Upload - Season 3 (2023)

The third season of Upload is eight episodes long. Takes place in a world where your consciousness can be uploaded and you can live a digital afterlife. That is because your head is basically cut off during the upload process, which seems like a weird side effect. Anyway, it follows Nathan who died and was living in the luxury afterlife of Lakeview. In the previous seasons, he uncovered the sinister reason for his death, as well as having a complicated relationship between his pre-upload girlfriend Ingrid, and his new love Nora.

Last season ended with what is a cliffhanger, but one that was predictable. Surprisingly, the first episode of this season doesn’t wipe it away but continues with showing that it is an eventual certainty. It gives Nathan a countdown timer, and his fate constantly haunts him and Nora. Both are aware of the risks, but they are both fighting to try and stop the evil plot by the big corporations, where they have initiated their plan of getting more people to upload via the promise of the free digital afterlife.

Despite the intriguing premise and reason, the plot gets distracted easily and still prefers to focus on the relationships side. Ingrid and Nora are still fighting over Nathan, even though in a completely different way this season. Nora, now spending more time with Nathan, must deal with maybe that everything is not perfect. It does make the show more grounded but it’s the twisted ways of the future where capitalism wants to intrude into every aspect that is the more interesting part of the show.

Still, there is a plot development regarding Nathan that was probably on a lot of viewers’ minds when the show first started. When you end up uploading someone’s consciousness, then there is a record, there is a copy. So, what happens when that is misused? It gives rise to a more philosophical side to things, even though the show doesn’t get too serious, it still touches upon those concepts, giving food for thought.

The relationship between Nathan, Ingrid and Nora continues to somehow get more complicated. While Nathan is a charming enough guy, he can easily make a lot of people like him or fall for him, which can be kind of weird. At least the new complications are something different than your typical romance drama. It’s somewhat elegantly mixed in with the other subplot of finding out the truth of Nathan’s death. A lot has been reviewed, but the characters are now trying to definitive find evidence of the motive to foil the plans.

From time to time, it shows the advancement of the AI and the digital world, and how it’s making progress. Although, and it’s been like this from the very beginning, it is a bit hard to accept as normal and possible given it’s just so different to what we expect. AI that ends up acting very much like a human, and having these weird physical restrictions in the digital world? The deliberate uncanny valley of impossible actions? Sometimes it’s there for laughs, other times it feels it is serious… and it misses its mark.

Given that this isn’t intended to be the last season, the finale is on yet another cliffhanger. The final episode was great in that it progressed the plot to the point where the characters were going for. Just that the resolution may not be what everyone intended. There are some minor revelations here and there. And while the cliffhanger itself initially didn’t seem too major, it ends with a character throwing some doubts at you.

Overall, the third season of Upload is decent. It is more of the same but progresses the plot more. It’s less opaque as a lot of the mysteries are now revealed. It even touches upon the philosophical side, however light. At the end of the day, it is a fun and light comedy drama that doesn’t waste your time.

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Toy Review: Lego Icons Transformers Optimus Prime (10302)

Review:  #859

Name:  Optimus Prime (10302)

Brand:  Transformers

Allegiance:  Autobot

Line:  Lego Icons

Year of Release:  2022

Size Class:  N/A

Mold Status:  N/A

PACKAGING AND CONTENTS:

A collaboration between Hasbro and Lego, Optimus Prime is part of the Lego Icons series, and this is a decently sized set at 1508 pieces.

The packaging shows off the usual stock photos but also the unique gimmick that this set can also have Optimus transform between vehicle mode and robot mode... without any disassembling.

He comes with eleven bags labelled 1 to 10 (there are bags labelled "5"), and this is how the instructions split the building process into ten sections.

There's a sticker sheet and a thick heavy instructions booklet.

The instructions booklet also contains some quick history and blurb about the character.

And finally, the instructions themselves are easy to follow.

BUILD PROCESS:

Although it depends on how fast you build, Optimus Prime takes around four to five hours to complete, which is quite a decent amount.  It's a fun process, although if you do it in one session, it can be tiring and sections will be repetitive since you need to build two legs and two arms etc.  The first five sections have you slowly building up the torso and the thighs.

Then the sixth to eighth section has you finishing the arms and the rest of the figure.

The ninth and tenth sections are for building the various accessories in the set.

VEHICLE MODE:

And once you're done, you get a Lego-fied version of Optimus.  In vehicle mode, he transforms into the familiar red and blue short nosed truck.

There aren't many exposed Lego studs, and the vehicle is blocky enough, that it fits the Lego aesthetics really well.  This is a good truck mode.

It's a big truck mode too.  Once you've built the figure, you'll realise how heavy he is.  Above is a comparison against various Optimus Primes over the years, the Age of Extinction Leader, Siege Voyager, Legacy United Deluxe, and Studio Series Devastation, just to give you a sense of scale.

He has six rolling wheels, and the tires are rubber so he grips the surface quite well.  The robot gun can peg in between his legs, the other accessories are left out to the side though as there are no dedicated storage spaces for them.

The back is ironically one of the better ones for Optimus, since the robot feel folds down and doesn't stick out the back as much.

The front bumper is a sticker.  The vehicle mode mostly locks together, but due to its sheer weight, it can come apart when you pick him up.

A surprisingly good vehicle mode, and one that doesn't look too Lego-fied, which is surprising.

TRANSFORMATION:

The biggest gimmick of the set, Optimus can transform without any need to detach and reattach parts.  It helps that the G1 transformation is pretty simple, and he transforms like most other G1 Transformers figures.  Fold down the back to form the legs, the arms come out from the sides, rotate the torso, fold the grill pieces into fill out the torso and flip up the head.  It works really well, although since it is made up of individual Lego pieces, pieces do not have the same type of friction to give that satisfying "click" as it moves into place.

ROBOT MODE:

Robot mode is equally impressive, even if the first stock photos didn't really show up.  He is instantly recognizable as Optimus Prime.

He doesn't carrying too much kibble, and there aren't many hollow parts.  This could have been an issue given that the transformation doesn't quite allow for pieces to cover up any unsightly gaps after transformation.

The head is probably the more deformed aspect of the set, and it's not surprising since it's also the least blocky section.  It's passable as Optimus but the proportions are definitely off.

He is absolutely huge in this mode, even bigger than Commander figures (although nowhere near Titan figures).  He is very hefty too, you might not have expected it, but all those Lego pieces do make him quite heavy.

He has articulation, with joints for his head, shoulders, elbows, waist, hips and ankles.  Basically, he's only missing knee articulation and there's a good reason for that.

He is so heavy, and particularly quite top heavy, that even without knee articulation, his hip and ankle joints cannot support the weight at times when you try and pose him, that he'll just keel over.

He has a bunch of accessories, and the first one is that his chest windows can open up to reveal the Matrix of Leadership, which can also be removed.

Next is his energon axe.  It's somewhat big and unwieldy, but you attach it to his arms after removing the hand.  It would have been nice if you could have attached it without removing his hand though.

Then there's his rifle, which looks surprisingly close to the real thing.  While he might hold the handle, it actually attaches via Lego studs on his forearm, which is quite clever and elegant.

There is the energon cube, represented by transparent purple pieces, which he can hold in his hands.

A neat addition is a jetpack, which pegs onto his back and fills in the gappiness there.

Finally, there is a plaque with his details and stats.  It's basically a Lego piece with a giant sticker on it.

So Optimus has a ton of playability and versatility.  Unfortunately, they couldn't completely solve the weight issue, even without knee articulation, his hip joints give way too easily if you wanted to pose him even a little bit more dynamically.

Had had some finger and thumb articulation.  Thankfully, he isn't too fragile that pieces fall off when you pose him, although they will from time to time if you are putting pressure in the wrong sections.

The torso is also a bit off but that's the best that they can do with pushing the truck mode's grill in a bit, and the other pieces to fill the sides left by his arms.  Also, he comes with two bumper pieces, one is accurate to vehicle mode, and the other is more accurate to robot mode (with an orange block), you can change them easily at any time.

Despite his flaws, this is still a really good robot mode.

OVERALL:

If you're a fan of Transformers, then Lego Optimus is definitely worth your time and effort.  He is fun to build, and seeing the collaboration between to rival toy companies is quite interesting.  The end product is an impressive feat of engineering.  While the robot mode has its flaws, with no knee articulation, and some stability issues, it's a great display piece that provides a lot of options.

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