BioGio

Actually, only staff members' birthdays go in GD. All normal (and, yes, that counts premier and/or OBZPC) members' birthday topics belong in COT.~ BioGio

Have a great birthday, DeeVee!

Happy birthday, -Windrider-! Thanks for leading our forums. And enjoy getting older as well, ET!

To contain more morphemes (i.e., more meaning) in a word. Of course, noun class does better at that than grammatical gender. What's most interesting: Gender affects a speaker's ideas of a noun. For instance, Spanish-speakers find bridges sturdier (and more "manly") than German-speakers.

Nope. Ice is frozen water (H2O) or Protodermis, and liquid nitrogen is, well, nitrogen (N2).Had the GBs made the choice to make such an Element, then it would exist. But we currently know all of the different Elements; that's not going to change, according to Greg.~ BioGio

I would buy it if it were more than just a compilation of random original sketches; Bfahome's idea is a bit more in-line with something I would buy. A compilation of storyboards, evolving character designs, and so on would definitely interest me. It's not. This is very much possible.~ BioGio

Actually, one can have -5 proto and not be banned. The result of this status is merely a short suspension, IIRC.

Nope. Part of the fundamental message of FiM was that a girl can be anything--athlete, artist, student, etc.--and a male cast would sort of make that message useless (upside: no more CMC). Now, I know that's not the theme that you were talking about, but it's an important one nonetheless. We can keep a message of tolerance, and it would likely focus on such fare as treating women as equals and how racism is bad. Similarly, consideration for others would stay a good theme. Friendship doesn't fly too well with older boys (e.g., 9-12) and is typically seen as the topic of preschoolers' shows.Also, 7-12-year-old boys want more action and fantastical conflict a la saving the world. We'd be stuck with adventure after adventure and lose all of the great slice-of-life stories. Plus, little boys often prefer winning to bonding with teammates and competitors, so episodes "Sisterhooves Social" would have been dismissed as insufficiently fulfilling.Now, I'm biased. Half the fun of the show is that it's so girly!~ BioGio

Wait, what? Am I living in some sort of alternate universe where Toy Story had violence and Transformers flopped?!It didn't flop financially. Transformers was just a pretty bad movie (trilogy); there's nothing more to it, really. I have no idea why anyone thinks that Toy Story 3 had gore. My argument is that it was a great film regardless of viewer's age even though it was still G-rated. (By Transformers, I mean that entire Michael Bay trilogy. The first movie wasn't that bad, but the rest just wallowed in violence and sex, forsaking quality.)I still hold that adding "mild language" or gore will NEVER make a movie good. Those two sound like quick substitutes for good writing used to appeal to the most basic, crude, and prurient interests of a fundamentally childish audience.@fishers64: It seems legitimate to me.~ BioGioEdit: Inaccurate comment struck from the record.

Music and Movies, for fan-created movies.Remember to host the videos on Vimeo, MediaFire, Bricklink, or another trustworthy site.

Have a great day, stranger. And enjoy your year of being 17!

Have a great birthday!

Let me sum up my major answer here really quickly: Perks are exactly that: perks, extra. They're bonuses, rewards for helping out the site. Not everyone needs to have a blog and make polls. These abilities were always meant for premier members, so there's no reason to change that.~ BioGio

First, this would be best in a separate thread, since Kanohi are not normally Elemental in power, and these two are definitely not Elements.Now, the major difference is that levitation is just a matter of going straight up and down. It's floating and hovering; it allows for static hovering like a helicopter. A character with a Mask of Levitation needs an external force to go anywhere but up. Flight, on the other hand, is exactly what it should sound like: flying up, down, left, right, forward, and so on. The difference is basically the range of motion.~ BioGio

Grim darkness is no substitute for good writing and good film-making. A movie's "worth" won't come from a PG-13 tag (which would really just alienate the little kids who actually buy Hero Factory figures). Saying that the movie needs guns, darkness, and a tone inappropriate for children is basically what Michael Bay did with Transformers. And we all know how well that turned out...Toy Story 3 was rated G, and college seniors loved it. It wasn't horrifying or anything, but it was aimed for all ages.Will an HF movie be Toy Story or Transformers? No. I'm just saying that the answer to not liking a line isn't to make it darker and edgier.~ BioGio

"Poverty, disease, war. They'll all be gone within the next fifty years." It's certainly an inspiring thought, isn't it?

So, I've put quite a bit of thought into this review, but it's only partially complete at the moment. I think that it's most helpful to give you the first part (of two or three) now: It concerns mechanics, style, and so on. This post talks almost exclusively about problems, but don't think that I don't like your Epic. Of course I do! Why else would I have written so much on it?My comments are here, along with the full text of the Epic. This document contains a few helpful tips that I ripped from a fan-fiction thread on an MLP image board. Everything SHOULD be SFBZP.In addition to those comments, I have a few general suggestions regarding voice and style:Passive voice: It should be cut down on. (Without hypocrisy: Cut down on it.) Yeah, I know passive voice is not necessarily a bad thing, but more than half the time, it is. And your Epic absolutely oozes passive voice at perhaps one example per paragraph on average. Passive voice has a purpose, but you don't seem to know it. Passive voice is, at its heart, pretentious.Gerunds: Don't use so many of them. See the document with assorted tips for an explanation of why they are bad.Dashes: See the the tip document.Negatives: Active writing prefers the positive over the negative. Instead of "he didn't like indecision," say "indecision made him squirm in apprehension" or "he detested indecision."Sentences: Make them shorter. It could just be my experience writing journalistic articles talking, but your sentences are clunky. Too often, they try to state three separate ideas and end up making them all unclear. A journalist's sentences are typically fifteen words long; yours should be longer but never over three lines long (and they too often are).Said bookisms: "Stop using said bookisms!" I shrieked without explaining their nature. You inquired what they were in a quizzical manner. "A said bookism," I went on to explicate helpfully, "is a verbose offence to good prose in which the author tries to avoid using the word 'said'. The term also refers to the use of adverbial phrases added on to dialogue tags.""Why is that an issue?" you inquired, confused and almost offended by constant recommendations."Well, it keeps the dialogue from standing on its own and often repeats what the dialogue should tell us," I said, stating that said bookism can repeat what the dialogue should tell us without the help of such a phrase. "You must make your dialogue clear without adding comments on the nature of the dialogue," I recommended with concern for your style of writing. "The only words that you really need are 'said,' 'shouted,' and 'asked' unless the situation really calls for something else."Non-committal statements: Perhaps, maybe, unless, rather, slightly, seem(s) to, kind of. This is a short list of the type of words that you should remove entirely from your writing unless uncertainty is absolutely vital. Your purpose is to supply us with the reality of your creation. Thus, saying "depending on your point of view" is basically the same as saying "I don't know what to think." It's the mark of an ineffectual writer.Failure to end: The vast majority of your statements--especially in narration--should end. They should not trail off or stop mid-word. This is acceptable once or twice per chapter, but don't make a habit of it.Anglo-Saxon: Do not use too many lengthy, latinate words ESPECIALLY when good old Germanic ones will work. Anglo-Saxon is vigorous: All the fun curse words derive from it. Furthermore, pay close attention to both literal denotation and the connotation of the words that you use. Too often, I feel like you write with a thesaurus next to you. Remember: Elevated language serves only the author--not the story. It's like going to twelve significant figures after multiplication of two numbers with only three; it says, "I have fancy words and can be so very precise with them." Be accurate--not precise. Always avoid pretentiousness.Similarly, never use jargon. A term like "brain waves" belongs in your doctoral thesis on neurology, not a fantasy story.Books: Read The Elements of Style by Strunk and White. Try also How NOT to Write a Novel.~ BioGioEDIT: This is a bit off-topic, but "*Thy Orisons" is ungrammatical. It should be "Thine Orisons," as "thy" and "my" work as "a" does before a word beginning in a vowel (or H).

Tekulo was just kidding: He has something of a penchant for such grand sarcasm. Your original assumption was correct.Further--and this is just a small nitpick about that otherwise spectacular joke--, strength is associated with Matoran of Stone and Iron--not Onu-Matoran. (That association between Earth and strength is actually just a product of Onua's use of a Pakari).~ BioGio