Book Review: The Mark of Athena

Review:  #318
Title:  The Mark of Athena
Series:  Heroes of Olympus - 3rd book
Author:  Rick Riordan
Read Before:  no
My Comments:  If you’ve been following the Percy Jackson series, the Heroes of Olympus series and The Kane Chronicles series, chances are, you’re already wiped out with Rick Riordan’s work.  The structure of the book does not change at all here, and for the first time, I’m feeling a bit drained and tired of his writing style.  From the very start, it seems to all be the same.  The quest that has a deadline of a few days, powerful main characters that can achieve practically everything, characters from Greek and Roman myths appearing and acting in very unusual manners, and my “favourite”:  characters keeping secrets, and every moment they want to spill it out, they get interrupted.  Thankfully, it’s not as bad as Son of Neptune where those secrets were revealed right at the end (it made the journey very agonizing because you know it is important yet the author just refuses to tell you after the character attempts to confess multiple times); Mark of Athena reveals them relatively early on.  Following on from the cliffhanger of The Son of Neptune, the two camps meet, but the resolution and what happened didn't feel satisfying (there just has to be that one annoying guy to hate…).  I guess it was like it wasn't worth the wait and not as big of a thing as it was hyped up.  In terms of the plot of this book, it’s very much the standard affair, the characters have to go and save a fellow demigod, but one thing that’s not as good here is that there are seven demigods to follow.  This meant that the author has tried to tell the story from seven different viewpoints at a time, while this works most of the time; it feels as if he is overwhelmed and he loses focus.  Many a time, it felt that he forced that character’s viewpoint in.  The plot was too bulked up by too many subplots and relationships; it caused a lot of ‘noise’ and made it very ‘busy’.  That’s not to say the book wasn't enjoyable, but it lacked any sort of complexity as there was not enough space for the encounters, most of them were very straightforward and nothing like the sheer awesomeness of previous encounters in the Percy Jackson series (lacking the charm, as they say).  Monsters/mythical characters encounters aren’t as intricate or clever now, especially the big show-off between Annebeth and her mortal enemy.  You could what was going to happen a mile away and were very typical, there’s a lack of innovation, so to speak.  The Mark of Athena quest was a lame concept.  I like Percy, but just like the previous book, he’s been downgraded.  While he powers are growing, his character and attitude seems to be very weak and not at all like the confident and arrogant character we’ve come to love.  That said, the final twist at the ending was great, and I thought it was excellent.  It was surprisingly (in a way, you suspected what would happen and it did happen, but there was something extra tagging along) and things are clearer now.  I’m not sure how the pair will survive (that will be an interesting read) but it is a good ending to the book.

Rating:  7/10

Thor

I've never followed the comics but I was still looking forward to this film.  It was enjoyable, but I felt that most of the fun and action was in the beginnings of the film.  We had a major fight between Thor and the Frost Giants before he was cast down onto Earth.  From then on, there was frequent changes of view between Earth and Asgard, which can get... annoying (it wasn't confusing, but it just seemed to be flicking between the two more often than preferable).  Thor's arrogance made him unlikable at the beginning, but that same arrogance provided humor and entertainment once he tried to reclaim his hammer.  There was one really funny scene which I was surprised about but then the rest of the film lacked some proper humor.  The special effects were distracting at times and that storm that Thor summoned in a battle on Earth was unrealistic when it left the buildings intact and unmarked.  The main villain was obvious right from the start, and he didn't pose too much of a resistance in the end.  He was more of a plotting guy rather than a fighter.  The final battle between him and Thor wasn't even really a true fight to the death.  Anyway, most of the movie was good, coupled with some uneventful parts in the middle.

Toy Review: Transformers Prime Ironhide (Commander)

Review:  #129
Name:  Ironhide
Brand:  Transformers
Allegiance:  Autobot
Line:  Prime
Year of Release:  2012
Size Class:  Commander (Wave 2)
Variations:  none as of date

VEHICLE MODE:

Ironhide transforms into a 4x4 pickup truck.  The style of truck is probably inspired by the Movie incarnation while the red color from his G1 self.

As you'd expect, all four wheels roll.  The truck bed has some gaps (they're the bottom of his robot feet) and you can just see his thighs sticking out from behind the cab, but otherwise, this is a very neat little truck.

While he has a translucent windshield, his side windows are painted.  I just wished that they could have been more consistent and either have all of it transparent (would have been quite hard due to how not much space is left inside the cab) or just have painted all windows.

Not too surprisingly, Ironhide is barely larger than a Legions figure.  He just feels very tiny and light.

One of the best things about Ironhide is that they didn't skimp on paint operations, from how his grill is completely doused in silver to the red paint on the back, it's very surprising.

Ironhide's twin cannons can peg into holes on his truck bed.

Or you can peg them on either side.  Overall, it's a detailed truck that's well formed.

TRANSFORMATION:

Interesting the first time around, I found that it was neat and was pleasantly surprised.  It was quite ingenious how they managed to part of the truck's hood to form shoulder pads and how they managed to keep the real windshield onto his robot chest (something the Deluxe toy couldn't do).  The legs, while simple, are effective, and it is a fun transformation.  Only complaint would be that the arms have so many joints that it can be easy to dislodge or have the wheels fall out (they're only attached via friction joints).

ROBOT MODE:

Once again the robot mode is inspired by both the Movie (shoulder pads, cannons on each arm) and G1 (head, color, windshield for chest) self.  He's wide and chunky.

The only major kibble is the windshields under his forearms, which just kinda hangs there.

I find that his torso is thin (depth-wise), especially compared to how chunky his limbs are.  The windshield is transparent due to a gimmick where you shine a light from behind, and it shines through.

Sadly, the head is fixed due to transformation, but it's a good sculpt.

Ironhide comes to two transparent blue cannons.

You can peg them onto his forearms as weapons.

Or you can combine it into a giant one (which looks awkward).

He's on par with other Commander sized characters, larger than Legions, but much smaller than Deluxes.  He just doesn't have the mass, also, he gains even more paint in robot mode, with the chest, face and some red highlights.

Articulation is great, he's got the lot (except a head swivel and a thigh swivel but that's not a big problem).  You can put him in a lot of poses, and his feet can be adjusted too.  He can also hold his guns in his hands.

A great robot mode that blends elements from two incarnations into one really well.

OVERALL:

A surprisingly good toy, he has two great modes that is linked by a simple, yet elegant transformation.  A few little nitpicks such as the forearm kibble and the small size, but generally, this is a stellar toy.  I highly recommend him.

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Other Transformers reviews can be found here.

Book Review: The Wizard of Rondo

Review:  #317
Title:  The Wizard of Rondo
Series:  The Rondo Trilogy - 2nd book
Author:  Emily Rodda
Read Before:  yes
My Comments:  It’s an addicting read, but one that becomes pointless in the end.  One of the surprising things about the plot is that the protagonists are solving a mystery/crime… and yet for 90% of the book, their trial and train of thought is completely wrong!  It’s only at the end of the book that the revelation comes and we’re told the true chain of events.  This sucks somewhat in that it makes the 300+ pages before it quite pointless.  The final part of the book passes by like a strange dream.  Mimi is an annoying character, and while Leo is slightly better, they’re not very likeable.  You never develop any sort of attachment to any of the characters in the book.  It is still a good read, and the ending is quite good.

Rating:  6.5/10

Evolution

I loved this movie as a kid and watching it now, it still has it's charms.  I liked the concept of the film, in which a meteorite hits the Earth and brings basic single celled alien lifeforms in which they evolve rapidly.  Sure, there were a few times where the movie slows down and you want to skip it to get to the good parts, but the move was entertaining from start to finish.  Once the monsters starting coming out into the public, it just got better and better.  The climax, in which the ultimate monster arises, felt strange and didn't feel like it fitted into the rest of the film.  Since there was all that build up with more and more complex monsters and then suddenly we have that thing.  The special effects were well done and not over the top.  While some of the humor was crude, the movie was funny and enjoyable.  There were some classic scenes and dialogue.  The Head & Shoulders advertisement at the end was weird and seems tacked on.  The ending overall feels low quality and rushed.  If you don't take the movie seriously, then it's a fun ride.

Book Review: The Reptile Room

Review:  #316
Title:  The Reptile Room
Series:  A Series of Unfortunate Events - 2nd book
Author:  Lemony Snicket
Read Before:  yes
My Comments:  The style of writing can get annoying at times, since the author loves wasting your time and fills up the book with rubbish like what words mean and gets sidetracked.  He mentioned before it happens, the death of someone again and again, once is okay, but not three or four times.  It’s the same with repeating the strength of each Baudelaire siblings.  It gets annoying really quickly, and you come to realise how stupid and unrealistic the plot is.  How the villain Count Olaf keeps getting away with the things that he does.  It seems that everyone is stupid in that universe, and every time the Baudelaire siblings will be ignored, it doesn’t even make sense now.

Rating:  6/10

Toy Review: Transformers Prime Thundertron

Review:  #128
Name:  Thundertron
Brand:  Transformers
Allegiance:  Decepticon
Line:  Prime
Year of Release:  2012
Size Class:  Voyager (Wave 4)
Variations:  repainted in the Japanese Prime (Arms Micron) line as Leo Prime

BEAST MODE:

Thundertron transforms into a blue lion type beast.  It's notably a robotic lion (there's barely any organic elements).

The tail is weirdly situated in the middle of the torso, and it's made of a soft rubbery plastic.

The area around the head feels like a mess with the panels (and it doesn't completely obscure the head).  However, the beast head is nicely sculpted and painted, it looks very good.

The beast mode is static, there's no real poseability.  The forelegs are fixed, and while the rear legs can be moved around, it doesn't add anything.

The 'wings' serve to cover the insubstantial torso.  While some people will find this to be cheaty, I thought it was okay and Thundertron looks great anyway.  He features a variation of the Decepticon insignia, since he is part of the Star Seeker faction first seen in the Exiles book.

For a Voyager, he is a tad bit tiny.  It's evident he has more mass than a Deluxe sized toy, but maybe it's because he has a beast mode, which just doesn't convey the illusion of a large size as well as vehicular modes do.

Finally, you can also store his gigantic weapon on his back, yeah... it looks ridiculous there but at least you can peg it somewhere on the figure.  I think it's a good beast mode, it looks cool and it's solid, it just lacks in some play value.

TRANSFORMATION:

It's likely that a lot of people would not like Thundertron's transformation.  At it's core, it's the dreaded "stand him up and fiddle around with the beast legs to become robot legs and beast arms to become robot arms".  However, the designer has tried to spice things up, the legs are still as uninteresting as ever, but the way the arms form is unexpected and more complex than you'd expect.  The downside is that transforming back to beast mode can be confusing since the arms twist in ways that you don't expect.  Surprisingly, there's also a number of panels around the beast's head that you have to manipulate in order to form the robot chest and get the head out.

ROBOT MODE:

I'm going to say it, Thundertron's robot mode looks really awesome.  I just love his waist skirt and the beast head that forms his chest and the way the beast claws form shoulder pads.

He's relatively kibble free, just the panels that act as skirt armor.  He's also got the beast forearms hanging on either side of his head.

The head is odd, it's extremely long, and it features a beard.  The crest folds down for transformation, and I find that it covers his already small eyes.  I guess it fits the pirate theme.

Let's have a look at his huge gimmicky weapon.  It has a bronze claw on one end and a clear blue sword on the other.

He's got peg holes on each forearm to place the weapon in.  The claws don't extend out too much to look natural or formidable.

The gimmick of the weapon (and the reason why it's so large) is that you can morph it into a sword but pressing the blue piece.  It also features a led light but it's not strong enough to illuminate the sword.  This is also the reason he has clear blue forearms, it's so when you activate the gimmick, it illuminates his forearms as well.

What I like to do is just to rotate the weapon around so that the sword faces the front (instead of taking the spring out like so many other people do).

You can also store the weapon on his back, it uses the same peg hole as the beast mode.

The leg sculpting is amazing but you might have noticed that the sculpting is a little bit different for each leg (as well as the paint application is different).

The reason is that you can detach his right foot!  Thus he now has a peg leg, just like a typical pirate.  Personally, I think it's taking it a bit too far having a robot have such a leg but I'm sure many others out there think it's a novel idea.

Balancing becomes more of an issue but surprisingly, it's not too bad.  He won't tip over that easily but precarious action poses are out of the question.

So... the foot looks like this... what to do with it? (Hint:  it's already in one of the pictures above)

Turns out the foot contains a peg hole which you can plug into one of his forearms as a claw weapon (and a better looking claw weapon than the big electronic weapon).

Thundertron has an athletic robot mode.  While it's less bulky than most Voyagers, it's still a decent size.

Poseability is quite good, he has excellent articulation and is sturdy on his feet.  The only complaint I have is how restricted his head is, if it had the ability to look up, then it'll be perfect.  Of note, the waist skirts are on balljoints, so it can be positioned to your liking.

A good robot mode.  Initially, I was a bit worried about the shade of blue used, making him brighter/lighter than necessary, but I had no problems once I got him in hand.  Oh, and the beast's tail just hands from his back which is a bit awkward.

OVERALL:

I love this toy, for some reason, it appeals to me, from the beast mode to the robot mode.  I admit that he has some flaws, the transformation can be unnecessary tricky with the arms (but overall, is very simple in concept).  I just think he looks great, and I heartily recommend the figure.

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Other Transformers reviews can be found on this page.