~kh

I wanted to ask this question for a while, and I guess now would be a good a place as any. For years, BZPower has had a "no religious and political discussion" rule because it leads to arguments and even eventually flame wars. I can get that. I've been there enough of my life to know it carries a bunch of controversy. The rules even make mention that verses or phrases like "Proud to be a Christian" and the like are not allowed in signatures and whatnot. I can respect that. But recently this issue has begun to spring up. Homosexuality is the current hot-topic, both politically and religiously, around the nations of the world right now. It is. There's no denying it. Its too important not to be. When the kissing banners started going around though, I realized that by and large that point didn't have the relevance it used to. Obviously, there was a large discord going on about it, both then and now. The given reason, "do not display in signature because it would lead to arguments/flame wars", was obviously not the only reason for disallowing religious statements (Christian or otherwise) to be put in your signature, otherwise so would those banners. So there has to at least be some other reason for that, right? I'm not going to pretend I can speak for others, but for me, being a Christian is not just a religion I have to follow. It is not some ritual that I perform every week, church on Sunday, Youth Group on Wednesday, pray before every meal. It is not some rulebook that I need to keep so that I'm able to cope with death. It is my identity. It is a fundamental part of who I am. The reason often given for allowing homosexual banners was the same. "This is who they are," they said. Far be it for me to persuade them otherwise. But here I am. I believe being a Christian is also my identity. Does that allow me the same privilege? Can I now put "Being a Christian: The Way It Was Supposed To Be" in my signature? What is the difference here? Some people offer out that becoming a Christian is a choice, while people are born homosexual. Fair enough. But what if I say that being a homosexual is a choice? What if I say you are born a Christian? True, it would be only my own personal opinion, my personal view. That probably wouldn't change your opinion or view in the slightest. But if I say my opinion supersedes yours, does that make me intolerant? Does it make that promote inequality? If you say yours does mine, does it make you? Can you say that having a homosexual identity is inherently greater than having a Christian identity and still enforce that it is for the sake of equality? There are, as far as I know, three outcomes that could come out of this situation at hand: You can make both identities be muted in order to stop arguments from spreading. That can work. I can see the merit of that. You can make both identities be allowed in order to give more room for self expression to members. That can work too. I can also see the merit of that. You can also make one side be allowed and the other be muted. That also works. I don't run the place. I don't make the rules. Its your site, you can do what you see fit and if I don't like it, I'll just have to deal with it or go somewhere else. This is a privately run institution, after all. I don't have any rights here outside of the ones you give me. But in the very least, and this is really a honest request, if it is the latter option, can you please explain how doing so means that everyone is given equal right to self expression? EDIT: Apparently comments from blogs do not auto-update as I thought they used to. This took some time to write and I did not see the past several comments before this one. I don't mean to argue for one side or another, but to honestly ask a question here as to why some things are allowed and others aren't. I will be content with your answer and not reply further, if that's what you want me to do.

Okay, hold on, flag on the play Do any of you know what "wat the cee" actually is referring to Because there's really no point in doing so if you don't

New wallpaper!Also, links to the iPhone Wallpaper gallery have been added to the front page!

Thanks for the feedback, everyone! Of course, school's back on schedule so work on the following comic has been...none-existent, to be honest. But that's why we have four day weekends! Thank God for Labor Day, the holiday which everyone remembers the when but not the why.But fear not! There's still updates to be had. Remember that MSPAstyle comic I talked about a while back? Well, I'm making that happen at last. No, not Mask of Existence; this one is a more private affair covering just what happened at the end of the Protodermis Chefs saga. I was planning to put it in posts like usual, but it turned out hard to read. However, I'm trying out putting it into an image (which is a completely obvious idea, of course, now that I think of it). I'm not sure if it works, of course; tell me if you'd rather like it in a more "traditional" format of if you think this one works.Of course, as part of a predetermined story, I won't be making this actually user-command based.==> Be the lawyer

>cuts Lucas>keeps Falco and WolfwhatAll I have to say is more Earthbound. Poo would probably be the best, but Jeff could probably add something new.As for new characters, who else? Phoenix Wright and Professor Layton. Add the Steel Samurai for good measure.

We will be looking at renting our own dedicated server for the map because we are professionals at averything we do.Except spelling, I see. partofthejoke.jpg It's sort of a long standing TTV injoke. Part of the Meso accent.The server will be up for a while, yes, the plan is to have it for at least a lot longer than a month. As for RPG mods, there's a possibility of that happening. I do know though that Rahi mods are probably a thing, yes.

You know what else is poisonous? Mushrooms. Dank and mushy mushrooms.Anyhow, great to see another college student join the Pandemic ranks. Have a good one, Ven.

We will be looking at renting our own dedicated server for the map because we are professionals at averything we do.

We made the actual Koros separate by themselves before compiling them all onto the map when we first started filming, which was last year, so yes, the Jungle biome was not implemented ingame at that time. We might be changing the biome data for that area for the server, but that really just depends on Var because he has the actual map data while I just have a copy of it for rendering purposes.The NPC idea has been bounced around here and again. I can't confirm anything about them, though. At this point, we're more focused on editing/post-production than the actual server map to be quite honest. Once we're done with that, then we can focus more about what we're going to have in the server. But the wait shouldn't (hopefully) take too long so don't worry. I wouldn't say it's exactly to scale, no; BIONICLE was never that exact when it came to measurements. However, it is really, really big, if that's what you're wondering. Having never been on the island of Mata Nui myself, I can't say much on the ratio, but you should have plenty of time to explore as well as participate in the adventure events we'll be hosting on the server once that is up and running.Thanks for the feedback, everyone. There should be a new wallpaper up soon, and iPhone/Android wallpapers are done and should be up in short while.

IC [Kyle Tanaka | Omega Prime][League of Salvation Headquarters, New York City]:"I don't know," Kyle admitted. "I'm desperate, to be honest. I've looked years for any clue and came up empty handed. There may be everything in those files, there may be nothing. But I figure that if I can track down one 'untraceable' file, I can at least start to learn how to track down another. I need to start somewhere. Rumor has it that metasoldier genetic engineering is what those files detailed. If it is, I'm one step closer. If its not, I can at least start my search and those files will be in League hands. Win-win situation for everyone involved."

No good human spritesheets.See, BZPower has the distinct uniqueness of being the only forum I've seen where "kits", that is, hand-sprited spritesheets in different styles are not only encouraged but considered the norm. No one else does that.Many games have sprites, but its harder to work with them because they're made for a different purpose.If there were decently made human spritesheets out there I'd expand outwards. But there aren't, so we stick with the established order.

IC [Kyle Tanaka | Omega Prime][League of Salvation Headquarters, New York City]:"There were some...complications over my origin," said Kyle. "Someone bred me in a lab. I don't know who, don't know where. But whatever it was, I think the files that Lady Hexas were after might help me discover the who, the where and the why."

If I'm not mistaken, Ta-Koro is surrounded and built on lava and it does have mountain-like stone walls around it, but it is not an actual volcano. The one you're probably thinking of is Mt. Mangaia, which is a different location in and of itself.

I'm sorry, I think I missed this. "Last time?"

Ah okay then I was looking for it under that drop down menu in the main PM window. That was rather stupid of me.Anyhow thanks; Tupac Clothed and all that.

You used to be able to do that in the old forums: send a copy of PMs in HTML format to your email address. Can you still do that here and if so, how do you do it?

If you don't have anything nice to say, than don't say anything.I'll be honest. Whenever I see this, I see "Look, if you don't think I'm doing this perfectly, then don't say anything at all." My preferred type saying is "If you can't tell me how to fix it, then don't complain if I don't." Obviously, slamming people without grounds often leads to flaming, but if you can both point out a problem and offer some advice as to how you would fix it, then you have to me a perfectly valid reason to state your critique. Now whether he will or even should take that advice can be another matter, since that advice might be horrible in and of itself, but in the very least I think that's a valid reason to state it.I said most of what I wanted to say in the other topic. I'll come back when you actually have content. Don't have text intros. Get some better backgrounds. Lose the Comic Sans.

I've always thought that the ending of BIONICLE could be fixed by just changing one thing at the end that would have everything turn out the same but made a world of difference, at least for me.Mata Nui and Makuta are doing their whole Rock 'Em Sock 'Em thing around Bara Magna. There are never any Stars, but instead the Resistance in Reign of Shadows gathers everyone up and lines them up for battle. They assemble back in Metru Nui, where the army of Rahkshi stand to bat them away. However, the heroes make a decision. Their actions have led to Makuta's reign, but they cannot let any other worlds pay for their mistakes. Matoran, Toa and other races alike, they line up in unison together to face the Rahkshi.All of the characters we've seen over the years wage war against the Rahkshi, as well as the universe itself as it turns against them. Against all odds, the Toa Nuva (perhaps the Adaptive Armor would return them to their original Toa Mata state for this battle? It has no real practical purpose but it would be nostalgic as well as open up room for Toa Mata Stars Sets without depowering them) fight through the waves to reach the Coliseum. They unite for the final time as the Toa Kaita, using their combined elemental prowess to clear the way for Takanuva, who manages to get in (in this case, Lewa was not part of the whole Tren Krom thing).In the meantime, Makuta forces Mata Nui down, just like he did in the actual canon. But just as he's about to deal the finishing blow, Takanuva reaches the chamber where Helryx was kept and unleashes a Nova blast of light, killing Makuta and finally achieving his destiny. Mata Nui does what he does in actual canon: let everyone out and then make them be able to communicate before going off to God knows where.There is no Golden Armor that magically kills the Rahkshi, there is no sudden lack of input from the characters that we actually care about, and there is no conveniently placed asteroid. Instead, we have heroes making tough decisions and tough sacrifices, united in their duty and resolved in their destiny. They are willing to give up everything they've ever known so that people that they've never met can have a better life. And really, what's more heroic than that?

Okay so what if BIONICLE Universe was one of the previous cycles in Mass Effect and the Great Beings were basically that cycle's Quarians who created the Geth/Matoran and made these robots to rebuild their planet so they could colonize itSo they left and made this giant starship called Mata Nui to go and analyze other planets so that they could rebuild their planet but instead they gained sapience like the Geth and instead rebuilt the planet and began to colonize it as their ownSo that's why the Quarians/Great Beings are kind of ###### off at the MU Inhabitants coming back because they want to recolonize the homeworldAnd lets face it if the Great Beings came back the Matoran/MU Inhabitants would probably beat them because that's how kid's stories workSo synthetics overcome the organics but then the Reapers come and give Mata Nui three choices but Mata Nui says "No I'm a hero and heroes never surrender!"And then the Reapers just laser the Mata Nui robot and kill everyone because screw your choices this is how BIONICLE ends

That's what happens when you get Too Much Retirement.