer to the Protector of Earth as "Electro" and nobody can stop me

 

also gonna refer to the "Mask Maker" in the summer sets as Jet now. I don't even care that he has a canon name already

 

 

 

Finally, the narrator for the Piraka promotional campaign was an African American male. Like it or not, this is unarguably one of the biggest stereotypes regarding modern gangster culture.

Racism is not a basis for an effective argument.  Ten points from gryffindor.  F - -.  Please see me after class.

 

 

I sincerely hope that was sarcasm, because you've given no actual reason to why aspects of a stereotype aren't allowed to be used to justify that a certain media did depict certain characters as gansters?

 

Literally a character is defined by how they are presented, and a part of that presentation might just happen to be a whole pile of aspects that fit a stereotype but you're not allowed to point out an extra detail of the ad - which the characters featured in?

 

Yep, let's go with Kevin was being sarcastic.

 

No it wasn't sarcastic.  NotS claimed the strongest argument for the Piraka being gangsters was that the narrator was an African American male.  They were being racist.

 

I give you a 2/10 for getting me to respond.  You're defending racism.  Stop it.

 

It seems like you're saying that the proper way to tackle the issue of racism is to ignore any instance of it and brush it under the rug. Are you one of those types who believes that racism can be eliminated by pretending it doesn't exist and that you "don't see race" and neglecting to acknowledge all the ways in which racial prejudice has become ingrained in our societies for hundreds of years? Because that's the vibe I'm getting here.

 

The bottom line -- as Sir Kohran said -- is that NotS pointing out the fact that LEGO invoked a racist stereotype in an ad campaign does not make NotS a racist, no more than pointing out the fact that some deodorant commercials objectify women makes a person sexist. You get 1/10 and detention. Read a textbook on logic while you're there.

 

 

_{OKAY LET'S TALK ABOUT BOOKS.}

 

 

 

Everyone keeps talking about hoping for "novels". I don't mean to rain on everyone's parade, but we'll be getting chapter books, if anything. The difference is mostly semantic but the point stands that the books we'll end up getting will be aimed at young readers and be short and digestible. We're not talking about Harry Potter or The Hobbit, here—these will most likely be eight to twelve pages per chapter, with about as many chapters altogether. If the books retell the same story as the animations, that means that each animation would likely be covered in a single chapter, and that the entire winter wave story would maybe take a single book (same for the summer wave, if it contains a similar number of episodes).

 

Lego chapter books are not homogenous, of course—while HF and Bionicle's chapter books were long-form stories divided into chapters, Ninjago and Chima's chapter books each tell several independent stories, with Ninjago's containing a short story and a longer story divided into chapters and Chima just telling three or four short stories. Also, Chima's chapter books were illustrated, and Ninjago's were as well in non-U.S. markets. Lego could take any one of those tacks for Bionicle's books.

 

I guess my overall point is that if the books tell the main story like the animations do, then there's not much chance that they flesh the story out much more than that. The only way they could really have room to do so is if they tell independent stories, like Ninjago, Chima, and Hero Factory did—which wouldn't be a bad thing. But in essence that means that if you're expecting the kind of expanded story the original Bionicle's large number of sequential chapter books afforded it compared to the comics, that might be a little too much to hope for.

I'm not fully sure that I buy this yet. While I won't be expecting Lord of the Rings: Toyline Cashgrab Edition (XD), I think assuming that they will just tell the stories of the animations and that's it is a bit of a premature assumption to make. 

 

Even HF's books were somewhat good, and Bionicle has a tradition of decent-length narrative books. If they respect the original line enough to bring back gear functions, then they probably do enough to write at least a Hapka-level book.

 

You misunderstand my point. My point is that IF the chapter books retell the main story as told in the animations, I doubt they'll have space to add much complexity. If they tell side-stories like the HF chapter books? In that case, anything goes. I'm actually hoping for the latter—there are plenty of blank spaces for character-establishing adventures in between the brief webisodes. But it sounded to me like most people had wanted books that were to the animations what the classic books were to the comics—an expanded, authoritative version of the main story. And I don't see that happening unless we get more than two books before the year is up (and given we don't have a single release date? Those are tough odds).

 

So wait, has it been established that they won't do both? That's what I recall the gen1 chapter books doing -- main storyline, in slightly more detail, with occasional side-plots.

4.5/5 Sounds just about like pure punk to me, which I think we need more of. The only reason it doesn't get a 5 is because I thought it could have ended at 2:11 with no detrimeent to the song -- thanks to the coda it overstayed its welcome just a tiny bit.

 

I really dig their "Capitalism is Organized Crime" poster, though

 

3/5 It wasn't bad, but there isn't really anything that stands out about it

 

 

Well, Toa Norik was never sold separately, he was only available in a two-pack with Iruini. That would explain his rarity. 

 

-NotS

 

Are you sure about that? I remember getting Iruni and Norik separatly a few years ago...  

 

Yeah, and the one person I knew who got Norik did not have Iruini

He was certainly hard to find, at least in the US. I never saw the set in any stores, and I only ever met one person who got it.

I've been quietly following your project since you first posted the Bordahk revamp, and Matau is my favorite so far. It probably helps that green/black is one of my very favorite color schemes, and I'm also a sucker for arm-blades

 

There are only a couple things I'd suggest changing -- the upper arms might look better if you exchange the waist pieces for something sleeker, and I think the upside-down inika torso just looks a little odd. Adding a few more tiny white highlights would make their presence a little more cohesive.

 

Great overall

2/5. There was something monotonous about it but I couldn't quite put my finger on it. I'm also not really a fan of the spoken bit at the end, but that's just because I dislike those in general, so that's more on principle than based on the merits of the song itself.

 

 

 

 

 

Even when he's walking alongside Vakama, though, Keetongu still looks significantly more than head and shoulders above the toa -- maybe not fully twice their height, but I don't see how he could be any less than 12 feet tall, at least. Maybe 11.

A possible explanation for  this is that the Hordikas' height could have been reduced after being exposed to the venom. Although I'm not sure if that's canon or not.

 

They were hunched over a lot more. Look at the way they walk, keeping their arms low to the ground and the trunk (torso) almost parallel with the ground. It was a matter of posture, not size change. With this in mind, They were likely a lot taller at full height than they looked next to Keetongu and Sidorak.

 

These are all legitimate point, except that the Hordika were sitting down in the scene I was referencing, so their standing height isn't quite relevant.

 

Check the scene again. They were sitting down to tell him why they needed him. Then, they stood up, shouted "Unity!" and Matau invited Keetongu to include his fist among theirs.

 

They were standing.

 

Ahh, you were right. I was going by memory.

 

Granted, even with the Hordika standing, Keetongu would still have to be pretty dang big to reach his fist into their circle without getting off his pedestal

 

 

Even when he's walking alongside Vakama, though, Keetongu still looks significantly more than head and shoulders above the toa -- maybe not fully twice their height, but I don't see how he could be any less than 12 feet tall, at least. Maybe 11.

A possible explanation for  this is that the Hordikas' height could have been reduced after being exposed to the venom. Although I'm not sure if that's canon or not.

 

They were hunched over a lot more. Look at the way they walk, keeping their arms low to the ground and the trunk (torso) almost parallel with the ground. It was a matter of posture, not size change. With this in mind, They were likely a lot taller at full height than they looked next to Keetongu and Sidorak.

 

These are all legitimate point, except that the Hordika were sitting down in the scene I was referencing, so their standing height isn't quite relevant.

 

 

 

Shouldn't the sets be the official scale, since Bionicle is a toyline before anything else? Other medias could be artistic liscences, cause there are multiple instances where the characters look nothing like they should in the comics. And Bionicle Heroes has a bunch of random stuff added just to make it more playable as a game.

Perhaps they should be, but that would mean that every wave of Toa sets would be literally taller than their preddecessors (on average}. In-universe, all Toa are close to the same height. And that's just one example.

 

Barring the special sets (Toa Mata Nui), the comics do show the Toas similar to their sets. For example, Bionicle Star characters were indeed smaller and simpler in form in the comics. There are also short Toa and tall Toa within each wave. Perhaps the scale changes each year as sets get more complex, but for the most part they're pretty spot on.

 

That depends on the artist. Stuart Sayger drew Axonn and Brutaka far larger than their sets, whereas the artists who succeeded him were much more set-accurate, but that also isn't an accurate indication of size -- we know, for instance, that the diminutive stature of the Stars is non-canon, since Gresh was never transformed in any way, nor were Nektann, the Rahkshi, or any of the Skrall.

yknow, looking back on it, Keetongu's size is actually wildly inconsistent within WoS itself. I always assumed that Sidorak was still standing in that one scene, but it's possible he could've fallen to his knees. So that would make the scene you mentioned, when he's walking past Vakama, the most realistic. And yet, when the other five Hordika were telling their story to Keetongu as he sat on his massive pedestal, apparently at least ten feet above them, he is somehow able to reach his fist down to theirs. ???????????

 

Even when he's walking alongside Vakama, though, Keetongu still looks significantly more than head and shoulders above the toa -- maybe not fully twice their height, but I don't see how he could be any less than 12 feet tall, at least. Maybe 11.

Toa are all about 6-7 foot tall. Matoran I think are half that, and turaga somewhere in between, even hunched as they are. Skakdi, Ehlek's species and most titans are the same height as a Toa or a little bigger.

I like to think that Toa range in height from 6 to 8 feet, with most around 7. I seem to recall Greg stating that Matoran are 5 feet tall, but that seems a bit too big, looking at either the sets or the movies. 5 feet seems more appropriate for a Turaga; I'd presume that Matoran are generally around 4 feet.

 

Keetongu is head-and-shoulders taller than Toa, and more muscled. Consider him a gorilla to a Toa's human.

That's true for the set, but the Keetongu set is also shorter than those of Roodaka and Sidorak, who are both head-and-shoulders taller than Toa (about 9 feet, I'd guess) but WoS depicts Keetongu as being nearly twice Sidorak's height. Based on that I'd estimate that Keetongu would be about 15 feet tall, and that's a conservative guess.

 

Kardas is *bleeping* massive, even by Rahi standards. It's as big as it looks compared to matoran, perhaps larger. Tahtorak and Krahka can match him, but like Makuta, Krahka is a shapeshifter and so could be any height she wanted to be.

Kardas is as big as his set looks, true, but he's still diminutive compared to the Tahtorak, who is confirmed in the books -- Adventures #8 IIRC -- to be 40 feet tall at the shoulder (more potential evidence that Keetongu is significantly larger than the set suggests; Keetongu's species used to use the Tahtorahk species as mounts, which would be potentially difficult if they are only 9 feet tall). The Zivon is probably about the same size, but I think even they are slightly smaller than the Kanohi Dragon.

 

Shouldn't the sets be the official scale, since Bionicle is a toyline before anything else? Other medias could be artistic liscences, cause there are multiple instances where the characters look nothing like they should in the comics. And Bionicle Heroes has a bunch of random stuff added just to make it more playable as a game.

Perhaps they should be, but that would mean that every wave of Toa sets would be literally taller than their preddecessors (on average}. In-universe, all Toa are close to the same height. And that's just one example.

4/5 dark & groovy

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ok5umIPv_hI

You've got a couple options for that.

 

The simplest would be to remove all the gears and attach the arms with these pieces.

 

If you want a greater range of articulation, though, put one of these inside the gearbox and attach 3M axles through the holes, balljoints to the axles, sockets to the balljoints, and the arms to the sockets. The technique is used in this stop-motion film, and seeing it will probably give you a better sense of how it works than my convoluted description