Clarín

It's wonderful. I'm liking Gaardus's personality already, and I never expected the purple and black entities. What's next, the Spectral Mask? Should Kopaka and Pohatu call Takanuva in to light more fireworks? Thank you for the stories Mr. Farshtey. They're lovely.

I lost all faith in humanity that day. I was only five but I couldn't understand why someone would kill another person.

 

I just hope that nothing like this or the VT shootings happen in the future.

Although I understand that you are ashamed of those villains, I emplore you to renew your faith. When witnessing the actions of others, do you judge yourself, or just others who didn't do anything? Seeing troubles that others commit is no reason to make you ashamed of yourself. While it may sound odd, a good strength of personality is not to feel pride, which can lead to feeling of superiority, and shame targeted to others and oneself. Humility is the healer of shame, and it may sound odd, but it is a boost for anyone's self-esteem and willpower.

Arch Angel, I think you are a very empathetic young man and I thank you for posting this. Although it may not mean much to you, you have my blessing. While it may not sound like much, I just mean that I'm confident you'll do fine if you be yourself.

I've been thinking about that as well, actually. When Greg said that Vezok wasn't female because it was too evil, or something along those lines. Erm, Roodaka? Lariska? They're both evil females as far as I know.

I knew I was forgetting some aspect. Okay, I've gotta say: this is insulting. We don't have the capacity to be evil? What? Was this implication really just made? What?

 

Cutting it short before the rant picks up NSFBZP words, but you get the idea. Seriously. That is insulting.

 

But anyway, Lego seemed to make such a big deal out of Roodaka's femininity, to the point of being ridiculous. Making such a big deal that it becomes abnormal. That female Bionicle sets become abnormal. That boys won't want to get them because they're abnormal. It's all a bit silly, really.

Lego put out a heavily exaggerated female set, then decided that because fan reaction was so... 'strong', they weren't going to do any remotely female-looking sets anymore. That's like dressing up in an incredily absurd and over-the-top outfit, getting unfavourable comments on it, and then declaring that you'll only ever dress in burlap sacks ever again. Nothing attractive and tasteful, just sacks. It actually comes across as a rather juvenile 'well, I'm not gonna play with you no more!' schoolyard act.

 

I know that boys that age aren't usually interested in girls, but that's no reason why all the Bionicle sets need to be huge, macho Titans. A clever, calm, level-headed team member, like Gali, is fine. And Dalu proves that a female can be a fighter too if necessary. Otherwise those boys will come to think of girls as abnormal.

Interest nothing: we're still here, puberty or not. Showing boys at this time that girls are just normal people too is probably even more important: you know, get 'em while they're young and impressionable and not distracted by hormones yet.

 

Which is why my BBC 41 entry included two female Toa, not just one.

It could have been three, you realize.

 

Actually, we have two this year, too: Hahli and Idris. But that's not the point.

Wow. Two. Fan-freaking-tastic, Lego. Just bravo.

 

But I agree. And from the sales point of view, how would it possibly affect sales to make more sets female? Roodaka's the only one who's been visibly female; the rest usually get referred to as "he" from what I've heard kids say in the Lego section. Chances are much of the target audience doesn't even know what gender the sets are in the story. Until Lego makes canister sets that appear female, I don't see how gender would be a factor in buying. And since I've always liked female characters, to me it's just silly to not want to buy a set for the sole reason that it's female.

Well, it's Lego that's ignoring that little fact in a dazzling flash of brilliance. You can't help but wonder what's going on in the heads of the folks that actually come up with this stuff and decide 'eeew, girls'.

I find it interesting how Lego appears o be slightly sexist within their storyline gender related choices for the sets. I am happy to see this issue addressed, recently I just posted something related o this on another of my blogs.

Pyufi, I know you feel righteous about this topic, but perhaps you're overreacting.

About Seranikai--I was very into detail in 2006 around BZPower and BIONICLE, and I am almost certain that GregF never said such a thing. You'll also notice that Seranikai referred to GregF's comment as "something like that." You don't know what the actual reason was, and can't judge from a rumor that a member decides to spread. Further, have you SEEN Vezok's set? I don't wish to be insulting, but what exactly about him screams feminine? There's nothing. It makes sense to have diversity, but if GregF decided to make Vezok female just for the sake of having one on the villains' team, then that would have been a terrible choice, as there's nothing to justify calling Vezok female. He has a giant chin, for one. Believe it or not, the typical male tends to have a bulkier frame than a female. That's the set designers at work, also. There's no reason to accuse GregF of sexism and insult his intelligence when obviously he made the right move.

On Roodaka--What is the big deal here? 2006 sets were already finalized by the time Roodaka came out. The whole of LEGO, and whoever makes these decistions would not go and tear up the finalized sets after finding out how well Roodaka sold. What is this "abnormal" deal, here? Roodaka is the only titan set in the last two years, including this one. There's no pattern to justify your claim, Seranikai. The only pattern I see is a lot of jumping to conclusions. Further, Seranikai, what do you mean by "if necessary" when you refer to Dalu being a warrior? She was always a warrior in the story. If you mean because the set has weapons, the female set HAS to be a warrior, I don't understand how you look at this. Sets need something to use, that's been the rule since the start of BIONICLE. As a side-note: it's too early to start complaining about Roodaka. Seeing as the 2006 sets were already finalized by that time, the only change could be made in the already outlined 2007 sets, and we know they were going in a different direction that year. Honestly, you both should have waited another year before bringing this subject up.

I really don't understand your deal, Tufi Pyufi (or Ms. Pyufi, whichever you prefer). I think I see, that you want more "physical" representation of the female characters, but isn't the story what this is mainly about? The sets are meant to draw people into the story. Do you really think new readers will write BIONICLE off their interests because of the profoundly interesting female characters? If you want more involvement in the characters, I don't see the argument. Hahli is practically master of the universe in this year's setting, and she's growing increasingly independent and powerful. She already had an edge over the the other Toa last year, with the lighting and water mix of her powers, but this year she's even more powerful. Or is your issue JUST with the number of female sets? If so, please elaborate, and explain what you think is a fair number, instead of complaining about the "injustices" of the entire LEGO company. I think this entire argument could be made, but in a much more calm way.

On the age thing--How do any of you know what is best for little children? For one, you could simply ask some of the younger members what they think. Chances are it won't matter to them. We're growing up, and believe it or not, our perspectives are changing. Ms. Pyufi, instead of saying what is best for "us," you're saying what is best for "them," and how many mistakes in history have been made by that exact generalization. I've seen this issue before. A girl in my English class (side note: led by a sexist feminist teacher), told us that she didn't understand Lord of the Flies because she didn't see GIRLS degenerating like boys. But these boys she referred to were little children, and I've seen little children of all sexes act horrible, and lie as a whole to some of the nicest people they were likely to meet in their entire lives. Don't you think that's sexist of her? I think this entire argument could be made without the trace of sexism and the attitude. If you really think there should be more female sets, that's fine, but explain in more specific details, such as, "how many," and "what form I'd like to see them in." On a side note: Yes, I did buy Roodaka, and yes, I understand females can be villains too. Just last night I saw the most dispicable thing in the universe (on the news) done by a mother to her baby, who just happened to believe her baby would feel nice cooked in the microwave.

On ToM Dracone--Remember again that perhaps neither of you has the right to say anything about what is best for children. Back when I was a young, stupid, "impressionable" lad, I still saw the difference between the sexes. I realize that I don't account for everyone, but I did stop getting the female Power Ranger characters once they started having breasts and odd preportions. Honestly, I felt awkward because every time I held that oddly preportioned action figure I thought I was doing something offensive! But it's possible my memory has changed since that event. All I mean to say is that as we get older, it gets harder to see things as we saw them as many as five to ten to twenty years back. As a side note, it would be best not to generalize all kids as dumb, or "impressionable." Half of the little kids I've seen are more mature than the ##### I go to school with.

You make some good points, though I'm not sure the Hagah fit very well in your list. For one thing, they're the only ones in the whole list who aren't a team of Toa, instead being two different members. Keep in mind that they all had spears and shields, meaning it would be kind of dull having all six Toa with the same artillery. It's a bit too specific to review these, while having a broader look on the others. It's like comparing the original Pohatu and Tahu, because every Toa series has had at least two contrasting features. Nothing against the Hagah, though. Iruini's a blast to play with.

As before, it's a nice overview of the Toa sets. Sadly, I believe you have a point about the Toa Nuva, although I still found them more fun than the Olda. The dual weapon functions were perfect, and there were much more possibilities to play with. With the Olda, I was almost required to play a type of Rock 'em Sock 'em robots. But with the Nuva, it was easier to role-play a sword fight, give Lewa a voulge, or Tahu a staff, and make it look more like the Toa's element could actually fire accurately. A lot of it was about finding imaginative ways to play with them.

Truthfully, the Toa Metru would have been at the bottom of my list. I bought all six, and found I couldn't bear looking at the finished models. The arms were too short, and I couldn't quite imagine using the action feature with some of their weapons (to be fair, I did find some things fun about them. Onewa's weapons and the dual use of Matau's and Vakama's.) In fact, the gear function was awkward. The arms were always slanted, so I could never swipe downward if it made sense to. With the Toa Nuva and Olda, I would simply leave the gear function and manually do a diagonal swipe. With the Metru, there was no way to adjust it. In the end, while there could be some fund factors. The Metru were my least favorite sets.

Sorry about my rambling. I hope this doesn't turn into a competion of Toa countdowns.

I've tried doing something like your way, Greg, and it seems to work for me. For me, if I've planned something ahead of time, by the time I get to it the memory is a bit smudged, and it doesn't go as planned. It's always bugged me when I get inspired to write something, but it's too far away to do it. I'm currently stuck in an outline write now, and so far I haven't managed to break it up enough for a completely fresh feel. Great to hear from an actual writer about this.