the last chronicler

Your website converted my URLs to actual videos at some point when you updated the site. I couldn't see them in the signature until I got off my phone.

I feel like as someone who is critical of the prequels, redlettermedia has ruined our approaches to movie reviews. There are no neccesaey hard rules for filmmaking in the grand world of cinema and there are many choices one film can make that are a symptoms of its problems but not the cause, and therefore what necessary to one film isn't necessary to another. I think the TLJ reaction has been truly out of the context of the film. I think a good comparison would be to imagine if the fan audience reaction that The Last Jedi got was the same for the Wolverine film Logan. If that film was analysed in the same fashions fans have TLJ, the film would have been burnt down for all it's different or strange narrative and stylistic choices and pacing. But people let it play out and absorbed the film and understood and enjoyed the narrative and thematic values. With TLJ it's that people want the stuff at face value to fit there expectations, and when the stuff not experienced with joy and taken at face value feels shallow to them (when in context even many of the 'jokes' are reasonable thoughtful) they can't value it because they let those differences take them out of the movie and into the realm of how they expected the film to be interpretable to them as enjoyable. the thing about the Last Jedi that makes it feel different overal is does not have as many of those moments where you can pause and take a breath and look in awe and say 'this is Star Wars,' but it's also a more intense film that's used structure and writing to be witty in a way that's typically handled in a more straightforward fashion in a Star Wars film. Because of that I think the film feel less Star Wars in the typically way, but some of the writing is more Star Wars than Star Wars has ever been. One important visual and narrative element is that the films perpespective and character perspectives are constantly subverted. It's fundamental to the films story structure but antithetical to the traditional 3rd person narrative style of Star Wars, but it is used to make a very Star Wars point in every scene and is a big part of the ending--that you are not in control, the 'force' is. Ren, Luke, Finn, Poe and Snoke all have moments when they think they are in control, moments where they think they are in their own (hero's) journey, only for it to be subverted and the larger picture to take control. Therefore the film makes the point that it's not about you...but the larger world and things can't be taken at face value. It's telling the audience not to get complacent with what is...by constantly pulling them out of the powerful MOMENT for them to see the bigger picture or the perspective of others. Because it does this to the greatest Jedi...to the ultimate villain...and to the meek resistance fighter it reminds us that even in our grandest understanding (and knowledges of what is wrong) our understanding still fails. Luke tries to destroy his assumptions of past failures and has them destroyed anyhow, because the power they hold is not material but within him/us. In the manner in which what was done before cannot be destroyed because it is part of us, the force in the film is ultimately about change, and the idea that even as 'a powerful Jedi' we live with the dark side and constantly fight it: the need to hold onto what we think IS in the moment, rather than aiming for the larger light.

I got Ekimu, but holding out on the expense for Umarak. The problem I have with G2 is how the mixed back of the sets take away from the appreciation I can have for the building process. Like, Lava beast looks good but he's the best of a basic build, and I'd rather wait to see what future villains have since the beast theme itself is not that great. Old Bionicle seems to know how to quantify coolness in its villain, but in a unique way that stood out from other villain toys. Now there just doing the Ninjago thing with horror villains because it sells, but in the end the sets won't hold up. What happened to the walking raptor skull snakes that were the Rahkshi? Anyways, I might use Ekimu's parts to make a Takanuva, just to see if I can.

I was a kid BIONICLE was my 'PT, ' so I took the long way around to appreciating Star Wars, and was always more interested in the realistic, mystical and philosophical world-building of it all. I agree with Forresto, Revenge of the Sith is a better movie then Return of the Jedi. But I have an appreciation for the intensity of that last light-saber battle between Luke and Vader, even if the Emperor externalizes evil too conveniently. Which reminds me, reposting this because it got lost in the previous discussion:

The concern isn't the inherent pre-knowledge, its more like the choices the PT took removed any sense of risk or alternative within the narrative itself by constructing the narrative so specifically. I think the problem with the Jedi as a political order or one that has changed or sacrificed its morals is that in the OT the Force is the heart of the galaxies and the Rebellions moral guidelines, and for the Jedi to be ignorant or political really goes against their identity and following of the Force, which really isn't very powerful in the narrative because there is little contrast between what the Jedi become and what they were, and why they would make that change now when they've been around for a thousand generations. It really feels like the complacency in the narrative was an excuse rather than deliberate commentary, especially when the Jedi are more evil when the aren't complacent and instead leading giant armies. Plus, the idea that all of Star Wars, The Jedi's fall, The Emperor's fall, relies on their complacency is kind of silly and boring, and really is not deep commentary. What if neither side was complacent, who would win, what would it take? Yes, people and critics were more disappointed with Empire back then than critics for TFA now, because at the time Empire felt like the nicer looking remake of ANH without the same heart. And they're not wrong in the sense that Empire is very much the middle act of ANH with some change of appearance, still with training and rescues and hallway chases, but it's a great film. But When you hear about how INSANELY popular and loved ANH was at the time then reaction to Empire is understandable, because people appreciated a down-to-Earth sci-fi in a world that showed its age and contrasted that social decay with a timeless magical Force. They loved that it unapologetically mish-mashed children's stories and classic cinema, and critics treated it as a love letter to Kurasawa, Westerns, and pulp-Scifi, it was the sort of post-modern escapist film-making that no one had really done before. The movie was in theaters for more than a YEAR, and later critics came in with higher expectations of 'a great piece of art,' especially those who wanted to dismiss a fantasy film that was so popular for so long. Really, the reactions and reviews for ANH were fantastic from the start. Look up Variety's original review or Andrew Gordons critical article 'Star Wars: A Myth for our Time.' It really demonstrates how effective and thoughtful its Hero's Journey narrative is.

This is why I think the PT is fundamentally flawed, there are no stakes, we don't care about the people who are fighting: droids or clones. People don't care about the sides to the story either, I mean, what is my opinion on intergalactic space taxes? I guess I'm suppose to side against The Trade Federation since their leaders are Alien Asian stereotypes, and the heroes carry lightsabers? Does it even matter, since the powerful Sith guy is tricking everything to happen? With the OT the masked Storm-troopers mean something, they're a reflections of a system of homogenization, they feel like an insect-like disease of military force filling up the galaxy. But they sound like individuals, and they speak like humans doing their job, and that is respectable and understandable. The clones are a representation of what, cloning? That the Jedi treat everyone as clones? I don't think so, I think a bunch of people removing their duplicate masks to reveal they also have duplicate faces shows the depth of thought of the films went into to align troopers with cloning. Also, the idea of cloning one single guy for an army is ridiculous, illogical when you want an effective variety of people, and especially when that cloned guy is the man who tried to assassinate Padme, and the Jedi still didn't question it. I know this stuff already. Compositing is the key to good CGI, and adding real people into miniatures is not the same as having a practical location, especially when some of those miniatures are shiny and lack detail. If George Lucas wants to boost his other companies like ILM he should do that while making a good movie at the same time. I don't care about canon, I care about movies. The PT has interesting stuff, but do not claim they are good film-making, because there are millions of better films that prove otherwise. A film trilogy where we already know what's going to happen in the end doesn't need the extra assurance of a guy scheming it to turn out that way, or a chosen one to make everything seem purposeful. Also, I like RotS more then RotJ because of the excessive lightheartedness of the film, and I dislike both C3PO and Jar-Jar. Also, the Death Star self-destructs from its own power and flaws when it got shot by Luke, and was a danger to the Rebellion and to life in the Galaxy. Not the most moral way of stopping a threat, but the Empire doesn't seem to take much responsibility for its own lives either.

My point is the Clones act as an endless mass, and the amount of time the Jedi spend looking quizzical doesn't really justify them using them as cannon fodder for a war, especially against droids that break if a butterfly lands on them. Palpatine even says the creation of life with the Force is unnatural, but for the amount of plot spent on clones in the film the Jedi don't question the morality of creating life for war at all. The army itself isn't treated as living people with motivation and empathy, they switch sides without question with that Order 66, and most of the time they aren't even played by real people. Vong: I think that sounds like a cool idea- but it defeats the idea of the Empire as an internal threat from the galaxy, grown from our own insecurities and short sightedness. It turns Star Wars into a battle against an evil 'race' of beings, instead of a battle with ourselves. It's the same problem I had even when I was young with RotJ when they passed the buck of Darth Vader's evil onto Palpatine. It makes Palpatine more interesting if he has motivation, but he always felt like 'the more evil evil' devil that Luke and Anakin could bond over defeating, and the Vong just passes that buck over again. TFA feels like the necessary counterpoint to the advantage Luke had in knowing that the light side still survived in in his father--the film shows that the dark side of the Force 'will be with you always' too: a constant battle within. What does Luke loose with the knowledge of his father? That he must be vigilant against evil, that anyone can turn, and that nothing is ideal. EDIT: I reposted this later it's not relevant to the current discussion :

You're right. and The Empire wasn't ruled by a dark side Emperor in the original narrative before ESB and ROtJ. The enemy was the machination and controlling of humanity/life, then later the source of that machination became the dark side. It isn't that the Emperor's power was controlling everything, it's that the Empire ruled through political power, and after the fall of the Second Death Star/Emperor there may have been others who wanted to maintain the Empire, but by the Jakku battle the realization was that that power was a lost cause. So no, he's not Sauron, I just agree the perceived power of the Empire was significant to growing immorality, although the original Stormtroopers felt like hired goons who didn't realize the larger extent of murder and destruction they were supporting, stuck in those faceless helmets. Politics need to be an extension of real human issues, or else its just fantasy world-building, not grayness. Star Wars has always been about the actions of individuals in terms of understanding the larger picture, finding a way to their version of peace. So, I don't think everyone's actions are dictated, its more like the Force is an extension of the balance of life itself. That's why mindless clone and droid army's are bland, because in the films they're entirely dictated by one side's agenda and provide no moral conundrums.

I think what Artanis says works metaphorically too, if you rule only by power, then if you become powerless your rule becomes invalid. Whoever this Snoke man is is obviously key to the resurgence of power. I'm reposting this comment from the LEGO topic since its more appropriate here, although I'll leave out the PT stuff since its too negative to come from a non-diehard fan perspective.

In terms of the PT, I think a bunch of things happening at once is not the same as complexity, and its certainly not the same thing as depth. The villains in the PT are still out for revenge and 1-dimensional, and the only moral complexity added to the Jedi seems to be ignorance and stupidity, which completely contradicts what the "all connecting life force" represents. The PT is just about the two most powerful people, a special misunderstood and confused "superkid" (Anakin is still a "heroes Journey" figure for the Jedi, he just kills them all before he redeems them with Luke) and a politician who is playing both sides of a chess board to such a a degree that none of the players really matter. Obi-Wan, the Republic, the Jedi almost seem unnecessary to the plot, and aren't explored in a fundamental way. Ultimately, the prequels deconstruct the OT, but fail to reconstruct it in a way that gives Star Wars emotional and/or realistic depth as a whole. As a sequel, TFA advances the themes introduced by Darth Vader's reveal as Luke's father: that 'evil' (and good) is an internal human threat, not an external one. We see this in Kylo and Luke, and their personal pain. The heroes certainly aren't challenged as much as Empire or Sith, but that is because it's the first act of the trilogy, the characters (and the audience) need to know who they are (and what Star Wars is), before any of that can be challenged. That certainly makes it more than ANH 2, as the film really finds a way of turning the OT into backstory through theme without explaining every detail of the films. Anyways, as a recent Star Wars set fan who just got the Falcon (My brother had the original set and I had a LOT of nostalgia from playing with it), what would you guys suggest from the recent releases?

I like the look of transparent, but it's hard to argue for their existence is mechanical-themed sets (and masks) for sure. Since the Protectors and summer masks have transparent colours I'm inclined to think their is an implication of a higher magic within them. This may be a good time to bring up my theory that the gold on the masks isn't 'real,' but a sign of their being made by the Mask of Creation which dissipates as they are worn to reveal the elemental powers. Or maybe the transparency appears as the masks reach the forge or as they get closer to Ekimu/Mask of creation? Sorry, I was blending Gen 1 ideas in thinking about the city as being part of a higher civilization, but I guess since BIONICLE blends magic with science one can think of The Mask Makers creations as the highest cultural and technological accomplishment of the society, and if anything of that complexity exists to create villagers I question it's survival post-cataclysm or if it exists at all. Which would be my argument for some sort of biological not technological origin for villagers. Otherwise they look like robots with mechanical pistons so I feel they are somewhat technological. I think the Toa have innate environmental elemental powers like the night-vision, strength, fire-resistance of the classic Toa that hint at their full powers, but gaining the masks could be compared to Harry Potter getting his wand and learning to concentrate his powers.

I feel MAKUTA's story this year is a sort of a Pandora's box/"careful what you wish for" thing, and having a good Makuta would muddle that concept. Makuta tried to be all powerful, and failed. As for Robotic vs Biomechanical, it is still called BIONICLE, they age, the sets have pistons, and the transparent parts adds a sense of fluids or magic. They can't really be defined as the same as Gen 1, but it seems they have a living elements and a metal elements within their design, and as far as I'm concerted half Hero Factory robot or half Gen 1 mechanical character with organics still fits with the definition of Biomechanical or at least cyborg-ish. I know LEGO hasn't been specific about reproduction (for obvious reasons) or the nature of the characters composition, but that doesn't mean Lego is lying with or stretching the information we currently have, and you can't really explain it in the story without adding fully organic characters as well to prevent breaking the fourth wall. Also, as for machine vs children, children are less magical, but the machine is more cold and emotionless. I almost like the idea of grow capsules, like growing inside a canister. Maybe they should come out of the ground? Anyways, considering the high-tech city is destroyed, and there is a young protector, a baby machine being the source in GEN 2 seems unlikely.

Why it won the award (in part): brickset: "The Dungeon (£19.99) - I was quite impressed with this set in terms of value for money" Oh, and: The Desert Outpost (£59.99) - "A number of printed trans-clear 1x2 tiles caught my eye...they are covered in tiny black and red squares" ---Redstone!?! Haven't bought any of the January sets, I think I might favor the summer one's instead as they seem more unique.

The new axe weapon reminds me too much of this: http://www.brickshelf.com/gallery/Tyranide/fakes/sakron.jpg Lego seems to have a serious problem with colour schemes, I genuinly think the designers have gotten worsae over the last couple years. Maybe the sales on those multi-colour HF beast sets somehow convinced them more variety in colour and limb width, (yet with overdesigned cartoony generic weapons) is better. I'm sure they'll look better in real life or the final design, but they don't look like Bionicle or HF, they look like deformed knockoffs. And I was hoping for a replacement for the stupid two-pin on-shell attachment system, and I was hoping for thinner limbs somehow with shells and instead they removed attachments entirely. EDIT: I actually think Skull Warrior works better then some as his scale and use of boney limbs seem more congruent to the skeletal style. Skull basher(?) with the horns has a bull-skull design mask I think. EDIT2: I hope Lego winning the awards for the Toa (and sales) will get them to rethink the designs for 2016. (Or, if lucky, these summer sets) . To be fair, I always found the whole skeletal thing too stereotypical, Bionicle villains works best when reflecting something cool in the real world without directly copying it, ex. Rahkshii = Raptor Snake people.

Sorry Vader, I know you have strong knowledge about this, I'm just not sure how many years forward Lego is thinking for this and I just think that the current information already leaves some open-ended potential for a connection. Nothing is for sure when a story team has a many-year line planned, and I think that even you would find it ridiculous to create far-reaching claims without far-reaching evidence, and your testimony is currently isolated and just as uncorroborated as TTV's . Lego has said they want to keep Bionicle's early style/simplicity, which one could argue lends to no connection, but that's only a correlation. I would argue some aspects, like the Legend and the inclusion of time-space travel are already more complex than 01, and that in fact the reduction of complexity leans more toward the terminology. Even if the reveal of the Toa's origin only played a role in the new series' finale or something, you could write a reasonable time travel finale that plays to old and new fans. PS: If you are arguing with me because you want to spare my time or effort because inside info please stop, because this isn't about me wanting Gen1->Gen2, it's that I genuinely feel that the evidence is currently up in the air. If you know something but trying to convince fans to forget the theory by fighting it that obviously won't work either.

There is irony in making the extreme deduction that LEGO is pointing the hidden Vahi's out because they are only Easter Eggs, yet people cry a foul when someone (like me...) puts together the evidence and says there is just as much a potential connection between the gen 1 mask of time and gen 2's mask as there is a potential connection with the original Toa in gen 2. Personally, I'm seeing Vader's position more clearly now, and plan to wait until the evidence is more solidly in favor of a soft reboot before I cry Vahi again, but I still think Vader and Scarilian are the extreme ends of this argument and are fueled by negativity (or close mindedness?) and animosity. The fact is Bionicle's quality is up to the way the writers handle it, and therefore a Bionicle either unconnected or connected could bring great things.

I think the shovels emphasize that he's digging through dirt as appose to rocks, the claws in the original set further confuse his element with Pohatu's.

I always expected a new mold designed to resemble the old but covered the whole face. Storywise its the complete mask even though it may be remolded to fit the new faces.

Unless you have some insider information that you're not telling us you can't guarantee anything about the future of Bionicle, and this goes further to prove you are unwilling to speculate and have decided your authority is law without all the facts.

Wikipedia: Reboots remove any non-essential elements associated with a franchise by starting the franchise's continuity over and distilling it down to the core elements and concepts. For consumers, reboots allow easier entry for newcomers unfamiliar with earlier titles in a series. You may certainly be right Darth Vader, and I must admit I forgot about this particular announcement at the beginning of the panel, but I think definition of reboot is nebulous, especially in the context of this being the first official Gen 2 Bionicle announcement. LEGO is stating whether the story continues where we left off or if it is a whole new story, which at the time was the total of fan speculation. Now we have all these hints, by definition even if including the original Toa memory-wiped or the original Mask of Time the story would be a reboot of BIONICLE because all old plotlines are discarded. As Mesonak said--now I can see why he did based on the context of the panel--this lends more towards LEGO hinting at a connection to Gen 1 but mostly leaving it for fans to piece it together or speculate whether they are the Mata or not. The pattern of artistic choices in Gen 2 is hinting at the Vahi more and more, and I think to ignore it is ridiculous when LEGO could have used anything else to hint at the concepts of time and space in this new reboot.

Setting mean nothing when the world can change drastically over time and space, and characters changes where made to favor the audience set sales, and is insignificant enough that time-travel, artistic license, or generations of change could explain it in-story. The clues for the mask connection are far more purposeful story-wise then anything that can be used as opposing evidence.

Yeah, that is a possible direction to take the clues. It's not about continuing the old plot necessarily, but the same Toa and the mask of time are huge hints towards a direct connection between the two Generations. EDIT: This reminds me of when the leaks came out and there where some hold outs who favored believing Bionicle wasn't coming back, yet with multiple sources providing the same information it would be an statistically astronomical coincidence for the set codes, leaked images, and second set of leaks to be fake. It would require a world-wide conspiracy to be fake, yet people thought that was more reasonable then a return. This whole 'the Vahi means nothing at all' argument is edging on psychosis. It's also making me crazy so you guys just fight over this without me until this is resolved in 0-9 years.

You might be right, but at the same time the story hasn't even started yet. They may leave it up to interpretation, they may tell us it is a continuity at the lines end, they may tell us next month or reveal it all to be a hoax. Just because we don't know anything for sure now doesn't mean we won't know for sure later. Everything changes with time. Everyone assume LEGO has to rehash G1 for time travel to G2 to work. Well kids would buy Bionicle even with no understanding of the story whatsoever, and the same will occur with G2. At the surface Bionicle is essentially colorful superheroes fighting each other, something anyone can understand that without the gritty story details. For example, the giant robot fight at in 2010 is still an epic giant robot fight without knowing the Matoran universe is inside the GS robot. LEGO is smart enough to come up with a story that uses G1 without dead-weight details, and in fact time travel and memory wipe is an excellent starting point.

Funny how anyone can say there is no evidence of continuity, it not even January yet and we have MULTIPLE references to time, to the original mask of time, and to the mask of time existing in Gen 2. Again, the sets aren't even released yet and references to Gen 1 have increased exponentially. I certainly think the current evidence is loose still, but I think people are taking Darth Vader and Bzpowers authority as a source of fact, over and above the facts themselves. We know the Vahi was referred to as half a mask and the concept of a whole mask will appear, but just because they didn't say 'the other half of the mask' doesn't mean it isn't the same mask. In fact, I would argue that only the upper half of the mask in Gen 2 would imply two universes that share a divided mask, whereas a 'whole' mask implies both parts originate in the same continuity as the mask would have to start as 1 piece. Your letting your bias overthrow the evidence, take things as they are not as you want them to be. You may be right, then why would LEGO do this? The simplest answer is a connection to Gen 1 whether literal or metaphorical. If they wanted to just imply something significant about time outside of Gen 1 continuity they could have hinted at or shown the new full Gen 2 mask of time, but instead they are slowly hinting at the significance of a mask very well known to 2001 fans. EDIT: NOTE: I was never in favor of continuity in the sense that the story was far in the future. If BIONICLE was an epic about the BIOlogical chroNICLE of Mata Nui, then the defeat of Makuta and dissapearance of Mata Nui represented the end of the story in my mind. Sequels and prequels are almost always worse. The only type of prequel I would have accepted is if it was none-story based and simply cool sets for characters we have had yet to see in Gen 1, and for sequels it would only work if their was some grander evil force manipulating the story from before the great beings that had to be defeated. So while I find that time travel stories are interesting and have potential, it's not like I am for continuity for the sake of continuity.

All the sets are available at Mastermind toys in Alberta, Canada like they were in Ontario, so they are likely country-wide.