Aanchir

 

Might just be nostalgia, but the music didn't nearly compare to the previous movies. Just felt like John Williams didn't try as hard or didn't find enough inspiration in the movie. The only good cues that i remember were recycled ones from the original trilogy.

 

Rey's theme and the First Order/Kylo Ren theme are both really good. But the rest of the new music didn't quite match up, yeah.

 

I felt like the theme when the X-Wings arrive on Takodana was also very strong hearing it during the film, but at the same time, not very catchy/memorable compared to old classics like the Imperial March.

I never really thought about this, but to be honest the idea doesn't really appeal to me. Even though it might make it easier for me to understand and being understood by others, I'm a strong believer in the concept of "neurodiversity". That means acknowledging every neurological condition comes with strengths and weaknesses. I think real acceptance would come not just from everybody having similar strengths and weaknesses, but from people learning to accept each other's differences instead of judging those who diverge from some neurological standard.

It wouldn't be too difficult to add friction, would it? Maybe not as much as a ball joint would allow, but if you use two friction pins instead of cross axles that'd be a start.

I very definitely heard the music in my head when I saw this. Great job!

Number 3.

This design would actually look good in dark green on a light grey shirt. I think that'd feel appropriately like urban graffiti.

Have you gotten the storybooks by Greg Farshtey? I didn't really end up digging the TV show from the first three episodes but I love the storybooks. They have sort of an "Aesop's Fables" quality that does a nice job keeping the series lighthearted while also keeping it reasonably self-aware.

I like 1 and 3 a lot, but I don't know which I'd actually rather WEAR. I might come back and cast a vote later.

He's the Chronicler! He was blogging before blogs were cool!

It was already extremely difficult to understand what was going on here, then Bonesiii posted that awkward comment and now I'm more confused than ever. Bonesiii posts can often be a bit circumlocutory, but this is a whole different level of bewildering. I figured I was missing some important context, but if that really is the context I was missing, it just raises further questions that I'm not sure I even want to know the answers to. If you feel at all uncomfortable about the direction this thread has taken you're definitely not alone.

I mean... glad you're sticking around, Fishers. This site wouldn't be the same without you. But aside from that... what.

Sucks that your family can't be more open-minded and understanding. I grew up with a really warped understanding of sexuality, since my health/family life classes at public school were really vague about it and I had to suffer through weekly after-school religious education classes that were rather backwards-thinking. I'm also straight, so I didn't have any real internal pressure pushing me to question the heteronormative status quo that surrounded me. But as I got older and met more LGBT people, I also found out that my parents were generally pretty progressive about that kind of thing — they just never really talked to me about sexuality or LGBT issues as a kid because I had never brought it up.

It would be really, truly amazing if Elsa got a girlfriend in a Frozen sequel. As soon as I heard it suggested my brain lit up with story ideas. Copying and pasting from a Facebook thread where I was discussing it with a friend:

"Would the "family bonds tested by a new romantic attraction" trope be too cliche for this? Because that could for sure be an interesting direction to take things. Anna, having been Elsa's only friend for so many years, could feel threatened by a new person in Elsa's life — on the flip side, Elsa's new girlfriend could feel intimidated by Anna and Elsa's closeness and feel like there's not a place for her in a family that already shares everything. Elsa, meanwhile, would struggle with political pressure to find a partner that others (including Anna) would approve of while also following her heart.

In the end everybody learns a valuable lesson about how romantic and familial love can coexist and strengthen each other instead of being in conflict, and the value of following your heart and being true to yourself. All very great family-friendly Disney messages. "

Orange.

This looks fantastic! I can't wait to see how the rest of the model turns out!

I definitely think a lot of people are exaggerating how unhappy/negative this fanbase is right now, because the Bionicle fanbase has always had a knack for complaining. It's not as if the Bionicle fan community is at risk of falling apart just because not everybody is happy with the present state of Bionicle. It's managed to last this long without that kind of consensus, after all. Fanbases are more resilient than a lot of people give them credit for.

But in general, a fanbase isn't just an abstract concept, it's a community. And I think everybody, on some level, wants the communities they're a part of to be happy. Same as how you'd want your friends to be happy. So it's natural for people to worry about that kind of thing.

Nothing wrong with moving on to other interests and endeavors. You will be missed, though! Best of luck wherever the future takes you! And I hope someday you might decide to check back here briefly just to see how things have been going in your absence.

No prob, Bob.

Well, the obvious one for me is LEGO Ninjago, but we're already getting that.

Bionicle's nice but might not translate nearly so well to the same format as the other theatrical LEGO films.

The LEGO Space Movie featuring Benny could be a lot of fun!

Man, the 2013 Takanuva shirt was great! No idea why it was hard to sell.

I don't know if I'd be anywhere near as interested in a Piraka T-shirt though. I did enjoy that era of Bionicle and it inspired quite a bit of art from me, but I don't really have a whole lot of nostalgia for it. It just doesn't stand up nearly as well in hindsight as some other years. 2007 is a different matter, since in spite of its faults it had some sets and stories that I'm still quite fond of today.

I can't really think of any 2006 or 2016 imagery I'd totally like to see on a shirt, to be honest. And doing something for the 15th anniversary of Bionicle 2001 wouldn't make much sense since we just had a very nostalgic design last year. Maybe somebody else will be able to offer some better suggestions.

I like villains (and heroes) who have insecurities. Especially villains who are driven (in whole or in part) by their insecurities. Also, villains who have an interesting relationship with their underlings.

Officer Judy Hopps versus someone from one of the LEGO Star Wars games. As awsome as she is, Hopps probably lost becaue Star Wars characters tend to have lightsabers and guns. She's pretty fast, though, so maybe she escaped and it was undetermined.

For me, Miraculous Ladybug versus... let's think... the last video game I played was Tetris, but that doesn't really have characters. Before that, it would've been the LEGO Ninjago Skybound online game, so... Jay? I think Ladybug would probably win in that matchup, because she tends to have much better luck than Jay. Plus, her power invariably gives her whatever tool she needs for the job. And to top things off, Jay is an itty bitty LEGO person.

Zoombinis. That's literally the only game I've played on Steam.

I have LEGO Worlds too, but it doesn't run on my Mac.

there was no reason to reboot the Ghostbusters franchise at all, especially a reboot starring one of the most horribly unfunny and untalented actors in modern comedy and directed by the guy who has directed most of said actor's previous movies.

Again, I haven't really seen any previous film work by this director or these actors. With that said, just looking at Wikipedia, the last three movies Paul Feig has directed all appear to have been critically and financially successful. He's also directed episodes for critically acclaimed comedy TV series that I have seen, including The Office and Arrested Development. That gives him far better directorial credentials than Ivan Reitman had under his belt when he directed the original Ghostbusters.

Comedy is definitely subjective and for all I know I might hate these people's film work (a lot of it sounds pretty raunchy, which I'm not typically a fan of). But evidently there are a lot of people out there who like this group's comedy work.

and "no movie is necessary" is a terrible counter-argument. just because no movie needs to be made doesn't mean every single awful idea for a film should be made. it's that attitude that has lead to the pollution of modern cinema with poorly-made trash, bankrupt production companies, and caused the critical decline of entire genres of film (horror and comedy immediately come to mind).

I don't watch a whole lot of comedy or horror films so I can't speak to how those are compared to the past. And nowhere am I saying that this movie should be made just because it can be. What I'm saying is that I'm sort of fed up with "unnecessary" being people's go-to method for dismissing movies they don't like. If people have a problem with a movie, that's fine! Their reasons might be totally legitimate. But phrasing those reasons in a way that could describe any movie just makes it sound like they're afraid of saying something that people might actually disagree with.

By comparison, in this post you weren't afraid to say what you actually meant — that you don't think the director or actors are funny, and that Hollywood is obsessed with churning out reboots. Some people might dispute those things, but they're what you believe and you weren't afraid to be upfront about them. I respect that a lot more than when people hide their real thoughts behind weak, inoffensive criticisms like "it's unnecessary".

and Aanchir, the animated series was pretty beloved by fans, at least the first couple seasons before it was taken over by another company and dumbed-down. there was also a video game released in 2009 set two years after the second movie that reunited the original cast, referred to by Dan Akroyd as "essentially the third movie", which was positively-received and sold very well.

Ah, alright. I didn't realize that. I've often read comments about it being schlocky and commercialized (like many 80s cartoons were), but maybe those kinds of comments were referring more to the later seasons. I have definitely heard good things about the 2009 video game.

By no means was I trying to insinuate that all Ghostbusters media besides the original movie was bad. Just that it's experienced more than its share of mediocrity and yet that hasn't sullied the reputation of the original film. So even if this movie is terrible it won't make the original any less timeless. It'd probably just discourage people from doing another reboot — which, if they can't get it right this time, might be a good thing.

Hi Bambi!

I have to admit, the trailers I saw made me feel nothing. Well, not nothing. But sort of like "oh, a cute, funny animated movie." And that's it. In other words, it didn't make me want to see it to the same extent that the trailer for, say, Wall-E did. It felt, in some respects, like "just another movie".

I guess that's been the case for a number of recent Disney movies, though, even ones that I later watched and loved. Maybe I'm just getting old.

Now that the movie's out and I've heard pretty much nothing but amazing things about it, it's definitely on my "must-see" list.

I think the movie looks like it could be decent. Of course, it could also be mediocre. Unlike you I have seen Ghostbusters and part of Ghostbusters 2, but like you I've never really seen the work of this director or these actors.

One big issue I have with a lot of the criticisms I've seen is the repeated claims I see that it's "unnecessary". I've never seen a movie that was "necessary", be it a reboot, a sequel, or an original film. And what is there to lose by trying to reboot a series like Ghostbusters that was basically dead anyway? Worst case scenario, the reboot is terrible, fans collectively choose to ignore its existence, the studio loses money, and nobody attempts to reboot the series again. Arguably, that's a win for people who never wanted it rebooted in the first place. And it's not like the Ghostbusters series was somehow pure or untainted anyway. It's had a sequel and animated series that were both generally regarded as mediocre cash-ins.

I'm also bothered by the frankly uncomfortable amount of sexist rhetoric I've seen regarding the Ghostbusters reboot. I'm not saying that everyone opposed to the movie is sexist, or even that most people are, but in a discussion about the movie on the Brickset forums I actually encountered people claiming that the movie was part of an evil feminist conspiracy, and that the "laws of comedy" (their words) made the things men did in the original movie automatically cooler and funnier than if women did them. Seriously. Eww.

Overall, my standing on the new movie is that it could be good, and it could be bad, but even if it's total garbage it doesn't justify the amount of hysteria I've seen from people opposed to the idea. I know a lot of my friends are really excited for this movie and I hope it doesn't let them down, but it's not like they or anybody would've been better off if nobody had even tried rebooting the series.

Well, when your trailer gets basic info wrong it doesn't inspire a lot of confidence. For starters, only ONE of the original ghostbusters was a scientist, not four. As well as 1984 being more than 30 years ago. So yeah when get that basic of information wrong, don't be surprised when people don't get excited.

Peter, Ray, and Egon were all doctors of parapsychology. Scientists. Winston's credentials were never mentioned in the movies, but assisting in the others' research efforts makes him an amateur scientist in his own right. A lot of people say things like "30 years ago" when they mean a little more than 30 years. It's also not unheard of for trailers to get things wrong. Overall those are pretty weak criticisms to get hung up on.

Well, I see you're already reading Brick by Brick, which is my #1 nonfiction recommendation for fellow LEGO fans. Good on you!

Neil Gaiman is one author whose work I really love. I really enjoyed one of his latest novels, The Ocean at the End of the Lane. He also wrote the comic series The Sandman which makes for some great reading. American Gods is one of his most famous prose novels, and I consider it a good read. But both The Sandman and American Gods include some pretty mature scenes, so be prepared for that if you do decide to read either of them. If you want something that's a little more PG, Coraline is one of his best kids' books, IMO, and the film adaptation was very high quality. Also, if you like superhero stories, there's a good chance you'd enjoy his graphic novel Marvel 1602, which is basically what it sounds like: an alternate-universe Marvel superhero story set in the year 1602.

While we're on the subject of British fantasy authors, Douglas Adams' The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy and its first two sequels are all engaging and hilarious science fiction stories. They're originally adapted from a radio show he wrote, but the books are often considered the quintessential way to enjoy the series. Books four and five of the Hitchhiker's Trilogy are a bit less consistent in quality. The film adaptation of the first book is good but not as good as the book. If you like old-school video games, there's a text adventure game based on the first book that was well-written, but mostly remembered for how infuriatingly tricky some parts of it could be without a guide. The Wikipedia page has links to some places it can be played online if you'd like to give it a shot.

Eoin Colfer's Artemis Fowl series is pretty great young adult fiction IMO. It's an action series with a healthy dose of moral ambiguity (especially in the first book), but without the level of bleakness you often find in young adult series like The Hunger Games. Eoin Colfer also wrote a sixth installment to the Hitchhiker's Trilogy called And Another Thing which I enjoyed better than the fourth and fifth installments, although it doesn't rise to the same greatness as the first few.

The Invention of Hugo Cabret by Brian Selznik is like a fusion between a novel and a picture book, with about 50% of its length told in full-page illustrations. The overall story is a tribute to classic black-and-white cinema. It's a fantastic book that I highly recommend. The film adaptation Hugo, directed by Martin Scorsese, is itself a work of art.

And while we're on the subject of books that have insanely good movie adaptations, Holes by Louis Sachar is one story where both the book and movie adaptations are favorites of mine. The movie is praised not only for its quality but also for its incredible accuracy to the source material, something few movie adaptations of books achieve to nearly the same degree. You might've read this book in school, as it has been a popular item for school reading lists. If not, read the book, then watch the movie.

I guess that's enough recommendations for right now. Happy reading!