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bonesiii

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  1. bonesiii
    Today the Bones Blog brings you the text of the most important history of changes in Bionicle, with small modifications since posted several months ago on the forums. This is intended to provide the context for a major change in Bionicle that is often cited, but rarely understood, by complainers/nostalgics. For the sake of clarity, the two major styles will be referred to as "Technicism" and "Bioniclism."

    2001

    LEGO assumes, incorrectly, that Bionicle will be popular with Technic fans, so markets towards them with Rahi and gimmicks like gears, but adds storyline aspect and a "coolified" element in the set design with the concept of canister sets.

    Instead, Technic fans look down on Bionicle for the most part while the storyline aspect and coolified elements draws roleplayers in. Rahi sets sell poorly, gears are unpopular. Collectibles also sell poorly. Most fans are drawn to the unique aspects of Bionicle, like the canister sets, the more style-based designs of the Toa, and some aspects of Turaga and other sets, seeing this as "Bionicle."

    (For sake of clarity, this will be called "Bioniclism".)

    However, there are always exceptions, and a rare minority of Technic fans who love the Rahi and gears, etc. becomes very emotionally invested in Bionicle. They make up most online membership while the main fans mainly roleplay on their own. This minority often associates 2001 aspects with "Bionicle", often not realizing that most fans disagree.

    Sales overall are strong thanks to Toa, but bogged down by "Technicism".

    2002-2003

    LEGO still tries some Technicism sets like the Bahrag, but they continue to sell poorly. LEGO strengthens the popular canister sets by extending it to villains. Also falls into a clonism trap.

    Sales decline to the low point in 2003, bogged down both by Technicism and clonism despite initial success with the innovative canister villains (Bohrok). Bionicle's future is severely threatened and faces the choice to improve or die.

    Majority fans are bored, displeased, but excited at the rare exception like the Rahkshi which used much "Bioniclism" over "Technicism", seen in elements such as increased balljoint articulation, stylistic spikes, etc.

    2004-2005

    Begins to listen to the majority fans, and remove Technicism. Technic titans are replaced with more "coolified"-style, smaller, less expensive titans, and phases out unpopular gears. Also intros popular projectiles in full force, not just features of promotional sets like McToran.

    New fans begin to replace aging fans in greater numbers than ever before. Majority fans love the changes. The rare Technicism fans strongly dislike the changes and post litanies of illogicial complaints (which I promptly take apart, being our resident logician), though also some reasonable ones too asking for "treats" which LEGO still seeks to give these devoted fans.

    Sales begin an upward climb and Bionicle's future begins to look more stable.

    2006-2008

    Technicism largely gone, and LEGO begins to remove clonism. Articulation reaches a near-ideal state that's hard to improve on.

    New fans almost totally replaced older fans, and much 2004-05 fans getting older and moving on from toys too.

    The rare Technicism fans grow rarer as many move on to other things, but those that are left are more displeased than ever. However, proportionality-wise, they are a tinier minority than ever before.

    (Most of them make the typical mistake of assuming their tastes = quality, so they assume Bionicle has gone downhill. But in reality, they simply happen to be wired differently from most fans, which LEGO cannot control, and many come to see this fact as I keep on explaining it, and come to accept the reality for how it is and be at peace with it, even if they understandably wish reality had been different.)

    Majority fans more pleased than ever with sets much more geared towards what they want -- roleplaying, Bioniclism, projectiles, variety, etc.

    Also, during 2008, Toa apparently undergo a change from a more "Ruthless Elegance" style which most fans seem to prefer in villains, to "Noble Heroism." But that's a blog entry for another time.

    [Edit: Also see this comment for the history related to the 2008 vehicles, which I forgot to mention here.]

    Sales go through the roof, though admittedly facing some challenges in an increasingly tough toy market and with rising resource prices. Bionicle's health is strong.

    Challenges I Foresee

    With Bionicle moving even more in line with what most fans want, the biggest challenge to its future health is probably going to be nothing fancier than price of oil, steel, plastic, etc. With this and with the rest, Bionicle MUST remain willing to be flexible, and not fall into the rut of tradition, no matter how loud the nostalgic critics shout.

    This is because, while the above history discusses what majority fans want as if it is stable, my opinion is that it isn't really stable. It's just that, major upheavals in that sort of thing seem to be caused by society going through a major change, such as a technological one. IMO, having lived through the nineties and since, 2008 really isn't all that different from 2001, societally.

    So while today's kids still want roughly the same thing, with perhaps more strictness towards the "Bioniclism" side, that could all change in the future. I think we are beginning to enter a new technological revolution with HD everything, and the beginnings of the move to things like TiVo, much faster computers, much more advanced video games, etc.

    I'm not going to predict what that will mean for what future kids' majority tastes will be. I can only throw out possibilities -- maybe actually abandoning plastic in favor of virtual toys, maybe putting computing technology in every LEGO brick, or maybe something as simple as red going out of style.

    But the point is, the tastes might shift, and Bionicle needs to shift along with it if it happens -- there's a danger of getting too used to the winning formula for today and actually locking that in as The Formula. Good news for now -- I don't see the current leaders of Bionicle making that mistake.
  2. bonesiii
    Today the Bones Blog brings you an exclusive interview with none other than Evil Lord Survurlode himself! Since the discovery of this wannabe architect of BZP's doom, I have been attempting to contact him for an interview, but the server kept eating my PMs for some mysterious reason... Anyways, he has agreed to give this interview via his evil Poolantir crystal globe, wired into a telephone system. Still trying to figure out how the pics come through the phone, but I guess it's a power of the Poolantir.

    bones: Well, how to begin. Welcome, Mr. Evil Dude--I'm sure BZP's members are eager to hear more about you, considering you want to make their lives as miserable as possible. Know thy enemy *cough* I mean, because you're such an interesting person!

    Survurlode: Thank you! I am that!

    bones: Why don't you begin by introducing yourself... and don't take that the wrong way--your evil clock minion kinda did...

    Survurlode: Don't worry--I'm a big enough guy--both because I can handle the idea of some poor souls having not heard of me... and 'cuz I need to lay off the Twinkies a little.... *ahem* Who am I? Well, my little BZP-lings, have you ever wanted to load a page on BZPower, but instead had to wait a very long time? That is me. Have you ever got a board message with some cheesy joke and some bubble wrap on it? That's me. My mission in life is to end your ability to access BZPower. Obliterate it. Ruin your fun, your life, everything! Here's a photo of me, from last week:



    bones: You look very familiar.

    Survurlode: Indeed I do. As you know, bones, I am in fact the brother to Sauron, the ancient Lord who once nearly conquered Middle Earth, and made a ton of cash in movie sales. I'm a lot more handsome though. He controlled forces associated with fire--I instead control the sea. Floods shall wreak forth upon the Earth, and all ye who buy stock in inflatable rafts shall prosper! Behold; the instrument of thine doom!



    bones: We are all glad you're weaker than Sauron...

    Survurlode: HAH! Nonsense, dude! In recent years my successes in thwarting BZPers have strengthened me, and I've begun to redefine my goals, branch out as it were. I just had a meeting with the Chif Evil Clock the other day, and it looks like we're closer than ever before to ruling all of Earth! Clocks have enslaved more people in 2006 to our evil schedules than ever before!

    bones: Oh goody. Soooo. Does this evil thing just run in the family or what? Why choose this life? You could have gotten a job at Seaworld or something and retired rich.

    Survurlode: That's easy. My name is "Evil Lord Survurlode"--I wouldn't be a very good Evil Lord if I was a good guy, would I?

    bones: ... Uh, riiight. Next question. You may recall that the BZPower News Team interviewed you several years ago, but the interview was never posted on the front page. Binky said he tried to put it up, but it just wouldn't go through; it appeared to be some sort of glitch. It was only later that I uncovered a few quotes from it in an old printout--my dog actually ate most of the printout, so I couldn't read the whole thing. You wouldn't happen to know anything about the glitch would you?

    Survurlode: Ah yes. Those were the days--I could thwart BZPers left and right and they had no idea who I was or even that I was doing it! Ha ha! Yes, I had the article stopped--how is classified--because unbeknownst to me, Binkmeister had secured some classified quotes without my permission, including my comments at the creation of the Evil Clocks.

    bones: I noticed some of the quotes seemed out of place. Neato!

    Survurlode: But you, you cursed skeleton, snuck the truth by me. The blogs were a new feature, so my Grem--my... influence... hadn't yet gained control of that system. The word is out now, so I can no longer hide the truth.

    bones: Glad to be of service. You can thank Binkmeister for devising the blog system. *snickers* Now, the snippets of the old article that I recovered gave some hints as to your strategy for conquering BZP. Since the jist of it is in the public eye, wanna comment on that strategy?

    Survurlode: *grumbles* Oh, I suppooose. Well, you see.........

    bones: .... I'm waiting?

    Survurlode: Board Message: What do you get when you mix a cellphone with a Bohrok? A Bohrok Kal! Ah-HAHAHAHA!1!

    bones: Oh great. Now Board messages can come over the telephone?!?

    Survurlode: Board Message: We are the Piraka; Who don't do anything! We just stay at home; And lie around!

    bones: I... I guess I refresh by saying something.

    Survurlode: Can you hear me now?

    bones: Um... Hello again.

    Survurlode: Good. Sorry about that, the Grem---I mean, the phone system overloaded there. It's a beeyoootiful thing, idn't it?

    bones: You were saying?

    Survurlode: Right. Well, it begins with a top-secret algorithm the Gr--I had uploaded to BZPower's server. Binkmeister knows this, but he doesn't know how to stop it. Whenever a BZPower wants to load a page, the ping runs through the algorithm, which artificially inflates the number of refreshes tenfold. You can see the algorithm running here:



    The load increases even more when more members are online. So you are faced with the priceless dilemma: stick around, you harm the server load; leave, and you bow to my wishes! Muahahaha!

    bones: I notice two parts that seem odd at first glance. This is a board message, which is supposed to make us bored, right?

    Survurlode: Right. You're talking about the random cheesy message and the bubble wrap, right?

    bones: Yeah. I mean, some of those messages are really funny! Given, it's still annoying when they just keep popping up, but they lessen the annoyance. And speaking of popping, who can turn down bubble wrap?

    Survurlode: Well, bones, you've hit the nail right on the head there. Who indeed? See, that's the catch--while I distract you with these funny messages, you're more interested in refreshing the page so you can get more. More refreshes, more multiplied pings, more server load. What's more, everytime a bubble is popped on the bubble wrap, the server load actually multiplies by twenty. Reloading the wrap? Forty. That lady isn't saying she wants more bubble wrap--she wants more server load!

    bones: B-but... it's not fair!

    Survurlode: Evil Lord, remember?

    bones: *sigh*

    Survurlode: Of course, the other part to pay attention to is the call to the flood of SURVURLODE--yours truly. Every ping draws a bit of my power into the virtual world known as BZPower--rising a flood of water that threatens to engulf the little island you call home. You all have seen it--as your page loads ever-so-slowly... you see nothing but a big blank window of either blue--the water--or white--the churning foam as it rises.

    bones: But surely we can break the habit, and choose to ignore the bubble wrap!

    Survurlode: Bones, take a look at this image. I call it "Wrap and Roll:"



    bones: Ooooooh. But no... Must... resist....

    Survurlode: I call this one "Follow the Bubble Brick Road:"



    bones: *drools* Wait, no!

    Survurlode: But wait, there's more! Order today and get a free set of Ginsu knives to make your bubble popping ten times as fun!!!!



    bones: Resist!

    Survurlode: This is why I am more powerful than Sauron. Sauron had to try to conquer by force because nobody wants to be burned alive! But my power is more attractive. You see, the bubble wrap idea came directly from my power--as I churn the waves with fury, often the sea makes foam:



    One day I saw a little Matoran run up to the foam after surviving a flood of mine, and he began popping the bubbles as his quaint way of getting back at me. But as I watched... his frown turned to a smile, and he couldn't stop! He popped every bubble on that beach, and then begged me to make more!

    bones: Wow. I hope I don't end up like that guy... Okay... Why don't we try another subject, hopefully one less... spooky. You're a powerful Evil Lord. A guy like you needs minions. We've already met the Chief Evil Clock and heard about his armies. Are they your only minions? 'Cuz I'm seriously thinking sledgehammers are the way we should go...

    Survurlode: Oh, no, my friend, they are not all. I have many minions.

    bones: I'm not your friend. So, care to elaborate?

    Survurlode: Board Message: Secret Message #78,921: Dimensioneer likes Bionicle.

    bones: Um... boy that was clever...

    Survurlode: Board Message: One Refresh to thwart them all; One Refresh to overload them. One Refresh to flood them all, and in the bubble wrap bind them.

    bones: Whoa. That one is more interesting...

    Survurlode: What's in your wallet? I mean... Can you hear me now?

    bones: Wrong ad there dude. Hello again.

    Survurlode. Bad. I mean... good. Sorry, the G---the phone service again.

    bones: I get the distinct impression you wanna avoid the subject of who your other minions are. But you keep mentioning this "Grem something." What does that mean?

    Survurlode: Curse you, oh ye of abundant calcium. *sigh* I guess the cat's out of the bag on that too. Well, it's really pretty simple, bones. You see, Sauron had Orcs to serve him, otherwise known as Goblins. Well, I have Gremlins instead. Gremlines are like Bohrok with fangs and ears--I based them off of a stolen schematic of Fohrok from the Brotherhood of Makuta, but I made them biomechanical with the DNA of Orcs. The combination didn't exactly go so well... and they ended up very glitchy. Here's a photo of one of them:



    bones: Interesting. You said "glitchy"--what do you mean?

    Survurlode: Well, they have a habit of trying to bite everything they see, for one. Sometimes they spark and dance around like Matoran who ran into a Room Rahi and went nuts. They imitate broken records sometimes, so carrying on conversations is rather difficult. They also have intense phobias... but their brains are so mixed up they randomly mix up what they're afraid of and what they aren't.

    bones: Sounds... inefficient.

    Survurlode: But oh, they have their uses! In their rare moments of sanity, they are coding geniuses, and they designed the server lode algorithm. They can hack computers with their minds... and they even function as my island's telephone connection!

    bones: Wow. So... that's how Board Messages come over a phone... Any other minions?

    Survurlode: Well, let's see, you've met Tikatahk... so there's--

    bones: Who?

    Survurlode: What? Oh. Whoops. Um, Tikatahk. It's the Chief Evil Clock's real name, but he hates it--that's why he didn't tell it to you in your interview with him. I have a feeling my alarm clock is going to be very cruel all of a sudden....

    bones: Awesome. Go on.

    Survurlode: *glares* Well, there are Uruk Kal--supercharged Gremlins that are part Clock--Tikatahk invented them. You've already heard of Hapori Doom, right?

    bones: WAIT! Did you mean to say you were behind the server shutdowns when Hapori Dume invaded?

    Surverlode: Surprise! Yep--Old Happy was a rogue member of the Brotherhood of Makuta who got stuck in the form of Turaga Dume whilst competing with Makuta for appointment to the Metru Nui job. He was laughed out of the Brotherhood, so I welcomed him with open arms. He's been a loyal slave--ah... friend ever since.

    bones: I see. Anyone else?

    Survurlode: Well, there was Gollaga for a while, though he escaped centuries ago...

    bones: Who?

    Survurlode: He's an evil Rahaga. He was able to steal the One Refresh when he escaped my service, and it turned him into a wretched creature that can't stand any kind of food other than cheese puffs.



    bones: Cheese Puffs?

    Survurlode: I don't understand it also. Anyways, he still performed missions every once in a while for me when I offer him certain... rewards.

    bones: More Cheese Puffs?

    Survurlode: No, the right to stay alive.

    bones: ... Right. That would do it, eh? But! It seems you just made a major slip-up, Mr. Evil Dude. You just said this Gollaga has the One Refresh.

    Survurlode: Oh, he lost it long ago, don't worry.

    bones: Bah. Still, I think I'll want to try to talk to him sometime.... But why don't we turn to that subject now. The One Refresh. What exactly is it? One of the server busy messages for your phone service had some sort of poem about it... It sounded interesting.

    Survurlode: Well, as you probably gathered from the quotes you obtained from the old BZP interview, it was based on Sauron's One Ring. You see, Sauron was an old fogie, and back in his day, they didn't have computers. They just had phones. You called people by making a Ring. So he decided that to call everybody up all at once and thus hold them all under his spell, he would have to craft a One Telephone Ring.

    bones: So that how that worked. Sounds different from what I remember... but whatever dude! So you did the same with your One Refresh?

    Survurlode: Correct. I forged it in the protodermis depths of a deep sea trench... whose location shall remain a secret... and endowed it with the ability to protect my life force against any attack should I ever need that, just like Sauron. But I devised ways of preventing its destruction, unlike Sauron--his ring was destroyed in the very fires that made it in Mount Doom.

    bones: Doomah.

    Survurlode: Whatever. You can see an image of my One Refresh here, along with that poem you heard, which is the lyrical manifestation of the very spell that bound its power:



    bones: Hm... glowing blue pedestal. Will have to remember to keep my eye out for that...

    Survurlode: Don't hold your breath. It's hidden in the hardest place to find in all of existence.

    bones: In all of it? I guess you're really worried about it. I wonder if there's a Frodo/Bilbo parallel here? Do you mean by that that even you don't know where it is? That maybe it's in the hands of a tiny creature out there, maybe a Voyatoran, who's just waiting for a Toa to tell him about a quest to destroy it?

    Survurlode: Board Message: Secret Message #5,400,738: bonesiii likes cheese puffs. He must be as evil as Gollaga!!! Muahahahaha!

    bones: ..... I get the feeling there's something fishy about these messages...

    Survurlode: Board Message: Thank you for calling Survurlode Industries Inc. Your input is valuable to us. Please hold. Thank you for calling Survurlode Industries Inc....

    bones: Um... Can you hear me now?

    Survurlode: Board Message: A computer virus. Five dollars ninety-nine cents. Overloaded RAM. Seventy dollars. A glitchy browser. One hundred dollars. A server bogged by cheesy server messages and bubble wrap addicts. Priceless.

    bones: Hello?

    Survurlode: Board Message: Pop Bubble Wrap!

    bones: No! Resist!

    Survurlode: Board Message: Bubbles! Bubbles! Bubbles!

    bones: Resist!

    Survurlode: Page Cannot Be Displayed.

    bones: ... Well, folks, I guess that's all for this interview. I was hoping to figure out the mystery of the Poolantir, but I guess it'll have to wait. Thanks for listening, and here's hoping the next interview provides more clues about how to defeat this wacko!

    Survurlode: I heard that!
  3. bonesiii
    Enter before noon EST April 28th!




    Because I don't quite have time right now to finish that art lessons entry I promised (though it is aaaaalmost done), and 'cuz I need to accounce some stuff:

    1) I'm extremely busy with real life stuff right now demanding that I barely spend any time on the computer each week. Mostly nothing super "dreaded" and is stuff I could put off, but I've been putting much of it off for a while now and I refuse to put it off any longer. So that is why yall aren't seeing me on much right now. This will probably last till late April (this assuming I'm not forced to take a second job, which is quite possible).

    2) Pretty much the only thing I can keep up with right now is having a weekly blog entry. I'll try as hard as I can to maintain that.

    3) Thanks to this I missed the epics recovery deadline for multiple chapters a day. So the rest of Captain of Treason is gonna be restored one chapter a day, if even that. Which means Twisted Island will be a long time in coming back, as I want to go back through in order again.

    4) As for restoring anything else re: the last blog entry, I really have no idea when I'll have time. The glitch couldn't have come at a worse time for me.

    5) On the plus side if I pull all this off right I will be clearing up a lot of time for later this year to go ahead and do both of those S&T contest ideas, one after another, that were mentioned in a previous entry, once the polls for the Time Capsule contest are over.

    6) LOST rocks.

    7) Send me avatar requests.

    I know that sounds silly since I said I'm busy, but one of my upcoming blog entries planned will demand I make a bunch more coolified avs, and I figure, why not kill two birds with one stone? This will be the next .ppt art guide, focused on lighting (and probably color too). I'll make yet another avatar for me, and also do some requests (Takuta-Nui, yours will be one of 'em).

    So for the time being, I'm accepting any and all av requests to draw in .ppt. Lighting effects especially welcome to be requested obviously.

    8) Any Time Capsule questions I recommend to PM me in addition to posting the question in the topic. I'm not watching it for most of the week and when I'm checking in I don't have time necessarily, but I try to answer PMs right away. Also post the question in case someone else can answer it.

    9) Aaaand the obligatory:

    Enter before noon EST April 28th!

  4. bonesiii

    Ouch Updates

    By bonesiii,

    NOTE: Ojh and I now have saved the following to my hard drive in Google cache format:
    -AC#1: Bio Code
    -TMOMN page 1 (with V3.2), page 3, and page 4 (MISSING page 2)
    -Tapestry of Time collection topic, totally up to date (PHEEEEWWWW!)
    -Twisted Island epic intro text
    -TI review page 1, and page 2 as of Jan 30 (MISSING all TI reviews since Jan 30th)
    -Coolified Glat art topics 1&2
    -Captain of Treason review pages 1 and 2, up to my announcement of the final chapter being posted (MISSING all reviews of the final chapter and epic in general after that point)
    -Software Library review of TMOMN

    Will probably put all these up on a freewebs page and link to 'em in the appropriate places so people's lost story reviews and the like aren't lost. Then will work on restoring things like the Tapestry topic and TI/ACs. For now, I've begun restoring Captain of Treason.

    Also MISSING: AC#2: The Dynasty, Altacosmos art topic (no biggie). Probably more that I'm forgetting...



    What I lost in the glitch:

    The entire S&T#5: Time Capsule Contest. Will see if I saved a copy of the rules post and work first on getting that back up. [ARG I didn't save a copy apparently. If anyone has a copy of the rules post please contact me. Thanks to 55555 for getting a copy to me (and to Toaraga though he was beaten to it ).

    Time Capsule contest is reopened here, with rules.

    Paracosmos Epic Captain of Treason after chapter 7 (of 21) and all the corresponding reviews. Have the original text file; will repost soon.

    Twisted Island, both epic and review, totally gone. Have the text file and images and suchnot; will begin reposting that (NOTE TO SELF: had posted up to chapter 17).

    Both Altacosmos Chronicles and the art topic for them. Again have both of those, actually the second one had an editing split error and I wouldn't mind retrying that post. And have all the art. Will repost.

    Biggest blow right now personally is the new and improved (and then gone) updates to my Tapestry of Time story collection topic. I thiiiiink I may have saved a copy of that post, and I really hope so, as it was a lot of work. If so that copy wouldn't have the second AC. [DARN DARN it looks like I did NOT save a copy of that either. BAH.] [Apparently Ojh found a cache of this, so might be hope...]

    My latest S&T theory. It wasn't anything major, just saying that maybe Mata Nui flies with the gravity power we know he has, so he can hover weightlessly and "fall up" or forward etc. and also could absorb elements into elemental energy such as absorbing ocean water so he wouldn't flood any continents on planets he lands on.

    All polls I had hosted since Sept. 28. Feel free yall to PM me again for those.

    The latest few PMs I hadn't yet replied to. Please resend and such if yall can.

    The latest versions of the Map of Mata Nui computer game topic. Not totally sure about that, and will ask Ojhilom to get stuff ready to get that back up to date with the latest version. Been a while since I paid attention to it so I've forgotten too much.

    Uriel's Unknown language guide, which I had been planning to turn into a blog entry soon. U, still have that?



    Never got a chance obviously to reply to the reviews of Twisted Island chapter 17. All I remember that I saw before the glitch (and weekend job) was that someone found the "apparent inconsistency" between chapter 16 and 17 that I challenged readers to find. My spoilerey response:
    » Click to show Spoiler - click again to hide... «Yes, the inconsistency is that when Rathoa, in moth form, saw the Toa come through the portal to TI, he shook his wings angrily and was shocked, yet in chapter 17 when he reports on it to the Ghomboka leader, he acts like he expected it and had even caused it to happen.

    I forget what you theorized it meant, but it wasn't quite the right interpretation. What happened there is that Ghombakli (the Ghomboka leader's name -- a little treat for readers of both TI and my blog ) ordered Rathoa to use his influence to bring the Toa, but Rathoa had no intention of doing so. He merely watched the portal the whole time, and Surkahi watched him. He assumed Kanoka would not allow the Toa to come -- whether he was right or wrong remains to be seen later, but of course the Toa and Kapura helped that along themselves.

    Surkahi does not think this "inconsistency" odd in the slightest for a classified reason that you'll learn by the end of the story, which is why he doesn't have even a hint of a thought about it (plus if I wrote such a thought it would have given the inconsistency away too easily ).

    So in other words, this "inconsistency" is actually a key hint as to larger goings on and motives related to Rathoa and Ghombakli.

    Good find.






    ION: Next week or maaaybe this week, I plan to start an art guide blog series. Not totally sure how I'll divide it up and such but I've drawn and written (on paper) most of what I'll need. This will be for art in general, not just .ppt art. Just gotta scan the pages and maybe convert the writing to computer text.

    Also am planning to do another .ppt art guide focused on lighting soon. Or was planning it; the glitch is agonna slow everything a ton.

    I'm extremely glad the blog wasn't affected by the glitch.

    Have been and still am backing up various stuff on my home comp, and various other Dreaded Real Life stuff taking up time. Also, job situations here are more precarious than ever (like just about everywhere on Earth now), so I make no promises for the future.

    Aaaand once those art guides are up is probably when I'll worry about updating the bonesCAFE avatar site.
  5. bonesiii
    The Arena Method of Writing



    Today the Bones Blog brings you the writing method that not only avoids writer's block, but creates a realistic, believable, and enjoyable plotline and story that is fun both for the reader to read and the writer to write.

    The Arena Method is my term for what I consider the perfect way to write a story. GregF has commented that this basic idea is how he writes Bionicle story -- this is my take on it. I'll introduce the concept, list the rules of the method as I see them, and then walk you through the steps of the method.

    If this entry strikes you as an impenetrable wall of text, skip down to the Summary section at the end. Bold is used here somewhat for important points as usual but mostly for organization purposes.

    Enjoy!




    Introduction

    In the Arena Method of writing, as author your job is to develop characters, settings, cool mysteries, artifacts, stuff in general, etc., figure out characters' various goals and plans, and choose an inciting incident.

    After that point, your only job is to devote time thinking, brainstorming, and writing down what would logically happen from there. Your job is to sort of set up a domino effect, and then knock over the first domino -- except in this arena of cause and effect, you as author do not know what will happen! Not for sure, anyways.

    Put simply, you build an "arena", fill it with characters, and then you allow the characters to drive the plot forward. With the arena method, the story writes itself!



    Before I tell you more about what is it, what is the Arena Method NOT?

    Tedious outlines. Plot devices. Killing off characters. Writer's block. Criticisms of unrealism. Forcing the story. Pointless stories. Meaninglessness. Lack of characterization. Just a bunch of explosions. Tedious writing process. Tedious rewriting process. Tediousness in general. Predictable endings. Boring beginnings. Lack of suspense. No fun involved. Mythbusters busting what you said happened.

    If you use the Arena method correctly, none of the above will have anything to do with your story. Nobody could fairly accuse you of killing off a character, for example, because you didn't control the events of the story.

    Well, okay, the mythbusters still might bust what you said happened, but that would be a high achievement in and of itself. :-P



    Most importantly, the Arena Method does NOT involve the author writing towards an ending heshe already thought up. Ideally, the author will be just in the dark about how the story ends as the reader will be when reading.

    This is the secret to a fun and streamlined writing process.

    When you as author already know what you'll end your story with, it's much harder to motivate your mind to do the actual work needed to get there. Writer's Block is perhaps the worst symptom of that mistaken idea -- you either aren't sure how to get to the end you wanted, or you are worrying too much on trying to plan your end anyways.

    Now, to be clear, I do often write down theories as to how the story will probably end. But the key here is that they are only theories. If, in the course of writing, something else would logically happen, then that is what MUST happen.



    Ground Rules:

    1) Make an "Author's Guide" that sets up the arena your story will play out in. Take notes about the world and characters before you start writing. Aim for cool and interesting. Keep your notes concise, simple, easy to reference later.

    Review your notes often in your mind before you begin writing and as you write.


    2) Pick an inciting incident -- the first moment of trouble that pulls the trigger on the chain reaction that follows throughout the rest of your story.

    It doesn't have to be huge, and it might not necessarily be obvious right away why this moment is the trigger. But it must NOT be mere introduction to the world. It must introduce the conflict of the story, or the reader will not be engaged.


    3) Begin the story immediately at the inciting incident. No ifs ands or buts about it -- your reader needs to know by the third paragraph -- first if you can -- that conflict has begun. And they should have a sense of what that conflict might be, too.

    This part might be the hardest in any method, as it is the most crucial. To use the sports analogy, this is when the game begins in your arena. There might be leadup and planning before this moment, but this is when the action really starts.


    4) Whatever logically would happen from that point on, MUST happen. You MUST write down what your brain is telling you would happen. Not what you hope happens, not what you think the audience wants to read, but what WOULD happen.

    Believability is your goal, and this is how you get there.


    5) NEVER do an info dump for the reader's sake.

    If you mention the fictional government of your world, don't launch into paragraph upon paragraph, or even two sentences, of explaining this government. It should be made clear naturally from the way the narration, dialogue, or thoughts flow. And if it isn't made immediately clear, it can always be expanded on eventually.

    You might think "but the reader will want to know what I'm talking about!" Yes -- but that is not the reader's top priority. Top priority is to enjoy what they're reading, and usually the only people that like to read textbook style explanations are the author himherself or writers of textbooks. :-P

    Readers want to learn about your arena the same way they would as if they were eavesdropping on a conversation -- they want to pick it up themselves.

    Now, this rule is a bit more flexible than the others. Later in the story sometimes it is okay to do this sparingly, and a few words of explanation might actually BE necessary anywhere. But by a few words I mean like three.


    6) Avoid guiding the plot like the plague. In fairness, sometimes you might have an overall story arc that demands certain things happen, so you might have to guide the plot sometimes. The problem with this is, readers can usually tell. It's better to make sure your arena is already set up to make it likely to happen than to suddenly do something out of the blue to rescue your characters from a situation artificially.

    The cliche way to say this is to avoid Deus Ex Machina, the plot device where something or someone that wasn't introduced previously suddenly shows up to save the day. Doesn't mean a character can't show up to save another character, but only if it would realistically happen given the stage you've developed. Usually you want to make super sure you introduced such a character or whatever earlier on in the story so reader's won't see it as coming in out of the blue.

    For example, if a character has to be alive for a later story, then there should be a arena-based reason that the antagonists or whatnot are unlikely to kill them. Perhaps they need this person for some reason, or think they might in the future. Makuta has always avoided killing Matoran, for example, because he needs them as worshippers, and possibly now to live.


    7) Do not outline. If you do, treat it only as a theory of what might happen or as notes on what the important characters are planning to have happen. Quality fiction should IMO work how real life does -- every single factor affects the flow of events. An outline cannot fairly account for all those factors.


    8) Have a good understanding of causality. Cause and effect, psychology, weather patterns, fictional or real physics -- anything that deals with "how stuff works," if you will.


    9) Finally, not an absolute rule, but try to focus on emotion in your story. Doesn't mean your story can't be about a life lesson, science fiction concept, cool power, complex machinations, etc. But emotion should be your top priority, as that engages the reader.

    Put another way, make sure that at all times, emotion is portrayed through whatever you have on the page. It might be logical debate between Vulcans, lol, but your primary aim should be to produce an emotional reaction in the reader that interests them, gives them motive to want to know what happens next.

    For example, Bionicle's story is primarily entertainment. It teaches moral values, but as a second priority to telling a fun story, because if you don't tell a fun story, nobody reads the story, and so nobody learns the moral values Bionicle teaches. Perhaps not everybody will "get it", but that's okay -- if you are engaging readers emotionally, at least some of them will get the more logic-based things you hope your story conveys.

    Besides, if you are letting the story flow truly as it causally would, the emotions you are focusing on will reinforce a true lesson, perhaps even one you didn't expect or know yourself before you started writing! The emotions will back it up, not distract from it, in other words.

    Also, keep in mind something I've often pointed out about logic -- ultimately, the basis of everything is emotion, not logic. Without the promise and attaining of positive feelings from learning some life lessons or some logical truth or some rational system you've developed for your story, whatever, there is no point to logic, or even indeed of existence. You have to want to know the truth before you can learn it. Likewise, readers have to want to know what happens next, or why, before they can learn that.

    If you don't believe me, know that I am speaking as a logician. This is not a put-down against logc, but rather an explanation of why logic, truth, existence etc. matter in the first place.




    The Process

    Before I begin, a little intro:

    What I usually do is use plain old Notepad (or even literal paper notes) to make my own sort of plain text BIONICLEsector01, if you will, about the settings, characters, etc. that will form the arena of my story. For my non-Bionicle series I've actually developed a website-like html guide database I edit and access in Frontpage, almost literally an encyclopedia, heh.



    Not everything in your guide will necessarily be used in the story -- just as not every inch of a sports arena will necessarily be covered in a game -- but it is all available for me the writer if I need it.

    Here is where the temptation to info dump might come in -- again, keep in mind that NOTHING in your notes necessarily has to be told to the reader. The vast majority of it can be shown anyways, and that's always more fun.

    A writing prof has clarified about that old "show, don't tell" thing -- sometimes if telling is shorter, you should tell instead of show. But if by imagery, dialogue, etc. you can "show" it, it's usually better. How I tell what is needed when is I ask myself which one will convey emotion better?

    Ex: if a character is against the current government system, a short (SHORT) explanation of it can possibly convey that emotion better. If they had a hand in making it thus are proud of it, or if they are unusually enthusiastic about it, same idea. But if it's just a fact of existence for the character, it's probably better just to let it come out in bits and pieces.


    And I don't necessarily follow this exact order. Sometimes a cool idea for a setting is what inspires a story; other times it's a cool character idea, or a cool conflict idea.


    Finally, note that I'm going to go into a lot of detail about the IDEAL way to use this method. But I rarely do all of this -- for example I rarely write out lengthy history notes for my characters. I just focus on taking the notes on the most interesting stuff.

    In other words, do as much or as little of this as you enjoy doing. If this part is getting tedious, it's probably because you're doing too much of it -- or your ideas aren't cool enough yet, so you need to rethink things.





    Step 1 -- Build the Arena

    Setting is key to any story. It sets the feel of a story, and that is 90% of what readers like most about any story. (Give or take. ) Now to be clear we are not talking about actual sports arenas. I'm talking about definition #4 here:



    You need to develop notes about the physical, cultural, emotional, and rational setting of your story (there might be more than these needed).


    1) Physical -- that's fairly easy. The climate, land, plants, native animals (or non-native), and all other such aspects.

    In my style, which is Adventure Mystery, I aim for the coolest possible settings, that get as far away from the cliche as I can. But if you're writing a different style, you can just go with an existing setting or develop one very similar to Earth or the like (much fantasy does the latter). In Bionicle fanfics, you can go with an existing Bionicle location or make your own.


    2) Cultural -- depending on the place, the culture will affect a ton about what that place looks like, what systems run it, etc. Buildings, roads, signage, decoration styles, symbols, etc. come from a culture.

    For example, just from that teaser images of 2009 on Bionicle.com, we know a lot about the culture of the characters that live there -- they are somewhat primitive but highly industrious. We know this from the cool flags made of simple materials, but obviously displaying expert craftsmanship, and the stone arena (punny!) that exhibits complex architecture and masonry, but is also made of "primitive" stone instead of some more complex material. Despite their lack of advanced technology, there is a sense of the work ethic, or something similar, being communicated to us through their creations. Note that this aspect of your setting plays to the physical, emotional, and rational.


    3) Emotional -- this is incredibly important. Every place has its own emotional feeling that it causes beings to have when they see it, though it might not always be obvious or the same for each character.

    2009 seems to display a sort of harsh but adventurous life, for example. We get a sense of the emotions of the characters from the setting. Star Wars for example has the "worn universe" look, cluing us in that the characters are somehow worn down emotionally themselves, perhaps in general a bit cynical, or overworked, underpaid, or something like that. Note that putting these things into words might be difficult, as this example shows, but you should probably try to in your notes.


    4) Rational -- the beliefs, ways of thinking, knowledge, thoughts etc. of your characters and culture.

    For example, in the BP epic #4: Twisted Island that I am writing currently, the story takes place at this highly unusual location because the enemies judge it to be the ideal place for them to accomplish their goals. That is their logical analysis of the situation related to plot, and in this particular story, that is what decides the setting.




    Step 2 -- Populate the Arena

    Characters. A believable plot is driven by characters for the most part. Unless you're telling a dramatized story about a hurricane or the like, you have living people, animals, or whatever in your story.

    Characters have goals, beliefs, their own repertoire of traditions and habits and knowledge. They have their own strengths, they have their own weaknesses, and above all they (usually) have the ability to adapt. These things create conflict with other characters.

    These are the keys to a character. Appearance is minimal in importance, but it can and should reflect these in realistic ways, and of course the reader does need to feel like they "see" your character based on your description. But description is the last priority when it comes to what you as author need to establish before you begin the story.

    Here are the aspects of a character I try to focus on:


    1) Basic personality. Comedic? Serious? Aloof? Outgoing? A mixture of these and more? The latter is most likely. A fairly complex personality is usually important to establish, as real people are rarely simple. I try to focus on conflict related to personality -- does one aspect of it clash with another? Or does their personality tend to clash with life? How? Etc.


    2) Abilities, talents, skills, powers, etc. Their strengths. These are the things the character usually thinks define them.


    3) Weaknesses. What character flaws, physical weaknesses, vulnerabilities to temptation, or other weaknesses do your characters have? These are the things that define your character in terms of the plot usually, because they create conflict.

    ALWAYS have at least a sense of this for every major character, and preferably the minor characters too. And even with good guys, the more of these you establish the better, as stories are all about conflict. To use the sports analogy again, how well each player performs will depend on both their strengths and weaknesses, and how these things jive with the situation.


    4) Their basic history. This can be driven by, and also drive, their personality, depending on what you do with it. But you need to have characters who have memories in their heads. It's not enough just to write a personality into the page -- real people have a history.


    5) Their goals. The biggest one that will drive your plot. What do they WANT? This is what drives real people's actions, after all. We never do anything that on some level we do not want, unless we have no choice. Your character might not achieve his or her goals, don't misunderstand -- but they have goals nonetheless.


    6) Their plans. What have they already thought of, or prepared for, that they believe will lead them to their goals? These will often be rethought by the characters as the story unfolds, but they usually need to have a Plan A in place. And Plan Bs etc. too if they are smart enough.


    7) Beliefs, traditions, habits, etc. Just various things that further define who they are. What's in their heads in terms of how they behave and why.


    8) Knowledge. Or lack of it (ignorance). I tell Adventure Mystery, where trying to know more and having to go through radfun adventures to do so is the goal. I tend to have different characters or groups of characters who know more than others, and maybe who don't want to tell others. And with just about any type of story, this is true to some degree. Who knows what?


    9) Appearance. Last priority, as I said. But you can convey emotional ideas about your character through appearance. Especially when you're dealing with clothing (or mask powers/shape or the like), as these are often chosen by the character.



    Step 3 -- Write the Rules

    If there is to be an arena with competitors inside, you also need rules -- what type of sport will be played in this arena? The analogy is flawed, as these rules are written by the characters most likely, not a rules board. :-P But the idea here is which aspects of the arena or characters MOST define what can happen?

    In other words, what are the most important elements of your story? Unless you're telling a Glatorian competition story (or the like :-P), not everything will be equal in importance. Something will be the central idea of your story, and other things will be nearly as important. The plot will center on these things, not just on the basic idea of different competitors with their own equal aspects.


    For example, in Twisted Island the basic rules are that the villains have brought good guys to an island where a zoo of the most dangerous creatures in the universe has been damaged, setting these creatures loose on Twisted Island. These characters are trapped there and in constant danger, and more than ever before, they must work to solve the mysteries of this place, or surviving and escaping will be impossible. Obviously, I have other "rules" or basic elements behind the mystery that are classified, too.

    As another example, another epic I'm planning for later centers around the highly mysterious goals of the enemies alone, having little to do with the location. The bad guys don't even have plans in that epic -- just a single overriding, all important goal that they exist to accomplish. Sort of like Bohrok, only even more obsessive. I center the story on that -- making it rule #1 -- because I judge the secret to be such a radcool idea (inspired by a fairly recent subject that was discussed a lot on BZP, actually) that I think will have a great "whoa" effect when it's revealed, and yet should be really fun to tease throughout the story.




    So what kind of "rules" am I talking about? Well, it can be extremely varied, but here are some basics that almost all stories need:


    1) Protagonist -- main good guy, usually. Who will be THE main character of your story? You can have POV of other characters if you want to write that kind of story, but this is the one who primarily try to steer the plot in the best way. (Unless of course you are focusing on a bad character, but the idea is this is the person you focus on who needs to take on a challenge of some kind and overcome it.)

    Another note here -- avoid like the plague having a character who just reacts to things. They can react, but they should almost immediately take a proactive, "fighting for what I want" approach in your story, and they should keep this up throughout the whole story as much as authorially possible. Could be exceptions.


    2) Character lesson -- I usually write down how I think the plot will change the character as a person by the end of it. In my style, the protagonist of every story is going through an important life lesson the hard way. By the end, they will likely learn from what they experienced and walk away a better, stronger person for it. (But not necessarily -- that will depend on if it WOULD logically happen. )

    Not every style uses this, but my writing profs have always said that your character MUST change by the end of your story in some way, or you don't really have a story. One prof went so far as to say your stories should always be about the MOST important event in your character's entire life, the one event that they cannot possible walk away from without being changed.

    Some might object that they prefer a plot-based story style. But that is simply not possible with the Arena Method -- either the characters or the setting, and usually both, drive the plot. Just like in real life.


    3) Antagonist -- this is THE engine of your plot. Stories center on conflict, and you can't have that without an antagonist. Again, they don't have to be villains, but in some way their goals must conflict the most with your protagonist. If you tell a story about a bad guy, good guys or other bad guys (or neutrals) might be your antagonist.

    Also note that you SHOULD pick a single individual to be your main antagonist. It doesn't always work out that way; sometimes there's a group enemy such as a swarm, but in general you need an enemy leader, or elite enemy, or an enemy that has something against your protagonist specifically -- something to set apart an individual.

    What I often do is work with enemy groups with a leader, as does Bionicle. Sometimes conflict with a group might span multiple stories, in which case the antagonist of each story will be different.

    For example, in Epic 1: The Sword is But the Focus, the infected Wkahnau giant burrowing Rahi is the antagonist. It's clear that some more intelligent hidden enemy tied a powerful artifact to it with a rope, and of course Makuta is controlling it, but it is the main enemy of this story. What the Wkahnau does for the 2001 Paracosmos Saga is open the mystery of the hidden enemy group.

    In Epic 2: Agents of Surrender, Lewa hunts down the hidden enemy, and eventually finds three of them, with a single one leading them. Throughout the story, it is clear that the hidden enemies in general are the antagonists. Only when Lewa finds these three do we have a particular "subleader" revealed as this story's main antagonist. And in the process by the end the secret top leader of the hidden enemy is hinted at.

    Then in Epic 3: Captain of Treason, both Kopaka and the hidden enemy leader Rathoa take turns being the protagonist and antagonist. Kopaka is the main good guy, while the story focuses heavily on Rathoa's flashbacks that led him to become who he is, and on his current-day plans. Regardless of which one you consider the antagonist, there is clearly only one. In my notes I simply labeled Kopaka as protagonist and Rathoa as antagonist with heavy focus and flashbacks, since Rathoa is clearly the bad guy and is driving the plot, while Kopaka is being forced to deal with Rathoa's machinations. But you could see it the other way around, for reasons that become clear as the plot unfolds.


    4) Core conflict. I just sum up the bad guys' goals and how that conflicts with the good guys, usually. Sometimes I list detailed aspects to the bad guys' plans.


    5) Core mystery. Depending on the type of story you're telling. Since I write Adventure Mystery, each episode centers on a single mystery. That may or may not be solved totally by the end. :-P But some aspect of it must be solved by the end. This is distinct from the larger mysteries of the whole series or of each saga, though it might be connected. Again, depends on the story you are telling.


    6) Theme. The general theme of the story. Along the same lines as character lesson, but it spans the whole story instead of being developed near the end. For example, in Captain of Treason the theme is obviously treason, betrayal. In my first short story, Folly of Fire, the theme was temper vs. patience. This is often unstated; implied. Also, the emotional feel of the story plays a role here.


    7) Limits. What is not possible? For example, in Twisted Island, nobody can leave except through very specific ways (similar to LOST, apparently :-P). Epic 1 was about how we struggle with our own limits of ability, and unexpected ways of reaching beyond our own percieved limits. Epic 2 reminded Lewa constantly of his limits as he dealt with a hidden foe that seemed very powerful, learned horrid secrets of the Turaga he was not to pass on, and encountered the Jungledweller, who though a mere Tohunga had many well-practiced skills and collected secrets that outclassed Lewa even though he was a Toa. In Captain of Treason Rathoa very quickly imposes a major limit on Kopaka that affects his psyche even more so than his powers, and limits of knowledge are a big theme too.



    Step 4 -- Trigger the Conflict


    Choose your inciting incident -- decide how the proverbial game begins. Given what you know about the setting, characters, their goals, the major ideas your story will focus on, etc., ask yourself what will be the best introduction to the conflict of your story.

    Focus on introducing it RIGHT AWAY. This is not just the opening of a movie, this is a hook that will draw the reader along through your text. Movies sometimes do not begin with this, and same with television, because visual things can hook the reader in.

    With writing, anything other than an inciting incident is usually NOT an effective hook.

    This is because of the wall of text phenomenon. Which this blog entry is probably guilty of () for the sake of you authors, but readers have almost no tolerance for these days. Old fiction used to begin with lengthy description, introduction of the characters, setting, etc. and take 20 or so pages to even give a hint of what the trigger of conflict is.

    Instead, in the very first paragraph (or first page), a clear and powerful hint at the conflict to come should be apparent.

    Usually you introduce your main character through this -- one of my profs defined the inciting incident as the moment your protagonist first (and truly) becomes aware of the trouble of the story. Doesn't have to work that way -- many authors use prologues from the POV of a side character more like what an episode of CSI typically begins with. Most important thing is that the READER is given a clear hint at the conflict.


    Choose carefully. Your inciting incident should:

    1) Be realistic. Think about what would happen, how your characters' goals and the like would naturally lead to such an incident.

    More on this at the start of Step 5 below -- but logic and realism and causality must apply here too.


    2) Hint at the type of conflict to come. It may introduce it outright, or it may only introduce trouble of a sort that will lead to it.

    More on this in the explanation for rule 3:


    3) Be concise and clear. If you have use info dumps to explain what is going on, it's probably a bad trigger. Rethink it, possibly go further back or forward in time, and pick something SIMPLE.

    For example, in my non-Bionicle fiction (classified for now), for the longest time I was planning on a particular plot idea being the first episode. The problem was, though the conflict was a cool scifi idea, there was no way to introduce it without a fair bit of explanation. I rewrote and rewrote my inciting incident a thousand different ways, but ultimately I decided that it didn't even introduce the basic themes of my larger series well enough anyways.

    So I changed it to an even cooler scifi idea that is even more original, that can be introduced quite simply. While I will probably revise the timing of it further as this is my life's work so it's more important that I get it right than the Paracosmos, heh, the basic idea of it needs virtually no explanation.

    In fact my inciting incident doesn't even directly state the trouble of the story at all, and the characters don't have a clue about it, but because of the nature of the world I am introducing along with this inciting incident (and the title), it is clear what the nature of the trouble will be. By the end of the first page, the main character knows there's a vague and mysterious threat, and part of a hasty message sent by someone he needs to meet up with who will explain further. The exact nature of the threat is a mystery that the whole episode explores, but the reader will almost certainly guess the basic idea of it right away, while being unable to predict its cause or consequences.

    That is what long years of college and tons of writing homework and the opinions of some experienced profs including one who is an actual author and editor tells me is what an inciting incident should do. And it all flowed naturally out of looking for the simplest, most concise part of it.

    Ironicles how long this explanation is. :-P


    4) Be interesting. Last but not least.

    My fave and oft-cited prof said that there only two absolute rules in fiction -- it must be clear and it must be interesting. I propose that there is really only ONE absolute rule, because of course mystery can be totally unclear at first, but the intro to the story must leave the reader clear that it will be interesting. :-P If your introduction isn't clear, it's not interesting.

    What does it mean to be interesting? I dunno, it depends. It's subjective, too. You have to judge it on a case by case basis, but if you yourself go "Wow, this would be a cool start! I have to use this!" when you think of it, it's probably interesting to a lot of people. The rule of thumb is to make sure YOU are interested in what you're doing. If you're boring even yourself, you need to rethink it.



    This is the trigger.

    From this point on, the author's conscious control of the plot should STOP.

    Everything that happens after this should cascade naturally from the stage you have set and the characters you've put on it. What will happen? Who knows! That's the thrill of it!



    Note that it's around here where I usually write down basic theories of what will happen. But these are NOT outlines -- never use a formal outline unless you're just weird like that. And I used to try to do informal outlines, but ultimately I found that it was foolish -- how could I accurately predict the basics of what would happen without knowing the smaller unforeseen factors that will affect things in unexpected ways?

    The only way to accurately do that would be play the whole story out in total detail in your head and write it down as you thought of it so that you won't forget a single detail.

    Which is almost the same as writing the story, except you'd probably not be thinking about the super important things like tone and theme and feeling and imagery and the like. So you might as well just write it properly.

    In other words, my story IS my outline. As you write it, and especially after it's all written, THEN you can go back and touch up things and make revisions and such. And though it's taken some practice, I have gotten to the point where I never need to rewrite anything major.



    Step 5 -- Let the Story Write Itself


    Your obligations now as author are comparable to the radio sports announcer. Your radio audience can't see the story that plays itself out inside your head. Nor can you control the game, though admittedly perhaps you can influence it. But your responsibility is to let the reader in on what is happening in the arena in an engaging and entertaining way, NOT to control it.

    The following is what you must devote time and mental energy to:


    1) Think about what would realistically happen next.

    You may need to do research, and you might not always be writing, but this is NOT Writer's Block. WB is when you honestly can't for the life of you figure out what to do. This is the opposite -- this is simply allowing the sortof domino effect you've set up to play itself out in your mind.

    You often do not even need to be in front of your computer (or with paper handy) to do this. I am usually thinking through the next step of my story as I eat, do other things, go to sleep, walk dogs, etc. Because I have spent enough time developing the arena and memorizing it, I can do this totally in my head.

    If you DO feel The Dreaded Writer's Block coming on, return to your notes. Review what you've established, or build on it. The idea will come to you, because all the pieces of the puzzle are already there (or should be).


    2) Be willing to LET it happen.

    Never guide your story to avoid something like a character death or to force an info dump. This is vital, vital, vital. Now, you can design your arena in such a way that a death, for example, isn't likely, or so that information will likely come out for the reader naturally. But when it comes down to the wire, if a character's gonna die, you MUST let it happen just as it would happen if your story was real. Because it is. Fictionally.

    Never "kill off" characters -- characters should die for the same reasons people die in real life. The situation should demand it. Of course, certain readers might accuse you of killing them off, or just use the term carelessly as today's culture seems wont to do, but you know the truth -- YOU have nothing to do with it aside from designing the arena.

    I focus on death merely because it is the aspect writers and readers alike both seem to obsess over guiding or seeing as having been guided. But this applies to everything, good or bad, neutral, random, etc.


    3) Spend time writing it down. Your own style will influence this part of it the most. There is no way for me to tell you how to do this part -- it depends on who you are, what you know, etc.

    The thinking and writing might happen all at once. Or it might not. Often I am able to sit down, and write the whole story out instantly. Aim for this if you can, as it's the most enjoyable way to do it. But even if you have to pause your writing to think (or do something else in your life ), your wondering how the story will end should be enough to motivate you to come back to the typewriter/paper later.

    Just make sure you do take time to actually write it down. A story in your head is not a story -- it's just a dream.


    I know I said choosing the inciting incident might be the hardest part, but forget that -- this might be too. So many other things demand your time, and you might be dealing with people that don't think you should waste time writing.

    Tons of cliches here, but what people need to understand -- and perhaps what you the writer need to convince them of -- is that as a writer, you NEED to spend a lot of time writing. Expect money to be a big stickler in this category. Don't expect to make much if you're a writer. I know personally I write because money or not, I CANNOT NOT write. I literally could not live if I was not writing, as it is the very fiber of my existence.

    It's like breathing -- I'm not making any money by doing it, but I HAVE to. Maybe that's not quite true of you, but at the very least, nobody can read your story unless you take the time to write it.


    4) Allow yourself to concentrate 100%.

    Forget what I said earlier, THIS might be the hardest part (), given that other people around yadda may not respect your need to concentrate 100% even if they respect your need to spend time writing. Find ways to get around it or convince them that as a writer you NEED to concentrate.

    But if you are using the Arena method and you like the arena you've made, the conflict should be with outside distractions, not with yourself. Personally at least I always feel like I want to concentrate on a writing when I use this method, unlike homework for example where your brain wants you to concentrate on anything but.

    I admit that shallower methods of writing such as plot-driven writing will be much easier in this category (and time) than the Arena Method. But IMO the result is usually less fun for the reader and author and far far less satisfying to the very soul. What is easy is not always what is best.

    If you can get the time, and get away from the distractions (or if you're one of those rare individuals who can concentrate despite people making rackets, looking over your shoulder, etc.) the rewards of the Arena method will far outshine the alternatives.


    5) Show ONLY the interesting parts of the story. While more might happen that you can imply or briefly sum up, do not waste space writing it if it is a boring detail. Skip ahead to the next most interesting event.

    As said above, my rule of thumb for what is interesting is usually if it conveys an emotion. (Other than boredom. :-P)

    Also, try to keep the five senses in mind. Don't just describe what characters see -- what do they hear, smell, feel, etc.?


    6) Never tell anyone what you're about to write. Write it, and make them read it.

    This one might seem odd and even rude, perhaps. But it is a psychological thing that many other authors far more accomplished than little old me have observed -- if you report about what you're going to write before you get it down, your brain plays a nasty little trick on you where you feel less motivated to write it. You feel as if you have already written it, though you haven't.

    In fact, I would strongly advise not telling anyone even things you've already written. Keep your whole story a secret until it is finished, and have people read it.

    Generally far better that way, although I often tell Ojhilom about any major things I'm undecided about how I should proceed to ask his opinion. To do that I have to tell him something about what has happened, and I do say if I agree that his advice is probably best, but I never tell him what I end up deciding to go with until it is written down.

    And I ONLY do this for Ojhilom as he is my brother and he helps develop both the Paracosmos and my non-Bionicle fiction, so he is going to be honestly open-minded about it. Even with him, if I tell him too much about the story I'm currently writing, though, my motivation to continue sinks.

    The real danger is answering the question for the random friend or family member who already has no idea what you're writing about because they didn't help you develop it. To the mind of a writer, these are "readers." If you clue them in like that, your brain subconsciously tells you that you have given your story to the readers already, when in fact you have not.

    Now, with the Arena Method, you CAN tell them about the some of the "arena," perhaps. I'm talking about what happens after the inciting incident -- the stuff you need to spend time writing down. I've already used some details about the arena of Twisted Island in this entry, though I haven't finished it yet.

    But I know that if I revealed even a little of what is going on in the actual plot so far, it would become much more difficult for me to motivate myself to do the work of finishing it. Trust me, learned the hard way.

    Of course, if you haven't yet written your notes about it, the rule applies there too!


    7) Review and proofread periodically.

    The worst thing that can happen with this method of writing is to write the whole story, then during your proofreading and rewriting process you discover that your story took an illogical turn halfway through. As a result you would have to scrap the entire second half of your story, or worse, try to weave results of the corrected version through the unaffected parts of the rest of the story.

    Avoiding the need to rewrite later is the best way to make that process easy and enjoyable. If you feel like you've become foggy on what you've already written, go back and read it. What comes after must be consistent with what came before.


    8) Check your arena notes often.

    Same idea as checking what you've already written. Now, often it's easier to revise your notes than to revise your story. But still, you might have forgotten something that you mentioned in passing already in the story, and that might give you the same problem as above. This is even easier to review if you've made your notes concise and easy for you to read.


    9) Watch your pace. Just as a radio announcer doesn't have much time to spend on telling the listener what just happened on the sportsfield, you don't have time to languish in one event too long. The reader will get bored. Keep the story hurtling forth doing its chain reaction as fast as you can without losing sight of the events themselves. You need a balance between brevity and detail.


    10) Keep writing until it's over! Go all the way to the end -- finish what you started. No matter what.


    11) Proofread.

    Look for typos, and follow the logic of the plot as a reader would, to make sure it makes sense.

    A few tips here are to 1) Proofread once for typos only and again for the plot, 2) Wait a few days, weeks, or longer before you proofread so you will have forgotten most of the details; that way it's easier to see the logic of the plot as it's actually written down, not what is lingering in your head, and 3) Have someone else proofread.

    And of course, don't rely on a spellchecker program. But once you've proofread yourself, do run it through a spellchecker just in case.


    12) Rewrite. Fix the typos and any logical problems. If you did the previous steps well enough, this will be easy.

    It's best to proofread right in your word processing program, so that you can combine the rewriting with the proofreading.

    Save new drafts as different files (clearly label them as such), in case later you decide you want to go back to something from a previous version.



    And that's about all I've got to say. Sounds like a lot, perhaps, but most of the above is just my own personal take on the basic method. Put simply, set the stage, and then let the story write itself, instead of writing towards an ending. That is the Arena Method.



    Summary

    Introduction

    In the Arena Method, you set the stage for your story, and then you let the story write itself out from there as it would actually logically happen. Your direct control is only over the stage-setting part, not over the plot of the story.

    You don't know how it will end -- you get almost as much thrill when writing it as the reader does when reading. (Although you do know things the reader doesn't.)

    It avoids such plagues of writers as Writer's Block, and does not use any intentional plot devices. You don't write towards an ending. The ending and plot flows naturally from the arena you set up.

    Ground Rules:

    1) Make an "Author's Guide" that sets up the arena your story will play out in.

    2) Pick an inciting incident -- the trigger of your story's conflict.

    3) Begin the story immediately at the inciting incident.

    4) Whatever logically would happen, MUST happen.

    5) Never info dump (try to focus on emotion at all times to engage the reader).

    6) Avoid guiding the plot; instead make sure your arena is set up right.

    7) Do not rigidly outline plot.

    8) Learn about causality, psychology, etc. to better fulfill rule 4.

    9) Strongly recommend focusing on emotion as you write as top priority.


    The Process:

    Step 1 -- Build the Arena

    Setting is key. Develop it in these ways (at least):

    1) Physical -- climate, land, plants, whatnot.

    2) Cultural -- buildings, roads, decorations and the like.

    3) Emotional -- the overall feelings of places or of the people in them; emotions related to the setting

    4) Rational -- beliefs, ways of thinking, knowledge related to the setting


    Step 2 -- Populate the Arena

    Characters drive the plot, mainly because of their various goals. Basic aspects I try to focus on:

    1) Basic personality.

    2) Strengths; natural talents or learned skills, psychological giftedness, etc.

    3) Weaknesses; character flaws, physical weaknesses, psychological vulnerabilities, etc.

    4) Their basic history.

    5) Their goals.

    6) Their plans -- how they think they can reach their goals.

    7) Beliefs, habits, traditions, etc. How they behave and why.

    8) Knowledge/ignorance.

    9) Appearance.


    Step 3 -- Write the Rules

    Establish the most important elements of your story; what aspects of the arena or characters will your story focus on?

    A few basics (among many possible) I focus on:

    1) Protagonist -- main good guy or who your story focuses on most. Should be proactive, not just reactive.

    2) Character lesson -- in my style, the way the protagonist will change; what heshe'll learn by the end of the story

    3) Antagonist -- the main bad guy or person who your main character conflicts with. The central driver of the plot.

    4) The core conflict -- what's the main clash between protagonist and antagonist?

    5) Core mystery -- in my Adventure Mystery style, the main hidden secret the characters try to unravel in the story

    6) Theme -- the moral or psychological theme that spans the entire story, usually implied.

    7) Limits -- what isn't possible? Or what are the only ways something is possible, etc?


    Step 4 -- Trigger the Conflict

    Choose your inciting incident.

    The very first moment of your story, the hook to draw the reader into the rest of it, the incident that first gives the reader (and usually the protagonist) a clear hint at the conflict of the story.

    Your inciting incident should:

    1) Be realistic.

    2) Hint at the type of conflict to come.

    3) Be concise and clear.

    4) Be interesting. (Vital, this.)

    Everything after this point should be beyond the author's conscious control. You could jot down theories as to what might happen after it, but things might happen differently.


    Step 5 -- Let the Story Write Itself

    Like a radio announcer, your job is to let the reader know what's happening as the story naturally unfolds beyond your control, in an engaging and entertaining way.

    Devote time and mental energy to:

    1) Think about what would realistically happen next.

    2) Be willing to LET it happen.

    3) Spend time writing it down.

    4) Concentrate 100%.

    5) Show ONLY the interesting parts that convey emotion; skip or sum up the "boring" stuff.

    6) Never tell what you're about to write. Write it, then let people read it.

    7) Review and proofread periodically.

    8) Check your "arena" notes often.

    9) Watch your pace. Don't get bogged down but also don't move too fast.

    10) Write all the way to the end.

    11) Proofread.

    (For typos and for plot logic, try waiting a while before doing so, and/or have someone else do it. Don't rely on spellcheckers.)

    12) Rewrite.
  6. bonesiii

    Contest Stuff

    By bonesiii,

    BROUGHT TO YOU BY:


    1) Forgot to say thumbnail size for the S&T Time Capsule contest (for those with imagery entries who opt to make their own thumbs) -- 128 by 128 pixels.

    2) March 30 -- a Monday -- is probably going to be the Time Capsule entry period closing date. Will this be too soon for anyone? I'll reconsider if so, but probably by the end of the week the date will be set.

    3) Swert and I have come up with something really cool for the future of the Expanded Universe. Look for more details and maybe some requests for advice soon (probably here on my blog). In addition to occasionally melding S&T contests with EU contests (like the Xian weapons ones) we will probably finally establish EU-only contests. These might also end up being more submission opportunities and less contests, not sure yet. Methinks yall will like it.

    4) For the next S&T contest, I want to do another MU-related theme. After that, I'd like to leave the MU behind for the main series of S&T contests (maybe minor S&T/EU ones will return to the MU though) and do something with Bara Magna. So basically this is the last chance for a big Matoran Universe contest.

    We've got two current ideas being bounced around and I wondered what youse guyses think. Note that at this point Greg has NOT approved these for officialdom, but I do want to ask for that for whichever we use.Memoirs of the Dead -- basically you would write short stories (or maybe even short epics) in serial or blog format (kinda like the Takanuva Blog or the Mutran Chronicles) from any official MU character who is currently dead. I'm leaning towards this one.
    Thousand Years Untold 2 -- same as last Thousand Years Untold contest, only for Mahri Nui and Karda Nui (and maybe a catch-all category for other MU locations). Idea there was to make an official-fitting short story that took place in 500 AGC (after Great Cataclysm, which is BTW what we have decided to use for the BRC Timeline) for Mata Nui, Metru Nui, and Voya Nui. So same idea, different locations. I do like this idea at lot too. There's a chance we would do both and try to squeeze them into 2009's schedule somehow. I'll listen to arguements for that, but be aware that I'd probably need a lot of help -- both of these will require judges to make sure they fit with official (that's assuming Greg approves).

    5) And don't forget about the current Bones Blog Blue MOCs contest!


    BROUGHT TO YOU BY:
  7. bonesiii

    Adventure Mystery

    By bonesiii,

    Today the Bones Blog brings you an explanation of my term for the style of writing I love best -- the 'genre' I write. I consider LOST and Bionicle itself to be the best examples of this "genre". Scifi? Fantasy? Mystery? Thriller? Drama? No -- it's the best of all of those wrapped up into one awesome style -- Adventure Mystery!

    There's a newer breed of story that began with LOST (and, I would argue, with Bionicle). Take a look at the "genre" section on Wikipedia's LOST page and you'll see that's it's a mess. A joke. LOST doesn't fit into any one of those genres -- so what is it?

    This entry is fairly easy to write (for me ), because all I need to do is list the pros and cons of the various genres it's similar to -- and then take out all the cons and keep the pros. Most definitions will be taken from Dictionary.com, then put into my own words. By no means are these definitions or pros/cons exhaustive.

    If you really must, feel free to skip down to the Adventure Mystery section. Also added a Summary section at very end -- I promise it really IS short.

    Science Fiction



    I've taken a whole college class centered around trying to define scifi vs./and fantasy, and the one thing everybody agrees on is that nobody agrees on how precisely to define or categorize the two genres, especially scifi. Some say scifi is a category under fantastic fiction, others say fantasy is a category under scifi. Just about every scifi author has their own definition and many have core components such as addressing a key aspect of culture or human nature, or taking place in the future. Yet other scifi invariably violates such definitions.

    What I've put forth on my blog before is that scifi and fantasy form two ends of a spectrum of "physics fiction", with science fantasy in the middle. All three genres are generally distinct from "normal" genres in that they in some way tie the fictionality to physics. (See Bones Blog: Science Fantasy = Bionicle.)

    Scifi tends to explain the physics of its universes, and usually to make it sound plausible within real physics.

    Now if you're wondering where Adventure Mystery fits in the spectrum, well, it doesn't. It can actually fit in any of the three genres, and technically it could somewhat fit with stuff like CSI: Miami. But more on that later.

    Pros:Scifi is the most believable of the "physics fiction" genre Many of its scifi concepts can be (and have been) later actually done in the real world It tends to be "grounded" better and thus more relatable to for humans Cons:It tends towards long-winded boring explanations Often feels very "out there", plausible but still hard to believe could actually be true Stereotyped -- often fairly -- as pessimistic and dark Grounded perhaps too much in that it usually can't do anything innovative with physics without an "explanation", wheras fantasy can do fictional physics to make a more important psychological point. Fantasy


    I define fantasy as the opposite end of the "physics fiction" spectrum. Fantasy doesn't worry about -- and often bans -- the explanation of its made-up physics. Fantasy and scifi are both often about culture and human nature primarily, but fantasy approached it from a more direct route.

    Pros:More free to be "about" human nature No limits to what is plausible; throws the traditional physics rules out the window Virtually no "explanations" needed. Tend to be optimistic or "fanciful". Cons:Mostly unbelievable except as something like a different universe entirely or as secret aspects of the real world Generally useless to real world science Difficult to relate to as humans; not grounded as much as scifi Stereotype as being "escapism" Science Fantasy



    See the aforelinked blog entry for more on how I see this as being defined. Essentially, it can mix and match anything from scifi and fantasy in any way.

    If Adventure Mystery fits in any other genre, it's this one.

    But I raise CSI: Miami (and shows like it) as a possible "fringe example" of something on the edges of this genre because it tends to be highly advenurous (more so than most crime dramas including the other CSIs IMO, though I don't watch much of CSI: NY so not sure), and obviously it's mystery, yet it's not "physics fiction." It does tend to brush the edges of scifi, though, touching on new technology often (of course, many other such dramas do that too, esp. NCIS and Numbers).

    Pros:It's freer to be grounded and yet also focused directly on human nature. Any of the pros from either scifi or fant, it can have. Cons:It's more nebulous even than scifi and fantasy -- pretty nebulous already -- so it's difficult to define beyond "mix". Any of the cons from the other two. Mystery


    Mystery is the main thing that Adventure Mystery is about, so you might think it goes in this genre. Unfortunately, though, "Mystery" has a deeply engrained stereotype as being specifically about real-world-style crime drama. Esp. Murder Mystery. When you say "Mystery", people think "Sherlock Holmes."

    There is some similarity, and obviously the mystery of murders and the search for clues can be major aspects of AM. Ex from my stories, Mindfire was the winner of the Epics Murder Myster Contest, and Epic 2: Agents of Surrender was all about a CSI-style investigation of clues about the hidden enemy. As a Bionicle example, I'd give Greg's original Tuyet story on BZP, and from LOST the whole Season 1 issue of "what Kate did" before the crash.

    But Adventure Mystery is definately not limited to crime mystery, and so it cannot fairly be put under this category. Bionicle is certainly not a crime drama. The LOST Monster wouldn't fit in a Sherlock Holmes story.

    Pros:Mind puzzles up the wazoo Also clearly about human nature and the like Sense of "who can be trusted?" most famous from this genre Seen as optimistic or realistic generally; the crime is usually solved, the bad guy caught, etc. A specific genre that doesn't have the vagueness problems the physics fiction tends to Cons:Not as thrilling or suspenseful; feel small-scale and perhaps "quaint"; hard to feel the threat of the enemy So specific it sort of chains up "mystery" into a lesser form of mysteriousness Not as directly about human nature as fantasy or scifant can be, though lacking the stereotype against this Limited (in the usual definition) to real-world physics Thriller


    Thriller best example I would give is the Bourne Trilogy. Matrix, etc. Heavily about action adventure, which is a major aspect of Bionicle and Adventure Mystery, but not necessarily focused on mystery. It's about fighting. Kung fu. Yadda. And the genre name to me brings to mind real-world settings, not generally scifi or fantasy. Ex: I wouldn't classify Bourne as scifi, though maybe on the fringe of it.

    Pros:As the name implies, thrilling and heavily into suspense Just plain fun The threat of the enemy tends to be VERY felt Can be very about human nature Explosions. Cons:Stereotype as NOT being about human nature, "just a buncha fighting", and sometimes deserved Can be in the "physics fiction" genres but stereotyped as being "real world"; spy/conspiracy movies, etc. Mystery is often merely to aid suspense, not about the feeling of mystery itself Tend to feel like characters are dragged through it, not exploring willingly. Drama




    All fiction is drama to some extent. As a genre name it can also mean a wide variety of things but tends to refer to "real world" fiction. Esp. "Daytime drama" cheese on television.

    The main weakness I would say is the opposite of the strength of fantasy according to Tolkien -- fantasy can show human nature much more clearly than "real world fiction" by taking it out of context. It can take away all the 'excuses' of setting that we tend to use to avoid understanding ourselves in the real world. Drama often seems to me to ironically have less emotional impact than "physics fiction" because it tries too hard, and is stuck in the whirlwind of the everyday. If we do not see our own nature clearly in the mundane that we already live in, using that setting in fiction tends to have the same mind-numbing effect.

    Pros:The most direct human nature theme Generally the most grounded and easiest to relate to; often about normal lives and situations. Cons:Stereotype as limited to 'real world"; imagination is limited May be directly about human nature, but incapable of focusing on human nature out of context; limited in HOW it can do so Soap opera cheese stereotype (generally deserved ). Tends to have 2D characters who are essentially emotional see-saws stuck into real life situations; the drama can become overdone ("melodrama" is the fancy term for that). So can ironically lose realism.
    Adventure Mystery

    So here's how I define Adventure Mystery (in general), taken right from my BP collection topic intro I wrote last week:

    A science fantasy 'genre' that focuses on the intense thrill and adventure as the characters unravel deep, grandious mysteries, with innovative science fiction and character-focused secrets behind the mysteries.

    AM is fantasy, science fantasy, and/or even real world on the surface, but tends to be science fiction in the secret hidden level that must be uncovered by the characters. Instead of long-winded explanations of the mysteries, they are slowly explored throughout the story. So the discovery is actually fun, not just pushed on the reader in summary to "justify" what is being done. You don't know why what is happening is happening, and that just makes it all the more fun.

    A recent complainer said something about Bionicle and I pointed out how it was true in 2001 that is relevant here -- he whined that in Bionicle, there is "no clear justification" for why there are females among the Matoran, when they have no apparent need for gender at all. I pointed out that in 2001, we had "no clear justification" for robots being on a tropical island, or for the characters to have masks of power. Indeed we did not even get the slightest hint about masks until 2009, IMO, when now we know the island of Mata Nui was a mask on Mata Nui's face all along. It was a huge clue, and in hindsight I wonder how the heck we didn't see it.

    And that is essentially what Adventure Mystery does -- it uses clues and adventure to explore the imagination of the author, not "clear justifications."

    Ex: My Paracosmos is not just science fantasy; everything in it other than the fantasy physics it takes from Bionicle as a given is actually rooted in a science fiction explanation. The physics consequences of the Big Secrets lead to clues, and are actually somewhat mathematical in some areas. But I NEVER waste time on long-winded scientificey explanations, and when they DO uncover scifi aspects to the world, the characters have emotional reactions to every bit of it. Indeed, all of it is fundamentally rooted in psychology, because none of it would ever have happened if not for the motives and characterization of a certain classified founding character.

    My non-Bionicle fiction is also Adventure Mystery. In that, though now is not the time to reveal any details, I basically take a revolutionary scifi approach to all the big mysteries of the real world, with plausible scifi 'semitheories' about just about everything. Example, my first episode introduces a scientific explanation for spirits that nobody else has apparently thought of (readers of my old Wacky Physics topic may remember an earlier version of it), but I do this through exploration and mystery, not preachy explanation, so it's fun.

    By the end of the planned series such semitheories will "explain" everything from why I believe God not only exists but HAS to exist to wave-particle duality of light to what the Greek myths could have been founded on to many mysteries of ancient culture to how superhero powers like telekinesis could actually work for normal human beings. Also with plausible scifi ideas for cool fictional mysteries just made up for the fun of 'em, heh, and to focus on human nature, yadda. If I were to sum it up, I'd say that people usually claim the "magic" or supernatural in stories like Lord of the Rings, Narnia, Harry Potter, etc. can't be explained with science, or shouldn't be -- my fiction quite simply throws that rule in the trash compactor where it belongs and opens up anything to explanation discovery.

    LOST appears to be doing things similar to both of the above. Ex: The hatch had a scientific explanation behind it, but it was teased and slowly revealed over two whole seasons. Traditional scifi would have wasted that brilliant concept on a paragraph or more of long-winded explanation as soon as the hatch was found -- and probably would have opened the hatch way, way sooner just to try to impress the viewer with the imagination of it. But the sense of mystery would have been lost, and frankly a lot of people would have been bored. (But then maybe it SHOULD have been opened a biiiit sooner -- Season 1 had the opposite issue of teasing things too long, as Greg has pointed out)

    Of course, doing Adventure Mystery juuuuust right is the hard part. So we DO have to list some pros and cons:

    Pros:All of the pros listed for all the above genres Thrilling action and mystery yadda yaysies! Cons:Extremely difficult to pull off in a consistently captivating way Adventure Mystery is not a genre to be done lightly. You do not simply sit down and start writing this -- nor do you simply establish characters setting and plot and write it out either. You must hold the audience's interests simultaneously in the characters, the action/adventure, AND the mystery. (IMO the Arena Method helps extremely towards this BTW.)

    Ex: LOST Season three lost (eheh) some of the mystery and a bit of the adventure. It became too nebulous, seemed to be feeling around in the dark for a theme, and as a result it lost (There's that pun again!) a ton of viewership. I constantly struggle with maintaining that balance in my fiction, and I always worry that I'm failing at it when I start a new story or saga.

    One of the biggest reasons I'm doing the BP in the first place is so that I can test out different approaches while also trying hard to maintain that balance. Adventure Mystery as a series can NOT become too established as about a certain mystery (ex: many 2001ists seemed to think the whole tropical robots thing was "Bionicle's mystery", and complained when Bionicle moved on from it/answered it). The hardest part is holding your reader's interest with each new central mystery as much or more than you did with the last one.

    The basic answer seems to be twofold:

    1) Make sure fans are captivated about an over-arching series mystery, like the Event with the Paracosmos, or the Island/Crash with LOST. Bionicle lost sight of that to a degree at times, and I think that explains some of the disinterest or sense that it's lost its mysteriousnes with some years from 2003-2008 or so. Thankfully, it seems established now as being the larger conflict the Great Beings are involved in, relating to the Shattering, and/or about Mata Nui's mission.

    2) Make sure you have innovative smaller-scale mysteries and secrets behind the mystery that can form dots in the larger "connect the dots" grand mystery, with one taking the forefront in each major section of the arc (saga). LOST didn't really have anything like that in Season three; in Season 1 it was the Monster, in Two it was the Hatch, in Four it was the Boat, and in Season Five it's the Moving of the Island. In three it was all over the place; ended up being about getting off the island, but frankly that shouldn't have been the theme because of Gilligan's Island -- nobody actually thought they WOULD get off. It was really cool as a twist, but the theme should have been something clearer.

    So anyways. This has been a non-exhaustive guide to what I mean when I use the term "Adventure Mystery."

    Final note: I define it as being in science fantasy, but again, it doesn't have to be per se. So far all clear examples I know of are, but likeisay things like CSI: Miami could be considered on the fringe of the genre. Also, Indiana Jones, Pirates of the Caribbean stand out to me as other possible examples.

    Summary

    Adventure Mystery:

    A science fantasy 'genre' that focuses on the intense thrill and adventure as the characters unravel deep, grandious mysteries, with innovative science fiction and character-focused secrets behind the mysteries.



    ION: Lotsa art for Twisted Island and the Altacosmos Chronicles done. Hopefully later today the second AC and an artwork topic for both Chronicles will be up. Will include how I imagine Toa Helryx's Mask of Psychometry to look.
  8. bonesiii

    Altacosmos Chronicles

    By bonesiii,

    I've started a new short stories series based on the idea of Bionicle "What Ifs", called the Altacosmos Chronicles. Check out the first Chronicle, up now, titled, "Altacosmos Chronicle #1: Bio Code."
     
    Cred to Takuta Nui for partly inspiring this, as I say there. First episode is based on some recent revelations and things Greg has said on his blog. Adventure Mystery as always. Not directly related to the Paracosmos, but these chronicles do exist in the Unknown Library in the Paracosmos. Something I've been meaning to do for a while but never got the inspiration for it.
     
    Got some concept art I'll scan later and probably put in an artwork topic.
     
    And then maybe I'll actually make a banner for it and for this entry.
     
    [Edit: Shortened the intro. Moving part of it here () -- "Yes, I know “AC” already stands for Air Conditioning. BP stands for British Petroleum, so I’m keeping with tradition. " It also stands for Art Contest lol.]
     
    Finally, coming soon schedule willing, the SS results of the last blog contest, the Monster Mystery story. Also, I just might actually write the Tales of the Ri-Rali as SSes soon.
  9. bonesiii

    Twisted Island Banners

    By bonesiii,

    Made a new banner for Twisted Island. Made two support banners for sigs from it.

    Made with colored pencil. I decided it would be faster to make via paper than Powerpoint. And so it was.

    Am also working on various other Twisted Island art in Powerpoint. Probably will be an artwork topic around when the epic's fully posted.

    Support Banners:



    [url="http://www.bzpower.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=307662"][img=http://www.brickshelf.com/gallery/bonesiii/SigStuff/ParacosmosBanners/sigbnrti.png][/url]




    [url="http://www.bzpower.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=307662"][img=http://www.brickshelf.com/gallery/bonesiii/SigStuff/ParacosmosBanners/sigbnrti2.png][/url]
  11. bonesiii

    Next Blog Contest?

    By bonesiii,

    [Pretend there's a banner here! It says, "Bones Blog"! ]

    Should I do a MOC contest again this time?

    I know I said I've do the Makuta Jeopardy thing soon a long time ago, but there has been some trouble as Teridax has been killing Makuta left and right. Makuta DoomAH, who had offered to host it, has been taken to a refuge of Evil Lord Survurlode outside the Matoran Universe. As such I have been unable to contact him for an interview or to arrange this contest. In fact, we don't know for sure that he's still alive. More news when we have it.

    Plus I still have to do the short story for the Monstery Mystery .ppt art winner. I think what will happen is the top three entries will be featured in the story as possible explanations for the mystery and only at the end will the top one be discovered to be at fault for the chaos going on. So all three would be considered part of the Paracosmos.

    And... I'm kinda in a MOC contest mood. Just got no idea what the theme should be.
  12. bonesiii
    The Brain Inequality Theory (The BIT )

    "I'm not very smart. Smart people. He was a genius. 'I'm pretty sure my IQ is higher than yours!' He has a low IQ. You're stupid."

    Our culture is permeated with such statements. We have a basic theory that many people are much smarter than others. Some are smart, some are dumb, and this can be measured.

    And that's it. It's thaaaat simple. To quote Threepio -- "We're doomed." That's the theory, if you're part of "the less-than-smart".

    Worse, many people attach extreme emotional ideas to this theory. It varies a lot -- I've seen one person on BZP say he was offended that I brought out the truth of a particular debate (which even he said I had done), because "people don't want to be reminded others are smarter than them" (close paraphrase). He essentially thought only incorrect ideas should be allowed, so we don't offend dumb people. (Laugh, but he appeared to be serious. :-P) On the flip side, people who think they're dumb feel miserable about it, or people act arrogant because they think they're smart, etc..

    Perhaps even worse than this, though, many people feel not that much emotion about it at all -- they just accept that they're dumb, nothin' they can do about it, so they think they aren't capable of accomplishing much in life. So they don't try.

    And tons more stuff. I've only scratched the surface here of the consequences of this common theory of intelligence.


    I think it's incorrect.


    There might be some truth to it, but the vast majority of people, in my opinion, have the same brain capacity. When it comes to genetic definitions of intelligence, if a TRULY objective measure of intelligence could be formulated, I think everybody would measure roughly equally.

    It's just that we're wired to use our intelligence in different ways.




    The Brain Allocation Theory (The BAT :-P)

    I've had this theory for a while, and it's based on a lot of different things. Note that I DO have an above average IQ, and people generally think of me as "smart" -- so I can "get away with" saying this. (But then, I can't for the life of me remember what my IQ is, so maybe I'm in the dumb category after all! )


    Essentially, people are forgetting about a key, Key, KEY aspect of existence. That is allocation.

    Allocation essentially means that different amounts of a resource are channeled into different areas.

    I first learned of this term from a (demo of a) Star Trek videogame about Klingons (yes, you correctly conclude I'm a geek :-P), and I think the example is one of the best so I'll use it here. (The demo was so fun I never bothered to buy the whole thing lol.)

    Your spaceship has a certain level of energy. Roughly the same as other ships. You go through various scenarios, and one of your main jobs (aside from firing weapons and steering and such) is to allocate that energy into different major aspects of your ships.

    If you're in battle, you allocate more energy to weapons and shields. If shields are down, you allocate your energy to weapons, but if you're seriously damaged, allocate it to the engines and flee. If you're traveling in relative safety, allocate more energy to engines. If you're traveling through a thick atmosphere, like that of a gas giant, allocate for shields. If your ship is damaged and you've either won the battle or fled to avoid destruction, allocate towards repairs.

    Certain circumstances are more common than others. So this game also had "macros." These were specific preset arrangements of energy allocation that you could select from a list, and the various levels of everything would automatically adjust for the ideal for that situation.


    Another example is money. When you make budget decisions, you allocate your money into different areas. Yet another example is time. You allocoate your time into different areas, but most people have roughly the same lifespans, wake-sleep cycles, etc. so roughly the same amount of time.

    Intelligence defined objectively, then, is IMO this:

    Intelligence: All-inclusive capacity of the brain to process, to think, generally equal for each member of a species.

    How smart you are in different areas by this theory is a matter of allocating the amount of intelligence you have as a human being into different areas. Each of us has our own "macro." And to a degree we can even choose to reallocate (we can take classes, practice, etc. new skills to become "smart" in new areas; the limit is basically our own personal taste that is more genetic).




    How do we allocate our brains?

    Personal taste drives most of the differences in how we use our intelligence. I am into "heady" things (as people call them, though just about everything involves the head :-P), like logic and observation and physics and suchnot, and into art and storytelling and stuff like this. Someone else might be more into mechanics -- as often comes up in Bionicle debates, heh and not be into fiction at all. Someone might be into cooking, another into psychology, etc. Whatever.

    IQ tests tend to be biased towards a particular type of this intelligence, especially spatial/mathematical/geometric/linguistic. They are written by people who think of themselves as smart, and are into written stuff and tests and whatnot. Other people who aren't into that sort of thing, naturally, aren't usually motivated to make up such tests. If they ever thought of making a test, it would come out quite differently.

    Doesn't make one actually smarter or the other not. It's simply allocation.


    Another factor that's often misunderstood is brain size. People think that big brain = smart. They think you can measure skulls and report on intelligence objectively (barring brain damage).

    Wrong. Big brain does generally equal more memory capacity (though I have a large brain and my memory sucks, so go figure). But it also equals slower processing speed (that's me man!). A smaller brain means you can come up with smart decisions way faster.

    This is why rats are smarter than donkeys. For example.

    Again, it's an allocation thing. Smaller means smarter in one way, larger means smarter in another.




    "WHAH? This Theory is BATty!"

    "But bones, but bones," you might be thinking, "What if some people ARE smarter than others, in addition to allocating their intelligence?"

    I realize that if we take the Klingon Warship analogy, it's possible that one ship will have more total energy to allocate around. If we take money, some have more, some have less. If we take time, some die early. Could it be this way with human intelligence?

    Well, that very well might be true. But my observation, as a "smart guy" (:-P) and an Observer of People Because I'm A Writer (an OPBIAW....) has been that it's generally not true.

    How to accurately measure this? No idea -- measurements are devised by people, and people have biases. Perhaps an IQ test that more accurately represented different types of intelligence could do this. I have heard countless news reports about other people noting the fallacies with IQ tests -- maybe reform in this area will happen soon. Maybe it's already happening and I've missed the news. :-P

    My sense is that all human beings tend to have about the same, nonetheless.



    Just look around, and more importantly look at yourself, when you've been told you're smart or when you've thought "I am dumb."

    At least for me, people tell me I'm smarter than average all the time, and yet there are lots of very average typical things that most people are capable of that I'm simply not. Mainly, I look at how fast people around me can react to things and it's amazing to me -- I am slow. Plus with an abysmal memory. People talk about the ways they forget things as they approach/reach their elderly years, and my reaction is, "Dude, that's been me since First Grade!"

    Yet other things for me are so easy it's like preschool to me that tons of grown adults can't even hope to do. Art, for instance. I just naturally know what to do when it comes to art -- barely even had any education in this area, though I must give cred to a particular genius (:-P) who used to work for Disney that wrote a book that helped me and whose name and book title I forget lol -- whereas other people say things like "I can't even draw a straight line." I remember (vaguely :-P) one time I drew a perfect circle when I was very young. A grown adult thought it was amazing. I thought that was amazing.

    I also remember one time at a fair or some such event (I forget lol) there was some challenge where you look in a mirror and move your finger across a five-point star backwards. I just did it instantly and thought nothing of it, but the person running the event was astounded, though it was later in the day and apparently many people had tried it. I was the first, she said, to do it right the first time, and easily at that. I didn't even need to hesitate, which is apparently unusual. And everybody around was similarly amazed, including my family.

    I was frankly astounded that everybody couldn't do it.

    If we're all honest with each other, we are all at various times amazed at what others' brains allow them to do compared to us, and also at times amazed that they can't do things we consider easy.

    Access your memory banks (it's probably easy for you :-P) and you'll see it's true. :-)




    Mental Handicaps

    What about mental illness or "handicaps"?

    Well, it might depend. Certainly many mental handicaps make normal living difficult. Many such people are way more dependant on normal people to survive than others.

    But many are also happier people. Us "smart" people tend to have a lot worse emotional outlooks and friendliness issues, or at least that's my understanding. Yet the so-called "handicapped" often seem to naturally grasp what we cannot -- that happiness is important. In this area, IMO many "mentally ill" people are healthier mentally than the so-called normal.

    It's a generalization, though, and maybe not even accurate overalll -- it's not like I've met every such person on the planet. Certainly brain damage does seem to make sense as something that would reduce overall intelligence. But I suspect it has more to do with the type of mental illness.

    For example, many result in a smaller percentage of the brain being used, yet that can also result in incredible skill in a particular area. Which makes sense given allocation -- their brain becomes less able to do anything, so it specializes in something. In that smaller area, brain signals have less ground to cover, which means faster thinking. So at least with that skill, they are thus smarter than most people.

    So on this issue, my conclusion is, I'm really not sure. But at the very least, us 'smart people' exaggerate how much smarter we are than the mentally handicapped.



    Mental Laziness

    There is also the matter of mental laziness. I DO think we can do a wrong by choosing NOT to think. Your genetic intelligence might just be fine, but you choose instead not even to use that brain you've got. Mental excercise, vitamins, and various such things also, of course, matter. These are choices that each individual makes -- something they have control over.

    Ultimately, our goals in terms of opinions and thought and such should always be to try to find the truth. If a person actually isn't wired to understand how to find a particular truth, fine -- but there's no excuse in my view for those who act offended that someone else has done a better job at finding the truth because they don't want to be reminded other people are "smarter." Trying to find the truth is something anyone can do, even if they ARE "dumb", and being willing to appreciate the mental work others have done and learn from them is important too.

    That's a pride issue, not an intelligence issue.


    On the other hand, there's also education to consider. If someone is never TOLD that they can think, they often actually believe it. And of course, if they are not given at least a basic logical education they're gonna have a harder time at life *ahem, folks who are in charge of education, ahem*.

    So in other words, even mental laziness might not be entirely the fault of the person.

    In general I advise a respectful, helpful attitude towards people you think aren't thinking as much as they should (and you might not know all their circumstances or time issues either). Condescension, I have concluded, almost never works anyways. I think this is a big part of why. (And I can say that from personal experience -- I've had a condescension problem for a long time and still something I struggle with. I can't think of a single time when it actually helped rather than hurt. Could be my memory.)




    Making Fun of the Dumb

    Alright, we all do it. Let's just get that admission out of the way. Hard not to sometimes. XD

    Personally, my rule of thumb is, if it's a true mental handicap, or even what I believe to be an allocation issue, it's really NOT funny.

    If it's mental laziness... well, on some levels it's sad, and maybe not their fault. On another level, sometimes you just have to laugh to keep your sanity, though. :-P


    But mean-spirited approaches to intelligence... against either dumb OR smart... even if we assume the BIT theory is right and my BAT theory is wrong for the most part... What's the point?

    I've always wondered this, you know, you see the typical teen of my generation make fun of someone they think is [insert intelligence-related insult here] in terms of genetic intelligence, insult them. Seriously, what the heck is the point of that? If it's genetic, why is smarter necessarily better and dumb necessarily worse? At least in any sense that it makes sense to make fun of them?

    I think that has more to do with maturity than intelligence -- frankly, it's stupid. :-P If the BIT theory is right, everybody's intelligence is different anyways, so the chances are, you're not all that bright yourself brainy. (Is my general reaction, heh.)

    AND! If human beings in general are concerned with finding the truth -- the ways of living that lead to peace and pleasurably lives for as many people as possible if not everyone -- then isn't the DUTY of the "smart" to use their intelligence to help the "less smart"? At least in my way of thinking, that is the case.

    For a "smart" person to make fun of the dumb is to proclaim "I don't want the help of others smart than ME, and I accept that they're allowed to make fun of me."



    For example, Einstein is credited with so much in science that has improved our understanding of the world -- his brilliance helped the rest of us. (Note that he's another key evidence of BAT -- he actually had a rare mental illness that made him strangely deficient in many normal areas. He had weaknesses that made even him equal to the rest of us (IMO), it's just that he allocated a lot into the areas of thinking that led to his original discoveries in science.)

    Genius inventors HELP the rest of us.




    Making Fun of the Allocated Different

    If my BAT theory is right, making fun of or looking down on others for being what we deem "dumb" makes even less sense. Our own allocation of our intelligence is basically arbitrary and beyond our control -- ruled by our genes for the most part and also often by our life situation, culture, etc.

    So if we are smart in a particular area, who are we to say that's the "right" area? What about the areas we're dumb in? Are we to be chided for being dumb in those areas? We usually reject those areas simply because they're "not me" -- but that's just how you happened to come out.

    What's more, society as a whole is most likely benefitted by variety, not hurt.

    Think about it -- if we were all clones of each other whose brains were all allocated into the same areas, then we would all have the exact same strengths and weaknesses.

    Strengths? Fine and dandy, we'd all have to compete for the same sorts of jobs (:-P) but as a society we'd be unshakable....

    In those areas.

    But if a society's weaknesses are not balanced by variety -- if everybody in a society cannot meet a particular challenge -- then that makes each member of that society extremely vulnerable.

    For example, if everybody was a farmer only, great, we'd have plenty of food. But what about times of draught? What about war? Where are your planners that stockpile food in case of shortage? Where are your strategists, those who can defend the farmers?

    We could propose that all humans would be farmers. So no wars -- at least not wars of any noticeable success. :-P Okay, wunderbar. But farming in ancient times before modern equipment was challenging, and the slightest weather or pest challenge could risk your very livelihood. In some areas farming is nigh-impossible.

    Engineers, inventors, chemists, traders, etc. all make life better for different people the globe over, taking food to those who cannot farm it, making equipment, pesticides, and crop additives that increase yield and thus improve security against disaster, and all manner of things. Farmers get intellectual and imaginative stiumulation from producers of art, fiction, TV, whatnot.

    We could even propose that everybody being farmers would NOT mean less war, but more -- when nature-caused disaster strikes, many might raid other farms. No food-allocation planners exist to provide food for those stricken with such luck, so the temptation to do that might be higher.

    With no philosophers to figure out that war is generally harmful to both sides more than helpful, with nobody to stem the need for war in the first place, with no variety, war just might be more rampant, more painful, thus deadlier, and to add insult to injury, with no historians or teachers to tell the farmers that such wars don't often have success, constant even when they fail all the time.


    In the real world, nobody's tastes are that narrowly defined, and overlaps occur often. In the areas of self-expression, you might think we wouldn't tolerate other people's tastes at all, but the human brain also tends to get bored with the same old, same old. We often WANT to see expressions of tastes totally different from our own, at least when we are honest about it, and we don't want to have to make it ourselves usually. It's more fun when you don't see it coming, when its source is beyond you.


    In other words, different people make the world a safer and more interesting place.

    I suggest gratitude towards those who are different from you.



    Benefits of BAT

    IF I'm right (and the truth matters, certainly), then the benefits are multifold. I doubt I'm thinking of all of them. :-P


    For one, we can get off this ridiculous "you stupid person hahaha!" train. At least for genetic intelligence. And even in the other cases, it's really hard to instantly know whether someone actually is dumber than you objectively. You might think so at first, but what if YOU'RE the one allocated poorly for the subject in question -- what if the other person is the wise and you the fool? Does making fun of the 'dumb' really make sense, given this?

    As a result, we could have a much more peaceful world where we see a simple and very important reason to respect others. Most of us claim we want peace -- this is a HUGE way we could make it.

    (If we all believe it and practice it. Which, I know *sigh* is unlikely. But each of us can take up this standard for ourselves, and set an example for others. :-))



    Self-esteem makes a heck of a lot more sense under the BAT theory. You might not seem as smart as other people... but you ARE! You just might not have yet found out in which way you are.

    Don't let people tell you you're dumb. Don't believe it. Don't tell yourself you're dumb. You are smart. :-)




    It becomes easier to not just tolerate but respect and appreciate different people's preferences and tastes. You see something you don't like, and instead of writing it off as dumb and whining about how miserable you are, it can actually be interesting to you on some level. You can learn to appreciate and even be fascinated by other people's differences.



    It becomes easier to have an open mind. When someone says something you disagree with, it's harder to justify writing it off as "dumb." It gives you pause.

    Forces you to think.

    "What if they're right? What are the reasons they are this way? Is this just a taste difference and it's subjective? Or are they better able to understand something objective that I'm missing? Can I learn from them?"



    Debate becomes a lot more respectful and useful. Debate is no longer about showing off who's smart and who's dumb for pride reasons. It's just about who's correct and who's not. (And IMO even that isn't right -- it's about WHAT is true and WHAT is false, not about the "who" at all -- but that's another issue.)




    Summary

    Most people think there are "smart" people, "dumb" people, and a range in between. They believe in "I have a higher IQ so I'm smarter" kinds of thinking.

    Methinks that's false.

    I think everybody has roughly the same amount of intelligence, but we allocate it into different areas. We channel it in different ways.

    Some are artists, some are engineers, some are tacticians, others are one thing, still others another, and everybody has so many different tastes and strengths and weaknesses in so many different combinations...

    But objectively, all are (roughly) the same level of intelligence.

    And IQ tests are biased.

    End summary. 'Sthat short enough?
  13. bonesiii
    Today the Bones Blog brings you the first part my reactions, analysis, predictions etc. about the 2009 sets we've seen pics of thus far. All set images are taken from the Official 2009 Story Topic and approved by Black Six for use on BZPower. This part deals with the best of the 2009 lineup (in my opinion/tastes at least) -- the Glatorian.


    Please note that I only skimmed the comments and glanced at the images of the actual sets that some members have posted in the Sets Forum -- I believe it is essential that a set be judged based on its marketing images alone before such in-hand reviews are considered, as those are what really sell the set vast majority of the time, by kids and/or parents just walking down the toy aisle and picking sets whose images stand out at them. (Besides, I don't have time right now.) So if my analysis seems to be glaringly lacking knowledge from those topics to you, that is why.


    Finally, note that I will try to differentiate from my personal tastes and my opinions about how most fans will react to the sets. Apologies if that is unclear in any part -- chances are if it is, I am speaking only of my own tastes and should not be construed as an insult to anyone else.


    I won't comment on the hands here except to say that I strongly, strongly support this move and hope it continues and improves in future sets. I'll be doing a "History of Hands in Bionicle" blog entry soon that will deal with this.



    I'll begin with my top fave -- Vorox. Three things make this set immediately stand out. Okay, four, I suppose.

    One. The face. Is. Awesomeness. Incarnate. Times. Five. Thousand. Million.



    This is a coolified face! It is so cool, I could change virtually nothing about it when I coolified the six Glatorian faces for avs. Just... sheer perfection in terms of ruthless elegance.

    Two, the scorpion tail. Plain old humanoids get old fast (IMT), so it's nice to see the return of a canister set that has a more animalistic appearance. (This most likely will make him a villain judging by patterns of both set design and kids' preconceptions we've seen before, though the arena-battle setup of 2009 story might make the definition of that a bit obscure.)

    Three. The brown-doom prophets have been proven wrong yet again. Exactly as I predicted, Bitil's yellow represents a range of variety for canister sets, not the end of brown.

    Four -- what's more, it's both brown and tan, a color I personally have thought waaaay underused in Bionicle, and one I suspect will sell a bit better than normal brown. The blending effect between the two looks great.

    The rest of Vorox is pretty standard, except that he showcases the only new armor piece I see in the Glatorian:



    It's a nice addition to the armor collection.

    Here's Vorox's thornax projectile. It's a nice combination of Kanoka disks and Zamor spheres in functionality, and I love the idea of the spiky fruit design and story.



    I predict Vorox will sell a little better than the traditional brown sets, and his rad-cool villainey appearance just might make up for the color scheme enough that he will sell on the level of the other sets. Whereas I usually predict that the brown set will sell worst of the set despite my and many BZPer's love of the color scheme, this time I think all six will sell roughly equally well.

    Of course, if I am wrong and Vorox does sell particularly poorly despite all the benefits, the brown-doom prophets might become right after all and brown will disappear entirely. (One alternative would be to be cautious to only use brown in combo with a popular color like red or blue, though, which I would actually love even more.)



    Gresh is my second-fave, due to the tool. I wanted to focus first on the canister though, as I like the color scheme of this canister best. The canister top is another fine addition to a collection -- Bionicle's canister styles have remained interesting since 2001, for the most part.



    I still think Bionicle could try out the cardboard box mixed with plastic decorations style of canister through to lower the price a little, maybe even make it a cardboard cylinder -- it would still be distinctive. But with gas prices down right now that's probably not important.

    Of the six canister pic backgrounds, I like Gresh's the most. Wanted to showcase the background only, so here's a view of it with every other detail blacked out:



    Gresh's tool is the highlight of the set IMT and the best Bionicle tool I have ever seen. I love its resemblance to a cool leaf, as I mentioned in my Coolology entry about autumn leaves. I also like that it can be held with one half in one hand too.



    Best part about it to many people will most likely be the colored tool. Finally, finally, finally, we see the end of the silver-only trend. Yes, I know 2005 had colored weapons, but they were done so poorly for the most part (IMO) they don't really compare to the 2001 weapons. (Sorry... "tools." ) Also, many of them were combos with silver. And yes, I know there are silver tools too. But this is the first time since 2001 that some of the weapons have been both cool in design and totally colored in such numbers, IMO/IMT.

    I hope it works -- I like silver tools, but the occasional totally colored tool rocks too. (Color -to-color mixes make 'em even better!)

    Gresh's face is a tad disappointing IMT -- it doesn't come close to comparing in coolness to Vorox's face.



    On the plus side, it's still a lot cooler than your typical Kanohi mask IMT and features color shifts, which I always support. Also, its lack of "coolness" to me might be seen as a greater heroism to most fans, so I doubt it will negatively impact sales.

    In that image you also see the Tahu armor/blades, used correctly this time IMO to make cool shoulder decorations. Those are awesome pieces that work as "spine-decorations" and as claws, a move I strongly support. I still think they look a little awkward as armor (as Gresh's legs use again), but they're "okay" in that use too. I am glad to see them used flexibly in that use -- too rarely do set designers showcase their ability to use pieces flexibly IMO. So I'm fine with it.

    And the arm armor piece there is one of my faves.

    Finally, Gresh uses my all-time favorite piece as feet:



    I predict Gresh will sell in the top three of the Glatorian.



    Strakk is so awesome he might upset the traditional red-blue-green-whiteandblack-brown sales success pattern.

    Here we see coolification used in the face and shoulders more than on any other set or even piece ever, IMO. I like him third behind Gresh and Vorox only due to the unfortunate use of several clumsy and unattractive pieces IMT, but I'll get to that. First, the awesomeness:



    I strongly support the shoulder piece used as chest armor there too BTW. Armor is something too many past canister sets have lacked. Glad to see it present in all but two Glatorians -- and on them I don't think it detracts. (Vorox's torso design flows well, and Skrall's torso design is so unique it is probably better sans armor.)

    Now here's his torso shown properly along with his leg armor, using another of my favorite armor pieces.



    In my judgement, the designers are doing an awesome job of mostly only bringing forward the best of the best of limb armor from past years to combat clonism, while dropping less attractive pieces. (If only they'd do this with feet -- I abhore that lumpy round Inika foot that won't die -- but maybe I'm either weird on that or we just don't have enough feet yet to replace them. )

    And of course, note the bent torso. I'm very foggy on how exactly, from the pic, that is put together, but here's a zoom.



    This shows what appears to be a gear! Have the designers done as I proposed in my Bring Back Gears entry?! Bringing a gearlike system back in just one canister set? I dunno, but it looks interesting. (Here's where anybody who knows from the in-hand reviews gets to show off their knowledge in a comment. )

    Strakk suffers IMT from the lump-foot, and unfortunately from a massive but clumsy ax design:


    I like the basic idea of it, don't get me wrong... but the superthin handle combined with uncool blade backing make it look impossible to actually hold. It looks like he is balancing a baseball bat by its narrow tip instead of firmly gripping a powerful ax.

    I would have rectified this easily by flipping the down-pointing blade backing up, so it could act as a spear of sorts or just turned it into a symmetrical two-blade design, aligning the X-ish stretching effect area symmetrically so it looked cool instead of totally random, and maybe made a bottom half to the handle that came out below the hand piece so it looked like he was gripping the handle, not balancing it on its tip. Really, just making the X effect symmetrical would have done the trick IMO.


    I predict Strakk's sales to be unpredictable. :-P The super super super coolness of the shoulders and head just might put it ahead even of the red set as the best set ever. Or the fact that it's white might make it sell mediocrely as in the past, but I doubt it given the abundance of iceblue in it.

    All I know is, despite my lack of cash it will hard to resist buying him in addition to Vorox and Gresh.


    The next three I have no preference for over the others, so I guess they tie for fourth. I'll begin the with obvious best-seller, Malum.



    Malum's body design and limb design is, IMO, perfection. He has the bulky look combined with that could come across as a powerful top-notch hero OR or a great villain, so either way I predict his sales will be stellar. In the story it sounds like he will fittingly be somewhat in between a villain and a good guy.

    He suffers in my personal ranking only because I would have wanted a cooler face and I am just biased against red. I will concede that if ever red was done perfectly, it is here. Like Strakk, I will have difficulty NOT buying him.

    The face:



    I really like the concept of this face, but it is just dissappointing to me that they didn't go as far with it as they did with Vorox or Strakk. I would compare it to most of the Makuta 2008 sets, but better than all but Krika. But it doesn't take us to a level above even the sheer awesomeness of Krika. Maybe I'm spoiled, but I was hoping for that.

    I would have widened it and made the flames brighter like Strakk's ice in coloration/contrast, and more clearly orange fading into yellow instead of red fading into orange. (Basically, what I did in the coolified av. )

    BTW, though I assume all the 2009 faces are like this underneath, I love the trans-skull appearance of the face. A step up from Hordika eye structures, way better than Inika faces though similar, and yet something inventive beyond the typical Metru/Mata/Tohunga/etc. faces. Good.

    On to the tools:



    Best fire tools ever, no doubts there, and better than most other tools. IMT I still like Gresh's better, but hey. I strongly suspect many fans will see this as the best tool ever bar none.

    Beyond just the cool design and color blending, what I like is the feeling it gives off that he is clenching fiery clawed fists and punching forward at the same time. It gives a great sense of motion to this set, more than any other.

    Like on the head, I would have prefferred a brighter take on the flames. It's a little hard at first glance to see that they are flames since they blend in with the rest of the set. What I'd really love is trans orange fading to trans yellow. (Or better yet, vice versa more like a real flame). Alas. But perhaps someday.

    Like I said, Malum will definately sell best of the six, unless Strakk's best aspects carry him to a surprise first.






    Skrall's shield and weapons are freakin awesome. This is nearly the ideal use of red IMT -- sparingly and contrasted with black or a similar dark color. The maze design of the shield is like nothing we have ever seen in Bionicle before -- I applaud this loudly. Well, imagine I'm applauding loudly anyways -- I'm not actually clapping.

    And that aspect in the tool looks good too.

    What interests me most about the Skrall once I get past the awesomeness of the red lines is the apparently technological feel these tools give off. They remind me of old insectoid alien spaceship LEGO lines. In a good way. It gives me pause though -- Bionicle fans might not be attracted to the look. I dunno.

    Perhaps I'm simply misinterpreting and it's really just another take on the mechanical styles of yesteryear with red lines thrown in for decoration.

    Regardless, I personally love it. For these pieces alone I will aaaaalso have difficulty not buying this one. Yeah, same for Tarix, for those of you who are detecting a pattern here. :-P

    And I love love love the blade/tool pieces used on the shoulders. I'm a big proponent of "spiky shoulders" wherever they can be used.

    The rest of the set is alright, but doesn't strike me as awesome. Perhaps this is unfair, as he uses the Vorox armor pieces and my favorite feet:



    But the other red pieces feel excessive in color to me, the torso design, while innovative, doesn't strike me greatly, and the face is very dissapointing in that it doesn't carry the same awesome red line decorations the tools do.



    Now, again, the torso design is innovative. It goes away from the humanoid cliche. So it's fine. And like I said, maybe it doesn't need extra bulk in the form of chest armor (I'm not certain, but that might BE a limb armor piece used as armor there). If you like the skinny animalistic style of torso, similar to Takadox, this should appeal to you. Personally it doesn't all that much -- I just appreciate the uniqueness of it.

    I would have made all structural pieces black, and used black-with-red-lines chest and limb armor pieces to bulk him up, if it was me.

    The head is VERY difficult to make out from the image. Here's a zoom of it.



    I like the elongated look, and it is -- miracle of miracles -- actually posed correctly for an elongate head so you can actually see that it IS elongate, unlike the unfortunate case of Mantax. And I also like the rock effect on the forehead, though it looks more like random nonsense when not zoomed in.

    I just think this head should have been waaaay better. It should have had red line decorations. The rock effect should have been colored differently with a blending effect, probably with grays, like Strakk/Gresh/Malum's color blends. Finally, I think it would have looked better with the saw-blade spike effects as are seen on the shield. (Again, all the above was used in my coolified Skrall avs).


    I predict Skrall's sales won't be off-the charts, but also won't be too bad. The red will definately help.





    Part 1 ends, fittingly, with the first ever set colored in Bones Blog colors. On a selfish note I applaud the set designers for that alone. :-P Biggest reason I will have trouble not buying this set.

    This is a great face -- if all you want in a 2009 set is a typical Ga-Toa Kanohi design. That's what it looks like to me. I like the design, don't get me wrong. But it's also all one color, unlike Gresh/Malum/Strakk, and given the orange and silver so prevalent in the rest it is immensely dissapointing to me that the mask is not representative of those. I believe a canister set's face should, ideally, represent the rest of the set in color scheme.

    It's also the only of these six faces not to at least go a little beyond the typical Kanohi we've seen before. It looks like an Ingika. Now, if this IS the Ignika I'll eat my words as it's supposedly going to be in a set this year. :-P But even Gresh's face went beyond Kanohi with a color mix. Here's there's nothing. Just a cool masklike design in totally blue.

    On the plus side in that category it does plug in Mahri-style to a gray tube that helps a little in this category. (In my coolified version I replaced the tube with several silver spikes and added orange bits.)

    The essence of this set is in the shoulders:



    That is just perfection. The blue and orange works great together, and the spikes are an awesome twist on the always-great spiky shoulder look. The silver works well with this color scheme. And nice to see those holes in the shoulder pieces actually used for something -- again, the set designers finally showing a lot of flexibility in piece usage. I'll even forgive the use of the IMO-ugly Metru leg pieces for arms. They work here.

    On to the tool, which is horribly hard to make out in the pose of this image -- I've shown it with background and cut out from the background for clarity:



    It's decent. I like the design just fine, except I would have made the "stick" handle into something blue and something fancier. I'm torn about the light blue. On the one hand, it looks elemental well. Fine fine. On the other hand, though, it's a fifth color in addition to the three main colors and the inexplicably yellow eyes. Too much color going around. I think a dark trans-blue would have looked better -- and even better yet, blue fading into the lightblue would have made the fifth color tolerable and even cool.

    (And the yellow eyes reeeeally should be orange. Three colors should be the maximum of any color scheme.)



    I predict Tarix will sell in the top three too, unless Strakk upsets the usual order.



    Now, I promised something more about the weapon; I've saved it for this one as Tarix's pose clearly shows off the weapon:



    Here's a zoom of the same image:



    IMT/IMO, this is the absolute best projectile launcher EVER.

    Why? It's super-simple, it's cool, it looks effective, and it also looks excellently MOCable.

    Previously I have judged the Zamor launcher to be the best launcher ever. Kanoka launchers were close behind, with the Vahki-mouth launcher being the best (but never used the way IMO it should have been as a handheld launcher far cooler than the Matoran's). The others fall somewhat in line behind that with the squiddy taking last place.

    This launcher looks to be made of five simple pieces -- two of them pins and one the thornax ammo itself. It is constructable like the Zamor and unlike the squid launcher, yet not confusingly complex to construct like the Vahki heads. What I like best is that unlike any previous launcher, the two halves appear to be totally seperatable pieces, not a single piece.

    It looks to be fired like a Kanoka launcher, but takes it a step up in that it can apparently be fired at any angle. Up, down, tilted, it doesn't matter. Even the Zamor launcher could not be fired properly tilted unless you held the firing pin in a bit to prevent the ammo from falling out.

    On top of it all, the pieces could be used tons of ways in MOCs and maybe even future sets as decorative spikes, parts of titan armor, whatever! Even the Zamor's base piece couldn't be used as flexibly as these pieces -- which is why simple is sometimes best.

    I'm assuming it's silver rubber like the squid launcher -- not sure -- but either way wouldn't matter to me in this case. The only sure downside is the lack of any possibility of an ammo clip as with the Zamor, but I think the rest of it more than makes up for this.



    In general these canister sets are definately up to par with the best of yesteryear and I would say that all of go at least a little beyond previous sets (Krika maybe being the exception, but he was just a few months ago). Some of them take the sets way beyond anything we've seen before, and I predict these will sell better than Bionicle has ever seen before.


    A bit of a story note that answers a set-related concern I've had before. 2008 tried out the "split release" approach of breaking the hero and villain teams of six into two, releasing them 3 against 3. This was great as it allowed for kids to buy two sets right away and roleplay immediately, instead of having to wait six months before they could start proper roleplaying with heroes vs. villains. It was a brilliant idea -- or perhaps one they should have thought of long ago. :-P

    But I worried that its plausibility would go down in the future. Could we accept that every single year the situation would just so happen to require our heroes to split up into two teams of three? Could we accept that in addition to that the villains would think of the same thing?

    This year's approach appears to be that at least for this first half, all six are members of a free-for-all gladiator system. It isn't crystal clear at this time who is good and who is bad (it seems that the Skrall are the only ones that are clear villains, but that's just from comments I've seen in the 2009 topic, don't quote me on it being official fact). This "muddies the waters" enough that it's perfectly plausible, and doesn't even remind me immediately of the 2009 system.

    In short, 2009's first half looks like it will be a self-contained story similar to the Bohrok Kal and Rahkshi halves of 2003, but with both good and bad in one half. This is a pattern I could see plausibly extending forever.

    No idea what 2009 summer will bring us, but this sets a good precedent.


    Finally, everybody and their brother always points out the multicolored pins in all sets. I didn't see these as conflicting in any way with these six sets, so I bring it up only as a nod to the many that seem unable not to get all worked up over the ease-of-building color code system of today. I have seen some as conflicting in the past but they seem tolerable here. Maybe it's just the poses.


    And that's all I've got for now. Due to the number of images above my reactions to the other sets will be in a different blog entry, hopefully coming soon.

    Comments?
  15. bonesiii

    Captain Of Treason

    By bonesiii,

    All 21 chapters of the Bionicle Paracosmos epic Captain of Treason have been posted! Enjoy! Any reviews would be appreciated and enjoyed. And thanks to all who have reviewed so far, and to all the readers!

    Got not much more to say right now, as I have only 'bout half an hour till ye olde weekend paper job starts, after Christmas stuff and all. Twisted Island has reached the "point of no return" winding up to the climax in the writing; the setups for the epic after it have pretty been put in and most of the side character threads have been resolved; it's just time for the two main characters threads to end with a bang. (And I have no freakin idea how it'll end! )

    So, Merry Christmas everyone!

    [Republish to say I've replied to all the reviews so far. Any more comin'? ]
  16. bonesiii
    Random updates:

    1) I'm now a member of the Premier Poll-Making Squad. Even though I'm technically not Premier. But I love making polls and I promise to do my best to fulfill requests as fast as humanly possible. So feel free to PM 'em to me!

    "Let them come...."


    2) It hasn't begun yet, but the rules for the S&T Contest #5: Bionicle Time Capsule have been posted. Begins officially Jan 1 2009. Basic idea is to create a commemmoration of all eight years of Bionicle thus far, now that the first chapter has ended. And virtually any type of entry is allowed.

    The reason the rules are posted so early is that it's something I wanted to give people time to prepare for. Yes, I ended that sentence with a preposition. *grammar rebel!1!!!!1!*


    3) Been writing Epic #4 Twisted Island a ton lately. It's not done, but things are speeding towards the end. I've just yesterday written every single one of the winning Bones Blog contest beasts into the story (although I haven't worked the honorable mention "Parawins" in yet... I guess I really should, eh? ). As for any other details... I can't tell you. *see below entry *



    4) And also been doing a ton of artwork. Mainly, coolified Glatorian avs. Also, the logo for the S&T contest. See below images for topic linkage. Wouldn't mind some more posts in 'em, BTW.

    Coolified Glatorian Avs:


    Coolified Glatorian Avs 2:


    Coolified Mata Nui Face & Island Mask Avs, Banners, Wallpaper:


    5) Snow! :happydance: :happydance: :happydance:


    6) Put up a bunch of images for Captain of Treason in the Review Topic, including an awesome MOC of Rathoa made by Pekel secretly for me years ago. Also some other never-before seen art, along with the usual past art of characters the epic shares with past stories.


    7) Am updating CoT twice weekly now, usually around Monday and Thursday. And would love more reviews -- put a ton of hard work into that epic.


    8) Plan on doing a lot more art soon; we'll see.




    -------------THIS ENTRY BROUGHT TO YOU BY:---------------

  18. bonesiii
    Here's what I've settled on for the next blog contest. Invent a mysterious and terrifying Bionicle monster. I will write an adventure mystery short story using the winning monster as the antagonist.

    I'll set it on Metru Nui during 2006-2008. The Matoran hero from my RPG, Hujo, will be the protagonist. He will have to try to figure out the identity of this monster as it wreaks havoc while trying to remain mysterious and unseen by its victims. Similar to the LOST Monster. It will be another bonus Paracosmos short story.

    But what IS the monster? That's up to you guys.

    Here's what I'm looking for:

    1) Make an image of your monster in Powerpoint and post it here. Here's my guides on powerpoint art again:

    Powerpoint Art Guides:
    ● Vector Art In Powerpoint: Quality, Inexpensive, Easy
    ● Coolifying With Powerpoint Vector Art

    2) Tell me about its powers, motives, etc. in a bio in your post.

    3) Please note that this has to be a bad guy.

    4) As per Bones Blog tradition, you may enter up to three different monsters. Only one monster will win out of all the entries, though.

    5) No, you can't copy off the LOST Monster.

    The short story will be posted in the Library and in a blog entry. The winner will be revealed through the story -- I'll make it as mysterious as I can. I will judge both on the art and on quality of the story, and I will announce which ones I thought came close, with commentary on them and the winner, in a seperate entry.

    Contest is open again until noon next Wednesday (Dec 17)..

    [Deadline extended two weeks.]

    [Deadline extended another week.]

    Have fun!

    Here are three random example monsters, with bios in spoiler tags:

    Foliage Monster Hiding
    Foliage Monster

    Bio:
    » Click to show Spoiler - click again to hide... «This giant mutant Fikou Spider blends in with foliage, thanks to its green fur. Shown here with eyes open, it usually closes its narrow eyes and senses prey by ground vibrations and sound. When its prey comes near, it strikes! As a normal Fikou spider, it was released from the Archives 1000 years ago during the Great Cataclysm. Visorak venom mutated it -- eventually it settled into this form. The venom drove it insane, and it has a paranoid, frantic personality. It was also given Mute power, so its victims' cries for help cannot be heard. Now that the city is being repopulated, its paranoia has driven it to capture Matoran with a vengeance. Its venom renders the prey mute and disoriented -- it usually imprisons them in a deep hole to be eaten later. For now, it has enough Rahi trapped to feed on, but will the Matoran be rescued in time?

    Nightwindow Monster

    Bio:
    » Click to show Spoiler - click again to hide... «Origins unknown, this monster hides underwater at day, but at night it hovers outside Metru Nui skyscrapers. It sends blue energy tendrils right through window glass, and destroys anything in its path. It eats fish, so its attacks have nothing to do with food. It is an intelligent and evil being who can sense fear. It doesn't feed on fear -- it merely enjoys sensing fear. At all times it tries hard to avoid being identified -- its attacks are sudden, and last mere seconds. It leaves furniture, machines, and inner walls in ruin in its wake. Thus far no serious injuries have happened, but nobody knows when it will go too far.

    Rhotuka Serpent

    Bio:
    » Click to show Spoiler - click again to hide... «Recently, a Makuta was spotted by Takanuva off Metru Nui's shores. Soon after, bursts of light began attacking Metru Nui's structures, weakening them even as the Matoran tried to rebuild. At first, some worried that Takanuva himself had turned against them, but eventually the bursts were found to come from strange yellow Rhotuka. The spinners were designed differently from normal Rhotuka, allowing them to maneuver fast and quiet through ground plants long distances before flying up to attack their actual targets. This made it nearly impossible to find out where the Rhotuka were coming from. In fact, they came from the Rhotuka Serpent, a new creation of that Makuta. In addition to slowing the rebuilding, the serpent has a connection to the Makuta attacking Karda Nui, draining away some of the light that hits them when a Midak sphere is fired at them. The main benefit to the Makuta is that when the mystery is finally solved, it will only reinforce the idea that the Makuta don't want Mata Nui awakened... which is exactly what they want the Toa to think...

    ---------THIS CONTEST SPONSORED BY:---------

  22. bonesiii

    Another Extension?

    By bonesiii,

    Should I have yet another extension for the Monster Mystery .ppt art contest that ends in about half an houred at noon today?
     
    I've realized one month was too short a time to be fair in the first place -- should have gone with sommat more like two months. If I do this, editing entries you've already entered is fair game, for the record.
     
    This would be another week only, though, with no chance for another extension. I'll compensate by making sure all future art contests here have two month entry periods.
     
    Any objections?
     
     
    And BTW, EW, this was the shortest Bones Blog entry ever.
  25. bonesiii

    Only One Day Left!

    By bonesiii,

    Deadline Extension! Enter by December 9th!

    Counting today, that's only five days away. Work work work and enter in time!

    Edit: It was five days left. Now it's one! Hurry!

    Contest ends at noon tomorrow!
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