Master Inika

This, the book definitely exists, its origins are what are up for debate I hate AI so much. I find myself questioning if aspects of the book (the cover art? The text?) are AI and it’s so distracting from the real thing, is this book actually good? If it is just a guy trying to build hype around his own fanfic it’s a cheap move because it means he’s insecure and doesn’t want it to get talked about for what the story actually is, just for the mystery surrounding it

Same, I have a soft spot for him. Nidhiki was the one I got as a kid but not Krekka until I was an adult, so finally having them side by side was so satisfying. After Makuta, they were our first real titan sets so I want to be forgiving about some of the less inspired parts of their builds (Krekka’s arms; and Nidhiki’s back and spider leg construct look weird and unfinished from most angles). They’re such a great Bionicle version of Those Two Guys (big, stupid lug and spindly pessimist)

Epilogue already, what a wild ride it has been. It’s been surreal but in a good way having weekly Bionicle content to look forward to again Every time Gharkelos talks I do find myself nodding along going “Yeah, good point”

I was part of the original Kanoka Club. It was awesome. I remember checking my new Vahki for those cards with the codes, the disappointment when they renamed it to B.I.O. Codes and the general way LEGO seemed to forget about it and had no idea what to do with the club after a while.

I'm cautiously optimistic. We're in a danger zone because (at least for people like me) what made FIM so magical was not just the show itself but it came out in a particular time in my life. Naturally Hasbro can't decide those kinds of external factors that make me nostalgic for something, they can just determine the thing itself, so I am making the conscious attempt to not be pessimistic just because I'm no longer 15. The mere fact that, when I got into FIM, I wasn't comparing it to anything worked in FIM's favor. I had never fully accepted that I could unapologetically enjoy something girl-coded before. I had watched shows like Hannah Montana before but I always kept a mental barrier up, "Oh, I'm just watching it because my friend watches it so I can talk about it with her," I refused to let myself acknowledge I just enjoyed watching it. Now, we're comparing whatever Hasbro gives us to FIM and it's just never going to reach the same high for us. The FIM era was our honeymoon period with MLP and now we have to try to strike a balance of enjoying something good without it being our first time realizing it can be good anymore. G5 was objectively bad and I couldn't get into it despite trying hard to, but at least so far it feels like Hasbro is actually trying. I just listened to the Forever Friendship song and it's a banger. I'm not happy about the Mane Six breaking up obviously but I'm trying to look at it objectively. Tbh I get why they dropped Applejack, she's the only one whose voice/aesthetic is specific to a real region somewhere in the real world. The other five all did a good job really feeling like they represented a distillation of real personalities without being too culture-specific. I am SHOCKED Rarity isn't coming back, though, and not just because she's one of my favorite characters, she fills a real niche in the show of a certain type of femininity that has a lot of storytelling potential. Commentators back in the day would always point out that a character with Rarity's attributes (confident, fashionable, a little self-absorbed) would be a one-dimensional mean girl in a lesser show, and that FIM treated Rarity and her interests and desires as relatable and acceptable gave the show a nuance that tipped first-time viewers off that this was a smart show. I'm not happy about the 9-minute episode but at least it's not Strawberry Shortcake's 4-minute episodes. I want to like everything we've gotten so far, it's just not much. Nothing we can do but wait and see.

Another great episode. I'm honestly looking for stuff to critique because I don't just want to say "great episode" every week but it's pretty polished. I thought "umpteenth" in the narration felt a little informal but that's about it. It's always nice to see Gharkelos get to say something. Last time you described him as a viking I realized just how little we know about him in-text and I have been obsessing over every mention he has. I don't know how intentional it is but I find it funny how (like Sidorak with Roodaka) he's sidelined in favor of Lhuhamaka so much (which is fine with me). This episode felt very liminal (maybe I'm just overusing that word because I saw Backrooms though). Up until the very end I felt like something had to happen, it couldn't just be all the people we like congratulating themselves for a whole episode. Back in 2004, in the TV commercials and the Toa Metru CDs, LEGO did such a great job of suggesting Metru Nui had its own full scale and history without actually showing us that much and only now does it feel like it's finally being filled in

For me it's that LEGO could never seem to decide if the silver parts were Krekka's weapons or his forearms

There are only a limited number of unique thoughts expressible in the English language and you just knocked out one I never would have thought would be knocked out

why do you gotta call me out like this

This is what ten years of no new content does to people It's a little existential to google something Bionicle-related and find only four or so results you already knew about. Fandoms like Bionicle (and even more, My Little Pony) feel so vast and far-reaching it's hard to remember it's not just infinite monkeys typing on infinite computers. Until someone talks about something for the first time, it doesn't exist. Every so often I try googling more info about books or fan stuff that really resonated with, like Greg's pre-BIONICLE book "The River of God," or darkmedia's old BIONICLE music videos on YouTube, or old pre-Dataclysm BZPower stories ("Maku and Makuta Get Married" or the one with Saror) and ALL that ever comes up are previous topics of me asking about it.

It ain't fair to pick on the Dark Hunters, and I like Subterranean's head design. It uses common pieces that aren't designed to be a head but it's still recognizably his head. There are quite a few Dark Hunters who I don't even know where their eyes are supposed to be. My pick is Matoro Mahri. For the main hero of the year, it was a bold choice making him a hunchback with some pretty awkward proportions. In some of the promo art, he has translucent blue pieces like Matoro Inika, and the fact the actual model doesn't disappointed me as a kid. Even more noticeable because Matoro Inika's Iden is one of the most human-looking masks IMO, while the Tryna has such an uncanny look to it. It makes sense that would in-universe, but not to a toy company trying to sell these things. It's pretty interesting when LEGO promoted a "poster set" that tied into the storyline (Vakama Metru, Matoro Inika) and when they seemingly picked one at random (Hahli Mahri).

Interesting you should mention that. I have read a ton of vaguely spiritual self-help books and I could not STAND them. They’re all variations of the “law of attraction” thing and it rubs me so much the wrong way because it always boils down to “if you’re suffering it must be because you secretly want to.” I’m an able-bodied person but I always imagine they must be infuriating to read for chronically ill people. The worst offenders are “Breaking the Habit of Being Yourself” by Joe Dispenza and “The Game of Life and How to Play It” by Florence Shinn.

I've seen that picture dozens of times and somehow I NEVER noticed the Pakari shoulder pads

I still remember being one of the new kids in BZPower in 2007, feeling like everyone else was making inside jokes and references I didn't get, that I had already missed so much, and now I'm one of the ones who remembers the golden age. I'm glad we have lasted so long, though. I can't imagine what it must be like to stumble onto BZPower now and take it all in (even if it isn't as busy). The real transition that I was only vaguely aware of as it was happening was BZPower as a place where an active Lego theme was discussed to a place where a past phenomenon can be analyzed in a more historical/cultural context.