Toy Review: Transformers Generations War for Cybertron Siege Cog (Deluxe)

Review:  #504
Name:  Cog
Brand:  Transformers
Allegiance:  Autobot
Line:  Generations - War for Cybertron:  Siege
Year of Release:  2018
Size Class:  Deluxe (Wave 1)
Mold Status:  new

VEHICLE MODE:

Cog transforms into a long armored vehicle, although as you can tell from the look of things, it's little more than the robot mode lying down.

That being said, he is heavily armed and considering the amount of things that his figure has to do, this is a pretty good vehicle.

He has three pairs of rolling wheels, with smaller plastic wheels underneath the rear treads.

In term of size, he is the same length as previous Deluxes.  Cog is actually one of the biggest Deluxes in the line, which is nice.

The vehicle mode is comprised of two pieces, which can be separated into two smaller vehicles that is inspired by the G1 character.  The two smaller vehicles only connect via a small tab, so easily detaches when you're handling him.

A decent vehicle mode, although you have to give it some slack for being such a fantasy vehicle...

TRANSFORMATION:

Unfortunately, being a Weaponizer, Cog utilizes partsforming in order to transform between his three modes.  The two vehicles separate, with the back becoming the legs.  Meanwhile, you detach the weapons on top of the front vehicle and then reattach them as the robot arms, before finally attaching the torso and legs together.

ROBOT MODE:

Cog's robot mode is definitely the better looking mode and he carries a distinct look thanks to the sharp silver paint, and a nice deep blue.

The figure itself is fairly hollow though as you can tell from the back so his weight doesn't match his size when you hold him in hand.

The headsculpt is classic G1 and looks good.  It can only turn from side to side and since it's in the middle between two larger pieces of plastic, turning it can be annoying as you try to get your fingers to grip.

In terms of size, he's roughly the same height as standard Deluxes but again, feels noticeably lighter/hollow than you'd expect.

Cog has good articulation with joints for his shoulders, elbows, hips, knees and even ankle tilts.

Due to transformation, the shoulder is comprised of two joints so is not as versatile as a balljoint.

He comes with a pair of pistols that he can hold in either hand.

His arms and legs detach when forming his other modes, and during posing these can loosen and start to come off.  This is the biggest detractor against his play value, but is nothing too bad.

As part of the Siege line, Cog has plenty of 5mm pegholes so you can add additional weapons or have a play around on how Cog wields his own weapons.

A fun and good looking robot mode.

WEAPONIZER MODE:

Cog is part of the Weaponizer subclass, meaning that he can become weapons for other robots in the line.  You detach the arms and legs, all the pieces ends up forming a shield, shoulder cannons, feet pieces and a pair of guns.

The default character to show off this mode is with Sideswipe and boy, do they look great combined.

While it's not as involved as an actual Combiner, the designers has done a great job in making these additional armor pieces compatible with the rest of the line, and this adds tons of playability.

The second mode for Cog is a shield and a bigger shoulder cannon.

This one isn't as integrated and the shield in particular looks weird.  The shoulder cannons are pretty impressive though.

OVERALL:

Cog presents heaps of play value, especially if you have at least one other figure in the Siege line.  While his vehicle mode is fairly weak, the robot mode is solid and the Weaponizer options make him so much fun.  Cog is highly recommended and is a well designed figure.

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Book Review: Re:Zero – Starting Life in Another World Vol. 2

Review:  #848
Title:  Re:Zero – Starting Life in Another World Vol. 2
Series:  Re:Zero – Starting Life in Another World - 2nd volume
Author:  Tappei Nagatsuki
Comments:  The second volume arguably introduces the best characters within the series, the twins Rem and Ram!  Their particular sense of attitude and choice of words makes them very likable.  As Subaru had managed to pass his first hurdle upon coming to this world, his “save point” has moved forward and he now has a much larger problem to deal with.  The volume sets up a mystery where Subaru is mysteriously killed.  As Subaru deals with dying again and again, he resolves to try to find out what is happening and just wanting to get through the night of his death alive.  However, the twist here is that each round, no matter how hard Subaru tries, things go about differently.  It is an interesting take on the whole genre.  The other area that Re:Zero shines in is how it portrays the toll that dying and restarting is taking on Subaru.  On paper, it sounds great, being able to redo events and correct your mistakes.  However, as Subaru’s experiences show, it is despairing to wake up realizing that all the progress you’ve made on gaining the trust of who were initially strangers, the memories of fun that you’ve made of them, are only remembered by you and you alone, is very real.  The fact that you have to start things from scratch and the memory of the painful deaths from before is the stuff of nightmares.  To be fair, the plot is messy and uncoordinated at times.  Character motivations are hard to decipher, especially when it changes in each round.  The good parts outweigh the confusing parts though, and the story shows potential.
Rating:  6.5/10

Jason Bourne (2016)

Matt Damon returns in the role of Jason Bourne in the fifth film in the franchise.  In it, Jason recovers his memories and is unwilling dragged back into the mess when the government tracks him down to kill him.  There's a few other plot threads going in centering on the theme of keeping the project a secret.  Surprisingly, the CIA Director is painted as the villain going to whatever lengths necessary, and some questionable decisions, to kill everyone in the way.  As always, it is always interesting to see how Jason manages to escape despite being at a disadvantage, but there were more than a few times where he just comes off as lucky.  The tension continues throughout most of the film but gives way to full on action sequences during the climax.  The climax kind of clashed with the rest of the film being a lot more flashy such as the car chase scene where not a damn was given and cars were being rammed and then thrown all over the place.  Jason Bourne, while still good, doesn't truly give a satisfying return, and conclusion, to the character.

Mayoi Neko Overrun! (2010)

Mayoi Neko Overrun! is a 13 episode anime based on the light novel series.  The title roughly translates to Stray Cats Overrun.  The main character is Tsuzuki Takumi who is a regular high school boy.  His childhood friend is Serizawa Fumino who is your typical tsundere.  Due to an experience the pair had during their childhood (which is quite sweet really), Fumino nearly almost speaks the opposite of what she is feeling.  Hence, she often tells Takumi to die twice, ten times, a thousand times etc.  It's obvious that Fumino likes Takumi, but as per usual with these types of characters, Takumi is completely clueless.

Takumi lives with his older sister in a cake shop, although it's mainly Takumi who keeps the shop afloat.  His older sister has the tendency to randomly disappear for days and weeks at a time to help anyone in need.  She brings back plenty of stray cats along the process and one day, she brings back a human girl.  The girl is Kiriya Nozomi, an extremely beautiful girl with delicate white skin and hair that's shaped like cat ears.  Thus she completes the love triangle.  Nozomi is quiet and doesn't voice much of her feelings but as the series goes on, she thaws and is extremely cute.  She has the tendency to meow like a cat while holding up her hand, and her hair ears have the magical property of moving like real cat eyes.

The anime is a slice of life following the trio as they go to school and deal with their friendships.  There is plenty of fan service in every episode but as far as they go, it's pretty tame.  Takumi finds himself in plenty of enviable situations, although the amount of coincidences that happen has to be seen to be believed.  They go to a prestigious private school run by the grandfather of Umenomari Chise.  While she is the same age as Takumi and Fumino, she looks like a grade school kid, which gets on her nerves.  Chise is rich and is funny when she flouts it about.  Due to Takumi's niceness, Chise also has feelings for him.

Rounding out the cast are Takumi's two best friends.  Kikuchi, an otaku who says that he's only interested in 2D girls but would not stop at the chance to goggle at Nozomi and Fumino.  Daigoro on the other hand is a serious bloke who's old fashioned thanks to his family dojo.  Unfortunately, there's is quite a bit of filler content in the season.  In one episode, it changes to repeating the same thing for effect, and then slow motion to keep it melodramatic.  The problem is that it goes on for a tad bit too long so that it feels like it is padding out the run time.

The humor is mainly Takumi getting into awkward situations, whether that is physically or emotionally.  There are some really good gags, particularly when his friends are involved and Takumi gets to spend time with a girl, while Kikuchi has to spend it with a guy.  To be honest, Kikuchi is the one that always get the short end of the stick, but whenever he shows up, you are bound to laugh.  Despite the apparent shallowness of the plot and characters, there are times when you see that there is a deeper layer to them.  We learn that while Chise may be rich and spoiled because your dreams, at the end of the day, she just wants to have friends and be loved by her parents like everyone else.

Unfortunately, any potential for the plot and character development is squandered pretty quickly.  By the time the fourth episode comes around, you feel that the animators do not have enough content to fill up an episode, let alone 13 episodes.  This gets really apparent in episode 7 where it had nothing to do with the plot.  It is supposed to be a play and parody of popular anime culture but just comes off as random and unnecessary.  Even so, the fact that it's so uninspiring and uninteresting, as well as being cliched and predictable, reflects negatively on the anime.  The later episodes aren't any better as they feel obviously filler or are a thinly veiled excuse for fan service.  The sad thing is that some of the events and one-off gags work really well, it's just a slog to get there.  Each episode feels like they drag out 5 minutes' worth of content into 20 minutes, and you can't see what direction the anime is trying to go towards.

The last episode had a bit of plot that made Nozomi a lot more interesting as a character.  Like everything else, it comes way too late and having only such a short screen time, it loses the impact that it could have had.  The 13th episode is a recap but with commentary from the three heroines.  It quickly goes through all previous twelve episodes and can be amusing to watch.  Overall, Mayoi Neko Overrun! is a mediocre disappointment.  The fact is, it had potential but due to one reason or another, it decided to just make the whole season be filler with nothing to advance the plot.  While there are rare scenes which are actually good, it's such a slog to get there that it can't really be recommended.

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Batman: The Enemy Within (PS4)

Batman:  The Enemy Within is the sequel to the first Batman Telltale game.  Once again, it is comprised of five episodes which were released over the course of a few months.  While the first game is not required, you can import your choices which will affect various scenes, although you can start afresh too.  The game is basically an interactive movie, filled with quicktime events during fights, investigative sections and dialogue decision trees.

Your choice of dialogue may affect the story and the impressions that other characters may have of you.  What you decide will cause certain events to happen or be skipped entirely.  It is too bad that the game doesn't have a skip cutscene function to easily and quickly view all alternate events so you'll have to watch every single scene again.  If you end up having to repeat sections, then you'll have to watch the immediately preceding scene again before you can retry what you failed the first time.

There are investigative sections where you walk around, either as Bruce or Batman, interact with items, and then link two together to progress the story.  These are extremely simple sections and while it makes it more interactive, they are tedious after a few times.  There are more options during fight sequences where you get to pick how you want to dispatch of enemies such as bodyslamming or using a gadget.  Furthermore, superficial quicktime events occur in scenes where there was no need, such as one that pauses Bruce to don on his Batman gear until you press a button.

The first episode is The Enigma in which it introduces another well known enemy of Batman, the Riddler.  As you'd expect based on the first season, Telltale has strayed away from pre-established views of the mythos and given their own spin on the characters.  Riddler is still enamored with riddles though and is an interesting and clever villain as he tests Batman's intelligence.  Various characters return including John Doe, whom looks like that he will have a bigger role than last time.  Naturally, it ends on a stinger and the revelation that the plot is much bigger than first anticipated.

The second episode is The Pact which is a lot slower paced and can get boring at times (this will become a trend).  Due to the nature of the game, when you are just watching people talking about mundane events, you can't help but wish that these parts were cut to get to the good stuff.  This episode doesn't move the plot forward too much but it allows Bruce to gain an idea of the new gang of villains that have joined forces.  By the end of the episode though, their aim is still unclear which was disappointing considering the huge amount of build up.

Next is Fractured Mask, unfortunately it is like the previous episode where it is once again slow paced.  It only becomes excellent near the end when the cliffhanger happens.  At least Bruce makes some headway into the objective of The Pact, so you feel like you actually achieved something.  The investigative portions remain as intrusive as ever, breaking the flow of the story and in general, feeling like excessive padding.  The return of a character was fun, especially if you have played the first game.

The fourth episode is What Ails You and this is where the pacing picks back up and makes it a lot more interesting than the previous two episodes.  As the full scale of what everyone wants come into play, you can feel the repercussions and consequences that could occur if it got into the wrong hands.  A significant amount of character development goes into the character of John Doe, and there are plenty of points where you know that you have to be careful in how to react to his actions.

The fifth and final episode is Final Stitch and as one would expect of a finale, it is a big and grand one.  The best thing about The Enemy Within is the development of the relationship between Batman and John Doe, to the point where good and bad are blurred.  Do you go ahead and hurt them or do you stay steadfastly loyal?  It presents a great moral dilemma that works really well.  The good guys do a lot of bad stuff while the bad guys stay bad, but still, it's not a simple good vs. evil as the original was.  On the whole, the story isn't quite as captivating as the first season's.

Each episode takes 2-3 hours to complete, making the game in total around 9-12 hours long.  You will notice that it is bloodier and gorier with blood splattering from the mouths of enemies and limbs being torn.  Multiple times per chapter, you are forced to make hard decisions where picking one over the other will make one of the characters hate you or harm a hostage.  All choices are timed so it adds to the urgency and immersion.

The game has cel-shaded graphics which suit Batman a lot; it's as if it was an animated comic book.  The game is quite detailed and looks great, it mostly runs well with all the patches although the frame rate drops from time to time.  Overall, Batman:  The Enemy Within presents a solid story.  While there are pacing issues, especially within episodes two to four, it explores a lot of neat concepts and some decisions are genuinely tough, tearing you both ways.

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Book Review: Re:Zero – Starting Life in Another World Vol. 1

Review:  #847
Title:  Re:Zero – Starting Life in Another World Vol. 1
Series:  Re:Zero – Starting Life in Another World - 1st volume
Author:  Tappei Nagatsuki
Comments:  Re:Zero follows Subaru who was mysteriously transported to a fantasy world.  He is as confused as we are and no effort was made on the reason why or how.  Instead, it focuses on his initial exploits in this new world.  With a twist in the genre, Subaru has no special abilities and he is as useless as he was in the real world.  He was lazy and is a coward; he was sheltered for his whole life and has never done a day’s work, this does not bode well when he has to fend for himself in this harsh new world.  He meets the beautiful heroine of the story and pretty much undying swears his loyalty to her, promising to help her.  The sole ability that Subaru has in this world is the fact that once he dies, he goes back in time and can redo the day but now armed with the knowledge of before.  That isn’t as good as it sounds because the novel shows how dark this can get.  Subaru remembers the pain and despair of his deaths and you can feel how it can put you off.  As a result, and also due to him not knowing what triggers this “Return by Death” mechanic, he tries his best to not die.  It is an interesting tale where each run he will advance a bit more.  There are some really neat characters introduced, but the ending felt a bit weak since it wasn’t Subaru who saves the day.
Rating:  6.5/10

Toy Review: Transformers Generations War for Cybertron Siege Sideswipe (Deluxe)

Review:  #503
Name:  Sideswipe
Brand:  Transformers
Allegiance:  Autobot
Line:  Generations - War for Cybertron:  Siege
Year of Release:  2018
Size Class:  Deluxe (Wave 1)
Mold Status:  new

VEHICLE MODE:

As expected, Sideswipe transforms into red sports car that bears more than some resemblance of a Lamborghini Countach, albeit slicker and more futuristic.

For the most part, this is a pretty good mode, although feels a tad bit too short.  The back may look like a mess at first glance but does feature sculpted tail lights.

In terms of size he is in line with other Deluxes though and feels great in your hand.  This is because Sideswipe feels solid and robust.

The robot weapon can plug into a peg hole on top.

A great looking vehicle mode and the painted hubcaps and rich red are nice bonuses.

TRANSFORMATION:

Sideswipe has a simple-ish transformation, but it works really well.  The front folds down to become the chest with the waist piece folding from underneath in the process.  The sides form the arms and the rear unfold to become the legs.  If you've ever handled Masterpiece Sideswipe (or any of its repaints), you'll recognize a few similarities, and this is a good thing.

ROBOT MODE:

Sideswipe's robot mode is equally great and he looks absolutely fantastic here, there are no flaws.

His is slim with barely any kibble at all, it's impressive at how well this figure is designed.

The headsculpt has Sideswipe with a neutral expression.  It's situated on a balljoint but has barely any upwards movement.

In terms of size, Sideswipe is a tad bit shorter than the older Deluxes from lines like Titans Return.

Articulation is great with joints for his shoulders, elbows, waist, hips and knees.

There's a little bit of wiggle room for his ankles thanks to transformation joints.

Sideswipe has two weapons, which is formed by splitting the bigger weapon.

However, the bigger combined weapon can peg onto either of his shoulders for his iconic shoulder cannon.

He can also hold the weapon in his hands.

However, the official way as per the instructions is for him to hold the red tip as a handheld gun, and the bazooka like piece as a shoulder cannon.

As part of the line's gimmick, Sideswipe has a bunch of 5mm holes everywhere, which means there are plenty of options in weaponizing him.

Sideswipe has a silver wash on his shins as some sort of battle damage, which feels out of place.  Otherwise, this is a wonderful robot mode.

OVERALL:

Sideswipe is an extremely strong start to the toyline.  He has two amazing modes and a simple yet elegant transformation.  Sideswipe is highly recommended and one of the best toys we've had in a while.

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