In Another World with My Smartphone 2 (2023)

In Another World With My Smartphone 2 is the second season based on the light novel series, and again with 12 episodes. It continues the story of Touya as he lives in this another world with his harem. He is the ultimate wish fulfillment character as he not only has a growing harem, but he is also pretty much the most powerful person in that world. The season continues with him building up on that power, as he progresses on finding the rest of Babylon, a technologically advanced property, or laboratory, from someone in the past that had left it for him.

There are also the mysterious crystal beasts that had been showing up from time to time with a few more details being teased out to Touya. Otherwise, the rest of the season has Touya tending to his harem of fiancés. It can get a bit much, since Touya is the type of protagonist who has it good but tries to act chivalrous. This ends up coming off as annoying instead. The same goes for his constant increase in power, which can be hard to stomach as he gets it handed down on a plate.

Touya is humble to a fault here, and he can start crossing the line over to becoming annoying. He gets upgrades too easily, and when you have a protagonist that keeps getting everything their way, with little in the way of obstacles, it makes for a boring protagonist. Yes, he is the ultimate wish fulfilment character but at the same time, it starts to make you resent him, especially when the anime tries to make him act all innocent and awkward in the relationships he has with his harem.

Touya makes fast progress on his goals. Given that he manages to get almost the last members of his harem in the first few episodes of the season, he then finds the next few pieces of Babylon in subsequent episodes. It flies by way too quickly, not allowing the viewer to absorb what is happening. Before too long, he rapidly rose in influence, rank, and power. Having it be this speedy makes the anime’s shallow plot even shallower. It's severely lacking in substance.

Unfortunately, the relationships with his harem are shallow. All of his fiancés basically fall in love with him at first sight but lack the explanation and background of why or which parts of him they love. Again, it is shallow and could have been heavily improved upon if writer just put in the tiniest extra amount of effort. As it is, it’s hard to invest in the characters.

It’s not just the fiancés that have shallow personalities, as most other characters are too, with one element that dominates them. The problems that Touya faces are easily solved, and they are distilled into extremely black and white scenarios. The bad guys are always bad because they are bad in nature, while Touya will always be the shining knight that helps them. There’s no depth to the characters and this means it isn’t that satisfying when Touya easily dispatches them. There’s little thought and no consequences to his methods.

There is a little bit of promise where Touya begins to put into motion various plans and contingencies to fight the weird crystal monsters. It’s mostly regulated to the background though, from the powerful weapons to the giant robots. Still, at least there is something more than the harem he is amassing. The season finale lays it on even thicker than normal, where it can get too much. Yes, we know Touya is super lucky, but it all feels superficial.

The animation quality is average. There are many scenes where it is noticeable that the animators are trying to limit the amount of movement as much as possible. While it’s not a slideshow, it’s getting there. Since the anime is not too action heavy, it can get away with most of it. That said, whenever there is supposed to be action, the anime usually just cuts to the result, which can be jarring and obvious in what it is trying to do (i.e. not showing it).

Overall, In Another World with My Smartphone 2 is pretty much more of the same, so if you liked the first season, then you’ll like it here. The low budget animation can be distracting but given the anime isn’t that action heavy it manages to get away with it. The same can’t be said for the plot where there is barely any. Touya doesn’t have any challenges, and due to that, it’s hard to keep invested or keep rooting for him. The pacing is too fast, and girls fall in love with him at first sight, so all the relationships with his wives are underdeveloped.

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Toy Review: Transformers Reactivate Starscream (Voyager)

Review:  #810

Name:  Starscream

Brand:  Transformers

Allegiance:  Decepticon

Line:  Reactivate

Year of Release:  2024

Size Class:  Voyager

Mold Status:  new

JET MODE:

Based upon his appearance in the upcoming game, Reactivate Starscream transforms into a jet that's very reminiscent of his G1 design.

However, what sets him apart from the G1 design is the addition of black and it is not a symmetrical application either.  It's unique and actually looks quite good.

Jet Transformers always benefit from looking and feeling bigger than they are given their wingspans but Starscream is of a very decent size.

There is some undercarriage kibble but that's to be expected.

The back isn't too messy either as he has triple thrusters.

The guns from robot mode expectedly pegs underneath the wings.  Overall, this is a good jet mode.

TRANSFORMATION:

There are some slight twists in the traditional transformation scheme.  The main one being that his legs are forms from the rear and part of the fuselage, utilizing panels, which can be somewhat weird.  The arms and how the shoulders fold out to click into place also feels a little bit over-engineered.

ROBOT MODE:

Starscream's robot mode looks good, and you can see that he has more black on his left side.

The biggest piece of kibble on his back (apart from the wings which are iconic) is a large-ish panel.  Otherwise, this is an athletic looking robot.

The head sculpt is fairly close to his G1 design.

Size-wise, again, he is really decent in size here, and there aren't too many hollow parts so he feels nice and sturdy too.

A quick comparison against Bumblebee in the two-pack that he came with.  Starscream is only available bundled up with Bumblebee.

Articulation is good, with joints for his head, shoulders, elbows, waist, hips, knees and ankles.  Although the ankle joints are weak meaning he'll keel over backwards fairly easily.

The black highlights really add to a more aggressive and rogue look to the character.  His only weapons are some guns that peg onto the outside of his forearms.  Not quite where the null-rays usually are attached to but still looks great here.

A fantastic robot mode, only let down by the weak ankles.

OVERALL:

Starscream is a good solid figure, and one that is a shame that had such limited distribution (hopefully that'll change by having him rereleased in Studio Series).  Both modes are great, and the asymmetric color scheme works surprisingly well.

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Scribblenauts Unlimited (3DS)

Scribblenauts Unlimited is the fourth game in the Scribblenauts series. The concept of the game gives it a limitless potential, although of course, the reality is it is a lot more limited. The game stars Maxwell, and we quickly learn about his parents, and then his 42 siblings. It focuses on one sister, who is slowly being turned to stone after Maxwell played a prank on an old man. The only way Maxwell can save his sister is to obtain starites, which is obtained by helping people.

So, the game has Maxwell traveling the world helping people out and then obtaining either starites, or shards which will combine to form a starite. And how does Maxwell help these people? Well, he has magical powers, anything you, as the player types, will be created in the world. Thus, there is theoretically many ways to help each individual person’s problems.

The reality is that usually these problems are so simple, as they only require one step or one item to solve. Most of the time, it is easy to know what particular item is required, and you can just create the most obvious item to save time. Although the most fun can come from creating unexpected items that the game still recognizes. You create items by typing into the in-game onscreen keyboard, and while the game can recognize a lot of words, there’s also a lot that it doesn’t.

The other way to solve a problem is to change the actual person or object itself by adding adjectives. You can make a character suddenly friendly, or an inanimate object alive. These make you feel like a god in this world. Truth be told though, the story is very light, and going from place to place, talking to all the characters, generate an item to solve the “puzzle”, and then rinse and repeat, gets tiring and bland quickly.

The game plays on the bottom screen, rather than the top. So there’s no 3D effect during gameplay. You also lose the widescreen, having to play on the smaller square bottom screen. You can either using the physical buttons to move Maxwell and interact with people, or just use the touch screen. It’s better to use the touch screen as you’ll be needing to use it constantly to type on anything. The graphics are in a 2D sidescrolling style.

Since the puzzles are so simple, and there is barely any story after the opening cutscene, the game gets boring and repetitive quickly. You have freedom in where to go to collect the starites, as it opens up a few levels that you can do in any order. Getting a certain number of starites will unlock more areas, and the themes and backgrounds are different. Yet what you are never changes, so it doesn’t make much of a difference in the end.

There are ways that you could miss getting everything in a level, such as accidentally killing a NPC that gives you the puzzle, or you do something that triggers something else. In such cases, it is as easy as resetting the level. The game gives you this option and you even get to keep everything you had obtained before resetting. You can be as evil or experiment as much as you’d like without fear of permanently locking anything out.

Given that you’re just going from level to world as you complete the fill-in-the-blank puzzles, you make significant progress in a short amount of time. The story takes a bit over five hours to complete, although you can continue to do the rest of the puzzles which will give you a few more hours. Some of the more interesting puzzles are the ones that isn’t completed with just one item, such as one where Maxwell is running a gauntlet to escape, and you can get as creative or as traditional as you would like, giving a lot of options and a taste of what the game could have really done with its premise.

Despite being mostly easy, and sometimes obtuse, the game has a good sense of humor. It parodies a lot of things, from pop culture to other games, and it is amusing when you recognize what it is trying to recreate. That said, not even that can overcome the tedious of the slowness of typing using a stylus on the touch screen, and that’s sometimes you constantly must do given it’s a core mechanic of the game.

Overall, Scribblenauts Unlimited is an average game. It has its moments, but they are far in between. When you write something and it does work, it is exciting and fun. All too often though, it doesn’t quite understand what it wants you to do, and you must just go for the boring obvious answer. It can be too repetitive, especially after the magic wears off in the first hour or so but it’s a short game, so there is enough here to keep you interested in finishing it.

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Toy Review: Transformers Reactivate Bumblebee (Deluxe)

Review:  #809

Name:  Bumblebee

Brand:  Transformers

Allegiance:  Autobot

Line:  Reactivate

Year of Release:  2024

Size Class:  Deluxe

Mold Status:  new

VEHICLE MODE:

This version of Bumblebee is based upon his design from the released mobile game, Reactivate.  Initially, he only came in a two-pack with Starscream, which wasn't ideal.

This is a completely brand new mold, and he transforms into an off-road compact vehicle, and he actually looks really good here.  He looks tough and ready to get out there.

In terms of size, he is very compact.  The robot mode folds into the vehicle mode without leaving many empty spaces, giving him a nice solid feeling.

You might have noticed that he had some black paint apps on one side but not the other.  This isn't a quality control issue, but rather a deliberate choice.  The asymmetry themes continues with the pack-in Starscream as well.

There aren't any gimmicks here, just rolling him on a surface.  You can attach the robot guns onto the hood.

This is a surprisingly good vehicle mode, especially if you had came in with no expectations.

TRANSFORMATION:

Bumblebee transforms from a small compact vehicle to a relatively tall robot mode, so there is a lot of unfolding.  The rear forms the legs, while the arms folds out from underneath.  The head can get caught in the hood if you're not familiar with the transformation scheme.  The way the wheels fold into his calves is also a nice touch.

ROBOT MODE:

Bumblebee continues on the tough look with some rugged elements, including nice forearm sculpting.

He doesn't have too much kibble either, showing how well integrated the vehicle mode is.

His head can look like it is situated a little bit higher up than it should, but it's not horrible, and the head sculpt is great.

He is a small bit taller than the usual Deluxes in robot mode.

Articulation is fantastic as you'd expect of a contemporary figure, with joints for his head, shoulders, elbows, waist, hips, knees and ankles.

He has a pair of small guns that he can hold in either hand.  They are a little bit small though.

Alternatively, they can peg onto his shoulders using the same slots as vehicle mode, to give him some shoulder mounted guns.

When not in use, they are supposed to store underneath his forearms, but the instructions are unclear and it is hard to tell how to attach it securely.

Despite not having too many paint apps (basically just black and the unpainted yellow plastic), there is enough contract that he doesn't look or feel cheap.

A superb robot mode.

OVERALL:

Perhaps the most surprisingly aspect is that out of the two-pack, Bumblebee is probably the better figure.  He just surprises you with how solid he is in both modes.  He's a good Transformer, looks good and does something different when we're so used to Movie and G1 versions of the character.

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