Spider-Man 3

After the two spectacular Spiderman movies, you would expect the third one to be equally good, if not better.  Sadly, it just pales in comparison compared to 1 and 2.  In a reversal, there seems to be less Spiderman in the movie, he appears often in the first section, but then completely disappears for a while before coming back in the climax.  He also loves to lose his mask, I guess at this point, Tobey Maguire was getting a bit too expensive and they needed to show his face as much as possible.  Keeping in theme, this movie continues on with Peter Parker's life in trying to balance both his personal and superhero life.  The big plot point here is the symbiote.  This allows a huge potential for Venom but the movie tries to overachieve itself.  It's ambitious, revolving around three villains but ultimately, it just means that each one gets shafted in some way.  That said, the fight scene at the end was amazing.  Did it make the hour of boredom that preceded it (as Peter gets all weird with his new power) worthwhile?  Not really.  The scenes in which Peter acts under the influence of the symbiote is... odd and unusual, and seems completely different to what you expect.  There are a lot of subplots but the thing that is most flawed is how there are all these misunderstandings between the characters, it starts to get annoying at this point.  The part where Spiderman teams up to fight the villains was good.  It also tries to pull the same thing as Spider-Man 2 with the villain not really being completely evil (i.e. they have a good reason) but it doesn't work that well here.  Anyway, the film was still enjoyable but it makes you regret as you realize how much better it could be.

Book Review: Diary of Dorkius Maximus

Review:  #420
Title:  Diary of Dorkius Maximus
Series:  Diary of Dorkius Maximus - 1st book
Author:  Tim Collins
Read Before:  no
My Comments:  Not as clever or funny as the author’s other spoof novel, Diary of a Wimpy Vampire.  This book takes all the stereotypical Roman facts and wraps it around gags.  It works well and the illustrations add to the charm.  However, it feels as if this is just the same concept in a new cover and it is exactly that.  There’s nothing new that makes it stand out.  I guess the appeal of the story is seeing how the main character is so oblivious and cannot take a hint.

Rating:  6/10

Persona 4: The Animation

After finishing Persona 4 Golden, I didn't want to leave the world of Persona 4 and went for the next best thing, the anime adaptation of the game.  By and large, it was a faithful adaptation with effectively zero filler (i.e. everything in it happened in the game too).  The humour, for the most part, was converted well enough to keep the spirit, yet it also felt like something was missing.  The dialogue also feels cornier and cheesier when spoken, so some jokes wasn't as funny as you would expect.  What was awesome is that it keeps most of the voice actors that was present in the game (for both the Japanese and English versions of the anime) so there is instant familiarity and you won't feel disjointed when watching this for the first time.  Unfortunately, it is still highly recommended for you to have played the game first because the way the anime was presented, there are severe pacing issues.  Events frequently happen randomly without much pre-warning, you will often feel confused when the scene suddenly jumps (obvious ones being the events that happen in the Game world and in the last episode), even if you have played the game.  The mystery aspect doesn't feel as intense and while an accurate portrayal of the game, the social link aspects can be boring to sit through.  Overall, it's a solid animation and at only 26 episodes long, it's the perfect length to watch in a short period of time.

Spider-Man 2

You don't realise it at first, but after the beginning of the movie in which Spiderman makes a lot of appearances and does what he does best (taking on crime), the film stops and continues on from Peter's perspective.  It was surprising to see him give up being Spiderman for most of the movie.  We really get to see how Peter fights within himself on what he is sacrificing in order to be Spiderman.  He gives up his life, his love, being selfless, you didn't realise the things he had to give up until now.  This actually impacts you to the point that when he dons upon his costume again, you feel proud of him.  With that said, the pacing during this reflective period could be fast forwarded as there were a few scenes in which it felt boring.  The film has more humour too, with some of those one-liners that Spiderman is famous for.  The villain is really well done too, despite not having too much screen time.  It helps that he is not truly evil, and the ending (in how the villain was defeated) was great.  The actual ending just screams sequel, which kind of dulls the movie as being a standalone chapter.  There is more action sequences and it's great seeing Spiderman perform his acrobatics.

Book Review: Doomsday

Review:  #419
Title:  Doomsday
Series:  The Doomsday Rats - 5th and final book
Author:  James Moloney
Read Before:  yes
My Comments:  The grand finale to the intense series, where either the Rats or Malig Tumora wins once and for all.  There were a few twists, nothing major, and once or twice where it seemed all was lost.  One of the things that were slightly disappointing was that one particular event in Doomsday made pretty much the last book redundant.  It was like a red herring and in the end, a false hope.  Other than that, it’s bigger than any of the four previous books.  Nothing new about this world was revealed though (like the other cities that Berrin glimpsed in the last book) which was a shame.  It was also unjust to see how the protagonists were treated by the freed grown-ups (understandable, but doesn’t make it any easier to stomach).

Rating:  6.5/10

Toy Review: Transformers Generations Armada Starscream (IDW)

Review:  #171
Name:  Starscream
Brand:  Transformers
Allegiance:  Decepticon
Line:  Generations
Year of Release:  2014
Size Class:  Deluxe (Wave 8)
Variations:  retooled into Jhiaxus

COMIC:

Part of the waves of Deluxes that comes with an issue of comic, Armada Starscream comes with Dark Cybertron #1.  The character art on the cover is amazing.  The same can be said with the comic.  However, while it is the first issue of a new arc (??) it can be confusing to follow the story, especially when it follows up from previous comic issues.  Starscream doesn’t make much of an appearance here, it’s really a far cry from the Spotlight issues in which they really focus upon the character and bring them to focus.  The comic is a nice bonus but it won’t make you run out to get the next issue.

JET MODE:

Starscream transforms into a red and black jet with notable air intakes.  This is an update to the Armada reincarnation of the character (my favourite both in terms of design and character personality).

While the front looks good, the back is fairly undefined as it is comprised of folded up robot legs.  The air intakes ends in thrusters of sorts.

Unfortunately, this is one of those toys where the back of the robot head is used as part of the "disguise".  If it was red it wouldn't be so bad, as it is, the transparent orange block amongst a sea of red and black makes it stick out like a sore thumb.

Starscream features three-point landing gear which flips down.  The wheels are molded so he can roll on the table.

In terms of undercarriage kibble, it is not to bad.  Starscream still looks pretty aerodynamic.

As noted, Starscream is a Deluxe.  A bit smaller than you'd expect but still bearable.  Being a jet is better in that the wingspan creates the illusion of being bigger than he is.

Starscream has a gimmick in this mode.  Each of the air intakes doubles as a cannon.  It's not as good as the original toy where it featured flipped forward cannons, however, the gimmick is still really fun.  It is a two-step pressure launch system.  You push the transparent back part forward and it push the yellow section out, ready to fire.  Push forward a bit more and the missile is launched, very powerful in fact.

You can somewhat imitate the original by having the red missiles stick out forward, it's not perfect but better than nothing.

The black paint used is a has a nice rich and glossy texture.  The secondary air intakes on either side of the cockpit are also nice.

Even though Starscream doesn't come with a Mini-Con (boo!  No Swindle!), there are two Mini-Con ports on top to which you can attach one.

The sculpting is good.  The cockpit is transparent orange, and you can see molded detailing inside such as a seat.  I really like the design of the plane.  Sure, they haven't found a way to hide the robot forearms, but it's still great as a display piece.

In this mode, there are no hollow parts.  Everything packs together nicely.

Overall, a good plane mode that's also a nice update to the original toy (which also had kibble and a decent undercarriage).

TRANSFORMATION:

Starscream is not going to win any prizes for ingenuity or complexity.  However, it is fun and intuitive.  It takes inspiration from the original toy and improves on it.  This is a figure I am comfortable with giving to the target market.  The tolerances are good and there are no flimsy or tricky parts.

ROBOT MODE:

Starscream's robot mode presents a nice update to his Armada toy.  Although I find the toys to be less blocky than the original so he looks a tiny bit off.

The default configuration is to leave his shoulder cannons rested against his back.  This was something the original lacked since it had the huge cannons sticking out the back.  The solution here still isn't perfect because I would have preferred if you could have the air intakes on either side of his head but the transparent orange bits folded down.

Of course, you can leave the cannons up, which is how I prefer it since it's more show accurate.

Although this means that the orange parts stick out quick a bit out the back.

The head sculpt is good.  To be fair, I would rather Starscream to have a smirking face rather than this angry grimace which doesn't fit the character as well.  He has a fantastic lightpipe.

Size-wise, he's a little bit shorter but also wider thanks to his wings.  Unfortunately due to the transformation, his legs are hollow, which makes it feel like the designer cheap out (for some reason).

The pressure-launch missiles still work in this mode.  It's easier to access too.  The missiles are long, so the rear orange section does well to hide that fact.

Two additional Mini-Con ports become accessible on the outside of his forearms.  While these are for decorations only (they don't activate any gimmicks), it's a nice throwback.

The next gimmick is another throwback to the original figure.  The original toy's left wing can detach and form a (vaguely looking) sword.  In his updated version, a folded up sword is attached behind each wing.

Just due to the small size of the wings, the swords themselves aren't that big (nowhere near the size of the original).  The two pieces like to pop off when unfolding the sword.

Starscream can hold the swords on either hand.  They're tight so either the sword handles are too thick or his fist holes are too small.  It's scary because you need to twist hard to get then back out and being transparent plastic, they're more at risk of just completely snapping off.

So... Starscream no longer has his iconic one winged look when wielding his sword.  I was one of those people that loved the asymmetrical look.  Well, never fear, the designers had the great idea to attach the wings on balljoints (even though there was no necessity) and you can fold the wing away!

Poseability is good.  The wings can occasionally get in the way of the shoulders but the wings themselves are on balljoints and can be adjusted.  He is stable in a wide variety of poses.

A sword bot benefits from wrist swivels but Starscream has now (byproduct of the transformation).  Slightly disappointing in this aspect.

A minor flaw would be that the cockpit doesn't clip on firmly to the waist.  It's more of a nag than a real flaw though.

A great robot mode that I found myself liking more and more.  The rich red and glossy black does wonders to the figure.

OVERALL:

A fantastic figure that really does update the original toy and does justice to the character.  He looks great in both modes and now he can pull off some awesome poses.  The updated gimmicks are also nice.  Highly recommended.

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Check out other Transformers reviews here.

Spider-Man

One of the best superhero films made.  It's surprising to see how much computer effects have improved over the past decade, as there were a few moments in the film where it looks a bit too fake.  It was great at the time but it has aged a small bit.  Nevertheless, the movie is still amazing and it handles the Spider-Man origin story superbly as well as the villain.  The few scenes in which you see Spider-Man just webslinging through the city makes you crave for more, it felt like such a tease.  A bigger and more spectacular fight scene for the climax would also be great.  The relationship of Peter with his friends and family takes most of the screen time, as it dives into the effect of being Spider-Man in Peter's personal life.  The pacing was good as each event flows on to the next without any hiccups.  However, there are a few scenes in which you wish that this Spider-Man had some corny or quirky one-liners.