Digital Ask Laurence (Old Messy Thread)

Here's a double-abridged second-hand report from the world's presiding expert: the Bionicle universe, specifically the Matoran universe (wherein most of the original story takes place until the Glatorians) takes place on the crashed giant robot named Mata Nui, a being created by the Great Beings to explore the universe and inhabited by the Matoran to keep things running. The Matoran follow the three virtues--Unity, Duty, Destiny--and work always for the well being of Mata Nui.

Mata Nui crashed onto a world and formed into an expansive series of islands when Makuta Teridax (the Makuta being a race of beings meant to create and maintain life on Mata Nui, if I recall properly) betrayed Mata Nui and tried to take control of the machine. Makuta then started doing a bunch of bad-juju stuff all across the different islands, trying to take some of the special masks so that he could control the world and the Matoran.

Standing in his way is Mata Nui, who guides stuff against Makuta, and the Toa, Matoran that have basically been upgraded to level two from workers into fighters. The Toa come in a wide variety of groups, from a typical matching of the six core elements (wind, stone, earth, fire, ice, water) to mixed matchings to even some of the special elements, and generally have to deal with at least one of the three virtues (having to team up, having to do what they're supposed to, having to follow or discover what they're meant for, etc.).

Some other notes: The Matoran live for thousands of years, with their full life cycle going from Matoran to Toa to Turaga (who are basically the elders who teach and guide both the Matoran and the next generation of Toa, with Toa becoming Turaga after they give up their power for some purpose), although not all Matoran become Toa. Each element also corrisponds to a color or two, most of which are rather straight-forward (wind is green, stone is brown, earth is black and purple, fire is red, ice is white, water is blue).

That's all I got for a quick summary that's already too long--if anybody feels interested in learning about some highly obscure Bionicle facts, there's a good chance I've been subjected to learning about it (like Tren Krom or Helryx or the anatomy of bio-mechanical beings).

Stick to them Virtues, folks,
--Vurrunna

 

On the topic of BIONICLE, I'm going to have to stick with the zyglak... they were more or less my inspiration for...
Well, you know...

 

Guns? I bet it was guns.... It's guns...right?

 

I think we've gone way off topic.

 

Now you've intrigued me as to what you have that was influenced by what's apparently some vicious water creature with spikes and what might be a beak (Bionicle anatomy is really weird when going off of the toys alone).

This seems highly relevant to your present dakka-dakka profile pic (posterity will no doubt wonder what I mean--it's an ork wiff lotsa shootahs fer da WAAGH!).

We're only off topic if we make ourselves off topic, and since I've already established the present topic as whatever artsy-fartsy nonsense I dabble in, and as I've been researching Bionicles recently in hopes of running a good ol' tabletop RPG (I promised to run one a while back, and since then have been plagued with a variety of ideas), the present topic thus becomes:

A sketch of a Bohrok. They're a right pain in the neck to draw.

Also, I've an old sketch of Lewa I may-or-may-not have posted, so I'll stick it in a spoiler, just in case:

So old Lewa here was originally a Toa of Air, but the reboot made him Master of Jungle (since they eschewed the fancy Matoran words and caved in to what everyone thought the elements were instead of what they originally were). Since my style draws on both the Toa Nuva and new Element Masters designs, I'm not certain which to call him. That said, since I like the original Lewa more than the new one, and plan to stick to the old elements more than the simplified new ones, I'll probably just stick with Toa of Air.

Remember to fight the madness,
--Vurrunna

 

I've always loved Bionicle but I don't know much of the story stuff. I mostly make my own characters out of the pieces I have.

 

It's arguably one of their best series...I guess that explains why it is also one of their longest running.

 

I remember that you could extend the bohrok necks, I also remember that for some reason my brothers would always say 'quack' when they did. I think it was an inside joke that I wasn't privy to.

 

You have my attention

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So I've made a lot of stories in my life, but of them all, one of them stands out as the most significant purely for the level on which it connects to my person (the two main characters are based on the positive and negative aspects of my personality, plus all the stories are based on subjects I find very important). For frustrating reasons, I've started thinking about it again, and felt a need to try giving the characters a doodle:

Caline, the boisterous, angry, and fiery one.

Gabin, the kind, quiet, and depressed one.

These two characters mean quite a bit to me. For one, they're representations of myself, as I said above--Caline is the raw courage matched by uncontrollable emotion of my youth, while Gabin is the quiet kindness and caring matched by terrible self doubt of my recent years (though I'm on the way to beating that second half into the dirt and marching on to greener pastures with a mad grin on my face all the while, because metaphors). The both represent two parts of a whole--without Gabin, Caline loses control of herself and, combined with her strange power over fire, can burn down cities. Without Caline, Gabin loses all direction in life, and begins to fall entirely apart.

The two also have my idea of a 'perfect relationship'--they've known each other their whole lives, understand one another completely, and would do anything for the sake of the other. Normally, I love to think of these characters, but this latter topic has made me very uncomfortable about them.

Ach---I've said too much already. Have a good one, ye beautiful balls of somethin',
--Vurrunna

 

Here's a quick sketch of Gabin:

Gabin follows a sort of pacifism, in that he never actively defends himself from harm--he might avoid harm, and stop people from harming others through harmless means, but often lets people hit him. His reasoning has a good deal to do with background (Caline's father was a pacifist, and taught Gabin, an orphan, most of his ideals and beliefs).

That's all I got for now--time to keep doodlin'.

Don't stop bein' amazing,
--Vurrunna

 

So here's some doodles with stories attached. Enjoy.


The Ferocious Fenna Fury stalked quietly through the jungle brush, her wild, furred tail swishing angrily in the fern leaves and her vicious tiger-like claws standing ready upon her tan-brown fingertips. She approached, warily yet with unbridled determination, the entrance to Skull Fortress, a menacing structure standing hundreds of stories tall and set into the blackened cliffside which marked the beginning of the Panther Mountains. Fenna looked up at the peak of the tower, and gave a low growl under her breath--at the pinnacle of the fortress resided the evil Lord Tho’mas, who had captured the helpless scientist Doctor Cornelius Vaegar, her dear friend and the key to rescuing Fenna’s people.

With ferocious and wild grace, the Feral Fenna Fury leaped across the buttresses and crenelations which adorned the fortress’s frontal facade, and soon found herself perched just below the massive balcony leading into Lord Tho’mas’s chamber, and well within earshot of the conversation she heard unfold within:

“Well, Doctor Cornelius,” began the vile Lord Tho’mas, “I now have you under my custody; and, once I install my sinister mind probe into your cranium, there shall be nothing you can do but to aid in my conquest of the entire world! Muahahaha!”

The reptilian Doctor made no response, clearly shocked by the diabolical plans of Lord Tho’mas. Fenna knew she had no time to lose--with one swift motion, she leaped over the edge of the balcony and stood her full, impressive height, one hand primed by her side for slashing and the other pointing accusingly at Lord Tho’mas, whom she found standing evilly by the weak and feeble Doctor Cornelius.

“Not so fast, Lord Tho’mas,” declared the Feisty Fenna Fury. “You cannot possibly hope to control the mind of Doctor Cornelius Vaegar, when I, the Fiery Fenna Fury, am here to stop you and your diabolical plans of misogyny!”

Doctor Cornelius looked at Fenna, confused. “But his plans don’t have anything to do with misogyny.”



Fenna gave a frustrated look to Cecil, who sat in the treehouse with his over-sized science coat.

“He’s a lord of evil,” she stated in a hoarse and agitated whisper. “That’s basically what misogyny is.”

Thomas brushed aside the trim of his black-blanket-cape as he planted his hands on his sides, head tilted and ears perked in thought. “But doesn’t misogyny mean that someone’s mean to girls?”

Fenna rolled her eyes in continued annoyance, giving up hope on maintaining any suspension of disbelief with the present conversation. “Well, yeah,” she confirmed in her childish tone, “and if Lord Tho’mas is evil, that means he’s mean to girls. It’s, like, not possible for him not to be.”

Thomas didn’t seem convinced as he crossed his arms in further thought. “But I’m pretty sure misogyny is where someone is mean exclusively to girls--like, he’s not that mean to boys.”

Cecil piped up from his corner--“Misogyny: the belief that men are superior to women, and that women should be treated as less than men are.”

An argument soon ensued within that treehouse, with all three of the children, Fenna, Thomas, and Cecil, working hard at deciding the meaning of misogyny and whether or not the evil Lord Tho’mas was a misogynist or was simply an evil villain who treated people of both genders as equally beneath himself--and, upon deciding that he viewed everyone in the galaxy as slimy space slugs, men and women alike, they recommenced their battle between the forces of Good and Evil, between Fenna Fury, Lord Tho’mas, and Doctor Cornelius, and thus enjoyed the entirety of their sunny evening in play and excitement.

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​

I've got a few more mini chapters for this setting, and have good intentions to keep working on it when I get the chance (dropping in to type a few lines every now and then, and the like). I really like the idea of including pictures with 'em, especially since species is something super important which I don't want to introduce in writing because I want to play it off as if it doesn't matter (it's semi-complicated and plot relevant, in a way), meaning I either have to start with an explanation of the setting (no fun) or have pictures throughout the book (much fun).

Anyhow, that's all I got for tonight.

Have yourselves a good one,
--Vurrunna

 

I love that twist. I like it when it turns out the characters are playing pretend. c:

 

Thank you! One of the big things with the story is that the kids are part of this big, convoluted story they've masterminded about the continual battle between good and evil (based on my original idea where the kids were bio-engineered beings with powers left behind on a deserted world). What's fun with this is that I get to think like a child when I write about cool action-movie level scenes, as with the above scene of Fenna Fury (the superhero form of Fenna, and the standing beacon of light for all females across the galaxy, of course), and then get to spread that to just their normal, everyday interactions, since they're kids (I always smile when I remember that I get to say "doodoo-head").

Anyhow, I'll save my rambling for when I have a picture to use as an excuse. Meanwhile, here's one with everybody's favorite fox-man:

Laurence does not do well with kids.

'Til next time,
--Vurrunna

 

No you.

Laurence is all "How did these damn kids get in my box!?"
Anywhoo, good to see you're doing alright bud. I always enjoy seeing your art, it's good stuff. (Art includes writing btw.)

 

I'm glad you enjoy my stuff! I'm definitely starting to like my work a good deal more, especially when I use pencil (I always end up adding a lot more detail, since hard lines are bad at holding detail but soft lines allow for a bit more if I'm delicate enough). Luckily, the computer can let me do pencil-esque drawings decently enough, and it's encouraged me to make a good deal more pictures.

Speaking of which, here are a couple characters from the story that's presently got me fancy:

Samantha Dylan and Daniel Song are Fenna's parents. Samantha is very productive and work-oriented, always getting a task done weeks in advance at top quality. Daniel is more casual, and prefers to let life come to him as it comes to him. Samantha believes it's good to settle down and establish a continual routine. Daniel thinks it's good to move about and experience new things as much as possible. Samantha likes to be in charge of things to prove that she's fully capable of handling herself. Daniel likes to be in charge of things to prove that he's trustworthy and can be relied upon. Neither of them do very well at those latter two. They're also divorced, with Samantha keeping Fenna and fighting tooth and nail to keep Daniel away while Daniel is off doing who-knows-what, dropping by every now and again to try and get back into Fenna's life before being pushed away by Samantha.

They have a very pleasant relationship, which you can only guess must have a wonderful effect on Fenna.

Anyhow, that's enough for now. Fair tidings to you all,
--Vurrunna

 

It's great how you can convey a part of their personality in their design and posing. Keep doing the good... keep up the good work. Also I like the hair, reminds me of how I draw vines.

 

Aww, that makes me feel bad for fenna, poor girl.
I had an odd dream last night, like really odd. But the byproduct of that dream was me wondering this: If I bought a sketchbook and drew something in it every day, would I end up being able to draw pretty good by the end of a year? I think the answer could be yes, but I'm curious what you think about it.

 

Is that a question for just Vurrunna?

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Just keep up posting. I'm loving this so far.