bonesiii

Today the Bones Blog brings you a telephone interview with our contact among the Orcas -- the enemies of Survurlode who BZPower has recently formed an alliance with. From a canal in Ga-Metru, let's welcome Goblahk! bones: Hello, Goblahk. Goblahk: Hi there. Thanks for the interview. bones: Why don't you begin by introducing yourself? Goblahk: Well, My name is Goblahk, and I'm an Orca. Goblahk: We're former minions of Survurlode -- he thought he should have something like Sauron's Orcs -- but we rebelled and now he's trying to either conquer us or wipe us out. bones: What's your position in Orca society? Goblahk: I'm the Official Orca Ambassador to BZPower. As of yesterday, that is, since the Orca Council finally agreed to my request for an alliance -- before that I just went by "Goblahk the Fearless". bones: Excellent news! What was the holdup? Goblahk: Well... bones: If it's something they'd rather you not discuss, that's fine. Goblahk: No, it's just... The Orca Council chambers are hidden on the seafloor, and... well, I'm afraid of the ocean. Took me months to work up the courage to go. bones: Oh. I see. So that's why you are always staying in rivers or canals like this one in Ga-Metru. That's how we found you to begin with, as I recall. Okay, but now I'm confused. You said you used to go by "Goblahk the Fearless". Yet you're afraid of the ocean? Goblahk: Well, it's just that, I have a horrible sense of direction. I always get lost in the ocean. I'm afraid of getting lost, by the way. And of sea turtles -- they might seem innocent but I think they're evil beings in disguise. And shrimp. Not sure why. So, I just stay away from those things, and I don't feel the fear. See? bones: Uh... okay? Well, are those your only fears? Goblahk: I'm afraid of flourescent lights. bones: Why? Goblahk: My psychologist thinks it's because I'm distantly related to Orcs, which feared sunlight. But I think it's just the buzzing sound. They remind me of flying bugs. Which I'm also afraid of. bones: But, you live in the water... Goblahk: Exactly. bones: Right... So, what are all these phobias called? Goblahk: Oh, I have no idea! I'm afraid of phobia lists. I'm afraid I'll get more fears just from reading! bones: M...hm. Well, I can understand some of those fears, but if you have a bad sense of direction, why not use oceanic maps to get around? Goblahk: I'm afraid of maps. They remind me of my fear of the ocean. And my fear of mapmakers. bones: *whistles innocently and takes note not to mention his new job* Okay, well, let's talk about Survurlode. A lot of us are afraid of him, and would like to see him defeated for good. Goblahk: Definately! Well, I was the Orca that the Chief Gremlin tamed once, and I still get a lot of news from him. Goblahk: Most recently, he told me that Survurlode was behind that recent virus attack. bones: The one that we had the front page note about until recently? Goblahk: Yeah. It's was the Chief Gremlin's idea, I hear. Survurlode found out that Google was going to do that LEGO anniversary image thing, and commanded the Chief Gremlin to come up with an attack. He came up with a computer virus based on his own psychotic personality. bones: So we weren't actually the main target? Goblahk: No, but it messed things up for you guys. Also messed things up on my own website. bones: You have a website? No forums, right? Goblahk: Well, it did, but I developed a fear of forums, so I removed them. bones: *whistles innocently and takes note not to mention that BZPower has forums* What's your website based on? Goblahk: It's a Sea Turtle conspiracy site. Here's the link. bones: Okay, thanks. I'll read it later. *coughs* Okay, so you know about my idea to enlist your people to help us find the One Refresh - the focus of all Survurlode's power, just like Sauron's One Telephone Ring -- since we've learned it's hidden somewhere on the seafloor. Obviously you wouldn't want to join that. What did the others think? Goblahk: Well, they weren't as enthusiastic about that. You see, we believe the Orkrana are probably guarding the area around the Refresh, wherever that is. bones: The Orkrana being the mutated krana Survurlode hopes will mind-control the Orcas, which Gollaga told us about in the last interview. Goblahk: Yes yes yes! Take the image away! I'm afraid of those things! bones: Right, sorry. Well, I'll keep searching in my Orange Submarine on my own then. bones: Speaking of the sub -- I've recently finished taking it around from island to island searching for Pet Peeves that our members identified in our recent Information Gathering Drive, the scents of which Survurlode is allergic to. Someone on our staff told me our engineers and the Orcas have come up with a delivery method for the allergenic weapon. What design did they end up choosing? Goblahk: Well, the problem was mainly getting it past Survurlode's defenses without raising suspicion. Turns out he has allergenic sensors that basically prevented all of our delivery methods from getting anywhere near him. bones: Oh dear. Goblahk: Don't worry. We figured out a design that is guaranteed to work. Market the allergen openly as a food. As cheese puffs, in fact. Survurlode can't resist cheese puffs. We built a fancy truck to advertise it, and bought TV airtime for ads. bones: Nice! I just might wanna try 'em myself... I love cheese puffs, you know. Who cares about side effects like intense allergic reactions? ... Wow, it works... Goblahk: I came up with the jingle myself for the ad: Oh, I wish I was an Allergenic Cheesepuff. That is what I really wanna beeeeeee! Cuz if I was an Allergenic Cheesepuff, I'd make everybody really itchyyyyyyyy! bones: Must. Eat. Cheesepuffs... I mean, resist! Goblahk: So we'll bring the Puffmobile to Survurlode's island, and it will drive up to Survurlode playing the jingle, and the side will open up and blast allergenic cheesepuffs at him. bones: *repeats "resist" in mind six times, then opens eyes* Ah. Okay, sounds like a plan. But, isn't Survurlode currently in the form of an I of Water atop a giant tower? How will he eat them? Goblahk: Well, that water evaporates every once in a while, and he needs to have plenty to bring forth his floods to swamp servers, so he's got a giant water production facility for all that. We blast the cheesepuffs into the water, and he absorbs it into his Water Tower. Heh, water tower. Pun, get it? bones: Yeah, got it. I was expecting you to say he absorbs its energy like Matoran, but that works. Goblahk: Oh, don't mention Matoran. I'm afraid of them. Freaky looking masks and all. bones: Oh. But you're not afraid of undead skeletons? Goblahk: Not sure why you would bring it up, but yeah, they terrify me. bones: *makes note never to meet Goblahk face to face* So, why are you here in Ga-Metru if you fear Matoran? I mean, the city's full of 'em. Goblahk: It... what? I thought they moved up to Mata Nui!? bones: Uh... Oh, right! I guess they did! I forgot. *makes note to ask the Turaga to keep Matoran away from Goblahk's canal* Goblahk: Phew. You scared me there. Much more news like that, and I'll develop a fear of water... That's how my relatives get "beached", you know. bones: Dang. This phobia thing can be downright unhealthy, don't you think? Goblahk: *sighs* I suppooooooose... bones: Well, lemme say this -- with how intense your phobias seem to be, I'm sure all of BZP is grateful that you made the voyage to the Orca Council despite your fear. Our alliance will be very important in the war against Survurlode. Goblahk: Oh. Well, um... See, I might not have worded that super well... bones: ...? Goblahk: I actually hired a Sea Turtle to deliver the message for me. bones: You... what? I thought... Goblahk: It's not that I've gotten over my fear or anything, it's just, this crazy sea turtle comes swimming up, and I'm terrified, yeah? So I figured it was the best way to get him away from me fast. Took all my money too. But that wasn't that bad. I'm afraid of money. bones: Well, I don't want to sound preachy or anything -- you're my guest here -- but have you ever considered that maybe you should try to face these fears? Get over them? Goblahk: All the time! But, well, if I did that, I wouldn't technically be "fearless", would I? bones: Well... I mean, temporarily... Goblahk: Oh, don't mention time. It terrifies me. Temporal mechanics, Evil Clocks, all that. bones: *sigh* Well, uh... I think we're probably done here, unless you had anything else to say? Goblahk: Just to encourage your readers to spread the word -- Sea Turtles are evil! bones: Okay then... Thanks for your time... Goblahk: AGH! bones: I mean thanks for your... brilliant insight! Goblahk: But not brilliant like bright flourescent lights, right? bones: Right. Well, talk to ya some other time, Goblahk! Goblahk: AGH! bones: *sigh* [Note: A followup spy report on the Allergenic Weapon attack reports success! Evil Lord Survurlode is gobbling up the cheesepuffs. His I of Water has in fact become a giant blog of orange goo, that is constantly sneezing. For the moment, server attacks seem to be down!]

I had to make sure he wouldn't read all my notes about what not to reveal somehow.

It's definately okay -- that's the whole point.

Well, Toa Zaxvo, the other half of this guide, that is linked to at the top there in blue, explains how to do that.

All three Coolified Makuta Phantoka are now available in avatars, banners, and wallpaper, in case you didn't see the Artwork Topic the other day. Those were fun! Note that the avatar pathnames were apparently too long earlier. I've reuploaded in the main folder -- all the avatars are listed below with pathnames that should work. Kanohi: http://www.brickshelf.com/gallery/bonesiii/kul/antmaskav.gif http://www.brickshelf.com/gallery/bonesiii/kul/chavmask.gif http://www.brickshelf.com/gallery/bonesiii/kul/vampmaskav.gif Faces: http://www.brickshelf.com/gallery/bonesiii/kul/antfaceav.gif http://www.brickshelf.com/gallery/bonesiii/kul/chavhead.gif http://www.brickshelf.com/gallery/bonesiii/kul/vampfaceav.gif http://www.brickshelf.com/gallery/bonesiii/kul/makhead.gif http://www.brickshelf.com/gallery/bonesiii/kul/makdark.gif Tridax/Shadow Leeches: http://www.brickshelf.com/gallery/bonesiii/kul/tridax.gif http://www.brickshelf.com/gallery/bonesiii/kul/shadleechav2.gif http://www.brickshelf.com/gallery/bonesiii/kul/shadleechav.gif In other news -- another Survurlode interview is coming soon, this time with one of the Orcas that he's been warring against, probably this week! Topics will include a potential alliance with these fellow enemies of Survurlode, the recent virus attack, the delivery of the Allergenic Weapon, and more! Stayed tuned!

You should be able to, since Powerpoint is much older than that OS. It would be unusual for a 2000 not to have it -- for years my college comp labs used that one.

Wait-- how do you know Ceasar Milan? I was on his TV show, remember? The guy with the undead dog that kept chewing its own bones?

I may be the only person on Earth with this job. I have/am getting a new task as part of my newspaper delivery job that I can get paid for. It's a great example of irony, because I am now making maps for the deliverers with Powerpoint. It's like the fusion of the main character of my Paracosmos RPG -- a Ta-Koronan mapmaker -- with my coolified artwork, and real life. XD I had made one for our own half-a-zip-code a while back and just revamped it, that shows easy-to-read dots for the DNDs and VIPs (Do Not Delivers and Very Important People/Persons/Whatever). It's easy to update in Powerpoint when we get new DNDs/VIPs, and has a section to keep track of the mileage on the cars for tax purposes. So a week or so ago I showed it to my bosses, and they liked it so much they want me to make maps for other sections of the city, possibly even the whole city eventually. We haven't yet figured out what my pay will be; obviously it will be less than a professional 'cuz I'm using Powerpoint, heh. Downside for you guys is, it'll take a lot of time I won't be spending on BZP or writing my epic, working on the RPG, etc. But it's only temporary, most likely, since once I have each map done I'll give the files to my bosses or the other deliverers with easy instructions on adding new dots. In other news: Many thanks to Toaraga for awarding me the Blog of the Week on Sunday! I enjoyed the article, too. And thanks to everyone who has congratsed me.

Where in Icarax are the gears? I pulled up out Set DB page, and I don't see them. Anybody know? I really like that weapons idea. Err.. Congrats on receiving the Blog of the Week award? Thanks.

Well, it was more that I needed an entry since I'm trying to keep this a weekly blog at least. But no, I 've been meaning to do something like this for a while. I can use this a lot myself, after all, as my fanfics feature Makuta (and eventually will catch up to 2008).

Okay so it's late and I had other blog entries planned and I am out of time for this week but I'm trying to keep this a weekly blog. So this will have to do. The Bones Blog brings you today a set-related proposal that just might be plausible. No, I haven't mutated into some monster beyond all recognition, if you've read the title and come in here thinking I was the guy that hates gears. I do hate gears. Personally. That's just my own personal preference. They are mildly interesting gimmicks, but the cons outweigh the pros -- that is, ruining poseability in most sets, stealing joints that otherwise could use the near-perfect balljoints that I love, being awkwardly placed in most sets, and for a lot of target-audience fans other than myself, a tedious extra construction step that slows down what to them should be a quick and easy build. I do like love to use gears as styling pieces in System Fusion MOCs, and I have just so happened to have already used up my supply and wish I had more. But none of that is related to this blog entry. This is an idea that I and another BZPer whose name frustratingly escapes me at this exact moment had come up with a while ago. I've never actually put it forward in any way other than comments in random posts. But Heir of the Chronicler's interesting Sets topic got me thinking about it again. Heir made it clear in his post that he was not advocating a return of gears. But my idea is this. Why not bring back gears in one or two canister sets each year, or even just every other year? Now that we are rid of clones, there's no reason a whole team has to have gears. Bold for easy reference, not emphasis. Here's some reasoning. Variety is good, and there are a lot of people out there that do love the gears. It's probably the most-repeated topic in the Sets forum or GD, or just something mentioned in a generalized complaint topic. If it's focused on just one or two in a team, maybe there will be enough gear fans to make up for the lost sales from the majority fans, or mostly to do so. And we've had gears in canister sets before that have obviously survived the market process. Now, maybe putting them in the heroes is a bad idea -- but there are also villains, and they've had a little more complex of builds in more recent years. Also, which color to put it in might be an issue -- for example, would it be safer to put it in red, which is probably going to sell well anyways, or a slightly poorer seller like white or black and risk those selling even more poorly -- or just the moderately well-selling colors like blue or green? But whatever the set chosen, the basic concept seems to me to be possible. I know it could be a risk -- and maybe it would be better left to titans (as I've heard claims would be done this year -- anybody know if that is true?). It's just worth thinking over, no? Any comments?

With college done and, for the time being, only a weekend job, I've finally had time to get back to the Bionicle Paracosmos. Ojhilom is away on a winter retreat next week, and I am working on taxes, which apparently as an "independant contractor", I have to file by Jan 30 (allegedly -- working on verifying that...). So right now I've decided it's better if I take some time off from BZP for the most part. I need free-time stuff that isn't quite so unpredictable right now. As such, I'm finishing Epic 3, "Captain of the Rahunga" this month. For those who don't know or have forgotten -- the computer game RPG takes place after Epic 2, and will need to be finished before Epic 3 can go live. But we're close, and most of what's left is Ojhilom's department, not mine, so I'm going ahead to the epic, half of which was already written. Epic 3's main protagonist is Kopaka, and about another third of the story is from the aforementioned evil Captain's POV. The rest is from various others' POV of various kinds, including Hujo, and a reptilian good guy you might recall from the Bonus Short Story -- Bhukasa. Some changes in plans must be announced:End of RPG -- We're condensing the battle sequence against the final boss a little for this skeletal version. We have a lot of the final battle, and a lot of the early steps of that battle, and virtually all of the storyline ready. What is missing is the first time you actually fight the final boss directly, and that was planned to be pretty complex code, but really not much storyline value. So for now, it's cut. Maybe in a later version we'll add that in. We'll see. With that, the RPG skeletal version is 99% done -- we'll just have to patch up some things and I have to finish two short storyline segments and we should be good to go. Note that there's a reeeeeeeally annoying and cheesy glitch with the final boss's graphics that we're trying to fix but aren't having much luck with (his head randomly decides to leave his body... ). No idea how that will affect timing... (We've done multi-event bosses before without this problem, so I'm hoping we just need to do a teleport into a new map with less other events in it. If that doesn't solve it, I dunno what to do.) Future of BP, Mata Nui stories -- After a looooooot of thinking and judging our plans for the rest of 2001-2003's storyline in the BP, we've decided we had a major problem that can be easily fixed -- I was wanting to spend more time in 2001 than the official story did, but in doing so, I was trying to stuff too much in 2001 and not leaving much for 2002-2003. This would have made a somewhat big gap between 2001's final epic and the 2004 stuff where the mystery would start to pick up again that would have been mostly just filler plot. I'm in this to produce only the highest quality I can manage, even if it means delays -- and I've sensed for a while that there was something off so it's been hard to keep writing without finding the problem. Now I think I've got it -- I need to heavily condense 2001 and put some of that in 2002. This way it actually makes more sense, in fact. Epic 3 -- And so, Epic 3 will end with the Paracosmos version of the MNOG Makuta battle. I'm infinately glad I've made this change, because previously I'd written about half of Epic 3, and that was great story, but my plans for the end of it just felt like they fell flat compared to the first half, and that's why I stopped at the half. Now, I've only had to make minimal changes to the first half and put together an outline for the second half -- and the actual writing is coming along fast now. I am pretty confident that now Epic 3 will be up to par with the previous two Epics, and possibly even better. Giant Paragraphs -- Yarr, is it just me, or is Epic 2 reeeeeally awful in the giant 'graph category? Re-reading some of it, and those are purdy huge thar, like in chapter 1. I think large paragraphs are hard to read, so I now try to avoid them in posts, stories, whatnot. (For example, I always used to get comments about how long my posts are -- and I used to use giant paragraphs. But I was annoyed enough times with others' long ones that I stopped, and the comments lessened. Ironic thing is the extra space actually makes the post longer, lol. But feels shorter.) Will have to go back and do some chopping in my previous stories where I can, methinks. Unless any of yall actually love giant paragraphs so much that doing so would cause heart attacks. I'm thinking no. Mystery versus Cool Revelations -- Epic 3 is gonna be really interesting in terms of how much of a feel of mystery you guys get from it. It's revealing a lot, especially the background of the leader of the evil Rahunga (through flashbacks in his POV). So I'm basically at that point where Bionicle was in, say, 2003 when the demand for answers is coming up against the demand for mystery. That's new territory for me, so I'm learning as I go. It's really fun to write, and is action-packed. One thing I know is that the answers are more fun when they are learned through rocking fun combat acrobatics stories intead of librarian stories, so focusing on that a lot. On the other hand, there's plenty of new mysteries being introduced, and there's a BIG mystery I'm just barely moving farther into but NOT answering, that's so far only been hinted at in other places, and will make an appearance at the end of the RPG. And Bhukasa gets a fair chunk of the storyline, with a big mystery surrounding him. I guess the fun question for me as the writer will be seeing how much of this generates that feel of mystery in the reader. Something I by definition can't get since I know the answers already. I hope I do alright. (Man, it feels aaaaaalmost like a big exam coming up. Almost. Okay, not that much. More fun. )In other news: New cat, Buddy, is settling in well. Our other cat, Hunter, is finally getting along with him. Sorta. She till hisses every once in a while. Buddy is as friendly as ever, although he does use her tail as a toy sometimes... Dog Ezzy just got a new harness for walks. Whenever I would walk her myself, she would pull on the choke chain so much she would literally choke herself -- and same just hooked up to the collar. Everybody tells me it's just me -- tried everything the Dog Whisperer talks about to no avail -- but the harness avoids the neck so she basically can't choke herself. She's staying next to me almost all the time now rather than pulling ahead. Probably more of a psychological thing with me, but hey, if it works, it works. The above paragraph is longer than I would like. Go figure. It also uses "Dog" as a title, like "Makuta Icarax." That one's intentional -- IMO it should become standard for English. Second job -- This is a possibility sometime soon, and if that happens, I might just have to give up on moderating and newswriting with any regularity. For now I'm not going to take on a new job because I have tons of stuff I gotta catch up on since my final semester anyways and if I did, I honestly think I might go insane (I'm not joking). But eventually a weekend job ain't gonna cut it. Just a heads up for the record. S&T contests -- On the other hand, if I do have time, I've got two contest ideas (well, three, technically) lined up for the future. Main idea, which I think I'd like to try in Spring, is the first Expanded Universe contest, where enterers will come up with [something], and the winners of the poll become official, but the others get to exist in the EU too. Might be a story worked in as the award, or some such thing, not yet sure. The other idea will only work when 2008 is nearly over, so no further comment on that one. Phantoka Coolified Art -- I have the wallpaper for both Antroz and Vamprah ready but I'm being a lazy bum and haven't gotten around to the av/banner versions. I'm gettin to it, I'm gettin to it... Lego Star Wars 2, the latest two Bionicle books, and the Atlas roxor my soxors. That's what Christmas money was spent on. I tell ya, the best present is always cash. Learn it, love it, live it. Carnivorous Dresser -- Finally cleaning my room after a half a year, lol. And rearranging LEGO/Bionicle stuff. Unrelated to the Paracosmos, Ojh and I have been working for years on a science fantasy story universe that we almost always use our System pieces for (now often fused with Bionicle pieces; such fusions when done right = the best MOCs ever IMO). Lotta vehicles, lotta warrior characters, all usually grouped into a few "worlds". So today I finally got around to arranging the shelves so 1 world = 1 shelf (aside from the main world, which has 2 shelves for 2 different time periods). I set the world shelf up like a scene -- for example, one has two sides warring against each other right on the shelf. Another, the historical time period one from the main world, has everything from a typical house of this culture, to a really cool Fusion sailboat. And then the Bionicle MOCs grouped by Mata Nui story arc, Metru Nui/Voya/Mahri Nui story arcs, and the as-yet-still-classified world characters that form the most important group in the storyline. With Gadunka and Pohatu Newva slapped in randomly lol. From my extra pieces (which are dwindling lately) I improved a lot of the System/Fusion MOCs in the process. It's interesting how my MOCing methods have ended up now -- I almost treat my entire MOC collection as a single MOC -- with two divisions based on two seperate story universes, Bionicle and System/Fusion, and then different "world" subdivisions in those. Almost never do I actually take MOCs apart anymore because what I'm making is always something of huge importance in my stories and also something I really like by the time I've improved it about fifteen times. New MOCs come from new sets, now. Unfortunately, I misjudged the distance between a wall and a gap, so a rock backdrop smashed into a hovercraft, sending part of a wing behind a dresser. So I naturally moved stuff out from under the dresser to simply pick the pieces up, right? But they weren't there. There's just this one spot of blackness where apparently the wing must be stuck, defying all physics and probability and everything. Hrm. I'll figure it out... I hope... The above section is really long, and has a long paragraph. Bad news -- well, all of this is putting off that Physics topic and more reference section updates. Also, unfortunately, Toa of Kenn has had to resign (I'll leave the reasons for him to tell, if he hasn't already), even though he just joined so some of our newer projects are on hold. But for whatever it's worth, those two things, and new projects, are still on my to-do list and won't be neglected forever. Finally, the last important bit of news is the fact that this blog entry is about ten times longer than I thought it would be when I started writing it. Good day.

Maybe, but it had a specific function with rules -- it was basically a "yo-yo grappling hook" that, once released, had to grab something and had to retract. (The last rule worked against Makuta in LoMN when he accidentally grabbed a giant rock, which then had no choice but to slam into him.) That sounds a lot more like a unique power than just part of darkness. Yaknow maybe it's just part of the ability to absorb other beings mixed with darkness though.

Very good, Jedi Bot! Definately could be an avatar if sized properly.

Yes, but as I said: Obviously I don't think Greg had this in mind when he chose these powers; it's purely a way to help remember them. And underwater nav'ing is confusing. And thanks.

Excellent entry! I only disagreed with a couple of things, like the wide shoulders thing -- I love the troll/ape look both on Kongu 2007 and Pohatu 2008. And just some thoughts on the Midak -- it is really fun (IMT) to fire. While I still like the Zamor as the best projectile weapon so far, the Midak is a big improvement on the Cordak IMT since it's stylized in the front at least, has more rapid fire than the Zamor, has an actual trigger (love that design), and the ammo doesn't fall out like with Zamor clips. Midak weakness to me is is the lack of style on the back half (also, I don't like how Kopaka holds it, or the puny-ness of his bayonet that attaches, though I wouldn't mind a bigger bayonet for him). Don't have time to comment beyond that, but regardless, well done, and now your second winning of this award.

2008 is full of Makuta -- even the canister villains are Makuta. These masters of power have quite a lot of, well, powers. Remembering them all can be tricky, but rewarding for fun roleplaying, fan fiction writing, or even just enjoying the Bionicle story. So today the Bones Blog brings you an easy way to "decode" and memorize all the Makuta powers. Basics First, all modern Makuta have transcended normal life and death. This means they all:Exist as antidermis energy-gas inside strong Protosteel armorCan use mask powers, each has their own maskCan slowly die if armor is shattered -- gas slowly scatters so they must find another host fastAntidermis can control Matoran, etc.Don't need sleep, foodCan absorb other beings, killing them and adding to the Makuta's mass, or absorb stuff.In addition, they were all once scientists that made Rahi creatures for the whole universe so often experiment and still know how to make new creatures or mutants. They became guardians of certain zones before betraying Mata Nui, and came to learn just about all there is to know in the Matoran universe. All current Makuta are evil. Mask Powers:Makuta of Metru Nui -- ShadowsAntroz -- Corruption (decompose objects)Chirox -- Silence (make target deaf, mute)Vamprah -- Hunger (drain light, energy, positive emotions, turn Matoran into Shadow Matoran)Icarax of Karzahni -- Wears Shadows for now, normal mask unknownMutran -- SilenceSpiriah of Zakaz -- CorruptionKraata Powers:Makuta can make kraata slugs out of their substanceKraata come in 42 types, each with their own powerKraata can that infect masks and control the wearerCan put Kraata in energized protodermis to make Rahkshi armor for another Kraata to control like a vehicle with enhanced power and a staff to focus itNow, can carry Tridax Pods in their chests, with Shadow Leeches insideShadow Leeches are mutant Kraata that turn Matoran into evil Shadow Matoran42 Rahkshi Powers42 can be thought of as seven groups of six, like seven Toa teamsEach power can be roughly equated with the six elements of the Toa MataArranged counterclockwise from Ta-Wahi on Mata Nui Island, elements are: Fire-ishWater-ishSton-ishEarthishIce-ishAir-ishThe Seven Lists: Here's the powers, with the justifications for how I've arranged them. Note that of course many are a stretch, but the idea here is to aid memorization. Most Makuta-ish: Most easily identified with Makuta. Shadow and Shapeshifting are obvious, Mind Reading and Illusion were tactics Makuta used most often in the Chronicles Books, Makuta teleported the Toa to the surface after they beat him in MNOG, and Chameleon goes with Shapeshifting.Darkness -- Leads all Makuta powers; fire = leaderShapeshifting -- Water is fluid like Makuta's shapesMind Reading -- Turaga Onewa had a mind mask power Teleport -- Biggest stretch Chameleon -- Ice can be harder to spot than many thingsIllusion -- Turaga Matau had an illusion mask powerRahkshi Mata: Powers of emotion and destruction, these are the six Rahkshi Makuta sent to stop the Toa of Light from coming.Fear -- Red Rahkshi in Mask of Light storyDisintegration -- Blue Fragmentation -- Brown Hunger -- BlackAnger -- WhitePoison -- GreenKal Elements: Still not sure why Makuta have these six elements and not the main six elements themselves, but hey. Electricity -- Red Bohrok KalMagnetism -- BluePlasma -- BrownGravity -- BlackSonics -- WhiteVacuum -- GreenEnvironmental: Control over, or resistance to, what is surrounding you is what makes these powers stand out.Fire Resistance -- Fire Toa have thisWeather Control -- Water affects weather stronglyRahi Control -- Po-Koro MNOG had more visible Rahi than other KoroInsect Control -- Bugs and dirt mixIce Resistance -- Ice Toa have thisPlant Control -- Le-Wahi is full of plantsStrong Attacks: These are all destructive powers. All but molecular disruption are easily identified as "projectile" attacks of some sort.Heat Vision -- Fire's hot yoChain Lightning -- Lightning hits water = bad, reminds me of a water beamLaser Vision -- Lasers could carve rockMolecular Disruption -- Similar to rock coming apart into dirtPower Scream -- Would shatter ice, goes with white Kal of SonicsCyclone -- DuhSubtle Attacks: You are getting veeeeeery sleepy. Now you are asleeeeeeep. Now you're being infeeeeeeected.Stasis Field -- Vakama made Vahi; Tahu used it to put Kal in time-stasisConfusion -- Underwater navigation is confusingSlow -- Pohatu is slow without his mask power of speed.Sleep -- It's dark underground, like night when people sleepSilence -- Kopaka is silentAccuracy -- Projectile accuracy could be done via air currents tooPower-ups: These all affect the Makuta himself more so than a target, giving the Makuta a special ability, useful in battle but defensive rather than offensive.Limited Invulnerability -- Sorta like the Mask of ShieldingAdaptation -- Common example is developing gillsDensity Control -- Rock is denseElasticity -- Dirt can bend, as it wereQuick Healing -- Ice can be quickly shaped or refrozen, etc.Dodge -- Air Toa are acrobatic, can dodge wellNOTE: There may be more powers; for example MoMN had a "Shadow Hand" power in LoMN but it's not known if all Makuta have this power. In roleplaying and fanfictions, it's plausible to make up new powers for them. In the story, we might learn of other powers in the future. This content also available in topic form here.

Yes, everybody can use that quicklink if they like (minus the topic closed as you say, of course). I didn't forget -- that's the inscription Zaktan found. Of course, not everybody knows that so yeah... Edit: Eh, I'll just remove the "Topic closed." I can add that myself as needed lol.

Not a very catchy title, I know. But I wanted to make this so I could stop repeating myself so much. Today the Bones Blog brings you the truth about this much-over-asked question, and some major points to consider about where Bionicle might be headed. To everybody asking "Is 2008 the end of Bionicle? It says 'Final Battle'! ": No. Stop panicking. It's the end of the first chapter of Bionicle. Bionicle will end only if the sets stop selling. Everything from 2001 to 2008 has been about awakening Mata Nui (or, in the flashback years, showing what happened when he fell into slumber in the first place). This year, the Toa Nuva are finally being set up to finish that task. The "Final Battle" refers to this final stage of all that story. But evil doesn't just go poof when Mata Nui awakes. Indeed, it's possible it could get even worse. Remember that in 2004's storyline, we learned that the Dark Hunters, the rebellious Makuta, even in the past groups such as the Barraki were able to wreak havoc before being stopped by the heroes of the Bionicle universe, the Toa, and in some cases others. Mata Nui didn't wave a magic wand and make them all magically stop. Mata Nui's job is to worry about the bigger things, like keeping the underground Matoran universe running smoothly, the roof not collapsing, the domes not flooding, etc. So you will still have heroes who can fight enemies, and not "super-over-powered" heroes either -- think of it like a nuclear bomb in war compared to ground soldiers' weapons. You can't just nuke everything to win; you also need the smaller weapons to go into more complex, local situations. If Mata Nui could wave such a wand, it's quite possible he'd cause unintended damage even to the good guys, since he's so powerful. (For example, any Matoran who's infected in some way would be destroyed even though they weren't evil.) There will presumably still be the Brotherhood of Makuta to deal with. It's doubtful the Toa Nuva will defeat them all in one year, even if it is a war (which is implied by the term "battle"). The Dark Hunters would probably still be around. Who knows who else is lurking out there. For all we know, the Red Star beings include some big enemies that will be unleashed. But let's take this a step farther -- think strategically. Do you think the Makuta will just go "oh, well, you win"? No. The BoM might fight even harder with Mata Nui awake, pulling out all the stops to overcome this new challenge. Remember the mysterious inscriptions Zaktan found. Mata Nui might still be in a weakened state too. Don't just assume everything becomes hunky-dory when Mata Nui awakens. Besides, it wouldn't make sense for LEGO to remove all bad guys, 'cuz then there'd be no villains to fight, and no way to keep making cash off of Bionicle. Now, Greg said that this new direction would involve new ideas with "sets, story, setting," etc. "while still keeping it BIONICLE". That tells me we could very well expect a new kind of hero, new kinds of villains, who knows, maybe even a new master villain! What if there's a part of the Bionicle universe cut off from the rest that has its own seperate story but still has protodermis, Matoran, etc? Just one possibility, but you get the idea. And finally, if you don't believe me: 1) Read this GregF blog entry. 2) Remember there's a movie in 2009. 3) Greg's attended planning meetings for 2009 and beyond. 4) All along, Greg has said they have basic concepts for about 20 total years of Bionicle (and then would make up more later if it stays alive). We've only had 8 years. 5) Don't forget this year is built around the return of the Nuva which is something BZPers have been begging for in the first place. For them to return, it would only make sense if they finally got to awaken Mata Nui. So the setup of this year is expected anyways; we should be expecting this kind of marketing verbiage for such a major event. 6) MNOG2 in 2003 was called the "Final Chronicle." Don't take these things too literally. Thar. Now I can just link to this, lol. Quicklink version: 2008 is [b]not the end[/b] of Bionicle. It's the end of the first chapter, which has been about awakening Mata Nui. 2009 takes the story in a [b]new direction[/b]. Bionicle will only end if the sets stop selling. [size="4"][b]Please see these links:[/b][/size] [url="http://www.bzpower.com/forum/index.php?automodule=blog&blogid=39&showentry=24601"][color="#0000FF"][b]Bones Blog: 2008 Is Not The End[/b][/color][/url] [url="http://www.bzpower.com/forum/index.php?automodule=blog&blogid=26&showentry=20886"][b][color="#0000FF"]GregF's Blog: 2009[/color][/b][/url]

Ah, you're welcome. Glad to help.

Hm... You're on Windows? Is it XP? And are you sure the object you made was with the Polygon/Freeform tool, not the Line tool? Lines can't have fills; that might be the problem.