Toy Review: Transformers Unite Warriors Strafe (UW-08)

Review:  #329
Name:  Strafe
Brand:  Transformers
Allegiance:  Autobot
Line:  Unite Warriors
Year of Release:  2016
Size Class:  Deluxe
Mold Status:  remold of Unite Warriors Blast Off

SPACESHIP MODE:

Strafe transforms into a Cybertronian spaceship with his distinctive twin cannon poking out the front.  He is a heavy remold of Unite Warriors Blast Off (the Japanese exclusive new mold).

This version of Strafe is only available as part of the Unite Warriors Computron giftset (the Japanese equivalent of Combiner Wars).  The clean white and vibrant red looks amazing in person.  The sculpting is fantastic and accurate to the G1 cartoon series.

In terms of size, Strafe doesn't show any of the mass-shrinking as seen in current Deluxe figures.  He stacks up well against ROTF Brawn and he feels nice in your hands.

While Strafe looks best with his standard robot gun, you can also peg in the combiner piece on top to store in this mode.  However, the colors clash and the aerodynamic look is lost.

An absolutely fantastic alternate mode that has no flaws.  Even the obvious robot arms blend in thanks to the white and strategic coloring of only the thrusters.

TRANSFORMATION:

Being a Unite Warriors exclusive mold, the transformation is a tad bit more complex than your standard Combiner Wars figure.  It's still simple mind you and shares a lot of similar engineering but additional steps such as folding the wings in, pulling the chassis off and rotating small pieces all serve to make Strafe that much more interesting and fun.

ROBOT MODE:

Strafe's robot mode looks equally fantastic.  More red comes out in this mode but the silver paint on his feet and bright blue eyes gives him his own unique distinctive features.

He wears most of the front half of the spaceship mode on his back though but it sits flush against his back and pegs in such that it doesn't matter.

If you wish, you can point the orange guns upwards to give him that distinctive silhouette.

The head sculpt is great with clearly defined details.  The only negative is that the head sits on a tiny piece that doesn't peg in so it can flop.  The head itself is on a balljoint.

In terms of size, a lot of the mass is now in his legs giving him a bulkier lower body.  Nonetheless, he is still pretty sizeable.

Poseability is excellent as you'd expect a toy to be these days.  He has all the standard joints plus waist swivels and ankle tilts.

Unfortunately, his hips are a bit too bad so that they can't spread to the sides that much.

Strafe comes with a small orange gun (that was pegged onto the top of spaceship mode).

He can hold it in either hand.  If you really wanted to, you can also peg it to the top of his fists as a stabbing thing, but it's nice that you still get the standard proper fist holes.

His other weapon is the combiner piece, Strafe has a dual missile launcher.

He has ports underneath his left arm such that he can wield the weapon in an underslinging manner, which looks much better and more manageable.

A perfect robot mode, there isn't many flaws here to ruin the figure.  It's cartoon accurate, colors look fresh and has a bit of playability, what's not to like?

OVERALL:

Strafe is a brilliant toy, and he is my favorite in the UW-08 Computron box set.  While he is a remold, it is such a significant remold that he is pretty much a new figure compared to Blast Off.  The spaceship mode looks great and the robot mode even better, Strafe is definitely one of the key highlights of Computron.

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Of course, that's not all from Strafe, since he is a Technobot, he can combine with others to form Computron.

Strafe normally forms the left arm of Computron and his arm mode looks pretty good.

His arm mode is perfect in size, especially with the forearms not being too large but not too skinny either.

He can also form the leg which is basically the spaceship mode with the cockpit folded down.  Note that with the small front winglets, you can fold them up or down however you like.

That's it for now, thanks for reading!

Snitch (2013)

Snitch is a crime drama film starring Dwayne Johnson.  This film is not an action-centric film, there are no crazy gunfights or explosions.  Rather it is more thoughtful.  Dwayne's character, John, finds his son being set up in a sting operation for dealing with narcotics.  He was set up by his best friend in order to reduce his own drug sentence.  It brings to light the heavy consequences of drug dealing and sometimes, the unfairness as to reduce your own sentence, you need to set someone else up (and oftentimes, in desperation).  John's son refuses to set someone else up and John makes a deal where he will assist in catching the kingpin of a drug cartel which leads to some tense situations.  The plot is well paced for the most part, although it can feel padded during the middle.  Nevertheless, it was engaging to see how the story would pan out and you can sympathize with the characters, especially the characters that were forcibly dragged into the plot against their will.

Book Review: Pandora Hearts Volume 15

Review:  #601
Title:  Pandora Hearts Volume 15
Series:  Pandora Hearts - 15th volume
Author:  Jun Mochizuki
Read Before:  no
Comments:  The events at Yura’s residence end in this volume with more revelations along the way including the identity of the Headhunter.  It was a sad conclusion to the story arc and by the end of the volume, the sacrifice felt somewhat wasted.  Most of the volume then proceeds to provide flashbacks in order to explain the backstory of the characters, and everything else the author had hidden so things finally start to make a bit more sense.  A few of the frames become quite cliché in that it’s to put the characters into some sort of typical cool pose but doesn’t quite pull it off.  The good thing is that some of the characters have revealed their true personalities, which means that no longer are we confused about their motives and what it means to Oz and his friends.  Overall, Volume 15’s plot can be melodramatic and over exaggerated but still remains engaging and interesting.

Rating:  6/10

Toy Review: Transformers Robots in Disguise (2015) Decepticon Hunter Sideswipe vs. Mini-Con Anvil

Review:  #328
Name:  Sideswipe vs. Anvil
Brand:  Transformers
Allegiance:  Autobot vs. Decepticon
Line:  Robots in Disguise (2015)
Year of Release:  2016
Size Class:  Commander vs. Mini-Con (Mini-Con Battle Packs Wave 1)
Mold Status:  new

ANVIL:

Let's start with Anvil first since he'll be quick and easy.  He is a Mini-Con and transforms into a spiked spheroid.

In this mode, he can be launched by Deployer Crazybolt or Overload.  Otherwise, this alt-mode is pretty rubbish.

Transforming Anvil into robot mode is very easy, you unfold the halves of the shelve and they are geared to automatically fold down the legs.  Although you will still need to flip down the feet.

He has the two halves of the sphere as kibble and there is no poseability whatsoever.

There is a lot of sculpted detailing but while the sphere halves are meant to act as wings or a cape, it doesn't work that well since his arms are pinned to his sides.

As a Mini-Con alone, Anvil isn't much fun, you really need a Deployer figure for the interaction.

SIDESWIPE - VEHICLE MODE:

Onto Sideswipe, who transforms into the familiar red sports car with bright blue windows.

The only play value in this mode is the rolling wheels.  Unfortunately, there's no way to attach the armor in this mode which seemed like an oversight that you have to put it aside.

This is a brand new mold although it is heavily based around the engineering of the smaller Legion figure.

Sideswipe is approximate Commander sized.  Above is a size comparison with Prime Commander Dreadwing.

Still an attractive sleek vehicle.  He feels solid in your hands and is pretty good for what he is.

SIDESWIPE - TRANSFORMATION:

As mentioned, this version of Sideswipe borrows heavily from the Legions figure.  There are a few little tweaks such as elbows and the fact that the vehicle hood is hinged slightly differently but all in all, transforms pretty much identically.  This means that it is simple to convert Sideswipe between modes and fun to boot.

SIDESWIPE - ROBOT MODE:

Sideswipe's robot looks absolutely fantastic.  The Legion was already good, but the upsizing worked really well here, and hazard to say even better looking than the larger Warrior figure.

Unfortunately he carries the vehicle hood as a massive piece of kibble on his back and it doesn't even peg in, it just sits there loosely...

The headsculpt is nice and he can turn his head from side to side.

When compared to the Legion version you can see similarities but also there are a lot of marked improvements including better proportions.

He is approximately the size of a Commander in robot mode, not quite up to the bulkiness of the older Scouts but definitely a bit more mass than previous Commanders.

Poseability is excellent, and unlike the Legion toy, he has good solid feet and knees so he doesn't fall backwards that easily.

Unfortunately the stability doesn't extend to when you're trying to do really dynamic poses.  His shoulders also have an amazing range of articulation.

The key gimmick of this set is the additional transparent armor which comes in seven pieces.

Attaching them to Sideswipe you get a powered up robot that has a distinct samurai influence.

He retains most of the articulation when he has his armor.  Sideswipe only really loses his head articulation thanks to the helmet being attached to the chest armor.

He has a club weapon in this mode in addition to the claws.  Sideswipe looks so much more powerful in this mode.

The black and red color scheme works well.  If you think about it, there isn't really that much paint applications in robot mode so the fact that it doesn't look bland is quite an achievement.

The key feature of this set is the rivalry between Sideswipe and Anvil.  Sideswipe is supposed to be fighting Anvil and capturing him.

Of course, you can also only attach specific pieces of armor to Sideswipe as you see fit.  Sideswipe can hold the club as a weapon normally.

You can also attach the claw weapons which look really cool and powerful.

The other thing you can do with the armor pieces is to combine it into a massive weapon.

It turns into a claw type weapon for Sideswipe to wield.  Thankfully, Sideswipe's balljointed elbows are strong enough to support the weight of the weapon.

It actually feels a bit scary disassembling the weapon since it is in clear plastic and the plastic tolerances are tight when you're pegging and unpegging the posts.

Guessing that this mode is what Sideswipe will use to actually grab onto and capture Anvil...

A fantastic robot mode where the simplicity works and the armor massively increases play value.

OVERALL:

This set, if you can get it on sale, is a lot of fun.  Excluding Anvil who is more of a write-off, the Sideswipe figure is well engineered even if it did borrow a lot of its engineering.  Nevertheless, the additional armor pieces make the robot mode very versatile and just heaps of fun.

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Danganronpa Another Episode: Ultra Despair Girls (Vita)

Danganronpa Another Episode:  Ultra Despair Girls is the third game in the Danganronpa series exclusive for the PlayStation Vita.  It is a spin-off and set between Trigger Happy Havoc and Goodbye Despair.  It follows Makoto's sister, Komaru Naegi, as she tries to escape Towa City.  Another Episode is a drastically different game compared to the previous two games.  Instead of a visual novel with investigation and trials elements, it is now a third person shooter.  Towa City is overrun with murderous Monokumas (robotic bears that are your enemy) and Komaru is equipped with a hacking gun that can disable them.  Don't think Call of Duty style of third-person shooter, Another Episode is much slower paced, requiring you to patiently tread forward, and aiming carefully to score a good shot.

The slight twist in gameplay here are the different types of bullets.  You will get eight different types of bullets, slowly earned during the course of the story.  These are effectively for different things and also against different Monokumas.  You'll get bullets that activate machinery, a fast shooting bullet and bullets that allow you to take over the Monokuma and control them at will.  Naturally, this means there are different types of Monokumas as well.  The most abundant is the standard black and white bear design that we are familiar with.  They will dash towards Komaru and pounce, attacking with their claws.

Other Monokumas include the Bomber variety which throws bombs, a Siren Monokuma which calls for reinforcements and more grotesque versions such as the Junk Monokuma which look like a Frankenstein mishmash and the Beast Monokuma which acts more feral than others.  This keeps the gameplay engaging and refreshing while not being overwhelming.  Another Episode has a slight horror survival theme.  You'll be traversing through dark areas, where the next step might be the one that has Monokumas bursting out of nowhere and startling you.  There is even a section where it was pitch black and when they jump out at you, those Monokuma designs will start to seem freaky.

Monokumas have a weak spot, which is the red eye.  Aiming for the eye will normally result in one-hit kills, except for the more powerful Junk and Ball Monokumas.  Eventually, the Monokumas end up being quite the bullet sponge.  With the rate of fire being this slow, and you ending up being crowded by numerous enemies, it can be quite frustrating as they start to stun lock you and you can't aim properly.  The game is now in 3D, with a slow camera rotation speed, which you will get used to eventually.  The graphics aren't exactly poor but they're not cutting edge either.  At least the environments and character models are sharp and crisp, although environments are a bit too block looking.

The aesthetics of the game help mask the lack of detail but it translate the 2D portrait designs of the characters nicely into 3D character models.  The shooting mechanics are clunky so you have to take the game slow.  This slower pace actually creates a nice atmosphere.  The way you switch to different bullets is very awkward though, and you cannot do it quickly in the spur of the moment.  There is a levelling up system.  Komaru will level up as she defeats Monokuma and as she levels up, she gets more Skill Points.  Skill Points are required to equip skills which improves her and Toko's abilities.

Skills can have effects such as increasing Komaru's health, aiming speed and the rate of experience gain.  You get Monocoins from defeated enemies which are used to purchase upgrades to equip to specific bullets that can increase the rate of fire, power and ammo capacity.  A get-out-of-jail-free card comes from Toko.  You can switch at anytime to Toko's Genocide Jack persona, who does not take damage.  However, you can only use Genocide Jack for a limited time.  Generally in big fights, you get free recharges to the time allowed anyway, so it's an easy way to get past some fights.  Genocide Jack uses melee based combos and special moves, but you can just button mash.

There are frequent puzzle rooms in which it requires you to kill all the enemies in one go.  You will have to use your understanding of the bullets and the nature of the different types of Monokumas in order to get through them.  They're not that hard to be fair, and are enjoyable.  Unfortunately, there will be times where the game will throw waves upon waves of enemies at you, which isn't htat good when the shooting mechanics don't support this type of gameplay.  Most of the time, there might be tricks to defeat a bunch together so you need to keep an eye out and not mindlessly start to shoot at everything.

Another Episode doesn't allow you to save anywhere; you have to use Save Points for that.  They're usually spaced every 10 to 30 minutes.  Each Chapter is also graded, if you want a good grade you will need to retry some of the puzzles through reloading saves, which can get annoying especially when you know what to do but somehow the game made the enemies notice you even though you were not in their line of sight.  As mentioned the story takes place soon after Trigger Happy Havoc.  Komaru was abducted for the purposes of the first game in encouraging the characters to start killing each other.  She was held captive inside an apartment for the whole time and cut off from the outside world.

So it turns out Komaru was held in Towa City, and now that the killing game within Hope's Peak Academy has ended, numerous Monokumas were unleashed in the City, killing all the adults, leaving only the children to create their paradise.  Komaru might fight and find a way to escape this nightmare and she meets Toko along the way.  Teaming up with her as their goals are the same (Komaru to escape, Toko to rescue Byakuya), eventually they come to stopping the masterminds behind this scheme, five children who each have a very good reason to hate adults.  You'll meet familiar characters from the first game, as well as siblings of the first game's characters.

The game is long, clocking in at around 14 hours due to the frequent and long cutscenes.  Stylistic choices from the previous games continue, such as the pink blood.  Another Episode is actually more cruel and gory with a lot of scenes showing actual killing rather than just inferring.  The story is told via various different forms.  There'll be traditional 2D animation, 3D in-game rendered cutscenes, 3D pre-rendered cutscenes and pre-rendered cel-shaded animations that's more in style with the "execution" cutscenes of the previous two games.  While the story is long and not as focused as the other two Danganronpa games, it is still very decent.

The story starts to ramp up from Chapter 4 and the finale in Chapter 5 was absolutely fantastic.  It presents tough choices and you can see how much each character has grown.  There will be odd moments from time to time such as Toko's fantasies or the frequent sexual related humor.  It can be strange and at times, uncomfortable...  That being said, 90% of the humor works and the story can be very funny.  While travelling during the game, you will encounter frequent loading screens as you go from one section to the next.  It's long enough to break the immersion and can be annoying when you're itching to get to the next part.

The music of the game will be familiar to most but it does have a few new tracks.  This is not a lazy spin-off, the developers have put in a lot of effort and resources into it, and you can tell.  There are an abundance of collectibles in the game.  Spread out over all the chapters, it's near impossible to find them all without a guide.  There's just too many of them to be fun at trying to find them all, however, they add some nice context and backstory.  Once you complete the game, it unlocks a bonus spin-off novel called Ultra Despair Hagakure.  This takes place at the same time as the first two chapters of the game, and gives background to both Hagakure and Leon from the first game.

Overall, Danganronpa Another Episode;  Ultra Despair Girls is a very different game in the series.  Spike Chunsoft has taken a fairly big risk to make such a big change but it works.  It retains the good storytelling the series is known for, and the third-person shooter mechanics works well once you understand and get used to it.  It is an enjoyable game that's surprisingly fun to play once it gets going.  Another Episode is highly recommended for fans of the series but you have to have played the first two games in order to get all the references and spoilers.

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