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

Avengers vs X-Men: So tempting to do a Birds of Prey joke

Not the original plan, but being honest, I couldn't find ways to word it, so I picked another arc, this one, with thankfully better sucsess. So, what could bring the two biggest teams in the Marvel Universe to go against each other? Well seeing as this will probably not be the last hero v hero comic covered, let's find out. I should note, I'm only covering the direct plot of the arc, not before it, and not after it.

The Phoenix force, a power unlike anything you'll find in the MCU (for legal reasons). Its an entity of pure destruction, and its returning to earth, to merge with a girl called Hope Summers, the mutant messiah. The Avengers try to put her into protective custody, but the X-men, refuse. Using a portion of the Phoenix Force, hope flees from the battle, causing the two teams to try and find her. Hope wants to use the Phoenix to reignite the Mutant kind, and trusts Wolverine to, if need be, kill her should she not control it. Before the Phoenix can fully bond with Hope, Iron Man and Giant Man fire a device to try and stop it, but only splinters it, making it bond with Cyclops, Emma Frost, Neymor, Colossus, and Magik (hope I'm spelling some of those right). After defeating the Avengers, the Phoenix five, as they are now going by, are reshaping the planet to their desire, providing free energy, food and water to everyone, all really good things, but because their powers are going unchecked, they need to be stopped. After the first part of their plan, to rescue Hope, barely succeeds, many battles take place, eventually leading to them defeating Neymor, but having his portion of the power return to the other four, making them more powerful.

The rest of the main story is basically that, leading to Cyclops becoming the Dark Phoenix, with all the pieces, killing Professor Xavier, but eventually losing to Hope and the Scarlet Witch. While I can say that this is more then what I was able to do for the Dark Phoenix saga, everything else aside from the visuals and the situation is pretty meh overall. It was more style of the situation, over substance. Might it be because of my lack of time dedicated to it, to get the review, maybe, I hope not though.

Transformers Energon Perceptor Mini Con Team: Why did you want this?

No seriously, why? I put that poll up as a joke, thinking no one would want to see this. How wrong I was. is it just because this is one of the transformers that even the big Transformers Toy reviewers don't do? I don't follow every one who does Transformers reviews, but looking at who I primarily follow, Emgo316, BensCollectables, Thew Addams, Lazy Eyebrow Reviewer and TJ Omega, none of them have done these figures, and I can only confirm one of them has them at all. Last chance to say no... fine...

You wanted them

Allow me to show you what happens when you try to make a combiner small, and cheep. Starting with the vehicle modes, which for Mini cons, they aren't that bad. From left to right, we have High Wire, who's a motor cross bike, and in my opinion the weakest of the three, as you will see later. Sureshock, who's a quadbike, and Grindor... who's a hovercraft... one of these three isn't like the others. Generally when there are Mini con teams, they tend do have some sort of theme. During Armada, these three were the street mini con team, a bike, a skateboard, and a scooter, which makes sense. How does a Hovercraft fit in with a dirt bike and a quad bike? I'd even settle for a hover board, which is how Grindor was used in Energon. Standard features for those vehicles still work here. Grindor is a brick, Sureshock moves with all rolling wheels, along with Highwire... but its a toy motor bike, they don't stand on their own, at all.

I swear there were some good looking Mini cons back then

Robot modes then... can you tell these three are going to combine yet? Have you noticed how much they've had to sacrifice for the combined mode? Then allow me to tell you about them. Highwire first, no, that isn't a miss transformation, and no, that's not a factory defect. Highwire genuinly has no paint on his face. It was so bad that promo images actually showed him with Perceptor's head as his head, which just makes him look super awkward. He (and before I get angry comments, I've had these three for over a decade, I've just always referred to them as male) is also one of those mini cons where a gentle breeze will tip him over. Highwire is very back heavy, as he is the head of Perceptor, and with barely any form of feet, he will just fall. While he is pretty posable, being the only one of the three with standard articulation (head swivel, movable "arms", waist swivel, and two joints in the legs, you can't do much with them, because again, he falls easy, not to mention, HE'S MISSING AN ARM. Again, not a factory error, one of his arms, is his front wheel. There isn't even something that gives him at least a left hand. Sureshock... has been spending to much time in a gorilla cosplay costume. He's all arms and sholders, which can't do much. His arms can do a full 360 movement thanks to the ball joints on them, but that's all you can do. His "legs" lock into place, so you're not supposed to bend them, his feet can be posed in a broken ankle position, but that's it. but at least he's better then Grindor, who is again, a brick. That pose he's in now, is one of two, the other being having his arms back in their vehicle mode configuration, to have it look like his arms are on his hips. Now I'm sure you're probably wondering, if all of them have this many flaws in robot mode, it must be in service to the combined mode.

And you thought Power Core Combiners sucked

See for yourself. This is Perceptor, who is just as much of a brick as what made him up. Starting from the bottom up. Grindor makes up the legs, and due to how his transformation works, they may as well be locked into the position I have them in for this picture. They don't bend at all, and the only thing you can have them do is the splits, not even a high kick because of the weight distribution. Sureshock's cut backs at least make sense here, as he's the main torso for Perceptor, and as a chest, he works, but those gorilla arms don't even work here. They're on a slider joint to get the length right, which is fine, but they molded his arms in a way so that they don't bend forward, only backwards. Combined with the lack of friction in those arms from the years, and move his arms up far enough, and it will look like someone tried breaking his arms. Now then, know all those things Highwire had to give up to be the combiner boss. All he is in Perceptor is the head, and the back pack. He is a Headmaster who fails at being a Headmaster... or should I call him a Titan Master now. Could they not get the rights to Headmaster? He does so many of his forms so badly that I wonder why he was even a thing here. Yes, his head moves, but thanks to the joints its on, move it in any way, and you break his neck.

Some size comparisons, and yes, the three mini cons are in scale with RiD 2015 mini cons

Encase you couldn't tell, this combiner sucks. Every mode has sacrifices, but none of the sacrifices benefit any other mode. The only modes that work are the vehicle modes, but even then there are far better Mini con vehicles. To try and counter this, next toy review is going to start a more recent combiner, Bruticus. But before we get to who'll start it, Vortex, Avengers vs X-Men.

Mediaholics Cinema: Pokemon Ranger and the Temple of the Sea

Welcome to the Mediaholics Cinema. Tonight, we are airing Pokemon Ranger and the Temple of the Sea. Do note, THIS DOES NOT SHOW THE ORIGINAL MOVIE. This is a commentary on the movie.

PSA: May content plans and beyond (and finally furfilling a promise)

So there are some things on the way this month that I should bring up. Don't worry, none of it bad.. I hope...

As many of you would know, as according to blogger, most of my audience is there, the summer holidays are coming up for America. This will mean Marissa is going to have a lot more free time coming up. How much, no idea. But she does have some plans during the free time, one of them being a review of the anime Zoids, so that's something to look forward to sometime soon.

A joint project both Marissa and I are working on has been given the name of the Mediaholics Cinema. We're going to start doing movie commentaries. The current plan for this is to have both a video and an audio file of the commentary, but in order to not have the copyright bot go after us, the movies won't be in the videos, you will need to find copies of the movies in question. Sorry, but I don't want to be slammed by the copyright bot... probably still will anyway, but one step at a time.

Last sunday, I released the addendum review for Hyrule Warriors Legends, Well, the reason for it is because more weekly content is coming. The planned schedule is for Wednesdays to stay the same from me, Sunday's to be for more smaller things, such as PSA's like this one, Addendum reviews, First impressions and maybe music reviews if I have any, and a new thing from me, Toy reviews.

I am going to say now though, Toy reviews won't happen often, and will probably be selective. The reason being is because doing toy reviews is really expensive in the long term, so I'll only be reviewing what I naturally pick up. I do have plans to review the Transformers Combiner Wars Bruticus, I did promise a review of Energon Perceptor Mini con team, and I am going to be picking up other things, such as some of the Titans Return line, the new wave of BIONICLE, Amiibo reviews will probably happen, things like that. I have told Marissa about this, and she may be doing some as well, but again, its what we naturally get in some way.

So yeah, that's what's coming in May, Hope you all enjoy it, and I'll see you all for the Dark Phoenix Saga. Before I do go, it is Mothers day today for me, so to my own mother, and to any others who do read my work, who aren't from that particular group, a happy mothers day to you, hopefully you can get some rest and relaxation

The Dark Knight Returns

One final jab at Dawn of Justice, as this the last DC thing I'm doing for a while. It should come as no surprise that a part of the inspiration for Dawn of Justice is The Dark Knight Returns, and while I'm not reviewing the comic, I do want to review the animated movies. And yes, I said movies. There are two parts to this. So let's just go in order

Addendum Review: Hyrule Warriors Legends: Now you can take your one man war on the go

Seeing as I've only recently reviewed Hyrule Warriors, and now there's a 3DS version of the game, consider this a continuation of the WiiU's review. I'm not going to repeat myself, as a lot of what works for the WiiU version carries over to the 3DS version. What is being covered here are the differences between the two.

Justice League (+JL: Unlimited): Proof that a slow burn for build ups can work well

So here we are, the big one, in terms of tv shows. The uniting of the Justice League, the coming together of DC's greatest heroes in the shared DC show universe. Unlike something like The Avengers and the MCU, this wasn't as big of a deal back then, as far as I can tell (keep in mind I was 5 when this show first aired, so I'm going off of what I could/ couldn't find online), but it is one of the few most remembered. Batman and Superman worked well on their own, and recycling footage apparently worked, so lets bring them together properly, with more characters to boot.

Very quick, a lot of people have brought it up online, so I won't go into detail. Yes, the 3D animation is ugly, no its not the rest of the show, thankfully. The intro for Unlimited is better animation wise, but doesn't pack that same punch the original did though, so pick your poison.

However, being honest, there isn't much to say that wasn't brought up in Batman the animated series, Superman the animated series, or Batman Beyond, with the only part being the pacing. From what I've seen for this review, which is just over a season, all the storylines are multiple episodes long. There's no one episode plots, everyone taking two, or even three, which I think works in part. It does mean that nothing feels rushed, and with a cast this big, you need that. But the individual episodes might help with the pacing, making the two or three episodes more of an event, rather then just a 40 minute episode. I know it doesn't sound like much, but it is more tedious to watch multi part episodes, it just never feels as bad because they're more like events, so to get them all the time here is a bit of a drain if you marathon them.

If you liked the Batmen shows and you liked Superman, then you'll like this if you haven't seen it already. I know its a cop out, and I'm sorry for that. I have something to make up for it though coming soon.

Batman Beyond: New villains, new suit, new Gotham, new Batman

Before getting to the big one, allow me to make a quick detour for a moment to bring you this spinoff. Set several decades after Batman the Animated Series, to try and make something akin to what the comics industry was doing at the time... and I'm sure comic book fans can already tell where I'll be going with this. So lets tackle Batman Beyond... or "Batman of the Future" as it was known here... not as catchy, is it?

Superman: The Animated series: Now with 100% less bloom lighting

While there are more shows in DC's old animated universe, at the moment, I want to focus on the main shows, the ones that got the most attention, and the ones that people still talk about to this day. I do plan to cover the other shows, but they are for another time. In the mean time, let's take a look at Superman: The animated series, and see if it holds a candle to its predecessor. I should say though that due to time limitations, I haven't been able to complete a full season of the show at time of writing. I want to give this more time, but isn't meant to be, and thankfully, is a statement not shared by next weeks review and hopefully the week after. Feel free to consider this an Opening Impression if you want.

Batman: The Animated Series: For reals this time, honest

I couldn't resist doing an April Fools this year, and I'm both sorry, and not sorry for the lame joke. I do however admit Rising Rainbow came out better then the Rick Roll. That one was last minute after all,

I've stated a few times now that I personally prefer DC's animated projects over their Live Action ones, and while I do plan to cover more in the future, for now, lets take a look at some that many remember from their childhoods... I don't because I was too young at their prime, but still. Up first, the one that started it all, and one of the cartoons that has probably helped inspire much of children's television to this day, Batman: The Animated Series.

Pokemon Rising Rainbow: This is the actual spelling of the game this time, I swear

So right before I got to bed last night, I found this on my Twitter feed, now I was a bit skeptical at first. A well made Pokemon fan game, by a large team, with a great visual art style, playable on computer, iOS and 3DS, every region in the main series, fan games and planned dlc for more on top of a new region and Bank support, being released on April fools... surfice to say that yeah, it was skeptical. But I was able to complete it, and I do mean complete it, unlike Zeta. So how is it?

Against all odds, still very good, surprisingly good. Visually it is.. interesting, and its not without its bugs, I unfortunately had missing textures and weird collision detection at times, but with its limited development time, things like that will happen, and might get patched our. The read me was detailed and provided a lot of information about the game, but is limited by the format of .txt, maybe a link to a open reading access Google doc would have been better, to give more structure to the information. The voice acting is well done, and did get some laughs out of me thanks to the writing.

Is it worth playing? Yes if you have the time to spare, but thankfully it is, even though it has so much content, a very short game. It is free though, so if you have the time, check it out. I know I'm being vague, but its better experienced raw, akin to Undertale, though probably not for the same reasons.

April Fools: Video review: Batman the Animated Series

So I've just come back from a small holiday, and with that time away, I was able to get a video review of Batman the Animated Series Unfortunately I couldn't get Blogger's internal Youtube plugin to work, something about a new feature on Youtube, so you'll have to bare with a link to the video. I'll see you all for the next review.

Link to video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dQw4w9WgXcQ

Green Lanturn: The Animated Series: Green Lanturn Bulkhead at your service

I am still working on Batman The Animated Series. Sit tight, its on the way. In the mean time, have a bit of filler (brought about by the YT copyright bot's questionable flags). Green Lanturn: The Animated Series.

Zelda Week: The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword: Who gave this clutz a sword?

Let's take you back 5 years, back to when this game was being hyped for a Christmas period release. I was lucky enough to go to an event called the Nintendo Connection tour, an event Nintendo used to hold, with this one being relatively near to me, in a shopping center. Here, members of the public could come and play upcoming Wii and 3DS games like Ocarina of Time 3D, Starfox 64 3D, Mario Kart 7, Kirby Return to Dream Land and, of course, Skyward Sword. I was fortunate enough to pick the demo that shows of the best part of the game, which I'll explain later. Combined with E3, and there was a lot of hope for this game... shame no one saw the signs. Let's see how the series celebrated the 25th anniversary, and one of the two games that took more of my interest then Skyrim, The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword.

Zelda Week: The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess

Download the original .mp3 here: http://adf.ly/1YiFcY
Welcome to a land in Twilight, a world where one must be the bridge between the light and the dark, the man, and the beast. Doth thou don your sword and shield again for this late Gamecube, early Wii and recently re released WiiU game?

The final image was made by Enigmarez
You can find it here: http://www.deviantart.com/art/Link-Midna-Wallpaper-503019504

Zelda Week: Hyrule Warriors: "Strength in numbers MEANS NOTHING TO ME!"

How do you like to relax? For me, it is something I can enjoy without needing to think too much about something. Whether that be a familiar book, movie or show, a video game franchise that I've been playing for so long that I don't need to think about the mechanics, or in this case, taking out red dots on my map by killing anything that moves, which is where Hyrule Warriors comes in. Because sometimes, it helps to have a relaxing game. And if you think that's cruel, do bare in mind, Pokemon and Kirby are also stress relieving games for me. So shall we build up that ko count?

Mediaholics Podcast Episode 3

MP3 download: http://adf.ly/1YcDLc

CJ joins the squad to help us discuss things like

The NX Controller leak
Ace Attorney 6 trailer
PlayStation VR
Hyrule Warroirs Legends
and more

Zelda Week: Legend of Zelda: Wind Waker

And you thought Pokemon had too much water

In a convention called Space World in the year 2000, a few Gamecube tech demos were released. One of these showed Link and Ganondorf sword fighting. Fans speculated that this is a demo to a brand new Zelda title for the Gamecube. Not too long after, another tech demo was shown in Space World, 2001. It was shown with Link in a new cartoonish style. The fans were confused about the cute art style of Link in this tech demo, and not the darker tone of the Space World 2000 tech demo. Fans at the time were afraid that every proceeding Zelda title was going to be in this style.

Although some, as well as myself, don’t mind the different cell shaded cartoonish style. I find it rather refreshing. As with most new Gamecube titles, it showcases the power of the Gamecube, although does it pretty well. The water physics for the ocean move up and down simulating waves. The grass moves with the wind. Not to mention that the entire overworld map is just one expansive area with no walls. You can loop around the map as if it were on a globe.

The story of Wind Waker is you as Link setting off on a journey to save your sister Aryll from a demon bird. After you meet the pirate girl Tetra and her crew in a fateful encounter, you set off to save your sister as well as some other characters you meet along the way.

Wind Waker has you travelling on boat sailing from island to island, which is pretty cool. Although, I hear conflicting arguments saying whether or not the traveling in this game is tedious or not. I’d say it’s all depends on how you look at it, and how much patience you have. This game, as many Zelda games or even any RPG for that matter is about the journey. I feel like this game does a pretty good job on it’s theme of adventuring out. Even if it takes a while sailing to each individual island, and if you just don’t have the patience, the Wii U version has a faster sail to accommodate this. The real joy is finding little islands with treasure along the way of your quest. Even for the main story islands have really good atmospheres about them. Forsaken Fortress taking place at night. The lush green Forest Haven. My favorite is when you approach Greatfish Isle and the atmosphere becomes more gray and rainy as you approach it.

This game’s main mechanic besides seafaring is the titular wind waker. The main draw of the wind waker is, big surprise, that it controls the direction of the wind. Though it’s pretty fun to play with combined with the deku leaf item that lets you sail with the wind to reach places you wouldn't otherwise. Another small mechanic is that you can use enemy weapons against them which is really fun. It makes the first staple stealth section of this game more bearable.

The typical theme of sidequests are apparent in this game as with every Zelda title. Of course almost every island has a little sidequest, as well on main islands. Although, the biggest sidequest is the Triforce pieces. There are 8 Triforce pieces as well as 8 Triforce charts (3 charts in Wii U). It costs roughly 400 rupees each to get each chart deciphered. This and the sailing is why some people call this game very tedious. Again, Wii U version accommodates this for the fewer charts. Also considering the fact that this sidequest is only for 100% you’re not missing much if you are casually playing the game for the story.

Before we finish I should mention Tingle. Yes, that weird fairy guy, although he gives you something useful if you have a Gameboy linked to the Gamecube. The Tingle Tuner is a Gamecube exclusive item. It almost acts as a Wii U pad. You can spend rupees for small power ups that help you throughout your adventure. You can write on your map, drop bombs, get potions, ect. It’s basically a mobile shop, which is pretty nifty. Although this is exclusive if you have a Gameboy link cable with a Gameboy Advance, so not a lot of people actually use it. If you can get it, good for you since it’s a really helpful item. This feature was replaced in the Wii U version in favor of the Tingle Bottle, which is just Miiverse compatibility. Tingle Bottles wash up on random islands depending on where you post it which display Miiverse posts. Fun, although clearly not as useful as the Tingle Tuner.

So at this point you’re probably wondering which version do you want to play? Well, I personally play Wind Waker on the Gamecube just because I have it. Of course the Wii U version has gamepad functionality so it’s easier to swap items. The Wii U version fixes a lot of complaints, thus making the game easier to pick up. A full list of changes from Gamecube to Wii U can be found [here] if you are interested. Overall, I’d say get the Wii U one if you want an easier time. Get the Gamecube one if you want authenticity, and have access to the Tingle Tuner.

Overall this game is pretty amazing. The expansive Great Sea makes this game feel huge. Exploration is a key part, and they do this fantastically well. The game looks beautiful on both versions for their respective hardware. Even if you’re not a huge fan of the Zelda series, this is a great game to start out with.

-Marissa (keybug55)