Toy Review: Transformers Generations Legacy United Kakuryu (Core)

Review:  #847

Name:  Kakuryu

Brand:  Transformers

Allegiance:  Decepticon

Line:  Generations - Legacy: United

Year of Release:  2024

Size Class:  Core

Mold Status:  retool of Legacy United Slug

BEAST MODE:

Kakuryu is a retool of Legacy United Slug, and transforms into a triceratops.  It's a yellow one, so not exactly the most realistic.

He has a retooled tail so it looks somewhat stumpy and weird, plus, it colored blue, which clashes a lot with the yellow and white.

Above is a comparison against a Deluxe figure.  Kakuryu is a Core classed figure, so he's quite small.

The various robot weapons can combine into one and peg onto his back for storage.

There is little articulation here, he doesn't feature many joints, and his legs are effectively fixed.

It's an okay beast mode, to be honest, you're really only here for the combined mode anyway...

TRANSFORMATION:

One thing's for sure, at least this set isn't in want of more interesting transformations.  The front legs are the arms.  The back unfolds to become the legs, and then you fold the bottom half of the dinosaur's head down to reveal the robot head.

ROBOT MODE:

Kakuryu's robot mode is fine, although like the rest of the set, looks very much like a recolored version of the Dinobot it's original use was for.

Unfortunately, he carries a lot of kibble, and they're all situated on his back.

He features a new head sculpt at least, and looks very G1.  Although given that it is sculpted as part of the triceratops' head, it's like half the depth.

As a Core class, he remains quite small in robot mode, above is a comparison against Deluxe Siege Sideswipe.

Articulation is okay, he has joints for his head, shoulders, hips and knees.

Most impressively, he comes with some nice weapons, such as a gun and a huge axe.

The two weapons can be held in his hands, and the axe in particular looks really nice, it's not super oversized (especially given that it is more in scale for the combined mode).

The last piece which is the tail, is the combined mode's head, and that just pegs onto his back.

He doesn't have ankle tilts, but doesn't really need them at this size.  Unfortunately, the lack of elbows really hurts.

Surprisingly, a strong robot mode that isn't too compromised by its need to combine.

OVERALL:

Kakuryu is one of the better molds in the set.  He isn't too compromised in both modes, just that he's still very much inspired by the original usage of the mode.

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Sine Mora EX (PS4)

Sine Mora EX is a shoot ‘em up game that was originally released in the generation prior. This release included some touch ups to the graphics, English voiceovers and additional content. Given the genre, it is not for everyone, but there’s just something simply satisfying with shooting everything up on the screen. It’s a sidescrolling shoot ‘em up, where enemies come in from the sides, and your ship can generally move in any direction while the level is automatically scrolling.

You control an airplane, and your primary weapon shoots bullets with unlimited ammo. You can either mash the button or hold it down for rapid fire (for advanced players, mashing it is faster). Perhaps a unique part of this is that it is rendered in 3D, so it gives it a unique look. There is a secondary weapon that differs depending on the plane / character you’re playing as, and it is usually much stronger and useful to clear out enemies or wipe out a section of the boss’s health. You’ll have limited ammo for this.

As you are destroying enemies, they might drop pickups. These include time extensions, weapon upgrades, ammo for the secondary weapon, shields, or the ability to slow down time. Yes, you can slow down time which can help beginners dodge the crazy bullet hell scenarios. The plane doesn’t really have a health bar, rather it is tied to the timer. Each level has the timer counting down which you primarily extend via defeating enemies and sometimes getting a pickup. Taking damage will decrease the timer.

The game looks and feels great, and the controls feel natural. Each of the stages are structured in a similar way where you defeat normal enemies, before facing against a boss. The bosses have fantastic designs and are a highlight of the game. The difficulty in Normal mode is manageable for beginners but there are some cheap sections. Instant kill sections are extremely frustrating, and you don’t know it is instant death until you hit it. Sometimes there are so many things happening onscreen that you don’t even know what happened. Each section has a checkpoint, and depending on the difficulty you selected, you can retry the checkpoint several times before you must restart the level. Dying during a boss battle will send you right back at the beginning though.

On Normal, the timer isn’t too bad, and you get to carry your weapon upgrades, which will either increase the rate of fire or the spread of the bullets, from stage to stage… until you run out of continues. Then you’re out of luck and must start the stage from the lowest weapon level, which can be a challenge to manage both the timer and to level up the weapons again; this can depend on your luck. At the end of each stage, you’ll get a score based on your performance.

Most of the bosses are cool to play against, although definitely a few where they are designed with frustration and deaths in mind. You’ll have to retry those a lot, and it’s annoying when they fire away a ton of weapons and you’ll have to rely on trial and error. That said, when you try and practice enough times, and get through it, there is a sense of satisfaction there. That’s the thing, this game is designed for repeated plays, so while there’s not that much content, you can still get a lot out of it.

The unique thing is that this is a shoot ‘em up with a story. The story is told via a combination of text, and some light visuals. It sets up the scene with a father trying to take revenge on the one who killed his son in the war, and an alternate viewpoint taking place at the same time where the last survivors of the Enkie race is fighting to destroy the Empire. It’s serves more as an excuse to connect the stages together, but it can be quite interesting… if it was told in a better and more coherent way. There are a lot of good concepts but ultimately can be confusing to digest. The story isn’t long, since it’s comprised of seven stages, and on Normal difficulty, it will take around two to three hours to complete.

That’s only the start though since the game has a few other modes for you to explore. The first is playing through the story again in Challenge difficulty will unlock an alternate ending. Then there are Arcade, Score and Boss modes, which are all self-explanatory. There are achievements within the game itself, where completing them will raise your rank, although the only benefit from that is unlocking a Trophy.

Overall, Sine Mora EX is a good shoot ‘em up and is not a bad entry to the genre for beginnings. Its presentation is beautiful, and it plays well. The stages are fun, although the content is low if you’re looking for some meatier, as the game is designed more for repeated playthroughs to improve your skills, rather than present something new all the time. For its low price though, that’s fine.

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Toy Review: Transformers Generations Legacy United Goryu (Core)

Review:  #846

Name:  Goryu

Brand:  Transformers

Allegiance:  Decepticon

Line:  Generations - Legacy: United

Year of Release:  2024

Size Class:  Core

Mold Status:  retool of Legacy United Grimlock

BEAST MODE:

Goryu, a remold of Grimlock, was what this mold was always meant to be.  He transforms into a green and white T-rex, and the green is one of those puke looking shades.

Given the reuse of the mold, he still very much looks like a green Grimlock, which is a shame that this character wasn't given priority.

As a Core class, Goryu is small, above is a comparison against a Deluxe figure.

The robot weapon can peg sideways onto his back.

Being such a small size, he comes with plenty of compromise.  In beast mode, that mainly comes in the form of an odd shape, given that his robot legs are huge and stick out the back here.

Otherwise, this is a passable beast mode.

TRANSFORMATION:

Transformation is fairly easy, as you would expect.  The back unfolds to form the robot legs.  The beast legs are the robot arms, and you just need to rotate them so that the fists face the right way.  The torso of the beast mode then unfolds into two halves to reveal the robot torso and the head.

ROBOT MODE:

The robot mode here is also still very much Grimlock, but it is a case of close enough is good enough.

There are proportion issues here due to the small size, and the fact that it needs to be a combiner as well.  With all the joints at this size, he can feel a bit floppy and insubstantial.

He gets a new head though, to help solidify the character.

Above is a comparison against a Deluxe figure to give you a sense of his size.

Articulation is probably his weakest part, even for a Core class figure.  He doesn't have any elbow joints, which is a big sin...

He comes with two weapons, a club, and a gun that was formed from his tail.

He can hold both in his hands, and they look semi decent.  He actually holds the gun upside down to reveal the two barrels.

He lacks ankle tilts as well, not that you'll expect them at this size.

An okay robot mode, there are a lot of flaws.

OVERALL:

Goryu is an okay figure.  His strength is basically that this is a character you don't really expect to get an update, and it's also a combiner.  You'd wish that they could have made him at least Deluxe size (given how small Deluxes are nowadays as well) as there are too many compromises trying to make a combiner in the Core size class.

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Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba - Season 4 (2024)

The fourth season of Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba, subtitled Hashira Training Arc, is short, at only eight episodes long (although the first and last episodes are double the usual length). The season picks up straight after the previous one, where Tanjiro and the two Hashiras are severely injured and are healing. You kind of feel, due to the subtitle, shortness of the season, and where it started, that this could be more of a breather story arc, before it ramps up again for the final battle of the series.

Given the big bombshell of the previous season where we now know what Muzan wants, and how it is within hand’s reach for him to achieve it, time is running short. Demon sightings have decreased, and the Demon Slayer Corps know that Muzan is planning something, yet they will be also able to use this relatively downtime to train its members. Given that they have encountered some significant casualties themselves, it was decided to collate all the Hashiras together to give comprehensive training.

It’s a predictable structure, especially heading towards the middle of the season. Since Tanjiro will join in the training himself, you’d know that he is going to cycle through most, if not all, of the different Hashiras. It’s great to see the return of Hashiras that we already know about, especially if they haven’t turned up in a while, but hoping we will get to see the rest. Although it feels like shortchanging them if they don’t get a whole season to themselves either.

We were always told how much Hashiras are on another level but it’s even more apparent here when most of the Demon Corps trainees are not that great. It’s a miracle that they even survived from being killed by demons. Only Tanjiro so far (as Zenitsu and Inosuke are not the focus for this season yet again) has impressed the different Hashiras with his enthusiasm, stamina and skill. The season is one that is more relaxing and lower stakes. From time to time, it teases something more, as a powerful demon is secretly keeping tabs on what is going on. However, that’s not the focus for much of the season.

Accompanying the more relaxing tone is the humor and silliness. Zenitsu was always a bit silly and exaggerated in his behavior but when he does eventually show up, it’s dialed to eleven. You’ll either like or hate the character. Similar for all the other no name supporting characters, they’re deliberately drawn in a simpler way to invoke humor and silliness. It does work most of the time, and despite the boring nature of the story content, it manages to hold it up well enough to keep it engaging.

Most of the season feels very slow, especially when initially it begins with setting up the expectation that each episode will focus on one Hashira. Even then, with Tanjiro going through their “training” (more like random challenges with little guidance), it kind of skips a lot to the part where Tanjiro is successful and moves on. It then glosses over a few other Hashiras in a token effort before focusing on another. This makes it then feel like it is rushing with not enough episodes to flesh everything out properly.

While the pacing can seem a bit off, as you know that the plot is building up to something, but it just cannot reveal it until the end, the payoff is worthwhile. Suffering through a lot of slow scenes, you get to the season finale where we under Muzan’s plans on how he wants to defeat the Demon Slayer Corps… and the Demon Slayer Corps’ counterattack. It’s intense and the saddest part is that just as it builds up the crescendo, you know that it has to end in a cliffhanger as it prepares for the final arc. It skyrockets your anticipation though and it sets it up nicely.

Overall, the fourth season of Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba is probably the weakest season, but only because it allocated a whole season to a bridging arc. It’s one that clearly sets up the final battle for the whole series, as everything is coming together now. The Hashiras are united, Muzan is prepared to battle them, and the final episode literally puts them all into one location. It’s not a super boring season even though it has a lot of slow scenes and barely any plot advancement, but the payoff was worth it as it managed to build a lot of hype and anticipation for the final clash.

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