My Next Life as a Villainess: All Routes Lead to Doom! X (2021)

My Next Life as a Villainess: All Routes Lead to Doom! X is the second season based upon the light novel series. It’s 12 episodes long again plus an OVA. The premise was that when Catarina was young, she hit her head and recovered all the memories of her past life in Japan. Now in this fantasy world which she realized was based upon a visual novel that she had played, she was originally destined to have a bad ending no matter what. However, at the end of the last season, it was fully confirmed (even though it was obvious before) that she had avoided that fate, and that everything from now on will be brand new to her.

Given that the premise is now over, the anime really isn’t much more than a fantasy slice of life. Catarina herself is popular and has gathered quite a harem of lovers and followers. Although given how much she was an otaku in her past life, she is clueless and oblivious to the feelings that everyone else has for her. Catarina’s charms come from breaking from the stereotype of nobility in that world.

Catarina had moved up a year in the academy and… that’s basically it. She is continuing on with her school life, from tending to her own farm, to checking out and participating in culture festivals. What little uniqueness it had from its premise is almost completely gone. She recalls elements of that visual novel from time to time, but it doesn’t significantly influence or is required by the plot.

You can’t deny that the plot doesn’t progress. Catarina is nearing the end of her time at the academy and with that, the others are starting to win over Catarina to their side. At the forefront is Prince George, the official fiancé of Catarina. Although everyone else that’s smitten with Catarina doesn’t make it easy. With that said, Catarina’s romantic maturity gets a big push.

Despite Catarina starting to get real life experience with romance, the plot is still thin. This season has frequent flashbacks to when Catarina was young. It seems to have the characters remembering or reminiscing about an event or another, and it makes you wonder perhaps the first season (and the earlier parts of the story) went through Catarina’s childhood too quickly.

There are a few plot arcs in the season where it takes multiple episodes. This wasn’t something we had seen in the first season, and it is welcomed here, allowing for some deeper interactions and feeling less episodic. While none of the events are significant or too consequential, they have the effect of some of the other characters becoming a bit more serious. They don’t want status quo anymore and want to be the one that Catarina chooses.

Unfortunately, the whole season is Catarina with her harem, going on with her life, with a little bit of kidnapping here and there. It isn’t enough as a hook to keep you watching. It can be too predictable, and Catarina as the clueless character can only stick for so long. It’s not a surprise when towards the end, it comes back to its original premise, feeling like it was a little bit desperate.

The OVA is like a recap episode, where each of the characters reminiscent about their first meeting with Catarina. It tells it from their perspective (reusing a lot of animation) and has their voiceover of what was running through their heads at the time. Despite the repetitive nature of it, there are some minor new nuggets of information and context, and it is an OVA that is perfect to watch right before the start of the second season as a refresher.

Overall, My Next Life as a Villainess: All Routes Lead to Doom! X, cannot even be classified as more of the same. Rather, it feels like something that kept going even though it had resolved its original mystery. It’s not terrible, but just feels uninspired and lacking an objective, even if it doesn’t know what it wants to do. The reveal at the end that promises more just makes you roll your eyes.

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Toy Review: Transformers Generations Legacy Metroplex (Titan)

Review:  #833

Name:  Metroplex

Brand:  Transformers

Allegiance:  Autobot

Line:  Generations - Legacy

Year of Release:  2022

Size Class:  Titan

Mold Status:  new

PACKAGING:

Metroplex is unique in that he is the first Titan class that was released that wasn't based off a G1 character, rather, this is the Cybertron incarnation.

As usual though, he comes in a huge box with a fantastic piece of artwork.  Although it is significantly less exciting inside, being just a bunch cardboard and twist ties holding the figure together.

ALTERNATE MODE:

Metroplex, in the original cartoon and the original toy, did not have a good alt mode, and since Legacy is being faithful, he doesn't have a great alt mode here as well.

He transforms into a Cybertronian excavator, which you can kind of only tell from the giant scoop.  The base has a huge saw which definitely looks super dangerous if it was in real life.

This figure is huge, as you'd expect from a Titan class figure.  Above is a comparison against Commander Magmatron, just to give a sense of scale.

You can really tell that this is just a folded up robot, and this alt mode was pieced together with what was left after designing the robot mode.  It's basically a block with the scoop piece on top.

From the back, it's not great as there are huge gaps, especially the one in the middle.

There are some guns off to the side that can flip out.

While there are some tiny treads to indicate that at least he should be mobile.  The front scoops also looks nice, and to be fair, there are some excellent detailing here and there.

Since the scoop is a separate piece that you peg on top, it can swivel around.

Not the most amazing alt mode, and for a Titan figure, considering what we got in the past, it is not the best either.

WORK MODE:

The original toy has two robot modes for Metroplex, a shorter stumpy one, and a taller lankier one.  This was carried over in this toy.

He is shorter as it collapses a few joints together, so that his legs in particular are super thick.  He also has the bucket and saw attached as his hands instead..

He has a unique face for this mode, which is a faceplate and it looks really nice here.

A size comparison against Magmatron, and also Titan Ark to see how big Metroplex is.

Articulation is generally okay, he can move his head, shoulders, elbows, hips, knees and ankles.

All his joints are in ratchets though, and they are tight in order to sustain the weight (Metroplex is heavy.  So this actually makes him a little bit awkward to pose.

ROBOT MODE:

And now finally, the actual real robot mode that we are all used to.  Although by design, he is lanky, tall, but lanky.

Kibble-wise, he's not too bad, with a tiny bit of kibble on his back.

The head sculpt is awesome, and his mouth can open and close.  The gold paint used is just sublime.

You can see here that Metroplex gains a ton of height, and he towers over some previous Titans too.

Articulation remains mostly the same, but since the limbs are freer by not having to be double jointed back upon itself, it's much easier to pose him.

He has proper hands with certain fingers that can be posed independently.  The huge feet and ankle tilts helps keep him extremely stable.

His primary weapon is the scoop / saw combination, which is designed for Metroplex to hold combined via a handle at the midway point.

If you don't want him to wield such a big awkward weapon, it can store on his back.

Metroplex has enough articulation to hold the weapon with both hands as well.

The circular saw piece can actually spin, which can be fun.  And for such a huge piece of plastic, as it is mostly hollow inside, it isn't too heavy and unwieldy either.

A good robot mode, although a bit lacking in gimmicks.

OVERALL:

Metroplex, for being such a large and expensive figure, is definitely one for the fans of the character.  This can be a tough ask given that he heralds from the Cybertron cartoon.  It's a faithful update to the original toy, basically just modernizing it, but sadly it also strips away a few gimmicks, so he can be a bit boring in both modes.

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