Combiner Wars Sky Reign (minus Hound): Combiners, now with 100% more cats

Who here is sick of people talking about Combiner Wars? Who here is sick of all the repaints? Who here is probably telling me I have no life because I review kids toys? To those I say: You have seen what's commonly covered on this site right? Trust me, this will probably be the last time Combiner Wars gets covered... at least gestalts. I do have a few Legends class characters from the line, just not the rest of their teams when applicable. So, lets finish off Combiner Wars before Titans Return goes to far ahead... I've got time... I hope... For those wanting to see a review of Hound, look up my review of Combiner Wars Swindle, I cover the two of them together. Also so that I can power through these: Deluxe figures that make up the limbs: Arm mode is half robot, half car with a hand on its foot, and the Leg mode is a compressed car with a foot in its exhaust.

Gotta go to the gym more mate, you're meant to be the Autobot bouncer

F%&@ this game, F%&@ this game, F%&@ this game, F%&@ this game, F%&@ this game

Decided to change the order, Sky Reign is Wednesday.

Ugh... this game. This abomination. This atrocity. This disgrace. What better way to celebrate the 15th anniversary of a franchise then to almost single handily kill it? Granted, it wasn't alone, Genesis and Secret Rings helped. This game, is infamous in how bad, how broken, how glitchy it is. This game, above all others, is the reason the franchise has the reputation it does. This was one of the first games I got for my 360, due to a sale EB was doing, and that my only other option was a 16-bit collection where the games I'd want to play, I already had for the DS. I should note, I have not played the newest contender to this throne, I don't have the game, but in the spirit of No Man's Sky's release, let’s go back, to 2006, to a game that no longer had the protection of the time. When DLC was starting to become a thing, but not patches, to a game that had the franchise creator leave the company. If you thought Assassins Creed Unity and No Man's Sky was bad, well, I envy you, because dear, naive reader, you haven't seen anything yet. Welcome, to "SONIC the Hedgehog", or to go by its more common name, Sonic '06.

Pokemon Adventures Red/ Green/ Blue Arc: It's Kanto as you always imagined it

I hope you like Pokemon, because you're going to see a lot of it in the next few months. So to kick start the spa... I mean content, lets take a look at a part of the franchise that, while it gets more attention then some, its nowhere near as known as the main three, being the games, TCG and anime. The franchise has had several Manga incarnations, but the one that many bring up is Pokemon Adventures. I get the feeling some are going "But its the first of the month, why is this not a comic review?!" To answer that, its pretty simple. I see comics and manga the same way as I see western animation and anime, in that they're basically the same except for a few changes. The main differences between them? Manga are normally longer then standard comic books, in that Manga are almost small novel sized, where as comics, before getting their complete arc releases, tend to be no bigger then a magazine, being generous. Manga also tends to mimic the anime art style, but to my knowledge, primarily stay black and white, in that there is no colour in them outside of the front and back covers. Are there more differences? Yes, but most of them are culture based. Yes US, there are more countries in the world then yours, or was the .au in the web address for this site not enough of a clue? I know I don't talk with an auzzie bogan accent but still.

Mediaholics Cinema: Jem and the Holograms Episodes 1-5

 For those who can't see the video, link to it is here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OjW3I4tHpXQ

Welcome to the Mediaholics Cinema. Tonight, we are airing the first five episodes of Jem and the Holograms. Why? Because we hate ourselves and want to put more effort into learning about the franchise then the movie team did for the 2015 movie. Do note, THIS DOES NOT SHOW THE ORIGINAL EPISODES. This is a commentary on them.

Opinion piece: Fan projects, and take downs

Recently two fan projects have come out and quickly been taken down. Another Metroid 2 Remake, and Pokemon Uranium version. While I wasn't able to get Metroid 2 before it got taken down, though versions are still available online, I do have Uranium's install. But them being taken down does raise a question, should they have been taken down?

Legally, yes. Nintendo was well in their rights to do it and to them, they have to. The games do infringe on copyright, using their IP's without their permission. Companies do still have to protect their IP's because if they have to take down things that do put them in a negative light, they would have a stronger case because letting them thrive, the defendant can just go "well if they can get away with it then why can't I?" More often then not, these kinds of projects fly under the radar of the companies and if they do find them, and they're getting a lot of traffic, then they tend to ignore them, claim they had no idea they were a thing. Case in point using one that I've covered here, Pokemon Zeta looks to still be around, just that development has ceased for their current project, Pokemon Insurgence. It raises the question "Why would they?" as the same thing applies to fan animations, fan art, song remixes, mods and more. Well, with a few odd exceptions on the more darker side of the internet, it's free promotion material, so they only get involved when it gets enough public attention. For Nintendo, it seems to be the highly publicised fan games, but there are other examples of it from other companies.

Is it the only option? Not always. For every AM2R and Super Mario 64 HD Remaster, there are cases like Mega Man x Street Fighter, a game Capcom endorsed and promoted. One option Nintendo could do is come to these fans and say "if you let us take a large chunk of the sales for royalties and no PC version, we'll put your game onto our eshop", it would be free money to them along with a way of finding fresh tallent that could handle smaller projects. Its also a potential way to help with release dry spells like what's happening for the WiiU where the next and potentially last pure WiiU game is Paper Mario Colour Splash. While yes, the devs of the games would potentially be getting screwed over in terms of money, at the same time though most of them are making these kinds of games on a budget of nothing and putting them out for nothing, so to them, some money is better then no money. And in the case of quality control, Nintendo could easy say "if your game doesn't meet our expectations, we'll send a cease and desist" wading out the cheep cash grabs from the quality projects. Is it flawless? No, but at least it's better then "Anything that is not made by us is not allowed to exist".

At the same time, for projects like Uranium, what might be a better idea is to turn it into its own franchise, akin to something like Freedom Planet was to the Sonic Franchise. All they'd have to do is remove the connections to Pokemon like calling them Pokemon, changing Pokeballs to something else, and removing any main series Pokemon that are in teh game if any exist. I think all the assets in it, from what I've seen, are original aside from things like Pokeballs, so the changes would be minimal. This also lets them put the game onto Steam, and get some money for their efforts because legally, its not a Pokemon game. Its how third party transformers are still allowed to be a thing because legally, they aren't those characters.

It's a legal grey area, and there's no right answer, so the question becomes "what do you think is the better idea?"

Deadpool: Anyone here know how to fix 4th walls?

A note to parents who read this. While Killing Joke and Dawn of Justice were rated R, to me, they never felt like it, so I didn't review them as such. Here, while it was still MA15+, I can see why this was rated R for the US. Consider this a warning, as I'm not going to censor this, I'm not going to sugar coat it. If you don't want your child reading something that brings attention to explicit material, stop them from reading this now.

BIONICLE 2016 Uniters: /Toa and only villain coming out here

Yes I am still bitter about that, but lets move on, shall we? To the main sets!

Red vs Blue: Incompetency incarnate

We've fought wars over lots of things. True world wars over resources and political structures, internet culture fights a new war every other day it seems (What is it now?), gaming culture fights millions of identical wars in the current onslaught of shooters and action games. But, I'd like to present to you something that some consider diabolical. A war so dangerous, that it has no clear end, one fought on thousands of battlefields, most of which we may never see. A war where the casualty cost is high, with soldiers pitted in a battle with similar gear, all because they want to kill each other, and steal flags... Sounds stupid, doesn't it? Well, a stupid war, with a stupid goal needs to be fought, with stupid soldiers. Welcome, to Red vs Blue.

BIONICLE 2016 Creatures: Rahi sounds more badass, just saying

The joys of BIONICLE sets from a reviewer's perspective: Most of them are clones, so I can get through six in one day. Why? Because that's exactly what I'm doing. All I can review are the Summer (for here) sets of this year, can't do the winter wave because they're not being released here, which I am a bit bitter about because they look awesome, and more interesting then the Skull things from last year.

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.

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.

Opening Impressions: Wolverine and the X-Men

I do feel kinda bad for not being able to do more X-Men content this year, and until I can get the other movies done, I probably won't get to Apocalypse for a little bit. However, there are other things we can do, like this here. A TV show I could have sworn was apart of Marvel's current animated universe, but everything I've seen on the matter suggests otherwise. So, lets take a look at the opening (or rather, first 50%) of Wolverine and the X-Men.

E3 Day 2 Summary: Microsoft, Ubisoft, and Sony

Microsoft introduced new games as well as old ones. Scalebound is a new title but personally it rubs me the wrong way. Some of the monsters looked like they were copyright safe rip offs from monsters in Monster Hunter. Not only that but the voice over is pretty annoying. It seems like they want to make the character a cool dude that kills things like Dante. Though if the game is multiplayer, wyvern riding while trying to kill big bosses sounds pretty fun.

A new Rare game called Sea of Thieves was announced. It is a multiplayer centered game on having a pirate crew and maintaining your ship while you sail the seas. The game gave me Minecraft vibes in a good way. I just wonder what would happen if you didn’t have enough people to make a crew online.

Sequels like Halo Wars 2, State of Decay 2, and Forza Horizon 3 were also announced. Though I do not know that much about their predecessors.

Microsoft has a new program where if you download a game to your Xbox One, you can get it on Windows 10. So that’s pretty cool if you have both.

To end the conference, they saved the biggest announcement for last. Announcing Project Scorpio, a new console that they claim to be the strongest console in the market. It is said to handle 4k gaming resolution, and it’s VR ready. It’s basically a stronger Xbox One as it’s compatible with all of it’s games. It is said to launch next fall, and they’re taking this opportunity to make more games for it’s launch.

Ubisoft opens with an expected but somewhat interesting opening. Of course it’s another Just Dance, but it’s releasing on eight platforms including the Nintendo NX which is going to release in March. This is the first official mention of the NX at E3 and it’s not even Nintendo.

Tom Clancy’s Ghost Recon caught my eye during the presentation. Not because I’m interested in the game but because of one thing that bothered me. They were showing how the mic was beneficial to use in the game, though they players sounded more like voice actors so it was difficult trying to figure out if it was in use of a mic or it’s coming from the game. The game itself looks pretty fun, you are cops busting a drug distribution. That’s pretty much the jist.

The new South Park game The Fractured But Whole was announced. It follows the style of Stick of Truth but with a superhero aesthetic. The group of friends broke up because of Cartman’s ideas about their game and they are in some sort of “Civil War”. Not just the story was changed, but the combat system is too. It’s more of a technical system in which you move characters to certain areas similar to a tactics game.

A couple of other new titles also got announced. Trials of the Blood Dragon is a sidescrolling platformer that is supposed to be based on a product from the 90’s. A game called For Honor which is a combat game based on leaders of war. A new experimental game called Grow Up which looks to be a platformer with fun little gimmicks. And a couple of VR games like Star Trek Bridge Crew where you command the enterprise with your crew who are other players. Also Eagle Flight which is a game where you battle your friends at capture the flag as you fly around as eagles.

The bigger announcements at Ubisoft’s presentation was Watch Dogs 2 where your a hacker in San Francisco where you can exploit a lot of things. You can use drones to gather intel from hard to reach places. Sneak into a high security company with just a press of a button. The story of the game is based around rigging an election.

The Assasin’s Creed movie was also announced. The movie is going to be it’s own story and not based on the games.

Sony’s presentation opens with a new God of War game where Kratos is helping is son hunt. There was no subtitle, all we know now is that it’s called “God of War”, fans unofficially call it God of War 4.

A few new games were announced. Horizon caught my eye. It’s a new game where you are in a robot infested plains where you hunt and kill corrupted robots for their materials. Days Gone is a zombie game where basically a huge conga line of zombies gang up on you to kill you. The trailer shows the player in a barn that is crawling with hordes of zombies. Detroit: Gone Human is a detective game where you are an android, and you have to make important decisions. Each little decision you make will effect the story immensely. Farpoint is a sci-fi game where you are on an unknown planet. Star Wars: Battle Front was also with this line of games but this isn’t EA’s press conference.

Resident Evil VII was a surprising announcement. It is taken through a first person view and it actually looks like a horror game rather than the action shooting games that the recent Resident Evils looked like.

A Starwars Lego was also announced. It’s basically what you expect it to be. A Spiderman game is announced for the PS4 but not much is known about it. The Last Guardian returns with a few new cutscenes and a release date for October 26th 2016

A small announcement was made that the Crash Bandicoot games are getting a remastered version. These games are built from the ground up. They are going to remaster the first Crash Bandicoot, Crash Bandicoot 2, and Crash Bandicoot: Warped. With this announcement is Skylanders: Imaginators where you can design your own Skylander. A playable Crash is going to be a part of this game.

Playstation VR has a release date for October 13th 2016. Batman Arkham VR though they don’t show much outside of the title. Final Fantasy XV VR, don’t know much about gameplay.

Bigger announcements included Call of Duty: Infinite Warfare where you pilot a fleet of spaceships and take over an enemy station. Along with this is Call of Duty: Modern Warfare remastered.

Kojima returns as a part of Sony to announce his new game Death Stranding though not much is known outside of the title.

E3 Day 1 Summary: EA and Bethesda

EA came up first and presented us games we somewhat expected. First was Battlefield 1, a confusing title since the Xbox One. It’s a military based shooter game with singleplayer on online gameplay. Next was Titanfall, a sci-fi shooter with singleplayer and online- hey wait a minute… I’m not familiar with these franchises though they could look promising to a fan. Titanfall promises more mechs if you’re interested.

Their bigger announcement was Mass Effect: Adromeda which takes place after the events of the trilogy. Not so much is known except that you are on an alien planet trying to survive. It looks like a pretty imaginative survival game.

They also talked about sports sports and more sports. Yeah I’m not so much of a follower of Madden, FIFA, and stuff like that. They showed pretty much all continuations so there wasn’t anything new.

Bethesda was next showing some new games as well as continuations. Prey is a reboot of a sci-fi shooter of the same name though not too much is known about the game itself outside of the trailer. Dishonored 2 got a lot of attention at the conference. The time mechanics and the concepts seem interesting. You’re an assassin with powers and have the ability to stop time.

A few Elder Scrolls games were announced. Elder Scrolls: Legends is an online card game that is more or less a ripoff of Heathstone. Elder Scrolls Skyrim got an HD edition to be on the PS4. I would say more about these games but that’s basically all there needs to be said about them. I’m pretty sure when they were talking about how “huge” an Elder Scrolls Online update was, they had paid people to cheer for them, though that’s only a guess. They pretty much lied about their MMO saying that “over 7 million people” played it when the number is only in the thousands.

Quake: Champions was a pretty big announcement, though they won’t be saying a whole lot about it until Quakecon. It still builds a lot of hype though.

Opinion Piece: White Washing (or an other type of media washing for that matter)

Ho boy, the political views just keep on coming don't they? This one's gotten attention lately, so lets address it. For this particular one (well, actually every post I write on this site, it is an unspoken rule after all), this is my opinion on the matter. You can agree or disagree, and if you think I'm wrong, I'm happy to hear why, provided its longer then "You're wrong idiot".

So, the idea of White washing. In basic terms, its casting a white person in a role that is normally intended for another race. Now in a moral black and white world, I would agree with the masses. But, we don't live in that kind of world, we live in this one, where the colour grey exists. So allow me dear reader to go into my views on the matter not just for film, but for every visual medium I review.

For Live action films, my general rule is that whenever you can, cast an actor of as close to a background as you can for the role. So for a (in general terms) asian character, cast an asian actor. The only exceptions I can think of for this are if you need to change it for political reasons (like with Doctor Strange, which yes, is a racist reason, but not the one most people latched onto) or if an actor just fits the role so well, that no one else could do it better. To use a recent one, Director Fury. Unless you were really into comics before the MCU, most people would think that Nick Fury was always a black character. In reality, he was originally a white character. Marvel changed it to black in the comics while they were still working on the plan that would become the MCU, or to be more accurate, they changed it to look like who would eventually play him, Samuel Jackson. Now with the MCU in full effect. Can you sincerely tell me that you could see a white person playing Nick Fury? I personally can't because he fits the role perfectly. Its the same with a lot of the characters (this coming from someone who still hasn't seen Ant man or Civil War, don't kill me please). I don't see anyone playing Iron Man better then Robert Downy Jr. Chris Pratt as Starlord, Scarlet Johansson as Black Widdow (though she was also a controversial casting pick to the masses as she's the lead in Ghost in the Shell), Chris Evens as Captain America and more. It was intentional that I used the superhero names as a FYI.

The only other reason I would let it slide is if it is a re-imagining of the story, in a new situation. To use Ghost in the shell as an example. It would make no sense for the role to be for an asian actor, if the interpretation is set in Germany. You would logically get a german actor for that role. Now some would say that "That never happens idiot" Well, it does happen, quite a bit actually. For Live action, it mostly happens when a story is told in an asian situation, it rarely happens in reverse, but again, that's live action.

Animated on the other hand, that's called "dubbing", and that happens all the time. This is when I cop out and do all animated forms together along with Comics. In a space when you can create anything you want, then I honestly don't care so long as the performance is solid. Now that being said, I'd rather a push for fresh talent over tried and true voice actors when possible, as a mix of brand new voice actors and voice acting veterans never hurts. And while again, it would be better to have voices that match the race and age of the character, sometimes its not a good option especially for child characters, there's this whole thing called puberty, kinda hurts child actors while its happening and if you were a director, would you go with a pre puberty child actor who may have their voice drastically change, causing several potential re-castings, or an adult who can do a child's voice?

At the end of the day, it really depends on the situation, and if the actor can make me believe they are the character, because at the end of the day, that's what I look for above all else. Again, I love diversity if its an added bonus, not the central focus. Call me crazy if you want. I'll see you all for the opening impressions of Wolverine and the X-Men

Star Wars: The Force Awakens: Part 2, the actual review

Time to talk about the 2015 movie that you could not escape no matter how hard you tried, though unlike Ghostbusters, for all the right reasons. The reboot to Star Wars. I've kept you all waiting long enough for this, lets take a look at the movie together. Did the critics get it right, did they get it wrong? Only one way to find out.

Opinion Piece: The Mary Sue

The next Sunday Review from me is going to be Swindle, don't worry about that. But Sunday is primerily for things that don't need to take up Wednesday when possible. And with Wednesday's next review being Star Wars: The Force Awakens, I think this needs to be brought up. This topic needs its own post, so to not bog down the review. Now I should say that this is only covering the Mary Sue character analysis way (and no, I won't also be using The Marty Stu, sake of consistency, and most people just use the one name anyway), not the website. I know of it, don't care about it, never needed to go to it. Oh, and as a word of warning, the toy break will continue next week with the concept of White Washing. But hey, at least there will also be E3 stuff!

To quote Wikipedia: "A Mary Sue is an idealized and seemingly perfect fictional character, a young or low-rank person who saves the day through unrealistic abilities. Often this character is recognized as an author insert or wish-fulfillment." This is going to be the definition I use for this post.

Lets start off with Rey who had many people who saw The Force Awakens see her as a Mary Sue. Using that definition, every single Jedi would fall into that category, what do you think The Force is? Now in the context of the world and the star wars universe, no. She is not a Mary Sue character, but she does have Mary Sue moments. Those being the battle of Jakku, and her escape from the interrogation cell. Both of these lean a bit on the side of bad writing. However, both of them I'm willing to let slide depending on how Episode VIII plays out, because as of right now, those moments could genuinely be Mary Sue moments, or foreshadows for episode 8 when it arrives, depending on how it plays out.

Another thing Internet, don't hate on Mary sues, and then demand for writers to write them. Let's step back to last year with Avengers Age of Ultron, and Black Widow. Not to drive it in further, as this will be quick. A flawed character, is a superior character. People were complaining about Black Widow being kidnapped, and on rewatching, I think everyone was wrong about the situation. Remember back to the first Avengers movie? Yeah, she was "kidnapped" in that one too, only difference was that she beat up several armed guards while tied to a chair. I think the intention was for her to only give the illusion of being captured while she was in the cage. Her getting there, that was just her being captured, but once she woke up, the plan was for her to look like she was waiting for the right moment to escape. Did that come off well in the movie? Well, no, it didn't. But because people jumped the gun, the traditional knee jerk reaction, people demanded her to be better, stronger, and perfect. To that I say: Why? Again, a flawed character is a better character, a more compelling and interesting character. To have her as perfect, which in itself is impossible because again, flawed character is a better character meaning that a perfect character in universe would be an awful character out of universe, to the viewer.

Honestly, I'm not surprised that the Internet has a fascination with Mary Sues, because many who are the most vocal about it are exposed to Mary Sues all the time. Where? In video games. Not that they are exposed to them, they control them, they are them. Again, using that definition, name 5 that have something that gives a narrative conclusion for the failed state, "game over". This is something being looked into more with more modern games like Ace Attorney 5 Not guilty, but disgraced attorney ending, Monkey Island 2 having a more comical "You couldn't have died. You're standing right here." situation. But using that definition, the act of retrying a situation is in the universes of the games, an unrealistic ability. You are the biggest Mary Sue in most video games, maybe all depending on how you look at it. Kind of ironic, isn't it? But at least now that we have this out of the way, lets check out Force Awakens on Wednesday, shall we?

First Impressions: Doctor Strange

I did try to get this out at 7am, I did try.

The MCU's getting a bit of a shake up, isn't it? While Phase 2 was pretty much all sequels (Ant man depending on if you put it in phase 2 or phase 3) and only one of them getting the general view of it being better then the first in the eyes of the masses. Now, its mostly introductions for new characters, one of them being Doctor Strange. As a forewarn, we don't get much from this trailer, so this is going to be quick.

IDW Transformers; Last Stand of the Wreckers: How to make Hell on Earth look like a Paradise

"War, is hell"

On one corner you have the honor bound, live to protect Autobots. But what happens when you need something stronger, when you need a looser, glass cannon? That's when you call in The Wreckers. The bots who you send in when the mission is suicidal, who go in guns blazing, and just because you walked off their ship doesn't mean you're walking back on. "Sometimes in teh Wreckers, your first day is your last". Or to put it more bluntly, they are the Autobot equivalent of the Expendibles. So let's take a look at one of their missions. In terms of continuity, this is post Autocracy, but long before Combiner Wars.

Autobot outposts all over the galaxy have been falling to Decepticon forces, with one in particular located on Garrus-9, a prison complex designed to house war criminals run by Fortress Maximus (not the titan), is taken over by a loose cannon, one that even Megatron fears (or so we're told), Overlord. One of the three "Phase six" (for another arc review) decepticons, normally sent in to destroy what's left of a planet and its resistance. Autobot and Decepticon alike fear him because while many kill in the names of their leaders. Overlord can be best described as a sadist, the pain, fear and suffering of others pleasures him. He now runs the prison. With everyone there killing each other either for sport, or survival, in a more primal sort of way. The mission: Break into "G-9", save any autobot survivors and Aequitas, a super computer that serves as a judge and jury for the prison, and get out. Simple enough, right? Well, I won't say how the story ends.

Oh don't worry, I'll come back to this girl later

The simple plot though leads to some terrifying visuals. The bright colour pallete makes all the darker moments stronger, its actually so good that I'd love to see this animated. It's practically begging for an animated form. I also love the contrast of the veteran Wreckers like Kup, Springer, and Impactor to the new recruits like Ironfist, Guzzle and Rotorstorm. It further highlights the strains of war, especially when you're on a team constantly getting fresh parts because recruits keep dying on these suicidal missions.

Kinda heavy, but while I do recomend this arc, it is pretty dark. And considering the other arcs reviewed recently, I think we need to get something lighter covered for next month. In the meantime, I feel like talking about Doctor Strange on Friday, anyone care to listen?

Transformers Combiner Wars Bruticus, Part 2; Blast Off: We need a Doctor here!

It took them 30 years, but they finally did it. They finally fixed the problem of "Why is there a space shuttle on the army guy team?"

Part two of Bruticus, and now we come to his right arm, Blast Off. Who is a repaint, and repaint of Slingshot (or rather, Quickslinger) who is a remold of Fireflight (Firefly). The mold reuse is real here people. At least he still looses to Vortex who's been Alpha Bravo, Blades, Vortex, and the twins in Victorion.

False advertisement, that landing gear is not purple on mine!

Opening Impressions: Fire Emblem Fates: "You are the ocean's grey wave"

"You said that Opening Impressions are for TV shows, Fire Emblem isn't a TV show you idiot" And you'd be correct, however, this is something I really want to bring up, at first, quickly, because its not going to get a review for a while. "Then what took you so long you idiot, Fire Emblem Fates came out ages ago." Well I don't have a US 3DS, and we didn't get the game until last Saturday, to which I was at the midnight launch for. So then, assuming you're still around for this category shake up, shall we?

I should say first, no, I don't have the special edition, I have a physical copy of both Birthright, and Conquest. And right of the bat, that is my biggest problem with Fates, and it has been since the announcement. The point of the game is "the choice", after Chapter 7, you will be on one of three sides to the war, and I think locking the choice to the game versions weakens the choice. Now granted, you can buy all three versions on the one game, but that is pricy (though probably not as pricy as my method, I just like having a physical copy when possible).

Before getting into the other thing that would make that moment better, let's actually tackle the plot, or what I know of it so far (currently at chapter 11 (roughly) of Birthright), You take up the role of Corrin, a prince or princess depending on what gender you chose (which to me, I prefer female Corrin's design, so for the rest of this I'll be reffering to Corrin as a woman). her role in the bigger story, is of a grey, for you see, she is Honshido by blood, but was kidnapped and raised in teh kingdom of Nohr. While Honshido is more peaceful, colourful, and heavily based on Japanese culture, Nohr on the other hand, thanks to their King, is more of a war culture, more closely resembling previous Fire Emblem games like Awakening, in comparison. You spend three chapters with your brothers and sisters of Nohr, and then three chapters with your brothers and sisters of Honshido, with Chapter 7 being when you make the decision of which side you fight for.

With the exception to what I said above, about the multiple games, and that they portrey the king as the "big bad guy". That choice is heart wrenching. It's brutal, and after what happened in Chapter 6, its a real feels trip, something the Fire Emblem games are known for (see the death of Chrom in Awakening (no spoilers, its in the prologue of the game) and sacrificing one of your troops in Shadow Dragon (might review that one some other time). I'm almost dreading making having to do the choice another two times, with the worst one possibly being the Revelations "stand alone" option.

What helps with the choice is that Fire Emblem is well known for its strong characters, and Fates is no exception. The brothers and sisters are really interesting, Corrin, like Robbin, has a strong, defined personality, and isn't just a shell for the player. My personal favorite, in terms of personality, from Honshido has to go to Hana, who to me is basically this game's Nowi, not in role, just in charm. I love how she's portreyed in this, and I'm curious as to who I'll meet in Conquest and Revelations, who the stand outs will be there.

I've not had the time to try all the new features, however I have unlocked several of them. Including... that one... Now before I get probably everyone on the internet pissed off in some way, hear me out. I haven't had a reason to use it, I don't want to use it, for two reasons. First, as I said, I'm playing as female Corrin, and I don't want to pet grown men in this, its creepy enough as is for the women. Second, while I love the visuals for this, I love the art style, I don't like the close up 3D models for the characters. They feel amost like they're in an uncanny valley. It might just be me, but I much prefer how expressive their in battle models and 2D portraits are, expecially with the art direction they went with the portraits.

I'll save a full music review for when I review the game, but I will openly state that the full version of the main theme is one of the best songs I've heard from the franchise, and I would even put it up with one of the best video game songs I've heard, period. It's absolutely beautiful, and to me, its one that I would use when I get people asking me "Why do you listen to video game music?". The song itself is called "Lost in thoughts all alone", and seriously, go listen to it. Right now! In fact:

And if you can't see it: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ENwFAmeWEYk

Yeah, encase it wasn't obvious, I'm loving Fates so far. What issues I have, most of them can be negated as they're still really solid. I wish I didn't have to refer to them as multiple games, just leave them as the one game, but I'm guessing that was a marketing "lets milk this for as much cash as we can" decision, and hopefully not a designer decision. See you on Sunday for the review of Blast Off, the other arm of Bruticus.

Mediaholics Podcast Episode 4

So what did we think of Sun and Moon?

Transformers Combiner Wars Bruticus, Part 1; Vortex: No, I'm not going to make that joke

It's too obvious.

So, lets take a stab at some Generations figures, the continuation of Classics, which is basically re designs of Generation 1 characters. With Titans Return on the way, and the combiner wars concluded, I figure it would be interesting to take a look at the, at time of writing, the only combiner from that line I've completed, Bruticus. As a forewarn, I'll be reviewing them in the order I got them, if it comes off as random, that's why. Time to begin the drone coverage with Alpha Bravo... I mean Blades... I mean Vortex.

I'm no photographer, but still, would you rather my bad photography skills, or promo images?

Starting with the helicopter mode and... its a helicopter. It has nice details, but what does suffer from is the problem with the line. It's Alpha Bravo as a decepticon. Critiquing the mold itself, its pretty long, but personally I think in the wrong places. The front end has pretty much most of the mass in the copter, making the tail look rather small in comparison, boosted by the fact that the "stabilizers" are just as far back. There are reasons why, but it still makes it look kinda awkward. Adding to that, looking at the underside... and you see most of the robot. The chest, the head, the arms, and you can guess how the legs are going to work. Yellow missile's aside, the paint is also pretty good for a retail release, very fitting of Vortex. If there was someway to bring the arms forward though and a way to compact them better, the look for the copter would look so much better.

Combiner Wars Deluxe figures, like Vortex, have four modes. Vehicle, Robot, Leg mode (or rather, shin mode), and arm mode. So for these, I'll be doing them in order of transformation, so first off, Leg mode, which to do it, you transform the cockpit of Vortex into his feet for Robot mode, put the complimentary Hand Foot Gun into its foot form and plug it into the now exposed port for it, compress the tail and propellers and then flip out the combiner peg. And now, you have a shin. And this will probably be the last time Vortex will ever be in Shin mode, because for one, there are better shin bots then Vortex and for another reason, scramble city gimmick or not, Vortex is an arm. In arm mode, he looks a lot better, with the robot mode legs being the elbow for Bruticus, and the arms... just hanging there, which is a common problem for arm modes in the line. I personally bend the arms back, having the missiles pointed out, just for the sake of the arm mode. But yeah, it's an arm... Next!

Robot mode then, and its a pretty competent robot. Far, far, FAR better then the last batch of combiners reviewed. Vortex isn't a brick, having articulation in his head, sholders, elbows, waist, and knees. Everything is also secure on him, nothing's too tight, nothing's too loose. Gun's a little on the bland side in terms of paint, just boring grey plastic, and the combiner peg sticks out like a sore thumb, but overall, its a great robot.

Nothing feels tacked on aside from the Hand Foot Gun, it probably would have worked better to have a separate hand and a separate foot, there's no reason they couldn't do it that way, as you need four of the things anyway to make a combiner. The arms suffer from the simpler, smaller transformations, but apart from those, I do really like the mold, worth picking up if you can get one. Next Sunday will be Blast Off, a new video is coming in the next few days, and I want to try something a bit more casual for Wednesday, so bare with me for it.

Opening Adventures; Rick and Morty: Time for a science question...

This show is aimed more at a maturer audience, airing on Adult Swim. As such, the language used in this review is meant for a more mature audience.

What do you get when you mix Back to the Future, with crude humor? You'd basically get this. I've had this on my radar for a while now, ever since December 2014, always with teh intent on giving this a proper look. I still haven't, but hey, that's what Opening Impressions are for, judging how well the opening episodes of a show work to sell the show. So let's see how well this show does it.

This is a Fan poster by 3FrogBoy on Deviantart.
Link found here: http://3frogboy.deviantart.com/art/Rick-and-Morty-Fan-Poster-562269021