mikeszekely

Saltus is a figure that's been on my radar, but I'm not sure that I'm ready to pull the trigger. The sculpt and materials are certainly better than Big Spring, but some of Saltus' other advantages over the other Springers are the same advantages Big Spring already delivered, like an intuitive transformation and a car mode that actually looks like... well, not really a car, but at least some kind of ground vehicle and not a half-transformed helicopter. Actually, speaking of helicopters, I kind of like Big Spring's copter mode better. Saltus' tail looks too thin and small. I guess the real question that's holding me back is how XTB's Virtus is going to turn out. Car mode's kind of iffy there, although fairly cartoon accurate, the bot mode looks strong, and the copter could be my favorite. If the engineering and QC are up to snuff I might like it better than Saltus. So, yeah, I'd like to replace Big Spring, but I don't want to replace the replacement. Ironically, while I'm not sure I want to spend $130 to upgrade a $60 figure, I can say that if I'd gone with Apache I'd definitely be listing him on TFW's B/S/T board. Saltus looks in pretty much every mode, has better articulation, and isn't a PITA to transform.

Why Hulu and not the streaming service they're planning on launching? Oh well, I guess it's no big deal. They kind of killed my interest when they decided to go with Robbie Reyes instead of Johnny Blaze.

MK 11 is a sloggy grindfest, which had led to the understandable assumption that it's to encourage players to spend real money to speed up progression. Apparently, though, a lot of the unlockable content can't be purchased that way and it really is just an insufferable grind. https://kotaku.com/you-cant-actually-buy-your-way-out-of-mortal-kombat-11s-1834311465

I adore it in a Motormaster, at least. I've been picking up XTB's Stunticons so far, and they'll probably end up being my combined-mode Menasor, but I've hated from day one how Gravestone (their Motormaster) is just the cab (same goes for CW Motormaster, and even pretty much every other Motormaster like Fansproject or TFM is the cab plus a portion of the trailer at best). I've been intrigued with Roadking since FT first showed off a robot a head taller than MP-10 that turns into an MP-10-sized truck and the entire trailer. Of course, given FT's track record of late, I was also expecting it to be a nightmare to transform. Based on the reviews I'm seeing, though, lining up the trailer panels isn't exactly fun but it's otherwise fairly straightforward. As a fan of Motormaster since my youth (he was like an evil counterpart to Optimus before Nemesis Prime was a thing), I caved today and ordered Roadking from ShowZstore. I can't say that I'm interested in the other four, as I'm pretty happy with XTB's, but Roadking looks more like what I'd want in an MP Motormaster than Gravestone (and who even knows what's going on with DX9's at this point). So expect a review here soon (ish... ShowZ is good, but it's still coming from China).

My TE-01 came with batteries, too. Opening it up and looking at the batteries was how I figured out the answer. It's possible that someone forgot to put the batteries in a few at the factory, or people got duds.

Yes, they're listed as LR41, and you'll need two. According to my chart, they may also be listed as AG3, 192, GP92A, 392, or SR41W. Are those jream's? Look at the first picture of my review. Going with your gut, which one looks better to you? You're probably fine going with that one. The only two caveats I'd throw in are that MS-01 might be a little better if you have an aversion to complicated transformations, although TE-01 is certainly not the worst I've dealt with, and the other would be that if you're digging MS-01 you should be aware that Magic Square is releasing an MS-01X that has a metallic paint job. Oh, and if you guys kind of want to experience both figures without owning two red and blue Optimus Primes, you can always get TE-01 in the traditional colors, while MS-01 is (or will be) available in Ultra Magnus and Nemesis Prime colors.

Twinsies! (That's Transform Element's TE-01 Op Leader, an MP-44 alternative apparently designed by the same guy who did DX9's Mightron, for anyone who wasn't sure.) Back when it came out, MP-10 blew me away with how much more dynamic it was over MP-01, but I think even before the Prime Wars of 2019 most of us were longing for something that was a bit more cartoon-accurate. Magic Square already did that with their MS-01. MS-01 has better proportions than MP-10, he's got less surface greebles, straighter thighs, and he doesn't have the bump outs on the sides of his legs for wheels. But Magic Square didn't exactly throw out the baby with the bathwater, and some of MP-10's style did carry over. He's still got the beveled shin vents, even if they are blue now. He's still got the yellow paint on his wrist markings. He's still got indents on the tops of his feet, and visible windshield wipers on his chest. His thighs and pelvis are still a light gray. He's still got a seam on his lats where they flare back out before reaching his pelvis. And even with the simpler details, the head sculpt is still similar to MP-10's. That's a lot of talk about MS-01 in a TE-01 review, but the point I'm trying to make is that MS-01 is, aesthetically, a very refined take on MP-10, which is going to be very appealing to some people, but still not cartoon accurate enough for others. For those others, TE-01 definitely skews closer to the upcoming MP-44 than MP-10. His chest is taller, with windows that are more squares than rectangles. His pelvis is taller, too, leaving his midriff significantly shorter. His arms are thinner, with smaller shoulders and longer biceps. His hands are more rounded, and the markings on his wrists are left red. His pelvis and thighs are pearl white. His legs, like his arms, are thinner. And there's basically no greebles on him that aren't on the animation model. Even the vents are his shins are just molded lines. The gray plastic on the hinges at the top of and sides of his pelvis are a little unsightly, but they bother me less in hand than they did in photos. I don't usually talk about the backs of figures, because I don't think a little kibble in the backpack is necessarily the worst thing in the world (although MP-44 does look like he's all set for a week of camping with his). I didn't have a problem with MP-10's, and MS-01's slightly smaller backpack is also fine. But holy cow, that's some sorcery Transform Element did to clean up TE-01's back. It's impressively cartoon-accurate, right down to the way his legs just run all the way to the ground with no heel spurs sticking out the back. Another thing that I personally don't think should matter, but for some people it does seem to, is that TE-01 is noticeably heavier than the others. TE-01's got some diecast in him. If empirical data is more your thing, MS-01 clocks in around 13.7 ounces (390 grams), MP-10 at 14.5 ounces (412 grams), while TE-01 weighs a hefty 18.7 ounces (528 grams). It's not a huge difference... similar-sized figure from Fans Toys like Sovereign or Dracula are even heavier, but the difference is unmistakable nevertheless, and gives TE-01 a sort of brickish solidness. And yet, for all the praise I'd been hearing about about TE-01, it's not like TE-01 is sporting a ton more paint than MS-01. I've also noticed a ton of sprue marks on him. It's a solid, well-made toy, don't get me wrong, but in the way a lot of 3P figures are these days, not in the 2016/2017 Fans Toys worship kind of way you might think if you've been hanging out at TFW2005. Oh, and I think the head is trash. Fortunately, my copy (and pretty much any copy you'd buy going forward) is a slightly revised version that comes with an alternate head and screwdriver to install it with. Moment of truth time, I still prefer MS-01's head, but this new head is a vast improvement over the other with an aesthetic that's very close to the '86 movie. It's going on my copy before the next photo. Whether you wind up with a revised TE-01 or one from the original batch, you'll get a Matrix of Leadership, an energon axe, a fifth wheel, and Prime's signature ion rifle. All of these things also look fine, especially the axe. It's done in a more solid, more translucent plastic than MP-10's, and it's looking sharp. But it's a shame Transform Element cast the rifle in a dark gray plastic and left it unpainted. Oh, and you'll probably get a small strip of Autobot insignia stickers. I say probably because mine were actually inside the figure's box, not just tossed in the shipping box, so it seems like something TE is doing at the factory, but I've heard some people saying that they didn't get any. Something that comes up in some discussions is that TE-01's articulation is inferior to MS-01's. This is technically true, but I think the challenge in getting him to look dynamic in poses is more to do with his cartoonish proportions than a fault of his articulation, which beats MP-10's. His head is on a hinged swivel with good up range but a more limited downward tilt (especially if you're using the newer head). His shoulders rotate on ratchets and can extend 90 degrees laterally. His biceps swivel. He's got a single-hinged elbow, but it's still good for around 140-150 degrees of curl. His wrists swivel. His hands are a little weird. The index finger is separate from the others, with a hinge at the base and a hinge at the middle knuckle. The other three are hinged at the same spots, but molded together. And his thumb is also hinged at the base and middle knuckles, but it's molded so that the hinge folds it over the palm at an angle. His waist can swivel. His hip skirts are a little unusual, with the ones in the front on hinges that move them forward, the ones on the sides on swivels that kind of move them out and up a bit, and the back not moving at all. That gives him enough clearance to move his hips 90 degrees forward in five ratcheted clicks, 60-ish degrees backward in three clicks, and 90 degrees laterally on a friction hinge. His thighs, due to the way this figure is engineered, don't really swivel, but his lower legs can swivel just above the knee. It doesn't look as pretty, but it gets the job done. The knees themselves can bend about 120 degrees on a ratcheted hinge. His feet can bend down, but the toes can at least bend upward, and he's got about 45 degrees of ankle pivot. His rifle plugs into his hand just fine using the now-standard method of plugging tabs on the handle into slots on his palms. Unlike the other Primes I have, TE-01's rifle has an LED in the barrel, and refreshingly enough the batteries are already installed. As for the axe, you have to fold his hand into his forearm like you would for transformation. The other side has a rounded bit, and you attach the axe using what's essentially an oversized c-clip. When you try to remove the axe, the translucent part is going to slide right off the gray c-clip part. I personally didn't have much trouble getting the clip back off, but some people have, and at least one person wound up with stress marks on the clip. If you're really worried about it, MP-10's axe does fit over TE-01's right hand. Or you could use both if you want him dual-wielding axes. The Matrix is diecast, hard to remove even with a spudger, and similar is sculpt and size to MP-10's. It's a little thinner, though, so while MP-10's seems like it might fit you won't be able to close things up. And speaking of closing things up, it seems like most of TE-01's paint budget went to what is very likely the most '86-movie accurate inside of Prime's chest ever done on a toy. While the Matrix can be hard to remove from it's compartment, the cover has two little notches near the bottom you can use to pull it up and open. A lot of modern Optimus Prime toys, from the ancient Classics Deluxe-class to MP-10 to MS-01 have all had engineering that's somewhat similar to MP-01. Now, while I think a lot of refinement has gone into making a good-looking cab, they all seem to have the same issue with the rear of the truck still being kind of obvious robot legs (and sometimes pelvis) that don't really look like a truck. TE tried something very different, and it's kind of a double-edged sword. Basically he sits down, his lower legs turn inside out, his torso turns inside out with various sections spinning around 180 degrees and his arms tucking in halfway through the process, then his pelvis splits in half rolls up 180 degrees. Sometimes it comes across as absolutely brilliant. I love the way his lower legs work. I love the way his pelvis splits- the blue chunk under his crotch turns out to be the wheel wells for his front tires, and that's genius. However, at other times it can be a bit frustrating as it's not always clear what you're supposed to be moving, and even when you do know what you're supposed to be doing limited clearance (especially for lining up the bumper at the end) can make it more of a chore than I'd like. Plus, while everything is extremely solid once you're entirely in robot or truck mode, when you're halfway through with his torso exploded some of the parts can be a little floppy, forcing you to check and re-check that everything is lined up right before pushing tabs in. The results do kind of speak for themselves, though. TE-01 transforms from a clean, nearly backpack-less robot to a truck whose transformative ability isn't quite as obvious as some of his competitors. His feet are still kind of just chilling back there and the back isn't as bare-bones machinery as a real truck would be, but it's flatter than MS-01 and lower than both MS-01 and MP-10. He's got some molded truck details, movable windshield wipers, and rubbery tires. That said, the details are a little flatter and less refined than MS-01 or even MP-10. Combined with the more squarish windows TE-01's cab has a more cartoonish appearance. While that's arguably what they're going for, I find it to be a tad drab, especially without the stripe* that pretty much every other toy of Optimus has ever had and the animators always drew but for whatever reason colored the same red as the rest of the cab most of the time in the cartoon. I find myself kind of preferring MS-01, even with it's trash rear. Oh, if only I could have a prime with MS-01's cab and TE-01's rear. *I'm debating on whether or not to try to paint the stripe myself. It'd put a little silver on the backs of his arms, same as MS-01, but most of it would actually be hidden in robot mode. I guess I'm just worried that my ability to paint isn't so hot, and that I'll either screw it up or it won't look good. Well, TE-01 does have one big advantage over MS-01. Remember that fifth wheel piece back when we were talking about the accessories. It plugs into the rear of the truck, and just that by itself makes things a little more convincing as a truck. But it's not just cosmetic- it allows you to attach MP-10's trailer. Now, I think most of us are displaying our Primes in robot mode. For most MP-10 owners that trailer is probably sitting in a closet. I'm glad that MS-01 and TE-01 don't come with trailers and a ton of other accessories I'll never use that'd probably jack the price up to some obscene number in the $400+ range. But the fact remains, a lot of people who buy MS-01 or TE-01 are likely doing so to replace MP-10, and already have that trailer. Even if the only time I ever use it is for this photo, I still think compatibility with that trailer is a smart move on TE-01's part. So, having purchased and reviewed both MS-01 and TE-01 I feel qualified to say that both are excellent figures that really make MP-10 look and feel like a relic. If MP-10 is current Masterpiece Optimus Prime then either figure is a huge upgrade that I'd strongly recommend picking up. Even MP-44 would have to do something pretty special to get me interested in it at even half the price at this point. I can tell you right now I have no plans to pick one up. YMMV, but based on looks alone I think MS-01 and TE-01 look like better choices. Still, I get the feeling that people aren't really interested in comparing TE-01 and MS-01 to MP-10 (who most people will find to be inferior) or MP-44 (which people are alternately either writing off as too expensive or biting the bullet on because it's an official Takara toy). People want a winner crowned just between TE-01 and MS-01, but that's a lot tougher to do. MS-01 has better articulation and is easier to transform, TE-01 has more diecast and works with MP-10's trailer. But none of that really overshadows the aesthetic differences between them, and that's why I don't think either is definitively better than the other. Just look at them, and buy whichever you think looks better. Do you want an Optimus Prime that looks just like he stepped off the screen? TE-01 is what you want. Do you prefer a more refined aesthetic that looks like the real robot the often-poor animation was trying to emulate? Pick yourself up an MS-01. You really can't lose either way. ...that said, while I can't say one is definitively better, my personal preference is for MS-01. I like his cab better, and that's the more important part of the truck. I like his robot proportions and details better. And I prefer Prime to have gray/silver thighs and hips. To my mind the only reason they were white in the cartoon was because white was often used for shiny metal in old cartoons... same reason the grill, smokestacks, fuel tanks, and bumper were white in the cartoon, too. I still (obviously) like TE-01 a lot, and I plan on keeping him. MS-01 is going to go in my main display with my other MP Autobots, while TE-01 is going to represent G1 cartoon Prime in my smaller display of various Optimuses. (And maybe, with his whiter face, I can paint the blue eyes yellow on the other head and display the head alone as G1 Marvel Prime.) So, yeah, I guess my ultimate recommendation is to buy both MS-01 and TE-01 if you can afford it.

I'm aware of Ultraman and the cultural phenomenon he is in Japan, but this show was my first experience consuming any Ultraman content. And while, as others have noted, the CGI animation is awful, I really enjoyed the show overall. I gather this is based on a manga that's still ongoing, so hopefully we get another season.

And then trade the GB games for the GBA games.

I don't think there's a real story to get back to. Pretty sure they said this is the last season.

This. As much as I love MP-10 is 2019. There are better MP Primes.

I tend to think of Grimlock as primarily gold, not red, too. That helps, because I don't really see him as matching the other three.

If you're into sticks, yeah. Where I grew up, though, arcades didn't hang around long. I remember playing a TMNT as a kid, a little bit of Street Fighter II at Kennywood (a local amusement park), and then suddenly they were all gone outside of Dave & Busters, which seems to have naught but racing games and light gun shooters. I'm more at home with a controller. Maybe I'm not the target audience. Their website says they're using Sanwa JLF-TP-8YT sticks, original dumps of the CPS1 and CPS2 roms, and Final Burn Alpha for the emulator.

I'd hoped to have this one up sooner, but my package was held up in customs for two weeks. This is Gigapower's Gaudenter, their MP Swoop. Yeah, that's a good-looking Swoop. What's interesting here is that, although his arms and shins are darker than his face and thighs, the difference is probably more subtle than the cartoon, plus he has black hands instead of hands that match his arms. And the interesting thing is that Fans Toys did basically the exact same thing. Gaudenter does have the sort of details you'd expect, though. The chrome is as bling as ever. Blue torso, red on his chest, gold on his thighs, red on the outside of his lower legs, black details on his shins. Surprisingly, the blue isn't uniform, either. His upper torso and hip skirts are lighter than his midriff and the elevated portion of his chest. But there's the usual Gigapower touches, too... painted detail on his knees ala the G1 toy's stickers, silver trim on the red on his chest, some extra gold details on his chest, red spots on his hip skirts, and blue on his shoulders. Giga also opted to put the black between the silver face and red helmet. This isn't cartoon accurate, but I've thought that the cartoon had kind of a caveman brow. Gaudenter doesn't have the best face sculpt, but the black trim elevates it above Fans Toys' in my opinion. Oh, and if you're one of those people who preferred the toy, the UK Marvel run, or just think all the Dinobots should match, Gaudenter is also available with red chrome. The red version is mostly the same, just red instead of blue, but he does have black shoulders and biceps with red details instead of blue. Unfortunately it doesn't have red chrome dino feet, otherwise I might have considered picking that one up, too. And yes, Gaudenter is a big fellow. You can see how much taller he is than the ToyWorld version, and the TW version is about a head taller than an MP car. Gaudenter is a little shorter than the other Gigasaurs, but he's taller than MP-10, and he's taller than FT's Swoop. Every copy of Gaudenter comes with these accessories. There's a base stand, a flight stand, two adapters (one for robot mode, one for dino mode), two swords, two missile launchers, some red eye stickers, a clip for storing the swords, a replacement neck piece, and an alternate head. The alternate head has an angry robot face with red eyes, and a dinosaur head that's got the toy-style smoked translucent beak over a thin gold piece. The robot head is on a ball joint, so you can pop it off and swap it if you want the smoked beak but the stoic face. You can't swap just the eyes, though. The swords light up, but I don't have the batteries. The missiles don't fire, but they can be removed, and apparently the metallic paint version will come with blast effects. Both his launchers and his swords can be stored on the base stand. As for the flight stand, it's got an extending arm and several strong ratchets, with a lock for the upper-most joint. The pre-installed adapter is for robot mode. You have to remove a screw to swap them. I put the dino adapter on, because I'll definitely use it for dino mode but probably never for robot mode. Oh, and I do dig the "GP" on the flight stand. I might be in the minority, and I probably wouldn't have used it anyway, but I kind of wish that Giga had included a toy-style face with a visor. Early orders also include a pair of these lights with a remote. There are six spots for them on the stand, though. Maybe Gigapower will sell them separately later? The lights have a number of hinges so you can aim them how you like, but again, no batteries, so I can't test the remote. Unfortunately, some signs of trouble start to crop up with the articulation. As previously mentioned, his head is on a ball joint with adequate sideways tilt, but he can only look up a little. Downward tilt is even more limited, but you can move the entire flap his neck is on to fake it. His shoulders rotate on ratchets, and they can move laterally a little under 90 degrees. His biceps swivel, and his double-jointed elbows (ratcheted at the bottom) get about 120 degrees of curl. His wrists swivel. His fingers are fully and individually articulated, with a pin at the base and middle knuckles on the fingers and a ball-joint at the base with two additional hinges on the thumbs. His waist actually can swivel, although you'll have to move the beak to clear his hips. The hips themselves can go just under 90 degrees forward or backward, and over 90 degrees laterally. What's interesting is that the forward/backward hip joint is ratcheted, but it's a very soft, quiet ratchet. Despite this, the joint requires almost too much effort to move it, like the friction would have been good enough. Anyway, his thighs swivel. His knees bend 90 degrees on a ratchet, and doing so reveals some nice piston inside. And then we come to his feet. For starters, his feet bend up and down, but only on a friction joint that's too loose to really support his weight. In my experience he stands ok in a static pose, but has a tendency to tip backward in more dynamic poses. Then, you see that little metallic bit at the top of his foot? That's where the foot is actually connected to the joint. There's a little empty space around it. Gaudenter's ankle pivot is limited to how much the metallic bit can move before it runs out of space, which is to say his ankle pivot is almost nonexistent. There's no excuse for his ankle articulation being this poor in 2019. The feet are just poorly designed. Gigapower should have redesigned them instead of rushing to get Gaudenter out before Chinese New Year (and failing at that, anyway). In any case, Gaudenter can hold his swords using the usual MP method of mating tabs on the handle of the swords with slots on his palms. Or, you can plug the enclosed clip into a peg hole on his back, then clip the swords into it for storage. Likewise, his missile launchers can fit into peg holes on his wings for the standard Swoop look, but they do have flip-out handles with the tabs that allow him to hold them in his hands. I never owned Swoop as a kid, but from what I can gather Gaudenter's transformation is basically G1. The beak comes up and plugs onto the face, the lower legs flip around and lie on his back, and his arms and torso collapse inward. For the most part everything moves smoothly and locks solidly into place. The only area that you might get a little hung up on is collapsing the chest. You need to fold the wings back to get access to clips on either side on his back. Unclip them, them squeeze the arms in and everything should collapse. Then hold it in place until you can close the clips. Going back to robot mode there's a button on Gaudenter's back that you need to press. His sides are spring-loaded and will pop back out. And the dino mode looks pretty much the way you'd expect it should. My biggest complaint is that, like Guttur, the dino eyes are left unpainted. The theory is that it's because the paint might not stick so well to the chrome, hence the included stickers. Which, ok, fine, but why only include red stickers, then? I might have to see if I can find a blue I like that'll stick to the chrome. As far as dino articulation goes, his dino legs have their own thigh swivels, and the can partially bend forward a little. His neck has three different hinges for up/down movement, plus a swivel so he can turn his head. His wings have a swivel near his shoulder to move the wings forward, two hinges near is back for up/down flapping, a double hinge near the middle of the wing, and another double hinge near the wing tips. His mouth can open and close, and there's a little gun inside with its own hinge. He's got wing claws. The claws can swivel at the base, and each claw can wiggle up/down independently on a hinge. They're actually just pegged on, too, and can be removed. He's got a little tail. His toes all have a hinge and can bend down individually, including a dewclaw that folds out from inside his thighs. The flaps on the backs of his thighs keep you from folding the dewclaws up, though, so he can't stand flat-footed in dino mode unless you leave the backs of his thighs open. It's not pictured, but you can of course also leave the missile launchers plugged onto his wings. With his legs on his back, though, there's not enough room for the sword clip. Of course, there's always the stand for storing his weapons. As you can see, the stand is taller than even a big boy like Fans Toys' Phoenix, so Gaudenter will have no trouble soaring above the other Gigasaurs. And doesn't he just look majestic up there? His full wingspan is significantly longer than MP-10 with his trailer in truck mode. I'm not going to beat around the bush... Gaudenter looks fantastic, but his feet are so poorly do that this is the first Gigasaur that had me wondering if I'd made a mistake going with them over the Fans Toys Dibots. And I think, ultimately, the answer is no, I haven't. Even just as a head-to-head, Swoop vs Swoop, I still prefer Gaudenter to FT's, and Gaudenter still feels like a premium figure. He just feels like a step backward after how great Graviter was. So yes, I do recommend Gaudenter. Just know that he's not the best Gigasaur, and I hope Gigapower ends on a higher note with Superator (their Grimlock).

Man, I don't know... when I was a kid and five years was a significant fraction of my life it seemed like it took forever for a new console to come. And the differences were huge. Now I'm pushing 40, the PS4 doesn't seem that old to me, and it already does gaming in 4K. How much better can graphics get? Seems like they're trying to get me hyped for better load times.

I know I've replaced my Takara Legends Metroplex with Maketoys Utopia, but I had a chance to get the DNA upgrade kits for Metroplex, so I figured why not. This is going to be short, and sorry, no pictures. The kits come in two sets. The first is just a set of hands. They're slightly larger than the ones that Metroplex comes with, and they're molded so that the fingertips have that same "I'm actually a cannon!" look, but they have actual joints. The fingers have three knuckles each, plus another hinge so they can splay at the base. The thumb has two hinges that you'd consider to be knuckles, and another hinge at the base so the thumb can fold over the palm. Additionally, there's a swivel between that hinge and the first knuckle hinge. DNA kept the wrist hinge, too, so they can still "transform" by folding down. They also retained the slots in the palms, so his guns still tab into them. Something that's pretty cool is that you can lift up the back of the hand, spin it 180 degrees, then fold it back down to reveal a double-barreled gun. The gun has its own up/down hinge, and the barrels extend a bit. Aside from giving him more bot-mode firepower it's an option in his alt modes to distract from the hands just chilling there. All-in-all, they're a big improvement over the stock hands and I'd give them a recommend. The other kit's primary purpose is to improve Metroplex's lower body articulation. So the first thing it comes with is new ratchets and a new spring for his hips. What they're supposed to do is give him more and stronger detents in the outward motion of his hips. Well, if the US release was like my US retail Fortress Maximus then I'd guess they're a big improvement, but my Metroplex is the Takara (and from a reissue run), and I don't really have a problem with the hips. Frankly, I'm thinking about how much of a pain it is to open ratchet joints and have to line everything back up carefully, sandwich everything together, then try to hold it down while simultaneously putting the screw back in, and it's not worth the hassle. The other thing it comes with are essentially shoes. You have to open up the front of Metroplex's legs, unscrewing it from the runway on the other side. Once it's off, Metroplex' original foot is basically four parts. You leave the bottom, but pull the top and sides off. The sides have to be replaced with parts from the kit, then you put it all back together. Then the shoes attach with little hooks that fit into the bottoms of Metroplex's feet (remember to put the toes on the shoes). Now what's going on is that the hooks that fit into Metroplex's feet are actually on a flap that's hinged on the inside edge. So, you can put Metroplex in an A-stance, putting Metroplex' real feet at an angle, but only the flap that's hooked onto it goes with it. Gravity keeps the rest of the shoe flat, so it looks like he's got ankle pivots. The shoes look a little big, and the left shoe doesn't seem to connect very solidly, but if you want ankle pivots they're largely successful at that. There's even some rubber strips you can put on the soles. Now, because they're just hooked on, you can easily take them off again, which is good because he can't transform with them on. But DNA tried to make sure that you could use them in his other modes, too. There are eight pegs in the kit. If you plug one into each of the peg holes on the back of each arm you can snap the shoes onto his arms while he's in vehicle mode. Since the backs of his arms are facing up and sticking out behind him, that puts the soles of his feet facing up. DNA designed the soles, then, to look like helipads. It's not perfect, but it hides the hands a bit and doesn't look any worse than arms sticking straight out behind him. The only trade off is the somewhat unsightly pegs sticking out of the backs of his forearms in robot mode, which I think I can live with. Unfortunately, the shoes don't work as well with city mode. DNA wants you to use the remaining pegs with the peg holes on the front of his forearms. That's a red flag right away; there's no convenient way to store the pegs except to leave them installed in his arms. I think you're more likely to be using the front peg holes for guns or other accessories, but even if you're not the pegs are big and pretty unsightly. I just wouldn't want them to be showing. But, suppose you decide to go for it anyway. Well, on his right arm you're covering the hatch with the gun, and I'm not a fan of that. For what it's worth, though, DNA just has you turn the bicep on the left arm so you can bend the elbow 90 degrees have have his forearm run along his back, with a shoe helipad on top. Aside from the need for the unsightly pegs that doesn't really hurt anything. I guess my recommendation for the foot kit comes down to how badly you want ankle pivots. As I said, they do mostly pull that part off, but if you're just going to have him stand up straight I think he looks better without them. The foot kit is also a tad pricey, and frankly for what they cost I'm not impressed with the fit and finish.

Short answer: Rouge has diecast in her chest, which is good for not much besides making her top heavy and paint chipping. Azalea has diecast his her lower legs and feet, so she's pretty stable. I'd say that Azalea has slightly better articulation, too. But the main difference is that Azalea was my least favorite thing to transform ever, but Azalea is pretty fun to mess around with. Longer answer here.

Just my two cents, but yes. The absolute worst thing Fans Toys has put out. I sold mine not long after buying it. Bought MMC's Azalea instead, couldn't be happier with that decision.

Phoenix is great. It's just too bad Fans Toys hasn't made anything close to that good since.

We might be splitting hairs, but CoD always had pretty great single-player campaigns. It wasn't until more modern times that their campaigns turned into painfully short, generic, tacked-on token campaigns for their multiplayer efforts. It's not really a ding against Titanfall 2, but it's a definite ding against the first one, which was the one I called out in my first post. It's fair to say that EA is the source of a lot of games' problems. And since EA's publishing this new Star Wars, well, you can see why I'm feeling a little pessimistic. I'll confess, though, that I'm probably a little extra salty, since BioWare was possibly my favorite developer and EA's pretty much just desecrating their corpse now. I did play it on PC. I only started playing PS4 for more than occasional console-exclusive in the last year or so, when my daughter got to that age where she'll play by herself but still needs an adult around to keep an eye on her. It just never really grabbed me, but I do tend to prefer shooters that are less linear.

I think it was a single-player campaign in what's otherwise a multiplayer game. One that only seems to have come about because people weren't crazy about the fact the first one had no single-player mode at all... and then EA went through the same bull with Star Wars Battlefront 2 getting a single-player campaign only after people complained that the first game didn't have any single-player mode. (And to be totally honest a friend hooked me up with Titanfall 2 and frankly I couldn't get into it.)

Today we're looking at three add-on kits by Perfect Effect for Takara Legends God Ginrai. The kits in question are PC-15, PC-16, and PC-18 (PC-17 is for Combiner Wars Ultra Magnus). This is a follow up to some stuff I began discussing in the regular TF thread, so you might want to go here for my reviews of the base figures. We'll start with PE-15. This kit contains a new head for Super Ginrai that doesn't have the Titan Master gimmick (but does have some light up eyes), some thigh fillers, and a replacement Ginrai that turns into a proper Powermaster engine instead of a head. And, I gotta say, the new Ginrai is pretty cool. His chest is a little big, but he's got a sharper sculpt and more anime-esque proportions than the Titan Master, plus he's got better articulation. His little shoulders are ball joints that can rotate and move laterally about 60 degrees. His legs can move independently of each other, with his hips able to kick forward a little over 90 degrees, and a swivel under that joint lets him move his hips laterally 90 degrees. His knees are ball joints that can bend about 90 degrees, plus they can act as a thigh swivel. And he does all of that without really being any bigger than a Titan Master. Installing the thighs and head is pretty straightforward. The thigh fillers just push into the hollow spaces on the inside of Super Ginrai's thighs. They'll work on a Hasbro Powermaster Prime, but the color match is meant for the Takara toy. As for the head, the original is on a mushroom swivel. Just push it out, and push the new head in. Now, PC-15 does effectively do away with the Titan Master gimmick... but it doesn't really work as a Powermaster. If you open up Super Ginrai's chest you'll find the white stabilizers for base mode. Basically, you're supposed to use grooves in them to slot the Powermaster Ginrai into them, as far forward as you can. That way you still have room for the head in truck mode. On its own, PC-15 is kind of waste. The thigh fillers are nice, but not necessary. And if you're just going to jam a Powermaster into the space inside the torso instead of on his belly engine then frankly I think you're better off sticking with the default Titan Master. The worst thing about it is that the retail price for it was something like $50! I don't care if the eyes light up or not, a head, a powermaster, and some thigh filler isn't worth $50. But then we add PC-16 to the mix. PC-16 is, for the most part, a new figure called Jinrai Prime. Jinrai Prime comes with a very Optimus Primey ion rifle, replacement splayed hands, and a new chest piece for Super Ginrai. Of course, Jinrai Prime is meant to be Ginrai's base transtector, the cab robot the Super Ginrai toy was desperately missing. And he's a pretty cool toy on is own. Like the smaller powermaster Ginrai in PC-15 he's got a puffy chest and narrow waist that gives him a heroic look. He's just a little shorter than Siege Optimus, which is an advantage over Thunder Manus' tiny cab robot. Jinrai Prime's head is on a ball joint with some fantastic up, down, and sideways tilt. His shoulders are also ball joints that allow him to rotate and extend laterally about 90 degrees, but not both at the same time- his shoulders are a little too tall and bang into his backpack. There's also a hinge in his shoulders that gives him a forward butterfly. His biceps can swivel, his elbows can bend a little under 90 degrees, and his wrists can swivel. His waist can swivel, plus he's got about 45 degrees of ratcheted ab crunch. His hips are ball joints that can get 90 degrees to the side and backward, but a little under that forward. They can provide a little bit of thigh swivel, but he's actually got cut thigh swivels below his hips. His knees can bend a little over 90 degrees. His feet can bend up a little, down over 90 degrees, and his ankles can pivot 90 degrees. He holds his rifle just fine in his fist-hands. I checked, and Siege Prime can hold that rifle, too. It's a little loose, though. Or, you can pop out the fists, as they're just pegged in, and replace them with the splayed hands. They look cool for some poses, but only the fists fit for transformation. And speaking of transformation, Jinrai Prime turns into a truck, of similar size and aesthetics as Super Ginrai's cab. Which, y'know, is what you want, since Jinrai Prime is meant to replace that cab. What we do is flip Super Ginrai over. See that white bit? Unscrew the little screw in it, and pop it out. The cab will come right off. Then you can use the post that ran through the cab (1) as a peg that fits into a hole (2) on the back of Jinrai Prime. And there you go! Now, it's not super secure, but it's not any worse than, say, G1 Prime and his trailer, or G1 Ginrai and his trailer. But it's not enough to be the cab of the truck. Jinrai Prime also has to integrate into Super Ginrai's body for robot mode. And, sure enough, if you open up the front of the truck you'll find a spot for a mushroom peg in an otherwise empty, hollow cavity. If you bought PC-16 without buying PC-15 you can use the original Titan Master head. The instructions will tell you that it doesn't fit in the vehicle mode, since Jinrai Prime doesn't have as much space inside and, if he's looking forward and you flip the head in, the hinges to open the helmet don't fit. You can, however, turn the head sideways and it'll fit. There just isn't a seat for the Titan Master, but you can leave him stuffed in the head. Of course, if you are using Jinrai Prime with PC-15, the replacement head fits fine. And you'll notice that the the piece with the grill is on a swivel. If you spin it 180 degrees you've got a little nook that you can plug the new Powermaster Ginrai into. If you're using Jinrai Prime without PC-15 you can leave the original chest piece on Super Ginrai alone. It'll fit over Jinrai Prime, same as the default cab. If you have PC-15, though, you're going to want to pull that chest piece off. The hinge is one of those friction types that have the little nubs, you just have to fold the chest piece up almost like you're closing it and pull it straight out and away from the body. The new chest piece pops on by doing the reverse. It's molded to look very similar to the original, but instead of having a faux Ginrai engine in the middle there's a space for the actual engine that comes with PC-15 to poke through. Jinrai Prime finishes securing in place by using that post that connected the cab to the trailer and fitting it into another hole, closer to the cab in truck mode and higher on Super Ginrai's back. So, taken solely on his own the Jinrai Prime figure is a pretty cool figure that's kind of worth buying just to have a cool Optimus/Ginrai figure. And as an add-on for Super Ginrai he addresses one of my biggest complaints by giving us the cab robot. What I find really frustrating, though, is that PC-16 is far better with PC-15, but PC-15 on its own isn't worth buying. In other words, I think PC-15 and PC-16 should never have been two separate sets, and if Perfect Effect ever reissues them (which they probably should, as the God Ginrai gift set is still readily available but good luck finding the PE-15 and 16 kits) I'd like to see them do it in one box. They're essential for turning a pretty disappointing toy into a pretty good one. Moving along now to PC-18, this kit was marketed as an upgrade that's actually for Godbomber. And, judging by the reviews I've seen on Youtube and the fact that I had a much easier time tracking this kit down, it seems that everyone wanted PC-15 and 16 but kind of neglected this set. Probably because most of it is stuff that seems nice to have, but not totally necessary. Namely, we've got two new rifles, a new sword, and new wing tips. Plus two little blue pieces. As you can see, the new guns and sword are much bigger than the ones that came with Super Ginrai/Godbomber. They may even look a little too large for them. The weapons don't work all that hot with Godbomber. His hands aren't 5mm pegs like Super Ginrai's, so while he can hold the new sword it's not tabbed in like the original and is relying entirely on the tension in his knuckle joints to stay in place. He likewise can't really hold the rifles, although the instructions suggest that you can fit the handles into the holes on his forearm wings... I think that's more so that Perfect Effect can say that everything has a place in robot mode. And on that note, since he can't really hold the new sword, you can use little tabs on the ends of the cross guard to plug the sword onto Godbomber's back. The new wing tips use pegs to fit into peg holes on the old tips. To be honest, I don't think they do much for Godbomber himself, as they're kind of too big for him. The blue pieces, though, fit into Godbombers forearms and help fill out some of that hollowness. Perfect Effect still wanted to make sure that everything can be stored in alt mode, too. The wing tips just stay where they are. The blue parts fit onto the pegs on Godbomber's shoulders. Then the new rifles can plug into the blue parts, and the new sword can plug into a peg hole on top of Godbomber's cannon. And the result... is a bit excessive. Instead of trying to store everything on Godbomber it might be helpful to think of the new weapons as replacements for the old ones instead of in addition to them. Then you could plug the rifles on top of Super Ginrai's trailer and maybe stuff the sword inside. Then you'd only have to deal with the fact that the new wing tips look way too big for this mode. And I think, perhaps, this is where most people stop and think they don't need this kit. I mean, why pay $35 (plus shipping) for new weapons that you kind of don't really need, and bigger wing tips that look out-of-place on Godbomber? And the answer is really down to how those unassuming blue parts work on God Ginrai. For that mode, you slide them over the Combiner Wars connectors so the taller side faces toward the toes and the little arm is pointing in toward the other foot. Then when you fold it up into God Ginrai's heel it sits up against Super Ginrai's foot, and the panels that fold around the back of his legs come over the shorter side and lay against the taller side of the blue part. The result is night and day. God Ginrai goes from requiring extra care to balance just right so he won't tip over backward to rock solid. As for the rest, the slots that locked Godbomber's torso into tabs on the top of Super Ginrai fit into the tabs that usually hold Ginrai Prime's waist together in his robot mode, but Perfect Effect otherwise suggests you use this alternate configuration for Godbomber. It sits his wings more behind his shoulders instead of above, which looks better, although Godbomber's arms don't lock things together in the back anymore and you can't store Godbomber's helmet there, either. The tradeoff, aside from the more desirable wing position, is that there's enough clearance now to leave the helmet on Godbomber's cannon. God Ginrai can hold the new weapons just fine, and they don't look so oversized for him they way they do for Super Ginrai or Godbomber. And he can even wield all three at one time, as the new rifles can be plugged into each other for a double-barreled blaster. If you'd rather store some, though, PE's got you covered there. There's pegs on both sides of the sword's crossguard. One is a 5mm peg that can plug into Godbomber's robot-mode pelvis, so you can use the PC-18 kit even with a stock God Ginrai. If you've got PC-16's Jinrai Prime in there, though, you can also use the 4mm peg on the other side of the sword to plug it into one of the screw holes on the back of Jinrai Prime's pelvis. The new wing tips, which again don't look so big on God Ginrai, have pegs on the sides and peg holes on the back that you can use to attach the stock rifles, the new rifles, or both at the same time. Heck, I was even able to store Jinrai Prime's rifle by plugging it into one of the peg holes on the bottom of Jinrai Prime's feet. Plus, if you really don't want to give all these new weapons to God Ginrai, since they're basically using 5mm pegs for handles you could theoretically use them with other large figures like other Leader-class figures or a Combiner Wars/Power of the Primes gestalt (as a matter of fact, I do believe Perfect Effect used the same rifles for replacement back cannons for Combiner Wars Bruticus). So yes, on the one hand most of PC-18 are upgraded parts for stuff that you already have, which are often things that are nice but not necessary. Those little blue parts that go into God Ginrai's heels, though, thoroughly address my biggest complaint with God Ginrai, to the point where I'd actually recommend PC-18 regardless of whether you bought 15 or 16. Now, taken together I could also say that the three kits fix most of my complaints about the whole set, taking a mediocre Ultra Magnus repaint and a mediocre Godbomber that combined into a floppy God Ginrai and giving me a proper Ginrai that combines with his trailer for a proper Super Ginrai and combines with Godbomber for a solid God Ginrai. However, one of my complaints still stands; he's too big against Titans Return Overlord. And then we have to address the elephant in the room, that being the price. The God Ginrai gift set's price has dropped, but it's still $140. And the retail prices, assuming you could actually still find PC-15 and 16, add up to nearly another $150. For half of that you could pick up Maketoys Thunder Manus and get a God Ginrai that scales better with TR Overlord and has much better articulation (although you're giving up a robot-mode for Godbomber). For $50 less you could get Thunder Manus and Divine Shooter, which would give you the same God Ginrai but also add back that Godbomber robot mode. And if you're not particular about scale with your other Generations figures and just want an awesome Powermaster Prime/God Ginrai I expect the price of Fans Hobby's Super Ginrai plus their Godbomber to only be around $50 more than Legends God Ginrai with all the add ons. So I think, ultimately, my recommendation is something like this: If you're starting from scratch, I do NOT recommend buying God Ginrai and trying to track down all the add-ons. If you've already got God Ginrai, I strongly recommend PC-18. Chances are you mostly display it in God Ginrai mode, and those blue pieces are lifesavers. If you just want a cool little Prime/Ginrai figure I do recommend PC-16. If you don't care about Godbomber or God Ginrai and just want a Powermaster Optimus Prime you can even use PC-16 with the Hasbro Titans Return version to save money and get the trailer. If you already have Super Ginrai and want the complete experience I recommend PC-15 if and only if you also have or can get PC-16. PC-15 is practically essential to making that experience work. Without PC-16, though, you're better off sticking with the Titan Master gimmick.

A single-player game published by EA? From a developer known for such single-player hits as Titanfall and Apex Legends (sarcasm, if you can't tell)? Does EA know that April Fool's was like two weeks ago?

Well, it's tomorrow, and here's a figure that didn't get a release in Hasbro's Titans Return line. This is Takara Legends Godbomber. Godbomber's got some unusual proportions. I'm not sure it's fair to criticize him too much for that, as the Masterforce cartoon didn't look a heck of a lot like the G1 toy, Super Ginrai doesn't have the most heroic, anime-esque proportions, and Godbomber's bits still have to fit on Super Ginrai. With all of those limitations Godbomber still comes across as pretty faithful to the source material. Despite the lack of a Hasbro release, Godbomber is still effectively a Titans Return toy. So, he comes with a Titan Master and a helmet to make his head, his shoulder cannon with a removable tip, a sword blade, and a sword handle. Note that this is the individual release of Godbomer, to go with the individual release of Super Ginrai. In Japan there was a gift set version that also came with Titan Masters of Cab and Minerva. The sword can store under the cannon by attaching the cannon's tip onto the pommel of the sword, then stuffing the entire handle under the front of the cannon. The blade slides into the underside. And, for some modes, you can even store Godbomber's helmet by plugging it into the back of the cannon. Godbomber's head swivels and has a little up/down wiggle. His shoulders rotate, but they have a tendency to pull the wings with them. Ratchets allow his shoulders to move over 90 degrees laterally. His biceps swivel, and the swivel is tight. His elbows bend a little under 90 degrees. No wrist swivel, but his (very flat) hands do have the thumb on a ball joint and a pin hinge for his fingers. No waist swivel. His hips are actually hinges up in his pelvis, and he can only get about 30 degrees of lateral movement there. Ratchets below the pelvis can get 90 degrees forward, but almost nothing backward. He doesn't have swivels at the thighs, but he does have ratcheted swivels just above the knees. The knees are double-jointed, with ratchets at the upper joint, and can bend until his heels are touching his butt. His feet can bend up, his toes can bend down, and a hinge gives him about 60 degrees of ankle pivot. Godbomber can hold his sword, and the cannon can plug into either shoulder. He can't hold a gun, but there are 5mm peg holes in his arm wings. Those wings are also hinged, and pushing them back will cause little forearm guns to pop up. The cannon has a hinge, but the tolerances are just off and it tends to flop down against his chest. And tolerances are kind of a problem in general here. Some joints and connections are kind of loose. Others are tight, especially some ratchets. I've found that manipulating his arms have a tendency to untab his shoulders, which hold the front and rear of his torso together. It's also fairly easy to knock his forearms off, perhaps due to the unsightly hollow spaces on the inside not providing enough to lock onto. And the you could sneeze and knock the blade off of the sword. One mildly interesting thing to note, and that's that Godbomber's knees are actually Combiner Wars pegs. You can't do a full limb swap, but you can put Godbomber's legs onto a Combiner Wars gestalt, or use Combiner Wars/Power of the Primes Deluxes as legs for Godbomber. Godbomber's a character whose alt mode has always been sort of an afterthought. Like the designers were tasked to make a transforming robot that turns into armor for Optimus/Ginrai, so they figured they'd make it like a trailer, but with windows in case it was supposed to drive itself, but they also thought Optimus/Ginrai needed wings so they stuck those on, too. And, I mean, I don't have a lot to say here, either. It's dumb, but it's again a pretty faithful modern version of the G1 toy. Godbomber does have a little hitch that swings out from the front and can be captured between Ginrai's robot feet, giving him the double-trailer look. The front opens up, and there's room inside for three Titan Masters inside. The combined cannon/sword/helmet fits loosely between his robot arms on the roof. It comes off too easy, and again the hinge doesn't support the cannon at angles. You can flip up the little forearm guns, though. And again, this being essentially a Titans Return figure, Godbomber too has a base mode. Again, it's nothing to write home about. It's really just pulling the legs off and using the wings to reattach them so they hold up the rear end. There are a few places you can put extra weapons, though, and there are again the tabs to connect Godbomer to other bases. Oh, and something I nearly forgot to mention, the shoulder cannon can open up, and there's a seat for a Titan Master inside. I have to admit, though, it's at least a bit more cohesive and all-around base-like than Super Ginrai's base mode... Speaking of Super Ginrai, I'm guessing that the number of people buying Godbomber because they really want a good Godbomber are dwarfed by the people who really want a God Ginrai. And sure enough, you can rip Godbomber apart and stick him all over Super Ginrai to make Takara Legends God Ginrai. Note that Godbomber does not work with Hasbro Powermaster Prime; everything Godbomber's parts stick to are the remolded parts, and none of it fits or connects to the Hasbro mold. Aesthetically... I guess it works. His forearms and shins are a bit long, but the shins at least gives him a leggy, Japanese super-robot style I don't mind. And the torso isn't as chunky as the G1 toy. His wings sit kind of high, like they're floating above his shoulders instead of behind them. But, and this is the real rub, he's a lot bigger than Overlord, when they should be around the same size. You can even cheat by folding Overlord's toes down on their double hinges and folding his heels in a bit to add some height, and he's still a head short. For the most part God Ginrai is using the same joints as Super Ginrai, and aside from the forward motion of the hips there's really no change in the range. However the hinges in the Super Ginrai ankles are more of a problem here. Before you could try to shift weight to the front of the foot, and you had heel spurs even if their hinge was a little too weak. In God Ginrai mode the heel spurs are folded up and he's carrying a lot more weight on his back. This makes him super prone to falling over backward. God Ginrai can hold Godbomber's sword or his rifles. The sword can still store in the cannon if you're not using it. As for his rifles, they can actually peg into Godbomber's shoulders to peak out from God Ginrai's back. Godbomber's helmet can't stay on the cannon, as there's not enough clearance, but there's notches on the helmet that fit into notches on Godbomber's arms so the helmet can store on God Ginrai's back. And if you need a place to put the Titan Master, he can either sit in one of the seats available in vehicle mode, now God Ginrai's chest, or inside the shoulder cannon. On his own Godbomber isn't a very good figure. I don't own it, but Maketoys' Divine Shooter looks to be a much more dynamic Godbomber figure. Get that instead, if you really need a CHUG-sized Godbomber. As an accessory for Super Ginrai... well, if you already have Super Ginrai, then sure, get Godbomber. But, as God Ginrai is prone to falling over, is so much bigger than Overlord, and still doesn't have the small cab robot I'd again say that you're probably better off with Maketoys' Thunder Manus. You can even get a God Ginrai figure using the armor he comes without without the need for a separate Godbomber figure like Divine Shooter, and he seems to scale a lot better with Overlord. There was definitely some potential here, though. Perhaps some add-ons could bring that potential out? Check out the unlicensed Transformers thread tomorrow and we'll find out.

Around the time my daughter was born I became deeply interested in how relativity applies to time. I mean, a lot of people are familiar with time dilation and the old example of how a twin who flies off in a spaceship at close to the speed of light will be younger when he returns than the twin who stayed on Earth, but another aspect of time and relativity is that two observers can witness a sequence of events and agree on what happened but not the order it happened in. I was reading a ton trying to wrap my head around that, mostly Brian Greene, Lee Smolin, Richard Muller, and Carlo Rovelli.