Noxryn

more female characters would be very good

idk why there's even a debate about that, but ok

entry 7 because i'm weak to NGE

 

 

the average person eats 8 spiders in their lifetime at night

This isn't true, it was presented as a fact on the internet for the sole point of "people will believe anything they come across on the internet." It was written as part of a list of false facts by PC Professional columnist Lisa Holst, which was taken from a book on insect fact and folklore.

 

Obviously, you haven't seen CGP Grey question that belief. Chances are that Snopes--who is often paraphrased when dispelling this "myth"--made up the myth in the first place before even debunking it. Please note, that I do not believe that that is the end of this story, I'm just saying that their more to this whole controversy then most people think.

 

Never saw that addition before, but regardless the point's the same: People don't eat spiders in their sleep.

I wanted to point out it being incorrect as people who suffer from arachnophobia can get extremely freaked out by the statement, speaking from experience.

It's been a while for me (in terms of being active and paying attention to Bionicle land), but I do feel like Lady K would be a contender, along with GaliGee and Turakii. I still remember all of LK's art threads that blew me away when I was much younger (her art still does, as does the art of many people here in the past/present!) and the stories from both of them were huge in terms of me continuing to actually pay attention to the Bionicle world (along with others... but it's been quite a few years and I can't recall display names particularly well x.x).

There were quite a few people entrenched in the Library forums who... I really wish I could remember, as they wrote things that I adored and were also quite popular and well-known in general while they were active.

Otherwise a lot of the names already mentioned (ToM, Schizo, Rayg, DeeVee, was Cajun mentioned? Or am I mixing up the other staff MOCist who I think has a job related to that... ? And manyyyy others)

I also wanna say Tolkien on the basis of that really amazing huge matoran dictionary.

(There's other names out there... but I seriously suck with names, so I can't remember, but... if I did this list would be... prolly a lot longer x.x)

 

the average person eats 8 spiders in their lifetime at night

This isn't true, it was presented as a fact on the internet for the sole point of "people will believe anything they come across on the internet." It was written as part of a list of false facts by PC Professional columnist Lisa Holst, which was taken from a book on insect fact and folklore.

I don't know if Lego would be interested in ret-conning stuff for a return - that might annoy some people. *raises hand*

i'd be happy if they retconned everything BZP made canon.

Hi everyone! Just dropping in to say that I have fixed the first post a bit, since it ended up smashed together after being left alone for a few years. On that note, if there's anything that needs to be added to it, feel free to send it to me and I'll likely put it in (namely important threads, or updates that have taken place [Getting these over the weekend would probably be best]).

Sort of an "in the moment" edit, so I didn't actually update the text itself and only organized it so it's actually legible.

To the final sentence in this quote, I agree with your perspective on this, but I think the fact remains that they did not intend to offend anyone.

It doesn't matter if harm is intended if harm is caused regardless. Just because I don't mean to trip someone, doesn't mean that person isn't hurt and doesn't mean I am absolved of all responsibility and it definitely doesn't mean that I should not apologize and it doesn't mean I should not be more careful where I'm sticking out my leg.

And another fact also remains, that you can probably find people who will be offended if you do anything.

If it's insulting groups of people, inaccurately portraying important cultural icons, if it's dehumanizing people, or making light of real plights people are sitting in... then yes, people will be offended. They have a right to be offended, and they have a right to state as much. Whether or not harm is intended, if it's caused then isn't it simply better to apologize for causing harm and then trying to actively not do it again? Isn't it better to grow up from the experience, realize something might be out of line and actually try to correct it?

I dunno, I just keep thinking of how LEGO reacted so graciously when the Maori people requested (even demanded, often not in friendly terms) that aspects of their culture not be used.

If Lego was gracious they wouldn't have used it in the first place. By using what is not theirs, by re-branding it and selling it for a profit, why on earth should the Maori people take the time to kindly word anything? They had every right to feel upset, to feel that their culture was being needlessly peddled around and distorted for a company to make money off it. At that point it was only responsible that Lego fix their error, hopefully grow up from it, and learn that appropriating important cultural aspects and icons is rude and shouldn't be done by their company.

Lego was in the wrong there, 100%. The issue this thread is getting at is that they are essentially doing the same thing here, but with cultural icons and stripping meaning from cultural locations and positions.

I find it hard to believe LEGO is intending harm with this. Worse, it is possible for you to create harm by insisting on seeing it where none was intended.

It doesn't matter if offense was intended or not. It doesn't. If offense is caused, it's caused. If you bump into someone and knock them over, they are still potentially hurt and you should still apologize and help them up. From what I've noticed and read, Lego has made some transgressions with this line and they should actively work to make sure it doesn't happen in the future: Why is it such a chore for Lego to become more respectful of other cultures and peoples? Why is it such a negative thing for them to go out and actually research information and use it respectfully when creating a line, if only to avoid another situation like with the Maori culture? Just because it's a fun line you enjoy doesn't mean Lego shouldn't actively try to make it better by trying to respect the culture they're taking things from and making a profit off. And it certainly doesn't mean that Ninjago is perfect and can't possibly improve: this is one way it can improve, by showing respect towards the source-culture it's taken from.

Or they could forgo taking from other cultures if all they want to do is re-brand and sell it without respecting it.

Why try to reopen wounds that have been healing? Why not contribute to the healing?

Lego opened the wounds, not SC. Pointing out that Lego is doing so is the only way to heal the wounds... you know, make them stop picking at it.

To say that Ninjago misrepresents Japanese culture is to assume it tries to represent Japanese culture. I don't know, to me it's always seemed to be like "Japanese-flavored Lego City", not any realistic representation of Japan. It's a mashup of American "ninja fever" and things like Super Sentai.

 

Why is it cultural appropriation for Lego to use things like Ninja (which despite originating in Japan are firmly entrenched in Western pop culture) in a creative and unique way? Are they not allowed to do so solely because they're a Western company? Because that kind of restriction on creativity seems anathema to me. If they were actually trying to show what Japanese culture was like, I'd see a problem, but since they're not, I don't see what's so disrespectful about it.

People aren't saying that Western-based companies can't utilize other cultures in their creative endeavors, but people here are saying that they need to do so with respect and actually research the material before using it. Representing everything and having the culture actually in the line, with respect for the culture's origins and understanding and representing it respectfully, is the big thing here. Ninjago does none of that. Nothing used in the line, from what I am aware, is accurate to the source culture it's taken from -- there was no research, there was no respect or care given towards the culture. Things were simply ripped from that culture, rebranded and sold. It's really not cool to do that and it really shows weak writing and weak world building, and it bleeds into weak characters and it'll continue on to make other lines that are rebranded, changed and disrespected cultures because no one said anything, or cared enough to say "hey, this isn't a cool thing to do. If you're going to use something that belongs to another culture, actually research it and make sure it's not being used disrespectfully."

But whatever. I hate these kinds of topics. I'm the kind of person who likes to appreciate things for what they are, and I don't need to deal with people telling me why something as innocent and joyful as Ninjago or Hero Factory or MLP is politically incorrect and how I'm a bad person for liking it. It's odd, I've always considered myself a progressive, but the BZPower "culture police" have been making me less and less fond of this site. Which is sad. I had seen this site as the herald of a new future for the Lego fandom, one that was welcoming and non-judgmental for people from all walks of life. But recently I've seen that it's becoming just as pretentious and ignorant and hateful as other Lego communities, just in a different way.

If you hate these kinds of topics, why post in it? If you aren't open to discussion, aren't open to debate, aren't open to actually trying to understand where people are coming from... why bother? Just because something is for kids doesn't make it immune to criticism (honestly, it really should be the opposite) and it's a disservice for valid critique to be ignored, or brushed off as unimportant, when it could be used to actually improve the quality of lines Lego produces. If there's no criticism, no complaining, no one saying a word, Lego wouldn't ever feel the need to actually research material and make sure that it's being represented respectfully.

Additionally, no one said you're a bad person for liking it. People are simply pointing out the issues with the line itself and what Lego has done wrong with it.

Also, we don't have a "culture police." We have members who don't like it when the company that produces something they enjoy does something that is disrespectful towards other people, and validly voice their concerns when it happens. It's ignorant to let the company continue disrespecting people and cultures, it's not ignorant to point out that the company is doing that (intentionally or not) and create actual discourse and discussion on the matter on a Lego-oriented forum.

Pirates and knights are "parodied" by Lego. I don't see anyone complaining about them.

 

Then again, they're not even being "parodied" like you say. They're being toned down.

 

If pirates and knights were made to be as realistic as possible, we may have some problems here.

 

So in what possible way could you make ninjas more "respectful" to it's source material, without coming off too violent for kids, or eliminating any creative license put into it?

First off, we're not talking about those lines (so why bring them up?) and even if they were relevant to mention, pirates and knights are prominent within the cultural history of where Lego exists (it's part of their own culture, in other words and they aren't as grossly misrepresented as in this case).

(Also Ninjago isn't a toned down version of a ninja, or of Japanese culture at all -- it's completely incorrect, unless you really think religious shrines are used to house weaponry? Or that Spinjutsu is really a toned down ninjutsu [because no it's not], or that violence is all that makes something culturally relevant? -- The post below explains a lot better what could be done to make it more respectful)

Ninjago suffers from taking something that belongs to one culture and removing all cultural significance from it, erasing the culture that created it from the picture (or incorporating it in insulting manners, namely with using religious shrines as weapon depots, or putting forth common stereotypes of that culture -- look at Sensei Wu) and they're just trying to make money off it. It's not respectful to take someone else's culture, to remove any and all significance and respect for it, reduce it down to a child's plaything that bears no resemblance to the source material or pays no respect to the source material, all to make a profit off the ideas, concepts and creations of that source -- that culture.

I don't know why everyone's defending Lego for it, granted Lego could do a lot better by actually not using lazy writing and disrespecting other cultures.

Usual things like:

- When I became staff, and before then when I became a COT RPG Judge.

- All of the instances where I met friends through the website.

- Working on RPG's and playing them actively.

- Writing and reading stories on the website.

- When Exo-Fat and some others put together that RP-focused podcast thing that I was involved with.

But Ga is still one of my favorite memories.

Ninjago is a toy-line set in a fictional world, filled with fictional characters; and that's what it should be taken as.

Yet it contains content that's directly tied to the real world, content that is taken seriously by groups of people (like religious icons, such as shrines) and it is rather disrespectful for a company to approximate these facets of a culture -- things that individual people do take seriously, that are important to them and hold meaning to them -- on the entire premise of profit. Just because a fictional world is fictional, doesn't mean it can't be disrespectful of cultures, people or groups in the real world.

Parodying a culture to make a buck isn't respectful, fiction or not.

Also what're some games you like in spite of their bad rep?

Final Fantasy XIII, I liked the characters and the story itself and while I can definitely see flaws with the game it was still a memorable experience. Plus, I liked the Paradigm Shift mechanic (Although hated how if the character you were controlling died, that was it). Most other games I play tend to have good reviews amongst the people who play them (Tales of Xillia, Disgaea, Magica, some popular online games like League of Legends and Guild Wars 2). FPS games tend not to be so much fun for me anymore, though I did have a lot of fun playing Homefront despite the complaints about poor graphic quality for the time and having a small pool of maps to play on, with new releases often having a lot of bugs (Well, the amount of maps in current FPS games is laughable at best, so that complaint I had a hard time taking seriously).

It's not really my thing, personally. Kinda hate giving the number critiques because they don't say much, but for my personal taste it falls more around 3/5 -- it feels too samey throughout, sound-wise, and doesn't have a lot of energy.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n5_XquLVJRs

hahli husky's is gorgeous that or windy's, windy's is quite rad too

It's Nezumi! Just taller, into girls, and with red hair.

if we alter hapori tohu let it be known i vote for a clikit's bow, all pink and pretty with hearts

hapori tohu is a strong independent head and don't need no body

He's not even a real vampire!

Well, if more members and activity is the desire, then the site'll need to branch out quite a bit. I mean, while I did enjoy Bionicle a fair bit before it ended, it is over. There's no new media (official media), no new stories (official stories), no new sets, no new anything for the line anymore. There won't be new fans of the series because the series doesn't have any strength outside of the, relatively, small fan sites that still exist (and I didn't become interested in it in 2001 because I read a topic on a forum that mentioned it... I saw an ad, got a set, then searched for more information and places to talk about it... since there was this whole story thing and Gali's name was not, in fact, "Tom"). And those who were fans will, in many cases, drift away and become uninterested (Like, I don't really post here all too much anymore... just on slow days where I'm waiting on RP's elsewhere and my friends are asleep)... and since Bionicle's not marketed or sold anywhere, that means no new fans will come to replace those who leave... which leads to the community getting smaller and smaller.

Honestly, I really do like Ray's idea. It would be pretty awesome for a place to exist that focused on the stories of the Lego lines, or on Lego lines that have actually accompanying stories. As, I honestly can't think of a place like that at the moment.

It'd also promote creating stories... which has really come down in terms of activity as of... well, not late, but after Bionicle ended.

League of Legends with some friends (who got me to download and play it... two days ago), and a little bit of Final Fantasy XIV, because the wintery stuff looked cool.

Hope you have a lovely birthday, GSR :>

Thor 2 and I heavily enjoyed it even though the dark-elf dealio felt a little out of place, but then again I'm not familiar with the comics or anything and hey, I thought the sci-fi space elf idea was pretty cool (and they weren't reskinned vulcans so that's a plus).

Movie made me want to play my GW2 mesmer so much more, especially after Loki's parts.

it's a firey blue hand thingamajig that gives me tron vibes

Rakaru, some fire toa person of forever ago and my original BZP namesake (before i discovered Makaru, Kakaru, and i'm like 99% sure there was a Sakaru).

He was the product of my fifth grader brain. (and never used ever again because hnnnng so terrible).