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In 2006, I made an account at the age of 8 for help with the Voya Nui Online Game, but then just dismissed BZPower as another fan site, because it didn't look as professional as it does now. Recently, my interest in Bionicle regrew, and I found that this site's changed a lot. It looks much more professional! The forum discussions seem more serious/important/influential than they used to. I guess that's what happens when Bionicle is reduced to its fanbase. You guys are a beacon in this slowly-darkening fandom. I can say nothing more than the fact that I'm glad to be back, guys! :D :D

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Feels good to be "back".

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I also like the current state of the site. It's less active than it used to be, but I feel like this results in a somewhat more close-knit community, and a more civil one as well.

 

It can be a bit frustrating, sometimes, to go days without a new post in the topics I follow, but on the whole I think the site has really matured since BIONICLE ended. It's back to being one of my favorite LEGO fansites.

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I see new posts in almost every forum almost every time I visit. I don't think the site is any great danger of becoming inactive.

 

Also consider that there's a new constraction line on the way, and if it's anything like Bionicle it could be a major boost to activity.

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The old BZP was like a big city. It was big and bustling and fun, but it was sometimes just too big, too unwieldy to really get anything done.

The current BZP is like a small town. There's less to do and thus less activity, but everyone knows everyone else and the drama that does crop up can be pretty easily dealt with.

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More professional-looking, eh?

Back when the forums finally came back online after an embarrassingly long downtime in 2011, a lot of people hated this new look (myself included). I guess it's grown on me, but maybe that's because I can't look back at the old forums anymore.

 

But yeah, both that downtime and the fact it's been four years since anything Bionicle-related actually happened really hurt the activity of this site. Which is good or bad, depending on your point of view.

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Wow, a lot of you guys miss the old theme? :P Is it because that was the theme to grow on you originally when using this site? Maybe my memories of the old site aren't very accurate. :notsure:

Edited by LeKon551

Feels good to be "back".

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The old BZP site looked really great, especially compared to the pale, haggard white-on-gray you have here today. The old forums looked inviting and graphically pleasing. See what I mean?

 

(Please remember that all of the below in this post is just my honest opinion.)

 

That reminds me of the exact reason I disliked the old theme. It looked like it tried too hard to impress, and still failed (I think the term is wannabe?). It had too much text everywhere and too much of it underlined. The colours were varying shades of blue which also contributed to this.

 

On the other hand, this new layout is much simpler and hence much more effective. I find the current theme much more appealing, as it goes for a simpler look (but not too simple) that made this look like a website that is very organised. It retains the good parts of the old website and as far as I can see so far, none of the bad elements.

 

Also, the background is grey? I thought it was another shade of blue (and that's another point to the new BZP, they used it more effectively). But this "white-on-gray" is good because it means the background isn't white altogether, which would make the site seem more bland. If you look at other decent website fora, they do the same thing, having the discussion and its posts one colour, over a background of a different colour, which looks professional This is definitely easier on the eyes (mine, at least).

 

Overall, I find the new look to be more "inviting and graphically pleasing", but that's just my opinion.

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Feels good to be "back".

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The background looks gray to me.

 

In the old forums, the layout made it look like stuff was actually happening. Tons of subforums, ample staff, and copious activity was all reflected in the slightly messy organization. You bet there was activity. Go back to that webarchive I linked to, and you'll see that nearly every subforum had been posted in that day. That's crazy, considering there are over a dozen of them.

 

Now you look at the bland, boring, quiet layout BZP has today. Ho hum. Nothing going on here.

 

Overall I guess it's for the best. The simple fact is that nothing really does happen around here anymore, especially anything Bionicle-related. The layout reflects that.

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and too much of it underlined.

Probably because the forum index is pretty much a link hub. The underline is basically the universal format for "I'm a link, you can click me!"

 

Personally I miss most of the old layout. It was way easier to navigate because it wasn't trying to be sparkly-web-future-woohoo, and just gave you the links to the pages you wanted. Now you need to dig through menus and magic-page-shifty nonsense. At least it hasn't descended into the absurdity of infinite scrolling, I suppose. At least not yet.

 

I also miss the old posting system. Being able to use the BBCode editor with all the options was incredibly useful, and I don't understand why anyone thought it was a good idea to split that into RTE with options and BBCode with no options.

 

I mean, sure, the old forum may not have had beveled corners everywhere, but it seemed way more user-friendly to me.

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Now you look at the bland, boring, quiet layout BZP has today. Ho hum. Nothing going on here.

 

Overall I guess it's for the best. The simple fact is that nothing really does happen around here anymore, especially anything Bionicle-related. The layout reflects that.

 

Whilst I do think the activity level is reasonably healthy, I don't think you can expect any better than that given the circumstances. Bionicle's been over for years now, and none of the subsequent story themes have won much support. So until something better comes along, we just have to make the best of the way things are.

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*raises bottle of Sprite*

 

May the professionalism overtake this place. To the glorious revolution! *drinks*

 

* * *

 

Anyway, as for the new forum/old forum thing I :shrugs: a good deal. I liked the old forum when it was around. The IPB forum skin offends my eyes, but now that the BZPower skin has come around I'm not complaining too hard. It makes my avatar and typical banners look better. :P

 

I miss the old BBCode editor at times, as the RTE glitches out a good deal and is irritating, but what can you do?

 

The thing I miss the most though is the old forum archives. 'Tis a shame that they were lost. But enough whining. I think the most important thing is that we're still here, RTEs and archive complaints and all...a high achievement, considering how old Bionicle's end is now.

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I think most people like the old BZP out of nostalgia. It was nice and it served its purpose, but it was ancient. It looked old - every part of it screamed 2004, just as the front page still does.

I love it and I'll always have a special place in my heart for it, but oh boy is it hectic, and not in a good way. Internet styles are like fashions - always changing - so it's better that we have a forum layout that fits 2014, not 2004. Then, it was about cramming a lot of eye-catching material in - nowadays, it's more about space and minimalism.

 


Now if you'll excuse me, I'll go sit in the corner and try to fully comprehend the fact that 2004 was ten years ago.

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avatar by Lady Kopaka


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I've always been a fan of retro-styles, so I still like the old layout better than the current one.

I always imagine "retro" as 1980s style with funky rainbow colours and disco afros :afro:​ and whatnot. I just imagined combining that with Bionicle. :lol: :lol: :lol:

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Feels good to be "back".

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My experience was somewhat similar, but I never made an account. I saw the site "in the old days", and read some posts about something I was researching Bionicle-related, but found everything a bit overwhelming. Of course, I didn't use the internet very much in those days, so probably anything would be overwhelming to me.

I find it fun to look at the old copies of BZP, though, since it is faintly nostalgic for me.

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*raises bottle of Sprite*

 

May the professionalism overtake this place. To the glorious revolution! *drinks*

 

* * *

 

Anyway, as for the new forum/old forum thing I :shrugs: a good deal. I liked the old forum when it was around. The IPB forum skin offends my eyes, but now that the BZPower skin has come around I'm not complaining too hard. It makes my avatar and typical banners look better. :P

 

I miss the old BBCode editor at times, as the RTE glitches out a good deal and is irritating, but what can you do?

 

The thing I miss the most though is the old forum archives. 'Tis a shame that they were lost. But enough whining. I think the most important thing is that we're still here, RTEs and archive complaints and all...a high achievement, considering how old Bionicle's end is now.

I pretty much never use the rich text editor, personally, unless I have to preview a post. The little lightswitch button in the upper left corner of the reply box switches things into BBCode mode, which I'm much more comfortable with. It does mean you have to type out all the code manually rather than having buttons that insert it for you (like you have in RTE mode, or like you had by default on the old site), but for most formatting I have to do in a typical post that's no undue burden.

 

I definitely prefer the new site layout. The old site layout looks weird on my current computer — everything's stretched out horizontally, the number of different shades of blue being used is somewhat distracting, the quote boxes are ugly, and a lot of the buttons (like the "quote" and "reply" buttons, or the "new topic" button) feel too small and flashy (I still don't know what exactly the site was going for with all those explosions). Perhaps on an older desktop computer like I used when I first joined BZPower it would have been prettier, but I can't see going back to it today. The new site just feels more natural to me now.

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I pretty much never use the rich text editor, personally, unless I have to preview a post. The little lightswitch button in the upper left corner of the reply box switches things into BBCode mode, which I'm much more comfortable with. It does mean you have to type out all the code manually rather than having buttons that insert it for you (like you have in RTE mode, or like you had by default on the old site), but for most formatting I have to do in a typical post that's no undue burden.

I generally type out all the code anyway, because I'm a programmer anyway and that's how the mind works, but I frequently have to manually insert quote boxes, and the RTE frequently goofs those up regardless of whether I use it (the RTE). For some reason the RTE renders the quote boxes out, which generally causes problems in the final post.

 

I guess I should tracker ticket it, but it's so easily fixed that I don't see the point in complaining.

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My experience was somewhat similar, but I never made an account. I saw the site "in the old days", and read some posts about something I was researching Bionicle-related, but found everything a bit overwhelming. Of course, I didn't use the internet very much in those days, so probably anything would be overwhelming to me.

I find it fun to look at the old copies of BZP, though, since it is faintly nostalgic for me.

Hey, I visited the sight in the old days for Binoicle research also! Of course, I was still a bit young at the time, and don't remember it very well, but I sure do like it. Maybe it's out of nostalgia and maybe not, but (to me), the style current style looks a bit bland and (again, this is just my opinion) lacks a bit of the warmth and activity that it had back in 2000-whatever.

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personally my opinions torn

 

on one hand i dont like how rtf editor is the default for posting and in general the site looks too sterile to me

 

but on the other hand i like that the community has shrunk a little bit, its reminiscient of bzpowers early days when everyone was closer-knit and everything seemed more easy-going

 

shrug

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bionicle is trans culture

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The old BZP site looked really great, especially compared to the pale, haggard white-on-gray you have here today. The old forums looked inviting and graphically pleasing. See what I mean?

 

 

 

Also, the background is grey? I thought it was another shade of blue (and that's another point to the new BZP, they used it more effectively). But this "white-on-gray" is good because it means the background isn't white altogether, which would make the site seem more bland. If you look at other decent website fora, they do the same thing, having the discussion and its posts one colour, over a background of a different colour, which looks professional This is definitely easier on the eyes (mine, at least).

 

Overall, I find the new look to be more "inviting and graphically pleasing", but that's just my opinion.

 

Well, it depends on what the user has assigned himself to: you can change this theme by the button when you scroll down completely, that says "change theme." I personally prefer the "IP.board" theme, so if the dullness and grey-like colors aren't your thing, switch to that.

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but on the other hand i like that the community has shrunk a little bit, its reminiscient of bzpowers early days when everyone was closer-knit and everything seemed more easy-going

 

shrug

 

Given your join date (end of 2004), which "early days" are you referring to? 2005?

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Could someone tell me why my join date says 2008? I'm fairly certain that's the year of the Toa Mistika/Phantoka, not the Inika. Was there an error in copying the user database from the old website or something along those lines (because I definitely didn't use BZPower in 2007-13)?

Feels good to be "back".

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Could someone tell me why my join date says 2008?

 

Maybe because that's when you joined? :P

 

 

 

Was there an error in copying the user database from the old website or something along those lines (because I definitely didn't use BZPower in 2007-13)?

AFAIK no join dates have ever changed; the few I remember remain the same. Yours could be an exception, of course.

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but on the other hand i like that the community has shrunk a little bit, its reminiscient of bzpowers early days when everyone was closer-knit and everything seemed more easy-going

 

shrug

Given your join date (end of 2004), which "early days" are you referring to? 2005?

 

actually i was around before then. i just didnt join as a member

Edited by Harry Osborn

bionicle is trans culture

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Could someone tell me why my join date says 2008? I'm fairly certain that's the year of the Toa Mistika/Phantoka, not the Inika. Was there an error in copying the user database from the old website or something along those lines (because I definitely didn't use BZPower in 2007-13)?

It could be possible that you're misremembering things, and that you could have gone on BZP as a guest.

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Could someone tell me why my join date says 2008? I'm fairly certain that's the year of the Toa Mistika/Phantoka, not the Inika. Was there an error in copying the user database from the old website or something along those lines (because I definitely didn't use BZPower in 2007-13)?

It could be possible that you're misremembering things, and that you could have gone on BZP as a guest.

 

No, I forgot about BZPower after Lego never made Mahri Nui Online Game or Karda Nui Online Game. I'm definitely not misremembering this, Bionicle's one of the most vivid memories I have of my earlier childhood. I came the first time looking for help on VNOG, but went to another forum website instead because it had more help. That was 2006, I only returned recently, and that's because of nostalgia that the franchise ended.

 

EDIT: And I also remember the then-frustrating hassle of making/setting up an account for this website. I was really eager about VNOG because the Inika were my favourite Toa group, I can remember everything distinctly.

Edited by LeKon551

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  • 2 weeks later...

Man this topic bums me out. I really miss when Bzpower had copious amounts of people using it everyday. I wonder if there's any hope for it now?

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The flow of time is always cruel... its speed seems different for each person, but no one can change it... A thing that does not change with time is a memory of younger days...

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Man this topic bums me out. I really miss when Bzpower had copious amounts of people using it everyday. I wonder if there's any hope for it now?

 

Nope. For instance, I thought that The LEGO Movie would generate huge amounts of discussion, but there was none at all. Barely any threads about it.

 

The only place where I feel any actual discussion taking place is the Storyline and Theories forum. Unfortunately, that place has been clogged up with riveting threads such as "what is your favorite bionicle names", "witch (sic) bionicle generation is your favorite" and "Everything Wrong With Bionicle". There are interesting questions every now and then, but still...

Edited by TheSkeletonMan939
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I hardly ever trudge into Storyline and Theories, but there's still more than enough activity here to keep me coming back. The News Discussion, BIONICLE Discussion, Hero Factory Discussion, and LEGO Discussion subforums are where I spend most of my time here.

 

You make a good point about the lack of LEGO Movie discussion, though. *goes to make a LEGO Movie–related topic*

Edited by Aanchir: Rachira of Time
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