Mrs. Doubtfire

This could have backfired in many ways, especially when you consider how creepy it can be when a guy disguises himself as an old lady.  Thankfully, the movie was done right and I was surprised at how funny it could be at times.  There were a few scenes in which it was gold, causing some laugh out loud moments.  Mrs. Doubtfire is generally enjoyable, although there were a few moments where the pacing was slow and you wished that they would get to the better parts already.  Of note, the first half hour where the plot was set up can get dull, even though the events were important (it lets you side with the main character, and you feel that his wife is a little bit unfair).  Once the climax of the film started, you knew that it was going to go wrong.  Daniel should have just picked one table to stick to at the restaurant and run with it, instead of juggling between both (although it worked out in the end).  The ending was heartwarming and it was a satisfying solution (it's not an unrealistic typical everyone is back together again type of ending).

Book Review: Skulduggery Pleasant: The Faceless Ones

Review:  #379
Title:  Skulduggery Pleasant:  The Faceless Ones
Series:  Skulduggery Pleasant - 3rd book
Author:  Derek Landy
Read Before:  no
My Comments:  The plot centers around one of the most interesting element in the Skulduggery universe, the Faceless Ones.  It’s not just talk either; they actually make an appearance and cause a lot of havoc.  Sadly, they only appear at the end of the book but the journey getting there is fun.  It begins as a mystery before quickly losing that element and becoming more action orientated.  Thus, when the identity of Batu was eventually revealed, it lost a lot of its punch and you didn’t care very much (plus, you don’t feel as if that person is the perfect fit, you don’t think to yourself “aha!  That shadowy person in the background, I should have know it was him!”).  There are some annoying characters here, plus a few shallow ones.  The cliffhanger for the ending was good, as it makes you anticipate what Valkyrie is going to do next.  Overall, this is one of the best Skulduggery books.

Rating:  6.5/10

Toy Review: Transformers Prime Beast Hunters Rippersnapper (Legion)

Review:  #151
Name:  Rippersnapper
Brand:  Transformers
Allegiance:  Predacon
Line:  Prime - Beast Hunters
Year of Release:  2013
Size Class:  Legion (Wave 3)
Variations:  there is a clear version sold in a Target exclusive giftset

BEAST MODE:

Once again, Rippersnapper transforms into a dragon, at least, that's the official term.  It doesn't fit into the traditional use of the term, looking like a reptilian monster dinosaur thing.

Out of the all the Terrorcons, Rippersnapper has the worst beast mode.  Why?  There's this huge gap at the back.  It looks really odd as his neck and top half of his back is really nice, then it looks as if something took a bite out of him and he has this disjointed tail in the end.  It just looks unnatural and unfinished, when I first transformed him, I thought, did I miss something?

That's not the only thing, the legs jut out to the side far too much to look good.  He's decently sized and feels substantial enough.

There are some really nice sculpting at work here and there are a lot of paint applications.

He has a bit of a thin head, thanks to the transformation, but it packs a lot of details.

As you might have noticed, Rippersnapper has a peg hole in his mouth to hold his weapon.

The other places for it would be on the outside of each leg, which works equally well.

Poseability is quite limited, his arms hinge up and down (actually reminds me of a T-Rex's arms) and his hips are on balljoints.  Too bad the head is completely fixed in place.  This is still a fun beast mode.

TRANSFORMATION:

The designer has once again gone above and beyond expectations.  Rippersnapper has a complex transformation (for a Legion).  The beast legs forming the robot arms do remind me of Blight though.  Anyway, the twist here is that the head splits open to form the robot legs (although it can be a little bit fiddly).  What's interesting is that his robot torso moves up against the tail, and then the back piece of the beast clips on top of that, which feels quite neat and compact.  That said, there are some odd joints here that doesn't feel completely natural.

ROBOT MODE:

Rippersnapper's robot mode is quite nice, but not as great as some of the other Terrorcons.  This is mainly due to the huge arms but relatively skinny and insubstantial legs.

He carries a bit of a backpack but it sits really close to his body that it's not a problem.  Plus, it kinda makes him look quite cool with the slight hunchback and bulky look.

The head is small, which causes the detailing to be hard to make out.  There are some good visible sculpted details though, with painted red eyes and a yellow face.

He features the Predacon symbol on his chest, visible for all to see.

He's a bit shorter than some Legions, but he makes up for that in the bulk.

His legs can look like a mess at times with the arms and face folded up like that.  I also wish that the beast feet can fold up to stick out less, but this is a Legion class toy after all, and we can't expect something like that to happen.

Poseability is once again limited to the shoulders and hips.  He has pseudo knee joints thanks to transformation but they're situated a bit too low to be too useful.

Rippersnapper shares his weapon with fellow Terrorcon Windrazor (and a few other Legions), this time, it's called the "Electrocharge Bow", it's a decent looking weapon.

He can hold it in either hand, in a number of configurations thanks to the multiple pegs on the weapon itself.

This is a neat robot mode that looks great on his own, although I kinda wish he was taller.

OVERALL:

Another amazing Legion toy.  Although not up to the standard set by the other Terrorcons, this is still one of the best figures we have had for a while.  It blends in a lot of complexity for it's size with the unique aesthetics of the Terrorcons to create an iconic little figure.  Definitely recommended, even if you don't intend to form Abominus.

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Punisher: War Zone

A reboot rather than a sequel to 2004's The Punisher, the movie tells of Frank Castle cracking down on crime families and delivering death penalties here, there and everywhere.  The film revels in blood, exploding body parts from guns/bullets, gore and just killing in general.  If you're a fan of that type of stuff, then you'll have an easier time accepting the film.  As it is, all that gore feels like it's there just coz they want it to be there.  There's no real or true reason, the characters just kill for the fun of it.  Thus the violence is unjustified and pretty much ruins the whole film.  You have 90+ minutes of pure killing that forces the plot to just plod along with no real momentum.  Whereas at least in the previous film, Castle's motives were justified and you side with the character in his quest for revenge, it's not the case here.  This Punisher just kills and doesn't leave anyone alive.  It's cruel and cold-hearted because we aren't given a good reason why.  The film makes a big deal over how Castle laments his kill on one of the undercover agents, but when he kills everyone else so easily, it's hard to believe.  The ending wasn't well done, it seemed cruel that the stalemate had to end that way, and you feel as if Castle could have thought up of a better solution to save both lives.  All the characters feel flat and pointless, adhering to some heavy stereotypes.  Couple this with impossible-to-survive encounters in most of the action scenes and this is not such a great movie.

Book Review: The End of the World

Review:  #378
Title:  The End of the World
Series:  Skulduggery Pleasant - companion book
Author:  Derek Landy
Read Before:  no
My Comments:  This was a good short story with a nice twist in the end.  It started off fairly bland with the introduction of another character that you’d know you wouldn’t see in any other book again.  The character was normal and bland, yet was forced into the world of Skulduggery Pleasant.  As the title suggests, it’s something to do with the end of the world, not exactly the most original.  There were some good one-liners but the story is fairly basic.  By this stage in the series, vampires seemed to have been overused (what with Dusk and Caelan in the main series, we’ve seen our fair share of them).  The second short story at the end, “Just Another Friday Night” was too short to have anything unexpected but still kept you interested.

Rating:  6/10

Toy Review: Transformers Prime Beast Hunters Blight (Legion)

Review:  #150
Name:  Blight
Brand:  Transformers:
Allegiance:  Predacon
Line:  Prime - Beast Hunters
Year of Release:  2013
Size Class:  Legion (Wave 3)
Variations:  a Target exclusive clear version sold in a giftset and a red repaint under the Predacons Rising subline

BEAST MODE:

Blight transforms into a bipedal monster that is referred to as a dragon on the card backing.  It reminds me of Godzilla with his head and posture.

This is a solid mode, although maybe not literally.  Thanks to the transformation and the combining gimmick, the torso is hollow.  You don't really notice it but it's there (you can tell in the photos).  Just something that I thought was worth pointing out.

Like the rest of the Terrorcons, Blight has a detailed head sculpt and lots of paint applications to bring out those details.

You might notice that he had a peghole in his mouth for some odd reason.  No, I don't know why it's there either (considering that he doesn't need it for robot mode or the combined mode), but you can use it so that he can wield his hammer in beast mode (although it looks like he's smoking a pipe to me).

The other place you can store the hammer in his mode is the outside of each arm.

Blight is short and stumpy in this mode, but he looks really menacing.  A visual flaw is that you can see his robot fists sticking out of his feet, which is somewhat annoying (if they could have find some way such that it forms the heels, then it wouldn't be as awkward).

Blight is fairly poseable, with balljoints hips and shoulders.  His claws look amazing, and thanks to transformation, they can open and close.

A neat little monster mode that provides a refreshing take on all the vehicle forms of other Transformers.

TRANSFORMATION:

More complex than you would imagine.  The designers didn't take the easy route out, they've created an impressive transformation scheme.  Blight basically flips upside down as the beast feet forms his arms and the beast arms forms his legs.  It's interesting and it works very well, there are some clever twists, creating a robot mode that doesn't just look like the beast mode straightened out.

ROBOT MODE:

Blight is just as menacing in robot mode.  He seems like the hulking figures who's stature just oozes power and strength.  It looks like Blight might be the 'fists' of the Terrorcons.

The robot feet jut out from the underside of his arms, it would be nice if they could be dealt with better but I can't complain, this is a Legion sized toy after all.  The beast mode's head also tuck in nicely on his back.

The head sculpt is quite nice, although the actual size of it is small (and thus, hard to get the camera to focus upon, or least, my old battered camera).  The head reminds me a bit of Grimlock's.

His Predacon insignia is in plain sight, on his chest.  Of note, it's also visible in beast mode, just upside down.

Blight becomes a little bit taller in robot mode since he straightens up.  It doesn't matter that he isn't that tall since he's supposed to be stocky anyway.

Poseability stays the same as beast mode, since he has the same joints.  There is the addition of one more, and that is his shoulders can flex inwards (for combined mode).  Other than that, his elbows are perpetually bent, same with his legs.  His head can look up thanks to a transformation joint (although it feels a bit loose on mine).  His torso is once again hollow but less noticeable.

His weapon is the "Affliction Hammer", the mold of which is shared with his fellow Terrorcon Twinstrike.  Sometimes you wish that there were more varieties in the Legion weapons, but I guess it would have been more expensive if each Legion figure had their own unique weapon.

Blight can hold his weapon in either fist.  You can also attached the hammer such that it looks vaguely like a gun, but it seems a hammer would suit his looks more.

Once again, a stunning robot mode and another win for the Terrorcons.

OVERALL:

The Terrorcon toys are amazing figures in their own right and Blight just reinforces that.  He has two wonderful modes connected with a clever transformation scheme.  Both modes look imposing and Blight just looks so... *awesome*.

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Transformers reviews are collected onto this page here.

Assassin's Creed II

I played Assassin's Creed:  Brotherhood first and ended up getting quite confused over certain parts of the story.  Now that I have finished Assassin's Creed II, things just made much more sense (although certain parts are still vague) so I definitely recommend playing in order (although I still can't make myself to go get the first game... after all the stories of repetitiveness, that, and there's no trophies either which is a bummer).  Anyway, I was very surprised to find that Brotherhood didn't end up adding too much in terms of game play, coz Assassin's Creed II still had all the clever game play elements I enjoyed in Brotherhood (such as notoriety, hiring factions and the different free-running techniques).  This game is huge, so let's start with the environments first.  The environmental graphics are great, but things still appear fairly blocky and flat.  They've dulled the coloring in a few cities, particularly Monteriggioni, the in-game world needs to be a lot more vibrant and colorful.  Character models could also be better, especially their faces.  There is just something about their faces that seems wrong, maybe it's lacking some defining curves or it just looks too plasticky.  Certain character animations also seem stiff (this is less noticeable in the latter parts of the game, by that time, you're used to it).  Yet the animations during combat and free-running are amazing, the variety is impressive too.

I really loved the character designs and all of Ezio's outfits (the cover art is also one of the coolest I've seen).  It's amazing when you think of all the buildings that were included, that they were all designed to be climbable in many different ways.  The free roam element is fun, you're left alone to run around and explore.  Although after exploring Brotherhood in which it was one huge map, Assassin's Creed II's smaller, separate cities (which require loading screens when travelling between cities) just isn't as satisfying.  It can get annoying when you need to fast travel to your villa every so often to collect money and then travel back to whatever it was you were doing.  The controls in general are very complex (the learning curve is high if you haven't already played one of these games before), with a lot of your actions changing depending on the context.  It takes a while to get used to but once you get the hang of it, it's amazing and super fun.  The battle system needs a bit more work though as it's not that satisfying.  It's feels clunky and not fast paced enough, although I guess it requires more skill than just plain button mashing, and the game focuses more on stealth than combat anyway.  That said, the slow progress of of unlocking moves can be a pain, and you even have to use in-game currency and spend a few minutes to learn the remaining moves (granted, they're optional).

I would have preferred if they let you learn them faster or give you the ability to use them already but you can spend time to do the tutorial if you wish.  The slow progression does make sense in the context of the story (since you're learning to become an assassin) but it takes up to chapter 3 of the game before you can even do stealth kills (arguably one of the defining moves of the game).  Other neat things include your own hub, in which you can invest in your own city  and gain money in the progress (money is harder to come by in the beginning but after you invest to around 50%, you don't have as much a pressing need for it anymore, the game becomes a lot more easier in this aspect).  Assassin's Creed II has so much content in addition to the main storyline (which takes around 15 to 18 hours without getting sidetracked too much).  There are various different types of side quests (assassinations, races, beat ups), in addition to a ton of collectibles (which isn't as great as it sounds, as there is a magic number of collectibles where it's not too much such that it gets bland or boring searchign for it all and not too less where it leaves you craving for more).  It's so easy to get sidetracked in this world doing the various sidequests (even though they don't add to the story) before getting back to the main story missions.

Onto the story, it starts off as being fairly bland, the first sequence felt a bit boring as you're pretty much waiting until Ezio dons on his assassin outfit and learn the skills that you'd expect.  Thus, all the things that preceded the final act in the first sequence (which was quite good, not to mention crucial to understanding the rest of the game) felt too normal and uninteresting.  While the story is interesting, like with all open-world games, once you start getting sidetracked, the story gets a bit more muddled up and hard to keep track of.  By the time it was the middle of the game, you can sometimes forget who is who, why you're assassinating that guy, why you're helping the other and why Ezio is travelling all over the place.  It doesn't help that the story mainly involves assassinating various bad guys in a faction/society.  In summary, the story is fairly normal in the beginning, ramps up a bit until it flattens again in the middle of the game, and intensifies at the end.  The mission variety was good and there are no sections that frustrate you, maybe it'll annoy you a little bit (the flying machine section comes to mind, it's just isn't as fun as you would hope it would be) but overall, it was well designed.  There is a section near the end of the game (the DLC portion, Battle of the Vanites), where it feels that the creators are dragging out the game.  You have to assassinate nine people, and it was somewhat annoying since there wasn't any real good reason to kill so many (most of the time, the missions only require you to assassinate at most three people, or repeat the same thing three times).

This was also one of the only places that the game forces you to use stealth, which was actually more annoying that it's worth.  However, the cutscene for the story progression at the end was great, and the speech made by Ezio was pretty moving (comparatively).  Speaking of DLC, the two story DLC's are must-haves, since they form an essential part of the story (pretty evil to leave them out of the game in the first place and tease it by calling them "corrupted" sequences in the game).  While most of the music in the game wasn't that memorable (they don't stick around in your mind, but you just notice them playing in the background), some tracks were good, especially the ones that played during a sad scene or when Ezio is performing a rousing speech.  The ending was intriguing, as more about the artifact (which the whole game was based upon the retrieval of one) was revealed.  More fantasy elements come into play, and I wished that we managed to get more explanations as it was very tantalizing on what was said.  I like how it's a new take on well-established mythologies.  Overall, this game provides an amazing experience.  It was crazy fun, and while you might wrestle with the controls at times when you're platforming, it's easily overlooked and shadowed by all the other positive elements this game has going for it.

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