The Killing Joke: Sometimes all it takes is one bad day

A few things before I start. First, what does it take to get an R18 rating for people in America, this is MA15+ along with Deadpool. Also: Two timely movie reviews in a row? Does this count as a comic review? It's directly based off a comic, that's good enough right? No? Well I'm doing it anyway. Regarded as the backstory of The Joker, armed with an all star cast and crew "and an R18 rating" in America, seriously? Regardless, this got attention, this got hype, did it deliver?

Batman V Superman; Dawn of Justice Ultimate Edition: I think you mean Batman in Blue vs Batman in Black; Dawn of the Jesus Symbolism Cluttered Edition

The overly long name for the review of the overly long movie is entirely intentional.

Batman V Superman: Dawn of Justice. What many regard as the most dissapointing movie of this year. Panned by many, though more people wanted to see it, so many debate weatehr Ghostbusters is worse. Some think I may not have much to say about the movie that hasn't already been said. But, my view of the movie? Well, let me tell you what I think, and probably in less time then the movie itself. Oh and one thing, spoilers ahead.

No idea why, but for some reason the concept reminds me of the last part of Acadeca

Toys to Life: DLC given physical form

So... these are a thing... Shall we take a look at them? I should note that all I'm reviewing is what I have. I have one Skylander, being Spyro, but he's in bad condition due to being pre-owned, so to review it would be a bad sample size. Going from oldest to newest:

Pokemon Go: First Impressions

Everyone that ever played a core Pokemon game probably imagined what would it be like if Pokemon were real. Thanks to the advances in technology, we have that in a free to play smartphone app called Pokemon Go. How it works is that your phone locates you via GPS tracking and wild pokemon spawn a little aways from you, so you’ll have to go out and find them. It’s basically an improved Pokewalker from when Heartgold/SoulSilver came out. Although instead of it being a pedometer where you can cheat steps in by shaking it, you have to physically move your location.

If you live near a town, you’ll probably notice little blue markers by some locations. Those are called Pokespots. When you get close to one, the Pokespot will grant you items when you interact with it on your phone. People can use lure modules at pokespots and they’re marked by swirling cherry blossoms near the pokespot. Lure modules lure nearby pokemon towards them. Don’t get confused with the incense which only work for you.

Some locations can become gyms too. When you pick a team as you reach level 5 (either Red, Yellow, or Blue), you can take on these gyms. You can either take a gym of a different team or you can add a pokemon to the gym of the same color as you. When you add a pokemon they will stay at that gym, but if they lose while you’re away, they automatically come back to you even if the gym is far away.

Pokemon Go uses AR to show a pokemon in front of you using the phone camera. I find it easier to catch pokemon with the AR off, plus it saves battery. When you catch a pokemon, you get some candy of that species. Catching even weak pokemon is good because you need plenty of candy to level up and evolve some pokemon. Pokemon will have CP meaning Combat Points. The higher the Combat Points the stronger it is. There is no cap on CP from what I can see.

My personal experience with this app was quite fun. My friends would go on these outings to various locations like the park or the beach. There’s a town walking distance from my house with a lot of pokespots, so I usually go there for some items and some pokemon catches. After that we go to the beach and catch some wild water type pokemon as well as Dratini.

The amazing thing about Pokemon Go is how active it is. When you go out on let’s say an afternoon, a surprising amount of people play it. You can probably notice at least one person playing it and most likely have a stable conversation with them. The team system makes your neighborhood into, as my friend puts it, a socially acceptable gang war. People yelling out encouragements for their teams and trash talking other teams, all in good fun of course. Although the experience can depend on what kind of neighborhood you live in. As the loading screen with the Gyarados says, always stay aware of your surroundings.

This game is of course without its faults. The game tends to lag when catching pokemon. Sometimes the screen would glitch and you can’t press anything, usually what happens when you use battery saver. Most of the time in certain crowded areas, it would kick you out saying that the servers are busy. It’s very important to carry an external battery charger while you go out, this game tends to drain a lot of phone battery. Though that’s to be expected when you have the app open as you travel.

Pokemon Go is a fantastic idea that needs a lot of polishing. I can forgive all the faults because it’s still in beta. It’s playable for the most part, it’s basically a free early access game for everyone. Currently it’s very active and has scheduled updates from the company for various bug fixes. You can’t ignore how much of a phenomenon despite how buggy the game is. Various news stories on mainstream networks, and a surprising amount of how many people play the game never picked up a core pokemon game. It’s a great way for people to get introduced to the franchise. It’s still a great time to at least try it out. It’s free to play so you’re not really losing anything by downloading it. Pokemon fan or not, it’s a good introduction to the types of pokemon you can meet. It’s still an amazing experience and I highly recommend going out with friends to play together.

-keybug55

Ghostbusters II: Slime. Slime, everywhere!

I'm expecting Ghostbusters 2016 to be our around October, so you'll have to wait a bit for that review. So lets take a look at that other movie people claim ruined the franchise. Ghostbusters II, the sequel to the original movie. Is it as bad as everyone makes it out to be?

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.