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Lyichir

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Blog Entries posted by Lyichir

  2. Lyichir

    Ten Years

    By Lyichir,

    Hard to believe it's been ten years since I first joined this little ol' website back in the heady days of 2006.
     
    Both myself and the site have come a long way since then.
     
    Here's to ten more!
  3. Lyichir

    Cheap Chinese Plastic?

    By Lyichir,

    Just saw someone in another topic complain about "cheap Chinese plastic" being responsible for certain minifigure parts fluorescing under a blacklight, and it got me in rant mode. But since it'd be wildly off-topic there, I'm posting it here in my blog:
     
  4. Lyichir

    On "Lego is Lying" theories

    By Lyichir,

    Earlier I replied to a post in S&T about Bionicle G1 and G2 being connected, despite Lego saying it's a reboot. That point has been refuted a thousand times, but it got me thinking about the big problem with those sorts of theories in the first place.
     
    In science, one of the essential qualities that a theory can have is that it's falsifiable. What that means is that the theory is constructed in such a way that it can be proven demonstrably false by new evidence. Falsifiability is an essential part of science, and a big part of what separates it from pseudoscience, religion, and superstition.
     
    Obviously Bionicle fan theories are a great deal different from scientific theories. But I can't help but think that falsifiability should still be somewhat of a priority. If nothing (not even direct and explicit contradictory statements) can disprove your theory, than how is it even worth discussing?
     
    As an example, I can "theorize" that Matoran in G1 can reproduce like humans. Sure, Greg has stated the exact opposite numerous times. But he could have just been lying. Unless you're willing to accept evidence at face value, you can literally claim ANYTHING about the Bionicle story or characters and never be proven wrong. Vakama never betrayed the Toa Hordika because Web of Shadows wasn't canon! Mata Nui wasn't actually a giant robot, because the events of 2008 through 2010 never actually happened! All these theories and more are valid if there is no longer a single standard of evidence that can be taken as authoritative.
     
    P.S.: I don't want this to seem like I'm condemning headcanon. Just because the official story happens one way doesn't mean you're not allowed to reinterpret it, or pick and choose the parts you like! But for a fandom to function, there has to be some shared frame of reference that defines how a story or franchise is experienced. Headcanons won't necessarily make sense to someone who hasn't experienced the actual story and characters and doesn't understand where the headcanon diverges from that. That's the importance of canon—it defines and categorizes the official story as it was initially presented, so as to foster a shared understanding of the story among the fandom at large.
  5. Lyichir

    G1/G2 connection rules

    By Lyichir,

    Boo, apparently we're not allowed to have an official topic compiling G1/G2 connection topics. I was hoping that someone in charge of S&T finally decided to whip that forum into some semblance of order, but I guess that's too much to hope for...
     
    Anyway, I'm too proud of this post to let it fade into obscurity, so I'm copying it here.
     
  8. Lyichir
    How can ANYONE say in good conscience that the Bionicle story should have ended with the villain victorious and all hope extinguished? It would be the ultimate disrespect to the rest of the story, undermining every single lesson the Bionicle story ever tried to teach.
     
    Yes, not all stories have happy endings. But endings, happy or unhappy, should MEAN something. Ending Bionicle with despair would have zero meaning, being "edgy" and "dark" but also "terrible" and "idiotic".
     
    Sometimes I think people proclaiming their love of G1 have mixed up the meanings of "love" and "hate".
  10. Lyichir
    Well, after 30 minutes of Wonder Trade I managed to trade away 24 of my nicknamed Binacle. But as I did so I began to notice that none of the people I traded seemed to be BZPers. So instead of trading away the whole box, I decided to get rid of the last ones a bit differently.
     
    I have six #Binacle2015 left, with one destiny—to be traded DIRECTLY to BZP members who are interested in them! For those who don't have me on their Friend List, my Friend Code is 0817-4310-5392. If you're interested in one of my Binacle (or just want to add me to your Friend List for the heck of it), either post your Friend Code here or PM it to me and we can set up a time to trade!
  12. Lyichir

    Ninjago Miis!

    By Lyichir,

    So I thought I'd share some Ninjago Miis I'd created with y'all. These were created specifically for use as Mii Fighters in Super Smash Bros. for 3DS!
     
    Kai pic (QR Code)
    Zane pic (QR Code)
    Cole pic (QR Code)
    Jay pic (QR Code)
    Lloyd pic (QR Code)
    Nya pic (QR Code)
    Full gallery (when public)
     
    My personal versions have the Ninja as Mii Swordfighters wearing Ninja Suits with Shuriken of Light (Neutral 2), Airborne Assault (Side 1), Hero's Spin (Up 3) and Blade Counter (Down 1) as their specials. Nya is also a Swordfighter, but wears the unlockable Samurai Armor and Samurai Helmet, and uses Blurring Blade (Neutral 3), Chakram (Side 3), Stone Scabbard (Up 1) and Power Thrust (Down 3) as her specials. Of course, if you download the Miis yourself you're free to do whatever you like with them!
  13. Lyichir
    The recent trend of fans petitioning Greg to canonize details of the story has been controversial. But I've been upset to see that devolve into a bunch of Greg-bashing.
     
    Let's be clear: Greg's not the problem here, or at least, not the main one. The fans are.
     
    They're the ones who decided, after Bionicle's end, to consider Greg the sole arbiter of canon. During Bionicle's run he may have been the "mouthpiece" of the Bionicle story, but he was only one member of a team. And that team, for the most part, did a great job of keeping the overall story on-track. Back in those days, there were questions that Greg DECLINED to answer simply because it was not his position to do so—some decisions could only be made with the input of the story team, to avoid conflicting with the overall thrust of the story. There were checks and balances. All that went out the window when the theme ended, the story team disbanded, and fans decided that they would rather let Greg string the story along indefinitely than consider it a closed book.
     
    And now, they're the ones badgering Greg to canonize every single ambiguous detail from the Bionicle story. So far, at least from what I've heard (and I lost interest in the minutiae of the classic Bionicle story long ago), it's not a case of him canonizing terrible suggestions. The problem is that he's canonizing suggestions that never needed to be made. The Bionicle story isn't any better for knowing so-and-so's mask, or weapon, or what this character or that would look like as a set. If anything, it's worse—fans are continually eating away at all the mysteries in a story that was characterized by mystery, and the little details that used to be open to actual creative interpretation in a brand that was intended to allow for creative play. Let's be clear: every time Greg canonizes a character's mask, it DECANONIZES every other possible mask that character could have worn. Every time he canonizes a weapon, it DECANONIZES every other weapon. To petition Greg to include your headcanon in the story is to exclude every other fan's interpretation of the story.
     
    Now, some may argue that this doesn't matter. If the canon disagrees with you, just ignore it and come up with your own headcanon! But there are problems with that idea. Firstly, the organized Bionicle community has an obsession with canon. It's why we have to deal with these idiotic suggestions in the first place—a lot of Bionicle fans CARE about the actual canon, and it leads them to want to make a mark on it. Secondly, the fans that don't like suggestions? They DO ignore it! They do like I did years ago and divorce themselves altogether from the canon—but that, of course, means divorcing themselves from huge parts of the community that they used to enjoy. I used to love coming up with theories in S&T, because it was neat to try to figure out how the Bionicle universe worked, or try to predict the twists and turns of the story. But now I can hardly follow the discussions there, because discussion of the story often relies on a shared interpretation of the story—a singular canon—and the more of that canon you ignore, the less common ground you have with other fans to base discussions on.
     
    I'm very glad that Bionicle is being rebooted next year. The old story, at this point, is a lost cause. It should have been ended definitively years ago, but fans opted to keep it alive long after the point of death, and now I hardly get any joy from it. Bionicle 2015 is a much needed fresh start, and I dearly hope that it can learn from the original theme's ample mistakes. And the biggest mistake I want it to avoid is letting the inmates run the asylum, as the original theme did.
  14. Lyichir

    Unikitty does whaaaaat?

    By Lyichir,

    http://pagead2.googlesyndication.com/simgad/16145316253867347519
     
    This banner ad just showed up when I was browsing BZP. Now, anyone who knows me should know that I am a Unikitty aficionado, so as obviously I clicked the link... but it only took me to the Lego Movie home page on Lego.com. And try as I might I couldn't find any new Unikitty-related content.
     
    I WANT TO CONTINUE THE STORY, LEGO. I WANT TO KNOW WHAT UNIKITTY DOES. DON'T LEAVE ME HANGING LIKE THIS.
     
    Anyway, while we're on the subject of Unikitty... 3DS users, feel free to use this ridiculous, slightly terrifying Unikitty Mii I made the other day. Don't say I didn't warn you.

  15. Lyichir
    I hope it's in some postmodern metatextual sense, in which the Toa discover that there are an infinite number of universes, with their own Toa on their own adventures.
     
    I'd rather the universes NOT influence each other even if there is a tenuous connection, but if they ever do Lego might as well go full Neil Gaiman with it.
  17. Lyichir

    My Bionicle 2015 figure!

    By Lyichir,

    Alright, since a lot of folks have shown interest, I took some quick pictures of the figure I built at the Lego Store building event at Comic Con. Once I get home I can get better pictures, including pictures of his individual parts, but for now what I have is going to have to do.
     
    Front
    Back
    Close-up on the gearbox (for those who were interested)
     
    Any questions? I have a long train trip ahead of me this afternoon so I'll be all ears!
  19. Lyichir

    Repeating my mistakes

    By Lyichir,

    Welp. It seems I just don't learn. Recently I confessed to a friend that I had romantic feelings for them. I did it because they had been expressing feelings of loneliness on their social media, but also because keeping it secret had been weighing on me. Anyway, she hasn't taken it well.
     
    I should have known better, because I've made the same exact mistake two other times. I've just been lucky enough the other times to be able to recover from them—the first time, my crush's girlfriend took pity on my awkward teenage romantic notions and helped me to atone for my mistake, and the second time my crush was a good enough friend already that it was water under the bridge afterward.
     
    But it's not like that this time. My friend is now even more anxious than ever and I don't know if things will ever go back to the way they were. And all because I was too selfish to consider all the possible effects my confession could have on her, too impatient to wait for her to be in a situation where she wouldn't be so emotionally compromised, and stupid enough to let myself think one of my few good friendships might be better as something more.
  20. Lyichir

    KEVIN KNEW

    By Lyichir,

    It just occurred to me that Kevin Hinkle proposed a "Bring Back Bionicle" design for this year's BZPower T-shirt contest. And now evidence is mounting that Bionicle will return next year.
     
    Kevin KNEW, man. He KNEW and did that just to mess with us.
     
    It's a shame he won't be at BrickFair to interrogate about Bionicle's return (along with 2015 Monorails, which are totally a thing that has leaked and not something I'm making up out of the blue, no sirree).
  21. Lyichir
    One suggestion I've seen a lot regarding a potential Bionicle return is the return of mask packs. I would normally be quick to dismiss such a notion given the utter failure of the original collectibles packs. But given some thought, and comparison with modern Lego lines, I think a similar product might actually have the potential for success.
     
    The original Bionicle mask packs were a failure largely because they didn't offer much play potential on their own. A mask is just a mask (albeit usually with a head piece and axle to go with it). There is no play potential without an accompanying Bionicle set. Later series of Collectibles tried to fix this by offering ammunition for some sort of launcher, along with the launcher itself (to allow for independent play). But these were far less attractive than the masks, due to the fact that they were largely interchangeable. They lacked the distinctiveness of differently-shaped masks.
     
    Lego has had more success with blind-packaged products since then with the Collectible Minifigures, which offer a clear advantage in that they are each a complete product. Even if you have nothing but a Minifigure (no other Lego), they are still a poseable figure with personality and charm.
     
    So perhaps by including a figure of some sort, you could make a diverse range of collectibles a success! Matoran are the obvious option—while they were completely underpopulated in previous Bionicle waves, perhaps by randomizing them you could allow for as much diversity as shown in media like the Mata Nui Online Game.
     
    Unfortunately, that introduces another issue. How many Matoran would people be willing to buy? If they're all the same build, just in different colors and with different masks, they'd be far less appealing than the diverse waves of Collectible Minifigures. And Matoran would be a building toy by any definition, which would prevent them, legally, from having any differences in part count, limiting the potential for diversity. The Minifigures, on the other hand, qualify only as figures, even though they require minor assembly. For those wondering, this is the same reason why individual Star Wars minifigures can't be sold—they would occupy the same legal definition as action figures, and the trademark for Star Wars action figures is held exclusively by Hasbro.
     
    So something's got to give. The first option I considered was to include some sort of accessory. But that wouldn't be enough, I think, to make Matoran appealing despite being recolors—especially if they were randomized. Moreover, any substitute for mask packs would have to include at least 30 varieties: six shapes in five colors (omitting the six "natural" masks of your given Toa team). And to make distribution fair, all thirty-six would have to be included in a given shipment, which would be nigh impossible given that a Matoran-sized blindbag would inevitably occupy more space than a Minifigure bag. Then it hit me—what if randomization itself wasn't necessary?
     
    Collectible Minifigures, after all, are not the only impulse-sized sets that could replace the mask packs. Enter the Mixels. This year, there are three waves of nine Mixels each—27 sets in all. Each one is distinct, having a unique appearance and personality. And they can do this because they're not blindbagged figures, but rather individually marked building sets. 27 sets is much closer to the 30 mask varieties you'd need. Perhaps the Mixels business model would be a better one than the CMFs.
     
    So what I ended up with isn't mask packs, but the end result is similar. With three waves of 10 Matoran-sized figures, you could both create a full range of masks over the course of a year, and as a bonus, create a diverse population for your Toa to protect. Online, each Matoran could include a bio to help flesh out the world, and you wouldn't even have to guess to get the mask of your choice in the color of your choice.
     

    ——————


     
    The reason I'm not posting this in any of the existing topics about a Bionicle return is that it's both unlikely, and not fleshed out enough to be practical. Realistically, we'd see more than six new masks in a year—after all, we'd be likely to see villain sets as well, and in fact if the sets follow release patterns from the past nine years, the villain sets will likely be interspersed with the hero sets. The release schedule I've proposed is buggy as well—the second series of sets would end up having to include mask shapes and colors from the summer wave of "canister" sets before that wave is even released, which could easily harm the sales of those characters who were in a sense, "pre-empted" by small, impulse sets. I certainly don't see this happening if the theme comes back next year.
     
    So why post it at all? Because I put a lot of work into brainstorming it. And because, even if only hypothetically, it shows that a diverse range of masks (and with it, a more robust variety of cheaply-priced Matoran) may be more practical than I might have previously considered.
  22. Lyichir
    Ugh... Ever since we first had hints of a Bionicle return I've been dreading this. Now that leaks are in the wild, newbies are posting them everywhere they can, including BZP, despite the rules forbidding it and the fact that the leaker could lose their job for such a critical breach of contract. At the same time, I've seen a lot of people dismissing them because they "look shopped" despite the alleged source of these leaks involving what would be a photoshopped image even if it were real (in that case, it would be shopped by THE LEGO GROUP). Personally? I think the leaks are real (given that faking them would require a great deal of work including poorly photoshopping well-designed graphics as well as faking more than a year of non-trolling interaction, not to mention making legit Hero Factory leaks in previous years), but I also want to try to inhibit their spread. So I end up trying to play both sides, explaining the rules to passionate newcomers but also trying to explain to friends that maybe they'll look a little silly if they nitpick leaks that may well turn out to be real.
     
    And this is only the start—if the leaks ARE real, I'm due for a long period of dealing with Bionicle fans eager to dance on Hero Factory's grave, smear people like myself who tried to temper people's high hopes or evidence-free predictions for five long years, or at the very least view Bionicle's return as "destiny". Not to mention the folks who are furious when they find out that the new sets use the Hero Factory building system. It's gonna be interesting. I might end up withdrawing from BZP again if the level of discourse gets as bad as it did five years ago, when Bionicle itself ended.
  23. Lyichir
    Why? Well, on top of the fact that it might not be the best use of my money (since BrickFair will itself be plenty of fun, and I've already PAID for five days of that), a new expense has recently shown up on my radar. That being... Pokémon: Symphonic Evolutions! That's right: the Pokémon Facebook page just announced an orchestral concert featuring music from the Pokémon series. I had a great time at The Legend of Zelda: Symphony of the Goddesses two years ago, and this concert will be premiering in D.C. a few weeks after BrickFair, so there's no way I can afford to miss that.
     
    In other news pertaining to expenses, BrickFair AND this concert, I finally found a place that I can send my 3DS to to have it repaired. My 3DS has had a few issues lately, most significantly an R button that doesn't function reliably and a charging port that only charges when pressure is applied to the AC adapter. The repair facility I found seems less expensive than sending the system to Nintendo themselves, and less risky (since Nintendo warns that if they can't repair the system they might replace it, which could endanger all my save data). As a bonus, the site I found (which I have used before, with my older DS) promises to have the system repaired quickly, so that I can have it back in time to soak up all those delicious Streetpasses at BrickFair!
     
    EDIT: Looks like I will go through with my BronyCon plans after all. I had forgotten that my family would be at Family Camp during the time that concert would be in D.C.
     
    I'll have to catch that concert at another stop on the tour. Oh well, BronyCon will be fun too!
  24. Lyichir
    I've been trying to figure out my plans for BrickFair VA this year and am seriously considering cutting out on Saturday, August 2, and catching a train up to Baltimore to spend the day at BronyCon instead. BrickFair is one of the highest points of my social life each year, but it still wears me out each year and try as I might, I can't avoid being mega-awkward even around my fellow FOLs. I'm worried that an extra day of BrickFair, like we're getting this year, might just push me to my breaking point.
     
    The alternative I'm considering is to spend the Saturday of BrickFair (which, being the first of the public days, manages to be both super-stressful and overwhelmingly uneventful compared to the other days) at BronyCon instead (which holds a number of interesting panels and events on Saturday). Baltimore is only a short train trip away from D.C., and if I buy tickets early I can get them for a pretty decent price. And my experience at Cloudsdale Congress (a small MLP convention in Northern VA) last year was pretty uniformly positive, so if BronyCon is similar it'll serve as a welcome respite from the chaos and drama of BrickFair.
     
    I'm still not 100% decided yet, so if anyone has any thoughts or opinions over whether I should/shouldn't go through with this they should feel welcome to share them here. I'm going to need to make a decision soon if I want to get the best price on train tickets, though.
  25. Lyichir

    Re: Bronies

    By Lyichir,

    http://andrewbarnick.tumblr.com/post/87440485002/pixelkitties-askasanebrony-retake-the
     
    I was happy to see this on my twitter and tumblr. There's still not much I can do on my own to make bronies and non-bronies alike reconsider what the fandom really means—but hopefully by sharing this I can add my voice to the choir.
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