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Uhm, yeah. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OlUglQT4H5M&feature=youtu.be

Realizing that I payed for a $70 mic and have yet to do something worthwhile with it, I decided to finally do a Let's Play, and chose Goat Simulator for that Let's Play! Enjoy! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eYuxu7LhKkI

A TFOL's Response to Greenpeace's LEGO Petition By Brigs Generally, I don’t waste my valuable time on petitions senseless as this one. Nevertheless, this fallacious pile of KRE-O has gained considerable circulation in the LEGO Community, and thus merits a well-articulated response. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qhbliUq0_r4 http://www.greenpeace.org/usa/en/ Let’s break this down piece by piece, starting with the video itself. When the video begins, you will notice the title and background music references the LEGO Movie and its incessant song, “Everything is Awesome.” This is an ironic choice for Greenpeace’s assertions, since the benevolent Octan Corporation, LEGO Town’s fictitious “Big Oil” company is portrayed in an antagonistic light in the film, and has certainly received more publicity than any Shell promotional polybag. As the video proceeds, you see the inviting Arctic animals, a fisherman, hockey players, and… Halo’s Master Chief. Following a panoramic view of the new wave of LEGO City Arctic sets, the video changes tone as the viewer first notices a Shell chemist, tanker, and finally, a menacing oil platform, recycled from a Cars 2 set, which notably had a rather preachy message about “Big Oil.” But the most infuriating and stereotypical elements of the film are yet to come. The “executive” Minifigure can be seen smoking a cigar (with a “no smoking” sticker visible behind him, no less.) At the bottom of the oil rig oozes a depressing black liquid. This “oil spill” slowly consumes the LEGO world and its inhabitants, including the distinguished Emmett and Wyldstyle, until only the Shell flag unscathed. Any objective AFOL will notice Greenpeace’s clear appeals to emotion, specifically fear for the vibrant LEGO world and anger directed at Shell and the LEGO Group’s “association.” We’re just getting started. The description contends to surpass the ludicrosity of the video itself. “We love LEGO. You love LEGO. Everyone loves LEGO. But when LEGO's halo effect is being used to sell propaganda to children, especially by an unethical corporation who are busy destroying the natural world our children will inherit, we have to do something.” Greenpeace apparently needs to check their definitions. Of course colorful plastic bricks and smiling Minifigures have a welcoming aesthetic. But these allegations of the LEGO Group propagandizing on behalf of Royal Dutch Shell plc are not only extreme, but absurd. Children playing with an oil tanker or gas station are not being brainwashed that “Big Oil” or environmental pollution is good. They are merely delivering the LEGO citizens with gas to power their trucks, spaceships, and racecars. These loaded accusations of propaganda are so laughably ironic one could easily mistake this as a work of satire; especially for a claim that can easily be thrust upon Greenpeace itself. “Children's imaginations are an unspoilt wilderness. Help us stop Shell polluting them by telling LEGO to stop selling Shell-branded bricks and kits today.” So what is the objective here? By the LEGO Group from discontinuing Shell gas stations and race cars, converting LEGO City into eco-utopia, will the Minifigures suddenly become enlightened and band together against a tyrannical CEO plotting to destroy their way of life? To quote Lord Business, “that’s just a bunch of hippy dippy baloney.” I am not here blatantly supporting Shell, or “Big Oil.” There are risks involved in any drilling operation, which can potentially be catastrophic on the ecosystem. LEGO Bricks themselves, composed of Acrylonitrile Butadiene Styrene, are partially derived from oil. The LEGO Group is renowned for its environmental awareness and responsibility, and by next decade will be completely sustained by renewable energy. The issue is not the LEGO Group, nor necessarily Shell, but Greenpeace’s exploitation of a responsible corporation and its politicization of a legitimate concern. Humans must be thoughtful stewards of the world, and potential threats to the environment merit the discussion. Of course businesses will try to make money, and in doing so may jeopardize the environment. Royal Dutch Shell has been endeavoring to create a drilling operation off of Alaska for a few years now, but has postponed until the safety of the operation is elucidated. This issue of drilling in the Arctic should be resolved between Shell and those concerned about environmental safety, but they should leave the LEGO Group out of this. If Greenpeace wants to preserve the “unspoilt” imaginations of children and leave a positive impact on our world, it can start by repudiating this political gobbledygook and withdrawing this petition on the front page of the Greenpeace website.

Well I think it's time for me to move on, time to look past RRU, it's been a good 1 9/10ths years here, and I've had loads of fun. But I'm currently in a rather bumpy part sector of my life, in a few months I'll be starting HRT (Hormone Replacement Therapy) so I'll have to find my self again, and I'll be rid of my boyish appearance in 1-2 years. But I feel that it'd be better for me to transition free of distractions, as I'll also be taking on my internship during the same summer I start hormones, then one more semester of school afterwards. I've also got to get my Drivers License, and passport, both of which are crucial to my future plans, this along with the Anime project is giving me a lot to think about. I'll still probably keep in touch with friends on Skype and Steam and will answer a few PMs. But I won't be back until I finish my transition, and have settled down in Japan. JJ, Xiron, Aidenpons, DM, Noghiri, Shadowblaze, Fushi, Someswedish, Ben24x7, Robinate, RobExplorean, Quisoves, Seaborgium, Le Vee, Sadie, McStudz etc (the list is too long ) , thanks for being awesome friends, you guys'll probably still see me floating around cyberspace.

Before we start; I don't like to insult or say harsh things about Game Developers. They work hard, long hours with minimal pay, and usually to little payoff. I'm sure with this game they worked their absolute hardest. However, I don't think it's right to ever let a game just slide away with cardinal sins, and so I will be brutal if need be. Not because I hate the devs, but because I hope that, if I can't teach them what's wrong, I can help prevent future devs from making the same mistakes. Furthermore, this is my first TT Game since LEGO Star Wars The Complete Saga. I'm ashamed right now. I'm ashamed of the fact I'm a Game Designer. I'm ashamed of the fact I'm a LEGO fan. I'm ashamed of the fact I wasted 10 hours on a game that may just be the very antithesis of my existence. The LEGO Movie was incredible, to say the least. In my own opinion, a film that can start right in the ranks of Disney and Pixar classics, and my own personal favourite animated movie of all time. It was a film that went beyond simple product-placement and actually gave us significant, strong messages and a story filled with laughs, tears and heaps of heart-warming moments. The LEGO Movie Video Game has none of these. You're getting no images with this review. If I had to slog through this thing in its entirety, you can slog through my raving and ranting as payback. I went into this game hoping for the best. I ignored the comments and reviews, and I simply hoped that TT would do this game justice. A perfect trifecta between Movie, Game and Toys is virtually unknown in modern times. The LEGO Movie is an incredible movie as discussed before, and the LEGO sets for the movie are equally as magnificent, and some of the most fun sets to build to date. This game doesn't belong. My journey started with the immediate discovery of incompetence on the UI team. "The ability to change the graphics settings? Why would anybody ever need to change those *before* you start the first level? That's crazy talk! Why, what a coincidence that EA did the exact same thing with a few of their games! It's not like we're both going to make an evil, soulless, money-sucking game, correct?" https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tV6akps-b1k So, you finally decide to start a new game. 4 save slots is pretty standard for console ports, so I can't really fault it, especially since you'd be insane enough to even considering using one save slot and play the game. What happens next is absolutely incredible. Traveler's Tales decided the smartest thing to do was to take clips from The LEGO Movie, cut them up, compress them and play them onscreen at about 1/3 the size of the actually screen with massive black bars. And so help you if you dare want to use subtitles, those suckers will go right in the middle of the video. The definition of laze in the dictionary can probably be changed from whatever it is now to "Traveler's Tales' Business Plan". Unfortunately, what comes next explains where their entire development time was spent. TT Games assume that you're a moron. And, I don't mean a kid. Kids, unlike what many developers seem to think, are actually intelligent and can actually dissect and learn game patterns very quickly, sometimes faster than adults. Just look at the "Zelda" generation. No, TT Games assumes you're a complete nitwit who needs to be dragged along on their one-way amusement park. In fact, that's the exact feeling I got from playing this game. It's Disneyland Simulator mixed with Pants Simulator (we'll talk about that a little later). See, you've got these "Hub" worlds, and they act like the different sections of the Disneyland park. There's little mini-attractions here and there, and people begging you to spend your "hard" earned money on them, and they link up to some big rides which aren't worth the ticket price you paid to enter. Not only do they insult you with simple help messages, and not only do they use a trail of uncollectable green studs to show you the "correct" path, but the characters will go out of their way, good or bad, to tell you EXACTLY WHAT TO DO. And it's not like the challenges are incredibly difficult either. In many cases, they're telling you to do the most obvious thing you've already done multiple times in the same level. Apparently, this is linked to the "Dynamic" level of hints, which apparently makes it more annoying than "On". I decided though, in order to give you guys the best review possible, I'd stick with Dynamic, and see what'd happen. When the hints are telling you to do things that either; A) you've already done, B) are not an objective on this level or you lack the character to do something, or C) refuse to show up when they actually are required (for some new gameplay element that was not introduced properly), you know you have a very broken hint system. The saddest thing is that, the only point at which I had *some* enjoyment with the game was when the hints simply disappeared into the void. Frankly, I wish they stayed that way. Did I say that the options menu is hilariously broken yet? When an option (specifically Refresh Rate) appears twice, and you put most of your important configuration settings into an entirely different menu, you've got a big problem. And, what about those massive frame-drops during the hacking mini-game, or when you're fighting a Micro-Manager? There's just so many awful moments in this game, and one of them made the lack of attention to QA apparent. I was in Cloud Cuckooland, and I had already been introduced to characters sliding whenever they touched uneven terrain. It was an animation bug, but not major. It didn't become a problem until I was supposed to face off with a robot goon with a rocket launcher. I had just gotten Unikitty and Wildstyle stuck in separate parts of the geometry (don't ask me how), and Benny lacked a gun at this point, so I couldn't kill them to reset them. The robot goon needed to shoot these three silver objects, and to do that, you need to move your character behind each object and let him fire upon it "by accident". Simple enough, right? Apparently TT Games felt it in the best interest to send any competent programmers on holidays early before they decided to code the robot goon's AI. The Goon looks for the character in the shortest distance to itself, and fires upon that. Of course, both Unikitty and Wildstyle, who were stuck in geometry, happened to be closer to the Goon than Benny. Eventually I got Wildstyle unstuck, only to encounter the same problem, but not because of Unikitty. Because either Wildstyle or Benny would sometimes, when controlled by the AI, stray to the side of the silver objects a little bit, apparently that counted as them being closer to the Goon, who would then shoot promptly to the side of the silver object. Everything is tedious with TT. Hell, this same AI problem occurred with a code section later in the game. The game has two of those annoying, badly designed jumping puzzles, where you need to jump onto the correct buttons in sequence, with the camera in a locked position at an awkward angle while you still have platforming physics. Unikitty felt she needed to be the star of the show while I was trying to complete the nine digit code however, and so it took a LOT of attempts of trying to move Unikitty, who would quickly move back onto the keypad. I could go on about the AI, but there's far more problems. We don't even need to continue discussing the repetitive gameplay; TT tried to mix it up by adding platforming sections (with wall-kicks and climbing), turret sections, falling-through-space sections and more, but everyone of these new mechanics is both one-dimensional and wasted. Nothing is coherent or consistent. It feels as though TT tried to build this game out of a LEGO Duplo, a LEGO Friends and a LEGO Junior set, and couldn't quite figure out why the parts didn't stick together right. Anyone who plays Ratchet & Clank would remember the huge amounts of inflation between R&C and R&C3. What happened was that instead of making a single bolt worth a single bolt, Insomniac gave the engine leeway to come up with appropriate, random number values, so that the player wasn't constantly having to collect single bolt after single bolt. This was to avoid repetitiveness and make people feel more powerful due to the larger numbers. I can't quite figure out why TT Games have attempted the same thing, but they did, and it's jarring to say the least. The stud values remain the same; silver for 10, gold for 100, blue for 1000 and purple for 10,000. For some reason, though, in 10 minutes of play, I was already pushing 200,000 studs. The massive increase in inflation has naturally caused character prices to explode, with the most expensive costing a million a piece, and the lowest ones between 50,000 and 200,000. Let's just talk about the characters in this game. TT Games proudly boasts how they have so many characters. Something like 90? Less than the amount they have in Star Wars: The Complete Saga though. The process of purchasing new characters is a real pain the rear. After collecting the "appropriate" amount of studs, you must either find the character in the world, or open the character selection screen (which seems to be available when it feels like, rather than when it should), scroll over to them, press the button twice, and then watch a long and pointless animation as it purchases your character. So help you if you want to buy more than one character, because you'll be waiting at that menu for a long time. The increase in potential party characters is nice, if only wasted. You're only allowed extra party members in certain locations based on the story (and how much memory TT managed to waste on background effects). They can sometimes help, but usually you only need two people, and for most of the game you'll find yourself playing with two characters. The weirdest thing is they've modified the AI; firstly, the AI makes little to no attempt to follow you when you need it to, and vice-verse. It could be because this new system is supposed to allow you to have two characters doing actions at the same time and allow for seamless transitions, but it really doesn't work as advertised. Secondly, the AI is now capable of killing everything except the last enemy in the room. And, when I say it can't kill the last enemy, what I mean is that it stubbornly refuses to take any action at all. It just stands there like an garish rapscallion, watching you try to do the menial task of the hour and getting interrupt by the enemy. There really is just so much narm I want to talk about, but for size I'll need to cut down; the hacking minigame is the one mechanic I actually had FUN with, but it was less a "I'm so excited to be doing this!" fun and more like a "At least this is better than the crap I was doing before..." fun. The Pants mechanic, which allows you to have permanent special abilities for characters that wear pants (think the Star Wars hats if they were combined with powerups). The very lowest aspect of the game, and the one that highlights my argument the best is both the Master Builds and the Construction Builds. Master Builds simply require you to swing the camera around three times and then let go of a button. How that even constitutes as gameplay is beyond me. The Construction Builds, on the other hand, require you to look at a model, then look at a bunch of parts and select the one that should fit. Easy, right? Oh wait, there's a timelimit that's counting down your stud reward for both taking your time and getting the answer wrong. Oh wait, the controls are both hyper-sensetive and super-sluggish, so your chance of selecting the correct button quickly is very low. Oh wait, it regularly makes the bricks flip over and distorts them in some way to make selection harder. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=07So_lJQyqw The worst part, however, is the story. I'm going to be very blunt. It's bad. It's terrible. What Traveler's Tales do probably isn't Game Development. I think they may actually be butchers who just discovered how to use a computer. The amount of story they chopped up, jokes they ruined and the clearest and saddest irony of how The LEGO Movie Videogame goes completely against the morals and messages of The LEGO Movie, to the point they actually cut out the sequences in the movie that talk about those morals and messages is just pure disgusting. I'm going to wrap up here without even mentioning the other plethora of problems, because the longer I stay here to write the sicker I get. This game is a success. It's on a level of success far higher than Bioshock or Spec Ops: The Line. What it deconstructs is the art of lazy game making. It shows us, up front and center the grim reality of what the industry has become, and gives the player a chance to come to their senses and realise their mistake. Except, that was all unintentional. This is clearly the worst game I've played. Unlike Big Rigs: Over the Road Racing or WarZ, this wasn't made by people who were technically and theoretically incompetent. TT Games are responsible for my favourite Crash Bandicoot game of all time. This isn't due to a lack of good source material or assets, since The LEGO Group would have given them everything they needed, and the core message and ideas of the Movie were some of the strongest I've seen in a long while. What we have here is a game that blindly lies to your face; it shows you an experience that looks fun, but lacks any kind of subtance, and yet assumes it can stand amongst the greats. It abuses the LEGO logo, using that to ride the waves of success, without realising the deadly whirlpool of boredom that it's surfing over. The recent trend for big developers is to stop being creative and be safe, and do things as fast possible, over trying to do things to the credit of the idea (i.e. giving the original idea the respect it deserves). This game encapsulates everything wrong with that trend. The saddest thing is that you can tell people tried, but for whatever reason, the management of this game was lacking, and every fault in this product can be squarely blamed on the Creative Director. This game, and all TT Games as of recent seem to be stuck in the same trend as many, MANY developments. Instead of studying why a mechanic works, they look at how it works, and try to copy it without realising what made the mechanic fun in the first place. That's become extremely evident here. Do not buy this game. If you really must, watch videos on YouTube. Watch the Movie and then move on with your lives, because this is one experience you do not need to have.

Here you go. Happy 6th Anniversary! (Don't ask...)

Is this what you dare to deploy against me?! This is not an offensive! This is more fuel for the FIRE!

I totally didn't even plan that pun 4 years ago. So. 27/03/2014. Heh. Never really thought I'd make it this far without dying by train, being sent to a loony bin or wasting away on alcohol. And while those things have all been pretty close to happening, here I still am. The Austrexican Lives. The Pants Enforcers reigns supreme. 4 years ago, I found a little email in my old High School email account. Supposedly, I had seen RRU at some stage, and signed up for a newsletter...without registering. The logic is mind-bending. Regardless, a much younger, and grammatically-incorrect, smilie-hating me made some kind of odd judgement call. I want to join this website. Maybe it was the tools. Maybe it was the chance for a community. Maybe I was bored and drinking lots of coke. We'll never really know. What we do know is that stupid me posted all my personal information and a link to a broken free forum for a mod project that was never feasible in the first place, and yet probably is the reason I'm in Game Design right now. Talk about lunacy. I'm not exactly sure why I decided to stay for longer than it took to write the introduction. Most of the time, I join a website to download the cool stuff I need, and then run like a panicked maniac. Yet, somehow, the illustrious charm of RRU shined through. The awesome members, the active modding community (in the Renaissance period of LegoRR modding), the chance to get one of the useless things I say quoted...I didn't know Heaven could be coded in HTML. I don't think I have enough time, coke or words to describe the vast history that's happened, or the magnitude of the effects RRU has had on me. Frankly, the way I see it, if I hadn't of click that link in 2010, life would be a right PoS. I'm not exactly sure what to do to say thank you. If I'm honestly, I've been pretty lazy about preparing for this entire thing. Lazy being one of my main attributes, as I'm sure every member who ever heard of 7EPS knows about. I guess I might as well do two things. The first is "The Package". It's kind of a nice collection of RRU tributes. All the images I've collected from our Skype chats, alongside all of the RRU-related audio, and some other stuff I located. It's not really the super amazing present I'm sure some of you would be interested in, but hey, at least it's not a screenshot of a poorly constructed LDD model... I've also dumped in a few images from my travels in Australia. Again, nothing fantastic, but hopefully you'll get a bit of a chuckle from something. DOWNLOAD Secondly...I guess a few kind words are in order for some of the older members. No disrespect intended to the newer members (even those who I regularly have a go at), but it's hard for me to say much when our entire conversations were "DO NOT BUMP THIS 50 YEAR OLD THREAD HOW COULD YOU THREAD BUMPING KILLS KITTENS DO YOU LOVE KITTENS YOU ARE A KITTEN MURDERER HOW COULD YOU?!?!?!?!?!1111?" Without further ado, and in the order of greatest hair; Sideburnsy. Let's get the record straight. If your glorious chops were any larger, I could probably climb them like Jack and the Beanstalk. Seriously though, I don't know if any other single member has really inspired me as much as you have. You're like Einstein without the accent. Whether or not Time Raiders will ever reach the door is irrelevant. You're an incredible dude, so keep at it. Thanks for not sending this account to the deepest pits of hell! Addict. I don't know if you're reading this, but with the insane programming quirks you've developed, I'm pretty sure you've built some kind of surveillance system capable of detecting terribly constructed praise. I don't doubt for a second you've got a legendary status ahead of you. You have a dream, a passion, skills with programming languages I can't even imagine in dreams of having, and the rampant insanity to knock the other freeloaders in line. Whatever happens with your projects, I look forward to seeing what you create. It's going to be crazy. Antilles. If anybody can put up with me delaying watching their favourite show for a good long while, that deserves a badge of honour. More importantly, somebody who can bring a smile to a really pissed of Australian probably deserves a cold, frosty beer on the house. I swear, if you keep up the logical and sound reasoning you always have, I'm probably going to start imagining you as my conscious. Then again, considering you are the smart one, that's probably not a bad thing. As with the above two, you've got a huge amount of talent. You know what to do. Finish the fight. McStudz. Where would I be without the Can-I-be-LZ-adian warrior? That said, I think we all know you're the one who's doing his best to try and get the News Team to be doing their job...reporting stories about Twitch Plays Pokemon. But, who am I kidding? A cheery attitude, a positive thinker, apparently a very talented musician and a good friend. These forums wouldn't be the same without our resident Maple Syrup Aficionado. I can't really say just how big you're going to be, mainly since I haven't seen your dongle. But, seriously, you've got a f****ing future ahead of you. Just be ready for whatever comes your way. Now, let's just promise not to slice each others necks next time a forum war lashes out, right? Alcom the Acorn Baker. I'm not sure what's more hilarious, your constant deadpan snarkiness or the image of your pants-on-head-wearing-Minifigure roasting over a chestnut fire. Of course, I'm kidding. You remind me of one of the Master Builders. I can't say which one, since you seem to be better than all of them combined. Normally I get jealous of skilled LEGO builders easy, but with you I think I might just be a fan. You've got an incredible talent, and I know you're also trying your damned hardest to be an awesome Game Designer/Programmer/someone in computers in case my memory is mistaking you for another LEGO nut. I can tell you, you're going to achieve everything you want to achieve. Just don't ever let go of that snark; it's sometimes the only thing that cheers me up on a s***ty day. Drill Master. I'm not really sure one can master drilling, but you've proven you can master just about everything else. So long as that doesn't include driving, choosing between lyrics and not lyrics, and figuring out if I know what a pound key is. If I were a Forerunner, I'd sure as hell be praising you right now. I know things might not be looking so grand, but with a little bit of optimism, you'll reach far. Just remember to keep creating. It doesn't matter what, just so long as it's awesome, which I know you can do. And please, if you get the Forward Until Dawn set, don't brag about it. I will actually hunt you down and kill you. Maybe. (Cell) Shading. Once upon a time far, far ago, two mortal enemies duked it out constantly in the Shoutbox. Who could ever imagine them becoming good friends? I surely can't, WHO THE f**** SAYS HALO IS SH...I mean, coming all the way from my first RRU enemy to my trusted sauce of what's good or not in Sony/gaming in general, I don't think I could be happier with the result. You got an amazing charm, and we share pretty similar opinions about the leagues of stupidity on the Internet...aka, Tumblr. Don't ever let the assholes get to you. You're a damn inspiration, and I have many thanks to give you for the f****ing incredible 4 years. Let's go raid Micro$hit sometime. Pascal. I think we both know exactly what's up. Loud beats, enough weed to cover a forest floor and a bunch of girls who need a right slapping. There's really not much I can say to you without coming off as a kind of insane, obsessed lunatic. I'll spare you the details and keep it short and sweet; you've got the passion and the talent to make crazy and awesome games. I'm pretty sure you've also been hiding from me some DJ talent. Don't ever give up. You're going to run The Pascalands soon enough. Tauka. I still remember the early days, and you decided to charge head-first into the fray. So long ago. We've spoken so little since, which is a real shame, since you're a f****ing nice guy. I'm pretty sure you've done some awesome drawing work, so keep it up. You've got a great talent. Kir(k)by. If I knew programmers could come with the fantastic British wit and accent that you do, I probably would have signed up ages ago. I'm not really sure why we got lucky enough to draw you into this muddled mess of insanity and sloppy hardcode, but frankly, I'm pretty glad you're in with the rest of us. You're an awesome, level headed coded with industry experience and somebody who I respect far more than the things they work on. You've got a crazy awesome future ahead of you, so long as you don't get nailed by Nintendo QA first. I'm excited to see where you're going to go from here. Xiron, Le717, Fush, pranciblad, jimbob, prototyke, gryhpon. Unfortunately, I can't really say we've had enough interacts for me to give you a personalised message that makes no sense, and I know a fair few of us have had..."creative" differences in the past, but needless to say, you've all grown on me in some way. And thankfully, I don't mean like genital warts. You're all pillars of the community, as far as I'm concerned. Don't ever stop being as awesome as you have, especially in the face of assholes like me. You keep this community together. And insult the living s*** out of Tumblr, which I like. Doc. Hi. Joe. If you're reading this, GET BACK TO WORK. WE HAVE AN ISLAND TO CONQUER. There's people I've probably missed, and members who will likely never return again, so to anyone who is missing a message, just imagine a generic thank you being shouted by an army of killer robots shooting fireworks. That'll be exciting enough. Now, there's two members I did miss. Not to pick out favourites or go insane fanboy or anything, but for whatever reason, my brain's decided these guys deserve a few more crappy jokes than the rest. Jamesster. Jimmy Jams. Customer Sir Mounted. I'm not sure if you're actually a LEGO manager who happens to be so disillusioned by the new LEGO games but can't get access to the old products and their code, and so goes undercover as just a regularly-incredible fan in some kind of weird bid to try and save LEGO Media from itself. If someone were to tell me years ago I'd be even able to talk to the Lord of LEGO Fans, I would have punched them in the face to make them sure they're probably dreaming. I still remember seeing your obsession with everything LEGO start to spread through the forums, and going, "I'll never get respect from that guy. How the hell is he even on RRU? We're just some pokey old game website..." I'm pretty sure you're probably waiting for the day you can finish me off, steal my game design books and run into GDC screaming "I am now the Confucius of Game Design! Fear me and my bricky ways!" Nonetheless, you've been one of the most interesting people to talk to, and to watch you develop your game ideas has been nothing short of inspiring. I don't want to start any wars or say anybody is better than anybody else, but as far as you are concerned, I can already see this brilliant designer with the awesome ideas right in front of him. Just keep calm, get the spicy pizzaz, and do what you were born to do. Make me look like one of those LU fangame kiddes. Cyrem. Lord Mercy. Darth Vader. Every name under the sun. Being a part of this...*vibrant* community probably wouldn't have been possible if I didn't have another fellow Australian to share some sweet tunes with. I don't even know what words can describe what you've done for me. It's not just music, it's not just member ranks, and it's not just the things we've discussed. This whole experience has been more-or-less your doing. In a way, you're like a crazy being in the sky. You've created this little world inside the middle of world's greatest battlefield, and even with all the nukes we've dropped on ourselves, you managed to keep this ship (or building) running as long as possible. There's no denying Cirevam's incredible ability to be an awesome admin, and you've moved on to some FANTASTIC things which I look forward to seeing more of in the future, but nonetheless. I think legend would be quite insulting to you. You're way above that. Thank you for everything, sir. I remember sometime ago being called a "Kangaroo-loving Douche-bag". Well, I can tell you that now I'm a kangaroo-loving douche-bag...with purple hair. Keep up the awesome times, RRU. Let's hope for another awesome 5 years.

So I open my grade and in it I see, that it's waaaaay over 9000...I think the teacher goofed...

...is good enough. Since I'm moving off to my college residence on Friday, I will need some decoration to liven up the place, which mostly consists of some of my more notable MOCs, such as the Pants Party, the Overweight Golem, and the impending Medieval Head Separator (don't ask). Inevitably in my studies, I will face tremendous mental and psychological stress due to academic pressure and social exposure. I have previously discussed Galidor in my graduation speech, which for some reason went entirely unchallenged by the staff and was surprisingly well received. You can read a transcript here. "only the best" is an anti-demotivational vignette, specially designed to combat sentiments of self-defeat and improve morale. Hence, whenever I find myself down, I can be assured that no matter how royally I screw up, it can't conceivably amount to anything worse than that abomination whose legacy still subtly taints the LEGO Brand: Galidor. Remember, kids, the only thing on this earth potentially worse than Galidor is bootleg Galidor.

This is a message to anyone who might feel a lack of self-worth or feel that their personal best isn't sufficient. Though you might feel there's nothing you can do to contribute in any way, this couldn't be further from the truth. The reality of it is we're all each unique having been born into this world with unique psychological mapping, which thereafter over the course of our lives is further expanded on/reformed on the basis of our individual experiences and general exposures, in combination with how we process these experiences and exposures, collectively contributing to the immediate form of our neural network. As such, we each possess unique mental strengths and aptitudes that can only ever be further sharpened and improved on with continued practice, otherwise there is a stunting in growth. In other words, we each possess different forms of intelligence. For this reason it's never fair to ourselves nor to the other person for us to base our standards on their ability, or for they to base theirs on ours, as we're all each unique as individuals and develop and progress at our own unique pace as the unique person we are. But it doesn't matter how intelligent you are either, as a person with "lesser" intelligence can be vastly more knowledgeable and skillful than a person of "greater" intelligence simply through hard work and perseverance. You might feel there isn't anything you're good at, but sometimes it takes longer for some people to find what fields of work they're psychologically geared towards. Morever, whatever your contribution, regardless of its magnitude, has the potential to generate a ripple-effect whereby it influences and affects a great many things. For a long time I felt as though I didn't fit into this community, I didn't feel I had anything significant to contribute. This all changed dramatically though around a year ago when I first began my research on the development of the mid-80s Classic Space LEGO Publishing comic book series, Jim Spaceborn. I was amazed at the things I'd uncovered regarding the series, and found research and archival work of this type was something I was fairly good at, so I continued to build on that skill and now I'm quite dead-set on researching and documenting every known instance of retro LEGO comics, storybooks, and animated cartoons in existence as thoroughly as I possibly can, and I won't stop until that dream has seen fruition. So perhaps in time even if you're not sure now, you'll eventually find something you're proficient with and pursue that to the maximum of your potential. I hope this has been helpful. ~Sadie

Not enough to warrant its own topic here, but still an interesting subject that I feel should be discussed. Especially in the most boring blog on Rock Raiders United. First off, let us start by acknowledging that, outside of heavily story-oriented themes such as BIONICLE, LEGO has a very loose grip of canon that frequently contradicts itself and encourages each person to come up with his or her own personal interpretation, sometimes called MOCanon. With a canon as unreliable as LEGO's, one may ask, what's the point of analyzing it? To which Cave Johnson would reply, "Why not?" So, let's begin this journey into LEGO's confusing canon with everybody's favorite fedora-wearing adventurer himself, Johnny Thunder! Arguably one of LEGO's most popular and memorable original characters, having transcended years of absence from toy store shelves combined with a license for Indiana Jones by keeping his memory alive through the likes of Laser Raiders, LEGO Universe, and most recently The LEGO Movie. Everyone who was a fan of LEGO in the late 1990s and early 2000s remembers him fondly, and thanks to The LEGO Movie, a whole new generation will be introduced to his legacy. But did you know that Johnny Thunder has the largest genealogy of any original LEGO character? Let's begin with his dear comrade, Dr. Charles Kilroy (also known as Charlies Lightning, Articus, and Titus, among other names). This brilliant yet absent-minded professor has been by Johnny Thunder's side since his first adventures in Egypt and now goes hunting for the famed Jeweled Triceratops on My LEGO Network. He is not only one of Johnny Thunder's closest friends, but he is in fact Johnny Thunder's uncle according to the January/February 1998 issue of LEGO Mania magazine. Now, let us take a step back for a moment and consider this. Johnny Thunder is LEGO's answer to Indiana Jones, another famous fedora-wearing adventurer. In the third Indiana Jones film The Last Crusade, Indy is joined by his father Dr. Henry Jones, Sr. It is clear that Dr. Kilroy is LEGO's answer to Dr. Jones, and Kilroy being a close relative to Johnny supports this notion. Makes sense, right? Hold onto your hats, because here's where things start taking a turn for the strange and unusual. Johnny Thunder and the Adventurers were not the only products of the late 1990s. Enter the Time Cruisers in 1996, two years before the Adventurers hit store shelves. These sets follow the whimsy and wacky adventures of Dr. Cyber and his assistant Tim as they travel through time and meet the characters of other LEGO themes sharing the LEGO catalogue at the time. On the United States' side of the Atlantic, the Time Cruisers were a thing of the past by the time the Adventurers arrived... but not on the other side of the Atlantic. The German LEGO magazine World Club Magazine published a series of comics following the adventures of Tim and his faithful monkey Ali (also known as Ingo in other sources such as LEGO Mania). While LEGO Mania left the Time Cruisers back in 1996, World Club Magazine continued to follow their adventures through to the end of the year 2000, after which World Club Magazine was revamped to closely resemble its western counterpart. Until that time, the Time Cruisers kept cruising through time... and as 1998 rolled around, take a few guesses which new LEGO theme was featured in the comics. Extreme Team, of course! As the story progresses, it is revealed that Extreme Team was sent by Dr. Cyber to find Tim in the Wild West because Dr. Cyber's brother was in need of help. Oh, wow, Dr. Cyber has a brother? What's his name? Professor Articus. Hey, wait, haven't we heard that name before? You can either scroll up to check a few paragraphs above, or you can look at the comic's next page and see for yourself. Dr. Cyber is Dr. Kilroy's brother. And by extension, that makes him related to Johnny Thunder. But wait, that's not all! While it's not explicitly stated in the comics themselves or in any other LEGO media (as far as I know), one of the creators behind the comic series, Kim Hagen, did a write-up of the comic's concept which confirmed that Tim is, in fact, Dr. Cyber's nephew. So, thanks to the World Club Magazine, Johnny Thunder is related to Dr. Cyber and Tim from Time Cruisers. But we're not finished with Tim yet. Throughout the comic (and as mentioned in the write-up above), he is given the surname Timebuster. That name might not mean anything to you until you recall that there's a minifigure from the Town theme named Max Timebuster, featured prominently in commercials such as this one and this one, with his full name confirmed with this LEGO catalogue. "Timebuster" certainly cannot be a common last name, therefore it stands to reason that Max and Tim are thereby related... which would indicate that Max Timebuster is yet another one of Johnny Thunder's family members! Okay, now we're finished with Time Cruisers. Let's move on to another theme... Dino. When images of Dino's minifigures first arrived, I took a long look at this minifigure and noticed there was something familiar about him. He wore a loose khaki shirt with a belt strapped across his torso (starting at his left shoulder and extending down to his right hip) and a scarf around his neck. Although shaved, this minifigure has stubble resembling sideburns and a mustache, and his cocky expression with one raised eyebrow was unmistakeable. While his hatless head, shaved facial hair, and white shirt led me to doubt it was the Thunder himself, I could not help but wonder... was this minifigure another relative of Johnny Thunder? Weeks later, the LEGO Dino website goes live and reveals that his name is, in fact, Josh Thunder. Later, the 2012 edition of The LEGO Book briefly mentions the Dino theme and confirms that he is a descendant of Johnny Thunder. How many generations separate Johnny and Josh? It is not confirmed. Depending on your personal MOCanon (does the Adventurers theme take place in the 1930s or the 1990s?), Josh could be Johnny's son or grandson. But now it confirms that Johnny Thunder did have a son, whether that son is Josh himself or Josh's father. Before we get into any further speculation, here's a quick recap of Johnny Thunder's family tree so far. Charles Kilroy: uncle Dr. Cyber: uncle's brother Tim Timebuster: uncle's brother's nephew Max Timebuster: unknown relation to uncle's brother's nephew Josh Thunder: descendant Just to give you a heads-up, what follows is entirely based on future LEGO products that are subject to change, so there will be some speculation involved that stretches a little further than "Max is related to Tim". First, let us begin with a potential LEGO product that hasn't even been confirmed as a future LEGO product as of this writing: The Adventures of Steamrod, a CUUSOO project currently at 1,865 votes. By the way, you should all definitely go support that project because it's awesome, but enough about shameless plugs. What matters here is that this CUUSOO project is obviously one big homage to the Adventurers theme reimagined in a Steampunk setting. Who is the main heroic character? Sir Jonathan Bolt. And despite the striking family resemblance, he is merely a distant relative of Johnny Thunder. Why does this matter? Should the Adventures of Steamrod project receive another 8,135 votes, it could potentially see the light of day as a LEGO product if it passes review. And, depending on how much of the original concept is maintained in the final product, Sir Jonathan Bolt could very possibly become an official LEGO character, adding another member to Johnny Thunder's already surprisingly-extensive family tree. But there is another reason why I bring up Sir Jonathan Bolt. Like Timebuster, I cannot imagine that Bolt is a particularly common surname. And there will be a character in the upcoming LEGO Ultra Agents theme who shares that surname: Curtis Bolt. According to various sources, the minifigure currently identified as Curtis Bolt does not bear much of a resemblance to Johnny Thunder. However, I believe that this is based on incorrect preliminary information that is subject to change (remember when Brick Daddy was called the Brickfather in early material?), and I've got strong evidence to support my hypothesis. For you see, there is another minifigure currently identified as Solomon Blaze according to that same preliminary information. But wait a second, Solomon Blaze is a character from last year's Galaxy Squad theme. It wouldn't be the first time in recent LEGO history that a minifigure from one theme shows up in another later theme (most notably, Brains from Power Miners later showed up in the Atlantis theme), so it's very possible that Solomon Blaze will return this year as a member of the Ultra Agents... but this guy looks nothing like him! Instead, he looks like... like... hold on. Crooked mustache. Cocky expression. Raised eyebrow. He looks like Johnny Thunder! Just like Josh Thunder, "Solomon Blaze" looks like a relative of Johnny Thunder. In comparison, "Curtis Bolt" looks more like last year's Solomon Blaze; while their facial expressions aren't exactly the same, they're both young, clean-shaven, and have some sort of high-tech gadget over one eye. Thus, leads me to my hypothesis that the preliminary information identifying the two minifigures mixed them up: "Curtis Bolt" is actually Solomon Blaze and "Solomon Blaze" is actually Curtis Bolt. After all, wouldn't it make more sense that the character named Bolt bears a striking resemblance to Thunder? Now, I know what you're thinking. Even if I'm right about the name mix-up, Curtis Bolt is a futuristic secret agent. Josh Thunder, at least, is a character in a spiritual successor to Johnny Thunder's Dino Island adventure, so that connection makes sense. What sort of connection would there be between Johnny Thunder and some secret agent? Two words: James Bond. ... What does that have to do with anything? Johnny Thunder is based on Indiana Jones. According to several sources, Indiana Jones is in fact based on James Bond. This is why Spielberg and Lucas cast Sean Connery in the role of Dr. Henry Jones, Sr., because that would mean that James Bond is literally Indiana Jones's father. Back in 1998, LEGO created Dr. Kilroy as an answer to Henry Jones, Sr. If my hypothesis is correct, "Solomon Blaze" is not only actually named Curtis Bolt but also strongly implied to be another reference to Henry Jones, Sr. And if Sir Jonathan Bolt is canonized by CUUSOO, then the relationship between Johnny Thunder and Curtis Bolt would only be further supported. So now, let's do another quick recap including these speculative members of Johnny Thunder's family: Charles Kilroy: uncle Dr. Cyber: uncle's brother Tim Timebuster: uncle's brother's nephew Max Timebuster: unknown relation to uncle's brother's nephew Josh Thunder: descendant Jonathan Bolt: distant relative Curtis Bolt: unknown relation to distant relative Johnny Thunder's family tree would include seven other members. Considering typical LEGO families, that's a surprisingly extensive list spanning five LEGO themes and one CUUSOO set. That's all that we have for today. By now, I imagine you're quite bored with all this talk about genealogy and family trees and confusing ties between LEGO themes. In that case, this blog has served its purpose well. But now, at least you can walk away with more useless trivia about plastic Danish figures that will never help you in real life!

I never thought I'd have to do this kind of entry, but my feelings on the matter are quite high, and I think I have some explaining to do. I'm sorry in advance. Hopefully it will never come to this again. I remember first joining RRU. It was just before dinner on a school night, all the way back in 2010. I had just gone through my emails (this was my second email account) on my brothers computer in his room (already showing who would be the richer one), and found a brand new RRU newsletter mysteriously sitting in the previously empty (again, second account; my first one had 2) RRU Newsletter category. For some reason, I had categorised RRU Newsletters without even being an active member on the site (yet). At first, it was my scary. I had been to forums before, but this one felt...different. It looked like the admin had spent a lot of time and effort, going out of his way to purchase his own domain and forum software, instead of using the free forums of the time. It felt...professional. I, at the time, wasn't even sure if I would be committed to staying. I just made an introduction topic, as you do, and went off on my merry way to dinner, before then playing a few hours of PS1 and then passing out. The next day I woke up, and I was astounded; the admin had personally responded to me, alongside some moderators and other members. I felt...brilliant. I never had such a warm welcome in my life. I posted a bit more, here and there, being careful to make sure I didn't annoy anybody or break anything I wasn't supposed to. I slowly gathered confidence and became more and more invested in the site. I started to download some of the tools, and screw around LegoRR, seeing if I could contribute something, anything, to the site, so I wouldn't just be dead-wood. Eventually I ventured into the unknown abyss of the Shoutbox. I had done IRC before, but most chats were dead, and many of the people were pretty quiet, even when talking. But, something was different. These people were...alive. And entertaining. They all had unique personalities and stories. They didn't bite (not at first at least; Zephyria ). I spent more time interacting with them, and starting to feel like I might actually be a part of this..."family". We all know the story from there. Boy finds some dead code nobody knew how to work with, boy plays around with it, boy accidentally is able to get multiple minifigure types into the game, boy because instant success. And after that, things went everywhere. I climbed my way through the post counts while witnessing (and being a major part of) many various conflicts on the site, learning to animate under the wing of Cirevam while everyone chortled "Does he love cub or coke?" This place grew on me, and it's pretty much been a better place than my own home. I tell you this story because of that word; "family". That's what we, more or less, are. Cyrem's the single parent, the moderators are the older siblings, the new editors are the nosy kids who like to shower everyone with gossip, the donators are the spoiled goodie-two-shoes, the contributors are also spoiled goodie-two-shoes ( ) and then we have all the other younger siblings. That just how it is on this site. As much as a family stands together, I've seen more of a family falling apart. And this one is no different. We all have our difference in opinions, in the way we do things, and the way we communicate. It shows most online, and especially here, where the anticipation between each post builds up moreso than on a instant messaging service. That's a problem inherit in forums, but it seems to be less of a problem here. Nonetheless, we still have parts of it showing up, and mostly within myself (See the side-rant in the spoiler below). It happens in cycles, and those cycles are regular, and it's happening right now. A certain member appears to shake up the website, and embarks on a journey where we are constantly disappointed by their actions and their words, to the point where some of us outright (and people, we all must admit it sometime, despite how we'd normally say "we just stumbled upon this topic by accident") follow their post rampage, hoping they'll eventually listen to us, as we try to defuse a ticking timebomb that could bring an end to forum order itself. Or so we think. Cyrem has a nice giant big "UNDO" button in his office. Since that first night, when I nervously jumped online to and posted a hello, hoping I wouldn't be ripped in half, I've meet a lot of people on this site (not in real life, but that's not important). I've grown and changed, and I've formed opinions on people. We all know who I respect, who I feel can be a bit "excessive" at times, and who I want nothing more than to throw out the airlock. But recently, I've been challenging my own opinions and fighting with myself and my actions. That said, one person has constantly set my entire brain on fire and locked all the fire hydrants. I won't name names. You know who it is. You know that person, on this site or not, has demonstrated a lack of respect, blatant ignorance, and contempt for authority. I'm not here to rip them apart to shreds. Instead, I'm here to...apologise. Yes, I'm serious. Not to them, oh hell no. But instead to the staff and members of this site, and to anybody else who had been caught in the cross-fire. Sometimes I get out of hand. I go beserk and then attempt to justify my actions as being right, when I'm no better (and that's hard to say for some people) than the person I'm trying to call out. It's of great disrespect to myself, and to the forums when new members come and see what I've posted. I hold a position of, relatively, some power, and to act as I do...I should know better. We should know better. It's not right for me to hide behind this computer and call out people, only to reflect poorly myself on those who have worked harder than me to bring us all together in the first place. Respect must be given if it is to be earned, and in many ways, I have been undoing what respect I gave to the staff and members here that I worked up with great effort. One step forward and three steps back. There's not much that can be done now on my end, apart from holding back in future, and letting the moderators and the admin deal with this whole mess as they see fit. But, nonetheless, if I'm committed to stopping this, I do need to throw something off my chest, else I'll never breathe again. I have never met a person like the one I am talking about right now. Never ever. An attitude so fowl, I should have smelt it from his very first post in the RIP topic. His constant derogatory, "innocent-until-never-proven-guilty" persona fills me with so much hate and bile, I'm considering seeing a doctor. We tried to justify it as the person being "young", but even then, many younger members have, more or less, settled down after contact with a member of staff, and their annoying tendencies have been little more than a small itch that's easily scratched away. I will not be silent about this person in private, and I would happily, if not given the fact that this is supposed to be civilised communal gathering and that I am supposed to be a pillar of respect and patience, stand in front of ANY member, one I have little respect for or not, and defend them from this maniac. They do not represent what we do, what we say, or who we are. They do not understand what it means to be a part of this community. They are not family. And that is Wot I Fink.

It's safe to say that landslides occurring aren't just a fad. They're here to stay. Many are calling them the new frontier of the disaster world. With each passing year more and more Chief's are finally convinced that it's time to give landslide prevention a try. But as is always the case when launching a mining plan in a new channel, there are many pitfalls that Chief is unaware of. Because landslide prevention encompasses so many different channels, the number of possible mistakes are huge. No Rock Raider team will ever create the perfect landslide prevention campaign without making a few mistakes. But here is a look at three particularly rubble-creating mistakes and how to avoid them. Failure to enlarge for equipment For several years now mining equipment has been steadily increasing in size up to equipment for building the LMS Explorer. It's projected that within the next year, mining equipment size will surpass LMS Explorer repair equipment. Think about that for a moment. That means that more than half of the Rock Raiders working will be driving some type of enormously large mining equipment. Unfortunately, most Chiefs still haven't come to grip with this fact. Tunnels that aren't optimized for new mining equipment will have landslides occurring on half the Rock Raiders in that tunnel. Of course many of those will drive on through to collect the energy crystal they want by shoveling rubble and driving over lava. But it's impossible to know just how many new Rock Raiders Chief is not recruiting by failing to enlarge for new mining equipment. Fortunately, there is an easy solution to this mistake. GPS is a type of technology that automatically tells the Rock Raider the correct newly built tunnel to enter for the equipment being used to drive around in. Rather than having to operate one single tunnel for all traffic, GPS and new tunnels allows you the convenience of building multiple tunnels for different sized mining equipment that all lead to the same destination. No priorities When you're thinking as Chief, it's easy to just assume that Rock Raiders will know what you want them to do in the event of a landslide as a result of an order. The best orders are those that include priorities. By expressly stating what task you want the Rock Raiders to perform, you give priority and purpose to your order. While priorities are important for all mining operations, they are especially crucial for landslide prevention. A good priority will be very clear and impossible to misunderstand. Your priority should be short, demanding, and as overly detailed as possible. The right priority is often the difference between a safe reinforcement and a Rock Raider teleported safely. Failure to target area workers Most Chiefs, when asked who their intended Rock Raiders for their order was, would say, “all of them.†In an ideal world, all Rock Raiders would hear and be influenced to obey your order. But in the real world, trying to order everybody to reinforce walls through an order will result in reaching almost everybody eating sandwiches. A good landslide prevention order will be tailored for the Rock Raiders in the landslide area. Make sure you spend sufficient time choosing your desired Rock Raiders and coming to understand their incompetence and hunger cycles. With this information you'll be able to create a landslide prevention campaign that is much more likely to prevent that audience from getting covered in rubble. Rock Raider Activity News brought to you by rockraiderSMSer.com Source: priorities4rockraiders.com/landslides/landslide-prevention-mistakes-every-chief-avoid-713001#!LR7EERU

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3suGfhnT2Sg https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P3ALwKeSEYs

Today I accepted a co-op internship with Entre Computer Services as a Co-op developer working on a variety of apps and projects. The co-op serves as part of my graduation requirement. With 6 months of co-op experience programming or developing games, I can finally graduate with a Bachelor's degree in Game Design. Also it gives me money. Money is nice. I start on the 6th of July. Also the place has tons of apartments which are like a kilometer away or closer. Yay.

Hey guys. It's been a long time since I was active here. I got a job now, so that's been taking up quite a lot of my time. Maybe too much... I miss being here, I really do. This will be the first time I've even put anything on the forum in forever. I'm sitting here, waiting for something to say, but I don't have much. I haven't been able to keep up with the forum. I don't know who is still here or not, or who the new members are. What the next biggest topic is. I've just sorta fallen off. I want to change that. Get back into the family I've once known. Yes I said family, because you guys are. You've made me be more comfortable over the internet, if that were ever truly possible. I know I've had some off times, but we all do, right? I'm gonna try to be more active again. Perhaps bring back some old things I've left behind. Or create some new things for everyone to enjoy. In other news, I think I may have finally beaten my composer's block, so you can expect me to start posting music here again. And, if you really must know, I push shopping carts at the local Walmart now. This job tends to build up stress at times, but I made a vow that I would not quit, and I've been told the managers have noticed my, determination. Anyway, sappy blog post over. It's good to be back. See you all around the site. - Drill

I don't intend for this to come across as something in the vein of self-pity, as I know we all have our own hardships with which to deal, but rather I intend it simply as a venue through which to express some of my deepest feelings. I don't necessarily know that anyone is necessarily any happier than I, as I know nothing of their lives in their entirety. But I do know that for a long time now I've felt significantly unhappy due to a multitude of things, one of which is something among the more paramount facets of my life and of myself, but which I don't feel comfortable elaborating on in-depth here. But it's something that poses a hindrance to my becoming more independent, and because of it I'm very much a recluse, and it's uncertain whether it's something I'll be able to surmount. Another thing is that, however much I aspire to be as understanding, compassionate, kind, and perceptive a person as I have the aptitude to be, I haven't always shown or employed such attributes with some people, and unfortunately to the detriment of my relations with them. And whilst some have been more forgiving, others outright hated me and showed no willingness to attempt to understand me. It's very disheartening though to see these people harbor such resentment towards me, because I care for them deeply, especially so because they're very emotionally damaged people, and it makes me feel almost as though I failed them as a friend, I failed to help them and to make them ultimately happier. It hurts me so because I don't want them to continue on in life in such emotionally tortured states of mind, I want nothing more than for them to be happy. But we're all very flawed, imperfect, but yet beautiful unique individuals. And I suppose what we did in our pasts is nothing more or less than could be expected of us, because we only ever can think, behave, and deduce as far as the immediate expanse of our knowledge-base, as far as what we immediately know in the present moment. I only wish this understanding were shared with the aforementioned people. Moreover, I try to don a personality with which my subconscious conflicts because of my current circumstances, and so often to no avail. But in light of all of this, even if I can't fully live a life of happiness, I try to make a concerted effort to live one of meaning through the resulting contributions of the development of my various archives, through providing emotional support to others wherever and whenever possible for me to do so, and generally trying to enrich the lives of others and their individual happiness. This is why I do the work that I do to research and archive every known retro LEGO comic, storybook, and animated cartoon as thoroughly as is possible, because I know that it's something important to at least some members of this community, and something that provides them happiness and enriches their lives. I do this because I care about you, and it would be a tremendous waste of my life to forever be self-absorbed in my own problems and be oblivious to the struggles of everyone else I share this beautiful world with. In conclusion, I hope you never forget how much I care for all of you and for this awesome community as a whole, just as I hope I never forget how much you in turn care for me. I hereby extend my deepest and sincerest thanks to those of you who have shown me forgiveness, tolerance, and most of all friendship, however difficult I might be sometimes. And I extend my deepest and sincerest apologies to any of you I've unnecessarily hurt in any way. With love, ~Sadie

Dear all of RRU (or the few who will actually read this), I have a great challenge that lies before me. It has been there for a while now, and I have yet to conquer it. I am talking about my 2015 Concert Band Piece. I have tried to work on it, among other things, and keeping up with RRU and I am severely behind if I’m going to make this by spring of next year. That is when I plan to hand the finalized copy to my high school band director. All I have done right now are literally the first 8 bars of 1 instrument. And I have over 13 different types of instruments to work on. That’s just the music itself. I still have to write the sheet music for each instrument in each of their respective keys, and deal with all the little tiny dots and dashes and arcs and other symbols that make music readable. Should be amazing fun, but I’m far from worrying about that. However, it still needs done and I need the time to do it. I have the time to do it, but instead I am messing around on RRU, or learning Python, or playing Goat Simulator. My brother is getting married in eight days, and he’ll be moving out soon after. It’s made me realize that his life is about to take off and he’ll be taking on new challenges, while my life is being stuck in the house all day, surrounded by challenges I should’ve conquered a long time ago. If I’m going to be a famous composer someday, then it’s about time I worked for it instead of waiting for it to come to me. My one and only concern right now is finishing this concert piece. However, there are some “mandatory quests†I have to undergo along the way. This includes finally getting over my fear of driving, a fear that has been lingering for far too long, getting a job, and getting a car. These objectives may seem to get in the way, but if I have them, the better off this project will go. I’ll be able to get the necessary materials to complete it, which will help speed things up. Now as I said earlier, I have the time, but I also have the distractions. I will be severely restricting all activities that aren’t necessary to this current project. Gaming, Python, TV, all that will be cut out of the equation. Unfortunately, this also means cutting back on RRU. I’ve been here over 2 years now, and it’s been great. I’ve made a lot of friends here, and I plan to make more. But for right now, I need to get my mind set on what I need to get done. I won’t be on the RRU Server much, I might pop in for a few if I’ve got some time. No promises. Am I leaving RRU? No. I am merely taking a temporary leave. I have my phone, so I can still check in and stay up to date on the latest from the site, but I probably won’t post anything. I’ll reply to PM’s still, though. As far as Skype goes, I may come on for a few hours just to refresh messages, but I won’t be on all the time. The entire month of October I will be gone. I plan on returning sometime mid-November, or whenever I feel I have done enough to deserve a break. Also, if you follow my YouTube channel, I hope to put up more music sometime throughout this. That’s another thing that I haven’t been maintaining well. Anyway, for now, I bid RRU a temporary farewell. I will return soon. :)

A couple days ago StewartG asked me to make the main theme for Rock Raiders 2, so I decided to upload it so that everyone can hear it, as a preview. Feedback and suggestions for improvement are very much appreciated. So yeah, I might be making the music for this game. It depends on what Stewart decides. http://youtu.be/2ohQ6J-1rbo

It has always been said Cyrem wrote the book on LEGO Rock Raiders modding. I found the book to prove it.

On a Saturday morning errand to Target, I found myself doing a strange activity: SINGING "Mama Papa Brickolini!" I am an extremely private and non-expressive individual, and such a display of singing is unheard of from me, even in the privacy of the vehicle. Soon after this bizarre performance, somewhat embarrassed, I began to question my own sanity. As I pulled into a parking lot, I noticed a seasonal kid's consignment sale at the adjacent commercial space. I am one of those ultra-frugal types who scours everywhere from the yard sale, to the thrift mart, to the clearance aisle in search of a cheap brick. At this time I ignored it, as the sale was in the final three days of it's one month sale and fifty percent off everything, which was a pretty good indication that everything of value was snatched weeks ago by a thrifty and feisty mother; thus I continued on my mission to accumulate consumables. Upon purchasing the goods and securing them to the car, I quite impulsively abandoned them to check out the consignment sale. There was nothing appealing in the toys section, so I turned to leave. Spotting the electronics section, I pondered whether a classic LEGO game might be hidden in the collection of ancient videogames. I carefully searched the various titles, beginning to lose hope, yet my flipping through the various titles would soon reveal its merit. In the final box of PC games, I uncovered a copy of LEGO Island! This relic of LEGO gaming is nearly as old as I am, with about five months' difference. Attached to the cover was the price: fifty cents. I quickly ran to the check-out counter, and purchased the game, with a fifty percent discount, plus tax, for a grand total of $0.27 cents! I was ready to leave LEGO Island? the consignment store at this point, anxious to hear the Infomaniac's "WELCOME TO LEGO ISLAND!"

Ello, i just wanted to throw some doodles i drew on paper on here since i figured that i might as well show them to someone. The picture was taken by my phone are quite large so i put them under spoilers so they arent as big, also sorry if the images are in poor quality again due to phone. i got more doodles which are probably about a year or two old by now, if you liked these i can share them too.

[14:19:09 | Edited 14:19:15] ExcessJavaScriptPurger: I need breakfast [14:21:24] Bug Catcher: You can have mine D E L I C I O U S

So yeah, I was actually looking forward to Dimensions, believe it or not. The absurd price tag was a huge turnoff, but I bit the bullet and bought it anyway. I just finished the game. It wasn't the longest, but considering I played the entire thing straight through with no breaks, I think the length of the game was sufficient. So was it worth the price? Eeeeehhhhhh. I did enjoy it, a lot, while I was playing. But now that it's over I'm really feeling the hole it blew in my bank account. Looking back on it, it just doesn't seem like there was that much game there. Sure, there are 15 story levels, which is good. But one of the biggest draws of the LEGO series, the huge roster of characters, is completely absent. You only get 3 characters in the base game, and the rest much be purchased. This doesn't really bother me THAT much- after all, that is kind of the point of the game. But lack of characters me lack of unique abilities, abilities REQUIRED for 100%ing the game. I dunno, I may be missing something, but it does not seem like you can 100% the story with only the base set. THAT is complete BS right there, and it is the biggest source of regret for my purchase. I was always quick to defend the game, saying that it's still a complete game without buying any of the expansions, but it seems I was mistaken. Then there are the hub worlds, which I had to waste my limited data on downloading an update for the game (on launch day!) to access, only to be told that I still can't access them because they can only be entered by a character from that series. Two of these worlds weren't even represented in the story! Oh and on a similar note, though this isn't a huge deal but I feel it's worth mentioning. I felt like most of the franchises were only there for the sake of being there, and didn't really have any significant impact. For the most part it was "LEGO Batman, Doctor Who and Portal: The Game". They made a big deal about getting the original actors for a lot of the voices but very few characters had more than a couple lines of dialogue, and for that matter I'm pretty sure all the Ghostbusters's voice clips were taken straight from the movie. Again, not a HUGE deal, but I had to mention it. I want to like this game. It's enjoyable, and just taking it by itself I really do like what's there. But to have SUCH a huge upfront price, only to have SO MUCH content that requires EVEN MORE payment to unlock, really takes away from the experience. Do I regret buying the game? Maybe a little. I don't regret PLAYING it, that's for certain, the time was well spent. But the money, not so much. I would love to recomend the game if it was but a little bit cheaper, or had but a little bit more content in it- but as it stands, it doesn't, so I really can't say it's worth it. I wouldn't say to avoid the game completely, but do think really really hard and make absolutely sure you want it before making the investment. And that's my two cents, or rather, my 100 dollars.

People of Rock Raiders United, I bring terrible news.On Thursday, 2015-19-06, after some recent contributions by LEGO Message Board users, the LMB topic LDD Final Boss is Too Hard was brutally murdered by an albino alligator. This is a devastating loss for myself, its contributors, and all those it entertained. LDD Final Boss was an incredible creation. It was a sample of pure uninhibited imaginative human thought. It was an example of the incredible things that teamwork can accomplish. It was a bold and successful experiment in online social interaction. Despite it not involving a single brick, I rank LDD Final Boss among my greatest LEGO Creations. I would like to thank those and all my friends who contributed to this incredible endeavor. Rest in LEGO Pieces, LDD Final Boss.

If ever asked, I'll deny myself as a feminist or a liberal or any of that bulls***. There's only one label that I feel fits me best; "Egalitarian". I've spent months trying to understand the word and its connotations, but I've come to the realisation that I knew what it meant all along, because it's exactly how I live my life. Allow me to explain; I grew up in a sort-of-Religious family in Australia. As in, we'd sometimes go to Church, I went to Church camps (mostly just for the camp bit), I went to Catholic schools and all that jazz. I'm not here to discuss my beliefs on the Church or their beliefs, but rather to discuss the one thing that stuck with me through the ages; "Love thy neighbour as you love thy self." Think about how f****ing powerful that message is. Hell, it's the entire basis for Australian life. My life in Australia has been beautiful because there were no limits and no wrong-doing. I could call anybody anything, and they'd laugh with me, shoot a joke insult back, and we'd laugh even harder. I never cared if somebody was female, black or handicapped, and it never mattered. What did matter was the standards you held, and the things you were wiling to sacrifice in order to achieve. Hell, for most people I didn't even (and still don't) bother remembering their names, since I remembered them through their key characteristics, and they would always do the same. That's the life I want my children to have. That's the life I want everybody I know to have. I grew up in a family of funeral directors. We're surrounded by death constantly, and the thing that keeps us sane is the humour. Death doesn't mean anything to me because life is one big jolly when you think about it. And as I grew up, humour became more than a coping mechanism; it was a way that my friends and I expressed our views. It didn't matter how stupid, stereotypical or insulting it sounded; every joke was there to let us know that it was okay to be open about the horrible realities that life presents us. Jew jokes, blond jokes, retard jokes, nerd jokes. That old phrase "We call our mates 'cunts' and cunts our 'mates'" rang true in my circles. Depression wasn't fixed by being gentle; it was fixed by getting people to live a life better than what they had been. I still remember all the conversations I had that helped rehabilitate people, and without humour, I doubt those people would be in the incredible state of living they're in now. In about 10 rewrites of this blog entry, I wanted to cover how my views relate to common social media trending issues, but I've decided not to. The thing is that I do my best not be offended by anything except the most inane stuff that I can write off as comedy (such as getting angry at the s***ty chairs in my local RSL). I refuse to be sensitive or fragile, because in the end that (in my view) makes me a weaker individual towards my end goals of creating high quality works or to become a mentor-like teacher. If I allow myself to get offended every time somebody pronounces somebody's name wrong, makes a joke or overall acts in an "uncivil" way, I don't know how I'd cope with the life I lead. I certainly don't have any German in me, but I believe I have a lot of German qualities in the harshness of my critiques and my adherence to standards (most of the time, when I'm not being a lazy dickhead). That's where we need to be. If we don't keep pushing each other, how will any of us learn to do the great things ahead of us? Thankfully, most of my German critique is embedded in the form of humour, which sometimes makes it easier to swallow. Anyway, this blog has been all over the place and it's mostly because I got really tired half way through, went to get a coffee, came back confused and wanted to wrap this up. The point I guess I'm trying to make is that what may come off as me being an arsehole really is me being an arsehole...because that's how I express deeper, honest opinions. I'm not going to hold back because somebody will get their feelings hurt in the process; the truth and the freedom to speak is the most important thing we hold as humans, as that is what enabled us to get to where we are today. I will embrace my right to speak, and my right to treat everybody exactly the same; all as the glorious cunts who keep this world spinning.

"Jeep announces official partnership with forum member Ayliffe" Partnership will be first of it's kind according to Jeep CEO London, UK (March 31, 2015): Jeep today announced it has entered into a first of it's kind partnership with 'Ayliffe', a member of internet forum Rock Raiders United, in a bid to appeal to a more modern audience and keep up with modern habits. This will help bring Jeep into a position to attract more customers from what has been dubbed 'the forum generation', a market which has been left relatively untouched by major companies. If successful this forum partnership programme, also known as FPP, will be rolled out to other popular internet forums, with an aim to have at least one sponsored member per internet forum in 2025. Jeep is well-known in the motoring industry for such products as the Jeep Wrangler and the Jeep Grand Cherokee. "We are very excited to work with Ayliffe," said Mike Manley, current CEO and President of Jeep. "Teaming up with Ayliffe to engage with the online community is an exciting development for our company." "Jeep is a great partner and this agreement exemplifies their dedication to appeal to a more modern audience," said Ayliffe, member of the popular internet forum "Rock Raiders United" and the first partner in the FPP scheme. Ayliffe, otherwise known as Jay Phoenix outside the forum, is known as one of the more popular members of "Rock Raiders United" and has previously collaborated with various other companies secretly in a bid to advertise their project via the previously mentioned forum. As part of the multi-million pound deal, Ayliffe will change his well-known catchphrase "BEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEP" to "JEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEP" and replace his avatar on "Rock Raiders United" with images of Jeep's latest product range. The partnership is expected to last 24 months, and if successful will lead to more partnerships over other selected forums, such as BZPower, Eurobricks and UK of Equestria.

Now, I've heard of some pretty bad things about the Xbox One, but this takes the cake. Apparently, a five-year-old was able to break into his father's Xbox Live account by filling the password section with spaces. Let me repeat that. This kid spammed the spacebar to play his dad's games. So, this kid discovered the trick, and got away with it until shortly after Christmas (no idea on why it took so long for the news to pick it up). His parents (finally) realized their son was playing games he wasn't supposed to, and the father (who works in computer security) asked him how he did it. Basically, after the console is given a bad password, there's a password verification screen. Spam a bunch of spaces and you're in. Microsoft discovered this backdoor and promptly fixed it, and bestowing on the young lad four new games, $50 (likely in Xbox Live), and a year's Gold membership on Live. The boy is also mentioned on a list of security researchers in March this year. Moral of the story? "Newer" does not always mean "more secure". Sources: http://www.10news.com/news/5-year-old-ocean-beach-exposes-microsoft-xbox-vulnerability

With the latest version of LEGO Digital Designer including some new pieces, I was finally able to truly capture the likeness of everyone's favorite blue hedgehog. Marvel at how incredible it is. Forget Mad Jack and Dino Attack Headquarters, this is easily the greatest MOC I have ever created. Possibly even the greatest MOC in the world. The greatest Master Builders only wish they were skilled enough builders to create something as incredible as this.

I've returned for a second time after a long string (15) of exams again except these ones I did actually study for and didn't need to bury myself in a textbook at the end of term three not that anyone massively cares all that much, and oh look, the deranged lunatic is back with his tongue as if you hadn't noticed that already

i'm so, so sorry

Ello again. Recently i have started doing a daily drawing thing where each day i doodle a rather simple picture that involves at least one dragon. I have shared these with a few people, but today i though it would be nice to compile them into my blog in here so I don't lurk here all day. So each Monday i will take all the pictures i drew though the week and post them here, hope ya like them. Day 1 Day 2 Day 3 Day 4 Day 5 Day 6 Day 7

So... i have turned 22 this year, and i have been meaning to make this blog entry for a while, but i have as usual been too lazy to do so until now But anyway, nothing serious has happened or anything, just want to write down my thoughts experience in this site after all this time here. Before i joined RRU, i didn't really have many actual friends in the beginning, i was in groups and stuff before, but i never really found myself comfortable in the groups i found myself in, i didn't really feel like i could be myself and be honest with the people i used to call my friends. but despite that i did find myself enjoying the time i spent with these different groups for a while. One group that i remember especially was a group of Super Mario fans who almost all where interested in making Mario 64 machinimas, they where mostly young kids, with the exception with the leader of the group who was an adult who acted like a child, both in good ways and in bad ways, the group would always end up in some kind of fight or drama between two or three people, they would leave the group until they either regret their decisions or someone convinces them to come back, even the leader would lose their temper and get into a fight themselves. I often found myself trying to help the people in the groups get along after the fights or try to keep the peace, and i was generally liked by the group for this, i think the problem was that everybody was more interested in what they liked and thought, so when someone says something someone else disagrees in, it would usually end up in arguments, and as i spent more time with then i slowly and slowly grew sick of them, they're not bad people, just incredibly immature and childish which wouldn't be a surprise for kids around 10-13 or so. But one day i decided that enough was enough and went to leave the group and go somewhere else, and that was when i decided to join RRU. Compared to the last group, this community was like the promised land or something similar. People here where not only nice, but mature and well capable of reason, i could be myself and honest within this group, and if there ever was a argument, it would be done maturely without it turning into a childish fight. I love it here on this site, comparing this group with the one i was in previously was simply not possible, you guys are amazing and i am glad to be part of this site too. I want to especially thank the members: Arthuriel, Xiron, RobExplorien, Ben24x7, Ayliffe for being such good friends. Anyway, that's all and thanks for reading.

Finally, I have gotten my YouTube Channel back up! Here is my latest track called "Wonder". Have a listen! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yF7poU04Ku4 I'm really happy about this one, plus my dad loved it and is going to play it at work and get feedback for me. Feedback from you guys?

compiled from two separate entries on my BZP Blog So a while ago Lucina put up this excellent blog entry about a tantalizing piece of dialogue that we got from Makuta in Mask of Light, that never really went anywhere. It's a nice little piece of "what if" to consider, but ultimately the existence of the dialogue could be fairly well explained as another example of all of the weird nonsense that was going on at the end of Mask of Light. "We'll awaken Mata Nui, except we won't!" "All of the island's inhabitants must gather at the Kini-Nui and then come underground, except not really!" etc. Or at least, that's what I thought until Torsti put up the ISOs for the CDs in his BIONICLE Style Guide. There is an extremely interesting note made in the introduction: Quote Now, try to rectify that with the "bwahaha I will put Mata Nui to sleep and take over the world because I'm evil" Makuta we got. It's impossible. There is simply no way to cover both with one character. So I'm going to put forth a theory: it would seem that up to and through 2003, Makuta had a legitimate and potentially very interesting motivation for plaguing the islanders. By the point Legends of Metru Nui came out in 2004, the story team had rewritten him to be a more "kid-friendly" villain fitting into a black-and-white paradigm. But that leaves us to wonder what Makuta's original motivation was. The line from MoL explains why he is doing what he is doing, at least (he believes that Mata Nui's reawakening will cause him pain, and so he does his best to prevent the people trying to awaken him from achieving their goal). But then why does he believe that Mata Nui's reawakening will be to his detriment? Why did he send him to sleep in the first place? A lot of what Makuta says in Mask of Light gets obfuscated by his demeanor. He has a deep, rumbling voice, an oily, patched-together appearance, and he hangs out in a cave filled with thick green smoke and pillars holding creatures in stasis. On top of it all, he is very clearly the designated villain in what is a kiddy, direct-to-video film made to sell toys. Literally everything sets our expectations to "he is a bad guy," and we don't question it. But look beyond this external layer, and we find something rather different through a few curious hints. It begins in Makuta's first appearance. Before he releases the Rahkshi, he contemplates, I'm not sure how to frame this in any way other than as remorse at the idea of what he is about to do. So what convinces him? It comes back to Mata Nui. Makuta will do whatever it takes to ensure his brother remains asleep. This isn't a ruthless, power-hungry maniac bent on world domination - if that were the case, he would have no qualms with unleashing the Rahkshi. So the Rahkshi set out and start to terrorize the island, and Makuta sits back and observes. But something goes wrong - Kopaka manages to freeze the beasts within a lake, incapacitating them. Makuta can no longer rely on the fact that his sons will halt the coming of the seventh Toa, so he goes to plan B. Even though Takua himself doesn't know it yet, Makuta knows that the Matoran is right smack in the center of this matter. So he makes him an offer: If you stand down, give me the Avohkii so that Mata Nui can never be awakened, I will leave you alone. Your friends, the entire island, will be free from my grasp. Takua, like us viewers, don't think twice about calling Mukau droppings on him. Yeah, right. If you give the McGuffin to the bad guy, he'll let you off scotch free. That's likely. But what happens after Takua departs, when Makuta is left to himself, with noone listening? What does he say? Unless Makuta is in the habit of lying through his teeth to himself for no reason, his offer was absolutely genuine. With his last resort, the Rahkshi, evidently unable to stand up to the Toa Nuva, his hand was forced and he tried the next best thing to victory: ensuring that his brother could, at least, remain asleep and be spared the pain of conciousness. But Takua has none of it, so he does the next best thing: more Rahkshi. So by now, you may be asking: why? Why are all of these hints dropped in Mask of Light, of all places? What about the myriad of other story media leading up to it, why isn't it hinted at in any of it, too? For the answer, we have to dig a little into the past. If you are a longtime fan, then you might recall the earliest press releases for Mask of Light in 2002. They had familiar elements: two friends on a quest, the fate of the island at stake. But something else was mentioned in these synopses meant to strip the story to its absolute core: the island is crumbling into the ocean. Obviously, this plot element does not survive into the final film. And with good reason, because it ties into another major element of the film that was canned: the awakening of Mata Nui. Throughout the conclusion, wierd things keep happening. Everyone insists that they are descending into the Mangaia to awaken the Great Spirit, only for the matter to be forgotten once they literally do something that is supposed to awaken him. Takanuva instructs for all of the island's inhabitants to be gathered, and later brought underground, but we only get the Turaga (in the novelization, the island's population does in fact show up). This all makes sense only in the context of a film where Mata Nui does awaken; the islanders would need to be safely underground before Mata Nui could stand up and destroy the island. This explains the early island-crumbling plot. In the days before his awakening, Mata Nui is stirring, rocking the island and breaking chunks of it off. Incidentally this explains a scene that does make it to the final film: Jaller and Takua's reuniting. Jaller ends up vulnerable thanks to an earthquake, which you don't really question until you look at is specifically. An earthquake? Natural disasters like that never happen on Mata Nui outside that instance. Its a really weird anomaly in the mythos that seems solely an excuse to have Jaller mistake Takua for an approaching Rahkshi until you consider that it was originally part of a very relevant, ongoing series of quakes on the island. That also explains Jaller's wry response to the event - earthquakes were common. Otherwise, he might have been expected to be more "wow! an earthquake!" like Vakama in the Kikanalo scene in LOMN. So that's why we get all of these hints dropped regarding Makuta's true nature. Originally, Mask of Light was the BIONICLE finale, and the climax was to be the revelation of Makuta's true nature. Eventually, Takanuva is born and travels to the Mangaia. Makuta's last ditch resort is to keep his cool and challenge Takanuva for his mask, as without the Toa of Light Mata Nui cannot be awakened. This, too fails, and we get to that all-important dialogue first highlighted by Lucina: Naturally, Takanuva reacts with shock, confusion and denial. And then Makuta responds with what seems like a really strange non-sequiter. But despite how little sense it makes, it has a powerful effect on Takanuva. Suddenly, he is confident. He knows what to do. I feel like the implication here is that Makuta's badness is somehow tied to his mask (the 'real' him is 'behind' it). Takutanuva isn't, in reality, all that important in the final movie. He lifts the gate for everyone. But if, say, Makuta had been incapacitated, it seems entirely within reason that the Toa Nuva could've opened it themselves somehow. But in our supposed original version of the film, Takutanuva is all-important. He is the merged conciousness of Takanuva and Makuta. Suddenly, both understand each other, and they know what must be done to set things right. Cue the awakening of Mata Nui. Fin. So there you have it. What Mask of Light could have been.

http://www.gamespot.com/articles/ea-golden-age-for-gaming-upon-us-industry-needs-to-embrace-change/1100-6420874/ If I may, for a second; https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W6DAxC6wp70 I'm not even going to grace this with a description. Let's just get to ripping apart the quotes. Yeah, so long as you have the equivalent of a $1000 US to buy that shiny new PS4 in Brazil. What if you live in Afghanistan or Antarctica. Could I play games there too? As a company, you've successfully failed over the previous decade or so to provide any of those experiences without hindering the player in some way. Your practices net you the Worst Company in America crown. What do you say to that? And what's this about tying franchises together? Am I going to kick around a soccer ball with my Normandy team against Faith and the guys from Battlefield Bad Company 2? By ignoring your long-standing relationships with your previous clients. Great to see you in charge as COO. Gaming as a business is not like other industries. Microtransactions only serve to hurt developers and gamers. Even if they didn't, could you honestly say that the way EA has done it so far hasn't hurt people? And let's look at a different yet specific example. This is from a post on the steam community: "A simpoint is worth 10 cents. So everything on the Sims 3 store costs approximately $74,486.50. As for DLC/the game itself, the total is $439.81. So grand total, you're looking at $74,926.31 to own everything the Sims 3 has to offer." Telling. You ever think that maybe that's what these new people want too? To just sit down and play the feckin' game? I don't think anybody new to gaming would stick around for long if they new they had to keep forking out of their wallets to continue progressing. We need to embrace the fact that billions of people are playing games that are not yours. There are successful F2P games, but the formula is extremely difficult to get right, and turning almost all of your games into this horrible scam can only serve to destroy the integrity of the original design plans the developers wish to turn into reality. You will lose out because you're a businessman, not a gamer, and you fail the grasp why gamers enjoy what they enjoy. We're happy to fork out $60 on release for a new title. Hell, I put down $220 for a Halo: Reach preorder once. But once that game is in our hands, that's where the transaction should end. We go off to play, you go off to fix the game (since apparently all AAA games are now released as Alpha/Beta versions and then just patched as they go) and then make a new one. You might be so familiar with games as music then, because you own some extremely boring franchises. How come games like Fez, the original Halo, Deus Ex and the majority of Nintendo's title are always being replayed when they don't offer any extension content? Maybe it's because they realised how important it was to get the core gameplay experience correct before gipping the consumer? You might want to fix your filter then.

Long ago when Explore became Duplo again and furry minifigures didn't exist I was drawing LEGO Racers tracks and made some sort of a board game out of them. I simply drew the outlines of the track design and divided the track in sections. Then with a pair of dice and pawns you'd play the game in turns by moving your pawn as many steps as the number you rolled with the dice. Ofcourse this simple concept wasn't very interesting, but I continued drawing more maps nonetheless, as I really enjoyed that, the same way I enjoyed playing them by myself by controlling multiple pawns. That was back in 2004/2005, and the map with drawings really starts to fall apart now. About five years later, I reviewed my work from the past and thought by myself how I can improve the boardgame and make it more fun/have players engage more in the game. So I came up with a new concept. First off, I drew a few (three) improved maps as the ones I had drawn earlier were often pretty clumsy looking. Below is an image of the general design I applied to these maps. Instead of sections, I used dots. All pawns start at the start-/finishline. From there on you roll the dice to see how many spaces you may move. The black dots are normal spaces, nothing special. If you end your turn on an S-space, then you may take the shortcut route in your next turn. If you pass the 'brick'-space, you receive a power-up (more info on this later), which you can keep as long as you desire. You cannot however receive another power-up when you already have one. Power-ups must be used at the beginning of a turn! Now the way I intended to make this boardgame more engaging than it was (or actually wasn't), every player would get a real LEGO (race)car composed of a standard chassis with 11 bricks each. See the image below for two exemplary car designs. Ofcourse any design is okay, providing it only consists of 11 independently detachable bricks (chassis not included). Now the way these cars work in the game is as follows. Whenever a power-up is used against a player he/she may lose bricks depending on the type of power-up. When a player is hit and can't take off any more bricks, that player will lose his/her car. From then on, every time he/she rolls the dice to advance, the number will be halved (round off when you end up with a decimal). Once the 'walking' player passes the purple area, he/she can rebuild the car. Players with a broken car that would still like to rebuild it may also use the rebuilding area. Since this boardgame is based on LEGO Racers 2, the power-up system is the same. So whenever you pass the 'brick'-space, you have to roll the dice again to see which type of power-up you will receive. If you roll X (or Y), you receive Z: 2 or 8: Invisibility 3 or 9: Missile 4 or 10: Tornado 5 or 11: Drill 6: Frisbee 7: Thunderbubble 12: Indestructible Brick The power-ups function as follows. The letter is the abbreviation of the power-up, the number tells how many bricks one loses if hit by the power-up: Invisibility (I 0): Lasts two turns. Every opponent the player passes when activated will lose his/her power-up and will be collected by the said player. If the player passes multiple opponents, he/she will only be able to collect the power-up from the first opponent he/she passed. The opponents will however still lose their power-up if in possession. Missile (M 3): Player chooses the opponent to hit with the missile. When hit, the opponent loses 3 bricks. Missile will last for 20 spaces only. Frisbee (F 5): The opponent hit by the frisbee will lose 5 bricks. Lasts for 15 spaces and only impacts at the first opponent it comes across. Drill (D 4): The drill lasts for 10 spaces and hits every opponent in its way, with each opponent losing 4 bricks. Tornado (T 0): Is left behind at the space the player is on at the beginning of his turn. The tornado will last for two turns. Any opponent crossing the tornade will lose his/her turn in the next round. The said opponent may however complete his/her turn. Thunderbubble (Tb varying): When activated, all opponents within a radius of 7 spaces around the player will lose bricks. Opponents in a radius of one space will lose 6 bricks, two spaces 5 bricks, etc... Opponents in a radius of 6 or 7 spaces will both lose 1 brick. Indestructible Brick (Ib 7): Every opponent on the board loses 7 bricks. Lastly, here's an image of a started game between two generic players on the Express Delivery track. I have never actually asked anyone what they think of this concept, but I dug it up from my archives and wonder if there is anyone that likes to give his/her opinion on this? Would it be something to post an image of the aforementioned clumsier drawings?

jamesster: Somebody just ran by me, their first name "Gorilla" PeabodySam: Which almost looks Latin. jamesster: they're an eagle PeabodySam: Eagorilla? PeabodySam: I'm just going to call him Eagor. PeabodySam: Let's find Kownt Drunkula so he can work for him. jamesster: hah PeabodySam: And together they can make Fronkenshteen. PeabodySam: But oh no Cragger stole the cheese. PeabodySam: Now they have no more drugs. PeabodySam: So now it's up to Rex Furry to save the day. jamesster: my brain hurts PeabodySam: And then along comes Dali, and he's all like, "rhinos, dude!" PeabodySam: Then suddenly peacocks chased the skunks up the waterfall. PeabodySam: Upside down. jamesster: the load times on this game are like LI2-ish PeabodySam: Then a big something like the Combine opened up in the sky. jamesster: though according to the community manager it's due to server stress and will be fixed PeabodySam: A CD pizza came out and flattened everyone. jamesster: https://community.lego.com/t5/LEGENDS-OF-CHIMA-ONLINE/bd-p/Legends_of_Chima_Online PeabodySam: And Dr. Pepper who was the Brickster's not son proclaimed, "I have long load times copyrighted!" PeabodySam: Then bug reporting spontaneously combusted and exploded. PeabodySam: After some dude was watching Suicide Mouse back in the day and said "oh no i have to go poop now". jamesster: is this real life PeabodySam: And then WHO ARE YOU? also caught on fire. PeabodySam: And the Archette was on fire. PeabodySam: And the updates were on fire. PeabodySam: Roses are red PeabodySam: Violets are red PeabodySam: Trees are red PeabodySam: Grass is red PeabodySam: Dammit my front yard is on fire. PeabodySam: DO YOU BELIEVE IN MAGIC jamesster: no PeabodySam: But then AgentJHM11 was not impressed. PeabodySam: And pacman87 does know how to arrow keys. PeabodySam: And WhiteAlligator is confused because there's only green and brown crocodiles. PeabodySam: Maybe. jamesster: I'm working on LEGO Message Boards Simulator v1.0 PeabodySam: And then diglett809 used CARRY OVER! PeabodySam: It's not very effective... jamesster: Lair was gonna do it but his mind melted in shock when he saw some of the posts there PeabodySam: And then Transmunks262 initiated Alpha Mode and transmunked into a chipmunk. jamesster: OH I SEE HOW IT IS GAME, I CAN WAIT THREE AND A HALF HOURS TO WAIT FOR THIS ITEM TO CRAFT jamesster: OR I CAN SPEND SIX GOLD BRICKS AND GET IT INSTANTLY PeabodySam: And then diglett809 proclaimed... jamesster: https://na.chimaonline.com/en/gold-bricks PeabodySam: Post in ALL the topics! PeabodySam: An hours ago! PeabodySam: But then Rocket Racer took all the Gold Bricks and hid them around Sandy Bay, Dino Island, Mars, Arctic, and Xalax. PeabodySam: He hid more in Nimbus System, but then something exploded because Michael Bay is directing this, and they turned blue instead. PeabodySam: Now... PeabodySam: THEY'RE BLUE PeabodySam: BABADIBABADIE PeabodySam: IF THEY WERE GREEN THEY WOULD DIE jamesster: HOLY CRUD I JUST HEARD A SOUND EFFECT FROM LU ALPHA/EARLY BETA PeabodySam: SUDDENLY NOSTALGIA jamesster: THE ORIGINAL ACHIEVEMENT SOUND IS USED WHEN YOU BUY SOMETHING PeabodySam: It's not very effective... jamesster: meh PeabodySam: But to buy something, you need money. PeabodySam: And suddenly Medic took ALL the money. PeabodySam: No more LU beta sound effect for you. jamesster: :c PeabodySam: Because Chima needs more HATS. PeabodySam: HATS JAMESSTER PeabodySam: HATS PeabodySam: Then HATS send a transmission... PeabodySam: ALL YOUR CHEESE ARE BELONG TO US PeabodySam: And then the Darkitect [YOU CANNOT GRASP THE TRUE FORM OF THIS TEXT] and changed flowers. jamesster: you said that as I was buying headgear PeabodySam: Now the flowers are HATS. PeabodySam: But is RED now BLU? PeabodySam: That depends on who you are. PeabodySam: You'll see. PeabodySam: COME TO CHIMA PeabodySam: No, come to LEGO Island. PeabodySam: We've got racing and jetskiing and building and flying and watching and driving and having fun and - PeabodySam: NO PeabodySam: CHIMA PeabodySam: WE HAVE CHEESE PeabodySam: Go Crocs PeabodySam: Unless Lions are with a sledgehammer jamesster: My character is named Bionic StromlingBearclaw PeabodySam: Right before Jake Thunder kills everyone with a RAWKET LAWNCHAIR PeabodySam: Then SUDDENLY JOHNNY THUNDER PeabodySam: It's super effective! PeabodySam: Jake Thunder DED PeabodySam: Johnny Thunder gains 1006 exp. points and gets a role in a new movie. PeabodySam: YAY PeabodySam: LEGO faith has been restored. PeabodySam: SIMPSONS PeabodySam: LEGO faith has been lost. PeabodySam: Faith is a fragile thing. jamesster: So are LEGO models. PeabodySam: With Galaxy Squad and LEGO Movie, it is strengthened. jamesster: And this game. PeabodySam: Then cheese and beer come along and everything exploded. PeabodySam: But then the ice cream melted, prompting PeabodySam to suddenly go AFK. jamesster: aw PeabodySam: So PeabodySam wasn't front, and the ice cream are ded. PeabodySam: And the moon was almost at top of where at the sky and bird. PeabodySam: Then Jeff Bridges was a star, man. PeabodySam: Which reminded Laval of more CHEESE PeabodySam: And then Laval was in two videogames PeabodySam: But his arch nemesis Lava was in infinitely more. PeabodySam: So Laval lost and resorted to cheating. PeabodySam: Which sounds a lot like cheesing. PeabodySam: He plasmified at twelve o'clock while riding a Speedorz. PeabodySam: But then he crashed his Speedorz into Warrior's car and exploded. PeabodySam: So now he has to go collect drones. PeabodySam: To upgrade his cheese. PeabodySam: But Laval went to Ogel's Island to look for drones. PeabodySam: And instead he found Slimy Slugs because he went to OGEL Island instead. jamesster: a slimy slug is invading your ramblings PeabodySam: Then Laval was los tin space. PeabodySam: Which is like los tin cup which is about golf, which is a SPOATS. PeabodySam: XBOX, go home, you're drunk. PeabodySam: TEE VEE TEE VEE TEE VEE TEE VEE TEE VEE PeabodySam: And so Microsoft reverted back to Windows XP. PeabodySam: But Duke Nukem kept spamming them. PeabodySam: BALLS BALLS BALLS BALLS BALLS jamesster: I'm a bear with pointy sticks and a pink vest PeabodySam: And then a malformation of falling rocks happened. PeabodySam: All at the same time. PeabodySam: So now we've got TEE VEE BALLS LANDSLIDE TEE VEE BALLS LANDSLIDE TEE VEE BALLS LANDSLIDE PeabodySam: And everywhere Laval went, it eroded the ground away. PeabodySam: So the Rock Raiders hated him for causing Lake of Fire. PeabodySam: So they booted his sorry Soviet behind back to Canada. PeabodySam: There, Laval found drones. PeabodySam: So he needed to go back to Xalax but didn't have spesship. PeabodySam: So he hitched a ride with the blacktron and Joe Spaceborn. PeabodySam: Who is distantly related to Jim Spaceborn. PeabodySam: But then that's no moon. PeabodySam: That's an infomooniac. PeabodySam: So we need dramatic music. PeabodySam: DADA DAAA DADA DAAA DADA DAAA DADA DAAAA PeabodySam: Infomooniac just keeps showing up in Alderaan places at Alderaan times. jamesster: did I fall asleep jamesster: because this is surreal for real life but average for my dreams PeabodySam: But then they had salvation. PeabodySam: Because Ernie was a black hole. PeabodySam: So Conker had a really bad fur day. PeabodySam: Because Elmo wanted to learn math from Ernie, and divided by a ghost dog from a Tim Burton film. PeabodySam: Then suddenly Cthulego. PeabodySam: ... PeabodySam: Nah, no Cthulego. PeabodySam: Anyways... PeabodySam: Infomooniac, Laval, and the drones got sucked into Ernie's hole. PeabodySam: It was really dark in there. jamesster: oh goodness PeabodySam: And then they were at Xalax. PeabodySam: And Laval gave the drones to Warrior. PeabodySam: But Warrior was mad because they were the wrong type of drones. PeabodySam: He wanted Skeleton Drones, but Laval got him Ice Drones. PeabodySam: So he got kicked out of LEGO Racers 2. PeabodySam: So Laval had to find a different game company. jamesster: is this like some sort of alternate universe of the DARPG PeabodySam: But then, Laval was ensnared in a net by a devil. PeabodySam: And then the Darkitect [uNGRASPABLE TEXT]. PeabodySam: So Laval went to TellTale. PeabodySam: And they were all like, "WRONG TT GAMES" PeabodySam: So they booted his sorry Soviet behind back to Canada again. PeabodySam: But luckily, he found a magic balloon and floated to Nintendo. PeabodySam: But John McCain beat him to the Wii U. PeabodySam: So he had to settle for the 3DS instead. PeabodySam: And that, my friends, is how "Lava's Journey" came to be. PeabodySam: But Dr. Pepper who was the Brickster's not son was still mad because the cheese topping from the CD pizza was missing. PeabodySam: GUESS WHO PeabodySam: It was the Crack-odiles! PeabodySam: And it was revealed that the whole thing started because Cragger ran out of crack and wanted to try cheese as a substitute. PeabodySam: But everyone was sad in Fabuland because there weren't enough HATS. PeabodySam: Except the snakes, so they got kicked out of Fabuland and had to settle in Ninjago instead. PeabodySam: Then the cheese wars wrecked Fabuland. jamesster: sorry was claiming a portal thing jamesster: what the PeabodySam: Then Cave Johnson introduced lemons to Fabuland. PeabodySam: Everything caught on fire. PeabodySam: So he needed infomooniac rocks to create portals. PeabodySam: But the only way to get that was to get inside Ernie's black hole. PeabodySam: Luckily, they had a Space Core to do the job. PeabodySam: But then the Space Core ended up in Skyrim. PeabodySam: And that caused the Darkitect to [uNGRASPABLE TEXT]. PeabodySam: So Nexus Force was ded. PeabodySam: And then the Darkitect [YOU] and [CANNOT] with [GRASP] potato [THE] Danielle Radcliffe [TRUE] with a bucket of [FORM] then [OF] suddenly dinosaurs [THIS] so you'll have to [TEXT] sideways. PeabodySam: And LEGO Universe asploded. PeabodySam: And LEGO execs were all like, "Our MMO has failed. LET'S MAKE ANOTHER!" PeabodySam: Because Medic was whispering to them about FREE MONEY. PeabodySam: But they had a cheese shortage. PeabodySam: Which gave them an idea. PeabodySam: Two seconds later, they slapped this game together. PeabodySam: And now you know. PeabodySam: And knowing is half the battle. PeabodySam: BUT WHO WAS PHONE?!? PeabodySam: [/end] jamesster: http://assets0.ordienetworks.com/images/GifGuide/clapping/busey_clapping.gif PeabodySam: Clearly, the best Chima fanfic ever. jamesster: holy crud man

I mean sure, it kinda feels like they're stealing the concept of the lego movie, but I mean, come on, there's no way they- wait wait x-files music plays

High Level Overview Welcome! Over the coming months in my spare time, I will be developing a new LEGO fan-game called LEGO Investigations. Before I can build the full title, I need to make a vertical slice that demonstrates the full thing is feasible and will be worth the effort it will take. In this High Level Overview, I will be going over some generalities. In my next blog, I will upload a golden path chart, beat sheet, level design plan as well as an asset list and potentially a script sample, which should give more specific detail into how the Vertical Slice will work. Section 1: The Jist What is this game? LEGO Investigations is a first-person adventure game where players are a detective and must investigate accidents and emergencies to determine what has occurred. Made in Unity for the PC, this game focuses on the player narrative rather than the story, and makes use of interesting mechanics such as simulation and seeking. Why is anybody going to care? The big goal for this project is to be a successful LEGO fan-game, and to do this there will be intense focus on meeting the core LEGO brand values, including imagination, creativity, fun, learning, caring and quality. The game will use LEGO in a way that makes it core to the mechanics, and will give the players a chance to try new and rewarding gameplay that tests a player on their logical reasoning. Who is the game for? LEGO Investigations is primarily for boys and girls between the ages of 12 - 24. This game is very specifically aiming towards fans of the LEGO brand, especially its video gaming merchandise. This game will favour more inquisitive, logical and careful players rather than fast-paced action-orientated players. There is no client for this game, and the game will not be sold for profit (per licensing reasons). Section 2a: The Vertical Slice - Summary Title LEGO Investigations: The First Case Genre First-Person, Adventure Platforms Windows PC via Unity3D 5.1.4 The Big Idea It's your first day on the job, and you've been called to the scene of a major accident; a double-decker bus has come off the road and crashed into a local shop, leaving dozens hurt or disassembled. While the ambulance crews scurry to help the injured, you'll need to figure out who the correct culprit was; mechanical failure, driver error, weather or foul play? Don't mess this up; the Government is already under suspicion of muddling the truth of its investigations, and another wrong case could put us in the pits! Play Mechanic As a highly trained detective, you have the uncanny ability to sniff out relevant parts and people to the investigation. Combine that with a brilliant mind which can simulate all kinds of possible scenarios that involve the evidence you locate and a knack for conversing and getting the truth out of potential suspect, and then it only becomes a matter of correctly piecing together the chain of events in the right order. License The First Case is a standalone level which will not be a part of the final product, should plans go ahead to turn this vertical slice into a full game. It will represent the majority of the mechanics of the full game and give a fairly accurate view of the game experience. The average playtime should be in the ball-park of 10 minutes to 2 hours, depending on how many events and how many pieces are in the final build and how good the player is. Since the LEGO Brick/Brand is owned by The LEGO Group, the results of this project cannot be sold for profit. Target Audience The First Case is intended to generate some kind of reaction that can be used to gauge if pursuing the full product is a good idea; it must, therefore, be enticing to journalists and YouTube Let's Players, as well as figureheads in the AFOL community, as opposed to the final product which would be directed more towards the children. The development of this project should be public, and therefore needs to be fairly flexible to allow for constructive criticism to guide how the product turns out. Section 2b: The Vertical Slice - Mechanics Seeking One of the most core aspects of the game is the ability to find relevant evidence to the case. The evidence the player needs can be scattered all over the level, and so it will take an inquisitive eye to find whichever pieces are most important to solving the mystery. Not even piece will help, and some may even be red herrings... Movement Mechanics: The first-person player can move forward, backward, left and right (strafing). The levels are not designed to require jumping or crouching, but may require the player to look up or down. LEGO/Item Collection: Items that can be interacted with are made of LEGO. Items that shine can be collected as "potential evidence" and are what the player needs to focus on. Collected items go into the player's backpack and will determine what events they can use during Simulation/Piecing. All evidence will leave notes and clues inside the player's notebook. Detail Investigation: In some instances, the player can "zoom-in" on certain parts of the world; for example, the player can get a view up-close of a desk and everything on the desk to see if there might be something useful there. Red Herrings: Many items in the world will outright be used to confuse or distract the player. Some items are from the investigation but did not play an active role in what happened, while other items may have been left-overs from the past before the accident. The player must simulate or collect additional evidence to determine if items had any relevance to the scene. Item Cancelling: Collecting some items may ultimately cancel out the existence of others (collecting a photo of a character without a moustache may mean they never had need for a moustache brush). This will help eliminate possible events for Simulation/Piecing, and cross off irrelevant/confusing notes inside the notebook. Dialogue It's important to listen to key witnesses and suspects when trying to evaluate what happened. While not everything they say will be true (by accident or intentionally), some evidence can be very helpful or even crucial to figuring out what happened. The key to the dialogue system is to try and get information, and that sometimes means challenging the character on what they've said. Conversation Options: When you initiate a dialogue with a character, you will have a Mass-Effect-style wheel of conversation topics to choose from. The main character's dialogue is never explicitly read out; you only witness the other character's side of the conversation. The conversation options on the left side are used to challenge what the character just said or their appearance/way of talking (when appropriate), while the right side allows you to ask more questions. The bottom allows you to leave the conversation at any point (you will resume from the same place when you return). Intelligence: If you have learned evidence from the items you've collected/investigated or from other characters which conflicts with what the person you're talking to has said, appropriate dialogue options to call out/challenge the character with your evidence will be highlighted, and will allow you to get more accurate information. This can be disabled in the menu to increase game difficulty. Notes: Any information you discover will be added to the notepad, and if that information is contradicted by correct information it will be crossed off. Simulation A fast player may wish to simply rush through; collect the minimum-necessary evidence and submit their findings. In order to get an accurate sequence of events and rank high, a smart player will want to make use of the simulation system which allows them to mix-and-match possible events in a chosen order to see if everything leads to how the crime scene looks when you arrive. Event Collection: An "event" is a thumbnail that sits in your backpack and represents a small snippet of time, usually a couple seconds, where a key part of the story happened (such as a part coming off a vehicle or a person getting out of a car). In order to use events in the simulation, you must have either collected enough evidence and/or notes for the simulation to appear in the browser. When you collect a piece of evidence, any events that require that evidence to be shown will be unhidden but locked; collecting all the required evidence items/notes will unlock the event for use. If you've unlocked evidence that makes an event contradictory, it will be locked and crossed-off. Notepad: The notepad can be accessed inside the simulator, and allows you to go over information you've collected. Not all note-evidence can be used to unlock events; some of the notes you collect will be general knowledge for your benefit (such as the speed of bullet in the air or how glass shatters when it breaks in different ways). These notes are in a separate section of the notepad, and should be used to compare similar events to see which one is more plausible. Event Chains: In order to use the Simulation aspect, the player must drag and drop events into a timeline. The start and end events are already given to the player, and the exact amount of "slots" will always be given, so the player knows exactly how many events took place. Each event has "handles" (different coloured/shaped edges on the left and right sides of the thumbnail); you can only put the correct-shapes and colours together in the chain. This prevents the player creating an order of events that is completely incompatible. Event Simulation: The real meat of the Simulator is to put events in a chain and see how they work together. Once the player has dragged and dropped events into the chain they can then begin "Simulator Mode". In Simulator Mode, the player becomes a flying camera which can watch, pause, play, fast-forward or reverse the events. Simulator Mode takes place inside the same scene as where the detective is, but anything that is changed from the scene will be a transparent "ghost", which allows the player to determine if elements ended up in the correct positions in their sequence of events. Piecing The ultimate goal of each scenario is to correctly identify what has happened. When you choose to finish your investigation, you must present your findings, and then you will be ranked on how close your were. Level End: You can choose to finish the level at any point by talking to the Boss. Doing so will bring you to a screen where you can input your findings, or back-out if you don't feel you have enough correct information. Notes: You can bring up your notebook or your bag of evidence at any point in this screen if you need to double-check what you have. Event Ordering: The first piece of info you will need to add is the correct order of events. This is exactly the same as the Simulator Mode, except you cannot simulate the events from this part of the game; this is to prevent players trying to rush through and dump evidence in that "looks" correct. Questions: After that, you will then need to provide answers to ~5 questions about the scene, including who/what was most guilty and some of the things that happened. For each "question", there will be a blank spot with a drop-down selection that will allow you to pick out an applicable item/note that correctly fills out the sentence. Submission: When you are confident you got everything right, you will be asked one final time if you're ready to submit; you will then be shown the sequence of events you chose in a cinematic order, and brought to a ranking page. The chain-of-events counts for 50% of the mark, and the 5 questions are each worth 10%. If the player does not get 100%, they will be shown some hints to consider for the next time if they want to replay the level. 50% is the minimum requirement for completion. Considerations These are miscellaneous mechanics that may not be applicable to the vertical slice, but could improve the experience. Randomisation: The correct chain-of-events and the position of elements in the world could be randomised on each play-through. Episodes: As well as having individual, "one-off" cases, it might also be good to have linked-sets of cases called "Episodes" where the player is trying to solve a big mystery by visiting different crime scenes. Timed/Speed-Run Mode: A mode that tests how fast you can collect the evidence and solve the case. Collectibles/100%: Getting the perfect ranking in each level (as well as the timed run) should give the player some unique items/abilities/additional cases. It might also be good to let players collect special items in the game world. Rewards could also include things like story/audio logs. Hub World: To launch different cases, rather than use a menu, the player should be inside a hub world (like the Tt Games) where they can launch each case. If the player completes all the cases, they can then complete a special case in the hub world itself. Hint System: It might be handy for less-experience players to have some kind of light hint system that guides them in the right direction, but does not solve the puzzles for them.

Err, I mean back...dam you SPELLCHECK, well it didn't take nearly as long as I thought it would but life has settled down. Lots of things have changed too, I've got an official start date for transitioning, which'll be in about a month, final projects have started and I've got something like a script worked out for the Anime project that I'm going to start typing up this month, as well as the layout for the story boards which I'll start printing off this month as well. I watched an anime called Shirobako, which is an anime about making anime, that really helped with the process of making anime. And lastly I've created two more languages, which I shall post some time soon. So what've I missed on RRU, if anything? And oh my gods I just realized my Avi is still in christmas mode. Time to change it...

WARNING: OPINIONS INCOMING I just posted this on another forum, and since i took the time to write it up I figured I might as well share it here as well. Here goes. When you were a child, what were you afraid of? The dark? The boogie man? Monsters under your bed? Of course you were, all children are. While your specific fear may have been different, you still feared something. It could be specific, it could be abstract, but it was there. It lurked in shadowy corners, behind shower curtains and under beds. Something was out there, something was after you. Why? What did it want? We didn't know, and it didn't matter. It wanted to "get" us, and that alone was enough to scare us all. Now, what does this have to do with the Slender Man, you may be wondering? EVERYTHING. First of all, what is the Slender Man? I'm sure you all know, but I'll go over the basics anyway. He is depicted as an unnaturally tall, unnaturally thin man in a jet-black suit. His arms are not normal arms, usually replaced by waving tendrils. And he doesn't have a face. This last detailed has become his most defining trait but is also one of his most overlooked, because there is a reason behind it that most people miss- but that's not really important now. He stalks children and kidnaps them, and has been known to prey on lost travellers in remote areas. The character first appeared in a series of photoshopped images made for a 'paranormal photoshops' thread. There were other impressive shops in the thread but the Slender Man quickly eclipsed them in popularity. What did these photographs depict him doing, that could be so shocking? Nothing. Nothing at all. He merely stood in the background while other things were happening in the foreground. Which is how it should be. See, this is what made the character so great originally- he didn't do anything, but he was always there. Always waiting, always watching. He was, through and through, the very embodiment of a child's fear. He was the boogieman, he was the monster under your bed. He was the thing that went bump in the night, the creature in the shadows waiting to 'get' you. His generic, nondescript appearance, utter lack of motivation, and general vagueness of the character made him essentially a blank slate onto which we could project our own fears and insecurities- and it was terrifying. Unfortunately, what was is not longer what is. So after the original 'shops, a few other people got in on the action making their own images with the character, and each one was better than the last. Unfortunately, as the library of images grew larger, more people started to notice, and a terrible thing happened- he grew a fandom. And nothing ruins a great story like a terrible fandom... You ever read fanfiction? It's usually terrible. There are some good fanfics out there, but in general fanfiction is poorly-written and fails to capture the spirit of the franchise on which it is based. Now imagine an entire franchise that consists of nothing but fanfiction... yeah, that's what we're dealing with here. The issue is, most people don't understand why the Slender Man is scary, so they try to make him scary, which actually works in reverse. They stick him in with insane cults and supernatural phenomena and other 'scary' stuff, and it only hinders him. Someone made a GAME about the character, which features him actively chasing you. Which is not how it's supposed to be. He's supposed to follow without chasing, staying in the background. If you're running from him, that's a problem, because you know were his is (behind you) and what his is doing (chasing you). Suddenly, it's not as scary. You know what the issue is and what to do to solve it (run). Not knowing where, when, what and how is much, much more frightening than anything any writer can come up with, because we will fill in those gaps with whatever we fear the most. The best part of the character was his vagueness, and that is slowly withering as his 'fans' continue to try to define his traits, motivation, abilities etc. We've now got a split between two extremes, those who take him way, way, way too seriously, and those who can't take him seriously at all anymore. The latter group has reduced what was once one of the scariest things on the internet to a laughingstock, a punchline at the end of an overused joke. Granted, some of the stuff is pretty hilarious, but it still makes me sad that this is what the Slender Man has become... though it's not as bad as the other group, who goes around stabbing their friends because they worship the character as some sort of god. There's nothing I or any of us can do except hope that the fandom dies and the character either is forgotten or returns to his previous state... Fandoms. Will they ever learn? Leave the storytelling to people who actually know what they are doing.

Here is a accurate* representation of the current state of RRU as of August 09 2014. *And by accurate i mean 10%, but its still accurate because RRU

Right kiddies, I want you to listen to this awesome experience I'm archiving here. Last night, I had a recurring dream. And in this dream, were a bunch of rockraiders. It was that one weird level I often end up playing in RR dreams. However, this time, I found several interesting and different things: A) There were two new floor types. The first was a modification of Ice, and the second was some sort of purpley weird rocky? ground. B) There was a big blue crystal/stalagmite growing out of the floor. If I clicked on it, I could tell my raiders to harvest red energy crystals and some weird grey stuff C) There was a big purple crystal/stalagmite growing out of the floor nearby. Clicking on it showed it was some sort of machine/device that was asking for 4 red energy crystals. D) My raiders brought them over and suddenly I was brought to a cutscene of this giant chained thing breaking free. It was some kind of cool rockmonster with armor. Its helmet was red and white. Then it broke out of the armor and transformed into a mostly noncorpeal being that was surrounded in black mist/darkness/poor special fx. Then the cutscene ended and the "boss battle" began in this odd cave with the guy from the cutscene and the raiders who had brought the crystals. D1) I had the premonition that defeating him was the alternate way to win the game since he was supposed to be some kind of secret final boss, as opposed to merely beating all the levels. So, yay. Cool dream worthy of archiving. May this serve as inspiration for me and other people someday.

I was messing around with the LEGO logo from the classic games and ended up with this: Personally I think having something like this at the start of LEGO games would have been much more exciting than the gentle falling bricks of old. Although I am a fan of the falling bricks, but that might just be nostalgia :P