Wrestlemania 28

It's that time of year again, time for Wrestlemania.

Now I haven't been too excited in recent years, the PPV events just don't seem to be all that grand and dazzling anymore. Compared to my memories of the early years, they just seem like extended episodes of RAW or Smackdown! Maybe returning to an outdoor arena. With the large setup might give it back some sense of atmosphere. I really need to go back and watch the old 'Manias. I remember when the WWF/E released the big boxset of all of them. I wish I could have found it for a good price. After that I would have loved a set of the Rumbles. Even if it was just a set of all the Royal Rumble matches themselves.

But oddly I am finding myself getting a little excited this year. Even though I had said I wouldn't be. After all, I saw HHH and Undertaker last year. But I am interested in seeing them now in a Hell in a Cell match, with Mr. Wrestlemania as the guest referee. And Punk and Jericho along with Rock and Cena. Against my better judgement I'm looking forward to Sunday night.

I'm even interested in the 12 man tag match, hopefully team Teddy wins.

So here we are at another Wrestlemania, one I said I wouldn't be excited about. And yet I find myself drawn to it. We shall see how it all goes by Monday night.

Dark of the Moon : Darksteel

Picked this guy up at TRU last weekend. They were having a $10 sale on the deluxes. And until I heard that he was a Beast Wars homage to Quickstrike I wasn't much interested.

But once I got him transformed into robot mode and put his weapons into his hands. He actually does look really cool. The head especially, and with the weapons in hand they resemble claws / blades.

The mold looks like a repaint and tooling of DOTM Sideswipe.

If you liked Quickstrike I'd say you should grab this guy while you can. If not, I wouldn't bother. Since he's just another 'Sideswipe' and I actually already have two versions of movie Sideswipe already. But this one is more than different enough to fit in for me with my like of Beast Wars.

Thanks to the WTF@TFW 2005 podcast and Vangelus or I would not have known he was a Quickstrike BW homage.

3.5 out of 5

MMOs and Gaming

And the pendulum swings and I find myself returning to PC gaming. With the closure of Blockbuster and the Rogers outlets. I no longer have any good alternatives for renting. This has mostly ruined what was a good deal several years ago when I had swung into console gaming to play all the cool titles I was missing. But at $70 a title that lasts usually no longer than two weeks buying isn't a choice. I sold off my Xbox 360. And am content to hold onto my PS3 since the media capabilities of it are fantastic. And it's also my Bluray player. I don't see myself going into the next generation. I can further beef up my PC instead. And play some of these games a year or more down the line on my PC that still works. And not have a bunch of games that have no value and can't be used once their console system has been put out to pasture.

So, now I am back to PC gaming. I was enjoying Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning. And Diablo 3 is right around the corner. But predominantly I find that MMOs are the titles that I usually get the most out of. Been playing them pretty much since 1999. But I find myself once again returning to Azeroth and World of Warcraft. I have always like Blizzard as a company. And maybe that is part of it.

I've been away from the game for must be at least six months or more. And in the interim I played the F2P versions of City of Heroes, EverQuest 2. As well as played the beta and launch of Star Wars The Old Republic. Which I left once I hit the cap and there didn't seem to be much left for me to do. I would say that SW needed another 6 months or so to fill out. And CoH and EQ2 even when they were pay subs didn't hold my attention that long. I would have to say looking back, that EQ1 and WoW were the two MMOs that I've played the most. Everything else were short diversions. I even played DC Universe Online on PS3 and it was only fun for a few days.

But I received one of the new super turbo charged Scrolls of Resurrection and it lured me back in. At first I played a couple hours and didn't have much fun with it. I was bored. Which was why I left in the first place. I had one 85 and several 80s and nothing I felt like doing. But now I was able to bring my Mage over from another server. And get a boost to level 80. And now I've been taking it easy fishing with my 85 and doing low key stuff. While with my newly minted 80 Mage (Who was 73 before) I find some more fun coming back. I don't find I have the time or the patience for Raids or even groups usually. Maybe with a guild dungeons wouldn't be so bad. But PUGs never seem to go well. And as a Mage my role is pretty simple. DPS. I don't have the pressure of healing or tanking. And back in the beginning days of WoW my Mage was into all the dungeons and raiding. But when I went horde I didn't recreate my Mage since I don't like to do the same things over and over. I didn't want to have to level a Mage a second time. Although it took me about three times to get a Shaman past 24.

And I guess with the single player games I have this sense of being alone, playing against a machine. And again I tend to get bored. With MMOs they seem to be like a pseudo sand box. And there are always other people around. Whether I choose to interact with them or not. I can buy, sell, trade and still feel like I'm part of something persistent. So even with my lack of interest in the main social aspects of the games (Grouping and Raiding) it still seems to be mainly a social atmosphere. This 'it' factor that single player games seem to be lacking.

So with my play style I tend to solo the game and play Battlegrounds. And this generally seems to be enough of a social interaction to keep me interested. Where single player games don't. At least when I'm not suffering MMO burnout.

But I knew that I would in all likely hood be buying Mists of Pandaria this fall. So a few months to finish up some levels and skills before that would be good. And I will be ready to dive into the expansion. And it looks like they are adding a lot of stuff to do with the 'Pokemon' aspect besides grind out another five levels. And I've been missing a Monk class since the game launched. They were one of my favorites in EQ 1 back in the day. And I still wish I had of come back for two months last fall for Brewfest and Halloween events.

Anyway, I better stop. Since this is turning into a large wandering post.

Transformers Prime Legion Class Vehicon

Prime figures have finally started to appear in my area. I picked up the Legion class Vehicon.

What a fantastic little figure. He looks great, has knee joints, unfortunately he could have really used an elbow to help pose and aim his weapon.

He is mainly black, with grey tires and silver head and some purple highlights. He also sports the cyclon red visor. Transformation is nice and simple. And his weapon is made from some kind of soft type plastic. Also purple.

Over all I am very pleased, he looks great in both modes. If I had to complain about anything it would be the lack of an elbow joint, and I would have preferred his weapon be a gun. And not a gun / sword type thing.

If this is a preview for the deluxe version. Than I am going to want more than one..

4 out of 5 stars

Great figure.