dviddy

Bulk is a wolf and Stringer? Looks like a bear? Maybe a Panther?

I mostly ignored the dudes talking in the videos, just because all the test models around them were stunning and desirable. There were what, like four or five different dragons in there??? <3 dragons.

You guys know that TLG uses more than just ABS and rubber, right? I believe at Brickfair '08 the designers from TLG who visited from Denmark said that they use somewhere around 15 different plastic types in different amounts and it's impossible with a lot of colours to get perfect consistency. That was what the big flap over purple was about, TLG dropped the old purple and is using purple more sparingly because it was impossible to get acceptable colour matches. TLG isn't using 'cheap' plastic for these parts. I've had the new sets since early November- they are the same plastic quality as everything else we've ever gotten minus lime sockets.

That was actually me, Andrew just posted my review.

"Em Oh Cees" just sounds so unfathomably stupid. They'll always be mocks to me.

Don't even have to push play to know it's a MOC. Really cool colours, though.

Sorry, I had a really busy last week and a half. Hopefully we'll have a BZP Fire Lord review Christmas weekend, if I can get it to Andrew on time.

It won't. :)

Big fan of Julius and Bill 1.0.

Right, LEGO sets are definitely not made to be assembled and disassembled and then played with and built into other things. No sir! That's not what LEGO stands for at all!

Just wanted you guys to know that the first of the BZP 2011 HF reviews is up as well. Furno 2.0

No they don't.

I doubt they're stickers.

I agree.

I think that at least Fire Lord will change quite a bit from the preliminary images. Quite a bit.

Release date is definitely December/January. And you will see pictures in December.

The torso armour is definitely attached by ball joint.

Yeah, I'm pretty stoked to use these pieces in MOCs too, especially since the style of pieces look like they'll mesh with system pieces aesthetically a lot better than Bionicle parts did. I've always preferred a smooth and streamlined appearance in my MOCs to messy and cluttered ones.

So wait. The new hero sets get streamlined and smooth (yay!) and somehow this means they look like megablocks' messy, cluttered, pointy, chaotic Neo-Shifters? It's like you guys haven't even seen Neo-Shifters.

This isn't about 'radical feminism'. The idea that gender equality equals androgyny equals a perversion of the created order is ridiculous and disgusting, and yes, I take extreme offense to that comment, and have said so already in other areas where this post has been quoted. Equality means that both are viewed as having the same societal abilities, being able to advance to the same levels, to work the same jobs, as both being equal in society's sight. It's not about men and women not being different, and you'll find that amongst actual liberals, and not just the scary feminist bogeyman version of feminists that run rampant in conservative paranoia (of which I was apart for a very long time), no one wants men and women to be seen as the exact same. Biologically, there are male and female, but gender roles are entirely societal constructs. There is nothing inherent about the idea that men are more aggressive than women. This is a societal construct, and it is patently untrue. Women engage in just as many acts and thoughts of aggression as men. Except that the reason they chose for his actions was because he was male, and they needed a group who was inherently more passive or gentle, so they decided that this group should be females. Seriously, how do you guys keep passing over that part? Not to mention that again, Chiara's actions set her up not as the competent foil to the Great Being's sexism, but as the extremist exception that actually proves the rule. Maybe it's a fault of Greg's writing, but he is almost incapable of writing a female character who is not gentle, but not on the extreme side of aggression. There's no in-between, and that's why this Toa of Lighting instead reinforces the stereotype. There are three different topics on BZP currently active in this discussion, and more than just Kohaku and I have raised this question. I can think of several others just off the top of my head. On top of that, BZP is not the only active fansite (though it is the largest), and I can say that I have witnessed firsthand a very enraged group of members who are very upset about this blatant sexism. Which is what it is. Blatant. Sexism.

Of course! Because Eurobricks' five or six regular BIONICLE/Hero Factory commentators are a realistic sample of the BIONICLE fanbase in general, and you know, the numerous members on other BIONICLE fansites who are, you know, angry as hell about it don't exist. So a comment that was made that stereotypes an entire gender. But it's wrong to call that out? To point out that this is not what people should be offering for the benefit of our children? Sure. That makes sense? We're not talking about other properties. We're talking about BIONICLE. Because someone else did something wrong and continues to do something wrong is no excuse for someone else to perpetuate that same action. C'mon, I know you're better than that. I think we can stand in agreement on that all day and every day. If we were to be discussing this on a comic book webforum, I could probably rant all day on the subject, every day. Ironically, I just got home from my dayjob where I work in a kitchen. :P I do. Because sex and gender do not carry inherent emotional tendencies like this. That's science- they don't. Yes- there are actual developmental differences between men and women, and yes- men and women do have tendencies to process information differently. But both experience the full emotional spectrum in equal amounts and both are capable of the same level of aggression and violence as the other. These are scientific statements with actual scientific evidence weighted behind them. As such, to say that men are inherently aggressive and Orde is a savage because he's male or that women are gentle and so Toa of Psionics are all female to make them tamer is extremely ignorant and misinformed at best, and it is sexist and immoral at worst. I have no problem with Orde being a brutal savage character, who is also male. I have no problem with Gali being a peaceful, calm character who is also female. I have a very large problem with those attributes being attributed to them because of their genders. That's not okay. See, there's witty and sarcastic banter that I am totes okay with. But hey, you know what? You don't know me. What I engage in offline is something that while not hidden from those I know online, it's not something that everyone is aware of either. But the idea that I'm typing all this up to look cool and impress people and you know, not because it's actually what I believe and how I live my life is a step in the wrong damn direction. I do not promote ideologies I do not believe in. I don't play Devil's Advocate. You know, maybe I'm so steamed about this explanation being offered because the idea of gender inequality is actually, I don't know, important to me? That maybe I believe that such blatant sexism makes the world a worse place? I don't know. I guess that it just sounds crazy that people might attempt to live out the things they say they believe.

Blah blah blah. The point I was making is not that the female characters have always been absurd gender stereotypes (though they mostly have), the point is that the explanation for Orde's gender is patently and inherently sexist. Which it is. Not only that, but the way it is written is as if "oh yeah, these absurd gender stereotypes are obviously true, and any reader will see the wisdom in these actions, no big deal". But it is a big deal, as any of the female fans I have talked to are any indication (or the male ones who are, you know, actually aware of real female personalities and identities). Not to mention Greg's explanation to write off his sexism is absurd and even more derogatory than the sexism itself was to begin with. The gender stereotypes have always been bad, especially when we only had one tribe that was female out of six for the majority of the line. But the blatant sexism exhibited in this latest update crosses the line, especially when coupled with Greg's weak-megablocks "explanation".

You mean murderous batshit crazy insane female stereotype, passive woman, sporty woman, and prophetessish? Totally not stereotypes. Not at all.