Toy Review: Transformers Generations Power of the Primes Snarl (Deluxe)

Review:  #456
Name:  Snarl
Brand:  Transformers
Allegiance:  Autobot
Line:  Generations - Power of the Primes
Year of Release:  2018
Size Class:  Deluxe (Wave 2)
Mold Status:  new

DINOSAUR MODE:

Snarl transforms into a robotic Stegosaurus and is a proper homage to the G1 figure.

This is a pretty good alternate mode although the steep angle of tail makes it look odd.

As part of the Power of the Primes line, he comes with a character card.

In terms of size, above is a comparison against Titans Return Blurr.  Snarl is actually fairly small and compact.

The weapons store on either side of the rear legs.  Unfortunately, Snarl is quite static in this mode as there's no meaningful limb articulation.

No matter how static he is, Snarl still looks great.

TRANSFORMATION:

The transformation is quite simple which can make him a bit boring as it's not too different from the other POTP Dinobots.  The rear legs become the robot arms and the front unfolds and then splits to form the legs.  The most unique thing is just that the tail splits to form the two spikes behind his head.

ROBOT MODE:

Snarl's robot mode is once again a nice update to the G1 figure and he looks great here.

He doesn't have much backpack kibble, only some spikes and of course, the tail on his back but that's more of a character feature.

The headsculpt is good with a silver face and red eyes.  It is on a balljoint.

In terms of size, he is around average height of the more recent shrunken Deluxes.

Poseability is okay, he has all the standard joints including a waist swivel.  Like most figures nowadays, he has hollow parts to reduce the amount of weight and plastic used.

His large feet actually can make it annoying to pose him despite being very stable.

Snarl has two weapons, a sword (which is the same sculpt as the one from Swoop) and the combiner piece.

The sword is unpainted and can be held in either hand.

The combiner piece on the other hand, can be used as some sort of (stupid looking) handheld weapon.  There's no other meaningful place to store it if Snarl doesn't hold it in his hand though.

The small clear piece in the combiner piece is sculpted to look like a small gun but because it's transparent white, the details aren't terribly clear.

The last way you can use the combiner piece is as some sort of chest shield.

A good robot mode.

OVERALL:

Snarl falls into the trap of being so similar to all the Combiner Wars and Power of the Primes Deluxes that he can be a bit boring, even though he's very solid.  The dinosaur mode is a highlight while the robot mode looks quite good.  Of course, you will need him if you want to complete the Dinobots.

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As part of the Power of the Primes line, Snarl can combine with any Voyager as an arm or leg.

As an arm, this is a pretty slim form and unlike other figures, there are no awkward pieces of kibble sticking out.

As a leg, the tail does kind of awkward hang just above the knee but is otherwise solid.  That's all for this review, thank you for reading!

Book Review: Accel World 11: The Carbide Wolf

Review:  #764
Title:  Accel World 11:  The Carbide Wolf
Series:  Accel World - 11th volume
Author:  Reki Kawahara
Read Before:  no
Comments:  The Chrome Disaster story arc truly comes to an end at the beginning of this volume when Silver Crow is cleared before the Kings of Pure Color.  As the author introduced so many plot points in previous volumes, the biggest of which was the ISS Kits and the Acceleration Research Society, there’s plenty of starting points for the next story arc.  However, true to the author’s tendencies, he diverges and introduces even more things that don’t directly link to the current predicament.  Not only does he introduce another seemingly overpowered ability that Silver Crow must now obtain, he introduces a new opponent with another overpowered ability.  To be fair, the fights between Silver Crow and his new adversary is quite intense and keeps you guessing in what their weak point is and how Silver Crow is going to exploit it.  Haru does his thing with self-pity and while it is reasonable for anyone to react like that, it tends to be overused by now.  Haru’s thinking is so warped and away from reality that it is cringeworthy.  There’s also quite a bit too much time spent on exposition when it could have been better spent speeding up the story.  Unfortunately, once again it ends in a cliffhanger but it was a worthwhile start to the journey.
Rating:  7/10

Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 (2017)

The highly anticipated sequel to the first standout hit Guardians of the Galaxy was worth the wait, as it carries the spirit and charm that made the first one great.  There is a high focus on one-liners and cheesy jokes, even for a Marvel film, and while there were a few that made you think that they actually went there, a lot of it was enjoyable.  It is hard to tell where the plot was going until the second half of the film, where the antagonist and their motivations were finally made clear.  Even then though, it is somewhat questionable.  Like most films in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, the film starts off with a huge action sequence filled with special effects and explosions but then it slows down with more heavier story related stuff, mainly filled with talking, before finally having the climax of explosions and fighting again.  Being completely set in space and on alien planets, Vol. 2 is naturally heavily reliant on special effects and most of the time, these are good.  There are, however, more than a few scenes where the special effects looks too artificial and shiny which breaks the immersion (plus, the physics feels off).  Like the first film, Groot is stellar here.  Surprisingly, the ending of the plot was very emotional and moving.  It was well done and much deeper than you would expect of the film.

Shinzo - Season 2 (2000)

The first season ended with a slight sequel hook of the meteorite's powers, the one that fell upon Earth, and was indirectly the cause of the human-Enterran war.  The second season is comprised of 10 episodes and is a weird one.  It feels like a semi-reboot of the story as once again, it starts with Mushra hanging from the waterfall in chains and is saved by a human girl.  This time, however, he is not saved by Yakumo, but rather, a young girl named Binka.  Binka was tasked by Yakumo to find the three that forms Mushrambo, aka Mushra, Sago and Kutal.  She has to convince them to take the journey to Shinzo, meet up with Yakumo and save the world, which somehow involves the meteorite.

While Mushra already knows Sago and Kutal, they are only acquaintances at best and nowhere near the closeness displayed by them during the first season.  The explanation for the reversion of everyone's relationships and memories is that it is taking place in the altered timeline thanks (somehow) to the actions of Yakumo from Season 1.  The Enterrans are now living peacefully with the humans but a new race enters the fray, called Kadrians.  On many levels, the Kadrians are similar to Enterrans, being able to Hyper form and upon defeat, changing into cards (albeit, hexagonal cards and red in color).

With the rebooted timeline, the group had lost all their familiarity towards each other, which means that they have to build up their bonds and trust again.  This gives the series an excuse to reuse a lot of the same plot points to rebuild that bond, which makes this second season extremely repetitive and tedious.  It isn't helped that the season constantly reused stock footage, and literally having the same scenes from the first season.  The usage of stock footage feels more frequent than even the first season.  The trio shows little character development and seems to have regressed when compared to the end of season 1.  It takes a while until the trio can form Mushrambo again, at which point he is the most powerful and can easily destroy his enemies.

However, the nature of Mushrambo feels somewhat vague, is he a separate identity and personality?  Or just really a combination of the three that forms him?  It's confusing since Mushrambo was actually a unique Enterran individual 500 years ago, who then had his power split into three and was eventually absorbed by Mushra, Sago and Kutal.  Despite the Kadrians showing immense power, they are quickly dispatched in the most disappointing way once the episode ends.  The way the Kadrians are defeated are not satisfying at all and cheapens the preceding events where Mushra and gang were quickly overpowered.  Yakumo helps from afar and seems to display some interesting powers thanks to the meteorite, although you can't help but feel that it's very convenient since she was useless for most of the series beforehand.

The final battle against the ruler of the Kadrians is a lot more drawn out.  It ends up repeating the same motions of Mushra gaining some sort of power, looking like he will be able to defeat the Big Bad once and for all, only for the Big Bad to find some other sort of trump card to overpower Mushra.  Mushra then finds some other power and repeats the cycle twice more.  The overlay of scenes, usage of stock footage and repeating the exact same scenes during the fight are obvious and completely ruins the feel.  It is supposed to be the final intense battle on which everything hinges upon, instead, it's boring and there's no weight behind those attacks.

One thing to note is that while parts of the soundtrack are good, there are some scenes where it uses new tracks which clash with the rest of the soundtrack and the action onscreen.  Overall, like the first season, the second season of Shinzo has plenty of good concepts in the story but poor storytelling forces it to become a bland and disjointed series.  There is plenty of background information which builds upon the world's lore, it's just a shame that the English dub omits so much of it to the detriment of pacing.

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Book Review: Accel World 10: Elements

Review:  #763
Title:  Accel World 10:  Elements
Series:  Accel World - 10th volume
Author:  Reki Kawahara
Read Before:  no
Comments:  Elements is a collection of side stories that takes place in between the previous volumes.  The first is “The Sound of Water on a Distant Day” which takes it all the way back to when Haru just got his avatar of Silver Crow.  He levels up but uses up most of his points in the process, leading to a real risk of losing Brain Burst forever.  This just shows off the stupidity of the system sometimes, using what are effective life points in order to level up?  Able to be challenged by anyone any time and the fact that new players only get 100 points to start with?  All this is a recipe for disaster and it is a miracle players survive.  Anyway, we are introduced to a new character who you know will be important in future volumes.  It’s fairly interesting although the resulting battle feels truncated and cut short right when it was getting good.  It takes the easy way out in retconning it back such that Haru never once mentioned this event in previous volumes.  The second is “The Roar of the Sea at the Ends of the Earth” which takes on the side of Kuroyukihime when she was at the Okinawa school trip while Haru was trying to defeat Dusk Taker.  Again, it expands on Brain Burst and the various technical matters and this is by far the longest short story.  It’s quite interesting and we learn a lot more about how Kuroyukihime thinks, and realize that she is not as pure and calm as her exterior might lead you to believe.  In the end, she encounters a powerful enemy that she defeats but unfortunately, the author continues his preference of pulling miracles out of nowhere to solve the problem which cheapens the whole thing.  Then the author goes ahead and introduce more mysteries that seemingly cannot be explained unless you dive into the realm of pure fantasy.  Nevertheless, it is a neat fit into the existing story and is great to see how Black Lotus managed to get onto the flying horse to save Haru and Takumu at that fateful fight against Dusk Taker.  The final short story is “Versus’ in which it is a crossover between Accel World and Sword Art Online.  Crossovers are always awesome and this is not exception with Kirito and Silver Crow duking it out.  However, being a clash between the two main characters, the author cannot have one have an upper hand on the other and thus it feels somewhat superficial when the two alternate between who’s gaining the advantage.  Overall, Elements is a solid distraction of side stories within the Accel World universe.
Rating:  7/10

Toy Review: Transformers Generations Power of the Primes Hun-Gurrr (Voyager)

Review:  #455
Name:  Hun-Gurrr
Brand:  Transformers
Allegiance:  Decepticon
Line:  Generations - Power of the Primes
Year of Release:  2018
Size Class:  Voyager (Wave 2)
Mold Status:  new

ALTERNATE MODE:

Hun-Gurrr transforms into a twin-headed dragon on four legs.

This is a blocky dragon mode, the limbs are especially awkward.

Above is a size comparison against Titans Return Optimus Prime.  Despite looking big, Hun-Gurrr is quite hollow and feels light in your hands.

As part of the Power of the Primes line, he comes with a character card.

The two robot weapons, which doubles up as the combined mode's feet, can peg onto the back legs.

Each head can open it's mouth and the necks are jointed in multiple areas (as they double as the robot's legs).

While the neck has plenty of articulation, his limbs are a lot more static, especially the forelegs.

As is the trend with recent figures, Hun-Gurrr sports a multitude of stickers.  It's not the worst application of stickers but it is still not ideal.

The proportions are off with a huge neck, an uneven torso and small forelegs.

This is not the best alternate mode, especially for a Voyager.  Hun-Gurrr is very average in this mode.

TRANSFORMATION:

The transformation to robot mode is very simple.  The two dragon heads straighten to form the legs.  The robot arms are the rear legs and the tail folds down to reveal the head.  Finally, the forelegs tuck onto his back.

ROBOT MODE:

The robot mode isn't stellar either with huge forearms but skinny legs.

He wears a backpack which is there as it contains the combined mode's parts.

The headsculpt at least is solid, even though it's a fairly simple design.

Size-wise, Hun-Gurrr is a bit taller than other Voyagers.

Articulation is pretty good.  His hips are ratchets while everything else are swivels or pinned hinges.

His legs are particularly versatile thanks to double jointed knees and ankle tilts.

His weapons are the combined mode's feet, which are shaped like blasters.

These pieces can peg onto the outside of his forearms.  While they don't look bad at all, you do miss a proper handheld weapon.

He also comes with an Enigma of Combination.

The Enigma can peg onto any of the combined mode's feet pieces.   Despite looking like he should have no trouble standing, thanks to the uneven surface of the inside of the dragon's heads, it can take some adjustments to get him balanced properly.

Hun-Gurrr can look good in a lot of poses, but he is still flawed with his awkward proportions.

OVERALL:

Hun-Gurrr is an average toy.  He doesn't excel in any areas as the dragon mode looks awkward, as a matter of fact, as does the robot mode too.  His proportions are off and is a sacrifice for the combined mode.  The biggest reason to get this figure is for the combined mode Abominus.

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When you first get Hun-Gurrr into torso mode, it is at this point that you realize how much engineering is inspired by Combiner Wars Silverbolt.  From the legs folding up to form the torso, to the head flipping out to the giant forearms forming the thighs.  You can feel a bit cheated despite Hun-Gurrr being a new mold.

Torso mode is truly where Hun-Gurrr stands out.  He looks fantastic with great proportions and details.

Thanks to the tight joints, he is very poseable.  That's it for this review, thank you for reading!