Mediaholics Review: Sonic Mania

One big mascot platformer return to form, at least one more to go. Bubsy's... debatable if he counts. And Look! WE'RE DOING A VIDEO REVIEW ON SOMETHING THAT ISN'T POKEMON!!!

Mediaholics Cinema: Ducktales 2017

Woo-hoo

Sonic Generations: No this isn't going to review the physics

While people dig into Sonic Mania, I thought it might be a good idea to look at the last anniversary game for the hedgehog, one that got way more leaked and announced then Sonic Forces has been getting, and the game that made me want to get a X-Box 360... and then getting one for free that June, ready for release. Welcome, to Sonic Generations.

Injustice; Gods Among Us: All it took was a bomb, some gas, and a laugh.

Some say the DC Universe is like a Greek play, a Shakespearean performance. Some choose to stray away from these routes, where the events are mere coincidences, noting more, nothing less. Others try to embrace it; the extent of success is up to the viewer's choice. Allow me to take you on a path, one where the course of an entire universe was changed forever by one bad day. To take this path, there are two places to look. The first being the comics for the lead in to what they were inspired by. Welcome, to the world of Injustice. Welcome to a tale of death, destruction, and the collapse of everything you thought you knew about DC's strongest friendship.

Heroes of Inkopolis: Time to paint the valley Pink, Green, Blue and Orange

First of all, before starting, #TeamKetchup. It's not Jam! (and we are working on a joint review for Splatoon 2, we're just trying to find the time to record)

It's safe to say Splatoon was a breakout hit for the Wii U, and success is continuing for Splatoon 2. But with every success, there are its fans, and while fan games might get taken down by Nintendo, fan art seems to be safe... assuming the artwork itself is safe for all places such as a workplace. While some prefer just to draw, some choose to tell a story in their art, with the conclusion being in the style of a comic or manga. Allow me to take you back to Inkopolis Plaza, back to Octo Valley, with two agents that have... a touch more personality then Agent 3. Heroes of Inkopolis. Before reading, to make it clear that I'm not stealing the artwork, the source of the comic can be found here: http://tamarinfrog.deviantart.com/gallery/55917023/Splatoon-Heroes-of-Inkopolis

Super Mario 3D Land and 3D World: When Mario plays it safe

The 3DS and WiiU were a weird console pair, weren't they? Bad launches, the WiiU can only be described as a financial disaster thanks to its strong but badly paced out library, and some of the company's biggest IP's either didn't show up as any form of single console exclusive (No joke, there is no Zelda title that is exclusive to the WiiU), or kind of showed up feeling a little "half assed" by Nintendo's standards. Animal Crossing: Amiibo Festival comes to mind as one of those, and some people said that about Super Mario 3D World thanks to the 3DS title, Super Mario 3D Land. Well, as someone who's played both, I have to both agree, and disagree. Why? Well, read on to find out.

Opinion Piece: Power of the Primes

So, with Titans Return winding down, Hasbro looks to the future with its follow up, and the conclusion to the Prime Wars Trilogy with Power of the Primes. After it's official unveil at San Diego Comic Con recently, I've been thinking over the news and leaks that have come from it, and would like to voice my views on the new line.

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So first of all, I should state that I have been enjoying Titans Return overall. While some of the figures have been pretty "meh", a lot more have been really entertaining moulds to mess around with. While I do get where some people are coming from, in that it doesn't make the Headmasters from G1 feel as special anymore, and I personally would have liked some of the newer headmasters get the CHUG treatment over some in the line *cough* Sideways *cough* Overload *cough*. I have enjoyed the fact that it’s given some characters new chances at life, some who haven't been seen in years, even decades. Unfortunately, the biggest issue I've had with the line is availability here in Australia. US readers, I hope you like your Wave 5, it’s not going to be seen here until September at the earliest. On top of the US Exclusives like Chaos on Velocitron and Siege on Cybertron, and you have people like me wishing they could get a complete Titans Return set, knowing they may never will. Another issue I've had with the line is a more personal issue. I hate stickers. I hate Sticker details. I can live with them to an extent, if the design is more complicated then basic paint can do, but later on into the line, all the voyagers and leaders started using these foil stickers for everything more complicated then paint and it gets frustrating to see them peel off due to the quality of them. What makes it worse is that they do them for the insignias of the characters too, and I know they've got all sizes of Autobot and Decepticon tampographs they can apply, so to see them as stickers makes them look cheap. I know some people like them, as it is better than no details at all. But there are some characters like Broadside and Megatron which would have benefited with paint and tampographs over stickers. Silver doesn't work on grey plastic.

So, with that out of the way, let me go into Power of the Primes. Starting with its announcement, and I was pretty underwhelmed by it honestly. So, the new gimmick is Powermasters... which does lead to why Powermaster Prime and Overlord were in Titans Return, but that's beside the point. Contained in the new replacement for Titan Master class sets, Prime Masters can be combined with Deluxe, Voyager and Leader class characters to power them up, or used as a weapon in their pretender shells. Prime Masters themselves are retools of Titan Masters, and with the announcements so far, what's confirmed. It feels like a pretty average opening wave.

For the Prime Masters, we have Liege Maximo, which comes with the Skullgrin pretender suit. Doing some research into Pretenders, the first thing that comes to mind is "what's going to fill out the line?", there are thirteen primes, and I think the SDCC panel said there would only be 12 in PotP, but I could be wrong. To compare that to Titans Return, the Titan Masters were at bot 12 by wave 3. If my predictions are correct, there are going to be 6 waves of both Titans Return and probably Power of the Primes, and there are more pretenders, 33 not counting Classic Pretenders and Japan exclusives. Who's going to make the cut? Are we getting normal Powermasters too?

Moving onto the Legends class, and the way they sold this, it makes it sound like they're characters they couldn't fit into Titans Return, because the way they interact with Prime Masters is exactly the same as how most Legends class bots interacted with Titan Masters, riding in the vehicle modes. Not to insult Beachcomber fans, but the initial push for me wasn't there for me. The other thing for me is that we seem to be getting a lot of Autobot Legends class characters lately, and while I don't know if was like that in G1, from my perspective I'd like to see some more decepticon legends class characters.

On to Deluxe, and this is where things get a bit more interesting. Three characters were revealed officially, Jazz, Dreadwind and Darkwing. Jazz I'm honestly surprised wasn't in Prime Wars sooner, just due to the nature of the character, but Dreadwind and Darkwing have my interest. While yes, they do use Combiner Wars parts (hello Galvatronus limbs), they also do have a vehicle combined mode like their original toys to create Dreadwing. I personally enjoy gimmickformers depending on how the gimmick is implemented, its why I enjoy the Cybertron line, so something like this is more interesting for me as it adds some more originality to the line, makes them feel more unique. I admit I'm hesitant to see the execution of the Prime Master gimmick in this and the voyager class, because I can see things going badly depending on the execution.

Onto the Voyager announced, and this almost killed my interest. Starscream. I have mixed feelings about Starscream, it really depends on how he's written, but in terms of toys. Starscream often comes with the promise of the Seekers. Skywarp and Thundercracker at least, cone heads maybe, the "Something Storm" ones if they're reaching hard, so when I see a Starscream, my first thought is "Oh Primus we're going to have waves of just that mould as voyagers aren't we?". Also, can we please pull back on sticker details?!

Last, but not least, the confirmed Leader class characters. Rodimus Prime, and Optimus Primal. While we haven't seen Primal, we have seen Rodimus and Rodimus does make up for Starscream (before leaks). The fact that this is the first Rodimus that lets you turn Hot Rod into Rodimus without trailer kibble. That genuinely excites me, and the figure itself looks great. He's one I definitely want to get.

Overall, the official announcement was mediocre for me. But, what did get my interest in the line was the leaks. Now, I'm not going to post the images of the leaks here, as I'd rather not risk Hasbro wanting me to take this post down, as I'm pretty sure they're image hunting them. I do encourage you look around for them though if you want to see what they look like.

According to the leaks, incoming characters include (and if these names are wrong, they are phone camera captures of a computer screen, I am trying here):

Prime Masters (I can't see some of their pretender shells..): Micronus Prime, Vector Prime and Metalhawk, Alchemist Prime, Alpha Trion, Quintus Prime and Bludgeon, Megatronus and Bomb Burst, Solus Prime and Octopunch

Legends: Slash, Windcharger, Skrapnel Rerelease, Battleclash?, three that I can't see the names for, Cindersaur

Deluxe: Slug, Swoop, Snarl, Sludge, Rippersnapper, Moonracer, Cutthroat, Blot, Simmertwin Novastar,

Voyager: Grimlock, Hun-Gurr, Elita-1, Inferno, a Grimlock repaint, Predacons (to make Predaking)

Leader: Optimus Prime, Rodimus Unicronus (Rodimus Prime Repaint), an Optimus Prime rerelease?, Optimus Primal, a Rodimus Prime rerelease?

Now, there's a lot to unpack here, and many wouldn't recognise the names, so... The Prime Masters are going to be who you expect, their pretender shells though, not so much. Not much to say on Legends due to the quality of the picture, we're getting G1 Dinobots in Deluxe and Voyager scale, Predaking and Abominus incoming, lots more fembots, with Moonracer and Novastar getting toys for the first time ever, and Leader Class is looking to get really old, really fast, and is the one thing about this leak I'm hoping is fake. 3 waves in a row of Rodimus Prime? I like the look of the mould, I don't like it that much, especially since there are other characters who deserve the CHUG Treatment. Overall though, this leak was what got me excited for the upcoming line, because of the new characters, that don't get a lot of toy treatment, if at all. Again, my only issue is the leaders.

While the leaks have given me more interest in the line overall, what really interests me is what could be coming. The main ones for me being Leader Star Saber and Deathsaurus. The other Powermasters like Doubledealer, Joyride and Slapdash? Some characters that were Japan exclusives? Something that justifies the S in Generations that isn't G1 related? There's a lot of possibilities here that I hope gives the Prime Wars Trilogy a strong note to end on. One way to find out, maybe some of the leaks will be shown off in Hascon (I'll admit that Titans Return Arcee looks really nice). Anyway, see you in the next review.

Batman; Return of the Caped Crusaders: Nothing could have prepared me for this...

Unfortunately, the review of the original TV show is going to have to wait a little bit, that one needs more time.

Up until this point, I haven't had any direct experience with 1966's Batman TV series. I've seen the references, the memes, and all the talk on the show, but I've yet to fully experience it in any capacity. I'm probably not alone in that department, it came out in 1966 after all, I wasn't born until 29 years later. Surfice to say, not even the greatest of memes could have prepared me for what I'd gotten myself into with a movie 50 years later. Well, let's see where this rabbit hole goes.

The Incredible Adventures of Wallace and Gromit: Anyone for some cheese?

Rest in Peace Peter Sallis

I admit I'm almost ashamed this one took so long to do. It shouldn't be a shock to hear that I have a lean towards animation over live action, while a strong part of it was my childhood, where most of the cartoons and animations I watched were really good (in my opinion at the time, time is cruel after all) and a lot of live action things I saw were Tween dramas my sister loved to watch that I still hate to this day, the other part in it is creativity. While it might seem like a bad excuse, I do think animation is truly limitless in its potential for creative ideas, taking away what little restraints there are in live action. To me, its a shame that some animation styles have all but died out, such as traditional/ traditional water colour (take a guess as to why. Here's a hint, they just had a big expo over the weekend) and Stop motion, or to use today's case as an example, Claymation. The only difference between the two being what was used. Stop motion being the overarching style, where instead of filming in seconds, filming is done with pictures to allow for the animators to re-position the objects in each frame when needed. Claymation is the same thing but whereas Stop motion can be with anything, Claymation focuses on the use clay for the main objects, such as people and animals, and in the realm of Claymation, two names stick out, and rightfully so. Wallace and Gromit... or Robot Chicken depending on who you are, but this is kid friendly so Wallace and Gromit!

Mario Kart 8 Deluxe: Yes, I own a Switch now

And unlike last time, I'm reviewing this as someone who owns the game and the system.

Ports, many people hate them, many see them as a waste of development time. Me? Well it depends on the state of the port but overall, my stance on the matter is "They're done by backup teams with a small time frame, meant to help fill out a library. I would rather have ports of good games then shovel ware". After having this for close to two weeks, and playing with my fellow volunteers at the Tech Games Fest this year, I think it'll be good to tackle this, and give it an update seeing as when I last reviewed Mario Kart 8, I didn't experience most of the DLC. Also, your eyes don't decieve you, this is a review of a Mario Game on its own, though technically Mario Kart Wii got their first... also reviewed around the same time... should I just do Mario Karts around this time and make it a trend?