Nanoblock Eevee and Mewtwo sets: Sprites given life

On the few times I get genuine free time, when I don't have to do things for my paid job or work on content here, one of my hobbies is LEGO. I have tubs and trays of LEGO pieces from many different sets. I'm no stranger to these kinds of toys. Recently, I saw two little Nanoblock sets based on Eevee and Mewtwo, which I picked up to give myself a bit of a challenge. For you see, while I do have a lot of LEGO, I don't have much of anything else in those kinds of toys. Tried K-nex, but wasn't a thing I got into, but I can't remember why. I think it might have been bad instructions for the set itself. I had two Mega Blocks sets, one being a little orc gate and another being a robot. I do however remember that the robot had QC issues, or I tried mixing it with my bionicle sets due to issues with the possibility in comparison. Nanoblocks, were new to me entirely as I don't normally get things that are designed to be built, and just sit there. So, how well do these nano block sets hold up?

A few others that have been made, but I'm only focusing on Mewtwo and Eevee, as they're the ones I actually own

Well, starting off with the looks, they do their job well. If you get the angle right, they are basically sets of the Heart Gold/ Soul Silver overworld sprites, and at this size, they do look very cute. As I said though, these basically just sit there, they don't do much else. Granted, they don't need to.

However, I do need to stop the praise there. While I cannot speak about the rest of the sets Nanoblocks has put out, I get the feeling some of what I'm about to say applies to more then just Mewtwo and Eevee. For one, the design for some parts seem to focus more on the look rather then the tolerances of the pieces. This mostly applies to Mewtwo, due to his ears, arms, and cord on the back of his head (while building) are a nightmare. There is not enough friction in these locking points at times, and made worse when you're putting weight on a (to use a lego term) one stud lock. I actually had to modify Mewtwo to better secure his arms, and to add better feet. Mewtwo, thanks to its tail, is very back heavy, and with no heal spurs of any kind means its going to topple over a lot. Eevee is also easy to knock due to piece position, but that's limited to side to side. The instructions on these were also, while not the worst I've seen, could have been better, as they feel like they were running out of budget and had to limit the instructions to a page. Add to this the tiny pieces which a 1x1 piece is barely bigger then a small birthmark on the palm of my hand, and I can see people getting frustrated very quickly. Finally, while I am still tossing up whether to call it a benefit, or an issue, there were a lot of spare parts for both of them, and combined with them being hallow for the heads (no I'm not making an airhead joke), and you get the feeling you've skipped steps, but that might be my Lego experience talking.

If all you want is to have these, or other sets being on your desk at work, or to put on your book case, then these will fit that role well. On looks, they do their job well. Its getting to the completed build, and keeping it complete, that issues start showing up. I dread to think of things like the Eifel Tower as Nano blocks if build issues like with Mewtwo are common. Come Wednesday, Ghostbusters II, and next Sunday:

Zootopia: That Rac... Speciest?

It's the middle of the year, and you know what that means? New disney reviews to do. At this point I'm just going to go "screw it" and find more disney things to do for July/August. Today's target: Zootopia, the next one in Disney's animation renaissance... how many of these has there been now? May as well just be seasons. Well, lets see how this goes.

Transformers Combiner Wars Bruticus, Part 6: Onslaught: Time to activate the Scramble City Protocol

We're finally at the end of Bruticus, for that is left is the combiner boss himself, Onslaught. I've wasted enough of your time, let's just do it.

Green Lantern x Star Trek; Spectrum War: This is going to be interesting

So we come back to DC, find something new from IDW that doesn't involve giant robots or horses, and we get a cross over which I didn't think would happen, and didn't know people wanted. But, here we are. Yes, this is a thing, and its kinda making me want to do similar stories for a few months. First of the month being for a weird crossover. Thoughts?

So there are apparently several different covers for each of the six issues so, have what's probably a variant.

Transformers Combiner Wars Bruticus, Part 5; Shockwave: A weapon fit only for a combiner

Yes, I did promise to also review Onslaught and Bruticus. I said that thinking I wouldn't get sick while working on the 2016 Tech Games Fest. I was wrong. Shout outs to my cousin, for giving me his cold, and for keeping me awake that first night with his coughing that sounds like he's choking. That being said though, the event itself was a blast as per usual, though granted my health did get worse as the event went on. However, now that I'm back home, I am recovering, though more of the cold signs are appearing. Why I'm not doing Onslaught? Because I have a bad headache now, and doing the Legends class figure is easier then doing the voyager combiner boss. Time to put the Decepticon Scientist under the microscope.

Mario Kart Wii Mod: CTGP Revolution. MOAR TRACKS!!!

What? You actually thought I'd review the same game twice? I'm not cruel, this isn't Endless Eight. What I am reviewing though is a mod for the game. Mechanically, its the same thing, go check out the Mario Kart Wii review if you want to know how the game is mechanically. Before I go on though, one note. I will only review mods I can get working with little adjustments to consoles. I'm fine with installing extra data, I won't do things like disabling region lock. For this one, all you really need is the Homebrew channel, and a physical copy of Mario Kart Wii. I can confirm it works for PAL, NTSC-U and NTSC-J, though PAL is the only one I can 100% confirm, as that is the region I live.

Transformers Combiner Wars Bruticus, Part 4; Brawl: I wonder if he too, is playing soccer with other tanks

Side note, does World of Tanks really need a Rocket League mode? Part 4 of Bruticus, and now we move onto our tiny tank unit... may or may not have Fire Emblem on the mind for this one as I just finished playing Birthright, and as we are doing an army team after all... I'll try to avoid FE jokes... until I get to either Fates' review or if I can get an opening impression out for Tokyo Mirage Session #FE (Don't have it yet, waiting to get paid for IRL work first). Time to send in Brawl, and potentially piss of Melee fans (I never said I'd avoid Smash bros jokes).

Mario Kart Wii: Blue shells. Blue Shells, everywhere

"Ok, this is random, even for you. What gives?" I am going somewhere with this, just trust me. This requires a bit of prep work, and for that, we need to go back a bit, to one of the first Wii games I got actually, back in 2008. "Welcome to Mario Kart" Wii.

Mediaholics Podcast: Post E3 2016 Discussion

Transformers Combiner Wars Bruticus, Part 3: Swindle: +1

I can tell you I genuinely wasn't procrastinating with this. I've had Swindle for ages. The last two weeks have just been me getting some things off my chest, pieces I've been meaning to write for a while, but haven't found the time to fit them in, there is a reason I started doing Sunday posts after all. However, during that time, it did give me a chance to pick up another figure which will be brought up here too, as they are almost exactly the same. Why? Because Combiner Wars Bruticus is now not the only combiner I have completed, the other is Combiner Wars Sky Reign. Not only is this a review of Swindle, but also of Hound as I don't feel the need to have them separate. There will be some time before I review Sky Reign, we'll need some break from the robot onslaught (no pun intended). After the final review of Bruticus, being Onslaught himself, will be reviews of other things, such as 2016 BIONICLE, a proper review of Amiibos, some music reviews, I have an impression on World of Final Fantasy to do because I forgot to bring it up in an upcoming video, and potentially more. So for now, consider this Part 3 of Bruticus, and Part 1 of Sky Reign.