Review

Transformers – Review – Titans Return – Broadside

Broadside is a character that people have been anticipating an update of for a while now, mostly because he was part of the popular Wreckers team int he comics. He’s one of the few members who hasn’t gotten a new toy in ages, though it’s somewhat understandable why he hasn’t. Broadside has two alt modes, one is a jet, one is an aircraft carrier. Working aircraft Carriers in with any level of scale is effectively impossible being possibly the largest vehicles on the planet.

There is a vague attempt to make scale work with Broadside. He includes a set of small aircraft sculpted to resemble the recently released Combiner Wars Aerialbots toys, that can be stuck on the carrier deck using little pegs. This does have the odd effect int hat it means his Headmaster in “reality” would be larger than Superion, but it’s still a neat effort. I plan to paint up my Aerialbots at some point since they are all white plastic.

Talking about small Aerialbots seems like a funny place to start out discussing a figure, they are just accessories after all. The thing is, I prefer to discuss the good points before the bad points, and the mini Aerialbots are the only real good point with poor Broadside. It’s fairly rare that I just flat out don’t like a toy, I try to find some redeeming qualities when possible, but I really just don’t like Broadside, he’s just a big ball of weird design choices and flaws.

So, continuing with the carrier mode. The flat deck essentially consists of a bunch of flippy panels that all sort of but don’t quite mesh together well, which kind of huts the aesthetics of the carrier. It’s also covered in a lot of ill fitting stickers. The stickers aren’t the problem on their own, it’s how poorly they fit and how the sticker detail doesn’t even attempt to match the sculpted detailing on the surfaces they attach to. Then there are the little landing gears on the carrier, which are mostly just used to allow it to sit on a flat surface, except the way they fold up is goofy and they are prone to folding up by mistake when trying to display the carrier. Lastly the goofy wings on the front end of the carrier. These wings sort of exist for the Jet mode, except they look goofy over there, as well in Robot mode. They just are all around poorly executed and get int he way in all three modes than they do help the look.

Moving on to the Jet mode. I will just say, an attempt was made, and leave it there.

On the robot, hid design is almost there, he’s nice and beefy and chunky, except his also just sort of gets int he way of himself. Those previously mentioned Wings just sort of hang off of his shins and get in the way. The carrier panels hanging off of his shoulders get in the way of the arms and shoulders. He’s also back heavy so posing him can be a little difficult as well.

I think my biggest issue with Broadside is mostly just how close he is in almost every area he misses. It just makes him frustrating to interact with in every way because everything about him mostly almost works but not quite. To add insult to injury, he seems to have been shipped alone to a lot of stores, which means he will likely clog up shelves for a while blocking other Voyagers from getting a more widespread release.

Review – Transformers – Titans Return – Perceptor

Jul 20th, 2017

by Ramen Junkie.

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Due to it’s hodge podge origins in various Japanese toy lines, primarily Diaclone and Microman, the Transformers picked up a few less practical alt modes in it’s early days. The most well known is Soundwave’s cassette player. Perceptor is one of those characters with a less conventional (ie not a car or a plane) modes with his Microscope mode. The previous Generations remake of Perceptor changed things a bit giving him a Snow truck alternate mode instead of his traditional Microscope. Titans Return has been all about keeping with the designs of the original toys as much as possible, with updated modern engineering, so Perceptor is once again, a Microscope.

You could argue that he’s actually a sort of medical bay for the Titan Masters however, since the stage of the microscope is designed for a Titan Master to lay in to be examined by the scope. The scope itself is functional as a microscope, though it’s extremely low power and kind of hard to look through due to it’s small size. If you put say, a finger in front of it, you will get an enlarged image of your fingerprint however, which is a nice touch.

The overall design is very reminiscent to the original Perceptor toy from the 80s, though he’s quite a bit smaller, the original figure was somewhere between modern Deluxe and Voyager sizes. His transformation is where a lot of the flaws come through. It’s simple enough, but the sliding mechanism for the microscope feels extremely stiff and prone to breaking. I have not broken one, it just very much feels like a part that could easily BE broken if care isn’t given. There are alsoa lot of unused extra bits on his body for the undocumented Tank Mode

The original Perceptor had an attack mode which amounted to folding him into a square and using the scope as a tank canon. There are definitely vestigial bits for something similar to be done on the Titans Return toy, but the instructions do not show anything about how to properly transform him into a tank. There are extra flip out treads, extra flipping parts on his chest, extra tabs on his legs and shoulders. It’s even a great way to better incorporate the little Titan Master drivers into the mode. It’s just not documented, which is kind of tragic.

Aside from the missing Tank Mode, I really enjoy this figure. I’ve always been partial to Perceptor because of his goofy Microscope mode, though I can see how this may be seen as boring by some people. The microscope actually having some very basic functionality just makes this guy even more interesting and good in my book.

Review – Transformers – RiD – Quillfire

Jul 13th, 2017

by Ramen Junkie.

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Broken Record time again, I just love the unique style and designs of the Robots in Disguise Decepticon line up. Quillfire is no exception, with his porcupine themed robot mode. He also has a very unique squat shape to his design, which just helps give him more character.

Quillfire, unlike Steeljaw, has the benefit of being a late line figure. That is, he came out in wave 3 or 4, and the designers of the figures have had a chance to work out the new kinks that pop up every new Transformers line. The neatest part of his design is probably in his head, which Which despite having a hunched look, has an extra joint added that allows for side to side movement. Given that a lot of recent Transformers have kind of felt like they were cheapening out in places, the neck joint here really feels like a bonus. It’s something that could easily have been removed.

He also has a functioning jaw on his large head, which helps add to the ascetics in a good way. Additionally, despite his stocky design, the pose ability is pretty good. He does unfortunately have a pretty large ugly backpack just sort of hanging off of him, which is kind of meh and though the neck is cool, it is limited compared to your more traditional robot designs.

He is also incredibly brown, which admittedly makes him kind of bland to look at. He has a repaint named Scatterspike which has a very similar color scheme, which doesn’t help matters on his color scheme. Like most of RiD, the Transformation is pretty straight forward without too many steps or flippy panels. He includes two weapons, a hand held gun and a quill knife, both are able to be stored in Vehicle mode.

Despite his boring brown appearance, Quillfire, is a neat and fun little toy. His repaint Scatterspike probably has a slightly more interesting color scheme since it’s a dark shade of Red, if you are only interested in getting the mold once. Then again, the browns are a bit more military looking if that’s your thing. He’s a decent toy, just not much to look at.

S.H. Figuarts – Mace Windu

May 3rd, 2017

by Ramen Junkie.

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I have a sort of general philosophy I like to follow when writing reviews. I like to give good points and bad points and let the reader sort of make the final conclusion on if something seems good or not. There are really too many subjective factors to give a definite yay or nay on most things.

Unfortunately, I don’t really have much to say about Figuarts Mace Window that is negative. I really just don’t, the figure is damn near perfect and it’s definitely the best toy Mace Windu us ever going to get. I suppose that, as a Star Wars Figuarts, he’s a little pricey than some people might want to pay. Also the cuts for his joints are a little ugly looking in some poses. But these are kind of nitpicky level complaints.

Mace Windu includes 6 sets of hands, and 2 heads, one angry and one more smug/neutral. He also includes 2 light sabers, one with a peg to hang off of his belt and the other to be held, with or without the blade.

The sculpt on everything is amazing, which is helped by the fantastic paint job. The heads do a spot on job of capturing Samuel L. Jackson down to little wrinkles in his forehead.

He pose ability and stability are also great for a lot of really exceptional dynamic posing. His open hands are great for “force action”. He can perfectly wield his light saber in one or two hands. The details on the head and expression work great for attacks and neutral poses.

Basically what I’m saying is, if this figure interests you, he’s great and well worth picking up. It’s every bit as awesome as it looks, probably more so.

Review – Movie – Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Out of the Shadows

Apr 14th, 2017

by Ramen Junkie.

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So, the first Michael Bay Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles live action movie kind of got a lot of flack. To be fair, though, it’s not actually directed by Michael Bay, it’s just produced, so it’s not as awful of a live action remake as The Transformers movies are, it was however quite a departure from what people think of when they think Ninja Turtles.

The second film in this series is Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Out of the Shadows, and it seems to be the answer to what a lot of people wanted and expected from the first movie. Where TMNT is an updated modern take on the basic Turtles vs The Foot idea, Out of the Shadows is a very blatant tribute and Nostalgia fest for the original 80s TMNT cartoon show. It actually kind of feels a little sad with just how blatant of a tribute it is.

Rocksteady and Bebop? Check!

The Turtle Van? Check!

Krang? Check!

Baxter Stockman? Check!

The Technodrom? Check!

Also, unlike a lot of remakes and updates, things stay fairly true to the original, or at least, much more aligned with the spirit of the original. Rocksteady and Bebop for example, are pretty unmistakable. Krang is a little weird but still very much is obviously Krang with his goofy robot body. Baxter Stockman follows the original comic and modern show versions of being African American instead of a goofy white guy with orange hair, but he’s still a goofy scientist.

This movie very much feels like a response to the “This isn’t the Turtles I remember” complaints of the first TMNT film.

Honestly, I kind of feels like it makes the film better. I didn’t hate the original TMNT, but the nostalgia level of Out of the Shadows definitely does it’s job.

The biggest fault of this film is the some what flimsy plot. It’s not awful, but there’s quite a few “what” moments, one of them is a pretty crucial hinge to everything. Early on in the film, The Shredder is rescued by The Foot, amidst the rescue, he is suddenly kidnapped by Krang, who wants to recruit The Shredder to gather several McGuffin devices in order to open a portal from Dimension X so Krang can take over The Earth. Very Classic 80s Cartoon to be sure. It’s just very, sudden, however with zero build up. It’s just suddenly “Hey, giant brain man, let’s work together”. It kind of feels like it could have been massaged a little bit on the flow.

There’s also a subplot involving Casey Jones tracking down Rocksteady and Bebop which feels pretty superfluous to the everything. It seems to exist entirely so create an excuse to throw Casey Jones into the movie. He basically fills the role of Vernon from the first TMNT, someone for April O’Neal to pal around with when she isn’t hanging out with the turtles.

There’s also an ooze subplot that goes nowhere after Rocksteady and Bebop become a thing. That is, it’s there to mutate Rocksteady and Bebop, which is fine, but then it lingers around a bit until the end where a choice is made, one that never really felt like it had any appropriate build up to actually give it any meaningful impact.

The real bottom line is that the plot, or plots aren’t awful ideas, it’s more that there’s just too much crammed into one film, and as a result, nothing gets fleshed out to any meaningful level. Maybe I’m looking for too much from a movie about giant martial artist turtles, but I can’t help but think that maybe, splitting things out a across a couple of films would have helped solidify everything a bit better, giving us something much better than what we got. Maybe run with Shredder being rescued and meeting with a shadowy unknown, creating Bebop and Rocksteady and introducing Casey Jones as more of an antagonist and foil, then keeping Krang and the idea of being forced to live “In the Shadows” as a plot for a third connected film.