My Hero Academia - Season 6 (2022-23)

The sixth season of My Hero Academia is 25 episodes long. Unlike the previous seasons where the first episode is usually a nice slow one to ease you back in, this season starts immediately after the previous one in which the League of Villains combined with the Meta Liberation Army. Now that Shiragaki is the leader and a huge threat, the heroes must launch a pre-emptive attack as they know that there is no going back if they allow the villains the first strike. Of course, the students at U.A. can participate, even though they are mostly in the reserve to help with evacuation efforts.

Naturally, things do not go accordingly to plan, and they go spectacularly wrong early on. From the misjudgement of the villains and their powers to just sheer bad luck, the pro heroes have a lot of work to do. The anime has progressively gotten more serious and darker, but this season starts out with some heavy stuff. We’ve seen some deaths before but be prepared for characters to die in sad and horrible ways. It can feel like that their deaths were meaningless at times, and just happened which is reflective of reality. It’s not something that you would expect from the anime, so it hits you all the much harder when it happens.

The first arc of the season splits the group into two. The anime jumps between the two locations as it showcases the events happening simultaneously. It does the usual scene skip when it gets intense, leaving you at a cliffhanger. It’s not bad but sometimes can be annoying as it can feel like it is dragging the plot out for quite a bit. By this point, a lot of the characters are familiar, and their actions feel genuine, especially when they act like true heroes, suppressing their fear and giving it their all to help others.

Despite it being a long fight scene, there are enough developments for it not to feel boring at all. Shiragaki is way too strong now. it’s like he cheated to gain all the power that he got just so he could be a one-man army that can take on all the heroes at once. Nevertheless, various things in the previous seasons do make their appearance again and since you’re already familiar with those concepts, it can lead to some tense situations where you know the consequences will be devastating if the villains succeed.

Scattered throughout the big battle are a lot of flashbacks for character development. Several prominent characters, who were shrouded in mystery up until now, finally have their backstories revealed. Some revelations are big, but it does feel like the stakes have to keep escalating so it’s getting ridiculous with how exaggerated things can get. The season tries to get its highs from big returning characters, but these are cheap thrills. It’s still great to see them in action once again but they quickly drop off into the background against the huge cast of characters.

Annoyingly, there is a not insignificant amount of exposition in the dialogue. Characters have big speeches justifying their actions with their motivations. These are long winded and slow down the pacing of the current scene even more, especially when it is combined with the flashback scenes. It doesn’t help that their justifications can be confusing to make sense of at times.

The season turns the situation around with the heroes facing a bleak future. This is heavy stuff, especially compared to the previous seasons. It had political themes, some more drama, and is darker. It does this to allow the characters to shine with their genuineness and ability to push forward through hard times, which is inspiring. The second half turns even darker but goes overboard with the stuff. Deku becomes annoyingly stubborn, and his actions reveal that he did not learn the most aspects of his time at U.A. he's trying to take on everything by himself, pushing everyone away.

The extreme serious tone of the doesn’t quite work towards the end. There are times where Deku, supposedly grittier, edgier, and more morally grey in his methods, becomes like it is trying too hard. Deku goes from slowly growing into his power of One For All to suddenly being able to competently use the many facets of it. The plot had time skipped too much and the jump in power and proficiency is too large a gapt o ignore. Throughout the anime, the students, while powerful in their own right, are often humbled by actual superheroes and supervillains. Yet Deku can now easily dispatch some supposedly tough villains.

There is a redemption arc for Deku and while the anime has done some typical arcs before, it usually puts its own twist on things that make it engaging. Unfortunately, that’s not the case this time as it is a predictable arc, where everyone comes to punch some sense into Deku. There are one or two scenes where it works but the whole schtick where every character gets a piece of dialogue about their time together with Deku is corny and cheesy. The season finishes off with a small ray of hope within the darkness. It was starting to get depressing, but the anime can finally get back to having more of the upbeat positive vibe that it always had. While things can be too idealistic, it has its charms.

Overall, the sixth season of My Hero Academia is weaker than previous seasons. It is not bad, but it is more so that the previous season were just that good. This season spent a lot of time with complex issues involving ideology and had a darker theme as a result. Then we get Deku straying from the path and his beliefs, before spending the rest of the season to have him finally saved by his friends. Deku rapidly gaining power from One For All also means it is a missed opportunity to see him grow like we had done in the past.

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Toy Review: Transformers Generations Studio Series Concept Art Megatron (Leader)

Review:  #796

Name:  Megatron

Brand:  Transformers

Allegiance:  Decepticon

Line:  Generations - Studio Series

Year of Release:  2024

Size Class:  Deluxe (Wave 14)

Mold Status:  new

JET MODE:

This figure is based upon the concept art from the Bumblebee movie, which only had robot mode, thus the vehicle modes are original.

The jet mode looks okay at first glance but then when you have him in hand, or look closer, you can see the flaws, being that there are a huge amount of robot kibble.

Make no mistake, this is a chunky jet.  It's a block with small wings, some thrusters, and a small cockpit.  Being so compact in this mode, he is approximately the size of a Voyager figure.

You can see the gigantic amount of kibble underneath the figure, which are the robot arms and the cannon.  The saving grace here are is the nice shade of grey and black plastics used, along with the metallic silver highlights.

As mentioned, there are dedicated jet elements, although they're small and feels like an afterthought.

The cannon can detach from the bottom so that you can plug it on the top, but it'll be off center, and it ruins the already poor aerodynamics.

As a mode where you don't put too much attention in, this is passable, but it is far from being good.

TRANSFORMATION (TANK MODE):

Megatron is surprisingly involved when transforming between modes, considering two of the modes are pretty poor and is basically a folded up robot.  He has tight joints, so when you try to pull out the tank treads from his thighs, it is difficult.  To get from jet mode to tank mode, the wings, which are the robot legs, form the tank treads and plug onto the side.  The arms, which were underneath the wings now flip up and join together at the top to form the turret.  You can then fold the cockpit away.

TANK MODE:

Inspired by the unreleased Animated Marauder Megatron, Concept Art Megatron is a triple changer!!  His second alternate mode is a tank and while this is better than the jet mode, it's still not amazing.

There is a lot of robot sculpting here, since apart from the tank treads and the cannon, there are no dedicated tank parts.  More of the metallic silver comes out here though and it does add a nice premium feel to the figure.

Again, he is approximately Voyager sized.

The turret is situated quite far back, but it can rotate and lift up and down.

You might have expected small plastic wheels beneath the treads so you can roll him along a flat surface but he doesn't actually have them.  He only has plastic nubs to let him rest flat.

To be fair, at least he is pegged solidly in this mode so he doesn't come apart in your hands when you handle him.

It's an okay mode, probably below average to be honest, so that's two modes that failed so far...

TRANSFORMATION (ROBOT MODE):

This is complex, especially for such poor alternate modes.  However, it is also interesting and cleverly designed.  The treads and sides of the tank mode becomes his legs.  The upper turret forms the arms, and the middle of the tank forms the torso.

ROBOT MODE:

Okay, this is where Megatron completely shines and he blows you out the water with how amazing he is.  He has a unique aesthetic that makes it feel like he isn't even a Transformer sometimes.

He doesn't have much kibble, everything folds nicely away, you probably won't even realise he can transform at first glance.

The head sculpt is a bit busy, but carries a menacing hollow look.

Unfortunately, despite being a Leader classed figure, he is really only the size of a Voyager, or barely a bit taller.  Most of the budget went into making him a triple changer.  He is more complex than a standard Voyager, and he has some really nice paint applications.

As part of the Studio Series line, he comes with a cardboard stand, depicting a scene from Cybertron.

His main weapon is his cannon, which can also fold up to store on his back.

He is worthy of the Leader price point because you can tell how much more complex and parts he has.  A perfect example are his hands, which are jointed as well as the larger Masterpiece toys.  He has joints for his index finger, his other fingers, and his thumbs.

The cannon pegs onto his arm and that's about all the gimmicks in this mode.

Instead, Megatron revels in how good he looks, and how poseable he is.  He has joints for his head, shoulders, elbows, wrists, fingers, waist, hips, knees and ankles.

He has big feet so he can hold plenty of action poses.

The only slightly awkward thing is that his cannon is attached to a panel which then attaches to his arm, so it can look off.

He has a large amount of silver metallic paint, which pairs nicely with the red highlights, as well as the dark grey plastics used.

Megatron feels extremely premium in your hands, and while he does have hollow parts, they are not obvious.

A fantastic robot mode and one that is near perfection.

OVERALL:

Megatron is an amazing figure.  Well, he has an amazing robot mode, which is perfect in terms of its aesthetics, design and paint.  He's held back by two poor vehicle modes, but to be fair, they are ancillary to the robot mode anyway.  Despite being a little bit small, he feels he is worth the Leader classed price point due to the complexity, the solid build, and the premium paint finish.

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Shadow of the Colossus (PS4)

Shadow of the Colossus is a remake of the original game from the PlayStation 2. It is done by Bluepoint Games, who has done wonderful remasters up until this game. It is a faithful remake of the game, although this is also a bad thing in that it has kept a lot of the frustrations and annoyances of the original. The story is simple, you play as Wander, who enters the Forbidden Lands in the hopes of resurrecting his love. Dormin, the sealed entity in this empty land, can retrieve her soul but in exchange, they require Wander to defeat the 16 colossi roaming the land. Wander sets out with his trust horse, Agro, and his sword.

The remake has added a ton of detail, and this can make the story cutscenes seem like they are revealing more. The bulk of the story cutscenes happen at the beginning and the end of the game. Despite that, the game and its world have a very mysterious charm to it that sucks you in. The mystique of each colossus when you find it, and the sadness that comes of killing such large and majestic creatures, despite no dialogue and limited exposure, is one of the most impressive parts of the game. You constantly wonder what the nature of the colossi are, and how these Forbidden Lands came to be. It’s left up to your imagination though since the game’s story is not intended to reveal everything.

The controls are improved compared to the original game, but you can still play with the original’s control scheme. Even though it is improved, there are still many elements to it that feels clunky and archaic. Wander can feel a bit slippery to control. He knows all the moves that are required to defeat each colossus from the very beginning. Wander carries a sword and a bow for offense. The bow is mapped to the shoulder button rather than the trigger. Climbing requires you to hold down the trigger button, which can take a bit of getting used to given most games nowadays has the character automatically grabbing onto things.

Riding Agro is probably the worst aspect of the controls thanks to the handling. You don’t control Agro, rather, you control Wander holding the reins. Basically, you use the analogue stick to move the reins rather than Agro itself, and you need to keep tapping or holding the triangle button to speed Agro up. Agro has her own pathfinding too, and the game doesn’t properly explain a lot of this. Horse riding was intentionally implemented in this specific way, but it just lends to a frustrating experience when Agro randomly heads towards an obstacle and instantly slows down. Or the way that there are several sections where Agro is forced to walk at an agonizingly slow pace.

However, the most frustrating aspect of the game is the camera. It will automatically pan and move. In theory, it is supposed to give an epic and cinematic feel to the game. In actuality, you will be constantly fighting the camera. This is because you might want to focus or keep something in frame, such as part of the environment when trying to the fruits that extends your health bar, but it will force itself to move behind Wander to face the direction he’s in. This is a terrible thing to endure through the whole game with. The only slight saving grace is that you can hold down the trigger button to force the camera to face the colossus, but this is not a preferred solution.

The gameplay loop consists only of Wander heading to the lair of the next colossus and then facing it. Each colossus is more of a puzzle, where you need to figure out how to climb onto its, find its weak points, and then stab those weak points. The climbing mechanic is important here. Once you’re on the colossus, it will move and shake itself to try and get rid of Wander. This is where the epic moments are, with Wander climbing on top of a giant colossus, the rousing orchestral music playing, and the colossus trying its hardest to shake Wander off.

It’s not all positive though given that many of the original game’s faults are still here. There are the aforementioned camera issues. The other issue is the colossus AI. The puzzle aspect of figuring out how to defeat each colossus is good, what is not good is that even if you’ve figured it out on how to defeat it, triggering those specific moments can be difficult. You might want the colossus to swing its weapon down or crouch down, but it won’t do that for minutes at a time and you’re left running about trying to trigger that movement. It’s not fun when this happens. The controls are slippery, like the original, so running and jumping can seem off and sloppy. Wander is a clumsy fellow as he easily trips and falls over anything and everything.

There are a scant few extra things to do apart from finding and defeating colossus. The Forbidden lands are nearly devoid of life, only some small wildlife remains. It is a vast empty space and that’s the whole point. There are shrines that are scattered across the lands, these used to be places to save in the original game, but since the remake now has autosaving and manual save anywhere, these shrines only act as collectables. You can try to find fruit and lizards to increase your stamina and health. Stamina is required to be able to climb and hold onto things for longer, so it is beneficial.

It is a short game even if you are a newcomer. It’ll take around five to six hours to complete and a lot of that is getting lost on the map trying to find the entrance to the next colossus. Your sword only points in the general direction of the next colossus, but you might need to find a specific path to get there. This is yet another annoyance of the game’s minimalistic design. The game isn’t bad, it’s just that it hasn’t aged as gracefully as it could and feels like it is stuck in a bygone era. The interesting thing are that the massively improved graphics removed some of the mysterious atmosphere of the original.

Given that each colossus is a puzzle in and of itself, the game doesn’t have much replay value. It tends to force you to repeat the same things to get the colossus to reveal its weak point so that you can attack it again. Once you’ve finished the game, you are forced to restart on a new game or new game plus, so if you didn’t already have a manual save before the last colossus, then you cannot explore the world at your leisure afterwards. The game has a few things for you to do but as the whole game is just fighting the colossus, that’s what all the extra content involves. You have three difficulties, and then you have time trials. The major sidequest, if it can be called that, is to max out Wander’s stamina so that he can climb to the top of the large shrine. The game has some nice bonus unlockable artworks though.

Overall, Shadow of the Colossus, for better or worse, is an extremely faithful remake of the original game. It basically just upgraded the graphics so that it looks phenomenal but retained everything else. Unfortunately, this also means that it is stuck with controls that are over a decade old and thus feels extremely clunky at this point. The colossi are still impressive, but there are some that are implemented well, and others that are not. It feels that there is artificial difficulty as you end up fighting the controls as much as you are fighting the colossus. It is still an impressive game but perhaps one that has a lot of baggage and expectations to live up to, and as games have progressed astronomically since its original release, it is not as impressive as it once was. It’s still worth experiencing but be prepared for some flaws.

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