PSA: Mediaholics Archive, and more videos this week

Probably one of the shortest posts on the site, just wanted to get a few things out of the way.

First: Pokemon Adventures Fire Red and Leaf Green are being delayed to next week. Reason being because...

Second: Wednesday, Sun and Moon review will be here. Still working on editing it, but its on the way.

Third: The Mediaholics Youtube channel just had a big burst of content. The content in question coming from the old channel, and is in a new playlist called Mediaholic Archives, link to it being here: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL0UmlA10uAY9aHiYFqXS2nG8mFwHhoxsu

Finally: The year summary this year is a video, which is uploading as I write this. It will go live sometime tomorrow, and has in it some plans me and Marissa have for the site and channel during the year.

Encase it wasn't clear, there is more content coming to the channel in the new year, so please do subscribe to the channel which can be found here: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCIM5kMZw90Ml7zUFOuaLRgg

Top 16 Best Bots of 2016: #TF16Of2016 (#TF16BestOf2016)

Kind of an old hashtag started in 2013 started by @Essex_Alpha  (if he's even still around, I'm honestly not sure), which was a hashtag where you talked about the best bots you got that year. They didn't need to be brand new this year, just ones you got. Well, I want to do my own one of these, but with a little twist. As you might be able to guess by the fact that the brackets in the title have another hashtag in them, while this one is covering the best, I am also working on a list of the sixteen worst. Because you can't have one without the other... well here you can but I'm on a small holiday, and I want to write! None of these are full reviews, it is still a Top X list, but if there are any you'd like to see a full review on, if one doesn't exist already, let me know and I'll get one up as soon as I can. So lets get too it, shall we?

A Charlie Brown Christmas: Time for a Blast to the Past

Behold, what now has the title of the oldest thing reviewed on this site. But for a confession, I... never saw it before now. I don't know why, I've heard time and time again that its a classic, yet, somehow I always missed it, to the point where I don't even know if its been aired here since it was first shown back in the 60's. So how well does it hold up now?

Opening Impressions: Shantae 1/2 Genie Hero

Did this literally just come out? Yes. Did I back it on Kickstarter? No. Why am I doing this now? Because I haven't had the time to do the impressions I promised last week, going to do a Christmas review on Sunday, and was playing this on my Vita on the train ride to and from work today, so I have it on the mind. Lets do this!

First Impressions: Transformers The Last Knight

"Now to see if Michael Bay wants his title back in The Last Knight." You know, when I wrote that, I was assuming, hoping I had until the Superbowl to find out, as every other Transformers trailer has come out during the Superbowl. So why break it up now? Well wishful thinking is that the review of Jem is what brought the trailer out so early. Realistically, its Rouge One, everyone fighting to have their trailers shown before the new Star Wars movie. Will you be seeing more First Impressions on here in the coming weeks as a result? Probably, seeing as I haven't done a solo one since... Ghostbusters 2016 are you F!@#*(! kidding me? Sorry for this taking longer then 24 hours, but if you've seen my reviews on the first four Bayformers movies, then you know why I've been procrastinating. No, I'm not going to hide it, I've been putting off writing this post because of the last movie, in fact I'm continuing to put off writing about the trailer in the post itself because of Age of Extinction.

Raise your hand if you think that tag line isn't going to go anywhere?

Pokemon Adventures; Ruby and Sapphire: I'm out of time and all I got is 80 days

Yes I did try going for the Madonna song reference, I couldn't think of anything better.

Let us travel forward in time once again, because thankfully we still can for now. At least this timeline isn't as confusing as the main game's timeline, which even that pails in comparison to something like the Zelda timeline. This is now one year after the events of Gold, Silver and Crystal, and we travel to the pokemon region I know and love, the Hoenn region.

Jem and the Holograms 2015: A new challenger approaches

To many, its generally accepted that Hasbro's endeavors into Live action movies... haven't gone too well. You've got the unfortunate juggernaut of Bayformers which have gotten worse over the years due to poor direction, movies like Battleship where you wonder who thought this would be a good idea in the first place, and now this movie. A movie that was in cinemas for a week before getting pulled because of how bad it is, one that's so blatantly pandering to the teenage audience that it makes people in my generation, hate my generation. So what are my thoughts on this movie?

Opening Impressions: Pokemon Sun and Moon anime

I know you're probably sick of Pokemon stuff, but I want to cash in on the Sun and Moon hype. But I'm only on Ula Ula island, and there are plans for a video review of it in December. So what to do... First two english episodes of the new anime are out thanks to Europe you say? Sold. Forewarn, like with every anime I do, unless an english dub will never happen, a la 10+ years old, I review the english dubs, because it grounds the basis for how I can review them (or more bluntly, I can review English voice actors, not really Japanese ones as I'm not fluent in Japanese.

Mediaholics Cinema: Lucario and the Mystery of Mew

Time for the intro of the new Legendary Pokemon Lucari... oh, wait... Though alas, no video for tomorrow.

Link to video here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C62KDeo9wLI

Mediaholics Review: Pokemon Generation 2

Five regions down, one more to go before Sun and Moon. Now lets travel back to Kanto, and go a little to the left of some really big mountains. Clearly someone in Oak's staff didn't do their job right.

Link to review (If player isn't working): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kZ5pCOkv7uU

Mediaholics Cinema: Jirachi Wishmaker

Hoenn is where the heart is, and its time for some wishes to come true... now to find Star Cave and Mt Freeze. Oricorio, mind giving us a hand?

Link to video (Should player not work):https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-WS5IzCcs2w

Mediaholics Cinema: Spell of the Unown

How to explain the plot holes? Because bitch he's Entei. What do me and Marcus think of this classic Pokemon movie? Time to start the Week of Pokemon.

Link to video (should player not work): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k2NIDayqNEQ

Pokemon Adventures Gold, Silver and Crystal Arc: THE PODCAST IS HERE TOO!

We've gotten on several boats before we went across some kinda steep mountains. We're getting to those games soon, I promise. But hey, at least we can talk about them now. Let us go to the Jhoto region, one year after the events of Yellow, and take a peak into the life of the breeder, the trader, and the catcher.

Ghostbusters 2016 Extended Cut: This is a pitchfork free zone people, put them away

I said it before, I'll say it again. I have no issue with the female focused main cast. Now can we please just talk about this without starting a war in any comments section again? I do know what I said in the Chima opening impressions is quite over exaggerated, but to many, that's how it felt. The world seemed to forget that it was ok to either want to see a movie, or to not see it because they didn't want to. The trailers for this movie, any way you look at them, did not make the movie look good at all, but many who tried to talk about the movie for the movie itself were attacked on both sides of the extremes. If you were seeing the movie, then you were disgracing the original's legacy. If you didn't, then you were a racist, sexist, homophobic piece of scum that deserved to be subjected to what some call modern day witch hunts. Throw in people cyber bullying the cast and director, with them also saying things that were not painting them in a good light, and you have a PR manager's worst nightmare. Unlike Dawn of Justice. I did see this movie at the cinema. I was bored, had a free ticket to any movie I wanted, had already seen Suicide Squad and nothing else was on. At least the cinema was mostly quiet. But, lets talk about the extended cut of the movie, the supposed superior version of the movie...

Opening Impressions: Legends of Chima

Well, to be fair, evolution makes a bit more sense here then it does in other things I know, like the Archie sonic universe, the adult link timeline in Legend of Zelda, some Pokemon evolutions... come to think about it, a lot of the things make you question the theory of evolution. So, three episodes of the show have been put onto LEGO's youtube channel (or at least three are on there and more are being lost to Youtube's dumb autoplay system). So thanks to some curiosity via LEGO Dimensions (Eris is a go to character for me along with Supergirl), lets delve into the first three episodes of LEGO's Legends of Chima.

The A-Team (2010): Age of Extinction done well?

The modern reboots, a cinema trend that doesn't seem to be going away. I'm honestly not sure which has been getting it worse, super hero movies or reboots. Some have been regarded as greats in their own way, others will go down in history for all the wrong reasons, and others still... most people tend to forget. This one from what I can tell is in that third category, but to me that is debatable. The A Team itself was a show that ran in the 80's about a team of basically mercenaries who were members of the army, but were committed of a crime they didn't commit, with the episodes being about them helping people on their travels. A movie came out in 2010, and that's what we're reviewing today, and "I swear I'm totally not reviewing this because LEGO Dimensions peaked my curiosity in it again and this is totally not going to become a reoccurring thing at the moment with some things like LEGO Chima on Wednesday".

Galvatron's Army: This, is a lot of cons

So, literally yesterday, at time of writing, Galvatron got a bit of a boost to his army. To fans of Generation 1, they know that his personal subset of the Decepticons was the Sweeps, Scourge, Cyclonus, and himself. They were to Galvatron, what Starscream and the Seekers were to Megatron. So lets take a look at them. Here are all of them... as photographed by me with no proper set up on my bed with a phone camera...

Transformers Prime First Edition Deluxe Class Starscream: Someone's been looking after their figure...

I've gotten a few more Facebook purchase characters, and this one just happens to be the one I've got with me right now, so lets take a look at one of the earliest Transformers Prime characters. It was either going to be this or Cybertron Wing Saber, I'd rather not let childhood fantasy take over two weeks in a row.

Starting with the jet mode, and with the exception of a bit of undercarriage for his legs, this is one very nice looking jet mode. I should say while it is a lot of undercarriage for a jet this size, it still isn't robot under a jet syndrome, so in comparison, to me its a bit. However said robot kibble does take away the sleek look when looking at it from any direction other then from the top, his hips do unfortunately make up quite the aerodynamic breaking wall. What's personally annoying is that I do get a bit of enjoyment from finding gerwalk modes for jetformers, but you can't really do one for Starscream here as his hips are always attached to the nosecone of the jet. To the jetformer fans, there's also no real landing gear, just nubs on his feet and top of his pelvis. Still it is a nice jet mode, now onto the robot mode.

Yes this is from Optibotamis' review, it was the best picture I could find

Mediaholics Review: Pokemon Generation Six

Link to video should it not work (Update your video player iOS and Android users): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A2ZYILk3yUw

No I'm not going to quote the lyrics of the anime opening this time, have you heard them? The three English ones for gen 6 suck.  The Mediaholics Pokemon World Tour continues as we travel to France... I mean Kalos. Excuse the coughing though.

Music credits go to FL Remix, Mixeli, Mewmore, GlitchxCity,  and Kamex. Go check out their channels, as they do great remixing work.

Song names and remixers:

Battle! Kalos Gym Leader: Pokémon XY & Z [Orchestral Remix]
FL.Remix

Pokémon X & Y: Elite 4 Battle Music Remix
FL.Remix

Pokemon XYZ Music: Ash-Greninja Theme
Mixeli

Mewmore / 'Lisia's Theme' (Remix) from Pokémon Omega Ruby/Alpha Sapphire
Mewmore

Mewmore / 'Zinnia's Theme' (Remix) from Pokémon Omega Ruby/Alpha Sapphire
Mewmore

Mewmore / 'Battle Zinnia' (Remix) from Pokémon Omega Ruby/Alpha Sapphire
Mewmore

Mewmore / 'Lumiose City' (Remix) from Pokémon X and Y
Mewmore

Hoenn Battle Frontier Brain Remix v.II
GlitchxCity

X and Y Champion Diantha Remix
GlitchxCity

Pokémon R/S/E - Vs. Steven Remix
Kamex

Pokemon X and Y - Vs. Lysandre Remix
Kamex

Pokémon ΩR/αS - Wally Battle Theme Remix
Kamex

Pokemon X and Y - Battle Vs. Diantha Remix
Kamex

Super Mystery Dungeon Lush Forest Remix
GlitchxCity

You can find the Generation I review here: https://youtu.be/gsKSSXWfzQg
You can find the Generation V review written by Blaster (because he was the only one he could get in contact with that has either played the game, or has a more balanced view of the game) here: http://mediaholicreviews.blogspot.com.au/2016/09/pokemon-generation-5-what-many-dub-as.html

The Generation IV review can be found here: https://youtu.be/D1fHScrSgmQ

Transformers Cybertron Leader Class Optimus Prime: Time for an old boy

I've gone on record saying that I stopped collecting Transformers toys originally back in Cybertron, with my last one being Cybertron Jetfire. But, I will admit, I always wanted Cybertron Prime, and Cybertron Megatron, which is why I jumped at the chance to get one second hand on a Facebook group I'm on... and Bayformers 1 Voyager Blackout. I openly admit with this one that nostalgic dreaming may cloud my judgement with this one, but I am still reviewing this toy.

Pokemon Adventures Yellow Arc: Destroying the Pokemon World before it was cool

https://twitter.com/Blaster5426/status/773122018577219584 You asked for this, and now we're going to be doing this until September next year, and probably coming back to it once new arcs are finished, but thankfully that takes a while. And we're doing it in order because it is a story that, for the most part, follows a standard timeline in order of the games release. this is going to be fun, so shall we see how Kanto has gotten on two years after Red won the Pokemon League?

The Angry Birds Movie: I don't know if I should be happy, or sad

Video Game movies... have not had a good track record, have they? Taking out movies like The King of Kong and Wreck It Ralph, as they're more movies based on video games as a whole, rather then being a video game movie, we're left with "gems" like Super Mario Brothers, the Street Fighter and Mortal Kombat movies, Dead or Alive, Warcraft, and that's just the ones I recall off the top of my head, all of them I've heard of in passing. At this point, mediocre would put it at the top. So lets take a look at the newest member to the club of video game movies, from a game who's plot is about... throwing birds at pigs via a slingshot because they stole their eggs... Franchises have been made with smaller plots, so lets see how well the silver screen treated these birds.

Mediaholics Review: Pokemon Generation Four (Video)

Direct link to video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D1fHScrSgmQ
Fun Fact: This image was one of Blaster's first desktop backgrounds on his school laptop

"We will be heroes, we can change the world if we try". We will stand up, for what is right, we will be brave, we're ready to fight... No point finishing those two as we still have 3 more generations to do by the end of the year. Because we can't stop talking about Pokemon, its time for the Mediaholics team to talk about Pokemon Generation IV, on the day it was originally available in Japan. How well does the first move to 3D and the jump to the Nintendo DS hold up 10 years later (no joke) and how does "It all [come] together"

You can find the Generation I review here: https://youtu.be/gsKSSXWfzQg

You can find the Generation V review written by Blaster (because he was the only one he could get in contact with that has either played the game, or has a more balanced view of the game) here: http://mediaholicreviews.blogspot.com...

LEGO Dimensions Year 3 wishlist

So with Year 2 about to start, and people voicing in with what they want to see in a potential Year 3, I thought it might be fun to voice my own opinions on this idea, with what I'd like to see in Year 3. Will most of these happen, I doubt it for several different reasons. This is not meant to be taken as fact, this is just some ideas that, if possible, I'd like to see. This is my notes for this post though, as time constraints due to IRL work, and projects for here have been eating up a lot of my free time. I did want to add MoC pictures from what I can do in a piece of software called LEGO Digital Designer, to be some visual material for the post, but sadly time got the better of me. I do want to build them though, and once I get the time, I'll try my hand at them and upload them for you all to see, along with any ideas you may have. I did try to limit franchises, and I capped possibilities, in terms of age rating to M at the oldest (being the Australian equivalent of a PG-13 in terms of ESRB), as that's what looks to be the rule for the real sets and game. In terms of naming, the structure is type of pack (contents in terms of minifigs and first build)

LEGO Dimensions: Who be th' bad guy in 'tis again?

If ye don't like th' scurvy pirate shout, thar be a version 'o 'tis review in normal English here: http://mediaholicreviews.blogspot.com/2016/09/lego-dimensions-who-is-bad-guy-in-this.html
'tis was also a direct copy paste from 'tis site here: http://postlikeapirate.com/ due to 'tis bein' more 'o a gag, so excuse any weird spellin' from th' tavern. I did give a go' 'n catch all 'o them. Now onto th' review savvy. 

No seriously, who? thar be someone tryin' to reconstruct th' multiverses 'n rebuild them in his own image, but we break a lot 'o thin's in these games, th' golden rule be "If it's made 'o LEGO, it can be destroyed" after all. Though then again, 'tis be th' opposite extreme to th' LEGO movie, which was all 'bout followin' instructions to th' letter 'n killin' imagination...  

"Totally not gettin' 'tis when it comes out, what would ever gift ye that idea..."

LEGO Dimensions: Who is the bad guy in this again?

Very quick, before going on as this is before the joke of the title, while late, in the spirit of Talk like a Pirate Day, there is a version of this review in Pirate that you can see here: http://mediaholicreviews.blogspot.com/2016/09/lego-dimensions-who-be-th-bad-guy-in.html

No seriously, who? There is someone trying to reconstruct the multiverses and rebuild them in his own image, but we break a lot of things in these games, the golden rule is "If it’s made of LEGO, it can be destroyed" after all. Though then again, this is the opposite extreme to the LEGO movie, which was all about following instructions to the letter and killing imagination...

"Totally not getting this when it comes out, what would ever give you that idea..."

Pokemon Generation 5: What many dub as the racist games

You know, using that as the title, it reminds me of one line used in the intro song for the first Black and White anime season, "It's not always Black and White". How fitting when you see some of the more bat crap crazy ideas currently getting attention.

Continuing from where we were in February, and because no one I know thinks they can be unbiased when talking about this generation, this one's going to be a written review. No one but yours truly for this, as we tackle Pokemon Black Version, Pokemon White Version, and the direct sequels Pokemon Black Version 2 and Pokemon White Version 2 (which I'll be referring to as Black, White, Black 2 and White 2 for the remainder of this review).

Combiner Wars Sky Reign (minus Hound): Combiners, now with 100% more cats

Who here is sick of people talking about Combiner Wars? Who here is sick of all the repaints? Who here is probably telling me I have no life because I review kids toys? To those I say: You have seen what's commonly covered on this site right? Trust me, this will probably be the last time Combiner Wars gets covered... at least gestalts. I do have a few Legends class characters from the line, just not the rest of their teams when applicable. So, lets finish off Combiner Wars before Titans Return goes to far ahead... I've got time... I hope... For those wanting to see a review of Hound, look up my review of Combiner Wars Swindle, I cover the two of them together. Also so that I can power through these: Deluxe figures that make up the limbs: Arm mode is half robot, half car with a hand on its foot, and the Leg mode is a compressed car with a foot in its exhaust.

Gotta go to the gym more mate, you're meant to be the Autobot bouncer

F%&@ this game, F%&@ this game, F%&@ this game, F%&@ this game, F%&@ this game

Decided to change the order, Sky Reign is Wednesday.

Ugh... this game. This abomination. This atrocity. This disgrace. What better way to celebrate the 15th anniversary of a franchise then to almost single handily kill it? Granted, it wasn't alone, Genesis and Secret Rings helped. This game, is infamous in how bad, how broken, how glitchy it is. This game, above all others, is the reason the franchise has the reputation it does. This was one of the first games I got for my 360, due to a sale EB was doing, and that my only other option was a 16-bit collection where the games I'd want to play, I already had for the DS. I should note, I have not played the newest contender to this throne, I don't have the game, but in the spirit of No Man's Sky's release, let’s go back, to 2006, to a game that no longer had the protection of the time. When DLC was starting to become a thing, but not patches, to a game that had the franchise creator leave the company. If you thought Assassins Creed Unity and No Man's Sky was bad, well, I envy you, because dear, naive reader, you haven't seen anything yet. Welcome, to "SONIC the Hedgehog", or to go by its more common name, Sonic '06.

Pokemon Adventures Red/ Green/ Blue Arc: It's Kanto as you always imagined it

I hope you like Pokemon, because you're going to see a lot of it in the next few months. So to kick start the spa... I mean content, lets take a look at a part of the franchise that, while it gets more attention then some, its nowhere near as known as the main three, being the games, TCG and anime. The franchise has had several Manga incarnations, but the one that many bring up is Pokemon Adventures. I get the feeling some are going "But its the first of the month, why is this not a comic review?!" To answer that, its pretty simple. I see comics and manga the same way as I see western animation and anime, in that they're basically the same except for a few changes. The main differences between them? Manga are normally longer then standard comic books, in that Manga are almost small novel sized, where as comics, before getting their complete arc releases, tend to be no bigger then a magazine, being generous. Manga also tends to mimic the anime art style, but to my knowledge, primarily stay black and white, in that there is no colour in them outside of the front and back covers. Are there more differences? Yes, but most of them are culture based. Yes US, there are more countries in the world then yours, or was the .au in the web address for this site not enough of a clue? I know I don't talk with an auzzie bogan accent but still.

Mediaholics Cinema: Jem and the Holograms Episodes 1-5

 For those who can't see the video, link to it is here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OjW3I4tHpXQ

Welcome to the Mediaholics Cinema. Tonight, we are airing the first five episodes of Jem and the Holograms. Why? Because we hate ourselves and want to put more effort into learning about the franchise then the movie team did for the 2015 movie. Do note, THIS DOES NOT SHOW THE ORIGINAL EPISODES. This is a commentary on them.

Opinion piece: Fan projects, and take downs

Recently two fan projects have come out and quickly been taken down. Another Metroid 2 Remake, and Pokemon Uranium version. While I wasn't able to get Metroid 2 before it got taken down, though versions are still available online, I do have Uranium's install. But them being taken down does raise a question, should they have been taken down?

Legally, yes. Nintendo was well in their rights to do it and to them, they have to. The games do infringe on copyright, using their IP's without their permission. Companies do still have to protect their IP's because if they have to take down things that do put them in a negative light, they would have a stronger case because letting them thrive, the defendant can just go "well if they can get away with it then why can't I?" More often then not, these kinds of projects fly under the radar of the companies and if they do find them, and they're getting a lot of traffic, then they tend to ignore them, claim they had no idea they were a thing. Case in point using one that I've covered here, Pokemon Zeta looks to still be around, just that development has ceased for their current project, Pokemon Insurgence. It raises the question "Why would they?" as the same thing applies to fan animations, fan art, song remixes, mods and more. Well, with a few odd exceptions on the more darker side of the internet, it's free promotion material, so they only get involved when it gets enough public attention. For Nintendo, it seems to be the highly publicised fan games, but there are other examples of it from other companies.

Is it the only option? Not always. For every AM2R and Super Mario 64 HD Remaster, there are cases like Mega Man x Street Fighter, a game Capcom endorsed and promoted. One option Nintendo could do is come to these fans and say "if you let us take a large chunk of the sales for royalties and no PC version, we'll put your game onto our eshop", it would be free money to them along with a way of finding fresh tallent that could handle smaller projects. Its also a potential way to help with release dry spells like what's happening for the WiiU where the next and potentially last pure WiiU game is Paper Mario Colour Splash. While yes, the devs of the games would potentially be getting screwed over in terms of money, at the same time though most of them are making these kinds of games on a budget of nothing and putting them out for nothing, so to them, some money is better then no money. And in the case of quality control, Nintendo could easy say "if your game doesn't meet our expectations, we'll send a cease and desist" wading out the cheep cash grabs from the quality projects. Is it flawless? No, but at least it's better then "Anything that is not made by us is not allowed to exist".

At the same time, for projects like Uranium, what might be a better idea is to turn it into its own franchise, akin to something like Freedom Planet was to the Sonic Franchise. All they'd have to do is remove the connections to Pokemon like calling them Pokemon, changing Pokeballs to something else, and removing any main series Pokemon that are in teh game if any exist. I think all the assets in it, from what I've seen, are original aside from things like Pokeballs, so the changes would be minimal. This also lets them put the game onto Steam, and get some money for their efforts because legally, its not a Pokemon game. Its how third party transformers are still allowed to be a thing because legally, they aren't those characters.

It's a legal grey area, and there's no right answer, so the question becomes "what do you think is the better idea?"

Deadpool: Anyone here know how to fix 4th walls?

A note to parents who read this. While Killing Joke and Dawn of Justice were rated R, to me, they never felt like it, so I didn't review them as such. Here, while it was still MA15+, I can see why this was rated R for the US. Consider this a warning, as I'm not going to censor this, I'm not going to sugar coat it. If you don't want your child reading something that brings attention to explicit material, stop them from reading this now.

BIONICLE 2016 Uniters: /Toa and only villain coming out here

Yes I am still bitter about that, but lets move on, shall we? To the main sets!

Red vs Blue: Incompetency incarnate

We've fought wars over lots of things. True world wars over resources and political structures, internet culture fights a new war every other day it seems (What is it now?), gaming culture fights millions of identical wars in the current onslaught of shooters and action games. But, I'd like to present to you something that some consider diabolical. A war so dangerous, that it has no clear end, one fought on thousands of battlefields, most of which we may never see. A war where the casualty cost is high, with soldiers pitted in a battle with similar gear, all because they want to kill each other, and steal flags... Sounds stupid, doesn't it? Well, a stupid war, with a stupid goal needs to be fought, with stupid soldiers. Welcome, to Red vs Blue.

BIONICLE 2016 Creatures: Rahi sounds more badass, just saying

The joys of BIONICLE sets from a reviewer's perspective: Most of them are clones, so I can get through six in one day. Why? Because that's exactly what I'm doing. All I can review are the Summer (for here) sets of this year, can't do the winter wave because they're not being released here, which I am a bit bitter about because they look awesome, and more interesting then the Skull things from last year.

The Killing Joke: Sometimes all it takes is one bad day

A few things before I start. First, what does it take to get an R18 rating for people in America, this is MA15+ along with Deadpool. Also: Two timely movie reviews in a row? Does this count as a comic review? It's directly based off a comic, that's good enough right? No? Well I'm doing it anyway. Regarded as the backstory of The Joker, armed with an all star cast and crew "and an R18 rating" in America, seriously? Regardless, this got attention, this got hype, did it deliver?

Batman V Superman; Dawn of Justice Ultimate Edition: I think you mean Batman in Blue vs Batman in Black; Dawn of the Jesus Symbolism Cluttered Edition

The overly long name for the review of the overly long movie is entirely intentional.

Batman V Superman: Dawn of Justice. What many regard as the most dissapointing movie of this year. Panned by many, though more people wanted to see it, so many debate weatehr Ghostbusters is worse. Some think I may not have much to say about the movie that hasn't already been said. But, my view of the movie? Well, let me tell you what I think, and probably in less time then the movie itself. Oh and one thing, spoilers ahead.

No idea why, but for some reason the concept reminds me of the last part of Acadeca

Toys to Life: DLC given physical form

So... these are a thing... Shall we take a look at them? I should note that all I'm reviewing is what I have. I have one Skylander, being Spyro, but he's in bad condition due to being pre-owned, so to review it would be a bad sample size. Going from oldest to newest:

Pokemon Go: First Impressions

Everyone that ever played a core Pokemon game probably imagined what would it be like if Pokemon were real. Thanks to the advances in technology, we have that in a free to play smartphone app called Pokemon Go. How it works is that your phone locates you via GPS tracking and wild pokemon spawn a little aways from you, so you’ll have to go out and find them. It’s basically an improved Pokewalker from when Heartgold/SoulSilver came out. Although instead of it being a pedometer where you can cheat steps in by shaking it, you have to physically move your location.

If you live near a town, you’ll probably notice little blue markers by some locations. Those are called Pokespots. When you get close to one, the Pokespot will grant you items when you interact with it on your phone. People can use lure modules at pokespots and they’re marked by swirling cherry blossoms near the pokespot. Lure modules lure nearby pokemon towards them. Don’t get confused with the incense which only work for you.

Some locations can become gyms too. When you pick a team as you reach level 5 (either Red, Yellow, or Blue), you can take on these gyms. You can either take a gym of a different team or you can add a pokemon to the gym of the same color as you. When you add a pokemon they will stay at that gym, but if they lose while you’re away, they automatically come back to you even if the gym is far away.

Pokemon Go uses AR to show a pokemon in front of you using the phone camera. I find it easier to catch pokemon with the AR off, plus it saves battery. When you catch a pokemon, you get some candy of that species. Catching even weak pokemon is good because you need plenty of candy to level up and evolve some pokemon. Pokemon will have CP meaning Combat Points. The higher the Combat Points the stronger it is. There is no cap on CP from what I can see.

My personal experience with this app was quite fun. My friends would go on these outings to various locations like the park or the beach. There’s a town walking distance from my house with a lot of pokespots, so I usually go there for some items and some pokemon catches. After that we go to the beach and catch some wild water type pokemon as well as Dratini.

The amazing thing about Pokemon Go is how active it is. When you go out on let’s say an afternoon, a surprising amount of people play it. You can probably notice at least one person playing it and most likely have a stable conversation with them. The team system makes your neighborhood into, as my friend puts it, a socially acceptable gang war. People yelling out encouragements for their teams and trash talking other teams, all in good fun of course. Although the experience can depend on what kind of neighborhood you live in. As the loading screen with the Gyarados says, always stay aware of your surroundings.

This game is of course without its faults. The game tends to lag when catching pokemon. Sometimes the screen would glitch and you can’t press anything, usually what happens when you use battery saver. Most of the time in certain crowded areas, it would kick you out saying that the servers are busy. It’s very important to carry an external battery charger while you go out, this game tends to drain a lot of phone battery. Though that’s to be expected when you have the app open as you travel.

Pokemon Go is a fantastic idea that needs a lot of polishing. I can forgive all the faults because it’s still in beta. It’s playable for the most part, it’s basically a free early access game for everyone. Currently it’s very active and has scheduled updates from the company for various bug fixes. You can’t ignore how much of a phenomenon despite how buggy the game is. Various news stories on mainstream networks, and a surprising amount of how many people play the game never picked up a core pokemon game. It’s a great way for people to get introduced to the franchise. It’s still a great time to at least try it out. It’s free to play so you’re not really losing anything by downloading it. Pokemon fan or not, it’s a good introduction to the types of pokemon you can meet. It’s still an amazing experience and I highly recommend going out with friends to play together.

-keybug55

Ghostbusters II: Slime. Slime, everywhere!

I'm expecting Ghostbusters 2016 to be our around October, so you'll have to wait a bit for that review. So lets take a look at that other movie people claim ruined the franchise. Ghostbusters II, the sequel to the original movie. Is it as bad as everyone makes it out to be?

Nanoblock Eevee and Mewtwo sets: Sprites given life

On the few times I get genuine free time, when I don't have to do things for my paid job or work on content here, one of my hobbies is LEGO. I have tubs and trays of LEGO pieces from many different sets. I'm no stranger to these kinds of toys. Recently, I saw two little Nanoblock sets based on Eevee and Mewtwo, which I picked up to give myself a bit of a challenge. For you see, while I do have a lot of LEGO, I don't have much of anything else in those kinds of toys. Tried K-nex, but wasn't a thing I got into, but I can't remember why. I think it might have been bad instructions for the set itself. I had two Mega Blocks sets, one being a little orc gate and another being a robot. I do however remember that the robot had QC issues, or I tried mixing it with my bionicle sets due to issues with the possibility in comparison. Nanoblocks, were new to me entirely as I don't normally get things that are designed to be built, and just sit there. So, how well do these nano block sets hold up?

A few others that have been made, but I'm only focusing on Mewtwo and Eevee, as they're the ones I actually own

Well, starting off with the looks, they do their job well. If you get the angle right, they are basically sets of the Heart Gold/ Soul Silver overworld sprites, and at this size, they do look very cute. As I said though, these basically just sit there, they don't do much else. Granted, they don't need to.

However, I do need to stop the praise there. While I cannot speak about the rest of the sets Nanoblocks has put out, I get the feeling some of what I'm about to say applies to more then just Mewtwo and Eevee. For one, the design for some parts seem to focus more on the look rather then the tolerances of the pieces. This mostly applies to Mewtwo, due to his ears, arms, and cord on the back of his head (while building) are a nightmare. There is not enough friction in these locking points at times, and made worse when you're putting weight on a (to use a lego term) one stud lock. I actually had to modify Mewtwo to better secure his arms, and to add better feet. Mewtwo, thanks to its tail, is very back heavy, and with no heal spurs of any kind means its going to topple over a lot. Eevee is also easy to knock due to piece position, but that's limited to side to side. The instructions on these were also, while not the worst I've seen, could have been better, as they feel like they were running out of budget and had to limit the instructions to a page. Add to this the tiny pieces which a 1x1 piece is barely bigger then a small birthmark on the palm of my hand, and I can see people getting frustrated very quickly. Finally, while I am still tossing up whether to call it a benefit, or an issue, there were a lot of spare parts for both of them, and combined with them being hallow for the heads (no I'm not making an airhead joke), and you get the feeling you've skipped steps, but that might be my Lego experience talking.

If all you want is to have these, or other sets being on your desk at work, or to put on your book case, then these will fit that role well. On looks, they do their job well. Its getting to the completed build, and keeping it complete, that issues start showing up. I dread to think of things like the Eifel Tower as Nano blocks if build issues like with Mewtwo are common. Come Wednesday, Ghostbusters II, and next Sunday:

Zootopia: That Rac... Speciest?

It's the middle of the year, and you know what that means? New disney reviews to do. At this point I'm just going to go "screw it" and find more disney things to do for July/August. Today's target: Zootopia, the next one in Disney's animation renaissance... how many of these has there been now? May as well just be seasons. Well, lets see how this goes.

Transformers Combiner Wars Bruticus, Part 6: Onslaught: Time to activate the Scramble City Protocol

We're finally at the end of Bruticus, for that is left is the combiner boss himself, Onslaught. I've wasted enough of your time, let's just do it.

Green Lantern x Star Trek; Spectrum War: This is going to be interesting

So we come back to DC, find something new from IDW that doesn't involve giant robots or horses, and we get a cross over which I didn't think would happen, and didn't know people wanted. But, here we are. Yes, this is a thing, and its kinda making me want to do similar stories for a few months. First of the month being for a weird crossover. Thoughts?

So there are apparently several different covers for each of the six issues so, have what's probably a variant.

Transformers Combiner Wars Bruticus, Part 5; Shockwave: A weapon fit only for a combiner

Yes, I did promise to also review Onslaught and Bruticus. I said that thinking I wouldn't get sick while working on the 2016 Tech Games Fest. I was wrong. Shout outs to my cousin, for giving me his cold, and for keeping me awake that first night with his coughing that sounds like he's choking. That being said though, the event itself was a blast as per usual, though granted my health did get worse as the event went on. However, now that I'm back home, I am recovering, though more of the cold signs are appearing. Why I'm not doing Onslaught? Because I have a bad headache now, and doing the Legends class figure is easier then doing the voyager combiner boss. Time to put the Decepticon Scientist under the microscope.

Mario Kart Wii Mod: CTGP Revolution. MOAR TRACKS!!!

What? You actually thought I'd review the same game twice? I'm not cruel, this isn't Endless Eight. What I am reviewing though is a mod for the game. Mechanically, its the same thing, go check out the Mario Kart Wii review if you want to know how the game is mechanically. Before I go on though, one note. I will only review mods I can get working with little adjustments to consoles. I'm fine with installing extra data, I won't do things like disabling region lock. For this one, all you really need is the Homebrew channel, and a physical copy of Mario Kart Wii. I can confirm it works for PAL, NTSC-U and NTSC-J, though PAL is the only one I can 100% confirm, as that is the region I live.

Transformers Combiner Wars Bruticus, Part 4; Brawl: I wonder if he too, is playing soccer with other tanks

Side note, does World of Tanks really need a Rocket League mode? Part 4 of Bruticus, and now we move onto our tiny tank unit... may or may not have Fire Emblem on the mind for this one as I just finished playing Birthright, and as we are doing an army team after all... I'll try to avoid FE jokes... until I get to either Fates' review or if I can get an opening impression out for Tokyo Mirage Session #FE (Don't have it yet, waiting to get paid for IRL work first). Time to send in Brawl, and potentially piss of Melee fans (I never said I'd avoid Smash bros jokes).

Mario Kart Wii: Blue shells. Blue Shells, everywhere

"Ok, this is random, even for you. What gives?" I am going somewhere with this, just trust me. This requires a bit of prep work, and for that, we need to go back a bit, to one of the first Wii games I got actually, back in 2008. "Welcome to Mario Kart" Wii.

Mediaholics Podcast: Post E3 2016 Discussion