Zorrakh

I may be interested in a couple of sets, but I've got a couple questions:First, what instructions do you have for the sets, if any?Second, regardless of the first question, would you be willing to break down the sets completely?Thanks.

What exactly do you mean by this?If you listen to music of today, you'll hear that there's not much there in terms of notes and interaction between instruments, as well as a lack of energy. But Cryoshell seems to have more going on in those terms, at least compared to, say, contemporary rock.

Oh. Sorry. Maybe Lhikan was a Matoran before Tahu was created, then it would work. If it's any consolation, Lhikan would be my second choice. It's a close second because Lhikan had a few difficult choices to make and he seemed a lot more stoic compared to most other Toa.

If I recall correctly, I'm pretty sure Tahu is the elder . . .Anyways, I chose Tahu because he had very difficult decisions to make, especially when he took charge as the overall Toa leader when Teridax conquered the Matoran Universe; the decisions he had to make during that time were not easy. Not only that, but he had to be a Toa leader without knowning/remembering what other leaders have done before him during the 2001-2003 events.

Yes to the first person. It does make sense why that's the case, since most of the sets actually are humanoid. Yes to the second. The designers wanted to have a more skeletal construction than with Bionicle, and when the new construction style was released and talked about the in videos on the website, they were showing all the various cratures they could make with the same parts and I have been looking forward to that (we've gotten a little bit of that, but I want more).I chose 'Other' for the third question because I belive they should have a nice mixture of both. I don't wish to have an entire wave of non-humanoids for Hero Factory (but I wouldn't mind it if they created another line using the Ultrabuld), however I don't want an all-humanoid wave. A nice mixture of the two would be nice for Hero Factory.

ChocolateFrogs just messaged me yesterday, so he's at least getting everything settled. Speaking of MOCs, when are the BBC results going to be posted, if you don't mind my asking?

I don't believe that they are playable (at least on the PC version), and I'm guessing that those are only rumours, unfortunately.

I have had a pretty similar experience. I've always liked their songs and I finally got around to buying the album download a couple of years ago. I don't particularly like contemporary music, and Cryoshell has composed music that sounds good. While many other bands focus on the instruments rather than the actual composition, I believe that Cryoshell just puts in more effort on the composition, which is something I really like. Although I might regret saying this, but these are the songs I practiced on to sing falsetto and now I can sing the same voice range as Mrs. Lorentzen. My favorite song is probably the acoustic version of Trigger, which unfortunately isn't available for download. My second favorite is probably Come to my Heaven.

Since it's pretty inexpensive, I'd recomend getting it. Although from gameplay and storyline wise aspect it isn't great, the landscapes and music make it well worth the purchase. I actually have the music on my MP3 player and am currently playing through it just to look around at all the stuff. I should mention that the PC one for me has only worked on a fullscreen monitor and not a widescreen one. If you have the two screens together make sure that the fullscreen monitor is the only one that is displaying.

turtleman: Thanks. In robot mode it's about three feet (give or take a couple inches).Takanuinuva: Thanks. Is there anything in particular that you like?FF Ice Master: Thanks. Unfortunately, there are a few things I can think of that could use improvement. Ranubis: Thanks. It takes a lot of patience and parts. TNG Prime: Thanks. I decided to start with the Robot mode because a lot more people liked it in Beast Mode and I wanted to save the best for last. I wish I could have gotten the wheels to fold out (it can), but there wasn't really a way to get it to support the weight.The whole scale was actually based off of the turbines (I had been wanting to do something with those inverted treads for three years) and the wheels, and I think it worked out for the most part. I was shooting for trying to get it to stand on its own, but there is just too much weight and lack of a good center of balance and I don't have enough of those large click joints.Yeah, I need to work on the hindquarters.Instead of making it like Megatron from Beast Wars, I decided to just base it off of the general structure, since there are plenty of official Transformers toys that are retools (slightly modified versions) of other molds, and I didn't have nearly enough purple and brown.Unfortunately, there is a stand for the Robot mode, but it doesn't look too obvious in the pictures.The tail, aside from the first three sections, was actually pretty easy to make, as I knew I wanted to make it more skeletal so as to cut down on the weight. The claw does snap, yessssss...Thanks again.Killer_Myr: Thanks. Unfortunately, something on this scale is really hard to get to stand on its own, mostly due to the fact that the center of balance is wonky and I don't have enough of those large Technic click joints for the waist. The torso and limbs are actually pretty accurate to the Hasbro mold, as I watched reviews of the figure many times to get the correct scale so that everything would line up; I would have been pretty lost otherwise. The arms are just a tad thin, I think, like you said, however the because of the way they fold up in Beast Mode it is difficult to get any more thickness added to it.I've got another idea for a large Transformer, but I first have to see if I have the right parts to build it, so I'll probably work on that before I make any modifications to this one (which I do plan to do).Thanks again.Sybre: Soul Shinipire: Thanks. It took about two-and-a-half months to construct (I started in January and finished in mid-March), however I had been looking at reviews, pictures, and transformation instructions prior to that. I was waiting for my family and I to take down the Christmas tree so there'd be enough room for me to build and for us to walk through the room. Thanks again.EDIT: I just found out there's a limit to the amount of Emoticons used. I think that says a lot.

Please Click for a Larger PictureGallery (When Public)Robot ModeTorsoTop view with turbines unfoldedHead side viewArmLeg side viewTailClaw (Can be opened and closed)Looking down the barrelTransformation1 (Back panels removed for easier transformation and picture-taking)23456 (Beams removed to rotate torso and replaced in next step)78 (Back panels reattached to ball sockets, legs removed for easier transformation and picture-taking)9 (Back panels need to be "zipped up" and connected to side panels) 1011 (Tail connects to top section and bottom section using pins)1213Beast ModeHeadTop | 2Turbines unfoldedSize comparison with Tahu MataI started this the first of January and finished it the fourteenth of March, so it took about two and a half months to build... Yeah... I had it built for Bricks by the Bay 2012 in Silicon Valley, CA and it won the Best Bionicle/Hero Factory Villain. Many of the children loved it and a lot of adults did, too, including other attendees and those that were there for the public day. I transformed it a couple of times there.It takes about 15-20 minutes for me to transform it.It is very heavy. Height in Robot Mode is about three feet, and in Beast Mode length is about four feet. As far as I can tell, this is the largest TransforMOC ever created. The tail would connect to the hand in Robot Mode, however it can't support the extra unbalanced weight.The main influence for this is Transmetal Megatron from Beast Wars, who is the best Megatron, yesss...Robot Mode | Beast Mode | InstructionsI'll take some more pictures and upload them later. Please post your comments and thanks for looking.

Oooooooooooh... OK. I originally thought that only the public was voting and that it was switched over to BZP, but now that I think about it that sounds kind of stupid. Thanks, Ballom. Now go enjoy the rest of the convention!

Congratulations to the wildcards, and good luck to the rest of the contestants. You base your vote on something lacking HF pieces? That makes absolutely no sense.Also, number three lacks HF pieces too.~B~There are just a few Hero Factory pieces in mine, specifically the spikes on the arms and the neck pieces, but other than that the rest is purely pre-Hero Factory.And yeah, voting solely on lack of Hero Factory parts is not exactly the best way to vote for a contest like this, since that is not related to the contest. Using HF =/= HF Based. Every entry is still Bionicle Based.~B~I wish Tomaku, while there are Hero Factory pieces in most of the entries, they are all still Bionicle-based entries. It's the same concept as saying that some Ninjago sets that have some Technic pieces are still System-based. Besides, the staff have decided that all the entries that were put in the polls were considered to be things that could be (or, in the case of entry number 1, actually is) in the Bionicle Universe.Anyways, I think I recalled reading that the public would be voting on the entries. Did it not get approved by the staff at Brickfair (I'm guessing that's what happened)?

I finally get a chance to review this. The thing that certainy stands out the most is the symmerty. Not only the side-to-side symmetry but aslo the front-to-back, which can be very difficult to do (and is in fact not done very much). The torso looks very solid and I like the use of the Rahkshi spine bases as well as the other Rahkshi parts; they create very smooth lines for the chest and back. The Metru Nui matoran torsos, while they look pretty cool on the sides, seem to get in the way of the arms. The Hero Factory chest pieces on the top section, however it's a shame about the rubber bands. The light gray pins in the Rahkshi spine pieces stick out a bit, too; black pins might have been a better choice.The legs look have a nice shape to them, although it looks like there is not much movement in the hips. It should make it very easy to stand up, though. The way the Vahki joints attach to the lower legs is very cool but a little exposed. If there was a way to build a shin guard up to there that would have helped with that. The Xplode shoulder armors pieces look very cool on the lower legs and the bright orange/yellow doesn't clash with the rest of the Moc. The Hero Factory feet look good, too, but they might be just a little too small. That is not much of an issue, though.Arms look nice and solid. I like the incorporation of the Bohrok pieces in the shoulders. The only thing that bothers me is the shortness of the lower arms. They look almost stubby, however the Hero Factory parts work well in spite of that.Overall, good job. Hopefully this will be one of the wildcards.

I know it's a little late, but Happy Independence Day!

According to Canon, apparantly all the Sakdi on Zakaz have been exmperimented upon by Spiriah, and one of the side effects was an extremely short temper along with new powers. That's the only reason I suggeed it in the first place (female Skakdi are even more vicious than the males, and just look at the Piraka ).As I said, I appreciate the mythology because I've always loved it. It might be different for other people, but I wouldn't know because they haven't posted yet. I'm going to post the banner and a link to this in my signature to get some word out; maybe that will help, although I think I hardly know as many people as you do, but I might as well try, if you don't mind.Anyways, I was actually wondering the other day (some time after you posted the prologue) where Chazok went off to since the Tales of Terra Nui. Now I know. A Bounty Hunter/inventor is a pretty cool combination that is not normally done and it certainly shows insightful thoughts on his part in this chapter. It will certainly be interesting to see what scheme Chazok's cooking up. Good job.

There is a reason why Makuta Teridax is many people's choice: He is perhaps the best villain in all of Fictional literature, not just beause he succeded in his plan without a hitch, but because of how he succeded.Aside from the Oder of Mata Nui (who, for a group that swore to protect Mata Nui, did hardly anything to stop him directly, which I believe was a very grave mistake on their part), the only person who knew of Teridax's entire plan was Piraka Zaktan, and he knew even more than the Order. For a being with such a criminal mind, he was even surprised by how intricate Teridax's plan was. Teridax's mind must be some kind of supercomputer to know all those details and timings which might make someone else go crazy.He was very deliberate in all of his actions, he knew precisely what to say and when to say it, as well as what to do and when to do it. The only time I think he slipped in his actions was at the end when he was fighting Mata Nui in the prototype Robot. He seemed a bit careless, probably because he had already completed his master plan, and so became overconfident, which is part of the "curse" on the Makuta species.If there was anything I believed he lacked, it was that, aside from his overall plan and some events during his role as Miserix's lieutenant, we know very little about him. I absolutely love the interaction between him and the other characters of Tima Trap, which is my favorite Bionicle book and it's a shame that there was not such as good interaction in the storyline.In all the years and books I have read, I have yet to read about a fictional villain that stood out as much as Makuta Teridax, save perhaps the Dark Lord Sauron from J.R.R. Tolkien's the Lord of the Rings because of his ability to manipulate even the Elves.My second favorite villain is Makuta Icarax. He was possibly the best fighter in the entire Matoran Universe and seems very knowledgable about his own power (using magnetism to crush Botar), even though he was incredibly short-tempered. He also was a bit manipulative in his own way, as can be seen in his conversation with Toa Ignika. However his use of brute force and ferocity must have been a terror to behold on the battlefied.I also believe that he lacked the same thing that Makuta Teridax did in that there is not much known about him, which is a shame.Oh, and I do appreciate the fact that neither of the are clinically insane. I have grown tired of reading about and watching villains that should be locked up in an asylum (yes, I am refering to the Joker and Vezon. The only insane villain I even remotely like is Carnage from Spider-Man).

Thank you. I did my best to make it look like something from the Dark Hunter's guide way back, yes. I used quite a few older parts, like the Slizer pieces in the legs, the Bohrok head and torso pieces, Rahkshi legs, and many Technic parts to give it that "Dark Hunter" feel, which I believe also gives it that nostalgic feel. I looked at many of the Dark Hunter pictures before I started, and I noticed a lot of them were more monstrous in build, even the humanoid-based creations, which was something I wished to portray here.

Oh, I imagine the poem will be important to the story, since you opened with it. You have had good foreshadowing in the past, so I'll wait patiently for the relavence. Speaking of interaction, we've got a fight in the first chapter. Your description of the fight is very nice, and I especially like how Rhakjasp was faking being under the influence (I'm allowed to say that, right?). The Sharaku seem much (much much much) more level-headed than the Skakdi, at least after the Skakdi's unfortunate experimentation courtesy of Spiriah, and I think you've established that nicely. The legend of the origins of Sharaku seems like something straight out of human mythology, which I have liked from an early age, so that was a treat for me. Good job and I'll be looking forward to the next chapter.

Is there anything else that the finalists of BBC #63 (or at least those who participated in BBC #63) need to add when shipping MOCs to Brickfair?

As soon as I started reading the poem I thought it looked familier... Anyways, I certainly hope that the poem does set the stage for your new epic. I am very interested to see how the interaction between the Sharaku of Terra Nui and the Sharaku and Torika of Shakaz, as that's something I don't think has been done too often. It is a very nice summation of the general events of the previous trilogy and I am looking forward to this one.

Toa of Smooth Jazz: Thank you. Ballom: Thanks. Yes, although I really really really like silver () as a main color, I did wish for it to be more of a highlight of the tubing system than anything else, especially since red/orange/black is a more traditional color scheme, at least set-wise. The head is a little small, unfortunately, and that's probably because that's one of the later things I worked on, which is something that shouldn't normally be done. I tried bulking it up a little by adding the stuff attached to the Slizer foot, which helps quite a bit.Now that you mention it, yeah, it is kind of like Machamp, although I was inspired by General Grievous from Star Wars. What's nice about the Maxilos design is that there are so many things that can be done with it. It looks a lot like something from the older Lego sets, specifically the Slizer sets.The legs actually have a pretty good thickness when viewed from the front, although not as much as I would have liked. The Glatorian ankle armour, as well as the Stars armor, were a last-minute addition, actually. But it does cover up the foot nicely. One thing that's a little hard to see is the fact that the actual foot is on a ball joint, which can be seen a little bit in the second and third pose shots, so that helps a bit with posing. unfortunately, the whole thing is a little hard to balance because I don't have any other connections to the hips (like you said). There was not really any easy way to add another connection point without remaking the entire lower torso, so I had to make a choice.Thanks again Ballom and good luck to you too.