Cap'n Kopaka

Some good news! Jolly Rogers isn't dead quite yet, I just dealt with a laptop crash but I'm currently in the process of re-installing the Adobe CS4 suite onto my new Windows 7. Sooooo, expect an update soon. Just for fun here's a Crackerjack sprite that will probably be used sometime later on if the story beckons a stylistic shift.

Speaking of all male teams and Rocka PIROCKA It all makes sense now

I really dig Raw Jaw, Rocka XL, Witch Doc, and Waspix, but box art can be deceiving. Raw Jaw is really my favorite of the bunch but I have a strong feeling that he's not as good in plastic. That said, I'll probably be getting Bulk, Rocka, or Furno instead since I typically don't get bigger sets anymore. Although I'm really tempted to pick up Raw-Jaw if the reviews are good. Then again I have to catch up with 2.0... Evo is a must-have for me.

Stars and Phantoka *shrug* Ah well. I was hoping for a big heroine when I saw Rocka but I'm not particularly disappointed. That whole "gangsta/rocka" thing actually makes a lot of sense x3 But then does that make... Jimi Stringa?

I like to think that Rocka is more of a lioness than a lion despite the mane-type thing. I mean, isn't the name "Rocka" counterintuitive to English speakers at least? When I hear the name I immediately think female because of the fact that it takes "Rock" and adds the "-a" suffix. Ah, I suppose we don't have very long to wait anyways >3< Also I'm hoping the villains are named versions of members of the species, rather than those being the species names. Judging from stuff like Fangz and Raw-Jaw instead of, like, Saberwolf and Flame Ape or something, though, I'm guessing we're getting individual villains.

> Let's try this again. You can do little to resist the temptation of the hat. Victory. You can feel it pulsing in the hot air of these forsaken islands, smell it in every palm tree and falling coconut on this damned planet. Fate has been cruel to you. Far too cruel. The time to reap your rewards in life has come. No more pain. No more suffering. You once knew what love was. That was a long time ago. Long before she disappeared, long before they took her from you. Back then you were soft. You were but a Matoran. You knew nothing. But then that stranger taught you everything you know. You stood before that brute of a Steltian, crude in appearance and cruder in language, with fire in your veins. Vengeance would be sweet. But a scar was dealt upon you, a scar that will never be erased. As he crushed you beneath his foot, he left you with the knowledge that you couldn't do this alone, but without her, you were always alone. A first mate and navigator is one thing. A doctor and some loony from the islands is another thing. But you'll never feel fulfilled until she's by your side again. The stranger seemed to appear from nowhere. He is everything you want to become. Everything you need to become. He gave you your powers, your magical compass. One day you hope to see him again, alive and filled with his mysterious and wise words. Until then, you know that you must become a true warrior. A true fighter. You must defeat the eight. You must destroy their master. You must have vengeance. You are strong. You are a captain. You are a pirate. All hands on deck. Stop sitting around, crew! Corn, start traveling into the sunset! We must land before nightfall! Man the cannons! Ready yourselves for a fight! Gumball, for god's sake, get me some rum!

> Wear the hat. Be the captain In an outburst of sudden copy/paste five second modifications, you begin to wonder if all of bfahome's suggestions are from some other ethereal plane of knowledge. And by other plane of ethereal knowledge you mean MS Paint Adventures. Yet the hat... it beckons.

> Climb onto the boat. You climb aboard the ship and give Candycorn a friendly pat on the head. With your good crew by your side you'll never fail! Then you get an idea, one that you believe will make you remember everything. > Ask first mate what your name is. You ask the first mate what your name is. He seems to understand your predicament and refreshes your memory. Your name is Cap'n Crackerjack, plunderer of the high seas and swashbuckler extraordinaire. Nobody tops you at piracy. No Skakdi can best you, nor can any of the Enigmatic Eight. ...the Enigmatic Eight. Those wretches! An alliance of abnormal alliteration-absorbed assassins, they will do anything they can to satisfy the whims of their master. But in order to defeat the master, unlock the ultimate treasure, get revenge, and save your lover, you must first best the Eight. Commander Cantankerous was taken down no more than a month ago with some help from a... mysterious stranger. Seven remain, plus the master of the eight. What will you do now?

> Punch a hole in the boat. While you wish you wore a mask of strength to build some sort of ramp to climb aboard with, you have no such luck. Dramatic irony, which is very within your powers of comprehension, tells us that while you do wear a mask of strength, you don't yet know that. Instead, you summon all your power and release a powerful seaman's slug, not even hesitating to chuckle at the word "seaman." -12 Hit Points You wonder why you like punching things so much today. --> From above, your first mate Candycorn is calling. Not the brightest Matoran around, and he gets the job done. And besides, if you ever need to resort to cannibalism... Your train of thought stops dead there. The good old boy is giving you a ladder!

> Look across the sea to see if there's more land close by. That's not really necessary when your boat's on the shore like this. You wonder why you didn't notice the boat here before. This ship is your pride and joy. You and your crew have sailed on her across endless seas through all your voyages, happy and sad, dark and light. What was her name again...?

> Can't open the coconut. You figure that, important as it is to you and your well-being, everything else can wait until you have a drink. After all, quenching your epic pirate thirst is far more important than remembering a silly name. However, alluring as the sweet coconut milk is, there seem to be no utensils to break it open with. Even your cutlass seems to be missing. You add the coconut to your inventory. There's a whole island to explore! > Explore the island to find something to open it with. You wonder why you hadn't noticed how small the island was earlier.

> Punch map in the snout to establish cartography. You're filled with a sense of empowerment. Nobody tells you what to do! You show that map who's boss by pummeling it with a flurry of pirate punches. Then you realize what a complete waste of time this silliness is. > Pick up the map and open it. Memories explode into your head like cannonfire. This isn't a map. It's a hit list! And these are the Enigmatic Eight -- the eight men and women who you must kill. Revenge burns in your mind. You then realize you're rather thirsty, there's a lump on your head, and while you've made some progress you still can't remember your name.

> Put on the pirate hat that is on the ground. You decide you'll delay trying to remember your name. After all, maybe looking through your old things will help jog your memory. You lift your hat to equip it, but discover two items beneath the hat: a pirate map and a compass. Too bad there was no rum there! If you remember anything it's that you're a pirate, and pirates do love their rum. (Unfortunately I lost my drawing tablet stylus, so soft edges are a pain to do with the mouse. So sharp edges it is for now, but pressure sensitivity is hard to simulate :\. But thanks for starting the game up!)

(This is a trial run for a game I will probably post on BZP, where this sort of thing would be more popular. However, because the board is down and also because I want to try it out on a smaller scale, here is a limited run of a choose-your-own-adventure style comic I'm planning) Note: due to the nature of this game there are a number of images (640x480 pixels, no more than 500 kb each and in GIF format). Slow connections beware! > Wake up. You wake up with a massive headache. You wonder for a moment if you hit the rum too hard last night when you realize you don't remember a thing! Not only the events of the previous night escape you, but so does everything else. Perhaps something hit you on the head and knocked you out. That still doesn't explain why you're sitting on some strange beach. Stranded on a desert island, apparently. What was your name again? If you've done this sort of thing before, you know the drill. If not, here's a quick run-down: you post the next action, and I pick (usually the first post, but occasionally others I see more fitting) and make the next panel for that action. Log: > Wake up. > Put on the pirate hat that is on the ground. > Punch map in the snout to establish cartography. > Pick up the map and open it. > Can't open the coconut. > Explore the island to find something to open it with. > Look across the sea to see if there's more land nearby. > Punch a hole in the boat. > Climb onto the boat. > Ask first mate what your name is. > Wear the hat. Be the captain. > Let's try this again. Gumball > Go get him some rum Gumball > Bring him Cola, the captain doesn't need to get drunk. Crackerjack > Take a generous swig of cola, become hyper.

I don't believe this has been posted here yet, or the origin of the video, but I thought the name was kickass. "Welcome to the Savage Planet". With some more detailed pics of the villains to boot. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vchyqdFRRnI&feature=related

I was planning on making Stormer the one Hero 2.0 that I would get next year, but for some reason I think this review won me over. Maybe it's the black/lime/red colorscheme or the headgear (second only to Stormer, IMO), because other than that Breez 2.0 is pretty uninteresting. Nice review though, and thanks a lot for including a reproduction of the combiner! Combined with Stormer the figure looks really cool, with an exception, maybe, of the triple-leg thing. It'd be neat to give a set an animalistic-type hind leg though, something that was quite difficult with the standard Bionicle jointed pieces.

I'd have to say TPTB is one of my favorite serials as of yet as well. The deaths did seem somewhat random, but I didn't really plan to see Karzahni or Tren Krom again anyways... as long as not too many characters are just murdered left and right I can overlook it because of the awesome character development. It's the first time in a while we've seen a pair of Toa Nuva and went really deeply into their personalities--seeing as Kopaka and Pohatu are two of my favorite characters, it's totally welcome. Interesting to see how Kopaka matured into an almost paladin-like Toa, while Pohatu is getting more of an edgy personality, but their "cold" and "friendly" aspects are still there. Awesome <3.

Roxtus because I'm a fan of the Skrall (irresistable colorschemes, hardcore disciplined society, what isn't there to want?) and also Atakus. But I'm also a fan of the Wastelands, because I like Malum and the Vorox a lot.

Freaking... adowable. You've got some very inventive uses of some technic pieces here, i.e. Rahkshi head as the belly/chin. Nice.

I literally laughed out loud xD

This is getting old. The argument was fun while it lasted but I'm stepping out xP I mean, I see your point, DV, and I see yours too Grevious, but it's just that I don't find this whole thing very important in the slightest bit. It's become like an angry tennis game where neither side sees the other side's point so they just keep batting back smug insults or repeating the same stuff. I'm not denying that I went a bit far with my sarcastic tirade. But hey, ya know what they say about arguing on the internet being like the special olympics... xD TOTALLY different subject, sorry if I sound like I'm trying to change it, but did anyone else find the whole Vorox thing a bit... really badly executed? It's like, we don't need any new big bad villains at this point (we've got Marendar and the gold-skinned guy and the weird Chthulu-thing), and I have a bad feeling that this Vorox guy will have absolutely no impact on the story after the party finds a way out of whatever trap they've gotten themselves into :x

I love your sarcasm. You're just the coolest guy, sticking up for women like that. Go, Mr. Feminist! I'm sure it's totally not degrading at all to say "all the female people you talked to about this, or the apparently non-chauvanistic pigs (such a rare breed, but you my friend are one of them)" were totally offended by something you saw on a children's site that's not read by anyone. You're really making yourself look cool by grouping all females together, saying they should be and are offended by something like a bunch of robots being assigned gender roles because they're peaceful or warlike. But hey what do I know? Even though I'm, you know, somebody who went through major gender crises, I am a sexist megablocks, and you brought me a step closer to enlightenment! Through Lego! How noble of you! And hey, who cares that Orde, a male character, is a total savage because he's male? I mean, sure it's practically KKK-level hate for me to bring that up in a conversation in this modern world, but it's something to think about, right? And I think it's totally out of line that there are 5/6 more male characters in a toy line that builds action figures aimed at boys! I mean, sure, DC and Marvel and everyone else does it, but that doesn't mean Lego needs to stoop to their level. After all, these are more than just children's toys here, they're a social statement on how Women Are Inferior To Men And The Evil Media Is Meant To Destroy The Lives Of Women Through Degrading Them At A Young Age! You know, I should write a whole article on this. Then maybe my internet-friends can flock in and tell me how cool I am. Then I'll leave and do nothing to, you know, try to make social reforms that really matter, you know, like things that help real people out. Because looking cool by acting like you're a nonconformist internet vigilante is always better than even speaking your beliefs in real life. Thanks, Darth Vader (whose name, I might add, is straight from a series chock full of sexist stereotypes... oop, you'd better change that! You don't want people to think you're a fan of a story with more male than female characters, with a snarky and independent princess stereotype character. That could get out of hand. But who am I kidding, a devout feminist like you wouldn't actually enjoy something as degrading as Star Wars. Why, your name must be a Jonathan Swift-level satire on social change! A regular Modest Proposal!), for helping me out. Now please leave. I have better things to do than type out sarcastic blocks of text because of how ignorant you're making me look through your sarcastic, smug little posts. Ciao~

Thanks, Grevious, for taking the words out of my mouth and turning it into a long rant that would have taken forever to type. Moreover, with overreaction like that you could take ANY female person, fictional or non, and say they fit a stereotype. Any MALE character, fictional or non, actually. If you stretch it far enough, like you just have ("Prophetessish?" Really?). But I know people like you never back out when you have the opportunity to cry misogyny, so this is where I step down. I'm not going to argue any further about the roles of female characters in a Lego line on a Lego message board. We all know that would be a grand waste of time. So... yeah. That's all I'm gonna say on the subject. :S

How about Lariska, Hahli, Macku, Dalu, etc.? I'm kinda annoyed at how Greg seemed to suddenly add in all the Gorasts and Sisters of the Skrall and such, as if he thought, "oh my god, I'm being sexist because my female characters are too passive", but there really aren't THAT many. And besides, the majority of characters are males so there's little to work with (and most male characters have extremely exaggerated personalities--either the "short fuse" who is really just someone who yells a lot or the "carefree guy" who's really somebody who nobody in real life would want to be around because he's that much of a troll. Am I denying that the storyline is lazy with the female roles and follows stereotypes a bit? No. I'm just not being all "OMG THE STORY IS MISOGYNISTIC!! THIS IS MESSING UP TODAY'S GENERATION." I think people look too deeply into stuff sometimes.

That's what I thought at first, but just remember, here in the MU, male/female =/= physical, it's psychological, so it really means the "passive, artistic, pensive" ones are female while the "hot-headed go-getters" are basically male. That's at least how I see it. That or the GBs are sexist pricks :P