Sep 30, 2016

HOLD IT!! A Phoenix Wright Figure!?

My reaction when seeing the figure
Figma's people seem to want some of my money... Naruhodo Ryuichi is getting a Figure made.

I guess I better be ready to yell OBJECTION!! to my common sense, since it'll try to stop me from getting this... Common Sense's interference has delayed my getting a Ranma figure... But that's mostly because I'd need a whole ensemble there... At least with Phoenix, all I'd need is an Edgelord Edgeworth... Maybe Franziska von Karma, Godot, Simon Blackquill, Athena... Especially if she has a shocked face... Oh yeah, Gavin, Then Trucy and her Magic Panties. But I musn't forget about Maya, Pearl, Mia possessing Maya, Mia possessing Pearl and the most important character besides Wright and a Prosecutor... The Judge! OK Maybe Nahyuta Sahdmandhi, Rayfa Padma Khura'in...and Herr forehead... But the one character we must never get is The one from Rite of Turnabout... You know the one I'm talking about... well, you would if you've played Spirit of Justice... But we should totally get Manfred von Karma.
Damn, that list grew far more than I expected... And that's not asking for the Detectives, Witnesses, etc... Larry Butz FTW!  I can almost see my common sense clutching my wallet.

TAKE THAT!! However you want to take it... I just hope he isn't too expensive... or that we get at least a Western version with Hold it! Objection! and Take that! signs! Oooh! Displaying him with Marvel Legends as a nod to UMVC3...

Sep 28, 2016

Really, Disney? Really? and Hot Wheels?

Of all the movies you could "remake into Live Action" you had to choose THAT Movie?
I mean, you screwed Alice... Cinderella was so-so. .. Ruined Sleeping Beauty, Then The Jungle Book was made "live Action" You did Beauty and the Beast, coming soon. Now you're doing WHAT!?

Yup, Jon Favreau is now doing Hamlet with African Animals.
I'm here like:











First, there's no Humans in The Lion King, so Live Action is totally Pointless. You mean CGI Remake for The Lion King with a Different cast.
Second WHY REMAKE THE LION KING!? That movie is perfect as it is... OK not Perfect Perfect, but you know what I mean. This is not Pocahontas that could be remade into a more historically accurate version of the story, or say Ursula: a Little Mermaid movie focused on the evil sea witch.
Or Aladdin with Jasmine wearing more clothes and a Genie with 100% no Robin Williams (which would make the movie suck massive ass.) Or maybe, Frozen, live action... Relieve Let it go without Adelle Dazeem!

I don't get this. Freaking Lion King!?


Hot Wheels movie with a Fast and Furious Director... Let that sink in... I know I made a joke about Hot Wheels being Fast and Furious but with Orange Tracks, but come on! The Director from various Fast and Furious movies will be directing a Mattel Movie based on Racing Cars through various "Action and Adventure" sets... It sounds like a Great idea, Buuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuut This is basically having the director rip himself off. Kinda like Chu did with Jem after doing the Bieber movies.
My fear is that this movie will lose the Hot Wheels identity and become a CLONE of the Fast and Furious movies. Mandatory Vin Diesel Cameo is Mandatory, in a non-serious role.

Sep 26, 2016

Top ten Picks from Filmation for Super7 to tackle.

Apparently, I completely forgot how long a week is.
Like the Past MOTUC Rant, I'll use Matty's 7 figure and 3 Extra "Larger SKUs" for the sake of simplicity.

So, Matty gave us: He-Man, Skeletor, Beastman, Trap Jaw, Evil Lyn, Clawful, and Evil Seed.

The Magnificent 7:
-Man-at-Arms Core, CORE, CORE Good guy. He's a new head, armor and arms. He could come with a fixed Filmation Teela Head for PD Teela, IF a Full Teela is not on the cards.
-Sorceress (extra Kodok Ungol Head that way even MOTUC ONLY folks would get one)Also, if they fix DEM WINGS, more folks would buy her.
-Fisto, head, armor and Fist is all we need for this Hard to find Heroic Warrior.
-Stratos Basic Heroic Warrior who is just a head, harness and wings
-Tri-Klops He's just a head and Harness, not to mention a core Evil Warrior.
-Mer-Man: Core Evil Warrior and he'd be rather easy to make.
- Count Marzo (exclusive): As much as I hate the idea of Filmation Marzo being a sub exclusive, he's not core enough to punish non-subscribers too much and he already has a MOTUC Variant, which makes him fair game for the sub-line.
Large SKUs:
-Adam + Cringer + Orko 3 pack: The only Real new tooling Item here is the Articulated Cringer since Adam is just a new vest and Orko is a Re-release of the MOTUC Orko, but in more Cartoon Accurate Colors. (Also completes the 3 others share this secret...)
- Ram Man: While he is shorter, he needs to be a deluxe figure. Due to his Spring ability, he'd need to pop at the waist, like King Hsss and would need a second set of spring legs.
-King Randor and Queen Marlena 2 Pack: I know, what you're thinking: But we have Decent MOTUC versions! They are not accurate enough. If we let these two slide under the radar, then we can call over half of the sub-line superfluous. Randor is just new Head, necklace and forearms. Marlena is nearly 100% new tooling. Now if you noticed, this whole line-up is meant to neatly wrap up this line if it were to end a bit too soon. It completes the CORE CORE CORE Characters and allows for a mostly symmetrical display. (It's still slightly more tilted towards good and while it kinda misses Teela, the PD Teela can ALMOST pass for Filmation, unlike the MAA from the Battle Ram)

Sep 25, 2016

Thinking of 3D Printing and MOTUC.

We have seen the wonders 3D Printing can do for toys... Multiple Reviews of Weapons here at the House of Rants AND Man-at-Arms Workshop can attest to the ingenuity of 3D Printing Masters fans. We've seen not only weapons, but heads and display pieces. Recently, Evil Mike... Yes, THAT Evil Mike, posted a set of pics on Facebook regarding his Custom Battle Punch He-Man... We know that Mike has done hands for figures... (Haven't bought sets of them yet.) but now he has done something far more Radical... See the Boots Battle Punch He-Man is sporting?
Those are from Shapeways... They're not yet available for sale, but the point here is: Boots are doable... Hands are Doable, Heads are Doable... Theoretically speaking one could do an entire figure. (wouldn't be that cost-effective, but it's possible)

You are wondering: Where am I going with this? Well, Mattel failed us. Super7 is still mum about MOTUC. If for some reason Classics styled items were to end, the 3D Printing Masters CAN pick up the slack if we were to say, complete New Adventures.

The Only Roadblock would be Armors. Normal Shapeways plastic is a bit on the hard side, which would make the armors prone to breakage due to the thin plastic and lack of flexibility.
I know they were experimenting with a softer more pliable plastic that could work. I don't have ALL the details, but I fear that Armors, are for the moment a bit out of reach for now... A) I believe it's not exactly available to use on items for sale. B) While the MOTUC Armors, theoretically speaking are within the ranges for thinnest you can go, the level of detail needed for some of these may be too much for shapeways at the moment. Though some cases a combo of harder plastic items with the softer plastic could work on paper, once again the cost effectiveness may be a bit of a hindrance.
So, custom armors would have to be an Old School Custom job for now.

Sep 24, 2016

Super7 MOTUC News!

Straight out of the Horseman's Mouth:
The FourHorsemen have shipped 5 Prototypes to Super7 and 3 more on the way within a couple of weeks... What's in a couple of weeks?
New York Comic Con...
Does this mean that Super7 will FINALLY have something WORTHWHILE TO ME regarding MOTUC?


We all know that *I* am a bit wary of Super7, due to the insane amount of  things I think are "hipster crap" that they produce. I mean, a $65 4" tall Skeletor in Knock-off Colors...
Really? Really? Really?

I want to believe everything is unicorns and rainbows... I just hope that at least 4 of those 8 figures that COULD appear at NYCC are True Blue MOTUC and not 8 figures for the Filmation sub-line.

We'll have to wait until they reveal the stuff... Hopefully they won't be as Wallet Rapy as Hipster Crap Skeletor over there...

Random thoughts during the 2016 Blackout.

For those of you who are unaware, Puerto Rico suffered a massive blackout this week. I didn't spend too much time online. (Was only able to charge my phone at work once, before we were sent home because of an issue with an emergency generator.) So, during the 56 hours of the blackout, I went through some random thoughts.

Golden Age Batman is a bit of a hypocrite... He supposedly has this no guns or no killing creed.
I was able to find a few trade paperbacks of Golden Age Batman (Translated in South American Spanish... Uruguay or Argentina) and Golden Age Batman killed people almost all the time... Note the Editor's note on that picture. I laughed when I read it... Also, Golden Age Batman comics were racist AF.
Mental Patient mutated by
Hugo Strange...
An innocent victim was killed
by Batman...

Man, this Batman kills a lot and in some cases he even lectures Robin about NOT KILLING, while he leaves a trail of bodies much bigger than Snyder's take on Batman.


Finally, I went through the Hyrule Historia. It's a Decent book if you're VERY, VERY, VERY into The Legend of Zelda. It has Developers notes, concept art, the Official Nintendo Timeline to the Legend of Zelda (wonder how the WiiU Zelda game will alter that). It even made me interested in playing Skyward Sword... and the Oracle games... I think I'll pass on the Oracle games... They're expensive as heck and my GBA is Deader than...
MARTHA!!


Speaking of Martha!! Does Batman get Triggered whenever he watches this?

 But to be fair, I kinda understand him. While helping people evacuate the premises when the generator had an issue at work, an old lady yelled my Mom's nickname and I froze for a moment. I mean chill on the back of my neck, my body went completely stiff... and my eyes were watery. I stopped myself before I did something stupid (going Batffleck on the old lady)

The Blackout did weaken the grip that Pokémon Go! had on me. First, I needed to save most of my cellphone's power for emergencies (and occasional checking of my Facebook and the PREPA twitter to see if my zone would be getting power anytime soon) Secondly, now that I have Power, I haven't felt a strong urge to play the game. Tappers of Grayskull, on the other hand, has drawn a bit more of my attention... All that's left is unlocking Roboto and Marlena and I unlock all the Masters.




Sep 20, 2016

It Came From the Toy Chest: Teenager with BAD Attitude!




Of course, I am talking about someone who is Green With Evil, but not yet a


First Pose I tried
But do I need to explain the Green Ranger, or can we assume we know who he is?

So, Rita Repulsa is losing to the Rangers constantly. she decides to use the Green Dragon Coin to have a Ranger of her own. He eventually turns good but is defeated by a candle... He returns once again as the Hwite Ranger...
That's pretty much The Green Ranger in a nutshell... Forgot to talk about his Ocarina of Time slash dagger. It's a dagger but also an Ocarina that can be used to summon the mighty Dragonzord, or Dragon Caesar if you are following Zyuranger and there he's not Tommy and he dies after his power is diminished... but this is Power Rangers.

Articulation:
Same as the Red Ranger's but the Arms are slightly hindered by the Dragon Shield. Basically,  Green has a Hinged Neck on a swiveling head. no ball joint here, apparently. Double joint elbows and knees, ball joint shoulder with bicep swivel. a pseudo Revolver joint on the wrists. (changing hands scares me a bit here as well.) Ab Crunch, waist swivel, ball jointed thighs and a rotating thigh... Kinda like the Toybiz ML Black Widow thighs. Boot cut and that strange ball jointed ankles that newer Hasbro Marvel Legends Figures have. He can easily pull of the Summoning of Dragonzord pose by blowing on his dagger.
4.5

Paint and Sculpt:
Green seems to share parts with Red. Head, Shield, Torso, Belt and biceps Seem to be the new pieces. Of course the extra hands are new, but they are compatible with Red. (and probably with the upcoming Black and Blue) Sadly, the paint suffers a bit here because of more paint applications. The gold trims seem to be a bit fuzzy or uneven in some areas.
4.5

Accessories:
Green Gets no Dragonzord, nor Megazord pieces. He gets 2 Extra Hands, the Dragon Dagger, and the Sword of Darkness.
4.0

Overall:
 The Green Ranger gets a 4.33 as his final score. It's a decent score, but I kinda wish he had a bit more stuff to him. Namely even more hands. Seriously, 2 hands do not compensate for the wasted Plastic on a Megazord piece like Red has.

I will most likely try to complete the set, but I noticed a certain lack of something on this line...
There are no Monsters or Villains. Would be nice to get a Lord Zedd (because Rita would be highly unlikely to happen) BUUUUUT If you need a sort of makeshift Monster to display these Rangers With... Well lookee here!
The Rangers are Nearly in-scale with MOTUC!
So, if you have a Cy-Chop that doesn't fit your vision of MOTU, or Photog, or some of the NA Mutants (Optikk and Slushhead come to mind.) you could use those as a "monster of the week" in your displays until Bandai decides to make a Goldar, Zedd, or even a Putty Patroller. (chances for an Ivan Ooze are slim)
You can also use some of NECA's Kaiju...




























She-Hulk is now Hulk... Looks like Cho wasn't awesome enough!

She- Hulk will now be basically Bruce Banner with Boobs... Seems like the House of Ideas has run out of ideas. Roughly a year ago, I commented about Marvel Replacing Banner with Amadeus Cho as a "Totally awesome" Hulk in full control of his powers. Now they're taking She-Hulk, removing the control she had of her Powers so she can be all HULK SMASH! RAWR! thing that used to be Bruce's. All that To control the Raging Spirit that dwells within Bruce shtick is now Jen's.

This is the kind of crap that people complain about... Thor is now Jane Foster. Ironman is a Teenage Black Girl and now She-Hulk is Hulk and An Asian Teen is also Hulk... Also, Falcon is Captain America while Steve is a Nazi...

Why must She-Hulk become a Cheap Banner knock-off when she has been her own character, completely different from Hulk, even if she has his abilities? That's the problem that SJWs don't understand. Comicbook fans aren't against diversity. They are against replacing NON-Legacy Characters with minorities for the sake of filling quotas. Ironman can be replaced to an extent, since the powers are in the armor. But Thor... Thor is Thor, whether he is worthy of Mjolnir or not. Having Jane call herself Thor is what gets people rubbed the wrong way.

Let's put it this way: You have a friend who is a NASCAR Driver, let's call him Jerry. He hurts his arms on a race and cannot race until he recovers. His team grabs the guy's Latina Girlfriend, Marissa and they start calling her Jerry and have "FemJerry" drive the Real Jerry's car at various NASCAR races. She's an even better racer than Jerry and she won various races AS Jerry.

Why must Marissa become Jerry in order to race? Why can't Marissa simply become a NASCAR Driver in her own way?

It's Lazy to replace characters when the replacements are going to become copies of the original... Didn't they learn the lesson 20 years ago? (Holy crap! It's been 20 years! I'm OLD!!!) when they Replaced Peter Parker with Peter Parker? They killed Bruce Banner, now we have Cho, Jenn, and I think Rulk is still around? That's 3 Different Hulks all of them Different... but the same. All seem to have a degree of control of their powers. Following Ross being the thing he hates the most and getting to understand his plight a bit better seems interesting. Jenn's more upbeat attitude to the Gamma powers she accidentally received is interesting on its own way... so much that Amadeus is basically male She-Hulk on paper.
If you were going to kill Banner just to bring a character who was going to be acting like Banner, why not just simply NOT KILL BANNER in the first place.

I thought things were bad back when Gwen boned with the Goblin...


 

Sep 19, 2016

It Came From the Toy Chest: It's Morphine time! Red Barney!!

Rita's escaped! We need 5 character teenager archetypes... with two minorities just to play it safe. If they are walking stereotypes even better!

A
y-yi-yi-yi-yi-yi!  I finally got one of the Legacy Series Power Rangers figures... Of the Mighty Morphin kind... Screw Ninja Storm... Now if they had done Dino Thunder, there is one Mandatory figure to get... But let's talk Red Ranger... Jason or Rocky... Well, it's Jason, seeing it comes with the Original Megazord Torso... More on that later.

Do I need to explain who is the Red Ranger? Or should I just play the intro?







Articulation:
Be careful here!
well balanced figure!
Red Ranger has a Hinged Neck on a swiveling head. no ball joint here, apparently. Double joint elbows and knees, ball joint shoulder with bicep swivel. a pseudo Revolver joint on the wrists. (changing hands scares me a bit here) Ab Crunch, waist swivel, ball jointed thighs and a rotating thigh... Kinda like the Toybiz ML Black Widow thighs. Boot cut and that strange ball jointed ankles that newer Hasbro ML have.
5.0


Paint and sculpt:
Before I start, I must point something out: Bandai of America figure WITHOUT SCREWS on the back!! Now the sculpt is a basic tights clad muscular body. They have this weird Shoulderpad that makes them inaccurate to the show, but I kinda like it since it makes the suit look a bit more armored (like The Movie) The Helmet seems a bit off. The eyebrows of the Tyrannosaur look more like fins and it throws off the whole look. The minimalist paint job means very little slop and the tampos are crisp.
4.5

Accessories:
Here is where they dropped the ball... Bandai made a 2016 SDCC Exclusive Jason that comes with the Power Sword and the Megazord Sword... That's the only way to get those pieces... Once you complete the stupid ass Megazord BAF... by Rebuying another Red Ranger and getting the rest of the Rangers on future waves.
Normal Release of MM Red comes only with his standard blade blaster to put in the holster. No blaster mode or blade mode... Hell he doesn't even come with extra hands... (I borrowed them from Tommy for a pic) The Red Ranger loses all of that stuff because of the stupid ass forever incomplete Megazord BAF (Unless you bought the SDCC Jason, which is EXACTLY THE SAME, but in translucent plastic. Seriously, couldn't they have done the Red Ranger with the Green Ranger shield as the Exclusive to Justify 2 Jasons?)
2.0



Overall:
Mighty Morphin Red gets a 3.83 as his final score. He has Decent Articulation even if the thighs are a bit tricky. It's a shame that he lacks decent accessories to make him feel whole. If the Other Mighty Morphin' Power Rangers get their signature weapons, this will royally suck!







BTW Mighty Morphin' Black, Pink, and Blue are rumored to be Wave 2 with In Space Yellow and Red completing the wave. Pushing Mighty Morphin' Yellow to wave 3.

Sep 16, 2016

Mai Shiranui is in DOA5!?

Yes, I am late to the party... Then again, I haven't played a DoA game since DoA 2 on Dreamcast.

But Yeah, Mai Shiranui is on Dead or Alive... Akuma is on Tekken... Come on, give us Johnny Cage for SFV!! Or Bishamon for a Soulcalibur... (or Nightmare on a Darkstalkers game)

But judging by the video, Mai seems to have been adapted to fit DoA, which is a good thing... Now I want a DoA vs Fatal Fury... and yes, it's because I want more Terry Bogard.

But I wonder if SEGA is willing to have the Virtua Fighter folks cross over...
*UPDATE!* An Unknown commenter let me know that Sarah, Jacky, Pai, and Akira are available...
So, if the VF folks made it... Can we get Ryo Hazuki in a fighting game?

No, wait! I've got it... YUKA TAKEUCHI from Variable Geo should cross over to DoA!! Come on, don't look at me like that! DoA is two steps from becoming an eroge... And Variable Geo is a decent fighting game, despite being known mostly for the H-scenes.

Now I wanna get KoF14 so badly... Curse Responsibilities!!

So, the end of the Shapeways Summer Extravaganza is here! Savage AXE!!


The end is nigh... Dare felt it! But let us talk about DJ Force's Savage Axe. Here's a link to his Shapeways store. So, the Savage Axe. As seen on the Rack picture, the Axe is a nod to the 2D Art
It's closer to the art than the One Tone Silver Vikor Ax that we got for Castle Grayskull.


There isn't much that can be said about this ax, since it's a 3D Take on the 2D Art. It complements The Rack, and it feels like it could also work on that Bread Warrior guy. Or the Green Haired Argentine dude...

It IS RATHER SHORT, BUT THAT'S HOW IT IS IN THE ARTWORK. I must say that the Shorter size makes it more dangerous, seeing that you'd need to be up close and personal with it.

It's a simple piece that works on its own or in combination with Other Items. If you have a Triangular Rack (made by yourself, or bought from a third party maker) the Axe is a VERY WELCOME ITEM!

Any more Savage and this Ax would demand that you eat a Slim Jim...

























Odds and ends 9/16/16

The Gawkerslayer might return to the WWE, brother! If the whole WWE beginning to acknowledge Hogan's existence as mentioned in the Forbes article is true, he may be able to return in some way (Hopefully Hulkster Merchandise will become available)

I feel sad for Jonah Hill... No matter what he does he ends up looking like a little bitch. While normally I'd say he is a little bitch, this time I kinda have to side with him. The French Weatherperson was a bit out of line about her sexual fantasy involving Hill making her laugh then have him replaced by Brad Pitt and Leo DiCaprio for the actual sex. I mean, replace Hill for Melissa McCarthy and replace Pitt and DiCaprio for J-Law and Margot Robbie. Now can you see the mean spiritedness?

Jason Mardsen won't be reprising his Full House Role... The role will be played by:

Yup, Hal Sparks...


Sep 14, 2016

shapeways End of Summer extravaganza #6 He-Ro's Grave by Freeman's Mind Toys





Yes, I'm aware that End of Summer is the title of a Hentai Mini Series... I think I'll watch it while eating some snickerdoodles. (I'm sure Mr. Freeman will get the reference)
This is the SMALLER VERSION OF The He-Ro Grave Tombstone that FMT has available on Shapeways. He has a larger version that it's available through him, but I currently lack the details. Maybe he'll chime in on the comments.
As you can see, white on white on gray is a pain in the ass to get a decent pic of the item... Let me Bob Ross the devil out of it so we can see some of the details.

I TRIED to get as close as possible to Castle Grayskull's palette, but failed. It's Kinda close, but not an EXACT match.
I didn't notice this until I painted the Grave. the Keyhole is Meant as a nod to Scareglow's Reliquary.
Now do you notice something else?
A faint relief of a Skull? Does it look a bit Familiar?
Cause it does to me... Where oh where have I seen this? yup! The Filmation Throne for Castle Grayskull... Something that could end up being ridiculously expensive if made by third parties...

It's kinda awesome and weird at the same time because this item is meant to be 200X but here it is with Filmation stuff.

But now that I have it in hand, I may need to stop being lazy and restart, then finish the Graveyard of Grayskull diorama that has been a concept that I've had for years. (Now I need to find tons of small graves... Hopefully Halloween decorations won't fail me this year!!)

It's a small Diorama Piece. There isn't much to say about it. You paint it, set it and forget it! The best place to set it is somewhere near Castle Grayskull.




















Savage Ax review coming Soon!!!

Sep 13, 2016

Pokébuddy! Pokébuddy!

Magikarp and me!!
The newest Pokémon Go! Update has arrived... If you have a rooted device... This update ain't for you...

So, the Pokébuddy is now available... Walk with a 'mon and get candy...

As you can see on the pic, I'm Team Mystic... Here come the Valor folks whining and throwing their Valor hissy fits... but that's not the important thing... And now here come the PETA folks whining about Pokémon...

JUST SHUT THE HECK UP AND LET ME FINISH!!!

OK, so Magikarp is my buddy... My Buddy? Roll the clip!




Let's face it... The Buddy is going to be the Pokémon that you need to get candy but is rarer than *comparison removed for being way too offensive* something that is extremely rare... and the Rare Hunters want it...
REALLY!? That's the best Censorship can do? I knew I should have just stuck to playing Spirit of Justice instead of ranting... Oh wait, it's been 1 hour and it still hasn't downloaded to my 2DS...

So, back to the pokébuddy update. Sure, you can update some of the more common Pokémon in your area, to speed up evolutions, or power up those Vaporeon... but let's face it... IF there are plenty of a particular Pokémon in your area, using THAT Pokémon as a buddy is a waste of time.
Anybody with a Rattata or Pidgey as buddy deserves a kick in the taint... unless it's for teh lulz...

Sep 11, 2016

Round 5 of Shapeways end of summer Madness: Savage Mace!

Another Item from one of my Favorite Shapeways Masters, DJForce! This one is meant to go on the Triangular Rack from Barbarossa... Well, The Next Item from DJForce is meant to go there too!


As you can see here, the Mace is a Flail, which Mattel never made for us. They did make a brand new Mace on Castle Grayskull, but that Mace screams LODAR more than Triangular rack.
Fans do what Mattel won't... So DJForce made the Savage Mace, inspired by the art on your left.

As you can see, the Mace is NOT an exact Replica of the Art because translating a 2D item into 3D doesn't always mean it'll be EXACTLY THE SAME. I mean look at that Wimpy BALL in the art... DJForce made that ball HEFTY! HEFTY! HEFTY!
 The one thing I'm not too fond of is the super short chain. It's accurate to the Material, so it's more of a PERSONAL ISSUE, not an issue with the item itself. Another thing I don't like is that it comes with a pre-made Plastic Chain. Again, it's not an issue with it being "wrong" it's a Personal Preference issue. I COULD just cut the chain and add a Metal chain and call it a day. I most likely will not out of laziness.

It coming with a pre-made chain saved me the hassle of dealing with small metal chains, even if I prefer those to plastic chains. Ignoring my personal preferences and taking a more objective view, this flail is badass. The spiky tips hurt a little bit when pushing my finger on them... TRULY an Adult Collectible display piece! It won't prick your finger but it CAN be a little painful.

Now putting it on the Rack is where the magic is at.
Once you have it with the Shield and Blasters and Ax (BTW DJForce has versions of ALL of the Rack's weapons on his shop.) the rack takes a new life of its own. I may eventually buy the rest of the Rack Weapons, so far the Rack looks amazeballs with the weapons on it... Also, The Ax is the next DJForce Item to review... which may not mean that it's the next Item to be reviewed, since the Pattern has been alternating between DJForce's stuff and stuff from other Shapeways Masters. The last item from this mini series of reviews will be the Ax. No big finish since I revealed it too soon and it's an Ax. It can chop your enemies' limbs and make you hear the lamentation of their women.

So, 2D isn't that bad...

I am talking about the N2DS. I still stand with what I said back when it was released. I don't see me carrying one around, due to its clunkiness... I may have gotten hold of one just to point the stylus at it and yell: "Hold it!" "Objection!" or "Take that!" For Puzzle games or point and click visual novel kind of games, it works fine... Or games that decide the fate of the world via Children's card games!
Settling stuff on Smash, well, that's a different story. The console's clunkiness come into effect here.
Marathonic sessions of more action oriented games make the console slightly uncomfortable.

I'd have to pay to get Cloud or Ryu... which brings me to my next point.
*expletive deleted* the Nintendo eShop *expletive deleted* it in the ass sideways with a Corporation sized cat *expletive deleted* Won't accept my credit card. (address not matching or some BS) so, the only way to get games is to go to a store and buy eshop cards... I mean at least PSN accepts PayPal (when it doesn't want to accept my card) 2 Games (Mario Kart 7 and Ace Attorney 5) take nearly 2Gb out of the 4Gb SD Card that it comes with... Need a bigger card. But as I was saying: The Nintendo eshop feels a bit clunky. Sure it's "easy to navigate" using the touch screen and stylus, but the loading times between sections can be a bit annoying. Like when you download a game:
It doesn't REALLY TELL YOU the size of your downloads. It only states: Game takes X blocks from the Y blocks you have. It doesn't even give you a time estimate of the download. You just wait... for an undetermined amount of time... At least other consoles give you a time estimate, so like if you're donloading an XBOne game, you have an estimate of say 5 hours until the game downloads, so you can go to the movies, play 360, or something... Here you have your awkward not so portable portable console that gives you a non-standard measurement for download and I REALLY, REALLY, REALLY loathe Digital Only games.

Now, it kinda sounds like I HATE the 2DS... I don't. I got it because it was cheaper and it came with Mario Kart... The other option was a more expensive 2DS and a Pokémon game... and right now I'm tired of Poketto Monsutaa Go!!

So, yeah! I also got Dual Destinies and I'm on the final case of the game without counting the DLC... Guess I'll have to get another eshop card soon (Spirit of Justice and the DLC Cases for both games.)

I noticed that I don't REALLY NEED TO HAVE PLAYED Apollo Justice, but it is recommended that you do. It explains the Apollo Gimmick better and makes you familiar to it. Also it helps you understand Trucy's Panties... Also, if you don't play Apollo Justice, you won't understand what the Hell Happened to the Wright Law Office... Sure, you can read wikis, but it's not the same...

So, how to review the game... I mean, you played one Ace Attorney game, you have an idea how ALL OF THEM PLAY LIKE.

You start with a Murder. Then you go to court. There the Prosecutor, who is usually some sort of freaky weirdo, no really, they are weirdos... And more often than not, they have some sort of grudge against you. They reveal the Witness and all you need to do in your cross-examination is find out the contradictions in their testimonies and point them out. With the correct pieces of evidence, you can corner the witness and debunk their testimony. If this witness is not the Murderer, the plot thickens.
In longer cases, court is adjourned for the day and you get to do your own investigation. Find more clues, witnesses and you return to Court. There the Cycle repeats until the case is solved and your client is found Not Guilty... Except that one time...

Each Sequel has a "gimmick"... I should say, Each LAWYER has a Gimmick. It's just that they show up on the sequels. Mr. Wright has the Fey Magatama, which allows him to see Psyche Locks in people. Basically, it allows you to "Force the truth" out of characters via a "Magic Interrogation".
Apollo has his Magic Bracelet that allows him to STARE INTENSELY AT PEOPLE... and I mean Creepy stare kind of thing. He can stare at twitches and "force people to tell the truth"...

The New Gimmick comes from the new Lawyer, Athena Cykes... She uses a "Mood Matrix", which is basically "Forcing people to tell the Truth" using the "Emoji version of the Magatma"...

That's not all... Athena Cykes has a Secret. Remember the Haruhi Suzumiya Ace Attorney references in one episode? (Yes, Athena has an in-game secret as well, but no spoilers here)

Well, Athena is voiced by the same VA who voiced Haruhi... One has to wonder if that's how she got the Ace Attorney gig... If so, then nice move VA Casting folks!

Now back to the game. No longer bound by sprite art, the game has 3D models of the characters and uses those in the court and investigation, but the game is exactly the same as the NDS previous games. We have animated cutscenes with voice acting and past protagonists can use their gimmick in the case that you're stuck with them.

It's hard to rate an Ace Attorney game, since they are pretty much Visual Novels and I KNOW that's not a super popular genre. There isn't THAT MUCH Replay value, because it's a Visual Novel game. There are no different outcomes, because the path is set in stone. Now the cutscenes are a breath of fresh air... Kinda makes me wish we had a WiiU Ace Attorney game just to have a fully voiced game.

Now, the 2DS is a 3DS without the 3D gimmick and is capable of Near PS2/Gamecube graphics, which for a Nintendo Handheld, it's pretty amazing. The Normal DS was barely a portable N64... and the GBA was a souped up SNES. But the question is: ARE THE GAMES FUN? Well, like most consoles, you WILL FIND some good games, but a ton of crap as well. So far, I've only got 1 Nintendo game (Mario Kart 7) and one Third Party game, (Ace Attorney 5: Dual Destinies). I was able to borrow Smash from a co-worker to test the Unit with a physical game.

It bugs me that many of the console's games are Digital Only. But to be honest My last two Nintendo Portables have been bought to play Ace Attorney games and Yu-Gi-Oh! Now I also have Mario Kart... now if they made a Mario Maker 3DS...




I'd still need a WiiU if I wanted to upload courses online... but that will have to wait for some other time... I just have to wait until December to play SMM3DS...


Odds and ends 9/11/16 CM Punk actually fought!

Chicken Man Punk showed that he isn't a Yellow Bellied Coward ALL THE TIME. I thought he was going to duck out of this fight and blame his bad back.



At least the WWE Mic Skills were useful to Punk... Now to be fair, the fact that he actually showed up is something that we must applaud.

In any case here's a more exciting fight than Punk's


Mr. Supah Ninjas himself, Ryan Potter wants to be a Robin... Of course it wouldn't be Penis Grayson, nor Jason Deader than Aerith Todd... It would be for Tim Drake, the Robin he is gunning for. Kid has the moves that could work for Tim. The Slight Problem I see is his Asian-ess... Put down the phones and stop writing the mean posts on Tumblr and mentioning the Current Year. What I mean is that Tim Drake is a Hwite Cis Male... and Comic Book Purists would like to see that preserved. And if I complain about Race Changes, I must complain about ALL OF THEM. Whitewashing or False Diversity.

We also don't know the direction DC is going and even if there even WILL BE A TIM DRAKE in the Snyderverse or if he'll fit the more Dark Cheerless Universe.

Please... The Rock is the cause for the delay? I thought that the Third movie was killed in order to reboot and have a Shared Hasbro Universe... And Seriously, Retaliation came out in 2013... The Rock is busy until 2019... They killed Duke... Starting over from scratch would be a better idea... Also, Jon M. Chu is not a good name to bring out after JEM and the Biebergrams. Wait, they are bringing DJ Caruso... Oh, he directed two movies with Praise God for the Beef... and is working on a sequel to Vin Diesel's XXX... ( I mean the third one in the series, cause #2 was with Ice Cube)


Ugh! I should be sleeping, but darned caffeine!!

Here's a clip of a worthy opponent for CM Punk's second fight... I'll give you a hint... It's the one in gray.

Sep 9, 2016

Yet ANOTHER Matty Delay and Joe Mangianello confirmed as Slade.

Bad News for MATTYCOLLECTOR Fans Customers. Sunder is delayed and the Single Carded Horde Trooper is NOWHERE TO BE SEEN. Rumor has it that they've been cancelled. Seriously, it's like Matty is allergic to taking our money!

Also, General Sunder is now SundAr. Which brings us back to the main point here... Another Month, Another Delay...







Flash  Thompson is now Deathstroke... Or for the ladies out there, Puppy dog Alcide from True Blood is now a Dude who wants to do Bad Things with Batman... Namely kill him for money.
I can't wait, seeing that Deathstroke is such a left-field move. (Surprised that they didn't rely on Cats, Penguins, or Clowns for the Bat movie gives me a bit of hope)

Dances with Alien Bluecathontas 2, 3, 4, and 5 are still coming, according to James Cameron...
and apparently, the Alita movie is still happening. But seriously, it's been what? 6-7 years since Avatar showed up. Cameron has 4 Sequels... He's on his 60s... He takes a ton of time for his movies, that's why more often than not they are pretty good. (Yeah, I'm saying that Avatar is one of his weaker movies) 4 Movies, he often takes a lot of time on each movie... Holy crap! He's the Movie Equivalent to George R.R. Martin!! Also, now that everyone has gone 3D, the "magic" that Avatar had, is lost. Now let's suppose he manages to release all 4 in a timely manner. How many movies can you make about Giant blue cats fighting humans... (there's 4 Transformers movies and like 3 more coming) OK, I got your point.

What's Cameron going to do with the Sequel? Quaritch return from the dead as a Na'Vi Friendly Human who will stop an even more evil Human? All jokes aside, Jake and Neytiri's story is DONE. We'd need New characters to move the story forward.

Also. This scares me:

Especially since it has Robert Rodriguez as a Director...
I know... He did From Dusk Till Dawn, Desperado, Sin City... BUUUUUUUUUUUT He also did The Adventures of Sharkboy and Lavagirl, The Spy Kids series. you can see why I'm a bit wary about him tackling Alita... I'd rather have him focus more on Mr. Quest than have him possibly ruin Battle Angel Alita.

Sep 8, 2016

So, NECA Shredder sold out...

And Apparently, THEY DO SHIP TO PUERTO RICO!! I was able to order a set... Puerto Rico counted as a "state" within the available options. Now I will have to wait... But dude, the Fabled NECA Shredder might be in my hands soon! I may need to get some of the Bootleg NECA TMNT... My official ones were repainted in a Playmates Vintage Toy inspired Palette. (A set in Comic Book Colors would be a great match for this Shredder and Foot.)
I know the Fred Wolf TMNT Fan in Me is yelling: GET A PLAYMATES ROCKSTEADY AND BEBOP!! The Utrom can be Krang...

Now there is ONE thing I'd like the most... OK, there's two, but the first is:

Hamato Yoshi's Pet Rat.

Unconscious April looks VERY naughty!!!










The Poor Man's copy of Sportsmaster, now played by Green Arrow.




















With those two, I complete the Most CORE CORE CORE CORE Characters of TMNT.
(also, with Casey they can reuse PART of the Foot body.)

But I know that this will not satiate Mirage TMNT fans or TMNT fans in general.
Now here's a list of characters I'd like to see made by NECA to complement the Already made releases. Of course Pigs will fly, Hell will freeze over, etc. before these happen... Here's the top 5 most wanted TMNT Characters (and Usagi) to be NECA-ized... AFTER Casey and Splinter are made.

Let's get Usagi out of the way since I mentioned him.


In MOST TMNT Media, Usagi Yojimbo's main Character Miyamoto Usagi, has made an appearance.
Also, Some of Usagi's parts could be shared with Master Splinter. (Taking into consideration NECA's a smaller company than say, Mattel; the whole parts reuse thing needs to be greatly considered in order to see some characters... That's why you see so many repaints of certain characters like NES graphics T-800, pixel art Shredder, etc.)
Baxter Stockman




















Well, 2009 gave us April O' Neil with 2 Mousers, then there was the 3 Mousers set, so Mousers could use a rerelease and Baxter Stockman is the perfect excuse for us to get them.

Triceraton(s)
















This would have to be a pack on its own, due to their sheer size. (I'd say 3 for $90) They'd need to be a multi-pack to justify their mold (parts reuse again...)


Rat King



















The only Problem with Rat King is that his body has very little parts reuse. Other than that, he's kind of an important "one-shot" character, especially for Splinter... Also, Black and White or "Ghost Variant" could work as an additional exclusive.


Karai:


















While she has MANY Outfits (Like Lady Shredder) I chose the plain Dark "Catsuit" for a single reason: An April 2.0... Last April was a bit limited. Making Karai in this outfit could allow for a redone April, or if NECA still has the April Molds, REUSE some of those parts to make Karai. Also, a Karai + Foot Clan Pack would allow for more Foot Ninja.

My Last Pick is...
The Fugitoid!!




















The Only Reason I added Triceratons to the mix was to add The Fugitoid.

Now all of these (the 6 mentioned Plus Splinter and Casey) could make the MIRAGE TMNT line feel like a decently completed line... at least at A-List (Higher end B-List folks go)
You have the Turtles and the Foot to pair off, or the Turtles + Fugitoid vs the Triceratons and the Foot Japan vs The Foot New York, you have Splinter who can be paired off with Rat King or the Mousers and an April that can confront Stockman. Not to mention displaying Usagi and Leo, or Karai and Leo.

While yes, the Shredder and the Foot CAN give the line some Closure, getting a few folks out can expand it and keep it "complete" if done correctly... (Translation Nickelodeon and Playmates easing up on the cockblocking)














Sep 7, 2016

Shapeways Madness Round 4: Go Ninjor Bow!


This one is a pretty straightforward one: Mattel's bow for Ninjor sucks ass!
There is a lack of NINJAS in this review, since mine are busy building a bridge or something. Yes, there is a Real World Ninja Bridge that happens to have the same name as that infamous ANNOYING Orange and Blue clad Ninja... BELIEVE IT!! Really It's called the Great Naruto Bridge... (Ōnaruto-kyō in Japanese)
OK, my lazy ass hasn't unpacked the rest of My MOTUC, Ponies, MLs or videogames...

Back to the main topic: Ninjor bow with fused arrows sucks ass. Lucky for us that He-Bro took time to make a Bow for Ninjor that doesn't have an Arrow stuck on it. I'm keeping mine unpainted because it's stealthier than a Silver Bow. The coolest thing is that He-Bro not only made a Bow but he also made 3 Arrows for you to use.
You can paint them in different colors and say they're "Specialty arrows" One for Poisonous Arrow, One for Normal Arrow, and the last one for Explosive Arrow or something. It stinks that we have to go through Shapeways to fix an issue that shouldn't exist, but at least IT HAS A SOLUTION... (Now I need to get 2 more for my other Ninjors.)
All you have to do is tie a rope and that's it... (Paint it before hand if you're going to paint it.)

Sep 6, 2016

Movie themed Odds and ends Sept. 6, 2016

Remember when I mentioned the whole Forced Diversity on Spider-Man Homecoming? I mentioned the whole Shocker being black thing... Well Pics of Shocker in outfit have been leaked!
And well... He looks Shocker-ish... He has the yellow and brown outfit, the Vibro-Shock Gauntlets... Only that the suit looks way too baggy. Shocker's supposed to look extra padded. The quilt jokes are due to his padded look. AND HIS PADDING HAS A CANONICAL REASON FOR EXISTING... Protecting Schultz from the vibrations from his gauntlets.

Emo Khal Drogo will begin shooting in 2017. I am talking of course of The Crow Reboot.
Well, The Crow already has set the Bar WAY TOO LOW...

Hey look! It's John Connor! Get Him, Robert Patrick!!



To be fair, I could have used a worse reference for Mr. Dacascos... Or I could have been a bit less of a dick and gone with Only the Strong.




Wait, isn't that the dude from Ugly Betty?

So, they'll go closer to the books in this iteration, but still, Jason Momoa!? More likely than not I WILL NOT watch it, but mentioning it just to take a few jabs against The Crow sequels and Jason Momoa.

Get ready to hear a new Single by Taylor Swift on how much Tom Hiddleston is a trickster like Loki and how he deceived her or something. Tom Hiddleston and Taylor Swift have called it quits.
If I were a Celebrity (or a Celebrity's kid) I would avoid her like the plague... Being badmouthed via song is horrible... Dave Coulier oughta know.
Now the thing is that she was afraid of being too public with the God of Mischief... I mean, she moved in with him two weeks after her last break-up and pretty much everyone jokes on how Swift is well, swift in changing Partners to churn out songs.

And Mel Gibson thinks Batman v. Superman sucks. But is Mel Gibson still Relevant? Last I heard of him was Expendables 3 and that was after his racist tirade... I get he's not a fan of the Genre, but still, why are people asking Mel Gibson about Superhero films... That would be like asking Martha Stewart about Hot Rods.


Lame news everyone! You know the Reboot with Teenagers with Attitude? Well, none of the Remaining 40-somethings with Attitude were invited to make a cameo for the reboot. I KINDA get why they are avoiding the cameos... (Feig's movie comes to mind) but people LOVE these cameos... Stan Lee comes to mind or the Ferrigno cameo in The Hulk. How a cameo of the Original Rangers could have worked? Have them on one of those scenes where the "Monster" is terrorizing the city and the camera shows some color coded adults running to safety. If one of them drops a flier for the Angel Grove Class of '95 Reunion (seeing that MMPR ended in 1995 before going Zeo)

Damn Playmates to Hell!!

NECA is finally doing the Eastman and Laird Shredder + Foot Clan Ninja... There is one slight catch... just like last time with the Arcade Turtles. There might be some available to buy online but only to US Addresses... What does that mean? contiguous 48 states only? all 50? Or is it 50 states + Territories (ie, Puerto Rico)?

Why does NECA have all these limitations with their product? One is obvious: Playmates Toys... They cockblocked the TMNT after we got the 4H-Made TMNT...
Now that the TMNT are under new owners...
 who can be almost as evil as

I'm not surprised that the blockade exists... It's kinda stupid though. These are aimed at Adult Collectors, while Playmates does the Kid Friendly stuff. There is no overlapping of customers. The TMNT Classics were a nice lure to collectors, but they were a bit hard to find. (and Playmates kinda cancelled the line with no Shredder, Splinter and Krang) Letting NECA do a different scale line for Adults is not going to hurt the sales of the TMNT toys for kids. Forcing NECA to this super-limited run with thousands of prohibitions makes them look like the bad guy. Yeah, I'm a bit angry that I won't be able to get a Shredder...

Sep 5, 2016

shapeways Round 3: DJ force's Movie Blaster!!

The one holstered by his hip.

The 1987 movie... It gets a lot of flak from various MOTU fans... Especially the Filmation ones. The movie was more Pre-Filmation Mini comics inspired than people expected, then we have the whole Golan Globus/Cannon mess, Budget issues, Mattel, and we can understand why that movie is what it is. I know the 4Horsemen have given us a few nods to the movie. Marlena's Rifle and Adora's gun are both from the 1987 movie.

Well, DJForce bothered to make a 3D printable version of the blaster that Dolph Lundgren has as He-Man.

Sadly, I can't find any pics of it in action and I don't have the  1987 movie with me. But I guess that the gun is based on the ones from this prop collection. Of course, the gun was "Classicized" in order for it to fit the MOTUC Figure grips.


Since it's a Shapeways printed Item, it comes unpainted. I am not a skilled painter, due to my shaky hands, but screw it If I can Paint it, I will!
 As you can see, Nefty-kun is on Vacation... Luckily not a Permanent one, so Darius is acting as a Replacement model for the gun.

I got to say, the blaster also fits Darius... wait for it...


I may be tempted to get another and paint it in Gold to fit Darius.
Crita: I have a very naughty fish that needs to be beaten repeatedly
Darius: What kind of Fish...
Crita: It's not a Piano...
Darius: Wait, is this a real fish that you want me to beat up, or is this some
long-winded joke about you wanting me to *ahem* Pound your Tuna?

No, really! The gun suits NA characters PERFECTLY! Especially Darius... I'm making Bond Jokes because I've overused the Neeson is Darius references on his review... so I'll quote Sean Connery...

It obviously fits He-Man Really well, if you have butchered a Normal He-Man, Plundor Laser Light He-Man, Snake Armor He-Man, Oo-Larr, Vikor, Carnivus and a He-Ro to make your own MOTUC He-Dolph.

It can have other uses like Improve your weapons Rack (Whether the Mattel Made or the Custom Rack from Barbarossa)