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Nescent

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Blog Entries posted by Nescent

  1. Nescent

    Bionicle Boys

    By Nescent,


    Bionicle
    A couple weeks ago, I got all the Bionicle boxes out of the shed. William - my oldest, who recently turned 5 years old - was instantly obsessed. First, we got out all of the 2015 sets, the Skull baddies, both variants of the Toa, all the Protectors...They learned all about Tahu, Gali, the whole gang, and about how the characters changed and morphed into different variations throughout the Bionicle story. William was mystified. The mythical island of Mata Nui is like a grand, colorful island full of mystery and adventure, and he is eager to explore it. After getting to know the characters, and the island, and the evil Rahkshi and Makuta - also the Kraata "slug," which William fancies to touch the good guys with and turn them evil - I thought it was time to introduce them to The Mask of Light.

    William's excitement at the start of the movie was palpable. He was trembling with excitement, and stayed glued to the screen from start-to-finish. Afterwards, he asked me dozens of questions about the movie, the story, the characters...and he and his brother spent the following days pretending to be Kopaka, freezing each other; or Tahu, riding on lava.

    William built a couple of Protectors, then challenged himself to build the Bohrok Kal combiner. He was so proud of himself for building the whole thing! More recently, I got together the pieces to build Takadox, which William did with eagerness. He then spent the entire evening putting Takadox in various poses, and proudly showing me each different pose. Later, we built Kalmah, and Toa Ignika. Now I've got Axonn coming in the mail, as well as a Bricklink order which will enable me to build Mantax, Carapar, Antroz, and perhaps a couple others.

    Last night, I spontaneously put on Legends of Metru Nui. William was so excited, he ran from one end of the house to the other several times, and was almost vibrating in his seat at the start of the movie. Matau was his favorite, and made him cackle relentlessly. Triston is a little too young to be so infatuated with the toys, but he shares William's interest, and together, we play pretend - I'm Takadox, they're Kopaka and Toa Ignika, or Tahu, or whoever. Triston likes to say "Holy Gadunka!"

    We have been bonding a lot over these toys, and I am actually able to share their excitement over the movies, the new sets coming in the mail, the old sets that have been disassembled for over a decade, now coming back together in the hands of a new Bionicle fan. The boys are huge Cryoshell fans, and every time one of the songs starts, William wants to know who the song is about, or for what part of the story it was made. We played some MNOG, and I even let him listen to my "Music of Okoto" album.
    He has zero expectation of receiving any new sets, as he understands that it's been discontinued for some time, but I am absolutely getting him Gadunka for Christmas this year!
  2. Nescent
    Just want to share this pic of my son playing with some Bionicle sets for the first time. It melted my heart, if anyone else will get it it's got to be you guys!

    My plans to indoctrinate the babies are finally coming to fruition. 🤨
  3. Nescent
    Spent half an hour fishing broken joints from my Bionicle drawers, took some photos.
     
    Here is the whole pile of broken joints. May they rest in pieces.
     
    Most of them just had small, unexciting cracks, so I picked out all the horribly disfigured parts and took some glamour shots.
     

     
    The obligatory 2007 lime green comparison. I was actually surprised to have so many still in tact, but I've probably never MOCed with those pieces since they're so fragile.
     
    To be honest though, I think this is the most fragile piece in all of Bionicle:
     

     
    I could only find one that didn't have any cracks.
     
    The dark red 2008 hands also put up a weak fight:
     

     
    This was probably the most interesting ruined joint.
     
    Anyway, it's nice to have those cleaned out, although I'm sure there are still some left for me to find. Observation: Aside from the 2007 lime greens, there was only one - one, amongst hundreds - cracked 2001-style hand piece. It was a dark blue piece from Gadunkadunk. I really wish they never replaced that mold.
  4. Nescent
    It's been over a month since I started working at McDonalds, and it's been going well. I seem to be doing better than some of the kids that work there. I've also been living with a friend, and I'm really excited to move into my own apartment. It'll be fantastic to finally have a space for my cat, and to once again have my own room. Getting sick and tired of living in other people's places.
     
    But personal space issues aside, living with the roommate is overall a lot of fun. You know those Monopoly cards that McDonalds does every year? Most of them are the collectible properties, but some are free food. Well, my roommate eats at McDonads a lot, and saved up seven cards for free medium fries...So we did the obvious thing and redeemed all seven at once. And a diet coke of course.
     

     
    2/10 do not recommend. That pretty quickly began to taste like just a heap of salt and starch.
  6. Nescent

    Packing

    By Nescent,

    I'm moving in ten days. I'll probably make a post about that later, but right now I'm starting to gather my things, and decide what to bring, what to leave here, and what to toss (since I really can't leave much here in storage).
     
    So I guess it's time to say goodbye to the ol' LEGO Magazine collection:

    Guess it's not a big deal, since I never read them anyway. I think I'll just keep a few for memories' sake.
     
    I'm also going to throw away a bunch of my Bionicle canisters:

    Mostly, I'm going to miss the Stars canisters, and also those Agori boxes. They're really cool boxes and I imagine they're hard to come by. :c But I'm keeping some canisters, namely one of each Bohrok canister, and a couple that have sets in them. I also flattened all my G2 boxes, definitely not throwing those out.
     
    As for my Bionicle collection, I'm leaving that behind, all seven drawers of it. The only actual Bionicle things I'm bringing are my G2 collection, my collectibles (like all my masks and stuff), and a few choice sets. Probably a Bohrok or two. For giggles, here's my G2 collection in parts:

    Pretty impressive stack of pieces, I'll say. That is all the 2015 sets, and three from 2016.
     
    Anyway, if anyone has any suggestions for how to dispose of those canisters and magazines, I'd love to hear them. Shame to toss them in the trash, but maybe I can donate the magazines somewhere.
  7. Nescent

    3D Okoto [Test Render]

    By Nescent,

    This has been sitting on my hard drive for a while so I'll just go ahead and share it.
     

     
    It's a test-render of the 3D Okoto I teased a while ago. If I'm able to resume working on Creatures of Okoto, the render of the island will be longer (probably like 60 seconds), with an introduction to the project. And the title will look nicer.
     
    I've got some other animations I'd like to share (the region animations). If I don't get back to developing the combiner project then I'll share them as well.
  9. Nescent

    Last day in FL

    By Nescent,

    Well, not quite. I'm moving in about 36 hours.
     
    Going back to Alabama! Neither Florida nor Alabama have really felt like the right place for me, but I am excited to move back to my hometown. A wonderful friend is giving me a place to stay while I get settled...It's gonna be sweet.
  10. Nescent

    MOO

    By Nescent,

    But seriously. I just wanted to give a little update on Music of Okoto - I put it off for, like, two months, but I'm still going to finish it. Been working on it a lot the past few days.
     
    Music of Okoto is a series of in-universe songs from the G2 Bionicle universe, as in, the music that the villagers play. There will be one song for each Region, and maybe a few extras. Here's a detailed report of how much I have made:
     
    RoJ: 1 song finished.
    RoE: 1 song conceptualized, haven't really started this one.
    RoF: 1 song about half-way finished.
    RoS: 1 song about half-way finished.
    RoI: 1 song being finished.
    RoW: 2 songs being finished.
     
    Each song is 2-3 minutes long, with a brief accompanying story to give some context, and help set up the mood.
     
    I have to finish it within the next week or two, so expect it to be posted pretty soon!
     
    While I'm here, I guess I'll also talk about Creatures of Okoto. You may have noticed that the progress meter in my signature hasn't really budged for a while; unfortunately, I haven't been able to pick up all the 2016 sets yet, so I haven't been able to work on it. Plus, with the cold winter weather (yes it's been freezing here in Florida and I love it), it's been hard to stay motivated to work on it. I still need all the Akamai sets (Fire/Earth/Stone), and I'm gonna be super busy for a while, so I really don't know when I will be able to finish Creatures. Here's what I do have, though:
     
    RoI: 3 combiners
    RoJ: 4 combiners
    RoW: 3 combiners
     
    All with photos and instructions made. I am aiming for 5 combiners in each Region, so I do have some progress made, at least. Anyway, now you're all caught up with my Bionicle projects; Music of Okoto will be out soon™, and Creatures of Okoto is TBD.
  14. Nescent
    I've been building some Creatures with the new sets for my next combiner series, and here's an alternate for Melum...that I can't finish.
     

     
    Isn't it such a cute little snow turtle thing? There aren't any good parts left for a head. Poor adorable little snow critter doesn't get to be in the project.
  15. Nescent
    Recently I've been sifting through different fonts, trying to find the right one. I've settled for a font called Avenir:
     

     
    Isn't that just the loveliest font you've ever seen?
     
    Are there any fonts you're partial to?
  16. Nescent

    Makuta Rising

    By Nescent,

    When Makuta donned the Mask of Ultimate Power, Okoto split, and he fell beneath it in a deep slumber. The power of the mask caused him to grow a thousand times in size, until one day, he will rise again.
     

  17. Nescent
    If you read my previous entry, you know that I'm creating a third Wildlife Combiner installment, this time with a video. Well I've been creating some 3D scenes for each of the regions, by dissecting each regions' art into layers and creating short animations that show the art in motion. They're really cool (and a lot of fun to make!) and I'm excited to share them next year.
     
    But while I wait for the new sets, I'm also creating an animation of the island itself. So right now, I'm working on a 3D island of Okoto, and once it's done, I can pan around the island in the video. I just started it tonight, so it's very preliminary, but it's looking pretty cool so here's a preview!
     

     
    (I am going to be so very disappointed if next year takes place on a different island by the way )
  18. Nescent
    I'm planning a third installment to my Wildlife Combiners series, which will be called Creatures of Okoto. I'd like to make a video for the project, and what can I do to make the video special?
     
    Well, I decided to make a soundtrack for each Region. I've got some concepts for all six regions of Okoto, but the Region of Jungle is already a full song, and I'm going to share it here to hopefully get some feedback.
     
    https://soundcloud.com/nascentmusic/region-of-jungle/s-qCl4X
     
    The idea is that this could actually be played in-universe, by the villagers of each tribe. And I'm trying to capture the spirit of what I imagine each region to be, so the Region of Fire's soundtrack will be a heavy, fast song, whereas the Region of Water's will be slow and passive, etc.
  19. Nescent
    Recently I've been wanting some pumpkin pie. Just, I don't know, I love pumpkin pie, and I want to have some. Well as it turns out, I've been lied to, for you see pumpkin pie is in fact not seasonal. I always thought you could only get it on Thanksgiving, since that was the only time my family ever served this particular treat.
     
    Delighted, I picked up a can of pumpkin, and the ingredients from the recipe on the back - evaporated milk, seasonings, pie shell, all that good stuff - and just ten minutes ago I started drumming them all together. First the sugar and the spices..then came the eggs...the pumpkin settled in nicely, and it was starting to smell pretty delicious already.
     
    When I added the condensed milk - gradually, as per the instructions - it slowly dawned on me that this was quite a bit of mix. In fact, the large bowl was almost over-spilling with liquidy pumpkin goodness. Could it be...but surely, no...yes, this is far too much mix...
     
    I withdrew the pie crust from the freezer, and lo and behold - there were actually two crusts in there. Surprise, I wound up with a bonus pie.
     
    I've got two pies in the oven, and a mostly-full can of whipped cream in the fridge. It's all happening.
     
    What's next? Summertime eggnog? Wintertime snow cones? Are those little yellow Peeps chicks actually only available in Easter?
     
    Edit: I was supposed to let it cool another hour but I'm having a slice now anyway. It's warm, but still delicious.
  20. Nescent

    Dead Arm

    By Nescent,

    Today I passed out with my arm tucked beneath my pillow. A couple hours later, I awoke in that same position, and my right arm was dead. From the elbow down, it just felt like rubber. Couldn't move it at all, and it was completely numb. It was really weird to lift my arm up, and watch my hand just flop down like a piece of meat. After a couple minutes, it went back to normal, so I guess there's no lasting damage.
     
    Side note: the second Harry Potter movie had a fairly accurate portrayal of this.
  21. Nescent
    This should be a criminal offense...maybe then I'd stop doing it.
     
    Still haven't finished Death Note. I was really into that show, made it to the second-to-last episode, really wanted to see how it ended - then three years passed and I still haven't finished it.
     
    Star Trek: The Next Generation. Freaking loved the show, watched all seven seasons, but still haven't watched the last episode. Been putting that off for months.
     
    Now I'm re-reading Harry Potter, and I'm at the very end of the fourth book (like, four chapters left), and I just stopped reading it.
     
    It's like, the ending is really special so I want to wait until the time is right before I read/watch it, and it just never happens. Anyone else have a habit of doing this?
     
    Also, I decided to spice up my blog. New name, sidebar is now on the left, and I'll put a different Futurama quote under that picture with each new entry.
     
    Oh - also! - this doesn't really have to do with anything, but Philip Pullman's His Dark Materials is coming to television. Between that, and the new Star Trek show, I've got a lot to look forward to!
  22. Nescent
    When I was a kid, my family travelled a lot. I actually spent very little time in the States from '04 till '09, so I missed out on a lot of Bionicle - but I never forgot about it, and I missed it the entire time I was out of the country. In fact, the first thing I did when we returned to the US in 2006 was buy a Bionicle set (Hewkii Inika). I also managed to compile a massive collection of bulk parts, which I would haul around from country-to-country in an enormous hiker's backpack for years to come. Seriously, Bionicle was the only thing I cared about enough to carry with me (well, except for a few pairs of clothes).
     
    Anyway, moving back a bit - when I was separated from the Bionicle fandom, I spent most of my time MOCing, but I also put together this little book that was my own Bionicle universe. I dug it out of the closet today and took some photos, which is what prompted me to write this. Though largely incomplete, it's got some cute drawings and stuff. Here it is - and please, I was like twelve years old when I wrote that, so sorry about the han...well, I still have terrible handwriting. Never mind.
     
    Later, when I was going to school here in the US, I was fortunate to have a close friend who was also interested in Bionicle. We made these booklets out of composition notebooks which were supposed to be chronicles of Bionicle's lore. It's really just passages from the Bionicle Wikia that I copied down alongside some Bionicle images from comics/magazines/instructions/etc., so it's less exciting than the other one, but here it is if you want to thumb through it.
     
    I've got a bunch of small mementos and such from Bionicle, and I'm glad I managed to hold on to them for so long. I've got no clue where I'll be years from now, or even months from now, but I hope I can keep my Bionicle stuff with me forever.
  23. Nescent

    Mask of Horror

    By Nescent,

    Just finished up my second (and final) entry for #BionicleMaskMaker.
     


     
    Mask Power: Instills fear into the opponents of its wearer.
     
    Here's the full gallery.
  24. Nescent

    Mask of Murk

    By Nescent,

    I've got another thing to share.
     

     
    I felt like an idiot photographing that
     
    Two of October's contests down, two to go. I'd still like to build something for the Halloween BBCC, and also for /r/bioniclelego's Technic-function contest.
  25. Nescent

    CCBS Warrior Guy

    By Nescent,

    The figure itself doesn't use any creative techniques or anything, I just wanted to share the shield design.
     
    Building this made me wish we got mask packs. I get why they're not a thing, but it sucks being forced to work gold into so many MOCs just so I can use different masks.
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