ChocolateFrogs

I understand that albums are ordered for the sake of the music, both in narrative and ups and downs.

But rarely do I get to the end of a CD. Unless I start the CD in the middle (are you cringing at that thought?) every now and then, tracks 10-12 get the least amount of plays. Probably. (I'm better about listening to a whole piece of work now, but a decade ago? I was unlikely to have the time to complete a CD start to finish.)

No Hagrid?  No Jack Stone?

I've got Hagrid, but does he count?

Muaha, I took back the cave troll.

 

I would tell you to get the set with Dogshank in it because it's an awesome set and DS is just one of the cool figs in it.

 

Good to hear it's a good set. I'm on the fence, but kind of want it because, well, we know who built it.

-CF

The Piraka design sounds awesome! Those big grins still give me the creeps--imagine having one (or six) on a t-shirt!

There's so many options--the teeth, the spines, the weapons... I'm sure you'll get some great submissions.

I've heard of this, but still haven't had time to try it out. (To be fair, I rarely play games on my phone.)

-CF

So who's the vampire-looking guy next to Vader?

 

~B~

That's The Collector from the Guardians of the Galaxy movie. He and the Zur-En-Arrh Batman were the San Diego Comic Con exclusives for 2014.

-CF

I love the MOC, I love the scene, and I love the pun.

And seeing a series of detailed building faces with funny minifigs in front/on top of them sounds very creative!

-CF

Poe's X-Wing is my favourite thing I think I've ever owned in LEGO.

That's a very impressive review! Makes me want to get it for display... Though I got the Millennium Falcon partly because BB-8 was in it, even though I knew the X-Wing was cheaper.

-CF

Neat choices. My top 2015 LEGO sets would probably be...

• Master Wu Dragon. Possibly the best LEGO dragon ever? It's definitely up there. This was the first set by Nick Vas (Brickthing) and it definitely shows why LEGO was right to hire him! Great parts, brilliant building techniques, amazing value for money, and lots of play value.

I made sure to get the Master Wu Dragon simply because Nick made it! And looking at the design of the head and parts usage throughout, it's easy to tell!

As for Toa, I was pleasantly surprised by how great Tahu was in build and style. If I kept Toa built for display, I would have rebuilt Kopaka in the same design.

-CF

I don't like it. It barely looks like him, and not because he doesn't have a face yet. You'd really have to know the set to see it, unlike our past mosaics which clearly looked like a character and work of art--the public would barely need to grasp the idea of Bionicle to realize what we made. This, however, is just some guy standing weird holding a stick and something golden.

I'd rather not do this than support it.

There aren't any other options? Any clearer pictures to use? Alternate poses? Closer-up images that still give the bad-guy feel?

-CF

Umarak sounds like a cool idea. I'm also still in favor of a Rahkshi as we talked about way way way back.

I'll commit to doing a tile. Maybe two if we're desperate.

-CF

Language is an organic construction. Not everyone can formulate their thoughts at the rate that's expected of them, and a "y'know" or even the dreaded "um" is a much more effective way of carrying a thought and maintaining the flow of the conversation than an awkward silence could ever be. It's about context. In a professional essay or article which can be perfected over a long period of time, filler like that is a waste and should be avoided. In day-to-day spontaneous conversation it's often a necessity, and trying to enforce a single "proper" grammar and punish colloquialism will just make you look like a jerk, y'know?

Yes indeed, language is deeply interesting.

But the phrase "you know" just doesn't make any sense. Because I don't know.

-CF

So I should review, what, a dozen sets in your absence?

-CF

Okay, you ready for this?

 

There's a subset of anthropology called Conversation Analysis (or CA) which is exactly what it sounds like. One of the things CA looks at is those fillers and hedging, which is what you're talking about. Fillers are used in lieu of awkward silences for the speaker to connect thoughts as well as to assess the listener's attention. Hedging ("like," "kinda") is used to mitigate statements. Saying "Do you have anything like a Bionic Monkey?" is perceived as less imposing than saying "Do you have a Bionic Monkey?" Hedging is taking place here so both people can save some face: the speaker doesn't come off as imposing and the listener doesn't have to repair the exchange accordingly.

 

 

(tl;dr): TMD thinks that one semester course on conversations makes him an expert.

That's really interesting!

-CF

I think Spirit meant all three at once.

Ha! Hmm...

 

¿Por qué no los tres?

True. Three days to cosplay, three costumes. It just depends on what might be best. Especially with my beard.

-CF

Very cool!

Have fun!
 

-CF
(Wish I was there.)

(Kinda. They also kinda keep snubbing Bionicle?)

Three SHIPs and the month isn't even over yet!

I especially love the Bionicle SHIP, because it's such a great idea. And it works! (Good luck throwing it.)

-CF

Awesome!

And lucky!
 

-CF

Oooh. That'd be...interesting. I didn't know Animorphs was still on the radar of anyone except people who grew up with it. (Though maybe some of those people have entered the Hollywood world and are making connections to put these kinds of suggestions in.)

I bet they'll shoot for a trilogy. Part one will have a conclusion to a conflict, part two will be a cliffhanger, and part three will destroy the invasion once and for all.

-CF

My favorite is the Toa Mata panorama, since it's so classic and vibrant. But these are all fantastic!

Good job everyone!

(And thank you Jason for doing the hardest part since the beginning!)

-CF

Well put!
 

And on top of that, anyone naysaying the inclusion of these new characters into the comics is doing themselves a disservice. Not because they don't want new characters taking the spotlight, not because they "can't relate" (ha), but because the titles are really good and the readers may be missing out. Spider-Gwen is a pretty fun concept, but most of all Ms Marvel totally rocks for being so fresh after years upon years of just the usual problems facing the usual characters while they punch stuff! (I haven't read Silk yet.)

It's great seeing Marvel taking chances.

-CF

I'd definitely be in for extending ANY convention just to hang out with people. Maybe when more people congregate in Portland *ahem* we can just hang out for extra time around BCascade. Same for BFVA of course.

 

And if it's somewhere we can cook I would TOTALLY just host a big delicious taco night. Because tacos. <3

 

It seems everyone wishes they could've spent more time with everyone, so extended vacation should totally be a plan. Or maybe a BZP road trip. We can dream!

There's always some sort of discussion about staying an extra day or coming a day early and visiting DC/local sights, but that didn't seem to be feasible this year. Maybe next year.

-CF

Awesome video.

Glad you had a good time!

Also, my name has been missing from your sidebar for about five months.

-CF

Well I see your name stand out on the Board, and for some reason I thought we were going to connect at previous conventions for whatever reason but never did. But maybe I'm confusing that for someone else. Oh well.

-CF