Ballom Nom Nom

Chapter 2 Meanwhile, the Johmai Jungle was also experiencing the onset of morning. In the emergent layer, understory, and ground floor, the sounds of waking Rahi were easily discernible. Not that they were doing much other than feeding and drinking: the Rahi of the forest had been pacified recently, having accepted the Quntaino as other creatures of the wild. Now, however, a new sound emerged, one of a rapid rolling locomotion. A green armored spike ball crashed headlong through the ferns and brush. At first glance, it appeared to be nothing more than an oversized burr, with jagged, stiff spines jutting out at every angle. But the powerful legs and arms coiled up beneath the armor layer, and the bulbous red eyes glittering in resolve, revealed that this sapient creature, coiled up in a ball form, was on a mission. He needed to reach the other Quntaino. Snimurai was late for the group meeting to discuss their next course of action. The green bug-like being knew full well that his leader would penalize him for not arriving on time, and Argentaros was terrifying when he was enraged. Nevertheless, he rolled on. Eventually, Snimurai reached a large clearing in the southern forest where the sun shone down in thin rays through the emergent layer. The circular area was mostly grassy except for a few sunken, moss-covered logs that lay on the outskirts of it. This area had been used by the Toa Terra when they had been trained by Chompshi and Vrael; now, it served a different purpose. Argentaros stood in the exact center, his large clawed foot on an embedded rock, looking around at his dominion sternly. Around him, the other five Quntaino sat on the logs, patiently waiting to begin conversation when their last member arrived. Only Predacron was active: the blue being's attention had been grabbed by a large, protruding root, which he was now worrying with his teeth. As a distraught Snimurai rolled into place and unfurled on the last log, Argentaros let out an annoyed growl. "You are late, Snimurai." It was a statement, not a question. "I sent the message telepathically over ten minutes ago. Where have you been?" Snimurai fidgeted, replying to the alpha Quntaino in the same complex Visorak dialect that he had been addressed in. "I just wanted to check on the village. I thought that the six beings we are trailing had returned, but they had not." Predacron stopped his preening to sneer at him. "That's because they have already transformed! Last time I checked, they were still in the cave!" Argentaros raised his paw, commanding silence. "Enough. It is true indeed that these . . . Sharaku, as they now call themselves . . . have just emerged from the Cavern of the Prophecy. They have found what the old one wrote, the ancient incantation that tells of our own rise. Now, however, we have reached a quandary. We have found ourselves face-to-face with an enemy that has reached a power equivalent to ours. The question is, how do we overcome these six Sharaku?" Nosfernox slammed his forearm shields together and bellowed. "I say we crush them and pummel their bones to dust! Then nobody can stop us!" "No. They must not be harmed, or that would defeat the purpose of fending them off. Seeing as how we are on the cusp of a new age, these Sharaku must be stopped — but not eliminated." "Then what shall we do? Bury them underground in a sealed chamber?" Icrizahk scratched his head with a gigantic claw. "No. I have a much greater scheme ahead. The Mask of Nature, as you know, has constantly eluded us, slipped out of our claws at every turn. I say we must attack these Sharaku and engage them in combat, and defeat them enough to keep them out of our way for a while. Apart from that, however, we shall need some fresh allies. These pacified Rahi lack the brains necessary to help us find the Zlinj." Argentaros turned to Carcarinax, who sat with his arms folded across his chest, silently absorbing everything his leader had said. "Carcarinax, you have scouted out every inch of this island from the air, yes?" "Indeed, Argentaros." "Very well. Then we must journey to the heart of this rainforest if my plan is to work. There dwells the advanced Rahi society whose very language we have upgraded to. I have heard of a powerful ruler who manages her horde benevolently, and whose spidery brethren let none oppose them in this savage place. She goes by the name of Gorgorak." Smiling like a Gatosuchys, his four-jawed mouth open in gloating triumph, Argentaros stood up and raised a new implement to the heavens. This strange living whiplash had been crafted by the leader from a small snake-like creature. Now, its ridged form writhed in the air, capable of changing form from supple and coiling to razor-sharp and rigid in an instant. "Then we shall gain these new allies, find the Mask of Nature, and free Terra Nui once and for all!" With the roars, screams, and bellows of his team echoing his support, the silver being dismounted from his rocky pedestal. He turned to the red Quntaino, who had just finished sharpening his broadswords on a sharp piece of lava rock. "Daigolva, I want you to lead the others on this endeavor. I will remain here and continue my reflections. Perhaps then I shall discover how to better obtain the Zlinj." He gestured to the others with a clawed hand, then snapped his whip weapon in the air. "Now go!" As the other six Quntaino flew, ran, rolled, loped, and scuttled off to do their leader's bidding, Argentaros turned toward the horizon and stared, his red crystal eyes reflecting the rising morning sun. Now, he would begin to solve the complex problem of the location of the Kanohi they sought. The prize that would lead to their victory. Soon, all of this will be mine, he thought. Soon. Review

Actually yes, his name - as revealed in the July/August LEGO Magazine - is "Kulta." Ah, good to have a source on this. I'd seen people referencing that name without context, so I wasn't sure if it was canon or a popular fan name. ~B~

To be fair, none of the protectors have established genders either. It's implied that the online descriptions are for both genders, and the only reason we consider them all male is because they hired a male narrator/voice actor for the animations. Well, also every description of the Protectors so far that uses singular pronouns uses male ones. Really? Where are these descriptions? I could argue that technically male pronouns are considered gender neutral in some cases, but that would just be nitpicking. Here's the one for the Protector of Earth, but the line is the same for all six Protectors: "The Protectors wear sacred Elemental Masks that have been passed down through the generations from father to son along with the Prophecy of Heroes, which foretells the coming of Tahu and his allies." Also technically male pronouns are not longer applicable as gender-neutral. How can they be? They're explicitly male pronouns; pretty much the only standard gender-neutral pronoun in English is "they." Besides, father and son are rather unambiguous (unfortunately for Gen 2 gender ratios). ~B~

Personally I have no problem with that—the Ignika was ridiculously OP, and I'd rather the new story tried to have a little more restraint.But if the commercial has any story accuracy at all, then the Mask of Creation may have the power to create living (or at least reanimated) creations, which would definitely make it more powerful than the G1 version of that mask. I wouldn't say the Ignika was OP. It was powerful for sure, but it was also balanced. Using its power often harmed or destroyed any who wished to use it. Not to mention having a legendary mask not be powerful makes zero logical sense. There's no reason to fight over something if it isn't any more powerful than what you could get anywhere else. That's like having a Triforce that does absolutely nothing. If being able to murder an entire universe isn't overpowered, I don't know what is. Also, not being overpowered isn't the same as not being powerful at all. It's not like there are only two extremes. ~B~

4/5

Um. Right. That's just Pohatu showing off his "blocks set transformatio," which is so effective he looks exactly like Gali! ~B~

The point is we all took some time to have some harmless fun before we go back to the grueling trivia caves to mine hard fact and develop "theory lung" for which there is no cure or treatment. One might even say that in advanced cases of "Theory Lung" the affected individual takes on a skeletal appearance. ~B~

Brings back memories of the commercials of the old days of Gen 1. Good to see stuff like that returning! I'm not sure if the winter wave got such a commercial. Yes, quite. I personally prefer the much more sophisticated "Bonkles," or occasionally "Barnacles" when I feel daring. ~B~

Chapter 1 Hanak's eyes fluttered open slowly. Confused, he gazed at the worn stone ceiling above him, wondering where he was. Suddenly, he remembered where he was — the small Cavern of the Prophecy atop Mount Tongaru. Groggily, he planted his arms underneath him and hoisted himself into a sitting position against the wall. His limbs were still sore from the attack of the glowing crystals he seemed to have just endured. In fact, the energy from the crystals . . . Hanak paused. Turning his head downward from the ceiling, he looked at his body thunderstruck. Where previously he had possessed a thick, triangular body covered with a single large plate of silver armor and short, stumpy legs ending in snowshoe-like feet, he now had a completely different body. His torso had become much longer and muscular, with overlapping sections of shining armor. In addition, the pathetic Torika legs had been replaced with longer, double-jointed legs with knees like a Toa's, ending in slimmer, more-armored boots. Raising an arm trembling in astonishment, Hanak saw his formerly stubby fingers had elongated into graceful manipulators. Likewise, his once gangly arms had become proportionate to the rest of his frame. Still marveling at his miraculous transformation, Hanak turned his forearm to look at its underside. A thick armored section protruded from the bottom of his arm, with a small point jutting parallel to his hand. Examining it curiously, Hanak wondered what the device's purpose was. In response, a gleaming metal blade extended from the armor housing with a snick. Startled, Hanak cried out as shimmering fire engulfed the blade. Waving his other arm wildly around the blade, he attempted to deactivate the weapon. Shut off, you blasted device! Hanak thought agitatedly. Immediately, the flame extinguished itself and the blade retracted into the armor with mechanized speed. Sighing with relief, Hanak stood up unsteadily on his new legs, taking slow, tentative steps toward the other prone Sharaku — for that was what he and his friends had undoubtedly become. Reaching Thukor first, he knelt and placed a hand on his comrade's heartlight. Finding it reassuringly warm and flickering, Hanak stood again and walked toward the exit of the cavern. His footfalls cracking the icy ground on Mount Tongaru, he circled the mountaintop to gaze at the rising sun. Surprisingly, it was early morning, meaning he and the Torika — or Sharaku, rather — had been comatose during the entire night. Turning to check back on his companions, Hanak decided on a whim to test his innate power of acceleration. Breaking into a run, the falling snow around him stopped in the air, suspended. Terra Nui seemed brought to a complete standstill as Hanak moved. Sprinting easily on his lengthened legs, Hanak ran in circles around Mount Tongaru, spiraling down toward the mountain's base. The activity barely required any exertion at all; his power seemed exponentially greater than it had been as a Torika. Sliding to a halt at the grassy bottom of Mount Tongaru, Hanak raised both of his hands before him palms up, willing himself to stop. Remarkably, a circular blast of fire erupted from his palms, to scorch and blacken a nearby stunted tree. As the plant crackled and burned, Hanak chuckled sheepishly, then pivoted and began to retrace his steps back to the cavern. Staring at the grass beneath his feet, Hanak discovered that the extreme speed at which he had traveled had singed the grass and thrown a plume of snow three bio from the snowline. Smiling broadly, the Sharaku accelerated himself again and burnt another path near the flaming tree. ------ Upon arriving at the cavern's entrance, Hanak noticed that the other five Sharaku had awakened from their slumber and were examining themselves with varying degrees of incredulity. Thukor, as always, had a gigantic grin on his face, while Vukaz was looking at himself as if he had grown an extra head. Zanta and Kavan, likewise, seemed somewhat baffled, and had just discovered their retractable weapons. Finally, Rieka had recovered from her discoveries and was making use of her increased tunneling powers to dig a tunnel in the ice outside the cave. Popping out of her excavation briefly, she noticed Hanak and waved cheerfully. "Hello, Hanak!" she exclaimed happily. "Isn't this amazing? I knew those gems in the cave were something powerful." Hanak nodded. "Yes, we all seemed to notice that when entering. But — what of the prophecy? Is it unharmed?" "Yes, it is completely fine," remarked Thukor as he stepped out of the cavern, "In fact the tablet loosened from the pedestal when the gems fell off. Here." He held up the tablet, which glimmered in the light of the sun. "Excellent." Hanak reached forward and took it from Thukor's outstretched hand. By now the remaining three Sharaku had followed Thukor and congregated around their leader. Vukaz folded his arms over his chest. "What are we to do now?" Hanak stepped around to view Terra-Koro from the lofty vantage point of the mountain. Gesturing, he spoke determinedly. "We will return to the village and tell the Matoran what happened. Then, we will locate the Quntaino. Now it is they who should be cautious." Review

As long as you didn't challenge it to arm wrestle... ~B~

Saaaaanger! The manliest man in this game. I did not recall how many ways he wants to be called boss. Also Excellen! Her dialogue is always great. Although I'd forgotten that she and Kyosuke didn't know each other at the start of OG1 because *mutter mutter* OG2 *mutter mutter* spoiler stuff. Is the Gespenst kick actually available in OG1? I'd heard rumors about it, but I myself only unlocked it in the sequel. Are you going to save up for SP Regen or just forget about it and go for cheaper skills? ~B~

You actually upgrade Split Missile? Wow. Whatever works, I guess. Personally I'd dump all my funds into the units first, to get the Full Upgrade Bonuses, and only upgrade a unit's strongest attack, along with attacks that power combination attacks. Of course, we all know the strongest attack comes from those Gatling Guns. Power up that 10 damage, all the way to ... 15! I don't remember who exactly in the cast has bad Will gains per se, I just vaguely recall that some characters needed babying due to only getting Will from enemy kills, as opposed to on hitting an enemy or dodging or something similar (which explains why Ratsel rockets to 150 Will almost instantly). Of course, there's the Rouse Spirit Command end-game to help with this, especially on stages with few minions before a boss. And it means Garnet suddenly has a use at that point! The Drive SC is way rarer (Kai, Katina, and Sanger only maybe?), but neat for allowing a character to go for the kill with their strongest move on turn 1. ~B~

Nice! Yeah, Monster Hunter certainly does seem to have that effect on people. That's how my brother and I got into it. How far have you progressed in 4U? ~B~

I'm a horrid video LPer. Trust me, this is a lot better for everybody. And yeah, I'll be doing my best to go for all Battle Masteries, especially in order to get the true final battle. No point in playing in any other way, after all. I also realized just now that given the save-scumming-encouraging nature of the game (particularly for the trickier Battle Masteries involving evasion-heavy enemies or critting retreating bosses), a video LP could get very boring without lots of editing. For screenshots only, you can only screencap when things finally go right. Anyway, I played OG1 only twice, once on each path, compared to my three complete playthroughs of OG2 (with one on extra-hard mode still in progress), so my memory of the game is fuzzier, especially Kyosuke's path. So it'll be more fun to watch this move along, knowing less exactly what happens per scenario. Also, a fresh save file for SRW always sucks due to lack of SP Regen. That skill makes everything so much more fun on NG+, especially for the cool characters with 10 SP Focus, or 10 SP Sense. Why on earth was Sense removed in OG2? It was super useful, and when it was gone Kyosuke lost Fury to make room for both Strike and Alert in his SP commands. *grumble grumble* Speaking of Spirit Commands, you also forgot to mention that bad Will gains can nerf an otherwise good character into (near) uselessness. Can readers offer suggestions on your party choices, upgrades, and especially which mission branches to take? ~B~

I incredibly approve of this. I'll definitely be watching this pretty closely. And badgering you with tons of advice and commentary. Although I'm a bit disappointed that it isn't a full video LP. Also, picking Kyosuke definitely makes the game a lot more interesting, because it averts the temptation to make the endgame "SRX curb-stomps everything." Will you be going for all Battle Masteries (or at least as many is needed for the true final battle)? ~B~

Thanks for posting those photos! The mask looks amazing, and it's nice to have some additional shots of it, especially compared to Gali's other masks. ~B~

Prologue "We hold the power in our hands to make the world anew." ~~~ Morning came to the island of Kemet Nui. Through the thick fog on the sandy, southern shore, one could almost make out the tall shape of a raft approaching. On a day like this, the normally-rough surf had slackened, so that the vessel moved toward the beach at a slow, leisurely pace. There seemed little on land to greet the oncoming raft — no Nui-Bauk were wheeling and crying in the sky; no Ohee were scuttling on the sand, and no Kofo-Kopen were buzzing over piles of seaweed and washed-up debris. This morning, the beach was silent, except for a thin wind which blew over it in wisps. Not only that, but the fog was everywhere. It obscured the desert lying a few bio beyond the beach, and blocked out view of the small estuary which emptied out of a tributary of the Hapi River and into the ocean. Even the harsh, yellow sun, which normally glared down upon the black soil of the land, was not visible at all. In short, a thick gloom hung upon the coast, as if a dark fist had closed upon Kemet Nui. As the raft came upon the stream of water and the adjacent sand, it seemed as though it was the first vestige of civilization encountering an unfamiliar, alien landscape, one devoid of all life, and of all sound. But as it ground its way up onto the packed sand, the empty echo of the thin wind was gradually replaced with a cacophony of eager, excited voices. "As you can see, Toa, the acute X-ray vision of my mask has no problem navigating through this dense fog. Kemet Nui was ahead of us the whole time!" With a thud, a small red figure wearing mahogany robes and carrying a fire staff stepped out onto the shore. Adjusting the visual magnification of his Noble Zalmex, Turaga Akito’s weathered, creased face broke into a wide grin. "At last, I have returned! Oh, it feels so good to be on black soil once more!" Behind him, Chompshi, Vrael, and the Toa Terra all stepped off of their wooden vessel and took in the landscape with eager eyes. Never before had these warriors been to the land the Toa Sah had liberated so long ago. Truth be told, the six Toa Terra were still rather naïve; but despite their youth, forty years of defending their land, and recently Punt Nui as well, had given them plenty of experience in new situations. Nevertheless, they found nothing odd in the softly blowing breeze with no sounds to accompany it, or the fact that the beach was littered with small tracks in all directions. Tracks that belonged to no Rahi or Matoran — troglodyte tracks. Attar, thoughtful as always, bent down toward the elder of Terra Nui. "Is it always this quiet on Kemet Nui, Turaga?" Akito laughed, moving forward resolutely. "Not at all, my boy! This is only the southern coast. Once we near Tai-Koro, you will be hearing the lively jubilee from kio around! But come, the desert will be harder to traverse later in the day. We shall take the Hakeahu II up the tributary of the Hapi River." He pointed to the small flow of water which was emptying into the sea near where the raft had been grounded. "Does that stream lead to Tai-Koro?" Heaka asked. "Well, not exactly. This will lead to the aforementioned body of water, which meanders through the Farafa Dunes and past the Dahkla Oasis. That would make a good stopping point, actually, as we can load up on foodstuffs, fresh water, and supplies there. From the Oasis, Tai-Koro is only a few kio away. We should reach Turaga Atemu's village by midday, at least. Now come, we must be off." With that, the Toa and Turaga boarded their vessel, and began moving up the stream. Tai-Koro, and the rest of Kemet Nui, awaited them. They did not know what they would find, but they were eager to leave the silence of the beach and the fog of the morning. Only adventure waited, it seemed. Time would reveal how wrong they were. Review

Most of the stuff that I think about which isn't in the official canon I've known as such for a long time, such as mixed-gender tribes of Matoran. I don't think I've had too many things which I thought were official only to later realize that was wrong. Probably this was due to reading most of the novels as they came out, and then since forgetting details (which means I don't currently think about them ). ~B~

I can see this being very hard to properly moderate, as it would basically require a staff member keeping an eye on it pretty much 24/7. Of course, if it could be implemented properly, it would be pretty cool to be able to have a chat going that's more immediate than discussions in forum threads. ~B~

The Black ones are harder to remove. I only have three of them and I can't remember where I got them. They have more friction than the blue ones They shouldn't have any more friction than the blue ones, because it's the same mold used for both. The blue ones are just more recent, having replaced the black ones entirely in 2003. Likewise for the white friction pins, which I think disappeared at the same time as the black ones. As for a piece for which older versions would actually be more troublesome, the old style of 2-length axle, seen here, lacked the notches on the later version currently in use, meaning removing them was much more difficult. I know that I always remove those axles using my fingernails in the notches; without them my use of pliers would certainly go way up! ~B~

I don't think I've ever heard of that poster before, could you elaborate? Here it is. Apparently, even my memory was off. This was displayed at New York Toy Fair 2006, where the actual Inika were revealed. However, this mysterious character was a big subject of debate for the community—was this the long-speculated return of Makuta? Or someone else entirely? We only later discovered that it was, in fact, a VERY early prototype of Kongu Inika that had somehow been used for a huge poster without raising any red flags. That prototype mask looks like a heavily-modified mask of shadows with Mahri tubes thrown in and Nokama's axe blade as a hat. Presumably it was made from exactly those pieces, rather than in a distinct mold. The playsets look pretty much identical to their final incarnations, though. ~B~

Would I buy a bootleg set? Yes. I don't know if it's particularly ethically dubious, all things considered. After all, I routinely buy numerous other genuine Lego sets. Mainly, I was interested to see how bootleg CCBS would compare to the real thing, when I encountered a bootleg set in person and had the opportunity to buy it. The bone pieces were generally beneath contempt, but the shells were surprisingly decent quality, overall. ~B~

Wow, that mask really does look incredible! Thanks for sharing. It's also neat to learn that it can be successfully worn on the new head without incident. ~B~

Needle-nose pliers are awesome for pulling axles and other pieces apart without resorting to using teeth (eww!). Especially friction pins, as one side of the pliers tip can fit inside the pin end. It's also useful to have something like a metal table, or one topped with a thick layer of glass, to press against for various things such as pushing small axles out the other end of where they'd been inserted, without using thumbs. ~B~

Dude, that was, like, less than a week ago. It's important to check periodically that you don't have short-term memory loss! I also vaguely remember discussion about Krika's name apparently being an obscenity in some language, and people speculating about it leading to dire legal consequences or some such thing. Shockingly, this was not actually the case. ~B~