BZPower

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Shortcut: BZP

"This is BZPower, and all new sets are greeted with a barrage of criticism. It's tradition."

— Greg Farshtey

BZPower

Website
Manager(s)	Dimensioneer, Black Six, Bionicle Rex
Type	News/Forum fansite

BZPower is the largest unofficial BIONICLE website with forums in existence.

[carve] Site Overview

BZPower was once two of the largest unofficial BIONICLE websites, Kanohi-Power.com and BZCommunity.com. BZCommunity's founder and administrator was Jon, with Kelly and Rich serving roles as admins as well. On Kanohi-Power.com, Mike was the founder while Rich and Kelly were staff members. Both websites worked with each other, giving each other news and updates alongside other things. The four admins worked so well together, that in May 2002 they started working on merging the sites. On July 20, 2002, the two sites were joined to create BZPower.com.

When on BZPower, members can discuss BIONICLE-related topics. Members can also show their MOCs (My Own Creations; these are BIONICLE models made by the members) or BIONICLE art to others, vote, or join various contests. There is also a "LEGO General Discussion" forum where members can discuss any form of LEGO rather than just BIONICLE and a "Completely Off Topic" forum that allows members to discuss subjects other than LEGO or BIONICLE. In the library section, members can also write short stories, serial epics or comedies, provided that they are BIONICLE-related.

Every April 1, BZPower holds a prank in accordance to the April Fools tradition, usually taking the form of a news post. The most recent joke featured an announcement that LEGO planned on expanding it's book range, with books such as Cooking with Makuta. On each of BZPower's birthdays, July 20, all members are given Premier Membership abilities for one week to celebrate and to say thank you for making the site a success.

BZPower also hosts BIONICLE Based Creations, Artwork, RPG, Epic, Short Story, and LEGO System contests sporadically. Each contest typically has a theme, such as the 2002 Halloween Art Contest. One of the more prominent contests was one in which members designed their own skin to be used on the website. Though several skins won, only one, Vahkipower, inspired by BZPower's 2004 April Fools Day prank, was added to the site. BZPower also holds occasional Storyline and Theory contests in which the winners' stories or creations may become part of the official canon. These contests are approved by BZPower member and BIONICLE author Greg Farshtey under the name "GregF", who also answers storyline questions the members may present him via the personal messaging system in a similar style to BIONICLE.com and BIONICLEstory.com's Ask Greg.

BZPower's regular news posts vary greatly. The vast number of these are general BIONICLE news, such as new books or sets shipping, web serial updates and any big news Greg Farshtey announces through his blog. There are also periodic posts in which staff voice their opinions ranging from set reviews to addressing members on recent set criticism, as well as site information explaining recent happenings like forum maintenance, site-ran contests and welcoming new staff members.

BZPower also has an official mascot known as Hapori Tohu, a floating head that resembles a maskless Toa head with two golden gears behind it. It is often referred to as "the heart of BZPower" and as talking in third-person. Hapori Tohu has its own account and can be seen in the top left hand corner of the site when the default or classic skin is used. Hapori Tohu also has an arch-enemy on the site, known as Hapori Dume. He once "took over" the site as part of the 2004 April Fools Day prank. He, too, has his own account. Both accounts were created by the Head administrators.

On August 9 2007, Kelly resigned from his position as admin. He is currently working as the webmaster of BIONICLE.com while Leah Weston Kaae is on maternity leave.

Today, BZPower has over 40,000 members, and is the largest unofficial BIONICLE website existing with forums.

[carve] Premier Membership

BZPower has a system of Premier Membership to help pay for the site. Premier Membership costs 7 USD for six months, 11 USD for one year, and 35 USD for Lifetime. Premier Members are given the Premier Member group affiliation, custom member level images, an exclusive "Premier Member" indicator in the forum view, file attachments in all forums, ability to start polls, ability to create topics in the Bionicle Games & Trivia forum, ability to create a personal blog, a BZPower.com vanity email address forwarder, five times the standard private message storage capacity (1000 vs. 200), ability to upload a custom avatar directly to BZPower (90kb filesize limit), 45 days between name changes instead of 90, the ability to vote in the Set Database, and a Proto Energy boost (based on the length of the Premier Membership purchase).

[carve] Proto Energy

BZPower has a merit-demerit system in the form of Proto Energy. It can be gained for doing generally helpful things like reporting spam, trolling and flaming, helping new members, etc. One can lose Proto Energy for a variety of reasons, including spamming, trolling, flaming, being hateful to staff, etc. When all Proto Energy is lost, the member will be suspended or banned. Upon acquiring full Proto Energy, the member is moved to the Outstanding BZPower Citizens member group. BZPower used to give Copper Masks of Victory to new Outstanding Citizens, but had to stop after they ran out.

[carve] Set Database

BZPower hosts a comprehensive database of all sets released for BIONICLE. Managed by its Reference Keepers, the Set Database provides basic information on BIONICLE sets and combiners, including promotional sets and collectible packs. It provides images and information on its relationship to storyline, release date, availability, main colors, collectibles included, link to the set review and much more.

BZPower's Premier Members have the ability to rate each set in the database on a scale from 1-10 as well, and the resulting average viewable to all members.

[carve] Bionicle Reference Center

In October 2007, BZPower created a new forum called the Bionicle Reference Center. The Bionicle Reference Center is a forum consisting of various informational guides to the BIONICLE Universe, storyline, sets, books, and other media. There was an account created to run the forum and post the guides up that goes by the name of the Reference Keeper Team, run by the Reference Keepers. No one other than the Reference Keeper Team Account is allowed to post in it. The forum consists of the following:

BIONICLE Timeline
Online Serials
Good Guys
Bad Guys
Mythology
Story Sources
Collectibles Guide
Parent's Guide to Bionicle

[carve] Fads

Whilst not an official aspect of the site, BZPower is well known for the fads its members will take to every so often. One of the more famous fads was the "Plushie" fad that BZPower member Mahalis popularized further with his easily accessible Auto Plushie Generator. For some time, and in some topics still to this day, many sprite comics, comedies and serial epics used the idea of living plushies to create comedic characters. Other well known fads included one that resulted in the making of literally hundreds of "cute MOCs", which many attribute to Authraw's Tuggles.

The BZPower staff is also well known for beginning their own fads. Staff members will often, all at the same time, change their display names to characters from popular comic books or television series, such as Spider-Man, My Little Pony, and Transformers.

[carve] Forums

[carve] Announcements & Administration

BZP Reference Desk
New Member Q&A

[carve] Bionicle Incarnations

LEGO Bionicle Sets
Bionicle Reference Center
Bionicle Storyline and Theories
Bionicle Collectibles
Bionicle Promotions
Bionicle Software
Bionicle Movies and Books

[carve] BZPower Forum Divisions

General Discussion
BZP Voting Booth

[carve] BZP Creative Outlet

Bionicle-Based Creations
Bionicle Artwork: General Art
Bionicle Artwork II: Shops & Kits
Bionicle Artwork III: Bionicle Comics
Bionicle RPG
Fan Created Games
Bionicle Games & Trivia

[carve] BZP Library

Epics
Short Stories
Comedies

[carve] BZPower Marketplace

Buy/Sell/Trade
Marketplace Banter

[carve] BZPower.com Affiliates

BZPower.com News Discussion
BionicleSector01

[carve] Non-Bionicle Forums

LEGO General Discussion
Completely Off Topic

[carve] Staff

[carve] Head Administrators

[carve] Forum Administrators

[carve] Global Moderators

[carve] Forum Leaders

[carve] Reference Masters

bonesiii
Crystal Matrix

[carve] Forum Assistants

[carve] Forum Mentors

[carve] Blog Leaders

Makaru

[carve] Blog Assistants

[carve] Reference Keepers

[carve] Former Administrators

[carve] External Links

Parent Page: Expanded Universe

Websites

Official

BIONICLE.com | BIONICLEmusic.com | BIONICLEstory.com | MaskofLight.com | Metru Nui Ministry of Tourism

Fan Sites

BIONICLEsector01 | BS01 Wiki | BZPower

Non-Canon

FreeTheBand.com | InikaUnite.com | Piraka.com | RockYacht.com

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