I'm kinda doing these comments / reviews in reverse order. Or maybe I should have done one big one.
I got my Spray last week, and Rager after him. iGear has had some things I was interested in before. Namely the Masterpiece Seekers but I wasn't going to pay those prices. And I really don't have the space. I already have the Hasbro MP Starscream and Skywarp. And I would rather have Takara Thundercracker or by some miracle a Hasbro one. But with the prices of the Takara Tcracker and the new mold coming I doubt we'll see a Hasbro TCracker, but that's another story.. Not too mention I'm not as attached to the Coneheads as the original Seekers..
But on to Spray..
I'm quite happy with him. I love the shade of blue they used for him. And he just seems to be the right size. Not too big, but not too small either. Transformation was simple. No problems. He's nicely posable. And his plastic quality seems to be good. He has a small amount of paint, his face and hovercraft windows. And he even comes with a spear gun. Which was fantastic. And I was impressed with the laminated sparkly bio card he came with. And unlike the Maketoys version he did not come with any instructions. If I had to complain about anything with him, it would be he suffer a little bit of having large pontoon feet. And some rather obvious gaps in alt mode. But it's not enough to bother me.
Over all I am quite pleased with Spray.
Rager..
Much the same as Spray. Transformation was simple, no popping out of place ball joints. Nice colors, and good pose ability. He comes with two pistols, which was cool to have some accessories. And his head even seems posable, but I can't quite reach in to move his head. As with Spray he's just the right size. And his quality seems good. He also comes with a nice laminated sparkly bio card. But no instructions.
If this is what we can look forward to with iGears Miniwarrior line. Than sign me up. At around $18 to $20 each depending on where you buy them, won't break the bank like a lot of third party items unfortunately. I can't wait to see Cosmos and the rest of the line.
It's kind of sad when I think about it, but it seems more and more these days third party are making more exciting products than Hasbro and Takara themselves are. And I am very interested in the Prime line. Maybe it was the over saturation of the movie toys for the last 5 years or so. But then they release the Prime FE and we find out they get cancelled. And the main RID line with duplicate molds are inferior in some respects.. Come on Hasbro. Maybe it's my nostalgia. But it's kind of sad when I look back to toys from 30 years ago and I still like them better, and they have better quality than modern designed stuff. And it takes third party to give these stuff back to us with faithful modern adaptions. Not to get too long winded on this, thankfully we got the Classics, Generations and those lines. Those were fantastic. Then I see FOC Bruticus and hope he's mistransformed =)
Anyway..
iGear Miniwarriors
Spray 3.5 out of 5
Rager 3.5 out of 5
Thursday, February 9, 2012
Maketoys Hover & Bomber
Ok, so I finally got my box with Maketoys version of the minibots Hover (Seaspray) and Bomber (Powerglide) this morning.
And I have to say, that over all I'm not all that impressed with them. And I will be looking forward to iGears forthcoming Cosmos and the rest of their line predominantly.
The design of Hover and Bomber just seem to be off. Visually they look nice, in both modes. I find that Hovers blue is a little too dark. And I Also find him and Bomber to be a little bit on the short side. Just a little bit taller would have been nice. Rager and Spray aren't that much bigger. But I like their size better.
But my problem with how they were designed I guess mostly applies to bomber more than hover. With bomber the transformation was simple enough, but even so they seem to have some ball joint problems. His fore arms like to pop off, and in 'bot mode he can't raise his fists up without turning them palms up to do it with how they were designed. And the small flaps on the back of the engines on his legs like to pop out of their notches. And they don't like to clip back in place too well. They just fit into little notches. It seems like the friction will hold them into place. Unless they get worn over time by transforming. But I don't tend to transform my figures very often. So it probably won't be much of a problem for me. I've also had some minor problem trying to pose them, as their joints like to slide back to their original positions. And neither of them come with any accessories. A few spots on Bombers ball joints look to be thin plastic, so I would be careful with him transforming.
As mentioned though, they both look nice in robot and alt mode. I almost like Hovers face better than Spray. And they have a little bit of paint. But it seems to accentuate them well. Bomber with yellow eyes and some black on his chest. And Spray with his face, chest and Hovercraft windows.
So, in the end I guess I am a little disappointed in them. The iGear Spray and Rager are much nicer. A little bit bigger, and both came with accessories. Not too mention a cool sparkly, laminated bio card. And were sold separately for around $18 about. Where Hover and Bomber came as a two piece set. I only wanted to get Bomber, but had to get the pair. Figuring I would sell off Spray. And I may do that still.
So I would say go for iGears Rager and Spray and try and get a loose Bomber if you want Powerglide for the new minibots. Unless iGear releases him down the line. The only one I know of coming up is Cosmos. And I'm looking forward to him. I love the minibots, and had a bunch of them when I was a kid. And it looks like iGear really has something I like going with their line.
Maketoys Bomber and Spray
Bomber 2 out of 5
Hover 2.5 out of 5
And I have to say, that over all I'm not all that impressed with them. And I will be looking forward to iGears forthcoming Cosmos and the rest of their line predominantly.
The design of Hover and Bomber just seem to be off. Visually they look nice, in both modes. I find that Hovers blue is a little too dark. And I Also find him and Bomber to be a little bit on the short side. Just a little bit taller would have been nice. Rager and Spray aren't that much bigger. But I like their size better.
But my problem with how they were designed I guess mostly applies to bomber more than hover. With bomber the transformation was simple enough, but even so they seem to have some ball joint problems. His fore arms like to pop off, and in 'bot mode he can't raise his fists up without turning them palms up to do it with how they were designed. And the small flaps on the back of the engines on his legs like to pop out of their notches. And they don't like to clip back in place too well. They just fit into little notches. It seems like the friction will hold them into place. Unless they get worn over time by transforming. But I don't tend to transform my figures very often. So it probably won't be much of a problem for me. I've also had some minor problem trying to pose them, as their joints like to slide back to their original positions. And neither of them come with any accessories. A few spots on Bombers ball joints look to be thin plastic, so I would be careful with him transforming.
As mentioned though, they both look nice in robot and alt mode. I almost like Hovers face better than Spray. And they have a little bit of paint. But it seems to accentuate them well. Bomber with yellow eyes and some black on his chest. And Spray with his face, chest and Hovercraft windows.
So, in the end I guess I am a little disappointed in them. The iGear Spray and Rager are much nicer. A little bit bigger, and both came with accessories. Not too mention a cool sparkly, laminated bio card. And were sold separately for around $18 about. Where Hover and Bomber came as a two piece set. I only wanted to get Bomber, but had to get the pair. Figuring I would sell off Spray. And I may do that still.
So I would say go for iGears Rager and Spray and try and get a loose Bomber if you want Powerglide for the new minibots. Unless iGear releases him down the line. The only one I know of coming up is Cosmos. And I'm looking forward to him. I love the minibots, and had a bunch of them when I was a kid. And it looks like iGear really has something I like going with their line.
Maketoys Bomber and Spray
Bomber 2 out of 5
Hover 2.5 out of 5
Monday, February 6, 2012
The Woman In Black
Seen this one yesterday, and it's a great old school horror movie.
No reliance on gore, or violence that you seen in what passes for horror in the modern movies. This is old school creepy. Like Paranormal Activity. Darkness, shadows, moving things in reflections, opening doors, noises..
For a first outing by former Harry Potter the only issue I have is, that he looks almost too young for the role. But the addition of some stubble, and such does go a long way to fixing that.
It's a period piece, which I was very pleased with. The village he arrives at to do his work has one car. And the local are mostly scared of it. No telephones.
And I have read that some reviews found that since he was in no real personal danger since the woman in black preys on children. Removed any tension we the audience feels since we know nothing will happen to him. I didn't think so. I liked following him along through the mystery.
And even though I knew only children had died. I still wasn't entirely sure that something wouldn't happen to him.
Irregardless I enjoyed this movie, and I hope that the horror genre is finally swinging back from blood and gore, and what has been labeled as 'Torture Porn' and is coming back to old school scares and creepy. Less is more people.
Performances were good, Especially Sam if I remember right. The richest man in the county who owned the car. I've seen him in many movies, but I especially liked him here.
4 out of 5 stars.
No reliance on gore, or violence that you seen in what passes for horror in the modern movies. This is old school creepy. Like Paranormal Activity. Darkness, shadows, moving things in reflections, opening doors, noises..
For a first outing by former Harry Potter the only issue I have is, that he looks almost too young for the role. But the addition of some stubble, and such does go a long way to fixing that.
It's a period piece, which I was very pleased with. The village he arrives at to do his work has one car. And the local are mostly scared of it. No telephones.
And I have read that some reviews found that since he was in no real personal danger since the woman in black preys on children. Removed any tension we the audience feels since we know nothing will happen to him. I didn't think so. I liked following him along through the mystery.
And even though I knew only children had died. I still wasn't entirely sure that something wouldn't happen to him.
Irregardless I enjoyed this movie, and I hope that the horror genre is finally swinging back from blood and gore, and what has been labeled as 'Torture Porn' and is coming back to old school scares and creepy. Less is more people.
Performances were good, Especially Sam if I remember right. The richest man in the county who owned the car. I've seen him in many movies, but I especially liked him here.
4 out of 5 stars.
Thursday, February 2, 2012
Star Wars The Old Republic
This post was much longer that it is now, but it turned into a bit of a rambling take on the state of modern MMOs compared to the early days of EQ1 and DAoC. And how the social aspects with groups were so much better than today. Which doesn't really say much about TOR in general.
So, I've been playing since early last fall when I got into beta. Just got billed for my first cycle. And I imagine it will be my last once.
I played a Commando in beta. And went back to it in release. And a couple weeks ago made level 50. And had the feeling of being done wash over me. I just don't much feel like playing now. My storyline is done. Which was the fantastic thing about this game. It was as someone else has mentioned WoW with lightsabres. And Knights of the Old Republic 3. And then when you hit level 50, the whole game just spins and lands on it's head.
You are once again just like any other MMO (Wow) and no, I don't really have any suggestions on what Bioware could do differently. All I am left to do is Raid, PvP or finish up some side quests I have left.
I had to spend a metric ton of cash to catch up on skills, and work on Armstech. And it seems like most MMOs crafting is basically worthless. I'm not seeing how I would generally make any cash. Not much seems to sell well at all on the Auction House. There just doesn't seem much for me to do.
Now, all 8 classes have their own stories. And I did start a bunch of alts of various levels 6 to 22. And beyond their class / story quests most of the side quests are the same as the ones I already did with the Commando. And the same planets, so that has been boring me. Hopefully down the road they will get a chance to expand the number of planets. And give some alternate choices for the different level ranges to quest in.
Space Combat was fun, rails or not. The trouble I had with it, was that a lot of them looked the same. But even so it was a fun arcade shooter quality. And I liked flying them. Again, hopefully they get some more variety added in.
I'm still having some quests that become buggy for one reason or another. And I can no longer complete them. And I can't abandon them from my log.
And the companion system is fantastic. You never have to adventure alone. And you end up with a companion to fill in the various roles for Tank, Healer, DPS..
So maybe it's not so much that the game turns on its head at the end. Just so much that it's really Star Wars Knights of the Old Republic 3 in a persistent environment. With NPC compantions you can quest with. And it's just a different game at 50 than the one you played for a month or so before that.
In the end if you like Science Fiction and MMOs you have to give it a try. It's well worth that. The game has a strong story element to it. And was great fun one time through. Just that the path is too narrow for me to apparently make it through more than once.
3.5 Stars our of 5.
So, I've been playing since early last fall when I got into beta. Just got billed for my first cycle. And I imagine it will be my last once.
I played a Commando in beta. And went back to it in release. And a couple weeks ago made level 50. And had the feeling of being done wash over me. I just don't much feel like playing now. My storyline is done. Which was the fantastic thing about this game. It was as someone else has mentioned WoW with lightsabres. And Knights of the Old Republic 3. And then when you hit level 50, the whole game just spins and lands on it's head.
You are once again just like any other MMO (Wow) and no, I don't really have any suggestions on what Bioware could do differently. All I am left to do is Raid, PvP or finish up some side quests I have left.
I had to spend a metric ton of cash to catch up on skills, and work on Armstech. And it seems like most MMOs crafting is basically worthless. I'm not seeing how I would generally make any cash. Not much seems to sell well at all on the Auction House. There just doesn't seem much for me to do.
Now, all 8 classes have their own stories. And I did start a bunch of alts of various levels 6 to 22. And beyond their class / story quests most of the side quests are the same as the ones I already did with the Commando. And the same planets, so that has been boring me. Hopefully down the road they will get a chance to expand the number of planets. And give some alternate choices for the different level ranges to quest in.
Space Combat was fun, rails or not. The trouble I had with it, was that a lot of them looked the same. But even so it was a fun arcade shooter quality. And I liked flying them. Again, hopefully they get some more variety added in.
I'm still having some quests that become buggy for one reason or another. And I can no longer complete them. And I can't abandon them from my log.
And the companion system is fantastic. You never have to adventure alone. And you end up with a companion to fill in the various roles for Tank, Healer, DPS..
So maybe it's not so much that the game turns on its head at the end. Just so much that it's really Star Wars Knights of the Old Republic 3 in a persistent environment. With NPC compantions you can quest with. And it's just a different game at 50 than the one you played for a month or so before that.
In the end if you like Science Fiction and MMOs you have to give it a try. It's well worth that. The game has a strong story element to it. And was great fun one time through. Just that the path is too narrow for me to apparently make it through more than once.
3.5 Stars our of 5.
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