User blog:Aljarreau/May 2014 - At Last!

"It is nothing but a shame to stay away for so long, only returning to announce bad news."

- Aljarreau stating something obvious.

The day on which I completely end my BIONICLE-related activity has not yet come; still, it is fast-approaching. Come 2015, I will, in every respect, terminate my BIONICLE-related activity.

Today marks the official end of my MOCing activity – in fact, I’ve stopped building since around Christmas.

However, having accumulated over 37,000 words for my current BIONICLE fiction projects– disregarding already published stories and countless handwritten notes – I decide to continue my story in written form until its conclusion. It is of course a crying shame that not yet built characters shall not be granted any physical form, but I think the power of imagination overcomes any lack of actual imagery. It surely is a great disruption in my life to see my formerly massive interest in construction fade away so suddenly and in such an extreme way. A few months ago, three hours of building per day would have been completely normal and enjoyable, yet now, I do not even have the slightest urge to take out my LEGO boxes out of the shelf and spread out their content on the floor.

I think the cut was meant to come one day. I have been building for 14 years, and it is safe to say that for at least 7 years, my entire life revolved around LEGO in general and BIONICLE in particular. It is also safe to say that my social life was almost nonexistent at some points. Not so long ago, I had very few friends, preferring the company of ABS to the company of people. Given that fact that I am now much more extroverted than I was, say, a year ago, I regard the disappearance of my MOCing interest as both a curse and a blessing.

Somebody once said that when you are writing, you are not living. I suppose it is the same with building. Build or live? My choice is made.

Building was both what kept me from approaching people and what helped to get through difficult periods of my life, for instance when I was being bullied at school. Of course, it did not help me any bit to become more extroverted and even increased my solitude, yet the act of building did support me and helped to get over it. A vicious circle, you may say; nevertheless, now I am here, alive and well and positively feeling better than ever before. There is no other way than to stick to the curse-and-blessing formulation.

On the other hand, I shall build one final MOC which will be published in my June Update. I feel as if the ring is not closed yet, and that the physical creation of an ultimate character will indeed close it. It is of course my primary self-MOC Javan. For my own part, I consider it as my best creation since I started building; however, you shall be the judges.

Over the last years, I watched many MOCers/Youtubers/Wikians depart from the community and every time, I swore to myself not to follow the same fate. Yet now, I am announcing my own departure. The younger Aljarreau, glimpsing his older self’s desertion through the haze of time and space, surely is enraged right now. I will publish quite a few pictures of MOCs who never made the cut. Also, I will put at your disposition the 15.000 words-strong text document gathering virtually every single BIONICLE-related idea I’ve had since March 2012. I have no more use for it. Who knows, maybe you will find an interesting thought out of which you will make something?

My ultimate story, currently under the work title Into The Void, will be published in chapters until 31st December this year; the last chapter shall be published that very day. It is an enormous story, as it gathers almost all of the material I wanted to use for the at least four different fictions I had in mind.

With all that in mind, I leave you to a (hopefully) beautiful May day! :P