Zarkan

Yeah. We get a ton of fan made rahi and non-set rahi, but we haven't been getting very many actual set rahi. We got only 1 last year and this year, and they both were awesome. I think It'd be cool to have ol' Taka riding on some giant bird or something. *sweet*

Hm, I kinda doubt it. They didn't do any last year, so why would they do one this year? Then again, you never know... :-)

You're probably right. Greg did say in his blog that the rising gas prices are having an impact on TLC. This must be the result.... I blame the middle eastern oil monopolies. And, as Rush on EIB calls them, the enviormentalist wackos, who refuse to let the USA drill for oil in Alaska. But I'm not going to get into all the political aspects of this problem - drat, already let my mouth slip. :-| :-P

If they made battlepacks with elves, hobbits, and dwarves, I'd so be sold with this line. Too bad it probably won't happen, considering that TLC's working on their own castle/fantasy line right now (which still is awesome). *sad*

Donkey Kong 64. The games pretty good; I especially love all the collectable collecting. Problem is the camera is MANUAL, not automatic like in Super Mario 64. Plus, in certain areas it doesn't even allow you to turn. Fortunately, it hasn't caused too many problems, although that one golden banana that you have to get by walking over a very thin wooden plank is still evading me... |-/

Totally. 5 USD like the previous year was pushing it, but bringing it up to 6 dollars just is overboard. I may just buy one of these pretty but overpriced and <insert that tiresome argument> Av-Matoran. |-/

Must... have... trolls.... *sing* Great review, brickbitz! Glad to see you're finding lots of new sets, even if it makes half the board jealous of you. :-P

Forestmen should come back. Better yet, they could make a new hybrid forestmen/elves faction, with giant tree houses, secret hideouts, and tons of archers. How 'bout in 2009? *sweet*

WOAH. Now that's a LOT of pictures. I think that's the most someone's ever put into one review on Eurobricks. How long did it take you to upload them all? *wacko* Moving along, this ship is looking better and better to me. I agree with everything you said, so there's not really anything else for ME to say. Tks for the review! ;-)

Edit? What in blazes? None of my quote tabs are working... does anybody know why? 8-| Edit by Hinckley: Yes, one was missing. If any are mismatched, none of them work. Actually, TLC still produces a bunch of non-brick stuff. The latest lego catalogs have a full two pages devoted to a couple dozen different items, and TLC still produces video games, books, and is even opening a new Legoland park. Still, I kinda see what you mean, but in general I don't think that was a really big reason. :-/ Well, that's what they want you to think. :-P Eh, probably right, but again, I truly think the biggest problem in lego's dark ages was the problem we all could see right out: the poor set design. Without great sets, a toy company like TLC is doomed. End of story. Uh, kinda. Though other things certainly contributed to it. ;-) Couldn't agree more. :-X Oh man, I totally forgot about that! :-$ Well, you summed it up pretty well, so I really don't have anything to add, except that you're probably right. ;-) Darn it, this new keyboard is really making it hard to type... |-/

Wait - are those yours? 8-| So much for Icarax being a FEBUARY exclusive.... X-D

Another great year for lego fans is coming to a close, and it looks like the next year is going to be even better. Fact is, since 2003 TLC has slowly been climbing back to its former glory, but not since the last few years has it really regained sight in the minds of old and young fans of lego alike. Which brings up an interesting question: why did TLC ever sink down to the red in profits anyway? The answer may seem clear (Bad set designs, useless licenses, etc), but in fact the root of the problem really has to do with just one concept. Years ago, in what we call TLC

Man, this is everything the official Hospital WASNT. Not that it wasn't okay, but your MOC is so much better. ;-) BTW, for anyone who wants to mod the official hosptial, a good start would be to place the buildings and ramp on an actual green baseplate. From what I see, it wouldn't be hard at all, and all you'd really have to get rid of is the stairs (which are unrealistic anyway :-P ).

Now THAT is cool. A giant Ogre wheel of doom is just awesome in my books. *sweet* Great to see TLC's making more castle sets as well, and if there are more just as good as this, only smaller, I may just pick up something. :-)

Huh? Gordon's been in the show since Season 3. He doesn't make as many appearances as other characters, but he still is most certainly there. Clearly your end of post message is right! :-P (J/k)

Well, I watched those two episodes of BTAS last night, and overall I got exactly what I expected, which really wasn

The other episode was also a Joker one: it was Christmas with the Joker. I remember a lot of it, including that Joker can't even really defend himself at all. At least the Joker in The Batman has combat skills and is crazy at the same time. I just kinda dislike having a lot of villians that just make crazy comments and can't even stand up against Batman at all. :-/ :-P

Actually, it isn't completely canon. Fact is, Templar took some creative liberties with the storyline and changed certain elements of it. The most prevalent is the Manas battle, which encompased dozens of crabs. However, the books written by C. A. Hapka, which ARE considered completely canon, had only two Manas. This interpretation got caried into 2006, where the Matoran traveling to Karzahni commented on how so many manas could be there, when the Toa said there had been only true. Greg is disregarding Templar's creation because it was decided years ago, even before 2006, that the MNLOG was not the end all reference to the storyline. The books are held above it, and the comics even further. Thus, you can't get angry at Greg for that when he's telling the truth, in a sense. I've followed the storyline as much as you have, and I have to disagree. I truly think he's still as dark and evil as he has been before. The only difference I really see is that there are many more makuta than before, but even then Makuta still is the big boss, who took over the Brotherhood and eliminated all who disagreed with his plan. He's extremely inteligent, and very complex psycologically, and I still love him. Plus, where was he even acting like what you said anyway? Greg has confirmed that Makuta still has control over many of the factors of the storyline, and never once has he said or thought that the Toa TRULY foiled him. It's all part of his master plan to take over the universe and replace Mata Nui. ;-) One more thing: Ravensburg, I must say when it comes to Greg F, you really seem to be flipflopping with ever post. You've posted things like "May Templar forever outshine Greg" and "he's a tallentless hack," yet you've also said things like "His comics in 2001 were the finest work we've had in Bionicle" and "He can write a mean comic book, I just don't think he's suited for the storyline." So, I really need to ask you: what do you truly think of Greg? Do you truly hate him and wish he was fired, or are you just not happy with his work? Because there are varying opinions on how good his work really is, and not all the ones saying it's awesome are soley from the 10 year old members partly populating BZP. :-/

Believe it or not, that is one of the only two episodes I have seen of BTAS! Yep, it was included on a video tape my brother got when he was young, and we still have it. Hm, might just watch that again soon.... ;-)

Well, about a couple of weeks ago we adopted cat number 2 into our family (cat number 1 is a big lazy bum :-P ). Here he is: His name is Copper, a very fitting name. He's not a lap cat, but he still is very affectionate and loves to play and sit by you. He's kinda like a dog because he begs for scraps while we're eating, plus he recognizes his name and he'll come when we call him. Cat number 1 doesn't like him much, though. Copper keeps chasing her, since he wants to play. ;-)

Eh, I wouldn't know. I've almost exclusively watched the current KidsWB series, and believe it or not I have thoroughly enjoyed it. Sure, it's not as complex as BTAS, plot wise, and some of the episodes are crud, but those mainly are confined to the first season. Even the Joker has had some good episodes, like The Laughing Bat and Two of a Kind, although that is really my opinion. Well, as long as I enjoy it, I guess I don't mind that other people hate it. ;-) Anyway, yesterday I watched most of a movie called Pictures of Hollis Woods, which happens to be a Halmark Records movie. You know, the ones that the Halmark card company puts out. But seriously, it was a good movie. I think it's great to take a break from non-stop action movies once in a while and watch something nice and sentimental. Plus, the movie had solid acting, and a sweet story about an orphan girl and a foster parent developing Altzhimers. :-)

Here's an even better idea: buy the new Kopaka and put your spare old one's mask and tools on him. Presto, the very kit we all wanted but failed to get! :-P Actually, I don't really like the old Nuva as much as the Mahri, because in general they seem really dinky and skinny. That's why I was really disapointed with the poor design of the NEW nuva; we could have gotten great kits that were really just modern, totally upgraded versions of the old Nuva, without making them rehashes at all. Who here would have loved to see Lewa in Metru green and lime with two sick hatchets, or Pohatu in Metru brown and yellow, with REAL hands? ;-)

OHHHHH CRUD! I let those words about Icarax being Antrox come out of my mask, and they come partly true! :-X :-P Calming down, I must say that I couldn't be more disapointed right now. Besides the fact that all Makuta this year will proably use those UGLY tridax pods, Icarax himself is just really blah. At least they put some thought into his legs, but his weapons look so slapped on and pointless that it totally makes him look like a weak MOC. Then there's the fact that he's skinny as a bone, just like Mutran. Seriously, after all the awesome beefed up titans we got in 2006 and 2007, couldn't have TLC spent more time making these Makuta more armored? I don't know about you, but even though the 2003 Makuta wasn't the best Titan ever, he seriously had some metal on him, and he totally blows away these toothpick titans. Final disapointment: I was hoping for an awesome Mask of Shadows redesign, and now they just make this set pointless by slapping Makuta's old mask on. This kinda does make sense, storyline wise, but it still bugs me. |-/ Well, there goes any hope I had for 2008 Bionicle sets. At least I have the storyline to look foward to... :-)

Ah great, there goes another chunk of my hopes for Bionicle 2008. I mean, as Visorak Kal said, Mutran is basically a recolored Chirox with different weapons and bigger hands, but for some reason I actually like him a bit better than Chirox, unlike Visorak Kal. I think it

Um, Jinzo, I said that the Wild WAS a rip-off of Madagascar. And what I meant about the animation style is that while Dreamworks goes for a psuedo-cartoon style, Pixar makes their animal movies seem much more realistic in comparison. |-/