Kakaru

Don't ask. I mean no really, don't ask. Just watch this instead

Oh yes you and your LAST GENERATION OLMAKS

YES YES YES I can finally switch back to the BZPower theme instead of IPB standard :3

"Mahikis do not allow shapeshifting."

I remember when this used to be the badge of super senior staffies when I first joined so this is really neat for me. also it matches my avatar and post colour so there's that

The only option I care about is giving him a big honkin' nose and a big fuzzy chin-afro beard.

Yeah, you've both summarized exactly what I'm trying to say. Any sort of inversion of the audience's expectations is completely lost under the mess of action sequences and clear pandering, so the real point just wasn't coherent enough. Originally I wanted to see it for the big set-pieces they put in the trailer, like the giant samurai with a minigun and the post-apoc WWII scenes (and I genuinely wasn't swayed by the "pretty girls with guns" gimmick that Snyder was trying to draw people in with) so I just enjoyed the mindless action and explosions. However, I did read and watch a lot of what Bob Chipman had to say, so I was definitely interested in seeing this massive twist ending that he talked about, but it just never showed up. In that sense, the movie just felt like an incredible disappointment, like I had just un-ironically watched a mindless shoot-em-up like Expendables or Transformers or something. I don't know. At any rate, my girlfriend really disliked it so she just gave it to me As with most movies that promise some sort of deeper meaning, I'm probably going to have to watch it again to clear up my thoughts on it, but I just can't muster the energy to. *goes to watch Advent Children instead because the fights were cooler and a lot less offensive for some reason*

Commander Weeble Shepard, an earthborn, adept war hero.

Nah, I tried jogging two blocks in the cold and got a sore throat and a limp for the next week. If that's not wimpy I don;t know what.

Okay so my girlfriend bought it so we could watch it finally, and it was pretty good I guess. Snyder's stuff has always been weird. I understand that the film was meant to be a critique of the nature of the people who would go to watch that sort of film in the first place, which was a pretty bold move for him. Unfortunately his point was sort of muddled under an abstract plot that didn't spend the time to properly draw the parallels between the real world and the film's own fictional dream, so it sort of degenerated into a revenge/quest film as his point which was supposed to be the "sucker punch" at the end was just poorly executed and ultimately lost. On the other hand, despite how over-the-top his action sequences are (and how it feels like he and Tarantino would make an excellent team for some reason) they're just a lot of fun to watch. In regards to the new Superman movie, I think it will work excellent if Nolan sticks to the plot and ideology and Snyder is assigned to the action, since I've heard it said that Nolan can't direct action sequences to save his life. To be honest, I think his action is fine (if a little stilted and underdeveloped) but I can't tell you how much I'm looking forward to their collaboration if they handle everything correctly. (tl;dr, Snyder's plots are muddled and it's about time we get a proper Superman film.) TWIST ENDING: SLY COOPER AND INFAMOUS ARE BOTH EXCELLENT SERIES AND I AM PROUD TO BE A FAN OF THEIR GAMES

(but seriously who doesn't ship this C: ) You're welcome, I'm glad you enjoyed it! I was actually going to send you jellybeans because you asked for food, but I got hungry before I sent it and ended up eating them myself. True story. Also, the drawing will ship as soon as I have control of my bank account again. I lost my wallet and everything in it over break, so I'm just waiting for a new debit card to arrive sometime this week. :3

BZPOWER I WILL MURDER YOU FOR EATING MY POST AND ONLY LEAVING THE PICTUREHANG ON WHILE I RECONSTRUCT THISOkay, this is what I could salvage."it was well writed and the transitions from past to present (mind to reality) work surprisingly goodly, coming to a brilliant climax with the final two sentences. The entire story forms a parallel between real-life acts of soldiers and the trauma they are forced to live with for the rest of their lives, both ending in a grim and melancholy finale."anyways very nicely thank you for forcing me to eat read this. KUTGW 10/10 and jazz. APPLAUDS

[ Chapter Seven: Target Practice ] Immunity. The ability to move freely without fear of unnatural consequences or retaliation. The knowledge that one could do no wrong, ethically if not necessarily morally. Kakaru hated the word and its awful implications for his career. Two weeks had passed without event. Although still wary of the vahki, Kakaru's methods had begun to feel shoddy and pointless. The tin-walkers seemed to go out of their way to cover Kakaru's tracks, and he was forgetting to look over his shoulder as he slipped artifacts from their stands. This, if anything, was a clear sign of absolute corruption. The hole was so large that he couldn't help but expose it, and everyone seemed so aware of it that stealing was losing its impact. If Dume was trying to make a point by protecting him, it was working. "Six widgets, premium." The shopkeep looked Kakaru stiffly in the eye, making it clear that stolen goods were only welcome at half the price. Kakaru let out a controlled breath with a slight glare, but pushed the disk across the counter regardless. It was the eighth shop he had tried that morning, and it was the easiest trade. He slid the meager pile of widgets off the counter with an open palm and slunk back to the chute transit hub. The day was going awful. Nobody was willing to buy black-market items from a thief that practically had the Turaga's own guard force following him around. As he approached the Atrium line, a vahki deliberately shifted to the side to allow him past. Kakaru yanked his satchel off and flung it at the vahki with an incoherent scream. It bounced off the vahki's head with an empty clank. Widgets scattered across the floor. "Oh, just get out!" Kakaru yelled. "You've made your stupid point, Dume! I hope those rebels have your head by now!" Kakaru picked up his bag and threw it again, then scraped up the widgets and bounced them off the golem's skull one by one, punctuated by assorted curses and inventive metaphors. The guard blipped questioningly as the Le-Matoran finished off his tirade with one last cutting remark. "You're all horrid!" -=][=- Kakaru's apartment was just another reminder of how absolute Dume's influence was, patched up and polished to an unnatural, sickly sheen. The new lightstone fixtures looked out of place next to the fading, flickering one of his neighbours. His apartment was far from conspicuous anymore. As he stepped back in the door, the frustration became unbearable. His maps and lists were hung back on his wall with meticulous attention to detail. The artifacts were all in disarray on his shelves, his papers were in their disgruntled piles, and even the volatile protodermis was placed carefully by the door. Overwhelmed, Kakaru grabbed the sheets off his bed and scooped everything from the table into them. He began grabbing crystalline figures and delicate masks, tossing them onto the pile without prejudice. All the maps came off his wall, and he threw the rest of that frozen sandwich on top for good measure. He picked up the sheet by the corners and dragged it out to the back balcony, then hoisted it over the edge. "Dume!" he screamed at the glowing coliseum on the horizon. "I will not be patronized! I'm not going back to normal!" The sheet crashed into the transit chute, his belongings scattering and disappearing into the gloom below. His voice echoed across the alley, mingled with the hum of the chutes, then was silent. He dragged himself back inside, picked his satchel off the floor and grabbed the length of wire from the volatile protodermis, trailing it behind as he walked out the front door. -=][=- "He's gone dark. The patrols were shutting down as he crossed the border into Onu-Metru and they couldn't track him. His apartment was destroyed." The Vahki Commander Unit stood at attention in the entrance to Dume's office as it gave its report. The silence that followed the end of its report was filled with the ticking of a small desk clock and the slow shift of Dume's chair as he stood up. "Great Spirits," Dume breathed. "How closely were you monitoring him?" "The patrols tracked his every movement to keep him safe and did not interfere." "How close?" The Vahki hesitated, and its higher sentience and a Commander Unit shone through for a moment. Higher drones could speak and be spoken to, and through years of observation developed a basic understanding of emotions. The one it showed at that exact moment was the one it had learned by observing matoran about to be put in stasis for an indefinite period. Despite this, its programming forced him to respond. "We escorted him, to be absolutely certain of his safety." Dume slammed both fists on his desk. His lightstone lamp jumped, wobbled, and fell to the floor in pieces. "It doesn't do any good to have a test case if he knows he's being monitored, does it? He's not going to show us the weak points in our security if we give him the reigns, is it? He has no motivation to find ways around us if we let him do what he wants! " He walked around his desk and began to pick up the pieces with shaking hands. "What is he carrying now? Is there any other information you've botched up?" "Patrols in Ta-Metru saw him carrying an artifact that was stolen from the stasis facility in Le-Metru eight years ago." Dume exhaled heavily through the nose. He remembered the incident far too well, and his reactive memory prompted him to finish the Commander's sentence without thinking. "He's carrying a toa stone." [ Review ]

Yeah, the formatting change from news article to forum topic is just another hiccup in the new board software. There's nothing we can do about it for the time being. Anyways, super excited for the addition of a new forum to keep good creative topics from being lost in the slew of discussion topics! I'm sure I'll be getting my share of use out of this. Thanks a ton, guys!

Haha, thanks! The odd slant is something I've found myself doing in a lot of my pictures, though I have no idea why. It just looks cool. (Oh, and if you look closely, you'll see that it's not possible for the view to be from one of the Hordika. ) Ah, no real reason. I just felt like drawing something from 2005 or so. Thanks!

Aw heck yes. It may not have been the one I wanted, but I can certainly understand their decision regarding each theme, and I'm glad that it's finally been resolved one way or the other. Here's looking forward to owning a great set based on an excellent cult classic.also keeping fingers crossed for autumn review oh please oh please oh please

I know most everyone thought that the Hordika and Visorak were a step down from 2004 both storywise and setwise and that somehow made it utter garbage, but it was actually pretty good on its own. Even if it wasn't as good as its annual ancestors, I still have a lot of positive feeling associated with it.also the word "virulence" has been stuck in my head for over a year now and it always reminds me of the essence of Makuta or the Visorak or some junk so I figured I'd make a picture befitting the wordLink to imageBe warned that the image is about 1.5 MB, 800 x 2500, for anyone with a slow connection or memory-impaired device.and yes I made this to coincide with my previous works, Imminence and Silence. One was posted here and is dead, and the other was posted in my blog and is buried.

PUTTING CDS IN CD CASES, HOW QUAINT I LOVE IT

This made me laugh out loud because I was totally flipping out about that for like half a year. I'm glad to hear you don't hold grudges about things like that. Thank you so much, everyone. I guess there's nothing else left for me to say in the aftermath, so I'm going to bow out and enjoy my winter break in peace Far Cry 3 here I come :3

I'm disappointed, Zar. You of all people should know that's not irony, it's entirely fitting for your expectations and context.

I feel like I should drop a note in here to say that Gato and I have reconciled our problems on a personal level. His comment was perhaps a little short towards me, but he simply wanted to cut off what appeared to be tired old rehash of the exact same argument he's had to suffer through far too many times before. It was an "I don't feel like dealing with this again" post, and it was entirely justified based on what I had said. One last time, I'd like to apologize for the initial impression of my argument I may have created, and that absolutely horrid football metaphor, which was not fair or apt for anyone in any circumstance. I'm leaving it where it is as an example of how exactly not to do things, and as a testament to my own stupidity when people revisit this issue in years to come. also Gato is like a gazillion times cooler than he's appeared to me in the past, and I'm really glad that such a horrendous issue has given me the chance to get to know him just a little better. Kudos to everyone for being reasonable and on the level about our differences this time around. I'm glad to see we can still have rational discussions around here. All the apologies I can offer can't cover the damage I've done, so I only hope the rest of you can forgive me for my part in this mess.

SNAPE KILLS FRODO

I've made a mess where I was trying to patch things up, and I've offended many people that I never wanted to hurt. I'm slowly working my way backwards and trying to reconcile myself to those individuals, and I want to thank everyone for bearing with me in the meantime. I really do apologize for any hurtful comments that have been slung and probably glanced off more than one casual bystander. Thanks for everything, guys. In spite of the controversy, it's the people here and their willingness to understand that makes everything worth it in the end. To end things on a light note, I'm posting a picture of an otter, because I absolutely love otters. Have a great night, everyone. I'm heading to the midnight showing of The Hobbit in a few so I'm taking a nap.

I literally do not care about sports in any capacity but I feel like saying Mariners and Rockies, in that order, to counter Jason's post.