Alyska

I guess what I'm trying to say is that the realistic aspects of a friendship are kind of glossed over, or rarely mentioned, in favour of the EXTREME MANLY ACTION aspects. Once again, it's all about the loyalty and courage (Which, as I said, aren't necessarily bad things in their own right, but when some values are attributed mainly to boys and others to girls, it prevents kids wanting to step outside those boundaries and embrace the "other" values). The chances of the target audience ever being in the position of having to jump off a cliff for a friend are, thankfully, low, but it is likely that they will have a petty argument with a friend and have to resolve it without resorting to fighting.Some friendships in the Bionicle universe have been developed quite well- Pohatu and Kopaka stands out to me as being one. But I think Greg struggled a little with friendships that didn't depend on hurling sarcastic insults around, such as Hahli and Jaller's ... "friendship".One of the great things about MLP is that you have six main characters that are all friends- that's 21 character interrelations if you sort them into pairs, picking a random two each time. And if you've watched enough of the show, you can describe how each and every one of those relationships works. I didn't really get that sense with some of the Toa teams... I could easily tell you about Fluttershy and Applejack's relationship, but I couldn't for the life of me tell you what Nuparu thinks of Hahli. I've "known" the former two characters for about six months, and the latter for more than ten years... yeah.As for Lauren Faust doing such a show, I see her more likely doing something like Avatar: The Last Airbender, that had an even-split cast, rather than predominantly male.

Okay, here's something I've been thinking about for a while...Top 6 Shows, Books, and Movies of the Last Five Years that are Changing the Role of Women in Fiction(In approximate chronological order)1. Avatar: the Last Airbender (TV series)Despite having a male lead, this series is notable for having a high level of gender equality- both in terms of quality and quantity. The main cast has an even gender split, and the writers were creative enough to challenge the traditional "Five Man Band" model when designing the characters. The "Big Guy" of the group was originally going to be a tough, Pohatu-like, muscular male bruiser with a sarcastic wit named Toph. When the time came to write Season 2, however, it became apparent that they needed to target a female audience more. So, Toph was reworked into a tiny, adorable little blind girl... without changing the character's personality at all. And it was awesome. The end.Well, not quite the end. The series also provided a great female villain in the form of Azula (who was originally going to be Prince Azul), and passes the Bechdel Test with flying colours. And not only is the main cast half female, most of the background characters are, too! This is in a medieval-Asia-esque warzone environment- female soldiers are everywhere, and no-one in the series makes a big deal of it! This is the way it should be. I shouldn't even be pointing this out- it should just be accepted, and, well, expected that shows in the 21st century are using female characters in this manner.The series has spawned a spin-off, The Legend of Korra, featuring a new, female Avatar who, by most reports, is popular with both boys and girls alike, countering the traditional idea that girls will watch shows with a male lead, but boys won't watch a show with a female one.2. Twilight (book/film)Hey, I said these things changed the role of women in fiction. I never said that they were good role models, or that I liked them.Regardless of what you think of the Twilight Saga, it was one of the first films of the decade to illustrate the potential of a blockbuster film series aimed at a female audience, which, prior to that, was unheard of.Twilight has inspired a number of other action-romance-fantasy films featuring female protagonists attempting to imitate its success, including the recent wave of fairy-tale based films. Many of these followers actually work to provide stronger, proactive lead characters, improving somewhat on Twilight's rather passive Bella. The Hunger Games film would probably not exist (at least, not with the same budget and box office success) had it not been for Twilight. Think about that, feminists!3. My Little Pony Friendship is Magic (TV series).And, now, the other Twilight that sparkles...This show has single-handedly demolished the perception that cartoons aimed at little girls are automatically inferior to those for boys. This was completely deliberate on the part of the creator, Lauren Faust, but not even she could have predicted the huge success it would have among fans of all ages and genders. This was an odd example of a franchise actually benefiting from negative brand association- the earlier MLP incarnations were considered so insipid and ridiculous, that the hype surrounding the new incarnation sparked the curiosity of many, and the fanbase rapidly increased in size through word-of-mouth.While it's still early days yet, the success of the show has prompted Cartoon Network to commission a series of superhero shorts with an all-female cast from Faust (this is the same network that previously reject any of her ideas that even had a female lead). MLP: FiM will no doubt light the way for other girl-centric cartoons with strong characters, engaging storylines, and clever humour.4. Bridesmaids (film)And now to a very different genre we never thought we'd see women in: The gross-out comedy.I'm not going to go into details of the film because of the nature of this site, but if you're over fifteen, and enjoy the likes of Judd Apatow, I would highly recommend it. There has always been a reluctance in Hollywood to put women in disgusting situations (even admitting that women fart seems to be off-limits), since women are always supposed to be these pristine, pure goddesses. Even in films aimed at women (read: Chick flicks), their lives seem unrealistically glamorous and idealised, functioning as wish-fulfilment for the audience like a grown-up version of Barbie. This film did an excellent job of making the characters feel like real people, and entertaining ones at that.Once again, it's early days yet, but the film is scheduled to get a sequel. The producer, Judd Apatow, also has a new TV series with a female lead in the works, so hopefully, it will inspire many more female-centric comedies that contain, y'know, actual comedy.5. The Hunger Games (book/film)This is the legacy of Twilight evolving into something more substantial for the female audience, while also drawing in a significant male following at the same time. Now one of the highest -grossing films of all time, The Hunger Games has well and truly established that yes, both male and female audiences will respond positively to and identify with a proactive, intelligent female character who takes her destiny into her own hands.It is difficult to track the influence of a film that only came out this year, but needless to say, the studio has already signed up for a sequel.6. Brave (film)Katniss will soon have another teenaged rebel with a bow to compete with, in the form of Merida from Pixar's Brave. The first of Pixar's films to feature a female lead (only took 'em fifteen years). Yes, she's a princess, but a very reluctant and wild one, which could serve as an interesting reconstruction of the Disney Princess films. Prior to this film, you could probably count all the mainstream animated films of the last five years with female leads on one hand. Plot details are vague at this stage, but what we've seen so far indicate that the film will be a strong addition to Pixar's lineup.Disney as a whole has been shying away from their signature fairy-tale princess films, and films with female leads in general recently, so this film might encourage a change of heart from them. But at the same time, it would also be nice to see this film inspire more films from Disney, Pixar and other animation companies that star female leads in a wide range of styles and genres... some of which could even be about something other than princesses!---Phew! Sore fingers...Okay, thoughts? Does anyone have a suggestion for something they think should be on the list?

They could probably get away with the slice of life stuff if they cranked up the comedy, and possibly turned down the sentimentality a little bit. Adventure stories would probably still dominate, though.I think the themes could all still work, but I doubt that they would be quite as explicit (no 'Elements of Harmony' or letters to the princess, etc). In the adventure stories, you could quite easily show the conflict being resolved through diplomacy and wits, rather than combat (combat could still happen, but it may not necessarily be effective, ala Rainbow Dash kicking a dragon). It just occurred to me that nearly all successful franchises aimed at boys are combat-focused, and they arguably send the message that fighting is the best way to resolve a conflict. While a lot of them try to work some sort of moral in there, most of the time the values being promoted are courage and determination, rather than kindness or generosity (Actually, I can't even remember the last time I heard a male character described as "kind" or "generous").Bionicle had the whole "unity" thing, but it was still much more common to see the Toa blasting each other with their elemental powers to resolve petty disputes than just rationally trying to resolve their differences normally. I guess you could argue that blasty stuff is more fun, but I think there's still some room for witty banter and character-based humour in watching two characters sparring verbally and eventually resolving a conflict that way. It seems like a lot of boys' shows do have some sort of friendship message, but it rarely goes beyond "Don't abandon your friends when they need you, and don't turn evil kthxbai".Now, I'm not saying there's anything wrong with combat in kids' shows, and Bionicle and its colleagues are all pretty harmless stuff. But when every single show for boys follows that pattern, with nothing to demonstrate that guys can -and should- be compassionate, considerate and kind to others, then it could become problematic. I would argue that boys need balanced role models just as much as girls do.

I have a question for you guys...Would it be possible to make a show with similar themes to MLP:FiM (Tolerance, friendship, consideration for others, etc)... that had an entirely or predominantly MALE cast? The adult male fanbase has responded surprisingly well to these themes among an all-female cast, but would it have worked if most of the characters were boys? And more importantly, would it be possible to interest 7-12 year old boys in a show with those themes?

Likewise. I actually think that Bionicle is much better suited to TV than film.I think what Aanchir meant is that Hero Factory's story can be more easily broken down into film or episode-sized chunks- that is, you don't have to have seen last year's story to understand this year's- there is very little continuity and you can jump on the bandwagon at any time. Bionicle really requires you to get very involved in the mythology in order to understand anything, and you'd have to skip a lot of detail in order to make it into a film. With HF, you'd actually be adding and elaborating details to develop the story, which is much easier to do.

Heh, I actually predicted this last year, given all the toy movies that were being announced around that time. From the forum archive, April 2011:

But, given that so many toy movies have got deals recently, I'm calling it now:(drumroll please)Sometime in the next two years, one of the major studios will offer Lego a movie deal for either Bionicle or Hero Factory.Whether they accept the offer or not is another story altogether...

Then again, I also made a bunch of tongue-in-cheek predictions about a horrible live action/CGI hybrid Bionicle film involving a Matoran that speaks LOLcat, Onua being torn in half, and a camera that is far too fond of Gali's backside. Hopefully, those won't come true too...

Heh, maybe it's silly of me to be making this point on a toy website...Actually, come to think of it, Batman and Kopaka would probably be furious, too, but at least their merchandise isn't actively contradicting and undermining the message of the works they appear in. (Although, The Dark Knight is a borderline example, too, given that it shows the dangers of young people glorifying Batman as a hero). And I guess I can't really say I'm surprised at the existence of the Katniss doll, but I think anyone who sees the film and then wants to buy one should take a looong, hard look at themselves...

It's mostly because it undermines the message of the book/film. In the book, we're meant to feel sickened that the people in The Capitol are so extravagant, while Katniss's family barely have enough to eat. It also criticises the very existence of the Hunger Games themselves, and the glorification of a bunch of teenagers being forced to kill each other. The book does not go into much detail about the in-universe marketing of the Hunger Games, but I'm pretty sure Katniss herself would be disgusted to find out someone was selling dolls of her.Then, there's this:http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-yViAOnVoqjc/T267j4__24I/AAAAAAAADzk/sy3gM2WJfSQ/s1600/hunger+games+nail+polish1.jpgNow, I actually think this is a very clever piece of viral marketing for the film. It's going to get people talking, complaining, laughing, etc, thus promoting discussion and awareness of the film. Thing is, though, this product does actually exist, and yes, they do expect you to buy it. Given how grotesque some of the people in the Capitol are, and how ridiculous their outfits get, are we really supposed to want to wear something that they are wearing, even if it's just nail polish?

Hasn't been made yet, but John DeLancie wanted to do one, because he thinks Bronies get kind of a bad rep in the media.

I don't know what the Japanese title of it says, but try looking for "Pokemon Black 2 White 2 Introduction Movie"And yes, that fight scene is awesome. Wish the actual anime looked like that...

New anime-style trailer up!

Actually, Dark Bucket also has licensing issues. If you read the official comments from LEGO, it indicates that a bucket of minifigs qualifies as an "action figure" set. which only Hasbro has the rights to make.

Currently, there are only three projects with above 5000 supporters (Not including the ones in review), so I doubt that they would have "fallen through the cracks". Only one of them (Star Wars Dark Bucket) has received the 5000 message, and even that didn't sound all that optimistic (licensing issues etc).We know that LEGO reviewed the Serenity project early because of potential content issues, so my guess is that they're doing a similar thing with MLP due to licensing.

Sooo, that LEGO CUUSOO project got to 7000... and there's still no Official "Congratulations for 5000 Supporters" comment from LEGO. Discuss.My guess is that LEGO is looking into licensing earlier than usual because of the problems it may cause. But I get the feeling that if they'd received a straight "No", they would have just archived the project by now. So, there may in fact be some serious consideration going on...

I guess it depends on whether being also an action figure would disqualify a construction toy from being produced. Not sure how the licenses work... if it was along the lines of "You are allowed to make any toy as long as it has a strong construction element to it", then we're good , but if it's "You can make construction toys but not action figures", then it's not likely to happen. That project hasn't received its Official "Congrats for 500 votes" yet, which may be a cause for concern, too.Actually, come to think of it, a lot of projects have gone without getting official recognition recently. There are currently only three projects past the 5000 mark, and only one of them has got the milestone comment. It may be the case that these projects may be difficult for LEGO to produce for whatever reason, but it would be nice if they could be more open about what the problem is.That said, the top four most-supported projects at the moment are going to present the biggest challenges to LEGO yet. The first two, Star Wars Dark Bucket and My Little Pony, are going to have licensing issues. The Motorised Tachikoma is going to present a huge technical challenge (in addition to perhaps some conflict in the source material), and the UCS Sandcrawler is just massive. It'll be interesting to see how they handle all that.

Matoran Factory. They build Matoran.

Piruk showed the repetitive behaviours I've often seen in kids with autism. Not sure about interests, though...Then there's Kapura, who was regarded as "slow" (implied to be both physically and mentally) by the other Matoran, but wasn't really stupid- he just had an odd way of expressing himself.And I was thinking perhaps Zane from Ninjago, but it turns out he was just a robot...

There doesn't seem to be an official driver for it on the MSI website... do these things go by any other names? And I've downloaded a couple of driver updater programs with good reputations, but they don't seem to work either. I think I just have a mongrel laptop.

The ocean King is my favourite! Nice to have more mer-people available.

The same could be said for minifigures- however, a popular project consisting of nothing but a bucket of Star Wars minifigures has received an official comment from LEGO saying that it wouldn't be able to be produced in its current form, so I don't know...

I supported it, too. Trouble is, Lego only has the right to produce Star Wars construction toys, not action figures, so at the moment it can't happen. but, then, LEGO and Lucasfilm might make some changes to their contract when it comes time to renew it next, so I guess it's not entirely out of the question...

Anyone here use LDD? I'm curious to know what people think of it...I tried downloading a copy onto my laptop, but sadly it doesn't seem to function properly (The screen keeps flashing and won't let me click anything). The laptop is an MSI X320 running Windows Vista. During the installation, it popped up a message about needing a new OpenGL driver, but I haven't been able to locate an appropriate one for my particular laptop (may have something to do with the fact that I have no idea what OpenGL is... or where to look for one). I'm also looking into getting LDraw, in case that doesn't work out. Has anyone here used both? If so, which would you recommend?

*Deep breath*... okay, my thoughts:

I don't know... I think film as a medium IS capable of making the audience feel the same depth of emotions you can get from a book... if done well, a film COULD theoretically get inside your head and make you feel absolutely sick and terrible for enjoying this sort of thing for entertainment (even if it was only temporarily)... it's just that that's generally not a priority behind big-budget blockbuster films. They want you to enjoy yourself, come out feeling that your money was well spent, and then pay more money to watch the sequel. And maybe that is missing the point, to some extent, but nowhere near as much as this...

Good point, Dorek. As Aanchir said, it's hard to know what level of violence to go for when some people are going to enjoy the violence no matter what, and from what I heard, the film emphasises emotional impact over gore. My main objection was people thinking that the film should be made/considered "kid-friendly", which is missing the point altogether.Of course, your point also raises the question of how you make the audience feel that their love of violence is inappropriate... without putting them off from seeing the sequel?