Necro

The crew behind the film Being John Malkovich struggle to make its script work after contractual obligations of USA Films/Focus Features force them to have to cast Prince in it in a starring role, as himself, and use only his music as the soundtrack.

Friend, you have taken words I have had in my head for months and said them in a much more eloquent fashion than I would have. Believe me when I say you're not alone in your observations or in your frustrations.

 

 

 

 

The BIONICLE set reviews that become front-page news are all done by BZPower staff. I don't know what the rules are about posting reviews in the forums (you might be supposed to put it as a post in the main BIONICLE 2015 topic, or maybe you're allowed to make your own topic in the BIONICLE discussion forum), but I actually think the best place to put a review of this set is probably your blog, since you do in fact have one.

 

 

 

The BIONICLE set reviews that become front-page news are all done by BZPower staff. I don't know what the rules are about posting reviews in the forums (you might be supposed to put it as a post in the main BIONICLE 2015 topic, or maybe you're allowed to make your own topic in the BIONICLE discussion forum), but I actually think the best place to put a review of this set is probably your blog, since you do in fact have one.

I would think that he could post his own review topic for the set in the Bionicle Discussion Forum. I've seen people post set review topics in the Lego Discussion Forum, so I would think he could do the same in the Bionicle one.

 

Anyways, congrats on finding this set!

 

 

Question: Can I post a review thread there, then copy and paste the exact same review into here?

That moment when someone gets the best Toa ever and wants Tahu instead.

 

But I didn't get Pohatu?

Count me in!

How

 

I have been searching for one for weeks  

 

Where and how

I always saw Francis as more of a Hau man, though I wouldn't be surprised if he preferred an Akaku.

 

 

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.

 

If a community ostracizes individuals simply for having an interpretation of a fictional work that does not agree with your own over what seems to be implied are insignificant, irrelevant details, is it really a worthwhile community in the first place?

 

I have admittedly never paid any attention to S&T because I never saw the appeal, so I have no idea the context of who's saying what and why it's causing a rift. so maybe I'm missing something here. But until I'm clued in, it doesn't make sense to me. I have not seen any outrage or squabbling beyond some playful jabbing over this sort of thing in any other fan community I've been a part of, the idea that this is some serious issue where people are excluded from discussions or treated with hostility because of their interpretations doesn't make any sense.

...So?

 

I still don't understand the issue. Why does it matter that John Doe got his made official and that his contradicts Jim Doe's headcanon? Headcanons by definition are not bound to obey the canon, and it's not like they're making a comic about Toa Donut Steel now. John Doe's being made official because the author liked it or whatever other reason doesn't stop anyone else. And if they're being a jerk and lording it over others and treating them as inferior because the author went "Hey I didn't think about that, but I like that idea, so lets do that", then I'm pretty sure they can be punished since that's against the rules("Respect your fellow members", as well as "Yelling at and needlessly criticizing other members" come to mind as portions that those actions would run counter to).

 

If they're being rude about it, they're violating the rules. If they're being respectful about it, then it makes no difference. I still do not see the issue.

...Why do people care?

 

I do not understand how this is an issue, because I understand neither side. Unless the individual in-question is going around trying to force their headcanon on people and treating it like the gospel truth, in which case I can understand the frustration, why do people give a rat's behind about what someone else has as their fanon? If you don't like it, just ignore it. You're not entitled to try and censor someone just because you disagree with them as long as they're obeying the law and, when online, obeying the rules of the site in-question. I don't like how many happy cheery things I love have grim, morbid headcanons and fan content floating around, but I don't try and destroy it, I ignore it. If you don't like it, just ignore it. It doesn't matter, it doesn't hurt you.

 

At the same time, the entire concept of headcanons is that they are information that either does not exist or is outright contradicted by canon. The very idea itself is ambivalent to established canon because it revolves around filling in and changing canon. A headcanon is not magically more or less valid canonically because of word-of-god, because it never has canonical value in the first place. That doesn't make it worthless, but something that is worth $0 cannot become worth less. A piece of information that is not canon is not suddenly even less canon just because the author says that X is Y rather than Z. There is no change. If Greg says X, which goes counter to Y headcanon, so what? Canon has never stopped fanon. Even on here canon only applies when convenient, just go look at the BZRPG to get a confirmation of that.

 

Neither side makes any sense to me. The people getting butthurt over the canon of others don't make sense, and the people who're hurt because their headcanon doesn't match with the canon don't make sense. And to the whole thing, why in the name of all that is good are you concerned with what is and isn't canonical in the storyline that accompanies a 13-year old children's toy as it relates to your fan-made aberration from that storyline? Why does this matter to either of you so much?

 

Heck, when did people suddenly start caring about what Greg says again? I remember after they released that whole "They're all robotic antobodies in mata-nui's body repelling an infection" twist or whatever it was that a ton of people got angry and proceeded to adhere to a fanon where that wasn't the case. When did Greg's word suddenly become so meaningful to people again?

Steam sales aren't about why! They're about why not! Why are so many of our sales insane? Why not marry sane sales if you love them so much! In fact, why not make a special sane sale door that won't hit you on the butt on your way out because you are VAC-banned!

• To an extent. A great story doesn't need deep, involved gameplay, but it has to work. Broken gameplay will always break immersion.

Kind of. A bad story will always stink the game up, but a game can still be fun if the gameplay is amazing. Unless you have a game like the Elder Scrolls games that's all about the story.

Not a fan. If you want me to keep paying, use a subscription system, don't make me pay you $25 every few months. Especially DLC that adds significant content.

I still think Valve has the formula perfect with Team Fortress 2; actual game content is added for free. Microtransactions on nonessential items and cosmetics are the only sources of added transactions. "Downloadable content" you have to buy is entirely optional and mostly aesthetic. The game itself can be enjoyed completely and fully on nothing but the price of admission, but paying enhances your experience in a nonessential way that doesn't create unfair imbalance.

Good: Valve. Bad: EA. I know how generic, trite an argument this is, but it's true; EA seems to love on-disc DLC, day-one DLC, DLC that is required to really fully enjoy the game. Valve gives you a ton of stuff for no additional charge.

Call of Duty. Elder Scrolls games honestly drag on for me and get quite boring. I was not a huge fan of Halo either. Also, the Arkham games are overrated, and I say that as someone who thought Arkham City was a very fun game. I also get really bored with the Lego games.

I have seen a surprising amount of vitriol towards the Mega Man Battle Network games. Yeah the anime's dub was pretty bad, and yeah the story really went downhill in the last few games, but the gameplay was outstanding, and the story for at least the first three was fun lighthearted stuff that could get serious. A lot of Star Wars games, too; there's a lot of rubbish, but the Jedi Knight games get a lot of undeserved flak just because licensed games are automatically bad, right?

I could sit here for a solid three hours writing an essay on the subject, you'll need to be more specific.  

Bonus: Connection. It's when the gameplay is so smooth and fun and intuitive, the story is so involved and emotional and natural, and the characters so deep and well-performed, that you stop seeing it as "This is a fictional thing I'm watching happen that I am doing for fun and I need to dodge those bullets so I don't get a game over" and start seeing it as "This is a thing that's really happening and I need to dodge those bullets so I don't die". It's like any form of media; immersion is when you really start to empathize with the characters, setting, story, etc., to the point that you care as if it were real, rather than taking it in as fiction.

 

So I may have done these backwards  

 

• Overall or session? 60-70 minutes is usually where I call it quits for a session, though boss fights and quests can drag that out to 80-90. Overall depends on cost. For $5, I'm fine with a few days of fun I never dig up again. For $60, I want something that lasts at least a month. Quality > quantity though, a shorter experience that I love and want to revisit is better than one that drags on and on just to fill a length quota.

RPGs, action-adventure, mystery, turn-based strategy, and some shooters(Games like TF2 that are much more complex than "Click on man's head to win" or ME3 that have it bundled with a great story or a fun physics engine that lets you mess around and fly and manipulate the environment and that sort of stuff)

One, good gameplay. Bad, awkward gameplay breaks focus, takes me out of the moment, ruins the story experience on top of, obviously, being unfun gameplay. Two, appearance. Don't confuse this for graphical elitism; HD graphics and gritty realism are not inherently good, hence TF2 and Okami being favorites while I don't really care about Gears of War or Call of Duty. But you need a cohesive, consistent art style that meshes and creates a tangible environment and atmosphere. Disjointed styles, palettes, and whatnot are like seeing the wires holding up Superman. It takes you out of the moment, disconnects your involvement to the game, and with a game, it takes you out of the enjoyment of the play. Three, little details. Things like the books from Elder Scrolls that all have actual writing, or the C-Sec cops in Mass Effect 3 that you can overhear talking about keeping the peace before their home planet is invaded, then about leaving the force to go join the war effort once it's conquered, add so much depth and life to the game's universe. The C in NPC stands for "character", and it means something. Indulge your background characters, make the environment feel real! 

One, broken or awkward controls. If it's impossible to play the game right, I stop focusing on the rest of the experience, and all I start trying to think of are how to work around the controls or camera and all that. Two, bad voiceacting. A good cast can make a bland story pop, and a bad cast can make a great one feel uninteresting. Three, bad writing. If you're doing a story, don't leave it half-baked. Four, the devaluation of a player's choices. If you're going to give the player a choice, make it matter, or at least feel like it matters(The Walking Dead did a very good job of letting you feel like you were being impactful without extreme variation in conclusions). Nothing is worse than feeling like your decisions are meaningless.

Massive impact. Music in a game is as important as music in a movie, and movies can be made or broken based on their score. It's even more important in a game, because in a game you have to involve the player and make them feel what they're doing. Probably the most overlooked part is making the cues seamless. One of my favorite parts of Twilight Princess is  that its music was composed in a way that allowed any blow from Link's sword to be accompanied with a stab of music, and to be given a quick musical conclusion before being faded when a battle is over or a scene changes. The entire thing created a much more engulfing atmosphere.

See #3. Most of what makes a game pop for me - background details, vibrant NPCs, cohesive style and feel, an established tone - is a good atmosphere.

A lot. Too hard, and it stops being fun because you're smashing against a brick wall. Barring specific difficulty-based challenge modes and maps and sidemissions, we're well past the age of Nintendo Hard being a good thing. Too easy though, and it's not fun, because there's nothing about being Arnold Schwarzenegger from Commando, fighting an army of mooks with the aim of stormtroopers and hardiness of redshirts, that creates lasting fun. Difficulty is a delicate balance, and that's one of the things that I think a lot of sports games do really well; not only do you get anywhere between four to seven difficulty settings, you have a bunch of sliders that, in Madden for example, let you set penalty frequency, AI awareness, tackling consistency, and a slew of other options on a scale from 1 to 99. Difficulty has to be perfect, but skill is varied so widely that nothing will ever be perfect. An ideal game has comprehensive settings that can be adapted to each individual player's desire for challenge and adjusted as their skill increases, but can also be as simple and one-touch as picking one of a handful of presets.

Really depends on the atmosphere you're going for. There's a certain element of personalization and closeness that comes from a customizable avatar, but a Legend of Zelda game where Link has a beard, black hair, and a really long face just wouldn't feel right. There's a merit in having pre-established characters, especially in terms of writing. Mass Effect handles this really well though, with a great balance of Shep costumization and prewritten storylines that let you feel a connection while still having a woven backstory.

Nonlinear, but with a certain amount of player guidance. Exploration and being able to choose your own direction and go at your own pace really help set an atmosphere, but I end up getting way too sidetracked, forgetting the story, and losing interest in games like Skyrim where it's completely nonlinear.

The World Ends With You is a strong candidate. Okami's Wii port was probably the best use of the Wii Remote, too. The Wii U release of Madden also had a pretty cool mechanic where you could draw out a play on the gamepad when you audibled. That said, the portal gun takes the cake. So much physics engine fun, so many clever puzzles!

(Bonus 1) One time I was playing Team Fortress 2, when suddenly the cart stopped, rose up off the tracks in a slow, foreboding fashion, spun around, then started going backwards through the air. Another time back when people still really liked Rock Band, a song started playing without the music. We failed horribly because it looked hilarious. The first Mass Effect game loses its mind if you escape the map, too.

(Bonus 2) I'm really partial to letting the player choose. If they want to be evil, let them. If they want to be a hero, let them. If I have to choose one though, I think heroic stories are done better. Villainous stories never seem to be done right.

I can never limit it down to one. It'd probably end up being one of Team Fortress 2, the Mass Effect trilogy, Wind Waker, Fire Emblem(Either the first GBA one or Path of Radiance) or Pokémon Ruby. It really depends on the criteria we're judging it by and what I'm looking for.

 

As far as disappointments, it's still too early to decide but Destiny is teetering there. Fire Emblem: Shadow Dragon is pretty high too, because it was so loyal a remake that it preserved all the flaws and shortcomings from the NES era.

 

I may get a lot of heat for this, but I'll also say Ocarina of Time. It was a great game, but it's tired now. I know that's because the ideas and concepts have been reiterated, improved, and refined for years, and that it was revolutionary at the time, but it just has not stood up to the test of time in my personal opinion. It's still a very good game, but not an earth-shattering experience.

 

I always see people raving about the comics, looking forward to finally reading them.

How about if I add a trumpet-playing Muddy Waters?

but but but where's the trumpets? IT CAN'T BE AN ACCURATE REPRESENTATION WITHOUT TRUMPETS, 7.8/10!!

 

 

How's that?

Can I get an example of a game made like a movie? Depending on what we're talking about I don't know where I stand.

Guys, guys, guys, come on. Iron Man? Lets be serious here. It's obvious he was talking about this guitar, which was made in California.

Would you ever consider changing your name to Kneecro?

 

 

-

 

 

Now that you have mentioned it, it has become a very real possibility.

Have you gotten it to bend the other way yet? (Your knee.)

 

 

Funnily enough, yes. I have flat feet, which stretches the muscles and ligaments in my leg in a way that makes that position very easy and pain-free to achieve. The stretched ACL in my right knee is more flexible and can go farther, too. In retrospect, testing that is probably not too bright.

 

 

do you dream about orthopedic surgeons

 

That depends. Is Dr. Leo Spaceman licensed as an orthopedic surgeon?

Do you happen to be a fan of puns of a knee kind? :>

 

I can only enjoy them up to a certain cap, but as long as their humor doesn't around each other, I'm pretty flexible with them at this joint.

 

 

What are the coordinates of the location of a 2x2 Lego brick that goes by the name of Samantha?

 

Do farm animals dream of you?

 

Depends. Red or yellow?

 

Only one way to find out: interview farm animals.

What is the worst injury your knee has ever sustained?

 

What is your favorite anatomical component of the human knee?

 

I have a friend who is afraid of knees: thoughts?

 

Did you know that Penguins say RAWR?

 

1. When I was 12 my foot got caught in a bike spoke, and when I fell I twisted my knee. Stretched my ACL, sprained my MCL, and the doctor said I was lucky the ACL didn't tear. Normally it required surgery, but since I was young he thought it would heal, and it seems to have done so.

 

2. The anterior cruciate ligament, only because football's plethora of ACL injuries mean it's the one I'm most familiar with.

 

3. They kneed to get over it.

 

4. I did not, but since it's a penguin doing it, I imagine it's somehow adorable.