Velox

Geez, I haven't posted in this forum in forever.Anyway, I like this MOC. The head is definitely my favorite part. I love how it's both rhino and elk combined together--never would've thought of doing that, but they really work well together, I think. I agree with Chols about the feet/hands; they compliment each other nicely, and add to the overall rhino/elk feel.The one suggestion I'd have besides what others mentioned would be to get a little more white into the torso. The colors are pretty well-spread otherwise, but there does seem to be a lack in the torso. Of course, the large mask takes up a lot of that, but perhaps you could make the black "hand" piece white?Overall nice job here. Looks really good. =] Good luck in the contest!

Haha, so you kind of just said my opinion on the points in general, Alex. When I was typing out the questions, the answer that immediately came into my head was "keep the achievements, maybe not the points/ranks." Because they definitely don't distract from our purpose at all--the whole purpose of the club is to write and bring writers together as a community. If something like points helps with that, then it actually helps our purpose.But really the thing you said about "they have to mean something, yet not mean much" is exactly how I've been feeling. You really do have to find the fine line, or else they're just pointless video game achievements, as you said. Personally, though, I like the idea of the achievements (again, maybe not points/the ranks we have, but the achievements themselves) because they don't mean a whole lot, but they are fun ways to focus your writing. Even now, having the most points really doesn't mean much.So I definitely like your idea of changing the "ranks." Like you said, it'll take time, but if other people agree with you, I'm sure Nuile and I would be willing to spend the time to get it done.As for the Fortnightly Contests...I agree with you. =P But we get equal--if not more--entries for the Bionicle contests, and considering this is a writer's club on BZP...they'll stay for now. =PAnyway, thanks to everyone for suggestions anthology "themes"--I'll be taking everyone's suggestions and putting them into a poll this weekend so that we can all vote on which one we'll use. And thanks for all your responses for the questions as well.

With the inclusion of the new Anthology feature, we also decided to rework some of the older features--some are outdated, some haven't been used much, etc. And on that note, we've always been open to suggestions--please PM myself or Nuile if you have any! However, we wanted to ask everyone's opinions on a few specific things: [*]The Points System. This started with Lazok's "Story Fit" if anyone remembers. They were then brought over to other writing clubs, until becoming "Achievements" in the Ambage. In the long run, they don't really mean all that much--but just as Lazok intended, they're really just supposed to more motivation to write more. But we've noticed that they haven't been used that much, so we're asking you: Do you guys like the achievements? Do you want them to stay, or would you rather we get rid of them? [*]The "ranks." Again, they don't really mean much, but in the spirit of achievements, they were just supposed to be more "Achievements" to get, modeled by Cederak after video game achievements. So same questions, really: Do you want them to stay, or should we get rid of them?[*]The contest prizes. I realize I've been dropping the ball on this, and I really apologize. But, if people want them, I'll definitely make sure to keep on top of them. Do you guys still want the fortnightly contest prizes? If so, all of them, or just some of them?Please post your answers in this topic, or you can PM me if you'd rather. And again, please feel free to PM myself or Nuile with any other suggestions! But, going back to the Anthology, we’re getting ready to start our next one. The first was open only to the very first Ambage members (and then the most active, when we needed more), as we wanted a smaller group to work with, and to give the first members a little perk while we test-ran this idea. Since it went well, we’re excited to start another one--only problem is, we’re not sure what type of anthology we should do. That’s where you come in. Please give any suggestions on what you think! As an example, two options we discussed were a “Mystery” anthology (anthology of mystery short stories, any length), and a “Poetry” anthology (anthology of poems). "Genres" instead of individual "themes" will be best, as it will allow for more diversity and variation. This anthology will be all-inclusive, and we want your opinion on what type of anthology it should be. We will be accepting suggestions until Saturday, February 23rd. Post all of your suggestions here, and then we’ll be posting a poll of the suggestions for people to vote for which type of anthology they want. Thanks everyone!

Agreed with A Separate Peace. I read that for my English class sophomore year of high school--definitely one of the better books I've had to read for school. I should really read it again sometime. Not sure about iBrow, but for me often I'll read shorter/faster-paced books in less than a week so that I'm ahead of schedule--gives me more time to read a more dense book like Les Mis/etc. But anyway, @ iBrow ~ Awesome! It's really fun and amazing reading a book-a-week. If you ever need more suggestions feel free to PM/Skype me any time, but here's a few of my favorites: The Book Thief, by Markus Zusak. One of the most amazing books I have literally ever read. A Monster Calls, by Patrick Ness. Pretty much the same as above--an amazing, amazing book.The Dresden Files, by Jim Butcher. A really fun fantasy series about a Wizard Private Investigator set in modern Chicago. The Mitch Rapp series, by Vince Flynn. I'd recommend starting with American Assassin.Anything by Michael Connelly (LAPD Detective Harry Bosch; Defense Attorney Mickey Haller). Skin, by Ted Dekker. Really awesome thriller that just keeps you reading.Anything by Agatha Christie. She's the author that got me into reading, honestly. My favorite is probably And Then There Were None, but I love her Poirot books as well.

There is already an issue in the Tracker for this. The Administration is currently working on it. Please refer all future site issues to the Tracker. =]Question answered; topic closed.

You could try downloading (for free) OpenOffice--it can usually open MSWord files. I hope you can get your files back soon. =]

Assigned to Zaxvo. Thank you for choosing the SSCC! Sorry for the delay on this, but you should have your review within a week from today. =]Also, critics: Because of the forums going offline, last week's charity reviews will just be due by this Wednesday--we're skipping this weeks to make things easier on everyone. Any assigned reviews, please complete them by Wednesday as well. We'll get back to our normal schedule then. =]

Due to the forums going offline, the deadline is being extended until Monday, February 25th, by 11:59 PM PST. =]

Yep! Assigned to Yukiko. Thank you for choosing the SSCC. =]

Of course! I'll add your name to the list right now. =]

Really sorry for the delay on this, guys. I just completely forgot yesterday. But as promised, the next Bionicle FFFC is here: Theme #4: Surrender or RunDeadline: Monday, February 25th, by 11:59 PM PST.

I know I'm a little late on this, but I hope you had a fantastic birthday, Brickeens. =] You're an awesome dude and it was awesome meeting you at BFair2011.

Yep, basically what they said is all you can do. Unfortunately planning topics are not allowed in any of the forums (besides the official planning topics, like the RPG topic in OTC or Writing Advice topic in OTC). I'd suggest putting an announcement in your signature and profile that you're looking for help, and perhaps even consider becoming a Premier Member so that you can ask people in your blog. Otherwise, what Reznas said about looking in other people's signatures is a good idea as well.Question answered; topic closed.

Since this has been posted in the Tracker...Suggestion moved to Tracker; topic closed.

I just tested this out myself by creating a group PM and then leaving it (by "leaving" I assume you mean that you deleted it, yes? If not, then please PM me). When I left, the other people involved could not reply to each other. However, one of the other people could leave, and then I could still speak with those still left.So: It looks like if you're the conversation starter, and if you leave, the conversation cannot be continued, unfortunately.Question answered; topic closed.

Thanks for the help, guys. Looks like this has been pretty sufficiently answered. You don't need an account to view the archives, but unfortunately there's no way to view another person's account on the archives unless you already had an account. But like Bfahome said, you can always use the member search on the forums here and check people's profiles that way. =]Question answered; topic closed.

Yep, thanks, Sumiki. Taken directly from the BZPower Compendium (always remember to check there first =]) under the "Reporting" section:

I just wanted to say that Micah and almost everything he ever does is awesome. He's basically showing exactly what the Ambage is about with this -- there doesn't need to be an official contest or host-mandated thing or anything for people to write about. This club is just about writing, about the community, and I totally support this unofficial writing challenge-thing.

Hahahaha. But hey it fits, considering you're the best of bros anyone could ask for. : D

DV, I'm not exactly sure where you're getting that from, but if you're referring to when I said "different", I'll just copy/paste what Hahli Husky said because she said it better than I did: Again, I'm not saying they're better or anything, I'm just saying that they're -different-. Like slapstick vs. dark humor, for example. And also, Cederak did post his comedy there. The other two didn't, but they're not Bionicle fics. And I think you may have misunderstood the critics clubs (which aren't affiliated with the Ambage) -- the charity reviews there are giving reviews to everyone. Even our own critics. So we're not doing it to people we think are "lower", we're just trying to get the forums more active, and to help each other out. Whenever I post a story, I want as many reviews as possible, and I know others feel the same way, so we do exactly that -- just give more reviews to everyone. If that's really how I came across, again I apologize. I didn't mean to at all. I really, truly do apologize for sounding that way.

Hahaha, whoops. XD I knew I had misspoken somewhere... I used to read every single post in Comedies regularly. Now, I still skim most posts, but I haven't actually read any of the comedies in a while. I hope that makes sense. XD I'm slightly OCD about having every topic in the Library set as "read", so even if I don't read word-for-word, I still skim all the posts in every topic. But honestly I'm not sure what the rest of your post is about...I specifically stated several times that I wasn't saying I was better than anyone else. I think you completely misunderstood what I was saying, but if I sounded like I was saying I was better than anyone else, I apologize -- that was not my intent at all. As I stated before, I was having trouble explaining my thoughts on the matter, so I may have misspoken with that. But again, I didn't mean to say that I was better than anyone else. I'd be happy to clear up any specific points if you want, but I hope this clears it up somewhat. =]

Hope you have a great one!

Yes, I realize that -- I visit the Comedies forum multiple times every day. I wasn't suggesting that Comedies be changed -- as I said, I was merely asking what people thought about the idea and since it's a discussion topic, that people could discuss the idea. I think you may have misinterpreted what I was trying to ask. I don't often write humorous stories -- I wasn't asking for myself, because I'm not planning on writing any comedic stories, but rather, I was asking what people thought of the idea, as people mentioned that there are differences. For example, in the anthology that the Ambage recently published, there are a couple of stories in there that are comedic. But at the same time, i don't feel like they'd fit with the rest of the stories there. Not because they're "better" or "more serious" than the others, but they're just different. I'm not really sure how else to explain it, but just that. For an example in literature, the Dresden Files are, in my opinion, quite comedic. But (assuming they were Bionicle) they wouldn't really fit with the Comedies forum, because they're not completely comedic. Whereas a movie like Groundhog Day would. So that's all that I was talking about. Because what if you have a serious story with a comedic voice to it? It would fit better with short stories -- even including the prose comedies -- but could, technically, be considered a "comedy." So I was asking what people thought about that -- not that Comedies needs to be changed or all prose stories should be moved to SSs/Epics, not at all. But the thing is, if I were to write a comedy, I wouldn't mind posting it in Comedies. But my whole point was that, depending on the type of comedic story I wrote, it would stand out. For example, Cederak's comedy. It stands out to me. Not in a bad way, not in a good way, but just simply, it stands out. Like you said, there's individual interests in the writers of the three forums, and that's all I'm talking about.

Well it seemed like a lot of people started talking about possibly branching out more into Epics/Comedies from the Ambage, so you could always just rephrase the question to something like that. =] Right, and there seems to be a problem with that...one way or another, some stories will stick out. But I wonder if there's a possible solution to that. And since I expect the rest of my post to be quite long, I'm going to bold this: What if "serious" comedies were allowed in the SSs/Epics forum? So "Comedies" wouldn't now define a genre (being different from any other forum, as it's the only genre that has its own forum), but instead it would define a "style" -- the style with emoticons and "script", etc.? I'm kind of just curious as to what other people think of that idea. I mean, this is the LDT, so...discuss away. =P So basically, it'd be up to the author. This way, people could write normal short stories that are comedic, and post them in short stories. Of course, there'd be some "official limits" -- like I said, emotes and the non-script many people use, etc. -- but for prose stories, it'd mostly just be up to the authors? So again, this way, "Comedies" would just be another "style", rather than a genre -- it'd fit better with SSs/Epics that way, IMO. It really wouldn't change that much, because there's only a small, small handful of stories that wouldn't be in Comedies. Wow, thank you so much for that. You're definitely very welcome! Let me know if there's ever anything else I can do. As you know I'm on Skype like all the time haha. Yeah, definitely! As I've said we always welcome suggestions and ideas other people may have. But man, haha, we literally have so many things planned that we'd like to do some day. Who knows if we'll ever get around to having enough time to set them all up/run them, but hopefully some day. I do definitely like this idea, though. We'd have to get permission, of course, and we'd have to be able to do it and everything, but I'll run it by the other hosts. =] Well...some biases are true. =P Now I'm just saying, in my time being in the Library, I've always found the most things to report in Comedies. I'll be perfectly honest, though: I haven't reported anything from there in a while. Possibly partially because I haven't even been in there much recently as I've been so busy with other things, Honestly recently the things I've reported most are when some Epic review topics get a little chatty. All the same...overall definitely a very large majority has always been with Comedies. So it's fair to assume that it'll be that way in the future -- might not be the case necessarily, but yeah. It's always surprising when somethings not how it used to be. =P Of course I'm only speaking from personal experience. I haven't always received all the reports in the library -- as an FM I did, but now I only see the SSs ones. But from what I, personally, have seen, this has been my experience. That still doesn't change anything...Comedies hasn't been reported in a lot because of its quality, but because of the replies. Now I just said that I've begun to see that more in Epics and less in Comedies, but again, it's surprising. Just because it's been one way for so long. So basically I'm trying to figure out the point here...because you're right, things have high points and low points, but Comedies has been one way for a long time -- why wouldn't that be surprising when that changes? Regarding the ECC, really there's nothing people need to know besides what was posted in the open letter, I don't think. But since I do know the details, I will say this: "Up to snuff" implies that they're not good or in-depth enough, but that definitely wasn't the problem at all. Also, every club is not without their faults, and those matters really shouldn't be brought up like that. Not only could it rub people the wrong way, but it opens up the rest of the clubs to criticism. Trust me when I say that certain clubs have a lot more faults to point out than others, and I really don't think those should be pointed out in this topic -- it's just in poor taste. But that's really that all needs to be said on that point, so I'll move on: I'm not sure where you get that from, especially because it's been acknowledged -- many, many times -- by people from the Ambage, that only most Comedies are in the so-called "script" format. But really, it's not even really "baseline script" because the only quality it shares with script is that it has people's names. And again, many, many Comedies do in fact use emoticons. Not every single one, no, but no one's saying that. It's just, most. I'm not sure where you're getting that from, but if I ever implied that you're a bad writer, I apologize. I will, however, say again what I remember saying before: Emoticons and the format of most comedies in the Comedies forum isn't serious writing in my opinion. It doesn't mean that automatically those people are bad writers -- not at all. The problem with emoticons is that they're not writing. Sure, they might be funnier, but they're still not serious writing. Because they're not writing -- they're images. But that's my whole point -- serious writing isn't about creating a mood any way possible, but using words to create that mood. I'm not disagreeing that emoticons may be more effective or easier, though, but it's still mixing writing with non-writing. What I don't get though, is if a story doesn't use emoticons, then why wouldn't it be in actual script format? You say non-emote stories are thrown in with the rest, but well, again, they're exactly what people are talking about: not actual script, even if they don't have emotes. Of course, though, people have different opinions and liking, and that's fine -- I'm not trying to say yours are wrong, I'm just saying that we obviously have different opinions. =P

Here's mine. I'll change it occasionally but I seem to keep coming back to that wallpaper...