dviddy

I'm sorry, but there actually are concrete guidelines that one can judge an author based on. And after spending four years in college studying exactly that, I can confidently assert that Greg is a subpar writer- if he wasn't, he wouldn't be writing for LEGO. Dan Brown is also not going to win any literary awards anytime soon (any literary review of his works are always negative. He can tell a good story, but the way he tells the story is dreadful.) This is one of those moments where I'm going to assert something Bonesiii is fond of saying. You can have your preferences, but your opinions need to be grounded in reality and logic. According to most literary conventions (even for children sci-fi books), Greg does not pass the test. This isn't completely subjective. Very little in life truly is. Most of the violence and deaths Greg has thrown into the story as he's been given more control have been unnecessary and over the top. Last year's serials were basically just a springboard for Greg's desire to kill whomever he felt like, in whatever manner he felt was fun. I read a lot, and can almost guarantee I read far more than the rest of you do (I was a literature major for four years, after all), and violence, as an established part of the human experience, has an important part in our literature. If you can't see the difference between violence and deaths for the hell of it (like what Greg has instituted in these books [or in his published science fiction novels, which are far worse in this regard]), and violence and death that serves a purpose and functions within the story in a believable and purposeful way, then there's not a lot I can do to help you out. And as there's speculation that 2010 may be the end of BIONICLE, or the end of this saga, or whatever, I feel this is a perfect place to say that if either are true, I sincerely hope we move on without Greg involved in writing outside of the Magazine.

Wait, what? When has Greg ever created a unique personality? He uses the same ten for everything. And not only that, but once he became the novelist, many of the personalities from the previous years were drastically altered. The man is not a good writer. Not even in the relaxed standards of science fiction writers. He can't set a scene, he can't write dialogue, and he relies far too much on juvenile violence. It's like if Michael Bay wrote children's books. He's nice in his interactions with fans, and he's done a lot of giving of time and energy to BZPower and fans he didn't have to interact with. He's thrown a lot of random things into the story because fans have asked. But that doesn't make his writing any good. I respect the man in many areas, and like I said, he's been good for the fanbase. And Lord knows he tries to get things through sometimes. But... no.

... Now I wish we had a Vahki in the Stars lineup.

Truth.

That was sent to Brickfair by BZPower member ToM Dracone. And it was awesome.

We all know you own BS01, Swert. I don't think you need to add that into every post you make.

And half of these items are purple.

My guess on the lighting is a darkly-lit room, with a light placed to shine light directly behind, or slightly to the side of the heads, from a distance so as to reduce a little glare and blown highlights, and then a longer exposure, with a slow shutter-speed.

No. We have it in stock at Target, and I've seen it at TRU as well.

The newer format is far better than the old one, as it allows for a quicker page-load, which makes it easier on the server, on your browser, etc. Plus, this allows for larger photos in the review itself, as they don't have to fit into the same web-page as the review itself. Plus, I still feel that the BZP reviews, on average are better than anything here on EB. But of course, I'm biased, as I wrote five of them this year, and three of them last year. It's a waste of resources. It's like the goofy near-canisters they made for the Avtoran and Agori. Could the consumer have saved on the price if the box was smaller? Plus, some people keep and store the boxes (not me), and I guess the large size can be frustrating. Plus, the large box is sort of deceptive. You open it up, and there's not a lot in there, especially not enough to justify such a large box.

IF, speculatively, if this whole 'ultra team' nonsense becomes true, there had best be a Kopaka in there somewhere.

I dislike Stronius quite a bit. Both him and Vastus were on the bottom of my list, and now they're the only ones on my list, because I bought the rest. I plan on Bricklinking the pieces I want from them in a year or so. They just don't interest me. My favourite is definitely Mata Nui. Followed probably by Kiina. Then Ackar and Gelu. With the exception of Mata Nui's arms, he's better proportioned than anything else we've received in a long time. No skinny-thin chest, no goofy-big head, shorter legs, etc. His head only seems so tiny because the masks we've gotten for the past few years were so big. I'm aware of that. But Mata Nui's arms are proportionally longer because his legs are shorter. Long double-socket upper arm, short double-socket upper legs. Things I wish the designers would stop doing.

Have you met my friend Kiina? I know Mata Nui's are longer and goofy, but something about Kiina's arms in conjunction with her build drive me far crazier.

Psssh, Mata Nui is awesome.

Pretty sure the Vahki leg is slightly shorter, even if just by a few tiny unimportant increments. But the other point stands- the piece design tricks the eyes into thinking the lower legs are shorter than the lower arms. Besides, how often do I use Vahki legs? I hate those pieces, generally speaking.

And Jim Cummings is a very prominent voice actor. He was Ed the Hyena in The Lion King, the guard in Aladdin that's always calling him a street rat, he was Winnie the Pooh, Tigger, and he was also Darkwing Duck, etc.

Not true. Fero and Skirmix had the short double sockets in the new style back in January.

I wish the BZPower staff would realize how much Mata Nui sucks, instead of putting up a review on the front page saying how legendary he is. Lame.

Haha, shows how interested I am in Stronius. I don't really count the new style joints, as the old style joints had them in that colour. Yeah, it's a new mold, but they're not different enough for me to care.

Ackar has the most recolours. Almost every piece on him is a recolour of a piece we've never had in that colour before. Mata Nui has a ton of brand new molds and recolours. Gelu has two new molds, and one new recolour. Stronius has three new molds, and no recolours. Gelu has five new molds, and at least three new recolours (are the dark blue Metru legs new?) Vastus has four new molds, and two recolours. Just wait...

Absolutely. It's too bad we don't give them out, though.

No. If you've been banned, you can't read your PMs anymore. That doesn't make sense to send a PM. I can guarantee you've been banned not for being 'too great at art' (there are several members who are better than you there, not to be a jerk, but seriously). There's a real reason. I don't know what it is, I'm not a staff member capable of banishment, but none of them are anywhere near that petty.

The image in your mind was terrible.

That was just a list for the benefit of the members. Heck, not everyone was on there anyway. There is a real list with member's names, and expiration dates somewhere else.

Nope. Nothing similar to this has happened for awhile. BZP was down for a week or so two years ago because of some issues with the server company, and before that, it was down for a month once when the Maori hacker attacked. Other than that, it's just server issues.