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Yay screaming blogs! Glad you found a better job!

Nice to see another familiar username. Congrats on getting into your degree program! Robotics sounds really cool!

So I've helped make a bunch of Bionicle mosaics over the last nine years. The first couple we did as a large group, but over time people's interest (and parts collection) waned, while my interest in making cool Lego mosaics has grown. I gave up on trying to do big group projects after I ended up doing over half of the 2016 "group" mosaic, and instead Chocolate Frogs and I have done a couple of smaller size ones that have traveled around the convention circuit. But... We're coming up on the 20th anniversary of Bionicle. (In 2020 or 2021, depending on where you start count.) So I was thinking... what if we made a big mosaic to celebrate the theme on this anniversary. Nothing as complicated at the Lenticular mosaics design wise, but something larger than we've attempted before. I couldn't make this on my own... but if we could get a handful of people in the community to participate, we could turn this into a big project. And if we aim for BrickFair 2020, that should give us plenty of time to plan, order parts, build, cancel, force me to build a replacement, ext. The tentative idea I have at the moment is a collage of different characters arranged in a movie-poster style. In the center would be the likes of Takanuva and Mata Nui (09 Toa form), and then slightly smaller on the sides would be filled out with other Toa from over the years. I'm thinking at the moment of Kopaka Mata, Tahu Nuva, Matau Metru, Nuparu Inika, Hahli Mahri, and Pohatu Phantoka, representing the main six elements and most of the yearly Toa teams. (Nobody cares about the Hordika). But I'd be willing to shift around characters if need be; Vakama and Matoro would also likely fit in well here. Design wise, I would try to create a solid 2x2 baseplate mosaic of each character (slightly larger for Takanuva and Mata Nui) and then merge them all together (with some overlapping, fading, ext) and throw in a Bionicle title for good measure somewhere. (Maybe something like this?) This would be a more complicate image than usual; every other mosaic I've done has been purely based off one picture, and then I tweak the bricks to help fit the style. This would require a lot more additional work, and it would be nice to have feedback for what works and doesn't. The overall size would be maybe 5x6 baseplates (160x192 studs) which would be pretty large and require additional work to get an easel to hold the pieces. But if we could put something like this together... oh it would be epic. But clearly this is just in the idea phase right now, but I'm putting this out to see if there would be any interest. Oh, also I have a bunch of engraved bricks for mosaic contributors too, so feel free to be influenced by that bribe.

From what I recall as a kid from the 90s, the Disc pack for the Throwbots was advertised in the Lego Catalogs in the states, but I never saw any of them on store shelves. (The fun thing about Bionicle was the fact that the collectibles were widely distributed, so I could pick up a Toa and a random mask pack on the same trip.) I don't know how the Catalog distributions were like in the late 90s; I don't recall a big internet presence for ordering sets, so you'd need to make the orders over the phone. It's possible that they just used the European release to fulfill those orders instead of recreating the packaging, ext. (I'd imagine that there was a limited audience for actual catalog phone orders, and don't know if said products would need to meet all the box standards of shelved sets. I never ordered over the phone; mostly used the catalog to help determine what I'd want to pick up the next time I visited the toy store.) When I eventually got on BrickLink and ordered the Slizer / Throwbot discs, I was able to get some of the 4-7 pip discs from US sellers, although the selection was sparse and I did have to wait a couple of months before a couple of rare ones popped up in Europe. I'd assume that there was a modest distribution in the States back in the day, but the audience was probably quite small so there's not a lot on the secondary market twenty years later.

So BZP got a revamp, and only went down for a few month. Now it's back and I have to get used to all the changes!! I think the blogs got the worst of it, TBH. Although this does seem more in line with other personal blogs I've seen elsewhere on the internet, so it's probably a modern template that's cool for everybody but those of us (like me) who are so used to the old BZP / Invasion format. This new one looks like it could incorporate pictures better, so that's something I'll have to start thinking more about. So far my photo uploads have just been scenic mountain shots from various trips... but I'm boring and don't do as many of them anymore, so I'm going to need to diversify. The lost of the custom sidebars is also disappointing, but I also noticed that all the various blog tags and groupings have been trashed, so now I have 10+ years of unmarked entries, and at least a few of them were useful and will take a while to find by just scrolling thru. Anyway, as for what I did this summer... go to work and get by. I did manage to make some MOCs and attended BrickFair for the first time in three years. It was a lot of fun to hang out with folks again, although I felt a bit mellow over the weekend and didn't have a big rush rush rush to do everything. (I didn't participate in any of the official games because I was too lazy). Also didn't win anything, but my Mt. St. Helens lenticular mosaic did get nominated, which was awesome. (And also a little odd because it's a repeat MOC, but then again I didn't exactly disqualify it when I entered it in.) Outside of work and some Lego, I've played a lot of Pokémon Go and reached level 40, finally. But gosh darn it, there are still more to collect, so I'm still playing. I'm also playing the Harry Potter Wizards Unite game, but in general it is less compelling than PokeGo. The previous game I was all in on, Ingress, did an upgrade last year that totally broke the gameplay mechanics and I still haven't been able to get back into it. Which is a shame; it was fun to travel to different places and use the game as kind of a tour guide to various local art and scenic spots. I've also looked into working more on my stories, or in particular reposting them. I finally signed onto Fanfiction.net and started posting a few of my Bionicle stories. (Because, honestly BZP is not the hotspot for library posts anymore, sorry.) Not that this site is any better... I haven't looked around really hard, but the quality of the average story is pretty bad. (I mean, we all had to start somewhere, so fair is fair.) But I don't know if there's a readership for lengthy Bionicle novels. But I did start reposting one of my old popular stories, Time Disruption. (I checked on the Wayback machine and I started that story on 10-11-2003. It's also crazy that it was popular enough that I was able to find a Wayback entry for it; the Epic forum was so crowded back in the day and Wayback is spotty about archiving forums.) Anyway, after doing a editing run through, I'm still impressed with my teenage writing, even if the language is a bit more basic than what I write now... and I desperately needed an editor. Man, no wonder half the comments were about spelling and grammar errors, they were bloody everywhere! But I've started reposting that story (all 63+ chapters) and it's been getting a lot of views... so I guess people still like it. (It also doesn't focus on crazy custom characters, so I'm sure that helps.) I've also had readership of my Hero Factory story when I didn't think there was any audience for that! I've written it so far in batches for NaNoWriMo, so maybe I'll work on the final part for it this year. I've also been playing in Voltex's BZPGOT RPG on Discord for months and months now... and the activity there certainly helped when BZP went down. It's fun to play, but the Discord format is a bit easier than the forums, and I managed to get into the lore with only a few weeks (or months) of what-am-I-doing-ness. I can now see why the RPGers are the ones keeping this community alive. I've gotten a few cool Lego sets over the summer, but kind of slacked off in doing reviews and such. Last spring, my camera's charging cord vanished, making said camera unusable, so I haven't had anything to take decent review pictures with besides my phone, which is only so-so. Chocolate Frogs and I were planning to pull off a few more livestreams, but then Youtube changed the system and we haven't been able to figure out an Encoder that works, so that's been put on hold for a while. I have a backlog of sets I want to build, but haven't gotten any truly big ones... except for the Bricklink models, which I ordered back in March and received in August. The Western Saloon is an awesome design, although the instructions make it a bit difficult to distinguish between the various shades of brown. I would like to do some more reviews, either official or just generic blog posts, but I'm a combination of lazy / exhausted most of the time. Maybe I'll put together some just to test the picture capabilities of the new blog system. Anyway, here's to another long and rambling post. Honestly don't know if anybody will bother reading (did they ever?) But the post count now including blogs really upped my count; I went from 6K to 8K, so I'm guessing it was the blogs. I know in the old forums when there was a list of the most comment / most viewed / most posted of the blogs, I was in the top three (or top one, I forget) of the blog with the most entries. Not views or comments, but entries. So I like typing a lot and posting stuff nobody reads. I hope to continue hiding subliminal messages in walls of text as long as BZPower lets me! Thanks for reading, take care y'all! (yay at least the emotes stayed the same, I would be sad without my signoff)

Look forward to seeing anything you post!

I went from 6K to 8K. But I'd been at 6K for years; I just wasn't posting in the forums that upped the post count, and I was very active in the blogs. So I'm frankly surprised my count is that high. That said... we never lost any data in the blogs during the datapocalypse, unlike the years and years of posts. So while current post counts only go back a few years, blog activity goes back to the very beginning of the blogs, so those of us who jumped in on that early and stayed active apparently had an advantage. Still sad that so many people had significant reductions.

Still not dead? Then what did we pay those assassins for? Waste of money. Hiya how are you doing?

I attempt to translate using a KARDAS to ENGLISH dictionary, but there are a lot of dirty mistranslations.

I sit down and ask the Kardas Dragon "Why all the violence?" I further question it on what it is that it truly wants.

I ended up doing a lot of building leading up to BrickFair VA this summer, but alas the forums were down so it was hard to share. I've posted these on Instagram and in a few Discord chats, but I might as well practice making topics on BZP again, so here I go! Glossophobia - The Fear of Public Speaking (What People Fear More Than Death) I entered the BioCup this year, and did just as well as I did last year... got through the prelims but was knocked out in the first round. The first theme was fears... I tried to go for a non-conventional approach with public speaking, and tried to make the speaker very expressive. But in general, the crowd was Matoran MOCs that ranged from mediocre to basic, so it wasn't well received and just barely squeaked through... mostly based on the cowboy design. (Fun fact was that these were based on characters from the BZPGOT RPG.) Old Man Saturn The second theme was solar system, and I was assigned Saturn. There were some really clever entries, but I went with the basics and focused on the Roman god. I was particularly happy with the face. This ended up quite tall too. Drought Conditions I didn't make it to the real third round, but I participated in the redemption round, which was based on disasters, and I got Meteorological (Dry/Hot). I tried to convey a thirsty traveler in the desert; I used my supply of red piping to convey a skeletal torso. But the thing everybody liked the most was the most basic design of the cactus. Azari Firedancer I also entered BBC Contest 77, although the contest ended just as the forums went down. In one of the concept arts links there was a cool drawing of the Elves character, so I tried to base my design on that. I was relatively happy with how the torso and dress came out, and even the hair, although it was fragile as heck to the point where I couldn't get it to stay rebuilt at BrickFair. I don't think the vote tallies have been posted yet, but the general consensus I got was that it was the worst of the batch that made it to BrickFair. Oh well. CCBS X-Wing I guess one of my things is building Star Wars ships out of Bionicle elements. I've been toying around with the idea of making an X-Wing for a while, finally cranked it out a week before the convention. The blade pieces were an impulsive try, but it actually worked out better than the technic stick I was planning. Also snuck on a Kakama and a legit base to keep it hovering. Next I need to figure out just how to make a same-scale TIE Fighter. Lava Surfing I wanted to make little micro-scenes to show off my Toa figs. (They use masks from the old pen sets, and custom stickered torsos, although said stickers are starting to show some wear.) I had just got a big batch of the round 1x2 plates and tweaked them around to make a lava wave, which I think works out modestly well. (A legit surfboard would've been preferred, but I couldn't find the one I have in my collection and I was running out of time, so a generic custom design had to be used instead.) Most complex part of this little model was actually getting the lettering on the front to line up. (Psst, don't tell anybody, but it's actually off by 1/2 plate width, so each side has a 1/4 plate width gap. The math just didn't work out.) That's all I got for cool new MOCs from this summer. Comments / criticism appreciated, I guess.

I'd like a 2XL, because having a slightly larger shirt beats having a slightly smaller shirt.

I've always taken my shoes off when entering the house.

Purple seems like a good option. #3

Nice editing skillz, even if they're sometimes WRONG. But yes, that was very entertaining.

I like the dark blue / royal blue option for the shirt color, maybe yellow / gold instead of tan.

A couple of good ones here, but I think I'm going with #3.

Well, how many of the Toa canisters could attached to your belt?

Dang, looks like one of all the pods from the 10 small Slizers \ Throwbots (although a few don't look matched up). Although just at a glance it looks like those might just be the discs that came with the sets. From a MOC standpoint, pretty much the more useless pieces from the Slizers, but hey that means nothing to collectors. I kinda feel bad because I trashed a lot of my old canisters last summer to make space, but generally there doesn't seem to be much of a demand beyond the occasional crazy collector. Still, nice find, I'll be interested to see what you're able to do with these!

Kulagi climbed up onto a rooftop and stood for a moment, scanning the skyline. He was back in the northwestern region of Ga-Metru, and the wind blew gently in the afternoon air. In the distance, the buildings were still in disrepair from the Dark Hunter’s attack, but this served for Kulagi’s purpose, and he was able to recognize sections of the skyline. He heard movement behind him, and turned to see Sufina pull herself up onto the roof too. “Find it yet?” she asked. “Not exactly, but I think I have a good idea where to look,” Kulagi said. “We’ll need to head over in that direction.” “So we’re going down just as I got up here,” Sufina complained. “Do you want to admire the view?” Kulagi asked. Sufina glanced sadly at the destruction in the region that used to be her home. “Not for now, I guess,” she admitted. The two of them climbed back down to the street level. It had been a little over a month since the Dark Hunter attack at the Coliseum. But, finally, the Dark Hunter war on Metru Nui was over. The Coliseum battle hadn’t ended the war, but it had been a turning point. At first, it seemed like just another failed plot by the Dark Hunters, and they had continued their usual methods of attacks on the borders of the lands they controlled. But morale was starting to wear thin amongst their ranks. If they were going to win, they needed to find a way to do it soon, before their whole army started mutinying. Lariska came up with a new plan. The device to rob the Toa of their elements had initially been her idea, and she was receiving a lot of ire because of how it had ultimately failed. The rumors had also floated around that Lariska herself had been bested in the battle by a mere Matoran. Her reputation was still fierce enough that the Dark Hunters didn’t say it to her face, but she knew she was losing respect from her comrades. As such, Lariska needed another plan which could decisively end the war. Manipulating the Matoran had ultimately failed, but Lariska set her sights on more formidable prey; the Toa. After compiling her notes on the many defenders of Metru Nui, she located one whose vanity and desire for power would make him an ideal target. She herself cornered Nidhiki, Toa of Air, in a remote region of Ga-Metru, and offered her proposal. If Nidhiki turned on the Toa, the Dark Hunters would grant him control of the city once they won the war. Perhaps Nidhiki was thinking that if he was in charge, the Matoran would still be protected. Or maybe he just desired more power over them, having always played second fiddle to the likes of Lhikan, Gambar, and Turaga Dume. For whatever reasons, the Toa of Air agreed with Lariska. He would feed the Toa bad intel and lead them into a trap within the Canyon of Unending Whispers. And once the rest were defeated, he would rule the city of Metru Nui. But Nidhiki and Lariska’s meeting did not go unnoticed. One of the spies was Hakann. The red Skakdi had been humiliated in the Coliseum battle, and he ultimately blamed Lariska for the whole failure of an event. But rather than shout and fight about it, Hakann decided he would tail Lariska, knowing that she was likely trying to cook up another plot to reaffirm her reputation. This was how Hakann watched as she convinced the Nidhiki to turn against his fellow Toa. And he also saw the second being eavesdropping on their conversation: none other than Toa Lhikan himself. Hakann knew he could try and stop Lhikan and preserve Lariska’s secret plan, but that would give too much credit to her, and he wanted to watch her fail. But Hakann also knew about the famous Toa general, and if Lhikan got away, then he could use this information to utterly defeat the Dark Hunters. So the Piraka chose a third option; he confronted the Toa of Fire and offered a proposal of his own. Toa Lhikan would surprise the Dark Hunters and end the war, but Hakann offered payment of a sacred artifact he has once stolen from the Toa, in exchange that the Dark Hunters would be spared and allowed to leave the island with their lives. Lhikan accepted. A few days later, the majority of the Toa army marched into the Canyon of Unending Whispers. Suddenly, appearing from the shadows at the edges of the canyon, the entire Dark Hunter army appeared. They had the Toa completely surrounded and outgunned. The Toa still had their elemental powers and weapons, but against all the Dark Hunters, it would’ve still been a slaughter. But then the second trap was sprung. Unbeknownst to Nidhiki and the Dark Hunters, a fresh team of Toa had arrived the night before. These Toa were now surrounding the Dark Hunters, and they were not alone. The Matoran guard also showed up in full force. Vakama had completed the construction of five more Matoran Exo-Matoran suits, and they stood proudly beside the Toa. Meanwhile, a majority of the Matoran guard, all armed with high powered Kanoka, joined in the ambush. Kulagi had been there, with Triki and Huaju at his side, and watched as the Dark Hunters realized that they were the ones who were trapped. A mighty fight could have taken place. The Dark Hunters were outnumbered and out powered by the combined forces of the Toa and Matoran, and they had nowhere to flee to. But Hakann’s deal with Lhikan stopped the Toa from striking first, and he demanded their surrender. A month earlier, most of the Dark Hunters would’ve still pushed for an attack, where they could go down fighting instead of bowing down to the Toa. But that was before the failure at the Coliseum. Now the Dark Hunters were demoralized and cornered, but Lhikan was offering what most of them secretly wanted; a way to end this war where they still kept their lives. Begrudgingly, Lariska herself was forced to accept the terms of Lhikan’s surrender. The Dark Hunters would leave Metru Nui and never return. And, as a personal addition by Lhikan, the Dark Hunters would take Nidhiki, the traitorous Toa, with them. The Dark Hunters were then escorted to their fleet of boats on the Po-Metru coast and pushed off. Not a single Dark Hunter resisted the Toa, and Kulagi himself was able to spot Optics, Krekka, Charger, and Hakann board their watercrafts. Notoriously absent was the white and orange Dark Hunter Kavihkli. It was later said that he had slipped away during the Toa’s ambush, and had absconded from the Dark Hunters entirely. Years later, the Shadowed One continued to search for him, but Kavihkli never returned to his former employers. The rumors were that he sought employment from an even darker organization, but his eventual fate was never revealed. There were other Dark Hunters who did not leave the city, but only because they had no choice. All the Dark Hunters imprisoned by the Toa, including Vengeance, were to remain in custody. They were currently held in stasis tubes in the basement of the Coliseum, where Turaga Dume planned to hold them indefinitely. This had been part of Hakann’s personal revenge on Vengeance; for his agreement with Lhikan only covered the free Dark Hunters on the island. Those who had been imprisoned, such as Vengeance, had been excluded from the deal. But one Dark Hunter also remained out of the spotlight. Kulagi had not seen Triglax’s spindly yellow form amongst the defeated Dark Hunters. Since Triglax was a shapeshifter, he could easily blend in with any crowd. But more likely, he had also slipped away when given the chance. Perhaps he returned to the Dark Hunters in some other way, or he could’ve fled to some other corner of the universe. There was also the chance he had shapeshifted into a Matoran and joined the citizens of Metru Nui. His Glax persona had been compromised, but the shapeshifter could take any shape, so he could be any one of the various Matoran civilians in the mighty city of Metru Nui. Kulagi didn’t know what path the Dark Hunter had ultimately taken. And, if he was honest with himself, he didn’t know which he would’ve preferred. The idea of a former Dark Hunter masquerading as a Matoran was an unsettling one, but in Triglax’s case, it was one which Kulagi would’ve found almost acceptable. As it was, the war was over. The Toa had won, and the Dark Hunters were expediently shipped off the island. But in their wake, they left half the city in ruins. The Toa were mostly concerned about security, and already the massive army was preparing to disband. The various Toa would return to their homelands, leaving only Toa Lhikan and the Toa Mangai behind to protect the city. Meanwhile, the task for cleaning up would fall upon the Matoran. And that was the task that Kulagi had joined. After the battle at the Coliseum, Kulagi had returned to his home in Onu-Metru. Yet he didn’t give himself much time to rest; he started crafting new Kanoka straight away. After all, the Matoran guard had decimated their supply of powerful Kanoka in their struggle with the Dark Hunters, and they were in desperate need for a restock. Joining Kulagi were Huaju and Triki, and the three of them turned his home into a miniature factory for producing Kanoka discs. Sufina also joined them, because her home had still been in Dark Hunter controlled territory. Although she couldn’t craft Kanoka herself, she helped deliver their completed discs to the guard and collect decent protodermis for them to use. She worked just as hard as the other three. In the back of his mind, Kulagi was sorry that he had pulled Sufina away from her scientific work to merely be an assistant for him and his friends. But she never once complained, and what was most important to Kulagi was that they were all safe and out of harm’s way. They had faced a lot of danger and failure in their mission to find the devices, but in the end they had prevailed. When the war finally ended, Kulagi decided to join in the reconstruction efforts. Normally, it was not a job he would’ve taken; he generally preferred making Kanoka discs over using them for mundane tasks. But after his encountered with Triglax, his worldviews were changing. He could do a lot to help his fellow Matoran, and he wanted to prove to himself that he was not just the selfish Matoran who thought only of himself and his craft. As a Matoran citizen of Metru Nui, he could be better than that. Kulagi signed up on a mission to scout out the northwest region of Ga-Metru. His task was to locate the areas in most need of repair and identify dangerous regions where the infrastructure was too unstable or where vicious Rahi had gathered. Part of his reasoning was that he wanted to help restore Sufina’s home region for her. But he also had some personal goals in mind too. Kulagi and Sufina finished climbing down off the building, and rejoined Huaju and Triki in the Vahki transport at street level. Huaju had secured the transport for their mission, because it was a reliable ground vehicle and could haul any supplies they’d need. “Where to next?” he asked. “We want to head in that direction, I think,” Kulagi said, hopping onto the transport. “How bad was that building?” Huaju asked, referring to the one they had just climbed. “It’s pretty structurally sound,” Sufina replied. “It sustained some damage, as far as I could see, but it will take only some minor rebuilding to get it back up.” “Good to know,” Huaju said, scratching some notes down onto his tablets, where he was keeping track of the damages in the region. “Any new sighting by our Rahi expert?” Triki had a telescope up to his mask, and was peering around the Metru for any dangerous Rahi. “No creepy-crawlies seen-found yet!” he exclaimed cheerfully. “Although I thought I saw some Gukko flock-flying in the east. Maybe we can quick-tread that way and...” “We are not herding up a bunch of Gukko so you can fly them,” Kulagi said. “Oh,” Triki said, frowning. “Then I have not-more to add.” It was nearly evening by the time they reached the spot Kulagi had been looking for. He eagerly took the lead as they climbed up the edge of a wide building, Finally, he reached the roof and found what he was after in the setting sun; it was the wreckage of his Hover-Bike. “Excellent, it is right where I thought it would be!” Kulagi exclaimed. “Shouldn’t we be doing some actual survey work instead of looking for your broken bike?” Huaju asked, climbing up behind Kulagi. “This is foreign debris that needs to be removed,” Kulagi stated. “And done so in a way where I can get it back to Onu-Koro and start the repair work.” “How are we even going to get it back down to the transport?” Huaju wondered. “We’ll carry the bits that we can, and shrink down the larger portions to a more manageable size,” Kulagi said offhandedly, as he began to inspect the damage. “Okay, the main chassis doesn’t seem compromised, although the impact definitely smashed it up a bit. The fins are a complete loss, but they’re easily replaceable. It looks like the Dark Hunters rummaged through the various compartments but didn’t really tear it apart; even they must’ve realized what a fine craft this is.” Sufina chuckled as she joined them. “I never thought I’d see you more passionate about something besides Kanoka discs, but I guess your bike is up there.” “Hey, I like other things besides Kanoka and my Hover-Bike,” Kulagi said. “You mean like disc-dueling and flight-falling?” Triki asked. “No, I mean like a group of reliable friends,” Kulagi said with a smile. Then he added, “Even better would be a group of friends who would help me recover this Hover-Bike.” “Let me know if you ever-find some,” Triki said, absentmindedly wandering across the rooftop. “Wouldn’t it be easier to just rebuild your Hover-Bike from scratch?” Sufina asked, as Kulagi began collecting the various broken parts. “This one is too unique,” Kulagi said. “The overall build is a stronger design than Turaga Dume currently allows on the market; the only way to replace this would be to call in some major favors from Ta-Metru’s best blacksmiths. And doing it that was is traceable, and I don’t know if Dume would approve.” “Didn’t he gift you this bike originally?” Huaju asked. “Yeah, and then I made some upgrades,” Kulagi added. “I’ve been informed that he was not entirely pleased with some of the revamps; he’s threatened to confiscate it a couple of time since.” He pulled back a panel and frowned. “Looks like my Speed and Levitation discs didn’t survive the crash. But that’s something I can remake myself.” “Well, we should get moving,” Huaju said, picking up one of the broken fins. “It would be best if we return to the occupied parts of Ga-Metru soon, as it’s still dangerous here at night. There may not be any Dark Hunters left, but I’m sure there are plenty of dangerous nocturnal Rahi who’ve moved in since.” “Oh, you mean like some of them?” Triki asked, pointing to a collapsed section of the roof. From down in the shadows, shapes started to move and chitter. Kulagi instinctively grabbed his Kanoka launcher, while Huaju and Sufina did the same. “We could’ve used a little more warning that there was a Kinloka nest here,” Kulagi said to Triki. Triki shrugged. “Notice-not them until sound-make. But worry-not, we fast-fled from them in past, again-do so today.” “Not a chance,” Kulagi said, gripping his launcher. “Those vermin eat anything, and I’m not going to give them a chance to make a meal out of my Hover-Bike! We drive them out of the building, or at least back long enough for us to salvage my bike.” The first of the Kinloka charged up onto the roof, Kanoka already loaded into their tails. They fired, but Huaju was already prepared, and launched a disc labeled 327. The Po-Metru Kanoka diverted away all the Kinloka’s Kanoka and froze the leader solid. Sufina fired her own disc, labeled 286, and teleported away another of the Rahi. “Oh, let me in-join,” Triki said, reaching for a disc of his own. “No Reconstruct at Random discs,” Kulagi said to him, even as he fired disc of his own. It had taken him a while, but he had been able to craft another level eight Onu-Metru Weakening disc, and it struck one of the Kinloka before returning to his launcher, per his special technique. “Got it!” Triki said, firing a disc labeled 557. It struck one of the Kinloka in the back, causing it to triple in size. The roof began to sag under the additional weight of the enlarged Rahi. “Triki!” Huaju shouted angrily, as he and Sufina dodged out of the way of the Kinloka’s enlarged legs. “What, it not-be a Reconstruct at Random disc,” Triki said innocently. “But I have one of those that I can shoot-fire next.” “Just stick with Removes Poison for now,” Kulagi shouted, darting forward as he loaded in another disc. It was his Ko-Metru Shrinking disc, and he fired it directly at the grown Kinloka, striking it in the head. The Kinloka shrunk back down to an almost normal size, but now it was dazed. “Thanks again for the disc, Glax,” Kulagi whispered to himself as he retrieved the Kanoka, before jumping back as Huaju and Sufina fired into the swarm. Meanwhile, the rest of the Kinloka had been pushed backwards by the bulk of their enlarged companion, and with him shrunk down they now surged forward again. But they were quickly taken down by the barrage of discs from the four Matoran. Finally, they had managed to scare the majority of the swarm off, with only a few stragglers still providing a resistance. “That’s almost the last of them,” Kulagi said, taking one out with his Weakening disc. “Then we can get my Hover-Bike out of here before they regroup.” “I’m definitely marking this down as a building with a Rahi problem,” Huaju said. “We can let the Vahki drive them off for good.” “I ever-got this!” Triki said, firing a disc at the last Kinloka. Except his last disc was indeed a powerful Reconstruct at Random disc; the Kinloka started to transform, taking on the appearance of a Chute Lurker. It began to swipe its sharp claws at the Matoran. “Triki, I am going to shove you inside the next protodermis vat we find for this!” Huaju raged, stumbling backwards to avoid getting skewered. “Fret-no, I can ever-handle this!” Triki said, leaping forward as he aimed another disc at the Chute Lurker’s head. But the Chute Lurker was too swift, and grabbed hold of Triki in its claws. “Okay, this good-no,” Triki said, struggling to break free and failing at it. “Little help-assist?” “Things are always exciting when you guys are around,” Sufina commented, as she sent a Ga-Metru Weakening disc towards the Chute Lurker’s head. “Life would be too dull otherwise,” Kulagi said, fitting in another disc of his own. “Alright, let’s finish this thing off and save Triki!” With that, he leapt forward, firing his Kanoka disc towards the Rahi. The End. Review Topic

The battle raged around the Coliseum. The Dark Hunters outnumbered their advisories, but the Toa and Matoran were putting up a stronger fight than expected. Lhikan and Vengeance were locked in a battle, with the two exchanging blows and trying to outdo the other. Their fighting was so fierce that the other Dark Hunters gave them plenty of space, for fear of getting caught in their conflict. The other Toa were fighting gallantly as well, but they were only just holding out. Gambar was able to keep Lariska occupied, but she was too fast and agile that he wasn’t able to land any solid blows, and was just able to keep her attention focused on him and prevent her from landing any deadly strikes herself. Lanili and Nidhiki had teamed up to fight Kavihkli who, despite taking damage in his earlier chase with Kulagi, was still able to hold out against the two elite Toa. Whether because he was too preoccupied with the fight or he was affected by the element neutralization, he seemed unable to summon his poisonous powers to use on the Toa. The Toa weren’t the only combatants. There were still Matoran in the skies atop Hover-Bikes who were now taking on some Dark Hunters who had activated their flight modes. Among them was Huaju, who was now in an aerial chase with Optics. The winger Dark Hunter didn’t have any weapons or powers that he could use to tear down Huaju from a distance, but he was fast and he had claws, so Huaju had to make sure he didn’t let the Dark Hunter catch up to him. On the ground, Vakama was having success in his Exo-Matoran suit. The Dark Hunters had seen him take down Krekka, so now they were hesitant to get too close. Some tried to use their weapons or various powers to strike him down from a distance, but his armor was too strong and held up to their attacks. Some Dark Hunters attacked, sure that they had the strength to rip apart the armor suit, but Vakama was too skilled with the controls that he wasn’t giving them a chance to dismantle it. The Dark Hunters were also avoiding the battle between the enlarged Triki and Hakann. Hakann had recovered from his initial shock, and was now fighting Triki tooth and nail. But Triki was still more agile than him, and managed to dodge around his deadly blows, and continued to throw strikes of his own. Hakann had prided himself on being an excellent hand to hand combatant, where he would figure out his opponent’s moves and determine the best countermove. However, Triki’s fighting style was too eccentric and random, and Hakann was not able to keep up with this. The other Dark Hunters could’ve easily intervened and subdued Triki, but none of them were fans of Hakann, and they were enjoying watching him get pummeled by an overly large Matoran. Triki himself was also enjoying the fight, as if it was really a game, and kept shouting nonsense at Hakann, which only annoyed him further. But while the Toa and their Matoran allies on the ground weren’t losing, they were in a stalemate at best. And they were outnumbered; this left plenty of Dark Hunters to focus on the task of taking the Colisuem. They had already blasted apart the battlement where the Matoran Guard had previously been stationed, and they had wiped out most of the Vahki swarms. Jaller and Agni had led the guards in a short retreat, where they fell back to a more secure location. They were still using the Kanoka techniques Kulagi had taught them to hold off the advancing Dark Hunters, but they were starting to go through their supply of Kanoka. They could hold out a while longer, but if the battle didn’t end soon, then the Dark Hunters would be able to capture the Coliseum. Meanwhile, Kulagi and Sufina rushed towards the device on the far end of the battlefield. There were fewer Dark Hunters in their way now, but Kulagi kept pulling them behind rocks and other piles of debris to keep them hidden. But they were almost there. Kulagi glanced around their hiding spot and got a closer look at the device for the first time. It appeared to be a large cylinder, with lots of tubes and wiring connecting to it. It was built atop a mobile platform, which the Dark Hunters had pushed all the way from Ko-Metru. It was continuously humming and emitting a pale yellow light, which Kulagi assumed had something to do with the dampening of the Toa’s elemental powers. “Okay, we’re almost there,” Kulagi whispered to Sufina. “Now what do we do?” “I need to find my power source,” Sufina said. She patted her bag that she had been carrying. “I have some chemicals in here that will help me dismantle it, but it’ll take some time and a lot of concentration.” “Why don’t we just smash it with a good Weakening disc?” Kulagi asked. “Because we can’t just damage it,” Sufina said. “If we do that, we might win this battle, but the Dark Hunters could repair it and use it in the future. I want to make sure this particular one will never work again.” “Fair enough,” Kulagi said. “I think we’re good, let’s get over to this device and shut it down. I don’t think there are even any guards at the moment.” The two Matoran rushed over and climbed up on the platform. Kulagi could see an extensive control panel, with a lot of dials and levers. But he didn’t see anything that resembled the power source device that the Dark Hunters had stolen. “Where is it?” he wondered. “It might be inside the machine somewhere,” Sufina said, pulling a wrench from her bag. “I think I can pry this compartment opened here to take a look inside.” “I wouldn’t do that if I were you,” said a raspy voice. Kulagi and Sufina turned to see a Matoran standing on the other side of the platform. But he was not an ordinary Matoran; he had odd growths on his body and limbs, and his mask appeared to have been partially fused into his head. He was gripping onto a rusty blade, and pointed it at the two Matoran. “This is my contraption,” he snarled. “Hands off.” “You’re Phantom?” Kulagi asked. “The Dark Hunter who worked for the Nynrah Ghosts?” “So you’ve heard of me?” Phantom said with a wicked laugh. “Indeed, I used to be one of the Nynrah Ghosts, but after this mutation, they shunned me. But I have perfected this device, and now it will be used to bring all the Toa to their knees and...” He was cut off as Kulagi shot him with a Weakening disc, and he fell over unconscious. “Yeah, I’ve heard of you,” Kulagi said to his fallen foe. “Turns out the only way to get your toy to work was to steal from Sufina. So if you don’t mind, I think we’re going to break this now.” Unfazed by the interruption, Sufina began prying apart the device. Once she got the compartment opened, she glanced inside, and let out a shout. “Okay, I see where they plugged in the power source. But I’ll have to get to it from the other side.” “Why not just yank it out and we can destroy it on the go?” Kulagi asked. “Because that might cause this whole thing to explode,” Sufina said nonchalantly. “Part of my job was to get something that provided power without the risk of an explosive chain reaction. On its own, the device is stable, but if I start messing with it in the wrong way, especially when it’s in use…” “Okay, I get it,” Kulagi said. “So hurry up and…” he glanced back to the battlefield and cursed. “What’s wrong?” Sufina asked, spooked. “We’ve got trouble coming,” Kulagi said, grabbing his launched. “Fix this as quickly as possible.” Sufina went to work on the machine, and Kulagi jumped off the device and stared down his next advisory. It was Lariska. “I thought Toa Gambar was dealing with you,” Kulagi said, gripping his launcher. “The Toa of Earth could only take so many jabs with a poisoned dagger,” Lariska commented. “Haven’t killed him yet; I wanted to deal with you first. Somehow I knew you’d be over here.” “So this was your big plan all along?” Kulagi asked, trying to buy time. “Build something that takes away the Toa’s main advantage, and use something from the Matoran to do it.” “Indeed, but you little guys did not make that easy for us,” Lariska said. “In some ways, I wish I had killed you when I first intercepted you in Po-Metru. Maybe I was holding back.” “Oh, you weren’t holding back,” Kulagi shot. “I’m just that good.” Lariska narrowed her red eyes. “But then again, you have been very beneficial to our cause after all, Kulagi the Kanoka Maker. You led a disguised Triglax right to the power source in Po-Metru, and then you led Optics right to the mechanical converter in Le-Metru. Without you, we wouldn’t have gotten this contraption together quite as fast as we did.” “So what I’m hearing you say is that you Dark Hunters needed a Matoran to do your dirty work,” Kulagi said. “We manipulated you to get what we want,” Lariska snarled. “Is this supposed to scare me?” Kulagi asked. “Or demoralize me? Really just makes me feel better about myself, considering how pathetic you lot are. I mean, you vastly outnumber the Toa and yet you still can’t win.” Lariska drew a dagger with her metallic arm. “So you’re saying that the time for talk is over, Matoran? I know what you’re doing; trying to converse with me will only extend your life for so long.” “I don’t need to worry about whatever you’re going to throw at me,” Kulagi said. “I have two things that you Dark Hunters will never have. I have friends that I know will come through for me.” “Is that so,” Lariska said. With a flick of her wrist, she threw the dagger, aiming for Kulagi’s heartlight. But Kulagi already had a disc in his launcher, and he fired, teleporting the dagger out of sight. “I should also mention the second thing I have that you don’t,” he said. “It’s high powered Kanoka discs.” “I am going to enjoy crushing your mask,” Lariska snarled, and she darted forward, daggers in hand. Kulagi stepped on a large boulder even as the Dark Hunter charged forward. At the last possible moment, he fired an Enlarging disc at the rock, causing it to expand rapidly. The expansion was enough to give him a boost up in the air, and Lariska’s dagger merely hit stone. Meanwhile, Kulagi flipped in the air above up, and fired a Le-Metru Regeneration disc as he did so. But Lariska noted that his flip was ill timed, and the disc merely shot up directly in the air instead of towards her. Kulagi landed and was already reloading in another disc. Lariska drew a poisoned dagger and threw it at him, and he narrowly dodged it. As he recovered, he fired a Ta-Metru disc, which struck Lariska painfully. She knelt down, apparently in pain, but it was just a ruse. As Kulagi let his guard down, she threw another poisoned dagger, and although Kulagi tried to dodge it, it still grazed his arm. Lariska laughed. “It’s over now, Matoran. That poison will render you comatose in a matter of minutes.” “What poison?” Kulagi asked, firing a Freezing disc. Lariska lifted her arm to block it, but she wasn’t fast enough and it activated, covering her robotic arm in ice. She turned and slammed it against the large stone to shatter the ice and free her arm. “You were hit by my poisoned daggers,” Lariska continued. “If the one won’t do, I’ll just have to apply a second.” But as she lifted her dagger, she frowned as she noticed the green glow of the poison was missing. “Yeah, about that,” Kulagi said. “That earlier disc I hit you with was a Removes Poison disc, so those are probably just ordinary daggers now.” “Poisoned or not, they’ll still cut deep,” Lariska snarled, throwing two at once. Kulagi tried to dodge them, but while he was able to duck down and allow one to sail over his shoulder, he wasn’t as lucky with the second, which embedded itself in his left leg joint. He immediately lost the ability to move it, and struggled to keep his balance with only one good leg. Lariska grinned at Kulagi’s attempts to remain standing. “You Matoran just don’t know when to quit,” she said. Kulagi quickly loaded in a Ko-Matoran Weakening disc and took aim at Lariska, but didn’t fire. “We Matoran are a determined bunch,” he said. “I’m not going to bow down to the likes of the Turaga or Vahki, who I know are on my side. I sure won’t back down to the likes of you, Dark Hunter.” Lariska laughed at his bravo, but then narrowed her eyes again. Kulagi was aiming at her, but not firing. “What are you waiting for, Matoran?” she sneered. “Just take you last shot.” “I just want to make it count,” Kulagi said, focusing all his energy on keeping stable. “A single disc won’t take me down,” Lariska said. “So just surrender and I’ll make your death mostly painless...” Kulagi fired. Lariska drew her dagger, ready to stab the disc out of the air, as she had done before. But then she noticed a green blur. It was the Le-Metru Regeneration Kanoka he had fired earlier. Kulagi has purposely shot it straight up, so once it had reached the apex of its flight, it would fall right back down. And the Kanoka Maker had timed it just right, and as it fell it hit his Ko-Metru Weakening disc, already in flight. The Weakening disc was replicated tenfold, and due to the Ko-Metru properties of the disc, they all zeroed in on Lariska. Even she wasn’t able to block this barrage of disc attacks, and after a succession of explosions, she collapsed to the ground. Kulagi grinned. “And that is how you use Kanoka,” he said. He reached down and pried the dagger from his leg. He was able to gain some mobility now, but it was limited and extremely painful. Kulagi hobbled over to the device, where Sufina was still hard at work. “How’s it coming along?” he asked. “Almost got it,” Sufina said. “Just a few more chemical adjustments, and this thing will be a goner.” Suddenly, cold steel grabbed Kulagi by the neck and lifted him up. Lariska had already recovered from the attack, but she was bruised and beaten and nearly worn out. Yet she still had more strength in her than Kulagi, and she started to squeeze. “Die, you stupid Matoran,” she snarled. “Kulagi!” Sufina cried out. She tried to reach her Kanoka launcher, but Lariska kicked her and knocked her hard against the panel. “I will make your death as painful as I can,” Lariska snarled, pulling Kulagi’s mask close to her reptilian face. “But before you cross over to the sweet release of death, I’m going to make you watch as I kill your friend here first. And I will make her suffer too.” Kulagi tried to fight back, but Lariska’s grip was too tight, and his energy was all but spent. His mind flashed, trying to think of a way out, but nothing was coming to him. There was no trick he could pull off now to get away. But then something hit Lariska in the back. It was a Ko-Metru disc, and it’s shrinking powers instantly took over, bringing Lariska down to Kulagi’s size. As she shrunk, she was forced to release Kulagi. “Who shot that?” she demanded, glancing around. She could see no one else nearby, but then who had caught her off guard with yet another Kanoka? Kulagi was going to use her moment of shock to get the upper hand. He took the dagger that had been embedded in his leg and thrust it forward, sinking the blade into Lariska’s good arm. Lariska howled in pain, but then swung her fully robotic arm and struck Kulagi. Although she was smaller now, she still had the strength to send him flying. “This setback will not stop me,” she shouted. “I will still kill you.” “Not if I have something to say about it!” Sufina charged forward and tackled Lariska, throwing her down to. Lariska pushed her off, but then had to parry some blows from the Ga-Matoran. “Looks like the pretty chemist can throw a punch after all,” she mocked. “I can do more than that,” Sufina said, pulling out a vial and throwing it at Lariska. Lariska lifted her robotic arm to shield her, and the vial smashed and covered her prosthetic with its contents. But then to Lariska’s horror, the metal on her robotic arm began to smoke. “Just a little chemical I put together to eat through the toughest protodermis,” Sufina said. “Since that’s part of you and not just armor, it must be extremely painful.” Indeed, Lariska was just barely able to keep herself from screaming. She tried to back up, but tripped and fell off the mobile platform. As she lay on the ground, Sufina lifted her launcher and fired a Weakening disc point blank. This time, Lariska did not get up. Kulagi pushed himself to his feet, massaging his throat. “Wow, Sufina, that was amazing,” he said. Sufina smiled weakly; now that the fight was over, she started trembling. “That has to be the most frightening experience I’ve ever had,” she admitted. “Even more so than being kidnapped by Gragu.” “So the device?” Kulagi asked. “Right, right,” Sufina said, taking a few deep breaths to calm her nerves. “Just a few more chemicals to apply, and then this thing will go out like a broken lightstone.” As Sufina went back to work, Kulagi hobbled over to the fallen Lariska. He was also wondering where the spare shrinking disc had come from, but then he caught sight of it on the ground next to Lariska. He recognized the code. He felt a presence next to him, and Kulagi turned to see the Matoran Glax standing nearby. Only he knew it wasn’t Glax, but rather a transformed Triglax. “You fired that disc,” Kulagi stated. “Why?” “We’re even now,” Triglax said. “I don’t get it.” “You stopped your ally from killing me,” Triglax explained. “And now I just did the same. There’s a clean slate between us.” Kulagi sighed. “So I suppose now you’re here to stop us once more?” Triglax shrugged. “I don’t see the benefit in it anymore. Lariska’s plan has clearly failed. If I know anything about Sufina, then she’s moments away from turning off that device for good. Then the rest of these Dark Hunters are going to get a nasty taste of elemental powers. I think I’ll take this chance to get away before I sustain further injuries.” “You’re leaving the Dark Hunters?” Kulagi asked. “No, that’s not a very wise option for me,” Triglax said. “But that doesn’t mean I have to help them. I can be very good at staying on the sidelines.” He glanced at Lariska. “Besides, I’ve been wanting to shoot her with a Kanoka for ages. Best of all, she thinks it was some other Matoran or Toa who fired the shot, so there’s no way she’ll suspect me.” He started to shapeshift to grow some wings. “You can keep that Kanoka, by the way. Think of it as a memento from the battle.” Triglax spread his new wings to take flight. “Wait,” Kulagi said. “Look, Glax… thanks for the save.” Triglax grinned slyly. “Well, you know that we Kanoka Makers have to look out for our own.” With that, he flew off into the night. Behind him, Kulagi heard the hum of the machine suddenly die down. He turned and noticed that the glow was fading, leaving them in darkness. Sufina crawled out of the machine, with a very pleased look on her mask. “There, now it’s properly deactivated and dissolved. The Dark Hunters won’t be making use of this ever again.” She frowned. “Were you just talking to somebody?” “I... it was nothing,” Kulagi said. “Look, let’s get out of here before Lariska wakes up yet again.” “Can you walk?” Sufina asked. “Just barely,” Kulagi said, leaning on her for support. He paused, and said “Could you grab that Ko-Metru disc real quick. Might be useful later.” Kulagi and Sufina slowly made their way back to the Coliseum. The battle was still raging, but the tides had turned. Now that the Toa had their elemental powers back, they had regained the upper hand. They had already driven the Dark Hunters from the Coliseum, and now the fights were merely between Dark Hunters who refused to give up. Hakann was one of them. Triki had since returned to his normal size, and Hakann was determined to smash the Le-Matoran to the ground, but Triki’s speed and agility let him bounce around the red Skakdi with ease. Even as he could see the Toa regaining their elemental powers around him, Hakann focused on beating Triki. Finally, he got a lucky blow in that caused Triki to trip, and he pinned him down with his clawed foot. “The game is over now, Matoran,” Hakann snarled, breathing heavy due to his exhaustion. “Game over, everybody home-go now,” Triki agreed. “Ta-Dude to give you consolation prize.” Something grabbed Hakann from behind and pinned his arms to his side. It was Vakama in his Exo-Matoran suit. He lifted the Dark Hunter and threw him into the darkness. Hakann got to his feet, wincing in pain, but then observed the losing battle around him. Without further notice, he quickly retreated. “Thanks for the save, super suit Vakama!” Triki said. “You didn’t do so bad yourself, you crazy Le-Matoran,” Vakama replied. “Good, good,” Triki said. “Now I night-night.” With that said, Triki passed out from exhaustion. Pretty soon, all the Dark Hunters had either been subdued or retreated. The last one standing was Vengeance, who continued to duel with Lhikan. But once the Toa had regained his fire powers, the fight had been decided. Vengeance had been pushed to playing defense, and Lhikan fought hard. Finally, Vengeance’s hand slipped on his shield, and with a swing of his sword Lhikan knocked it aside. Dumbfounded by his sudden disarmament, Vengeance wasn’t able to stop Lhikan’s final blow, which knocked the last Dark Hunter unconscious. Kulagi and Sufina hobbled over to where Triki and Vakama were resting. The Ta-Matoran had exited his Exo-Matoran suit to help the Le-Matoran, but it was clear that Triki had just played too hard and would be just fine. Meanwhile, Huaju landed his Hover-Bike nearby, having driven off the last of the flying Dark Hunters. “So, that’s it?” he said as they gathered together. “We won the day.” “I think we did,” Vakama said. He gestured to his armor. “That was a great piece of technology in this fight, but it had a huge cost to make. Because of our ambition to make this, we handed the Dark Hunters just the piece of technology they needed for their secret weapon. I honestly don’t know if it was worth it or not.” “Well, even if the Dark Hunters try to salvage their device, they won’t get anything from it,” Sufina said proudly. “It’s thoroughly dismantled now.” “And with that, the Toa have another decisive victory,” Huaju said. “There are at least a dozen downed Hunters out there. They’ll be going straight to the prison cells, and they won’t be getting a reduced sentence at all.” “Only good Dark Hunter is a captured Dark Hunter,” Vakama agreed. Kulagi nodded and smiled, but didn’t say anything. His thoughts were on Triglax. He had been a huge pain in the neck, but his morals were really no worse than that of a headstrong Matoran. Kulagi now realized just how alike they really were. He knew that he had darkness inside him, and that made him more determined to focus on the light within him. But he also had to recognize that there had been light within Triglax as well. Toa Gambar walked over to the Matoran, looking over the battlefield for any Dark Hunter stragglers. “Are you all okay?” he asked. “We’re all alive,” Kulagi said. “Although I could really use some high powered Regeneration discs for my leg. But weren’t you poisoned by Lariska?” “Nothing a Removes Poison disc couldn’t handle,” Gambar said. “She only sidelined me long enough for her to make an escape.” “Yeah, we encountered her by the device of theirs,” Kulagi said. “We saw,” Gambar said. “Unfortunately, we also saw the winged Dark Hunter Optics fly down and carry her off, so she’ll still be a problem in the future. But we’ll deal with her when the time comes; for now, let’s get you Matoran somewhere safe where you can rest.” Review Topic

It's been a while since I've put together a blog post, so here's me jabbering about my stories in general. I'm finally finishing up a couple that I've been posting. Highfly Vinesman, Deepwood Wayfinder was for the BZPower Fanfic Exchange 2018 and written for Darth Jaller. It features Tamaru, Taipu, and Kapura and it's been fun writing back about the MNOLG-era. The other is a sequel to my Kulagi's Kanoka story, A Shadow's Contrivance which features the Kanoka wielding Matoran against the Dark Hunters during the Toa and Dark Hunter war. I am actually extremely proud of this story; it expands and better uses the characters from the original, has lots of character development on multiple fronts, and features a ton of Dark Hunters, both official and custom. And I'm happy with the plot too, which has enough twists and fight sequences and chase scenes and Kanoka usages to really make it worthwhile. The whole thing started off as a minor short story idea but the expanded into this major operation. (It's also one of those stories that I'm really happy with but barely has any reviews. Oh well.) Also found some of the round-robin stories I participated in for a contest years ago; the topics still exist but the formatting got lost so it was a whole block of text, but once I got past that they were some fun stories, and I'm kind of disappointed that we didn't finish any of them. One story that just made my blog look like it got updated was my BZPower Blog Story set in the style of a Choose Your Own Adventure story but starring BZPower members from the time. Of course, it was posted during the server downtime, back when the BZPower urls included "forum" instead of "board". Well, all the blog entries were still there (blog stuff got preserved but topics did not) but the links were all dead. I just went through and updated them, but that pushed a couple up to the front of the blog, soooo kinda made it look like I just posted a bunch of stuff here when all I was doing was updating some links. Story is still good, although most of the members have changed their names or become inactive since. (Gosh, and this was originally written when Bionicle G1 was coming to an end... and now it's been a couple of years since G2 abruptly ended. Crazy.) Speaking of that, I also had that BZ-Koro epic that was supposed to herald in G2, and it was one where I'd have people vote on where each new chapter would go. It made some decent progress before work got the best of me and I dropped it. (I mean, that was before I finally got diagnosed with sleep apnea, so I mean I was running of fumes for years there.) Problem is there's not much of an audience left and some of the main characters... well, things happened and it didn't feel right to continue. I'm tempted to change some things around and write the conclusion I was working towards, but dunno if it would be worth it. Still, I don't know if I'm ever going to top Tekulo and Dotcom singing "A Whole New World" in the middle of a fight... I still get reminded of my parody's lyrics when I listen to the original. I was also looking back at my story about the Slizers on Mata Nui. The original story was long; partially it was drawn out because I didn't know where I wanted to take it, so I just kept having fight scene after fight scene. Somebody originally contacted my about it and I started to revisit the plot and make plans for making it shorter but keeping to the same general story, just with less redundancy. Some things would undoubtably be lost in a rewrite, but I am very tempted because I plotted out an ending for the original but never got around to finishing it. Granted, I don't know if there'd be an audience left to be interested in it anyway. A big thing for looking back on my older stories was this thing where I'm trying to list out all the characters I've ever used in stories before. Mostly because I've reused some character names through different stories. (Like I've had variations of Triki in four different stories, playing variations of his crazy character.) Of course, putting together the list made me look up some older stories, where I've found my older writing both impressive at times and cringe worthy at other times. Also makes me sad that there are some stories that I wrote that I no longer have records before, because I lost a bunch of stuff when my laptop was stolen and the BZP servers crashed and took a lot of other stories down. There was a fun Bionicle Christmas story I wrote staring Kapura, another small epic featuring the Voya-Nui Matoran against the Piraka, and a comedy about the Toa in an election, plus a bunch of other short stories and such. Meanwhile, I have a handful of current stories I want to complete (two of which I've worked on for NaNoWriMo... twice each) plus a lot of other ideas I want to move forward with. But unfortunately, working full time has really cut down on my mental ability to just sit down and write write write... a professional author I will never be. Too many story ideas stuck in my head, and that says nothing of the older stories I want to redo / reboot.

Disclaimer: The characters in this story are named after real members, but their personalities and traits are fictional and are not meant to reflect on my opinions of the actual members. This is a work of fiction, and I hope you enjoy it. Go Back to Previous Chapter Chapter C “Arpy is totally on to something,” you say. “Bionicle was dying out. The story wasn’t as good, the sets were boring, and the extra merchandise is plain annoying. I think Lego can certainly do better.” “You’re insane too,” Sumiki says. “I disagree with you,” Blue started. “Well, you know what, have it your way,” you shout. “If you can’t handle a little change, why don’t you just go ahead and weep away your sorrows. I’m going to hang out with some more progressive members.” You leave Sumiki, Krahka, and Blue behind, and they begin arguing about how they can make Bionicle come back sooner. You catch up with Arpy, and say, “Hey, can we hang out?” “Sure,” Arpy says. “I was just heading to a party myself.” “A party? For what?” “The end of Bionicle, of course. It’ll be quite a celebration.” You go with Arpy and attend the party. You see that there are plenty of members who agree with you. Bionicle’s ending could just be the beginning of a special something else. But you notice something strange. All the members are very cheerful, but they are very one dimensional. Even Arpy, who’s usually quite full of wit, it just smiling dumbly. You begin to wonder if there’s something strange going on. You’re about to leave and go ask some other people about this when somebody sneaks up behind you. Before you can turn around and see who they are, they shove something on your face. To your horror, you realize it’s a kraata. It attaches to your mask and starts sucking the life out of you. You struggle to remove it, but the being behind you pins you down. “No, don’t struggle,” he hissed. “Soon enough, it will all be over, and you’ll be on the right side. My side.” You tried to scream in protest, but already your voice is gone. Your mind is driven blank, and you become an obedient slave, with no thoughts of your own. But if anybody asks, you love that Bionicle is ending. You Lose Go Back and Try Again

Disclaimer: The characters in this story are named after real members, but their personalities and traits are fictional and are not meant to reflect on my opinions of the actual members. This is a work of fiction, and I hope you enjoy it. Go Back to Previous Chapter Chapter K “Combine you’re elemental powers!” you shout. “It always works for the Toa; it should work for us.” The four of you lift up your weapons and place them together. “For Unity!” you all shout, and then you release your energy. Or at least, you try. But nothing happens. TTN laughs. He is actually beside himself with laughter. “I can’t believe you are so dense,” he says, catching his breath. “Regular members don’t have any elemental powers, only Staff do.” “Oh yeah, I forgot about that,” you say. “Well, you time playing as Toa is over,” TTN says. “It’s kraata time!” He grabs more kraata, and heaves them at you. Your friends dodge this time, and try to fight back, but a kraata catches you in the face. You remain conscious just long enough to see TTN fell each of your friends, and kraata them as well. Then your mind is gone. You Lose. Go Back and Try Again

Disclaimer: The characters in this story are named after real members, but their personalities and traits are fictional and are not meant to reflect on my opinions of the actual members. This is a work of fiction, and I hope you enjoy it. Go Back to Previous Chapter Chapter J “Attack from different directions,” you tell your friends. “If we hit him all at once, he can’t possibly block us!” The four of you split up, just as TTN fires a blast of energy towards you. You have the furthest to go, as you have to circle completely around TTN. He sights you and fires blasts at you, so you run and duck just in time. Meanwhile, Sumiki, Blue, and Krahka get into position, with their weapons in hand. You yell, “Charge!” and then all four of you rush TTN at the same time. “How cute,” TTN said, observing your attack. He waits until the last second, and then lashes out, spinning his staff around him, hitting all four of you. As you get back to your feet, you see TTN blast Sumiki into unconsciousness. “Not so fast!” Blue shouts, jumping on TTN’s back from behind. As TTN tries to grab Blue, Krahka charges forward, claws slashing the air. But TTN gets the upper hand. He ripped Blue off his back, and then throws him at the charging Krahka. Krahka can’t stop in time; Blue is thrown into her and they both fall over, out cold. “Pathetic attempts,” TTN grumbles. You lift your saber, hoping to get TTN while his back is turned on you. But then he says, “I see you too.” He turns and fires an energy blast point blank at you. And you remember no more. You Lose. Go Back and Try Again