Book Review: Master of the Books

Review:  #319
Title:  Master of the Books
Series:  The Book of Lies - 2nd book
Author:  James Moloney
Read Before:  no
My Comments:  A good follow up to The Book of Lies (to be honest, I was surprised that a sequel was written). The plot follows Fergus’s path of revenge against Damon. The best parts are the ones where secrets were revealed and twists were created. They felt so natural and fitting, some even spanning from the first book (it must have been planned from the early stages) that they feel elegant. While the first few sections were interesting enough to get you absorbed in the chase, it got much more exciting when the party arrives at Tamerlane. The resulting battle and finally, Marcel letting loose his magic (there’s a moral in here somewhere), was done very well.
Rating:   6.5/10

TMNT

The animation used for this movie was top notched, but when it came to story, it left quite a bit lacking.  I hated the whole brothers fighting amongst themselves, wasting time to get it sorted.  The movie never really picked up, since it felt flat and bland during the whole time.  There was a lack of humor which I would have come to expect from these turtles, and Raphael has to play the bad guy here with his bickering, which in turn, just becomes extremely annoying.  The antagonist/s were disappointing, as they lacked the fear and evil acts that usually comes with villains.  As said, the animation was great and the characters are fluid.  I'm impressed with what they had done.  Generally, most of the movie takes it place at night time while I would have preferred more lighting.  I guess the biggest flaw here is that you don't really side with anyone, you don't feel the pain or irony or injustice, so you never invest any emotion in it.

Toy Review: Transformers DOTM Flak

Review:  #130
Name:  Flak
Brand:  Transformers
Allegiance:  Autobot
Line:  Dark of the Moon
Year of Release:  2011
Size Class:  Legion (Wave 3)
Variations:  none as of date

VEHICLE MODE:

Flak transforms into an APC with camouflage.  He features a cannon on the top, and while it can swivel, the swivel is not located in the center of the cannon, thus it's useless here.

There is a lot of nice sculpting and the four wheels roll (that's it for play value here).  The back is a tiny let down due to the gap but it's nothing major.

The size is good, but he still feels very small and light.

There are some minor panel lines here and there.

This is an impressive APC.  Too bad most of the paint used here is for the camouflage.

TRANSFORMATION:

It's simple, as you'd expect.  The legs can be a pain to detach purely because they peg in so well.  There is one surprise here, and that's the cannon.  It rotates and the barrel flips over to form a shoulder cannon, a neat touch (instead of just going the lazy route and leaving it to point up in the sky ala G1 Brawl).  It's a bit too simple for my taste.

ROBOT MODE:

The robot mode is fantastic and is one of the best Legion sized robots I've seen.  He looks ready to pound whoever stands in his way.

Flak carries a huge panel of plastic on his back, which is basically most of the vehicle's top.

The head sculpt is messy and looks more like a Decepticon's rather than an Autobot's.

Shorter than previous Legends sized toys but he's fairly bulky.

Due to how Flak's legs are the back of the vehicle split in half, they're chunky and restricts articulation more than you want to.  Also the elbows don't fold down fully (there's plastic intentionally blocking the way) so it can look awkward.

He has a 3mm slot in his right hand to hold other Cyberverse weapons.  A good robot mode, but lacking poseability.

OVERALL:

Probably the best Legions in the Dark of the Moon line, he has two great modes, hampered by some small flaws.  His elbows are the most annoying feature in that they don't completely straighten.  Nevertheless, Flak is definitely a good toy and if you like Cyberverse figures, then go for it.

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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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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