2018: The Good, The Bad, The SaHD

So 2018 has come to a close.  It was a very unique year, especially for myself.  Again, ignoring the continued devolution of the United States, we will look to toys, video games, TV and movies for the good, the bad, and the SaHD.

Let us jump into the good first.  I played some really fun games this year, whether or not they actually released this year.  I finally bought Blaster Master Zero, and enjoyed it a lot.  Getting to the final dungeon was kind of dumb and easy to miss, but I still think the game is good.  Radiant Historia was re-released for the 3DS.  I loved the original release, so getting a slightly updated version was welcome.  It's still good, even if the added content feels superfluous.  Still, more content is more content.  Alliance Alive was another fun game I played and reviewed this year.  In a surprise development, Dissidia: Final Fantasy Opera Omnia is a mobile game that I actually really enjoy, and still currently play.  And yes, the name is total JRPG silliness.

So what was my favorite game of the year?  This year it was really easy to pick one: Octopath Traveler.  The gameplay is extraordinarily good for old school gamers, and the graphics are top-notch sprite goodness.  The character interactions are nice, but I would have loved to have a lot more of them.  The story structure reminds me a lot of Saga Frontier, which in this case is pretty good (the second Saga Frontier was terrible though).  It's not perfect, but was easily my favorite game purchased and played last year.  A very high recommendation for anyone that enjoys old school RPGs.

Now for the bad.  I previously enjoyed Recore, but the Definitive Edition upgrade was not good at all.  It was unpolished, and added things that the game just didn't need, except for maybe Violet, the tank.  She was only needed because they put in those mud areas.  Defenders of Ekron was not fun, and Iconoclasts looked great, but was very disappointing.  Disgaea, my favorite game, received a re-release, and showed just how far the series has come.  Unfortunately, it received none of those upgrades, and is just a heartbreaking, effortless, cash-grab release.  Sadly, even Monster Hunter World was a massive let-down.  I'm glad a lot of people like it, so the franchise can sell more, but it was not at all what I wanted from the series.  A few small steps forward, and a few big leaps back.

To top it off, one of the "best reviewed games of the year", Spider-man, Spiderman, how ever it is spelled, was not a fun game for me.  Traversal did not feel good at all, since you have to actually swing from objects and buildings to move.  Realistic, but not fun.  Prototype did this much better, and years ago.  Fighting is somehow worse.  It's very Batman: Arkham counter heavy, but leans way too hard on the timing.  It's just too unforgiving to be fun.  Again, this was done better by other games, notably the Assassin's Creed series, years ago.  Plus, the game is very front-loaded.  "Do this, now this, now this, here's how to do this, and this, and this!  Now, go do whatever."  It just wore on me after a few minutes.  So of course I end up winning a code for the deluxe edition...

The SaHD category is whatever kind of catch-all I want it to be.  This year I'll talk about a few toys.  The new Transformers line, Siege, is a lot of fun.  Nice new molds, lots of areas to plug in accessories/weapons, and special guys that you can pull apart to make into battle armor.  They've even made action effects that can plug into the various weapons.  The toys are great, but Hasbro's distribution is still awful.  While it should be a good thing that the new toys can't stay on the shelves, it's more from stores getting older waves way too late to properly sell them to collectors and fans, and not having the room for new things.  Well, and not getting more than one box of the new stuff.  I am still convinced they need to emulate the video game market to bring back toys to the mainstream, or at least turn some good profits.

Another toy that had a tumultuous first year was Mayhem Mekanics Unrustables.  I backed the kickstarter back in 2017, and received my figure last year.  It's really well designed and built.  It transforms from a robot to a rider and motorcycle, and boosts a good amount of weapons to play with.  Unfortunately, the makers had some problems with the factory producing their toys.  Outsiders might not know all that is going on, but it's surely a financial blow to a small start up company that had a lot of promise.

I was also extremely excited to finally be able to afford another 3rd party Devastator.  Well, in design, if not in name.  Fate and a cosmic event (having money and a 20% eBay flash sale), provided me with a decently-priced Constructor.  It is big, and looks awesome.  It does have faults, such as some scarily tight joints that shy me away from transforming it very often.  I really don't want to break such an expensive toy!  Even so, I am very glad I purchased it.

So that was a brief look at the ups and downs from 2018.  With a new job, I'm not sure how 2019 is going to shape up, but hopefully we will see you back here in another year to see what made 2019 good, bad...and SaHD.

2016: The Good, The Bad, The SaHD

2016, what an infamous year.  A lot of bad stuff happening in the world at large, so let's find some good in the small hobbies I have.

The Good:
Gaming wise, I really enjoyed Trillion: God of Destruction on the Vita, and Digimon Cyber Story on the PS4.  Bravely Second wasn't perfect, but had a lot of content and kept me playing for almost 80 hours.  Hyrule Warriors Legends also ate up a ton of my time, and is improved from the Wii U release (but can still be made better).

Dex was a game that I had not heard about until around its release, and was pleasantly surprised at how much fun it was.  It was a great mix of 2D, RPG and action game, and I would encourage people to check it out.  Lastly, I have to point out the wonderful visuals of Shantae and the Pirate's Curse.  The artwork and animation is top-notch and it's impossible for me not to gush about them.  Half-Genie Hero looks great too, but I haven't had the chance to play it yet.

On the toy front, we have the latest Transformers line: Titans Return.  A few years ago, I realized how much I like the idea of a robot that turns into a vehicle that a smaller robot can ride in.  This entire line is about that, and they are some really cool toys!  They have some really good interactivity with each other, since you can swap heads, some weapons become little vehicles, or even attach on to the larger ones as turrets!  Yes, it makes me feel like an 8 year old, but it's cool.

Light FX Kylo Ren!  He's really cool looking, and fun to use in the game.

In pro wrestling, we even got a new promotion!  What Culture, who have gained a big following for their wrestling related shows on YouTube, launched their own promotion, WCPW.  While there are some minor issues and some silly stories, they have also highlighted some really great talent that I would not have been able to see before.  The first match I saw with Martin Kirby and El Ligero was fantastic, as was their rematch.  It quickly made me a fan of theirs.  I'm also a fan of Joe Hendry's song parody entrances.

On the WWE side, Shinsuke Nakamura really impressed in his debut match, and it is great to see AJ Styles there, too.

Movie-wise, I saw Star Wars Episode VII: The Force Awakens earlier in the year, and enjoyed it a lot.  I don't like J. J. Abrams, but he made a good Star Wars movie.  I know the movie came out in 2015, but I saw it early 2016, and it came out on DVD/Blu-ray then too, so it counts.

Along a similar vein, Deadpool was just as funny as I hoped it would be, and my wife and I enjoyed that movie as well.  At the end of the year, we also managed to see Rogue One with our family (my parents took us all out to see it), and we really liked it too.  A bit too much "American action movie", but still good.

The Bad:
Probably the worst game-related things this year was the canceling of Disney Infinity and the closing of the main studio.  A lot of people lost their jobs through no real fault of their own, which is always bullcrap.  The series got better with each entry, and several of the figures are fantastic.  If they were more open to what figures worked in what playsets, and didn't overproduce 2.0, it would probably still be around.  After seeing Rogue One, I would have loved to get a playset and figures for it (especially K-2SO, my brother from another mother).  Hopefully they make a console version like the PC's Gold Edition, which just has everything included, no need for figures.  It's an idea I had in my now-scrapped article about how to salvage Disney Infinity after they shut it all down.  I'd gladly pay a few bucks to have that on a console.

Another low point in gaming was Exile's End.  Wow, did that game take a great genre (Metroidvania) and just mess it up.  On the whole, there were too many games that seemed to focus on absurd difficulty, instead of making it balanced or fun.  I don't want games too easy necessarily, but I don't want to make my fingers bleed just to get through a dungeon.

If you read above, you may be surprised to read this, but sadly, the Transformers Titans Return line also has an entry on this side of the line.  While the figure look cool, and are really fun, the quality control on them is inconsistent at best, and bad at worst.  I've had way too many issues with loose joints and other things that I haven't had an issue with on this large a scale.  The headmasters Titan Masters (the small guys that turn into the heads) are usually ridiculously loose when placed on the robots.  It's sad, since that is the whole point of the gimmick.  If the Combiner Wars toys from last year didn't always fit together, that could bring down the whole line.  Stupidly lose heads may do that for Titans Return.  Besides that, all but one toy I've purchased (good job, Brainstorm!) has at least one loose joint, or even hands that can't securely hold weapons.  It's a big bummer!

In movies, I have two main contenders for horrible movies I saw in 2016.  First is Jem.  Yes, it came out last year, but it was released for sale this year, so ha!  The movie is bad...terrible, even.  It has very little to do with the original cartoon, but also feel like how they would update the story for a modern and smartphone obsessed audience.  It's also terribly cliche, and felt like it was automatically written by a computer program.  I'm surprised I made it through the whole thing.  However, it wasn't the worst movie I saw this year...

That honor goes to Batman v. Superman.

"Are you serious bro?"

Quite.  At least Jem had logical progression, even if it felt way too fast.  The movie flowed from one scene to the next and didn't feel jumbled.  It also clocked in at half the time of BvS, which is another plus.  Batman v. Superman was just a mess.  It wasn't interesting, plot points didn't make sense, it was long, and filled with stupidity.  There were only 2 parts I enjoyed, the famous Batman in the warehouse scene, since it was entertaining and he straight-up murdered people, and when (SPOILER) Superman drives the spear into Doomsday while impaling himself.  The whole 4 hour train wreck was not worth the 5 minutes of decent.  It's just not a good movie.

The SaHD:
Well, for one, there were a few reviews that were suspiciously absent from my site, mostly because I didn't get codes for them.  It's not really an entitlement issue, but when a company is really good about giving you review codes, it's jarring when they "run out" all of a sudden.  It's nitpicky, but it was sad that there were a few games I was very looking forward to that I ended up not reviewing.  One day I may get to it, once I have purchased my own copies.

I might as well mention the Nintendo Switch here.  I like the idea behind it, but until we have some hard facts, I can't be fully excited.  Given Nintendo's track record of the 3DS and the Wii U, I expect the battery life on the Switch to be abysmal.  Both players being able to use half of a pad is a neat concept, but very much  limits what you can play like that, plus those are probably way too small for my hands.  The commercial was also very millennial-centric, but I think that group has moved on from console gaming, so it feels weird to appear to market toward them.  I'll still reserve full judgement until I try one out, but I am cautiously optimistic about the whole thing.

So long 2016, don't let the door hit you on the way out, and I'm glad we never have to see each other again.  Here's hoping 2017 is much better.  Happy New Year!

Year End Wrap-Up, part 4

The Future
While the first two parts looked at the past, the fourth will look to the future.  There's a few things, mostly gaming related, that are on my radar for next year.

From Bamco (Bandai Namco), I really want to play Project X Zone 2 and Digimon: Cyber Sleuth.  I loved the first PXZ and I'm confidant I'll like the sequel as long as the combat hasn't been ruined.  Sure, they have shuffled some teams around, for better or worse, but I like a lot of the character choices.  It's still a game that I'm likely to sink hours into.

I've liked the Digimon franchise since I watched the first season, and I've actually enjoyed a lot of the video games.  It's been years since we had a Digimon RPG, as the last one were the Dusk and Dawn versions of Digimon World on the DS.  While initially I wanted the Vita version of Cyber Sleuth, I might go with the PS4 version.  Even the pre-order DLC looks awesome.  Agumon dressed as Tai is cool, and you get Beelzemon Bluster Mode!  I already know my favorite Diaboromon is in the game, so that's two slots on my team that are already taken.

Bandai Namco also announced late in 2015 that they are bringing over God Eater Resurrection and God Eater 2 Rage Burst.  I enjoyed what I played of Gods Eater Burst on the PSP a year or so ago, and would love to play these on a more current system.  Hopefully the release of these is spread a bit through the year, rather than have two different God Eater games for two different systems (PS4 and Vita) release simultaneously.  It would be a bit confusing.  Given their track record, I might not get review copies for any of these four titles, but I will definitely check them out down the road.

A few more games I'm looking forward to that may or may not end up being released in 2016.  No Man's Sky, which I am really hoping to review, still looks like a lot of fun to just go exploring the universe.  I'd also like to see more of two hopefuls, Horizon: Zero Dawn and Re:Core.  We have seen very little about these, and if they aren't releasing in 2016, I'd like to see a good chunk of gameplay to see if they look good or just mediocre.  Who knows, we may even see Mighty No.9 release as well!

In non-gaming areas, I'm also psyched to see some cool looking Transformers toys coming out next year with Titan Wars.  While not as cool as this year's Combiner Wars, there are some good toys shown that I'm going to try and get.  He'll be expensive, but the Fort Maximus looks cool and I'm hoping for a recolor/remold of the leader class Blaster as my favored Soundwave.  While the games I know I can either get a review copy of or wait for a great price, that doesn't usually work with the TF toys.  I'll have to figure out some way to get the money for them, but I'll likely have to continue to be choosy about which ones I pick up, and hope that the Hasbro Toy shop has them in stock when they have the % off coupon codes.

There were a lot of fun games I played in 2015, and 2016 should have its fair share as well.  Happy new year readers!

Year End Wrap-Up, part 2

Disappointments of 2015
In my reviews, I try to find some positives in the negative and some negatives to the positives, but there were still a few things that were disappointing in the world of gaming in 2015.

The biggest one to me was The Elder Scrolls Online.  I'm a fan of Bethesda's games, and while I wasn't initially sold on an MMO version, I figured they couldn't mess it up completely.  Well, I was pretty much wrong.  The game did have a massive amount of content, I will give it that.  Pretty much every other aspect was messed up or ruined, though.  The game just didn't feel like an Elder Scrolls game at all, but an MMO with an Elder Scrolls skin.  Combat didn't feel right.  Stealing was a pain, and you couldn't do the tried and true reload if you messed up.  The fact that you had to pick a class just runs against all the series has established.  I wasn't looking forward to the game too much, and it severely let me down.  I really regretted buying the game at all, let along paying full price for the monstrosity.  My wife was able to stomach enough of it to get our money's worth, but I just couldn't bring myself to play it, and I tried several times.

Most of my other disappointments were minor compared to a whole game, but the main reason I was looking forward to playing some Call of Duty: Black Ops III was another casualty.  I like horde modes in games, and I heard good things about the aliens one in a previous CoD game.  The zombie mode in Black Ops III is just not enough, nor even fun.  There's only one map unless you buy the season pass, which gives you one whole other map!  Wow, what a bargain!  Oh, right, sarcasm doesn't translate to text.  It's dumb.  Plus, you go down in three hits, which happens stupid fast because they will just come up silently from behind and take you down before you can turn to shoot them.  The first three waves go fine, then it just goes downhill for me fast.  There's a whole ritual thing you are supposed to do and items to get, but I just want a standard horde mode.  If they wanted to do this new one, fine, but make it one of a few different maps.  Have at least one traditional one that I don't have to pay extra for.  They also threw low XP into the mode for good measure.  All in all, I pretty much regret buying the game, and I got it for a very low price.

At the insistence of my fellow XPound/Pez of the Mind/WhateverItIsThisWeek member Chriz, I tried out the Star Wars Battlefront beta.  The multiplayer versus was no fun at all to me.  Even the brief time I was a hero did nothing to sway me into enjoying the experience.  It's a pretty game, but didn't have anything I really liked.  The survival mode was ok at best, but even it was only two players and couldn't pull me to the dark side.  If there was some single player I might have bothered, but I'm glad I skipped the "full" game.

Lastly, I will sadly mention some things about Transformers: Devastation.  I like the game, but it was too short.  It has some cool artwork tied to achievements that I would love to use for my background.  Problem is, some of them are for the harder achievements, meaning I'd have to put in way too much time and effort for a minor gain.  One of the ones I really wanted was a community challenge that came and went with likely nobody else trying for it.  The challenge happened a few weeks after release, when most people were long done with the game, considering you can beat it in a day or two easy.  I was able to make due to get a decent background with the screenshot tool, but I would really like to get some of that artwork to make my dashboard look cool.

Transformers: Devastation (Xbox One) Review

As a big fan of Transformers, and especially the toys, I was eager to play Transformers: Devastation.  After all, it features one of my favorite Transformers right on the box and pretty much in the title: Devastator!  Even so, that won't get the game a free pass, so let's delve into the review.

First off, I really love the look of the game.  It's a more detailed look of the old "G1" cartoon.  The characters are bright and really pop for me.  They look a bit too detailed, as they seem so shiny.  It's not that bad, as they resemble the IDW artwork from a few years ago.  A lot of the main characters' voice actors reprise their roles, but of course some had to be recast.  Prime and Megatron sound great, and it is always awesome to have Frank Welker also reprise his role as Soundwave (my other favorite Transformer).  Some of the new voices fit fairly well, but you could tell it wasn't the same actor.  Either way, the game does well on the visual and auditory areas.

Looking pretty is one thing, but how does the game play?  If you have played other Platinum Games titles, you probably know what to expect.  Flashy action, rewards for precise dodging and being rated on each encounter.  All of those are true for Devastation.  The action is fast-paced and really flashy.  For example, there is a vehicle attack you can do at the end of your combo, which usually results in you launching your enemy.  So, you just turn into a car (or truck, or... dinosaur) and drive up to them in the air and can continue your combo.  Does it make logical sense?  No, but it looks cool and honestly, you probably did stuff like that as a kid with your toys (or your imagination).

Anyway, the controls are pretty tight, and the dodge window is as well.  If you dodge at just the right moment, you enter a focused state where time slows down and you can easily hit your opponents.  It's exactly like the Witch Time in Bayonetta, which is to be expected.  My complaint with this is that the dodge button and transformation button are the same.  Holding it down will transform you while tapping it will dodge.  I didn't really have a problem accidentally holding it down, but sometimes I did have the opposite problem.  I prefer the transformation button be just a press, as sometimes in the hurry of doing things quickly I would tap instead of hold.  Also, to do the ground pound, you jump and then transform.  This would work better if you didn't have to be absolutely still while transforming.  If you are moving even just a tiny bit, you will lunge forward while transforming and start speeding away.  Not good when you are trying to be precise or under a time constraint.

The combos are neat looking and functional, but I felt no need to do ones other than hitting the X Button.  There a few variations based off when you hit the Y Button instead, but they didn't seem different enough to warrant me doing it.  It's a bit of a let down, since they went with flash for stuff, but didn't give each character cool and unique combo enders that would encourage using them all.  It made the attacking part of the controls feeling rather simplistic.  Shooting was done ok, it just sometimes felt a bit slow.  If you are hit while aiming, you go stumbling back, so it's not something to use in the middle of combat, but is great for shooting snipers and collectibles.

Vehicles themselves handle alright, but feel a bit loose.  There are a few parts where you need to shoot while driving, and those feel sloppy to me, since it's hard to aim and drive at the same time in Devastation.  One section of the game switches to a side-scrolling shooter as you drive on a bridge while fighting a boss.  It's kind of fun at first, but gets more annoying as you go, simply from trying to do a lot of things at once.  You can actually dodge while the car, which I didn't know at first.  It's just hard to avoid everything while trying to figure out where to shoot.  Another similar thing is when the game switches to a top-down view for some story/side missions.  These are harder than normal, simply because of the strange perspective.  I appreciate that they were tying to mix it up and have different experiences, but they just don't feel as polished, or at the least, the exacting style of game doesn't mesh with these other perspectives without more work.

Merge for the kill!

Each Autobot can equip four weapons, one of which must be a melee weapon and one of which must be a ranged weapon.  There are many types to choose from, and even some cool special ones that fans of the different Transformers series may recognize.  They can also be upgraded with the game's synthesis system.  It isn't well explained in the game, but you can put one weapon into another to gain experience and transfer skills.  Since you get so many drops, it is best to use fodder to level up the pieces you use, especially the melee ones.  You can also buy normal items, like healing kits, and make special items you can equip for passive effects.  These special items are made with a little mini-game that tasks you with stopping a cursor in a specific place.  It's... really lose, and hard to get anything great out of, since the effect is random.  Even so, they tend to be cheap and you can get decent stuff eventually.  Worth doing every now and again, but hard to use effectively in my opinion.

The story is a step up from the old cartoon, but still not as good as either of the Cybertron games.  It's more there to move the action along, and while not preferable, is serviceable.  Most cool moments in the story are right before some of the better fights.  There isn't much tension built up from previous encounters with characters unless you are familiar with the property.  For example, at one point you hear about Motormaster, one of the Decepticons.  You will fight him a bit later, but fans of Transformers likely know that he is the center of another combiner, named Menasor.  So when it happens, a non-fan will likely be surprised, but a fan will have build-up because they likely know what it means for a future fight when Motormaster is mentioned.  The boss fights are pretty fun, especially against the giant combiners.  Sure, they are bigger than the separate robots put together, but I'll let that go because fighting giants enemies can be really fun.

Sadly, the story kind of keeps things confined to a few locations.  You are really only fighting in a city and on a Cybertronian ship.  Several areas are reused for each stage.  Enemy variety is a bit better, but not by much.  There are four basic enemies.  One is the car-forming ground based foes, with a stronger commander variant.  There are seeker (airplane) foes, with a tougher variant later in the game.  Insecticons show up from time to time, all three types, and last is the heavy troops, who transform into tanks.  Most of the bosses are based off these types as well, save the giant combiners, and the 'waves (Sound and Shock).  There is an occasional robot tentacle thrown in for good measure, but after you have fought against each of the basic types, you know how to fight 90% of the enemies.  More variety would have been nice, but I wouldn't have minded that if the combos were more varied.

The game's length is probably its biggest detractor.  My first run clocked in at 6 hours, and that was with doing half of the side missions.  I could have done them all, but I more wanted to push through the game and do the side missions later.  They are blatantly filler, but that's fine since it gives you more to do.  They are scattered around the map, forcing you to go out of your way to do them, and don't seem to be unlockable after completion.  Other than getting more experience and items, I don't know if there is another reason to do the side missions, since I didn't see anything about them being marked as 'done' anywhere, unlike the Challenges.  From the Main Menu, there are 50 challenges you can unlock and complete.  Throughout the game there are also several collectibles to get, so make sure you look around (mostly up) and have a sniper rifle equipped.  These tend to unlock concept art, which is always fun to look at.

There are a total of 7 chapters.  The first two are the longest, and the rest can get significantly shorter.  I was playing on the easiest setting, since Platinum games tend to be punish the player for imperfection.  Even so, this game seems a bit easier than their average, which is welcome in my book.  It was definitely more fun for me to have it on a lower difficulty, but I will certainly go back and play the higher ones with better equipment.  Plus, I really want to get a few of the achievements, because of the associated artwork to put as my console background!  Now I just have to beat the bosses without getting hit...

As a fan of Transformers, I did enjoy Devastation.  It looks great and gives a nostalgic feel of making cartoon robots fight each other in flashy ways.  As a gamer, I was a bit disappointed with some of the controls, and the length of the game.  Also, I still really disliked rating each and every encounter.  It's a game, not a term paper!  Anyway, the game is fun, but a bit short unless you want to go through it multiple times and use all of the different playable Autobots.  Still, I am looking forward to a sequel, and hopefully we can play as some Decepticons next time.  If you are a fan of other Platinum Games titles, or the Transformers property, I would recommend at least playing Transformers: Devastation.

New Video Content on my Youtube Channel

I'm glad to finally get some more video content for my YouTube Channel.  I still have a lot of unused Monster Hunter Tri videos that I could make, but those might be too old for people to care.  I also had a ton of Monster Hunter 3 Ultimate videos, with audio... but the stupid laptop had a bad hard drive and I ended up losing all of it.  I'm still a little bitter/sad/angry about it, since there's nothing I can do to get it back.  I guess it's just another thing to file against Sony.

Anyway, first up is my first Transformers video review, the Vehicon from the Transformers Prime line of toys.  After seeing some other people do reviews for the last few months, I got a webcam and decided to try it myself.  I have a few more already filmed but not edited for the next few weeks, too.  As much as I'd like to do more of the recent toys, I can't really get a lot of those, so my reviews will be a mix of older and newer ones.  The first few videos will be a bit rough as I become more comfortable doing them, so bear with me and I hope you enjoy them!

The other content I'm finally putting out is a "Let's Play" that I'm doing with my wife.  We've discussed doing them before, and which titles to do, and decided to start with Legend of Dragoon PS1 Classic.  It was on sale a few months ago, so I purchased the digital copy (I still have my physical copy somewhere) and thought it would be fun to replay it while recording ourselves.  While not quite as unknown as most of the games we enjoy, it's fun to bring some more exposure to an overlooked gem in the Playstation's RPG library.  I'm not sure if we will play through the whole game, but hopefully there's some interest in watching us play and talk about stuff.

Air Raid: Fall of Cybertron Transformer Toy Review

Even though I already have the Shockwave figure from the Fall of Cybertron line of Transformers, I was interested in getting the recolor of the mold, Air Raid.  Why?  Well, after looking at his weapons, I figured it was worth it to double dip on the mold.

Don't cross him, seriously.

I really dig Air Raid's bot mode.  He has a nice dark red and black color scheme, with some dark gold accents.  His chest is different than Shockwave's, and I actually like it better.  His head looks cool too, but if I had to pick, I think the signature purple cyclops is a better head.  There is some light piping, but it's not very good so don't expect to have glowing eyes on Air Raid very often.  He doesn't have much kibble, and the wings don't really get in the way.  His legs are a big skinny, but does stand well on his own.

Air Raid's head can turn around, and the shoulders have swivel and hinge joints.  The elbows have hinge and ball joints, giving the arms great posability overall.  The only weakness there is the wrists, as they cannot turn.  With the arms so posable, you probably won't notice though.  There is no waist movement, but he has ball jointed hips.  His knees are hinged, as are his ankles.  The feet don't swing very far, so he can't really stand in the myriad of poses he is capable of, unfortunately.  It's that way because of his alt form, so let's move on to the actual alt form.

It's a floating...cannon?

To me, this is the weakest part of the figure.  As a recolor of Shockwave (from the same line of toys, but an earlier wave), his alt mode is very slightly retooled.  My main problem with the Shockwave alt mode was the wings were too small, but it was farily accurate to the in-game model, so I could let it slide.  This time, Air Raid's alt mode is advertised as being ""Cybertronian Mobile Artillery".  It does look more like a floating cannon than a jet.  The only part I actually like better is there is a small peg on the top to store his sword, but you can also turn him upside down and have a figure hold him as a cannon.  His alt mode is ok, but I think he looks far better and is far more fun to play with in his robot mode.  It's a plus that his weapons store so easily on it, and he's not very hard to transform.

To me, this is the best part of the figure.  I'm a sucker for blades, and I really like the sword that Air Raid has.  It has a lot of translucent red plastic that looks nice, with a painted silver edge.  The sword is split in the middle and these two halves can fold back.  This makes it nice and compact for storage on the alt mode, but could also be attached onto another figure's arm to make a sort of claw.  You could also not fold it back all the way and it looks kinda like a crossbow to me.  A surprisingly cool and versatile weapon.

Of course, that's not his only weapon.  Air Raid also comes with an arm gun/blade contraption.  It can be held like a gun or attached to his arm.  When held, it looks pretty cool, but the blade just hangs back and doesn't plug in or anything.  It's slightly less awkward when attached to his arm, but not by much.  When the blade is extended, it is pretty long and looks vicious.  You could have him hold it with the blade out, but I think it looks much better on his arm.  The part with the gun/blade is removable, leaving him with a double barreled weapon.  If you've seen Shockwave's gun without the signature part on the end, it's very similar, just with 2 barrels instead of 3.  I really like the look of it, but it's not too steady on my figure.  it's just the way this one's hands are produced.  The arm gun attaches super tight when put on my Shockwave figure, so it's not a fault of the mold, just that particular figure.

But does it make Julian fries?

Just like a light nigh infomercial, "wait, there's more!"  You can take the gun/blade part off (or even leave that part attached to the double-barreled arm gun), extend the blade and attach it do the sword.  Just split the sword blade a bit and you make a big and crazy sword.  It's not very practical (assuming plastic toys fight), but it's neat.  A very anime style giant weapon that looks cool but unwieldy.  You could also conceivably mount the gun/blade to a peg and give someone a bayonet or a sweet looking arm blade.

If you liked the Shockwave mold, Air Raid is just a slight retool of that.  If you aren't in love with the weapons, there isn't much reason to get him if you already have Shockwave.  If you don't have the purple cyclops and aren't particularly attached to the character, I'd recommend getting Air Raid.  The robot is solid and the weapons are lots of fun to play with.  Just like Fall of Cybertron Starscream, I had to order him on Amazon since I still haven't seen one in stores.  He was in stock almost constantly, so he shouldn't be too hard to find.  That should also mean he won't be price gouged, so you can find him at cost (maybe plus shipping).

Starscream: Fall of Cybertron Transformer Toy Review

When I first saw Starscream in the Transformers: War for Cybertron video game a few years ago, I loved the design.  I'm not a fan of the character of Starscream, but loved the way this incarnation looked and wanted to get a toy of him.  They only had four molds in the toy line for the game (one was a recolor), which is almost insulting considering how good the character designs were.  Thankfully, they had more toys for the Fall of Cybertron line, and Starscream is one of them.

Holding it and underslung

As I've said probably four times by now, I really like this look for Starscream.  I'm not too crazy about his face (in both the game and the toy), but the head is excellent.  He's pretty game-accurate, and is sturdy, too. He holds together really well and can stand without much effort.  His head can turn, the elbows bend and the hands rotate.  His shoulders and hips both rotate and swivel.  The knees bend and his ankles tilt.  He's not perfect though.  There is a gap between his chest and back, but it's pretty hidden.  Also the top of the jet is his back, so the tail is pretty obvious if viewed from behind.  It's not really a problem for me, but I know there are people that aren't going to like that.

Starscream's alt mode (the Cybertronian jet) looks faithful to the game.  Well, it's close to what I remember it looking like in the game at least.  He's a little thick for a plane, but that's what I remember him looking like in the game, so it's fine.  He still looks fairly streamlined.  The wings, while small, fit with the compact design of the Cybertronian jet.  There are peg holes on the wings and the legs (near the wing holes), so there are a few places to attach his guns, or other weapons from other figures.  It's also a sturdy transformation, so he holds together really well.

Now for the weapon.  Conceptually, Starscream's weapon is the Neutron Assault Rifle from the game.  Basically, there are two guns, each with a rotatable triple barreled gun.  Each also has two different pegs, so they can be attached in multiple ways.  They can be held, underslung or attached as arm guns.  They can also be put together to make a gun that looks more like the one from the game.  Since there are gears around the barrels, spinning one will spin the other in the opposite direction.  It's a small touch, but really adds that little bit extra cool.  Even though two posts are close, the gun can be held in one hand when combined.  I'm a fan of versatile weapons, so I'm a fan of this one.  It's really easy to use it with other Transformer figures, which makes it even better.

Overall, it's a great figure.  The only problem is it's availability.  I managed to snag one off of Amazon for cost, since I couldn't find one in stores.  If you like the design of Fall of Cybertron Starscream, this figure should be on your shelf.  It's pretty faithful to both modes from the game, he has nice articulation, and the weapon is lots of fun.

Transformers: Dark of the Moon (DS) Quick Review

One of the games I snagged for cheap recently was Transformers: Dark of the Moon Decepticon version.  I've recently finished it and felt inclined to make a quick review for the game.  So, let's review and roll out!

The graphics look exactly like the first Transformers movie game for DS to me.  That is to say, there are textures pasted on  blocky 3D models.  I still think the DS is capable or more, but that isn't what's here.  The graphics get the job done, but they are not very good.  Backgrounds are sparse outside of the playable area, and buildings noticeably pop in and out of view while moving.

The few lines of dialog/story in this game are voice, which is a plus.  The music is just kind of there, it's not grating but not memorable at all, either.

Controlling the Transformer is a little wonky at first.  Since there is no second stick to aim, you make do with moving and using the L and R Buttons to strafe.  It took some getting used to, but once I got the hang of it, the controls worked fine.  One thing that always bugs me, you have to use the touch screen to do all of the menu options.  It's fine if that's in the game, but I always want the D-pad and buttons to work on them, too.  One sad note: changing into your alt form (vehicle) is useless in this game.  You don't ever need to do it and there is no good reason to.  When in vehicle form, you have to press a button to engage "stealth" mode where your guns come out and it would be impossible to blend in anywhere.  This is the only way to fire guns in the alt mode.  Sadly, even Megatron, who turns into his Revenge of the Fallen tank form, has to engage "stealth" mode to fire the cannon.

Transformers: Dark of the Moon Decepticon version has only 12 missions.  They do get longer as you go farther in the game, but the longest is still less than 30 mins.  You don't really get much game for your buck.  It's also pretty easy, so you aren't going to die and have to restart much (if at all).  Each level has a few collectibles, but they aren't too hard to find once you know what to look for.  No characters are unlockable, either, but you can use any of the four playable ones on any mission once you beat the game.  Yay?  A person could beat the game and get all the upgrades/collectibles in a day without much effort.  There is multiplayer, but it is local only, so I wasn't able to try it out.

I paid $5 for the "special edition" that comes with the toy car.  Honestly, that was the best part of the purchase.  I don't regret buying the game, but I can't recommend anyone get it either.  It was more fun than the Xbox 360 version of the Dark of the Moon game I rented months ago, though.  If you really want a Transformers game on the DS, stick with the game of the first movie.  There was much more content and fun in that game.  Transformers: Dark of the Moon Decepticon version could be much better if there were more playable characters and levels.  Even adding a "challenge" mode or something (even though I'm not too fond of those) would have been better.  I'd recommend skipping this game, even if you are a die-hard Transformers fan like myself.  The toy car does look pretty cool, though.  Glad I bought the Decepticon version, since I'd be more unhappy having a Bumblebee toy.

TF Prime Toys: Vehicon Impressions

I finally opened my Transformers Prime Vehicon toy, since it was my birthday recently.  Yeah, I'm old and yeah, I'm a kid.  Hahaha.  I haven't really come up with a structure for toy reviews, so I'm kinda making up categories for right now.  Anyway, here are a few impressions of the figure.

Look
I don't know what's NOT to like about the look.  In car mode, it looks angular, menacing and sleek.  It might be a bit small, but it works with a scout/troop type robot.  The robot form is sleek as well, and doesn't have a lot of kibble.  It looks like the show, and I think it looks a bit better than that.  His proportions are also really good.  No ape arms, tiny head of scrawny legs.

Articulation
Vehicon has great inward arm articulation, and the shoulders are very posable.  The hips are pretty good, as they are the standard ball joint.  The knees bend some, but not fully back.  The feet are stable, but not really able to be put in different positions.  The wrists only go up and down, but they get the job done when combining with the arm articulation.  The outward arm movements are bad, and there is no waist articulation.  The head moves a bit, but not too much.  All in all, it's ok, I would like a bit better.

Transformation
Wow.  I really like transforming the Vehicon.  The whole top of the car folds up and becomes the bottom of the legs, storing them away.  It's not the prettiest, but it looks fine from the front, and more importantly, NO KIBBLE!  The front of the sides of the car are just sitting there, so there is a bit of kibble on the legs.  Compared to most car-formers, it is amazingly small.  The back panel of the car pulls out and brings the head with it, then folds to the back.  You don't even see it from the front, and on the back it looks fine.  To me, it is amazing how little kibble the Vehicon has in bot mode.  Whoever designed this should get a raise.  I'm serious, it's that good.

Weapons
The gun that it comes with isn't that great, but it gets points for being able to attach to several places on the figure.  It can hold the handle of the gun or be mounded to its arm, as if the hand transformed into it.  You can plug the handle into the shoulder, or attach is to the kibble near the leg as if it were holstered.  In car (alt) form, it can be plugged into the back of the side, or attached onto the side of the hood.  It might not look pretty, but great versatility with the Vehicon, and that matters more to me in this instance.

So was it worth the money I paid for it?  In short, yes.  I had to pay a bit more than retail ($20 from a fellow fan), but that is to be expected.  Hopefully the "revision" case that a future wave has with 2 Vehicons is real so more people can get this.  It is rare and unfortunately scalpable, but it is a great figure.

Fall of Cybertron Demo Impressions

While I'm very excited to play this game, it's unlikely I will be able to afford it upon release.  I might use my birthday money for it (assuming I get some), but we will see.  Until then, the demo will have to suffice.  So, how was it?

I liked it a lot.  I was sad to see Bumblebee have a damaged voice box, so they are making the stupid Michael Bay Bumblebee cannon, I guess.  I don't like BB at all, but the voiceless one is even stupider.  Please stop doing it.  Other than that, his level was ok, but there are several scenes where they just kill nameless Autobots for no real reason.  I don't like stuff like that, it is very pointless.  I'm a fan of making a character's death mean something, not just have them fly out into space to show that it can happen.

Vortex's level was fun, I like his chopper/jet form.  I really wanted to explore it and look for collectibles, but I don't know if they are actually there, other than the 1 obvious audio log I found.  Both levels ended at strange places, so I hope it's nowhere near the full level for either.

Now for multiplayer.  War for Cybertron was one of the few games where I enjoyed the competitive multiplayer.  I managed to max out 2 of the 4 classes.  I could likely max out scientist, but it would take awhile.  The scout....nope.  I hated that class.  When trying the multiplayer in the demo, I at first wasn't impressed.  Sure, making your own Transformer is cool, if a little limiting at first, but I died a lot.  I slowly got the hang of it, but I felt really weak.  The warrior's Tornado ability seems a lot worse than it was in the first game.  I used to get plenty of kills with it, but it just seemed bad.  I still wish you had more than 4 weapons to choose from per class, as the biggest reason why I couldn't use the scout was I hated the weapons.  Seeing as how the only achievements I don't have in the first game are the last 2 for multiplayer, I'm not sure how much I will play it in the sequel.

I'm definitely looking forward to playing the game.  The demo gave a good feel for the game.  I might not like the competitive multiplayer as much as the first, but that could change after getting some time with the full version.