Sumiki

#galidor2017confirmed Also, didn't know you were coming! I would have brought my Valendale MOC to display if I'd known. I suppose we'll have to settle with it being here in spirit.

Bionicle can only stay alive if we, as a community, continue to stay alive. From my first set—a Bohrok Va to whose back my grandmother and I affixed its Krana with glue (!)—to joining BZPower to making wonderful friends in and around this community, I will always hold a cherished place in my heart for the line and this site. I will be as active as I can for as long as I can in order to do my part.

brickfair message incoming more like brickfair massage incoming amirite

Last year the hatpile was sturdy enough to perform hat transplants. If we do our jobs right, we can all experience the glory of hats that was once mine alone. Also I don't want to be only one with back problems

So! I've not been active in the blogs for a while. Things are good with life and such, but they've been busy. Fortunately I've been able to keep up with BZP still, and BrickFair VA 2016 beckons, as BrickFairs always do. In any event, here's a new epic that this time I'll definitely finish. No sarcasm. I have chapters all planned out and I just want to complete an epic instead of just leaving them half-baked and forgetting about them.

This is the review topic for Where Words and Steps No Longer Hasten.

By Epigo, Southern Continent Gazette BO-KIMA, TREN KROM PROVINCE—A reclusive Bo-Matoran (name unknown) was forcibly taken from the public square several bio outside the local Suva by several Toa, one of whom operates from said Suva. Confirmed reports state that at least three Toa, as well as two unidentified bipedal Rahi, rushed and apprehended the Matoran. --It is unclear exactly why the Matoran was detained. Bo-Kima’s own Turaga Drekka came forward with a statement saying that the Matoran was arrested for “illegal experimentation on Matoran and Rahi of the Southern Continent,” with no further details given. The local Toa involved with the arrest could not be reached for comment. Requests to disclose the Matoran’s name were also ignored. --Several Matoran in Bo-Kima offered their own theories, the most popular of which links the arrest to the mysterious disappearance of a Ta-Matoran named Luqyr three weeks ago, who was discovered about a kio down the Tren Krom River with his heartlight missing and his chest armor removed. Official investigation into this apparent homicide is “still ongoing” according to a statement given last week by Turaga Drekka. Further inquiry into the status of this investigation has been ignored. --Two independent reports state that several large and unidentified footprints were seen in the mud and flora near the Suva around the area of the arrest. The reports also state that the Bo-Matoran appeared to struggle with thin air prior to the appearance of the Toa and Rahi. These eyewitnesses claim to have seen the Bo-Matoran in question “knock his mask sideways” on something. “It must have been completly [sic] invisible,” one of the reports state. However, none of the witnesses saw a Huna—a Mask of Invisibility—on any of the Toa involved in the arrest. --“I always thought that he was strange,” an anonymous Matoran told the Gazette, referring to the arrested Matoran. “He would always keep to himself. I talked with him a few times and he always seemed nice enough, but just a little … odd.” --Other citizens expressed similar feelings, and no one seemed to know his name. --“I always thought that he always wanted to keep something for himself, you know?” a Ga-Matoran, Puone, told us. “This community is so tight-knit that I always wondered if he was just an outsider, just wanted to be left alone.” --When asked about the claims of “illegal experimentation,” the citizens were mixed. --“Yeah, it makes sense that he might be involved with Luqyr’s death,” Puone said. “With the town mostly made of Bo-Matoran, those not of that element are outsiders by nature. It makes it even weirder that he was an outsider to everyone.” --The Matoran’s whereabouts are currently unknown, leaving prominent Matoran activists in the Tren Krom River province aghast. --“The actions of the Toa and Rahi against a member of the Bo-Kima community cannot be overlooked,” said Hakoar, a Vo-Matoran and right hand of provincial capital Kima-Nui Turaga Qaiu. “There is no accountability or oversight to their actions and given the lack of official statements, no evidence that the accused will receive a fair trial for his alleged crimes. Those responsible for his arrest should come forward for the sake of transparency.” --More to this story will be added as the case unfolds. ■ ------------- Review Topic

I lost it at Geoff

I go to college with a girl who is actually related to Madison Bumgarner and this combined with LEGO combined with actually having been to AT&T Park is kind of surreal

Congratulations! x6

AY. YE SCO'ISH TOA. CONGRA'S yes this is how I do a scottish accent in text don't judge me

Congrats!

Even though the member base is smaller now than in years past, so is the size of the staff—not to mention that word filters don't catch flaming and spamming. The basic idea is that if you run a chat, then you have to be prepared for the worst that might occur.

Congrats!

Congratulations!

Congratulations!

Yeow-za—congrats!

The playsets from the '05-'07 era were discontinued due to poor sales, but that was mainly because of the line's association with constraction. The constraction and system builders didn't have enough overlap to make it work, even though I always really liked them at the time. I'm not sure it would necessarily save Bionicle, but it would be an interesting idea for G3 to make it System further down the line.

Let's try to stay civil, everyone.

I've never had too much trouble with the Cordaks after they came out. They were too clunky for me to really like them, but at least they consistently worked. Now if someone can write a Complete Guide to Figuring Out Your Squid Launcher, I'd be set.

Alternate builds were always one of my favorite things and I'd always try to come up with some for any decent-sized set. Good to see they're back!

*game of thrones theme intensifies*

Absolutely, positively, 100% no. G1 had a bloated storyline. While you can't look to that as the reason it got axed, let's be honest—it was pretty big. 2009 was an attempt at a soft rebooting that ended up making the story way too complex. Kids from 2002 were now getting older and the brand just wasn't bringing in enough cash because the younger generation couldn't get into the story. Story does drive sales in that a bad story can only drive them down, and for a seven-year-old, catching up on a story that's been going on since before you were even alive isn't going to likely get you more interested. At best, a continuation would have done nothing to affect sales. It would have gotten older G1 fans such as myself involved a little bit more, but there's no guarantee of that. I drifted away from the serials—the last gasps of the G1 story—once the sets ceased production, and continuing that trainwreck wouldn't have made many of my generation happy.

The biggest problem with G2 happening is that it gave the aforementioned 2010 "Bring Back Bionicle!" crowd—who were extraordinarily enthusiastic in their support for the line—a false sense of accomplishment. LEGO did not look at the petitions and decide to bring the line back for G2, because G2 was aimed at a much younger crowd who may have only known Hero Factory, or at best a vague sense of Bionicle having existed at one point. G1 got axed because the story was bloated and getting more absurd by the year (yes I'm still salty over the Red Star thing), but more importantly, it wasn't profitable. G2 wasn't profitable either, I would assume, which is why it's also getting cut. LEGO really threw everything they had into G2, but for many reasons—including the obvious—G1 couldn't be repeated. The magic of G1 was due to its presence on what was then new media as well as it being a last-ditch gambit to keep LEGO afloat. At best, a G3 would be two or three years long and have an average-at-best story, much like G2. LEGO doesn't get where they're at if they're not willing to make die-hard fans frustrated at their financial decisions. No company can. The fact is that we, in the online Bionicle community, have to acknowledged that while we hold a privileged place amongst Bionicle fans as a whole, we are not the entire community and we cannot speak for them as if we are. Even if every active BZP member signed a petition to bring back Bionicle, it won't do anything. We do not represent enough money, in LEGO's eyes, for them to care. tl;dr: Petitions don't work, they have never worked, and they never will work. Their only purpose, if any, would be to delegitimize us as a community in the eyes of those who hold the power to enact G3.