Master of the Rahkshi

FREE! FREE! AT LAST SWEET BLISS MAY I TASTE THE AMBROSIA OF YOUR HALLS! ... Sorta. Still got finals next week. But only one! But yeah, I get to go home next Friday! Recently I have been coming across more and more situations where I could use that dancing emote that Turakii had for a while. I'm going to have to message her to ask if I can steal it. Anyways. Having Psionics as an official element is awesome. I know a few people who have been setting up Toa with psychic powers for a while now, and I'm sure they'd be very happy to know it has become part of canon. May you return someday to see it, Crystal Matrix, Ninjo. Of course, the catch is that both of those guys are...guys...and Psionics is officially a female element. Which is awesome, we need more female elements. I remember when the element of plant control was christened the Green and Greg told us that he'd be happy to make that element a female-only one. There was much rejoicing. Then someone re-read the book that the Toa of the Green appeared in and found that it was referred to exclusively as 'he.' There was much sadness that day. However, things aren't all happiness and sunshine yet. There are still problems. One such problem is pinning down what, exactly, psionics can do. Well, affecting the mind is obvious. But the problem is putting some limits on that power so that a Toa of Psionics can't make an army fall over drooling just by glaring in their direction. So, what are the possibilities? Myriad, that's what. Telekinesis is one of them; memory manipulation is another. As in, blocking, altering, erasing, and fabricating. Mind control is up there as well; mind reading and telepathic communication as well. Wiping the mind clean, causing various mental maladies. Illusions, phantom pains, implanted commands to be activated at a later date (actually, that would be Nuva territory; nevermind), sensory hijacking, the list goes on. There really is the potential for a LOT of havoc here. So obviously, Psionics is going to need to be toned down a bit. And by a bit I mean a lot. Greg is working on that, and is going to be releasing a more detailed breakdown in his blog on Monday. But I might as well compose my own ideas and put them up sometime this weekend now that I have some free time. Another thing that's going down is the passive powers for the Sy-Matoran (the favored name amongst the EM crowd). A number of people have proposed that the Sy-Matoran be 'more intelligent.' This irks me, mainly because none of them seem to want to clarify what they mean when they say "they're smarter." I already summed up my feelings about it on the official Elements topic, so I'll just copypaste here: So yeah, my two cents. *shrug* My personal suggestion for the Matoran power is that they're empaths. They can't actively read minds, but they can subconsciously sense emotions and intentions, so even if you try to lie to them they can read you like an open book. This is by no means foolproof; it is fully possible to lie to them. It would just take insane amounts of skill. They would also come with the standard resistance to their own element, including minor resistance to mind control, reading, etc. Not sure where illusion falls on the psionics scale. I suppose it shouldn't be on it; Bionicle illusions seem to be more physical projections than mental tricks. And to top it all off, the community seems to be largely accepting their color as pink. So We have pink female Matoran who, if we follow my suggestion, can get into touch with the emotions of others. I keep expecting militant feminists to storm my dorm room. And also in other news, I completely and utterly failed NaNoWriMo. I thought it could help me get started on my Darkness story; apparently it only advertised to teachers "KID WITH NOTHING BETTER TO DO; INCREASE HOMEWORK TO CTHULHU-BREAKING-DOWN-AND-CRYING LEVELS." Sorry, LK. >< I'll try and get it done over break.

Only a few, depending on the size of a street. Anywhere from one to six. Master of the Rahkshi

I think I'll give this a shot. I've actually got a story idea I've been wanting to work on. Master of the Rahkshi

A street that has no people, cars, or other living creatures, but that does have pigeons on it, feels emptier than a street that is simply empty.

And I return. So much for trying to establish a regular writing schedule. XD I've been putting it off for weeks. However, something has recently happened that inspired me to post. The following entry has absolutely nothing to do with Bionicle. It entirely has to do with the upcoming Mass Effect 2. I did warn you that I was a fanboy. So. Like the true fanboy that I am, I have been following Mass Effect 2 info as it comes out. I have assimilated all the information that is available, and even managed to formulate a tentative theory as to the nature of the story in the second game. For those of you unfamiliar or who simply haven't been following as obsessively as I have, I'll recap the info that I am currently aware of. If I'm missing anything or got something wrong, feel free to tell me. The setup of Mass Effect 2: Shepard is dead. At first we thought that it was just something BioWare came up with to rile up the fans; later on, they revealed that although Shepard isn't dead in the game, he could quite possibly die in one outcome of the game. And no, they don't mean a oh-look-you-can-see-his-body-but-he's-really-in-a-coma or oh-my-god-he-fell-off-a-cliff-no-one-could-possibly-survive-that. No, they mean dead. Deceased. Flatlined. No more. This is an ex=Shepard. The third game will still be played in this instance, but you will not play as Shepard. However, it goes beyond that as well. Apparently, at the beginning of the game Shepard is involved in an incident. The nature of the incident is unknown, and the violence of the incident apparently depends on your actions; one outcome has you looking completely normal, no scarring or damage apparent in most of the gameplay we've seen. It also goes to the other side of the violence scale, where the aftermath of this mysterious incident leaves you looking like this. Either way, everyone thinks you're dead. Your closest companions believe you to be deceased; at least, most of them. There's a comic in which Liara, refusing to believe you dead, goes to the Terminus Systems, the black underground of the galaxy, to look for Shepard. In any case, it appears that the first words out of the mouths of many people you meet will be, "Shepard! But you're dead!" I should say that most people think you're dead. One particular group of people know that you're alive and kicking, or are perhaps even responsible for your continued breathing privileges: Cerberus. Yes, Cerberus. The former human military black-ops group. The black-ops group that went rogue and split off from the military as a whole. That performed a large number of illegal and definitely immoral experiments on aliens and humans alike, even fellow soldiers. That killed a high-level admiral, amongst others, to keep their secrets safe. The organization that you have killed a very, very, very large number of its operatives in the course of your optional investigations. The organization you at least partially exposed, in the process bringing a large number of their vital, very expensive project to a grinding, screeching halt. That Cerberus. Yeah. However, they do not greet you with a pistol to the forehead. Or by using you as target practice for their new anti-vehicle acid cannon, which wouldn't be an unreasonable response giving the amount of hurt you potentially caused them in the first game. No, they decide to give you a mission instead. Considering this is openly described as a suicide mission from which you have little to no chance of returning from, I get the impression that they aren't feeling very kindly towards you despite saving you/pulling you out of the wreckage/engineering the incident in the first place/randomly bumping into you at the Sniping Addicts Anonymous meeting. However, you really get the feeling that they're trying. So, you accept this mission. This is something of a given. Cerberus fills you in: all over the galaxy, humans are going missing. These aren't cases of random men and women walking into dark alleys that they don't walk back out of. No, entire colonies, hundreds upon thousands of human from remote locations and settling attempts across the galaxy are simply vanishing, one by one. There is no evidence for who or what is behind this. They need someone to look into these disappearances, and your deadness makes you a prime candidate. With it, you can go through channels that you would never have access to otherwise; various enemies who would otherwise get in your way are unaware of your presence, and you can move with freedom through the underworld that you must investigate. As legendary as you are, you cannot do this alone; to this end, they allow you to gather at least some of your old companions, and give you a list of some of the most powerful (and, in more than a few cases, psychotic) characters in the galaxy to aid you in your task. I'll do a separate entry on them. View with discomfort the fact that, although these people are very good, and will undoubtedly aid tremendously in your quest, they are also by and large people who the galaxy will be much, much better off without. Erk. So you are given what information Cerebus possesses (or at least what they feel like telling you) and you bundle off in your ship and go on your merry way to save the galaxy once again. This is where the factual info that BioWare has provided straight-up ends, and where my observations being. After the debacle that was Sovereign's attack on Citadel, much of the geth fleet that attacked was destroyed. Following this incident, the remaining geth seem to have returned to their preferred behavior prior to their discovery of Sovereign: lurking behind the Perseus Veil, viciously protecting their territory but otherwise not taking any actions or venturing beyond their borders. Recently, however, geth reports have been on the rise again. Suspicious, Cerebus seems to think that there is a link between them and the disappearing colonies; they appear to be evolving faster than they have before, with more and more specialized combat models appearing and the rest wielding more of the innovative and unusual weaponry that they were wielding in the previous game. Equally and perhaps more troubling is the reappearance of husks, the cyber-zombies always present in the aftermath of a geth attack on a populated area. However, husks have been appearing on planets that are heavily populated and developed, and upon which there are apparently no geth. And the geth have not been previously noted for their subtlety. In addition, you only encountered one type of husk in the first game; now, you are facing at least three new types in addition to the standard husk. Hm. On a different front, there are the activities of a mysterious synthetics corporation and the group of mercenaries known as Eclipse currently in their employ. What exactly this company does isn't known for certain, apparently they specialize in making mechs. Clarified, they appear to be making mechanical soldiers, humanoid synths who specialize in combat. Nothing unusual, right? Wrong. Apparently their mechs are more advanced than any others currently in development. Take a look at the standard troops. Yes, I know it isn't that great of an image, but still look. Nothing all the remarkable, right? Now then, take a look at this. I don't know about you, but the big guys remind me of the geth. A lot. And remember Nassana Dantius? Let me clarify: remember the asari chick who asked you to "rescue" her sister who had been "kidnapped" by mercenaries? And how it turned out that her sister was in fact leading said mercenaries and all Nassana really wanted was for someone to kill the black sheep of the family so she would stop blackmailing her more influential sister? Yeah. One of your companions is an assassin hired to kill her. You have to get to her before he does, so you can at least meet up with him. Sounds inconsequential, but on the way, she is protected by Eclipse mercenaries fighting in tandem with the smaller mechs, called Loki. This heavily implies that Nassana is part of or at least is affiliated with the shadowy company. Now for my theory. We know that the threat of the Reapers isn't over with by a long shot. We know that they are still out there; it is heavily implied that there are factions working for them, and it is very possible that Sovereign managed to do more indoctrinating that we previously thought. So, I thought, it is possible that this shadow company was indoctrinated by Sovereign into doing the Reapers' work. The geth were instructed to work with them, to go with a plan B Sovereign formulated in the laughable possibility that he should fail. So, the geth have been quietly kidnapping these human colonies around the galaxy, humans being the ones who destroyed their lord, and are delivering them to this shadow company. The shadow company has then been using these humans as test subjects, creating more and more powerful husks. Factor in the presence of Nassana Dantius, who has access to extremely high-level biotic technology and research, and you get the possibility of psychic cybernetic zombies. At the same time, they have been upgrading the geth, making them more powerful as well, and creating marketable, stealth versions of the geth, spreading them throughout the galaxy, and strengthening the synthetic army in preparation for the day of the next Reaper's appearance. Once it appears, the synthetics will rise up with their strengthened army, and cause enough chaos for this new Reaper to get to the Citadel and bring the rest through. That was my theory. I was very proud of it. Then, earlier today, BioWare released a new video, this one detailing some of the enemies you will be facing in the game. Excited, I hurried down to the official site and downloaded the video, like a good little fanboy. Now, indulge me a metaphor. Let us say that my theory is a poor, confused sap standing in the middle of a field with his head coated in red paint. And the new video is a high-powered sniper rifle. BioWare takes this rifle and points it at my theory. Boom. Headshot. My theory is destroyed. This new video tells us a lot about the story of the game. A lot. It introduces an entire new species: the Collectors, odd bug-like people who have a taste for acquiring genetically odd individuals. It also goes into more detail about the husks and the geth. Now, let me tell you what's really going on. It isn't the geth who are rounding up the humans. It's the Collectors. They land in the colonies with massive ships and release swarms of small (well, small when compared to the actual Collectors) insects. These insects have poison that can paralyze humans; once the humans are helpless, the Collectors drag them into pods and whisk them away, leaving no evidence that they were ever there. Why? No one knows yet. But the Collectors are using advanced technology that they, somehow, got from the Reapers. Someone is performing experiments on the husks. But it doesn't look like the humans now. It may be the geth. Or it may be the reapers themselves. But now I have no clue how they fit into this. And the geth themselves are changing. Some of the m have managed to evolve, so separate themselves from the mass consciousness that once allowed them to operate and become truly sentient. Why? How? What do they want? Are they with the rest of the geth, or are they against them? These separated geth apparently hold different beliefs than that of the collective; time will tell if this means that they clash. With one video, BioWare turned my theory on its head. By showing much more info than they usually do, they have served to obfuscate the battlefield and throw what was once thought to be certainties into chaos and confusion. Now I have no idea what's going on. All I can do is wait for the next news article, for the next video or batch of screenshots. In the meantime, I must come up with more theories, theories that will also likely be turned on their heads. Well played, BioWare. Well played.

Good to see you back on. A Ghost in the Shell marathon is probably a good idea; I always feel better after finishing the first gig, at least. Working on a novel is hard; for everyone I know, it can be difficult to keep your focus on what works and what doesn't. Also, I hear you about BZP. Being off it can be equally difficult, especially if you feel like you have responsibility here. I agree with TDK, you should post at least a few samples of your novel. I'd be interested in seeing it, as anything you write is worth reading. And who knows, maybe hearing some people's comments will help you get on track in it. Glad to hear you're hanging in there. I hope you feel better soon. Master of the Rahkshi

Urgh. It never fails; a few weeks after I come back, life gangs up on me. I'm not disappearing again, I'm holding that promise. But I don't know if I'll be able to hold any sort of schedule. Though I've already gotten off track there, too. In any case, I have tons of homework to do, which takes precedence, I'm afraid. Wednesday should be a better day for me; I think I'll just be a fanboy over the latest updates for Mass Effect 2. At the moment, new meds for sick are making me sleepy. See ya (hopefully) on Wednesday.

A-yup, I'm sick. It's a most wonderful thing, living in a college environment. Guy gets a germ, he kisses a girl, the girl drinks from a water fountain which is never cleaned, the fountain gets drunk from, and soon everyone is playing host to the Flu family. Happy days. So yes, I have the flu. Fortunately my school is very liberal about attendance; they don't care if I'm skipping class when sick. Actually, they prefer it. However, this is the particular kind of sick that turns one's brain to complete mush while in attendance. In Biology this morning, the teacher walks in and says, "Good morning." The next words I remember with any clarity are "and if you do that, you'll get an A on your project," immediately followed by me thinking wait, what? After that incident, I excused myself and asked a friend to email me the notes after class. All that has been sustaining me for the rest of the day has been regular infusions of Origa and Yoko Kanno, mixed with Green Day and sprinkled with Linkin Park. Allow me to repeat how addled I am. A day where I have Evanescence blasting in my ears and I cannot get a single word of a story written down is a very bad day indeed. Evanescence and Linkin Park are my creativity fuels, but they too are useless before the onslaught of the flu. That said, it should come as no surprise that my various writing projects, including the current short story one, have been put on hold. Also put on hold are my entries into the EM: Denizens contest. Hopefully I will be able to complete those sometime soon; two of my entries are characters that have been lurking on my computer for some time, and I am eager to have them enter the public fray. Otherwise...not much. Nothing really notable or out of the ordinary is happening with Bionicle right now, nor with BZP itself.I think I will have the subject of a rant ready by Wednesday, though. In any case, see you then!

Sorry, no update tonight. Heavy workload lately. I'll post something tomorrow.

As a veteran S&T buff, the very idea is unacceptable. Sure, it's possible. But that's so much less fun. Master of the Rahkshi

Rrrrgh. Apologies for not keeping my promise to post on Saturday; that day turned out to be...interesting. I am also sad at not being able to officially observe Talk Like a Pirate Day, in my opinion one of the more random, and therefore enjoyable, holidays. Anyways, updates. Not much on the me front lately. College continues as usual, insanity levels are well within acceptable deviations for now, and writing continues to be stuck. I have an idea on that front, but more on that in a bit. On the storyline front...the 2010 sets. Well. An interesting development, to be sure. Not certain where this is going to go, as LEGO normally has us restrict data flow on new stuff when it first gets out (a lot of the images on Flickr seem to have disappeared), so I'm going to put this stuff in spoiler tags just in case and delete it if required » Click to show Spoiler - click again to hide... «Okay. So. New sets appear to be slight artistic deviations of a number of older, and newer, popular sets. We have Tahu Mata, Gresh, a Skrall, a yellow Rahkshi, a strangely silver Takanuva, and an un-mutated Vezok. This is an unexpected turn of events, for me, at least, coupled with Greg's assurance that next year we would be informed of Mata Nui's grand purpose. This has caused a number of theories to pop up in my head, and in the heads of others I work with. A few of those theories: 1. 2010 is a flashback year, possibly told by Mata Nui. To celebrate 10 years of Bionicle, and to pave the way for the new story, the team has decided to essentially recap all events up to current date. This explains the old-school characters, some in untransformed state, and the golden pieces, which are part of the special event. Cons: Doesn't explain the yellow Rahkshi or the silver Takanuva. Silver Takanuva could be a representation of the half-shadow Toa who came to the Nuva's assistance in Karda Nui, but I'm not convinced of that. 2. 2010 takes place in an alternate universe(s). This explains the old-school characters and variations of known characters. Things are different, but not so different that they are unrecognizable. The easiest foil for this story would be the reality-jumping Vezon. This would help to explain Mata Nui's purpose, as it would be simple for him to slide into a universe where that purpose has been achieved/is in the process of being achieved, and for some helpful bystander to explain or for the madman to simply see for himself. This is by far my favorite theory. Cons: If the story does indeed follow Vezon's random jumping, which is the easiest way to handle this theory, then why isn't he a set himself? Maybe he is, and we haven't seen him yet, but I'd think there would be some indication. Also doesn't sound like the way LEGO normally sets up the main storyline. 3. Time travel. This is really far out there, as even Greg has denied that time travel exists, but it must be mentioned here. I think the cons are obvious. And if that has to be mentioned, then also must be mentioned the possibility of... 4. A backup universe. Why leave things to chance, weigh everything on just one unit? Wouldn't it make sense to create a backup system, or simply a copy? Perhaps Mata Nui encounters this doppleganger, and goes inside to recruit the oddly familiar otherworld inhabitants in his fight against Teridax. Cons: Too complicated. 5. The silver Takanuva is the alternate-reality shadow Takanuva that escaped Destral's destruction. This interesting chap was entertaining the possibility of destroying the universe when he waltzed away into the night, and I've always been wondering what he's been up to. No cons, as such, as it's really a long shot anyways. 6. The yellow Rahkshi is not simply a remake of the 03 baddies, but a character in his/her/its own right, i.e. a shadow kraata. Matoran/Toa/Turaga-level intelligence, superb control over its powers, fully capable of speech, the works. Again, not really many cons to this as it's more a personal wish than a theory. 7. It really is a flashback/recap and set inconsistencies can be explained away by the fact that they're prototypes. The finished product will be very, very different. This is very likely. So, those are my thoughts on the '10 sets. Feel free to comment on my logic, or lack thereof. And lastly, my writing project. I think if I'm going to get anywhere, I'll have to start small. As such, I'm going to try my hand at a short story. Not many details yet, except that it's going to focus on one of my favorite characters and his actions in the aftermath of Teridax's usurpation of the Great Spirit throne. It's not going to be completely true to the story, more of a mix between the canon universe and one that I've set up for all of my Bionicle epics-in-progress. I'll start writing it soon, maybe post an excerpt or two if people want. I look forward to it either way. See yah on Wednesday!

Yeah, I started a blog. It's pretty much required practice for any kind of writer, and besides, I felt that BZP was a little low on its weirdness quota. (Nah, that would never happen.) Yeah, I guess I did. Like I said, we're all quirky, just some have different quirks. This alone deserves an approval. I think we may be the only two members on this site who actually view video games that way. YAAAAAAAY! I've been approved! Thank you Emzee! Master of the Rahkshi

Hi there peoples! And welcome to the second installment of my blog. I will explain the title eventually, I promise. I think I've got a system figured out now. I'm going to post Monday, Wednesday, and Friday (original, I know) unless something specific happens that I really want to talk about. This will probably include new story being released, surprising answers from Greg, or any news pertaining to the upcoming sequels to StarCraft, Mass Effect, and BioShock, which will most likely be accompanied by gibberish to the effect of 'squee.' I am fanboy. Hear me roar. First, a general update. Sleep for me continues to elusive. I'm not actually at the point where I start hallucinating but I think I'm close. Part of me is curious and wants to stay up another night to see what this is like. The other, more substantial, part of me is repeatedly whacking that part over the head with a hardcover book and yelling incoherently. (At one point, I read a psychology article that states that humans brains are essentially run by committee. I have taken that metaphor and have been running with it ever since.) It took a while, but I have finally found my 'type' at this college. I.e. the geeks. Specifically of the manga and anime type. We meet every Thursday and watch anime for hours on end. Last night was an episode of G Gundam (a very, very 70s show about psychic cool dudes with huge mechs), My Neighber Totoro (a well-done cute little fairy tale about a couple of sisters who find forest spirits inhabiting their new home, including a forgetful rabbit-peep that can turn invisible and has ADHD, a caterpillar-cat-bus, and the titular giant bear-owl-squirrel), and Gunslinger Girls (a gritty, bloody show about brainwashed ten-year-old girls who kill people with automatic weapons and explosives). Yeah, we certainly watch a very of subjects, don't we. I hope we get to Ghost in the Shell. The president and co-president are very nice people; in addition, the male half of the pair is in my photo class and has agreed to share the ruinous expense of buying black and white photo supplies. On another front: DAD FINALLY GOT MASS EFFECT WORKING WOO!!! *crickets* Okay, some explanation may be required. I love Mass Effect. Practically worship it, along with most games made by BioWare, due to their inventive universes, interesting characters, and their 1:5 combat to exposition ratio. I was able to briefly play Mass Effect on a friend's Xbox; excited, I bought the game for myself and happily rushed it home. There followed about a week's worth of frustration and rage, mitigated by graphics card brawls and DRM, which culminated with me lying on the couch crying into my cat's fur. On the downside, cats don't appreciate being cried upon. On the upside, the pattern of the scarring is actually kinda cool. Yesterday dad called me and said that he had managed to sort out the various issues of the game and managed to make it fully playable on my computer! Unfortunately my computer is on the other side of the country. Well, when I go home for Christmas break I'll be able to play it. After a period of silence around then expect a discombobulated blog (discomblogulated?) that will attempt to talk about things but invariably degenerate into "MASS EFFECT IS AWESOME WEE oh god two weeks without sleep *thud*" Let's see, what's happened in Bionicle since Wednesday? Not very darn much. At least, not very much that I can talk about without getting banned. PLENTY of that sort. Just wait until the spoiler ban on The Legend Reborn is lifted. Then I will give a very enthusiastic but somewhat inaccurate dissertation on the events of the movie. Inaccurate because I won't be able to watch it until late December. XD Well, nothing much has happened since then. Unless you count the release of another somewhat lackluster Flash game, WHICH, not only takes forever to load due to my stupid internet, but also rather inconsiderately does not allow me to explore the majority of Bara Magna. This is a very ill-mannered game, considering it also does not allow me to heal and forces me to exclusively spam the flip-Thornax move during fights. Of course, this is prejudice on two fronts. One, this is a fighting game. I hate fighting games. I suck at them. Also, for the most part, fighting games are completely devoid of any story beyond the occasional half-baked "blah blah ancient power blah blah lots of people inexplicably find out about it at the same time blah blah evi blah blah revenge blah blah large bowl of porridge. Kill everyone." Two, this isn't the MNOLG. LEGO WHY HAVE YOU FORSAKEN US? WHY DO YOU NOT DELIVER US A SEQUEL? MNOLG2: Hush you. You were good, but never properly finished. And a number of rather important files randomly went missing. Aside from that, yeah not much. Well, that about wraps things up for this scheduled update. Actually, as a side note, I'm toying with the idea of trying a somewhat less ambitious writing project than the ones previous. AND seeing as tomorrow is Talk Like a Pirate Day () and I will therefore be obliged to write a blog entry tomorrow, I'll give the lowdown on my writing idea and see what you guys think. If, you know, you can interpret it through the thick accent and swagger. See you tomorrow! (Arr)

That's for MY personal stuff. We RKs do actually work. Just not on what we're supposed to. Master of the Rahkshi

And thus I make my entry into blogging. Yup. ... What exactly are you supposed to do with your first post? Introduce yourself? Seems cliche. Ah, what the heck, I'll do it. Besides, most people have either forgotten or don't know me anyways. So. I am Master of the Rahkshi, as you can no doubt figure out. I'm a geek, a writer, a reader, a staff member, a college student, weird, and generally insane. I'll get to that last part in a bit. Let's start with the geek. I am one. There is no doubt as to this. I mean, I'm a staff member on two separate Bionicle sites; that should go without saying. But my geekage extends beyond this. I play video games, specifically ones that are heavy on story. I can't get behind anything that doesn't have some form of story. I dislike Halo for this very reason; may have an interesting universe, but the protagonist lacks the depth or even the potential depth to keep my interest. I'm also horrible at multiplayer. Examples of games I like are Gears of War (plenty of existing and potential story), BioShock (LOTS of in-game story, plus it's creepy to the heavens), and StarCraft. That sort of thing. Also, I read manga. Not much manga compared to a true otaku, perhaps, but what I do read I follow almost obsessively. Fullmetal Alchemist, Claymore, the occasional romantic comedy that catches my eye. Yes, I realize that I am completely contradictory. Deal with that in a sec. But it does bring up my interests: dark. I like dark stuff. But dark stuff that has a happy ending. I get all depressed when the good guys lose, or if there's a Pyrrhic victory. And I also enjoy the lighthearted romantic stuff. Continuing in the vein of geekness, Star Wars continues to delight me. At least the expanded universe does. I has so much more to offer to my mind...KNIGHTS OF THE OLD REPUBLIC! *cough* Anyways. Sci-fi and fantasy is pretty much all I pay attention to. History, plain fiction, mysteries...don't really grab my attention. I like the fantastic, I like stuff that's out of this world. I live in the real world every day, why would I want to read about it? Next up is a writer. Sort of. Getting there. Fledgling. In a sense. Basically, I am blessed with a highly active imagination, but cursed with a short attention span. I come up with really awesome ideas for stories, but when it comes time to put pen to paper...fingers to keyboard...whatever, I find it difficult to get what I want to say out of my head and into the story. I sit around for a while, trying to form the proper words, and then another idea pops up and all is left behind. I currently have eleven separate stories in the works. That's part of the reason why I'm writing this blog, I guess; I figure that if there are actually out there, reading my stuff with a slack jaw and thinking "huh?!" I'll actually be obliged to stay somewhat consistent, and, hopefully, those lessons will eventually drift to my stories. However, for the moment I mainly doodle with characters and write excessive amounts of information when someone asks me to make something up. A reader. Oh yeah, there is absolutely no question about this. I read all the time; if I don't get at least two books finished a week, I think I'd go into some sort of coma. Mind you, I have no qualms about reading the same book repeatedly. That's probably the only way I'm surviving in college. Currently, my bookcase is stocked with the entire Lord of the Rings, a few Michael Crichtons, the Old Kingdom series by Garth Nix, some Discworld books (not enough T_T), a few books by Chris Wooding (my obscure author idol), I am the Messenger, The Element Encyclopedia of Magical Creatures, and The Tough Guide to Fantasyland. The last is a delightfully hilarious book, and anyone who has even glanced at a fantasy title must read it. A staff member. I'm currently a staff member both here on BZP and on the BionicleSector01 wiki. And, somewhat ironically, my jobs on both are very similar. I'm charged with keeping the storyline straight, informing people who are looking for information in the most helpful manner possible, and correcting that which is inaccurate. I've been a staffie here for a couple of years now; on BS01, a little over a year. Technically. As many have noticed I have a tendency to drop out of existence without warning every once in a while, going out of touch without a word for months, or a year. I regret it when these disappearances happen; let's just say Real Life occasionally likes to use my head as target practice for its Misfortune Hammer. However, that usually happens in summer, so I should be present for at least eight more months. A college student. Yes, I am in college right now. That should explain my usually erratic schedule, random stress times, and completely foul internet connection. Also my lack of access to most story resources. Weird. Oh good lord am I weird. Most people who talk with me on a semi-regular basis will notice this for themselves, but I believe that anyone reading this deserves a fair warning. I am odd, more so at some times than others. I have a very strange sense of humor, make remarks out of absolutely nowhere that causes people to scratch their heads and look at me askance, occasionally fail to pick up hints that should be painfully obvious, and act hyper. This partly because of my ADHD, partly because of my Asperger's Syndrome. Yes, I am sharing private aspects of my life online. Why shouldn't I? My behavior online is very similar to my behavior in real life; people ought to get the reason for it. It's not like I'm a sociopath or a sadist or even bipolar; it's a fairly harmless condition, unless you count extreme social awkwardness as 'harm.' And if you're uncomfortable knowing something that private about me, well, I feel sorry for you. Anyways, most of you probably don't know what Apserger's Syndrome is. In a nutshell, it's a social disorder, fairly light along the autism spectrum. It makes me unsure of how to act in most, if not all, social situations. This usually translates to being quiet, hesitant, and shy to the extreme. I have largely gotten past this behavior, mostly by hanging around people as odd as I am. But it still makes most of my behavior 'strange' and gives me something of an outsider's view on most social circumstances. It's interesting. Moving on from the heavy stuff, insanity. I am insane. Without a doubt, and I have my reasons. I'm not going to go into my Greater Theory of Insanity (maybe later) but at the core, I believe that every single person in the world is mad to a degree. Some are more so than others, some just have an odd little habit or two. But no two people are truly alike, and to try and deny this is counterproductive. It isn't a bad thing; difference is what makes life so interesting. So! That's me in a nutshell. So that's it? He just spent over a thousand words talking about himself? Well yeah. Most of my entries in the future aren't going to be about me; they're going to be about the story, things I'm working on, my opinion on what happened in the newspaper or the lunch line, along with more random things. I wanted to get all this out of the way, so that people who read my words can have some context, some insight into who I am and therefore why I say what I say. It'll save time from all the posts going "...is he nuts?!" In a way, yes I am. I'm a nineteen year old staff member of a Bionicle fan site. Of course I'm nuts. No more or less so than anyone else on this site. And so I conclude my first blog entry. Hope you enjoyed it; I'll post whenever I can, and figure out some sort of schedule from there. XD See you soon!

After considering my time restraints, access to resources, skills, and competition, I've decided not to enter. I just don;t have a chance. I might draw something; I'll probably send it to you when it's finished in February (or whenever I can actually finish the thing ><). But I look forward to the other's entries. Master of the Rahkshi

I take it this is an art contest only? I'd like to compete by entering a description, but I'm horrible at art. Master of the Rahkshi