The Aliens snap Kit figures are around a decade old and where hard to get when they were first imported to the U.S. They had long been on my want list, and during the last Coil Con I ventured into the wonderful Kokomo Toys and found this guy sitting on the shelf.
Follow the pics of me putting this guy together as I review him after the jump. Continue reading
In honor of Halloween, I thought I’d do review of a popular cereal that has made it’s way back onto the shelves, and one that I never had as a kid. I was always a fruity pebbles guy and these days I tend to end the boring healthy cereal if i do partake in a milk soaked breakfast. (Review Below)
You can’t tell from looking at this pic, but cereal box sizes have shrunk. It’s smaller than the Cheerios and Honey Bunches of Oats that it joined above my fridge. Also look at his mouth… On the right it looks like he has some sort of inward facing boil at the corner of his lip? The contents within are what’s important though.
The cereal itself is a purplish color and is only sparsely sprinkled with marshmallows, which may disappoint the kids who might want an amount on par with Lucky Charms, but it didn’t bother me. The cereal shapes stay crunchy for a good while so you don’t get the instant soggy that some cereals give you. It was good to the last bite. The taste of course is what matters most, and it was solid. It has a blue berry like taste, but it’s sweeter than a real blue berry (of course.) It wasn’t overpowering, so sugar fiends might be underwhelmed but it had loads more flavor than the last cereal I reviewed (the criminally awful Scooby Doo cereal. )
As a fan of blue berry and other fruity cereals I can easily see why there is a nostalgic love for it, I’d prefer it over Count Chocula any day, but it isn’t quite as good as my classic kid’s fav (Fruity Pebbles all the way!) I’d give it a 8/10
-revsears
(Steve) Review of Batman #23
I hear echoes of Albert Camus and Louis Borges as the Red Hood lectures a battered and helpless Bruce Wayne in the flaming remains of his apartment.
“The randomness, the empty center. Stare into it and try to find meaning, you’ll go mad.” Camus could’ve written that – but it was Scott Snyder giving some tremendous depth to his incarnation of the Red Hood and flexing his writerly muscles in this philosophical and action-packed installment of Batman: Zero Year.
Snyder has done an incredible job with this villain. Its engrossing to try and see things from a villain’s perspective and Red Hood’s is a belief so common that it could easily be you or me beneath that mask. If you’ve ever been a few car-lengths behind a vicious auto accident, or if you’ve ever said “That could’ve been me…” You may be the Red Hood, and that is a brilliant feeling to take away from a comic book.
The villains aren’t the only ones who get their fair share of character development in this issue. Young Bruce Wayne continues down the path fate has drawn for him as he becomes Batman and we get a welcome but brief look into some more violence in Alfred’s past.
The artwork by this team continues to be great. While Capullo’s drawing is a little too Saturday-morning Cartoonish for my tastes, Miki takes a lot edge off with using dark colors and shading reminiscent of the film-noir era the World’s Greatest Detective was born out of.
Batman #23 is, in my not-so-humble opinion, the strongest showing of the Zero Year story arc so far and any fan of Batman or existential philosophy is doing their self a disservice by not picking it up while there may be some still around.
To read more of Steve’s Reviews or to follow the comic book shop he works at check out Games and Comics (London KY)on facebook.
If your a fan off Sci-Fi, british, or sci-fi british shows outcasts may be a good dose of entertainment for you. It’s currently available on Netflix streaming. I recently watched the show in it’s entirety and you can find my mostly spoiler free review below.
Outcast focuses on a colony of human beings who have left a hostile earth behind. The fate of earth is a little vague and open, but the focus is all on their struggle to survive both the threats of this new world, as well as each other.
While Americans may picture British Sci-Fi in the vein of Doctor Who this is a very serious work, and carries a tone similar (but better than) Earth 2. Characters have shades of grey to them, and the story has dark turns.
The world of Carpathia is first introduced to us with two crisis ermeging. A transport ship is attempting to land on the planet and a scout who explored the wilderness of the planet returns to the colony proper with an agenda. I’m going to keep this spoiler free, but it’s safe to saw neither turns out as I expected and these two events help begin a series of events that raise questions for the ensemble cast.
We quickly are introduced to a new human villain in Julias Burger who appears as a neo pagan religious leader but clearly is sinister in swaying the populaces mind from the get go. His goal? Challenge President Tate. Tate meanwhile leads with his assistant and usually sends his two top agents Fluer and Cass to investigate the incidents occur on Carpathia.
While each episode is somewhat contained, it does slowly lead to a reveal that something more is going on in the planet. The show takes on almost a supernatural vibe and reminded me of the Sphere or the Event Horizon in some infant form. These events are of course not supernatural, but beyond their comprehension. Sadly after a short first season the show is cancelled, and just as you feel a sense of wonder about what these colonists are beginning to uncover it’s over.
The twists are so good though, that leaving you wanting more is not necessarily a bad thing, especially if you know that going in. The fact that show is short lived but high quality means you can burn through it quickly and get a nice experience with this world and then move on. It’s a nice break from watching longer series that can take weeks to go through.
Beyond story, it’s worth noting that most of the acting is strong. I never thought president clicked as the strategist they portrayed him as, it seemed more like that was what we were told, but we were shown a stiff man who a little lost in thought. I’m not sure if that’s the actor, but considering how well the others did I’m inclined to think so. It’s not show ruining.
The effects are also very well done. For a TV show budget it looks great and very nature filled. It’s easy to believe the main colony, which often invokes a wild west town, is isolated and alone.
I’d give the show an 8/10 and since it’s so easy to watch on Netflix give it a strong recommendation.
Timmer is at it again, this time Reviewing G.I.Joe Ninja Force Banzai and showing off some great Ninja force commercial. His observations will give you a laugh, and his luchador theory may explain some things.
Give it a look HERE on his site.
Transformers Legends is powered by Mobage Games and is a card based rpg for mobile formats.
Hasbro at least must have been impressed, as they have an upcoming G.I.Joe Game in the works that is sad to be more similar to one of their other games, blood brothers, than the Transformers Legends.
The main portion of the game is collecting cards via opening the space bridge. You can equip the weapon cards and transcan the vehicle and robot modes into single cards boosting their power. You can choose to battle other players or play a mission that involves card battles as well and other scanning and tapping activities.
While scanning a boss of the opposite faction (you may play as either Autobots or Decepticons) may appear and you will need tap their rockets to knock them down, this earns you points that levels you up. Each level has additional rewards such as more energy to spend. Continue reading
Time to finally Catch up with my reviews starting with a third in a series of three reviews I started in MARCH! First up Marvel Universe’s Professor X!
I got in a trade with forum user and CFA owner JJlecaros and since then i have picked up a few extra and love them for parts.
the chair and head are new, but the rest are from San Diego Comic Con Exclusive Rise of Cobra Destro.
Yo Joe! Freestyle is an excellent codename. I have to start by saying that right off the bat, so many figures have been hindered by terrible names over the years, and in recent years we have seen very few new characters introduced, so i’m very pleased we get a new character, that’s female, an immigrant,minority, a new pilot, and she even has a name so cool and Joe esque it feels like a Joe should have already taken it.
Today at the history of G.I.Joe panel Larry Hama said, “without moral and ethical cores you don’t have characters and without characters you don’t have a story.” (Larry Hama) I thought the first interesting thing I could do would be to stack this new Joe up against that qoute. Freestyle comes from a diverse lower income background that by itself points to a resolute spirit that allowed to attain her spot with the Joes. There seems to be potential hinted at here, that she is serious and don’t unwind often and is more gaurded individual. Her ethical code might be one of hardwork, and no nonsense. Hama’s qoute plays out best when looking at a story arc, not a file card, and I think i’d like to see Freestyle get incorporated into future stories to further flesh her out. Her filecad isn’t spectacular like SE, or Hit n Run, but there is a spark of potential there.
On to the review. She makes use of the ROC covergirl/ 25th v 2 lady Jaye body parts except for 25th wild bills lower legs (which is unfortante in my opinion) and a Quarrel/Glenda Scarlet head. Her helmets original came with 30th ace(as pictured above) or 25th lift ticket. I’ve been told her vest is new, but it looks very similar to the canceled comic pack arctic scarlet to me. Continue reading
Chuckles and the con attendee exclusive free vehicle are next up for my continuing series of reviews for Joe con 2013 review items (all will be on the page joecon2013 for easy and grouped viewing.)
First up is Chuckles, who is no longer sports a silly bright shirt, and goofy pop eye arms (as he did in the 25th era release.)
Chuckles now comes with a 25 th viper torso, renegade duke arms, upper poc wave 3 legs and lower legs used in various places like DG shipwreck but I am unsure of their first usage. Some of these parts have become nearly uniform with their re-use, and that’s okay because it’s only near uniform, things are still changed up and colored differently, and we still get unique looking characters, and the fact it helps Hasbro or in this case the club keep costs down only helps us get more of the new and unusual tooling.
I apologize for the washed out look of this pic, please keep in mind I took it in a hotel room the night I received the figure.
His shirt his still flowered helping him be easily identified as chuckles but with a much more believable look. The best is a nice tactical touch, and it’s good to have the optional hoslter but they two do not work well together. Without the vest his lack of belt is obvious, but it’s not that troublesome. some are not a fans of this head, but i feel it’s a good head, and it’s not necessary to match the old version exactly and I appreciate the consistency. I actually think this will replace the current normal chuckles on my shelf.
I’d score this figure a 9/10
as a transition photo it’s worth noting that chuckles comes with a helmet which lead me to connect him with… Continue reading
Iceberg is the club “free” incentive figure for joining the collector’s club. Each member of the club, who joined by a certain date this year, (march 15th i believe) will receive a free bagged version in the mail. At the con there was (and i saw was cause they sold out) a carded version available. Many MOC collectors grabbed this version, as well as folks who desired to have one to sell. There were also loose versions available but I did not get one, and will wait for my free loose version later.
I think i should start off by saying, I’m not a club hater, or an apologist. I said great things about Jaye, and i have more great things to say about other figures, but not so much with this guy.
To quickly point out a couple of pros, he is an early figure in the line, he completes a whole in many collections for those who want all of the original ARAH figs in modern form, Hasbro won’t make the character (or we wouldn’t be getting him) and he comes with some cancelled weapons and gear from the unreleased ROC arctic Duke.
The bad? one fo the most obvious things is the headsculpt is just a real mold of the very dated 80’s figure. At one point we were told this head was just a mock-up and would be changed for the final version, it clearly wasn’t. I want to be understanding, and think that maybe they just didn’t have time, but regardless of whose to blame, i’m reviewing the figure not the people involved in the process of making him, and i feel this was simply unacceptable. It’s lack of detail makes him look reminiscent of Odo from DS9 with unnaturally smooth and crease-less ears etc. This figure is also very top heavy. The legs are from 25th spirit and do not match those from the snow serpent torso. The legs weren’t good to begin with but when paired with a bulky torso make this guy look like he is going to flop over, and those pants don’t look thick enough to provide him with warmth in the arctic.
Score: 1/10
Yes, I bought one, for a friend, but i can only see this appeal of this figure for an MOC completest.
It has occurred to me even while carded i need to take a shot of the back of this package for the filecard. I’ll update this, and the Lady Jaye as i can.
I blame not getting this up, or anything else, last night on the con movie showing being a full HOUR late. I’m off to hear Dave Tree’s panel on action force, hopefully another review up later tonight and as aways hit up our forums to discuss this and more.
So chuckles are freestyle next? both are darn near ready.
-revsears.
Rathio 