M.M.M: The Incredible Hulk. Now with 100% less Poodle and more refferences

We're skipping forward a bit here, purely because of what people believe to be cannon, what is and isn't in the MCU. When The Avengers was about to come out, I heard people saying that there wasn't a Hulk movie, that The Avengers was going to be the first Hulk movie for the Cinematic Universe... that's not completely true. Say hello to the only Hulk movie in the MCU: The Incredible Hulk.

M.M.M: Hulk... NOT THE POODLE

This is pretty much going to be a month of M's. All the movies have the M rating to them, but for right now, M means Marvel. Now that Avengers: Age of Ultron is upon us, its time to see just how the Marvel's Cinematic Universe started out. We're going to be looking at the first three phases of the MCU in what I call, the Marvel Movie Marathon, or M.M.M for short. Now before I begin, I will not be covering Guardians of the Galaxy in this marathon, I'll save it for when I review Phase 3 and 4. Also, unlike what was said in the last review, as it was changed after that review was recorded, I won't be covering Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D here either, I want to dedicate more time to it then what I have at the moment.

Now, the ones paying attention would noticed I wrote "first three phases", but referred to Phase 3 and 4 separately. The reason: unofficially, there's a phase 0. I'll get to why later, but for now, time to review the, unofficially, first film in the MCU: Hulk.

Digimon Marathon: Digimon Fusion. Dr Frankenstein would be proud

It pains me to conclude the Digimon Marathon so quickly, but sadly schedules can be a pain sometimes. There is however, one last completed season to review, and with both Season 2 and the upcoming Digimon Adventure Tri to look forward to, I guarantee this won't be the last time Digimon makes an appearance here. Time to delve into the world of Digimon Fusion.

Digimon Marathon: Digimon Data Squad: #BlameKurata

One problem I see with projects, in particular fan works, is the poor combination of either parts of franchises, or franchises completely. It’s not something I see often enough to be a large problem, but when I find one, it really stands out, like the subject of this review, Digimon Data Squad.

Digimon Marathon: Digimon Frontier. All smiles, Spirits and world deletion... wait...

So, after the feels trip that was Digimon Tamers, its not surprising that the next season would be more on the chearful side. Unlike its even predecessor and more like its actual predecessor, Frontier is once again, a reboot (which actually makes more sense seeing as this is a Digital World). A brand new Digital World, new Digi destined and the concept of Spirit evolution, it's true what they say, the past can come back to haunt you: Digimon Frontier.

Digimon Marathon: Runaway Locomon... So long as its not Let it Go, you can start up a Barbershop Quartet for all I care

Remember those last few seconds of Such Sweet Sorrow? Yeah, that's the connection to this. Turns out they do get to keep their Digimon with no repercussions of them returning to the In training phase at all. But, if they're back, it means there's a new problem to deal with, and sure enough, this is no exception. Time to hit the railroad running, we've got a train to catch: Runaway Locomon.

Digimon Marathon: Battle of Adventurers... "Can't we have a break?"

So depression and the idea of lost was a common trend in Digimon Tamers, all building up to the D-Reaper. But Tamers also had two films linked to it, so you can guarantee that the themes will be there as well. Let's start with the first one: Battle of Adventurers.

Digimon Marathon: Digimon Tamers: Dark reboots before they were cool

It's not often you see the same team do a darker reimagining of their own idea. "You thought Adventure and Zero Two was to cheerful, well, time we hit you in the feels". It's a brand new world, new Digi Destined and the kid friendly version of hacking. Time for the Tamers to take the lead.

Digimon Marathon: Revenge of Diaboromon. You can never keep a good devil down

One thing of note about a lot of the Digimon movies, is that they aren't full movies length wise. So as a slightly longer episode, how does the sequel to Our War Game fair? Time to review Digimon: Revenge of Diaboromon.

(No cover as I can't find one that I can confirm to be the cover)

Digimon Marathon: Digimon the Movie: Look at how far we've come

Oh Fox, you truly know no limits when it comes to what you'll do for a quick buck... even when I'm certain it would have given you more money not to do what you did to these films. No that's not a typo, there are three movies spliced into one here... and it shows. Digimon fans hate this movie, and with valid reasons. But lets take a look at this blatant cash grab. Digimon the Movie...

Might I add, this is a crap promo poster. I thought we were past the days of bad box art...

Digimon Marathon: Digimon Adventures 02: "Why can't we send in the competent ones?"

Ah Zero Two. One of the most debatable seasons of the series out there. Both praised and hated by many. But as with Adventure, how well does it hold up now? Four new Digi-destined, new Digivolution (mechanics?) and more, Time to review Digimon Adventure 02.

Digimon Marathon: Digimon Adventure: Happy Birthday my two blogs, for your present: time to delve into the Digital World

Two days early? Yes, but still... Happy one year anniversary!!! This Wednesday will mark the launch of Blaster's Projects (pop quiz, who still remembers the original name of the site?) and one day later, the launch of Blaster's Reviews. Cue the dancers:

... Note to self, work on better theme integration...

So yes, almost one year on, I thought it would be fitting to have some sort of celebration, and what better way then to review something I talked about early in the sites life and a clear contrast to what my first review was: Digimon. Ah Digimon, the tabu of my Primary School. Everyone knew about it, but you either hated it as a Pokemon clone, or never looked at it due to several reasons (me being one of that second). I remember watching a few episodes randomly, Australian TV at the time wasn't known for its speedy and consistent arrivals. It wasn't until several years later where I'd sit down to watch them properly, thanks in part to vague memories and a friend of mine randomly mentioning it (good luck conducting the band for Violet by the way). As I mentioned last year, I prefer the Digimon Anime over the Pokemon one nowadays, but I think its about time to go into detail. From today, up until near the end of March, three posts a day, will be nothing but Digimon. I also want to stress that, aside from the last review due to lack of localization to my knowledge, I'll be covering the English Dubs as I can analyze them in greater detail. Time to delve into the past that was late 90's-early 2000's children's television and the generally accepted rival to Pokemon and how it has survived almost 16 years later (in two weeks, it'll have been 16 years since the original run). Time to start the Digimon Marathon, up first: Digimon Adventure.

What does 2015 have in store for Blaster's Reviews and Blaster's Projects

Before I begin, thanks for the 1000 page views, I know I don't update this site often, but thats just because I don't have anything to talk about. But even still, thank you, it means alot to see people reading my content on both sites.

With 2015 almost upon us, I think it might be time to talk about some upcoming plans for Blaster's Reviews and Blaster's Projects (though not in as much detail)


For Blaster's Reviews, with some miscellaneous reviews scattered between, there are some marathons planned for the first half of the year:

1. During January, I'll be reviewing 4 Direct to DVD films to which the franchise they're based on has a spot in my heart. BIONICLE: Mask of Light, Legends of Metru Nui, Web of Shadows and The Legend Reborn.
2. To celebrate the 1 year anniversary of the two sites, the Digimon Anime will be reviewed including the films. Do note that most of them will be using the English Dubs.
3. To coincide with the launch of Avengers: Age of Ultron, the Marvel movieverse (not including Guardians of the Galaxy at this time) along with Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D will be reviewed.
4. During July, I will once again be tackling E3, which may mean that there will be a lot of Impressions occupying the space after.

 On top of that, two new review types will be opened up during the course of the year

1. The Retake Reviews: If I or another reader thinks that one of the previous reviews could have been better, I will begin rewriting them and posting a brand new review of them. Imagine it as a sort of "Then and Now" kind of post.
2. Comic book reviews: I've always been curious about Comic books and Blaster's Reviews has given me a excuse to loo into them. These reviews will be reviews of spesific arcs and individual issues, not comic series. For those who don't know, a comic arc is a small "mini story" in a series of comic books where the story flows directly from one comic to another. Two examples of this are "Blackest Night" from the Green Lantern comics (though it is a cross over) and "Genesis" from one of the two comic book series I do follow, the Sonic the Hedgehog comics. These reviews will be dependent on requests and suggestions so feel free to make requests (I don't ignore everyone except the Patreon supporters, you can talk to me, I don't bite) as to what arcs you'd like to see a review of (just give me some basic info like name of the arc, publishers and what series its from).

As for Blaster's Projects, I unfortunately don't have much to say. But what I do have to say is this:

1. How to think like a Game Designer isn't dead and more posts on that will appear, I'm just struggling to find a topic, so feel free to make suggestions.
2. Turnabout Smash: The Project itself is currently halted due to lack of progress on the production for the Prologue and writer's block for Chapter 1 (I know how I want to end it, just not how to get to it). I have plans for Turnabout Smash so that you can still see a form of the project but I am still looking for writers to work with in order to see this project complete. More news on that plan later.
3. Super Smash Brothers: Fan Disagreement: I have nothing to say about this because SSBFD has, to me at least, become Turnabout Smash. I used SSBFD as a base so to me, the two projects are the same.

That's a little taste of what's to come next year, but there is more then that coming. As I said during the comic book discussing, seeing as it applies for all material, I'm open to requests and feedback as you're the ones motivating me to keep writing, to keep improving. Thanks for the support, and enjoy the rest of the year. Tomorrow and Saturday will be finishing off the Week of Smash and then I'm finishing off the MLP reviews with a review of Rainbow Rocks, and my built up Top 20 MLP songs list.

Transformers Marathon: After 30 years, how is this franchise still alive and popular?

I have one last part of the Transformers Marathon. It’s not a review this time (though I’ll need a break from those as I said in my Transformers: Prime review), it’s a editorial. One of the things that crossed my mind as I’ve been going through the franchise is this, “How has the series survived this long and is still going strong?” There were series of the franchise that I didn’t look at in this marathon, I barely scratched the surface when it comes to the games and I haven’t even looked at its other mediums including the comics and the toys themselves, and even with those, the question still stands, how did the Transformers survive the test of time?

It would be too easy for me to say that the fan base kept it alive, and as such I won’t mention it until the end of this piece. There are other elements that kept this tale alive, one of which I mentioned in my first review for this marathon. One of the reasons I think that it survived is its overall simple plot. The classic Good vs. Evil stories have been around since the creation of the story. However, as time has gone on, the classic plot has developed, very few stories nowadays have that clear distinction of good and evil, the line has been blurred as there is always another side to the story, it’s a reflection of the world today. There’s no longer a clear villain in society as everyone could have dark intentions and it’s actually because of that, the classic tales of good and evil have kept alive. People want to believe that it’s just black and white, that there’s always a clear villain, so they cling to the stories that have that clear distinction. It’s a reason why the Harry Potter books became so successful (not the only reason, just a reason) and why they would likely survive the test of time and why some reinterpretations of older stories won’t. At the same time though, the story has to have differences to the concept and the way the Transformers franchise has done this is by moral choices, the reason why the plots of the episodes are more complicated then what they seem. Do you sacrifice a world, a civilisation, a race of sentient creatures just to save yours?  Do you protect creatures you’ve never met, that are probably afraid of you and will kill you just to protect themselves and risk the safety of your own race, or do you destroy them so that your race can thrive?  When is something going too far? These and other questions kids wouldn’t pay attention to when they first see the show, its something for the parents to see and the kids to notice when they are older and can understand the concepts and the consequences of the actions. The story that has always been a part of the Transformers Lore (not including Rescue Bots...) is a story that will be told in some form for years to come, because it’s a story that everyone will hear somehow. It’s a story that will never be dated due to human nature.

Every story needs its characters and while I might not agree with the decisions made with some of them, the personalities of each of the characters are distinct and memorable, even if sometimes they were poorly written. You remember Gears, Ironhide, Wheeljack, Bumblebee, Perceptor, Cyclonus, Demolisher, Override and many more. You even remember the Human characters: Spike, Rad, Alexis, Kicker and Coby, and I’m only mentioning the humans from the seasons I’ve reviewed here. And its actually for that reason why I hate the direction the Bay films are going. While I will openly admit that I like the first one (see review for why people wouldn’t like it) but from Revenge of the Fallen onwards, this includes what I’ve heard of Age of Extinction, the characters are turning into more emotional versions of the character in a M. Night Shyamalan film, bland and boring to watch.

The cartoons have always been a promotion for the toys, and the toys have helped in the popularity of the show and the franchise as a whole. The Transformers toys have been, and always will be, the fusion of a puzzle and a action figure. As time’s gone on, the toys have developed, become more complicated, harder to transform but does more in both vehicle and robot mode while still maintaining the core design of the character (some more obvious then others). I could show you 3 different versions of the Optimus Prime figure and you would be able to tell that they were all Optimus Prime because they always keep the core features of the original (they always have a red truck transformation, the head design is always the same and when the trailer is included, the trailer always has a transformation of its own (this isn’t including his Beast wars design but some of these also apply to Optimus Primal)) Megatron would be harder to distinguish but all of his designs have been offensive (a gun, to a cannon, a tank, a fighterplane, a batmobile esque car along with a plane ect), Starscream has always been some sort of fighter plane, Red Alert and Ratchet have always been ambulances as just a few other examples but over time, they’ve become more complicated. It would take less time for anyone to transform Optimus’s Generation 1 design then it would to transform his Evasion mode from the new Age of Extinction line of toys, even though they’re the same truck. As a result, kids still love playing with the toys and they watch the show to add to the experience, to use their imagination to make new stories for the characters.

The Michael bay films might be making more money in a week then most people will ever see in their lives, but its the cartoons and the toys that will keep Transformers going. It’s the Generation 1’s, the Unicron trilogies’, the Animated’s and the Prime’s that will keep the franchise alive long after the movies have finished. On top of that, it’s the fans that have grown up with the franchise since Generation 1 exposing their kids to the newer seasons and playing with their kids’s Transformers toys that keeps the name alive. It’s the lessons it teaches with characters that you want to be. It’s been 40 years, and let’s hope it lives for 40 more, or until all are one.

Transformers Marathon: My Top 10 Best Transformers Moments

Yes, the second last post for the marathon is a top 10... don't judge me...

The rules for this is simple. All of these are strictly my opinion and all the entries can be found in a series (I will specify which one) and scenes I've found online

10: The death of Optimus Prime (Transformers Armada): Yeah, Optimus dies in Armada, turned into dust because of the combined power of the Star Sabre, Skyboom Shield and Requiem Blaster. This is one of the few times in Armada that you see just how far Optimus is willing to go to protect the humans. So why is it so low? The episode after this event (Episode 40: Remorse) is one of the weakest episodes in the season in my opinion and because it revolves around this event that Optimus's death is so low.

9. The many personalities of Starscream (Transformers Animated): I haven't seen Animated, I've yet to sit through the pilot of it, the reason being is because it looks like its trying as hard as possible to replicate Generation 1 (but I'll leave this point until I do a review and can actually formulate a opinion). So why is there a scene from animated here? Because I genuinely find it hilarious. I don't know the context of it but Starscream has made a number of clones of himself that have a specific point in his personality including his cowardice, his tendency for lying, his ego, the suck up side (as in fuelling others egos)... and his feminine side... For those who don't know, Starscream was originally portrayed as a woman in the French version of Generation 1 and that clone was a homage to it.

8: The battle of Mission City (Transformers 2007): Hate Michael bay all you want, I give credic where credit is due and he does know how to make a good action scene (not including Egypt's filler and Chicargo's boredom) and the Mission city fight from the first Michael bay film is a good example of it. The fight was well paced, the changing of perspectives between Optimus, Sam,  Mikaela, and Lennox works well and the camera work looks great. The fight between the Autobots and Demolisher along with the fight between Optimus and Megatron look great.

7: The Powerlink of Arcee, Chromia and Elita One (Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen special features): Ok, this one might be classified as cheating as it was cut from the movie. Its on the DVD special features so to me, it counts. During development, Arcee, Chromia and Elita One were planned to have a Powerlink and use it while "fighting" Sideways. That part of the scene was never finished but what was shown off looks great...

6: The creation of Galvatron, Cyclonus and the Sweeps (Transformers the Movie): Yes, the scene is trippy, yes this can cause seizures, but dam it this is awesome. I can't really explain why its good, its a scene where you have to see it for yourself to know what its like (if you haven't already)

5: The appearances of the Dinobots (Transformers Generation 1): The Transformers, while it had more animation errors then I could keep track of, did have some great scenes and episodes with this one being one of them. S.O.S Dinobot is the reason why so many fans freaked out when Grimlock was in the trailer for Age of Extinction and is a must watch from Generation 1.

4: The races for the Planet Cup (Transformers Cybertron): For all the race fans, Velocitron is the place for you. A planet that is built for racing as it has more race tracks then any country on earth combined and tripled. Now imagine these tracks, take the best ones of them and put them in a planet wide grand prix for the strongest trophy in the universe and you have the Planet cup in a nutshell. While it cut between Earth and Jungle planet a lot during the episodes the planet cup was using, the tracks were great and that final race was amazing. Can someone please make a game where you race in the planet cup and one the tracks of Velocitron?

3: The battle of Autobot City (Transformers the movie): Hands down, one of the best fights in the 80's cartoon era second only to that of the Unicron fight near the end of the movie. Like the Dinobots, I can't describe what its like, just go watch it.

2: The appearances of Unicron and Primus (Transformers the movie and Transformers Armada (Unicron), Transformers Cybertron (Primus)): The gods of Transformers, the two Transformers that turn into PLANETS (Primus transforming into Cybertron), one of them EATS OTHER PLANETS!!! While I would include Transformers Prime for Unicron as I know he appears, I haven't seen all of Prime yet and I haven't seen a appearance of him outside of the movie "Predacons Rising". You really do have to see these two to believe me when I say these two are awesome.

1: Savage Claw mode vs Dark Claw mode (Transformers Cybertron): Optimus's Savage Claw mode in Cybertron is powerful (which is what happens when you give a robot that can transform into a flying Fire truck a beefy arm made of a robot lion and have the claws ready to fight with. So how do you make this better? You clone the lion, give it to Megatron and make the two fight each other using those Powerlinks. It was a moral boost for Leobreaker (the Autobot Lion) and the fight itself was amazing. A multi episode fight and with all the other battles happening at the same time. Go watch Cybertron episodes 33-36 to see not only that fight, but others as well (and that's not even all of that part, the entire arc is great (which to me is episodes 27-40, the prequel to Gigantion)

This might as well have been a gush fest but these are genuinely my favourite moments from what I've seen of the Transformers franchise. Before I close out though, I am going to say that I'll be slowing down the production of reviews now because I will be starting back at University for semester 2 and I won't have as much time as I did in June to pump out reviews and impressions. I will be getting to the Impressions I promised after the next post which will be the conclusion to the Transformers Marathon, how I think it has survived for as long as it has. While the Impressions are being done, I'll try and get 2 a week done but then afterwards I'll be returning to 1 maybe 2 posts a week (something a bit more manageable). I do have some reviews planned including a return to game reviews in the form of Sonic Unleashed for the PS3 and X-Box 360 along with a game I just started so it'll be a while before a review is made, the fan game for the standard computer operating systems (Windows, Mac ect), Pokémon Zeta version and Pokémon Omnicron version. I'm always open to review suggestions so feel free to make a suggestion, it could be anything and will get it done as soon as I can. Until then, enjoy the rest of your day/night, Next week, How did the Transformers survive 40 years?

Transformers Marathon: Transformers: Dark of the Moon. And this is why I stopped watching Transformers until recently

There are only a few things in this world I loath, despise, downright hate with a passion, and the movie that is being reviewed today is number 1 on that list. It takes a lot for something to make it onto this list, High School musical for example: thanks to my sister's love for it at one point, I can't stand the films, and they haven't made this list. Toy Time Galaxy's Purple coin challenge in Super Mario Galaxy and Super Mario Galaxy 2, they're brutal and I chewed through more lives then I'd like to admit, and its not on the list. Nor is Sonic '06 and Call of Duty, to those who know me personally, that alone should give you a indication of just how much it takes for something to make it onto this list. Not because its a awful movie, not because it has boring action scenes, not because its recycling the same plot from the last two films but because of how much this destroyed peoples views on the franchise. People have gone on record saying that this killed their childhoods if the last one didn't do it first.

Transformers Marathon: Transformers Revenge of the fallen. First Str wait, didn't we already see this two years ago?

Now we can do Revenge of the Fallen. The first Bay film was a commercial success and the cast (according to the bonus features of the DVD release) was willing to do a second movie. Even though the writer’s strikes, bay was still able to produce this... uh... “gem” of a movie??? Time to review Transformers: Revenge of The Fallen.

Transformers Marathon: Transformers (2007).First Contact

And now to the movies most fans would rather forget. The Michael Bay films, the purpose of this marathon. While the Bay films did bring in a new crowd of Transformers fans, they did lose a lot of the older fans who have been following the series since the beginning. As to what I think of them? It depends on the movie in question. Without wasting any more time, let’s start this miniseries of reviews with Transformers (2007).

 

Transformers Marathon: Transformers: Cybertron. Why? Because "OUR WORLDS ARE IN DANGER" and we must protect them "Till all are one"

Now to a personal favourite of mine, while Armada might have been my first season of Transformers and this my last because they weren’t shown on Free to air TV here, Transformers Cybertron will always have a place in my heart. But does it still hold up when I look at it as a reviewer? This is my review of Transformers Cybertron. 

Transformers Maraton: Transformers Energon. Let's mine with Transformers

After the Unicron saga of Transformers Armada, the people at Hasbro, combined with the writers of the show believed that there was more that could be done in this continuity. It’s because of this reason, Transformers Energon is this review. Do note that it’s recommended that you see the finale of Transformers: Armada as this review will contain spoilers.