Yoshi’s Crafted World (Switch)

Yoshi’s Crafted World is focused on Yoshi and is a spiritual successor to Yoshi’s Woolly World. Rather than set in a world made of wool, it expands on that idea and it’s a paper crafted world, very similar to Paper Mario in that aspect. However, Yoshi and the other characters still look very fluffy, so there is a bit of a clashing aesthetics at first. You’ll soon get used to it, and the bright colorful graphics, along with the paper craft theme make for a beautiful looking game.

This is still a Yoshi game though, so the gameplay remains familiar. It’s mostly a sidescroller platformer, but set in a 2.5D perspective, where Yoshi will be able to go between the layers at certain parts of the levels. Yoshi doesn’t gain too many new moves, he can jump and float, and while floating, there is a point where he can go just that tiny bit higher. To defeat enemies, he can either jump on them or shoot out his tongue to swallow them and then turn them into eggs. The eggs trail behind Yoshi and he can then take aim and throw them.

Levels are mostly straightforward, but there’ll be simple puzzles along the way. Throwing eggs and other objects will often be required for these puzzles. To change the gameplay up every so often, Yoshi may be able to ride a train, or he turns big and can crash and stomp on everything. These moments are often fun without being annoying. Lastly, Yoshi can also do a ground stomp.

The collectibles in this game are flowers, and each level gives you a lot of opportunities to get them. Each level has three flowers with the same conditions: collect 100 coins, finish the level with full health, and find 20 red coins. The rest of the flowers are hidden within the levels, but the game is quite easy, given that when you’re in the vicinity of a flower, the flower counter pops up so you’ll know you need to stop and search. Flowers are required to progress the game. The game is quite easy and can be made even easier with Mellow Mode, which gives Yoshi wings, allowing him to float indefinitely.

The story is simple, but there is dialogue. Yoshi and his friends are living peacefully on the island, which holds the Sundream Stone, surrounded by five Dream Gems. Kamek and Baby Bowser appear to steal the stone and send five of the Dream Gems across the land, and now it is a race between Yoshi and Baby Bowser on who can find all the gems first and restore the Sundream Stone.

The game is split into various “worlds”, and each of these worlds are very small. There are only one to three levels in each of these. The benefit of this is that each world is a different theme, and so you’ll often move onto a different theme. This means that there is a lot of visual variety, as well as different level designs that change with each theme. Nothing outstays its welcome.

Further increasing the variety is that while most of the game is platforming, there are some levels that changes the gameplay up. It keeps it from being too repetitive such as having a giant Yoshi crashing and stomping everything in his path. Or having Poochy show up, adding a minor puzzle element. Although the auto scrolling levels are less fun given the time pressure that it naturally adds.

Thanks to the slower paced gameplay and the chilled music, it gives the game a very relaxed atmosphere (well, barring the auto scrolling levels). You can go your own pace in most levels, and you can backtrack in most of these in case you’ve missed something and wanted to check it out before moving on. Bosses aren’t overwhelming. They’re your typical bosses, where you need to do a certain action to hit them three times and aren’t that stressful.

The game’s story takes around ten hours or so to reach and beat the final boss. That’s around 40 levels to go through, making it a decent amount of content for a platformer. However, the game still has plenty of life left in it, as each level has a “backside”, where you effectively play the level in reverse (or the “background”), collecting three Poochy pups. These are more like time trials since you also aim to find them all within a time limit to get an extra collectible. Furthermore, after the final boss, a new area opens, but these require a lot of collectibles to unlock each of those levels. These levels are harder than anything before it (the game is very easy, even when it gets a little bit more difficult towards the end).

Overall, Yoshi’s Crafted World is a fantastic platformer, and one that while still very easy, is not as boring as some of Nintendo’s other games. This is because the level design is great, even if Yoshi can feel a bit too floaty at times, making it less fun to speedrun through a level. The variety of gameplay, where each type doesn’t outstay its welcome as they’re only limited to a level each, truly enhances the fun factor.

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Toy Review: Transformers Age of the Primes Blast Off (Deluxe)

Review:  #944

Name:  Blast Off

Brand:  Transformers

Allegiance:  Decepticon

Line:  Age of the Primes

Year of Release:  2026

Size Class: Deluxe (Wave 4)

Mold Status:  new

ALTERNATE MODE:

Blast Off transforms into a space shuttle, but in a much darker color scheme compared to the white that you would expect.

This is a really good shuttle mode, and one of the best that we've had for the character.

He is a relatively good size for a Deluxe, and he is very compacted so he feels very solid too.

He rests on a table, there are no wheels underneath so Blast Off cannot roll.

There is a huge Decepticon insignia on the roof, as well as a splash of purple, so that can make it clash a bit, and can feel kind of cheesy.  The guns also store by pegging underneath the wings.

The rear has four thrusters, which looks pretty good.

A fantastic shuttle mode, despite the huge awkward Decepticon insignia.

TRANSFORMATION:

Blast Off has a relatively simple transformation.  The back splits in half and extends to form the legs.  While the front also splits to form the arms.  He transforms very similarly to the original toy, but just updated with modern engineering.

ROBOT MODE:

Blast Off's robot mode looks equally good.

There is some kibble, include the shuttle roof on his back, but it's mainly in his legs which are quite chunky, since the tail fins are also there.

The head sculpt looks nice, especially with the painted eyes and face plate.

In terms of size, he is roughly the size of an average Deluxe.

Articulation is fairly decent, with joints for his head, shoulders, elbows, wrist, waist, hips, knees and ankles.

He comes with a pair of pistols.

Those guns can be held in either hand.

Or they can store in the same spot in shuttle mode, underneath the wings which are now on the sides of his legs.

Alternatively, those guns can also peg into 5mm holes on the outside of his forearms, and they look pretty decent there.

This is classic Blast Off, and looks close to the animation design.

The color scheme can seem a bit bland, but it works for Blast Off.  There are enough sculpted detailing and splashes of purple to break up the solid color.

The main negative are his fists which has the tips of the shuttle on the outside, so they look slightly awkward.  Despite that, this is still a great robot mode.

OVERALL:

Blast Off is one of those rarer figures that are a part of a Combiner where he is worth picking up even if you have no intention of completing the set.  He is a solid figure, and while he can be simple, he does it so well and feels so solid.

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Gen V - Season 2 (2025)

The second season of the spin-off from The Boys, is eight episodes long. This season takes place after the fourth season of The Boys (in fact, characters from this show made a cameo appearance there). So you’ve definitely need to have kept up with both shows to fully appreciate this season. The two shows ties together even more given that characters from The Boys makes frequent appearances, and the events from that season do influence the current situation here.

Unfortunately, the death of a key character in real life means that a character had to be retired. The way the story dealt with it at first is a bit confusing, but you will soon manage to piece it together. Basically, they had to explain the absence of Andre, and at least in the earlier parts of the season, his absence takes a heavy toll on all the characters.

The spin-off is still anchored at Godolkin University, a place of learning for super-abled people. However, due to the current situation, it’s basically come a stand in for racists, where the super-abled are rebelling against the “humans”. It’s a sad state of affairs, but also somewhat ironic at times given that the super-abled are physically superior given their powers. The plot is still central on the main characters Marie, Emma and Jordan, while supported by Cate and Sam. Andre’s father basically replaces Andre.

Given the events of the previous season, you would have thought all the characters are basically screwed. However, they were all readmitted back into Godolkin University without much consequences, which somewhat ruined the whole point of their actions. Despite what the characters had done in the past, they’re given somewhat free reins to keep investigating.

Unfortunately, the general beats of the season follows a similar routine. We’ve seen this type of structure already in the first season, so it can be repetitive. The season starts off with the characters being wary of each other and having their loyalties tested, which is expected given what they had to go through. Yet this happens again and again. Characters who were enemies now become allies again. They develop romantic feelings only for it to be ripped apart. It’s not that it’s a bad thing but because it is done multiple times over the season, it feels superficial.

We know Marie is an important character, but we never learnt why. It comes more to the forefront now, as the characters discover the secrets behind Godolkin University, and what it is hiding. It’s nothing momentous, but does have more far reaching consequences to the wider The Boys universe than you would expect. This isn’t just some throwaway far off spin-off, it looks like it should have real impact to the mainline series as well.

The season continues with the dark and depressing view of the world. It magnifies and makes fun of the current situation of the real world, but at the same time, it also shows how broken it all is. It feels unfair and there isn’t any glimpse of hope or light to help break the cycle. Characters can be just cruel and harsh towards each other for their own selfish reasons. Each character has something broken in them, and while real life isn’t perfect, this is still an overly bleak representation.

There was a clear build up towards the big reveal at the end of the season. To be honest, the season did a pretty good job at creating some mysteries and foreshadowing, so when the reveal happened, it worked and made sense. You’ll come to the realization of the meaning and small touches of previous events. Although you might think that the show might bleed into another season, it does satisfyingly wrap things up (even if it is a bit too quick and easy, considering the amount of time it took to get here), while also effectively merging the two casts of Gen V and The Boys, for the final season of The Boys.

Overall, the second season of Gen V was a good watch. It keeps up the quality of the first season. While at times, the constantly changing loyalties was annoying, as well as the overly bleak and dark nature of the show, the pacing kept the ball rolling. The subsequent resolution, and the way it wraps the spin-off into the mainline show were nice touches that was done well.

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Toy Review: Transformers Authentics Megatron (Prime Changer)

Review:  #943

Name:  Megatron

Brand:  Transformers

Allegiance:  Decepticon

Line:  Authentics

Year of Release:  2026

Size Class: Prime Changer (Wave 2)

Mold Status:  new

TANK MODE:

Surprisingly, as part of the Authentics line, which are usually very simplistic new molds or are redecos of previous molds, Megatron is a brand new more complicated mode.

Megatron, as is usual for all versions based upon his G1 design, transforms into a grey tank.

Being in the Prime Changer size class, Megatron is approximately Deluxe sized.

Megatron's accessories can peg to the side and back of the tank as a way to store in this mode.

Despite the simpler and cheaper price point, Megatron actually has some decent detailing, such as the small painted missile pods on the sides.

The treads don't work, rather there are small plastic wheels underneath to allow him to roll on smooth surfaces.  The turret doesn't rotate either, and the cannon is fixed.

This figure is full of surprises, from the new mold to the detail, apart from a gappy back (of which a lot of contemporary toys are guilty of already), this is actually a really good tank mode.

TRANSFORMATION:

Transformation is also another surprise, since Megatron has a transformation scheme that's not too easy but also not too hard.  It has some interesting aspects such as how the legs are folded together from the sides of the tank.  The turret splits to form the arms, so that's more of a conventional design.

ROBOT MODE:

Robot mode looks great, the only piece of visible kibble are the panels on the sides of the legs, but they sit fairly flush against the legs so it's not too bad.

From the back, it's even more impressive at how clean this robot mode is, Megatron barely has any kibble.

The head sculpt is classic Megatron, looking good, albeit little bit slimmer than usual.

Articulation is decent as well, with joints for his head, shoulders, elbows, hips, knees and ankles.

He comes with two accessories, a fire blast effect, and a mace.  Both of which are cast in rubbery transparent purple plastic.

The fire blast effect can attach to the end of his arm cannon.

While his can hold the mace weapon in his hand, although since it's a soft rubbery plastic, it doesn't feel that good.

His hands are covered by panels, making them a little bit bulkier than it should, that's about the only flaw of this figure.

The feet is also somewhat flat, but it's nitpicking at this point.

The fire blast effect can also attach to the back of the cannon... if you want to.  The other way to use the mace is to attach it to the outside of his forearm.  Both looks kind of weird this way.

The figure continues to surprise, and the robot mode is very good for what it is worth.

OVERALL:

You see Authentics and you expect cheap and poor quality hollowed figures that's not even worth the plastic.  Yet this Megatron defies those expectations.  It has a very good tank mode and a very respectable robot mode.  It's a fun figure that's perfectly balanced in terms of difficulty and fun.  Megatron can actually hold a candle against some of the Generations and Studio Series figures.

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