Action Figure #775: Marvel Legends Deathbird

 ....so, like a Vulture or a Crow?

 So while I know a bit of Gladiator... I don't know much about Deathbird beyond what X-Men TAS showed me. And, sadly, I never cared too much about the Shi'Ar Empire, despite how much I enjoyed Cosmic Marvel back in the day, so this is a character I'm not much familiar with... which will probably taint my appraisal of her.

 So... I know very little of her, but... Well, she looks like I remember her looking, and that's gotta count for something! There's a lot of neat sculpting  all around her body, so it's not a simple buck recycle. And the metallic purples look great on her. Also, not a gooner, but I think that they did a great job with her cleavage. Wait! Hear me out! Since these are toys meant to be found at toy aisles, characters with cleavages usually get very boring sculpts, like MoonDragon's monobreast. But here, the breasts look natural, and the top is very sultry, fitting for a villainess. I also love the mean look on her face, she looks real nasty. Her cape, full of scales, is also very gorgeous, the metallic purple paint did wonders for it. Sadly, not accessories for her, not even an alternate set of hands. 

 She's, sadly, sculpted on the old female sculpt, so no waist articulation and a pathetic ball jointed ab crunch. She has double jointed elbows and knees, with swivels on her biceps and thighs. Decent, but not the best. Her head tends to pop off when I move it, sadly. Her horns make her taller than Bucky Cap.

 Well, as somebody that doesn't care about this character... she's alright. She has no accessories, but I do like all the metallic purples, and she does look very evil, so I will find some use for her on my displays.

7.5

Action Figure #774: Marvel Legends Gladiator (Deathbird 2-Pack)

 And finally, the third Superman ripoff from Marvel.

 I'm not a super fan of the Shi'Ar saga of X-Men, but know what I'm a fan of? Annihilation Wave. And then, the Annihilators, and our boy Gladiator was part of both. Since he wasn't much of a priority, and he was kinda expensive, I kept putting it off on and on and on... But this two pack was my chance to finally get him!

 From what I can gather, this is an updated figure, and I can believe that, because I've never seen these thick shoulders before. Guess he never skips the military press! I think that due to the way the torso is cut, in a curve, and these shoulders being so wide, he is meant to have extra range, but they are no substitutes for butterfly joints. Still, he looks beefy and I like it. He comes with two fists, a wide open hand and a midway open hand that could work as him parrying an attack. I don't really like the wide-open hand, I don't think it would ever fit him. He also comes with a beautiful angry face that is oozing red energy from his eyes. If he was a villain, I'd stick him with that head forever. It's that good.

 Articulation is pretty good. Double jointed elbows and knees, swivels on his waist, thighs, boots and biceps. His ab crunch, on a hinge, is pretty good too. The cape hangs a bit loose, but I didn't feel as if it made it harder to balance him, I think the figure is so hefty that the cape can't get him out of balance. I feel like the shoulders are a bit too tight. The arms aren't super gummy, and the pegs seem to be sturdy, so I wouldn't worry too much. He is taller than Bucky Cap by a head, and a bit taller than the previous strong-guy buck.

 If this is the new big guy buck going forward... I don't mind it. I hope the smooth out the shoulders, that's for sure, but the rest of the figure feels sturdy, not gummy at all, and he looks great next to smaller figures.

8.5

Action Figure #773: Marvel Legends Uncanny Spider-Man (NightCrawler)

 Either you are an X-Man or a Spider-Man, you have to pick one.

 Worse than the Venom Family. Worse than the Batman Family... it's the Spider-Man family, now we've got dozens of 'em running around. But I'll cut Uncanny Spider-Man (Nightcrawler) some slack, because he looks cool and wields a sword.

 This little guy looks really cool, red and black worked for Miles, it worked for Kaine, so it sure as hell will work for Nightcrawler too! He seems to be using some new limbs, because the details on his arms and boots are sculpted in, and I don't recognize the torso at all, because this isn't the Amazing Fantasy Buck. But still, y'know, he looks really nice, he is a cool looking Spider-Man. And he has a tail too! He comes with a purple teleport effect, two open hands, two fists and... a single gripping hand for his single sword. Doesn't Night Crawler usually wield too? Regardless, two gripping hands would've been nice, and I don't think the grip on the sword is the best, because the curl of the fingers is too short, so there's some gapping between the sword and the fingers. Mind you, it's just a nitpick, the sword stays relatively firmly in place, I just think the grip could've been even better. And another thing... This isn't a gummy figure! It seems most of the gummy issues come from the new Vulcan buck, the biceps not fitting properly on the pegs, but I digress.

 Articulation is almost perfect. He has double jointed elbows and knees, swivels on thighs, biceps and waist... and I'm usually OK with that, but due to his weird feet, swivels on the boots would've been amazing to get him into weirder poses. He has butterfly joints and a hinged ab crunch with decent range. He is a bit shorter than Bucky Cap.

 This figure might just be the standout of the wave. Not only because of the really fun design for a Spider-Man, but because he also has good quality plastic. Nothing feels tight, no peg feels stressed... Why can't every Marvel Legends be like this?

9.0

Action Figure #772: Marvel Legends Hypno-Hustler

 Disco is back, baby!

 Never in my wildest dreams would I have guessed that the Hypno-Hustler, who's had like 3-4 different appearances, would've gotten a figure. But then again, the Fly had only two wearing the yellow costume, one in which he wrecked Moon Knight, and got a figure himself, so there are still chances for Kangaroo!

 For such an obscure character... they sure had fun! He seems to be sculpted on a retooled Sunfire buck, but he gets a few things on his torso, such as a thick neckpiece, some purple round sleeves on his shoulders and a belt that hangs over his waist. The boots are completely new too! While I don't remember him having these thick boots, must be a modern incarnation I'm not familiar with, the rest of the figure looks exactly like I remembered him. And special mention goes to his head sculpt, he looks menacing and silly at the same time. He comes with two fists, a left hand for cupping the guitar, and a right hand with a pick, for the guitar... and of course, his guitar and a microphone. I've two nitpicks, first, you can put the microphone on either hand, the one with the mic has a better grip but looks odd, and the cupping hand can hold it, but very loosely, and it looks awkward too. A gripping hand instead of a fist would've been much better. The other nitpick is that I think the guitar's strap is too long, so it falls off from him too easily. He also comes with two blast effects, and two smoke effects, for his boots... I don't remember this being an ability of his, so once again, must be some new incarnation of the character. Overall? The went above what one would expect for such an obscure character, and he doesn't feel gummy at all.

 Articulation-wise... It's a Sunfire buck, it's good. Double jointed elbows and knees, swivels on his biceps, thighs, boots and waist, and a hinged ab crunch. His afro makes him taller than Bucky Cap.

 And thus, a weirdo character only four of us remember gets a really great action figure. Plastic quality is great, which is weird for current Hasbro, the team had fun sculpting his head and accessories, being molded on a good buck makes him fun to play with... yeah, he's good, go get him!

8.0 

Action Figure #771: Marvel Legends Owl

 OWL? More like FIY, Fix It Yourself!

 Owl wasn't a character I was super interested in, but it was one I wanted ever since I read through Spider-Man, because he was one of Spidey's early foes, borrowed from Daredevil. He was a silly 70's villain, but he would've been a nice addition. And now he is here!.. and I kinda wish he wasn't.

 Well... I love the layered look. He has a brown underjacket below the green jacket, and he has a maroon scarf on top, so the layered look of the figure is pretty neat. The waist cut, however, isn't, but there's so much stuff on top on him that you'll barely notice. So, that aside... What is this look? The Owl I'm used to wears a red/pink bowtie, not a scarf, and his claws were way longer. I looked up photos of him, and, as hard as it was, I found a couple of him dressed like this, so it seems to be a modern look. Which is a bit weird, because he came in the retro-carded package they tend to use for the more classic designs, but I'll try not to let my preferences taint my view of the figure. And the green jacket is very nicely sculpted, it's all tattered and stuff. He comes with two open hands, without the claws, and an owl.

 So, the figure was kinda whack. His right arm was super stiff, so I had to put oil on it, so I had to remove the jackets, and... This is a Doc Ock reuse. I don't know which one, maybe the MCU Ock? Not sure. Lazy, lazy. But yeah, I had to oil up his arm because that swivel was going to break. Although, in it's the defense, the peg seems to be super sturdy, which is weird with modern Marvel Legends.

 The other issue, the claws came off very easily, so I had to glue them in place. Kinda lame if you ask me.

 So, after fixing the figure... He is kinda lame. The green jacket is very hard, so just turning his ball-jointed waist is kind of a pain in the neck. Moving his legs also feels cumbersome. They have swivels at the thighs and double jointed knees. And then the arms... The elbows are single jointed, but taking a page from Black Series, the cut is very deep, so you get a nice bend of over 90 degrees. But, taking this into account... why does he have swivels on his biceps? Bicep swivels are lovely... whenever Marvel isn't using their awful gummy plastic of their stiff shoulders that sometimes refuse to bend. But even overlooking this poor engineering choice... the green jacket goes over his shoulders, and it being so hard means that he can barely lift his arms. Lame. He is a hair taller than Buck Cap.

 In a word: Underwhelming. I wasn't expecting much, he was just another character I wanted because I loved early Spider-Man comics, but the execution left a lot to be desired. Most things could've been fixed by giving him a soft-plastic jacket, like the one Jubilee uses, and it probably would've made him easier to produce too. Meh.

5.0

Action Figure #770: Star Wars The Black Series Super Battle Droid (Super Battle Droid 2-Pack)

 These aren't the ones that say funny things.

 For a prequel defender, except Attack of the Clones the only movie worse than The Last Jedi, I am missing a ton of droids. Let's fix that! Here's the Super Battle Droid for starters, and, spoilers, maybe someone else will be coming home this March!

 Well, the Super Battle Droid has an awkward design, but I don't think it's quite a perfect likeness. For starters, I'm more partial to the exaggerated proportions of the Clone Wars show, because in that show they looked like hulking chunks of Metal ready to rain down pain on their enemies. A lot of the detail from the movies is here, it's just that it doesn't look as sharp as he does in the show, and I think the grey they chose to cast him in doesn't make him look as metallic as he did in the movies, so he ends up looking like a toy and not like a droid. Since he has so little paint already, maybe a black wash could've helped highlight all the edges in his design? Maybe. He comes with a single blaster accessory for his right arm. It's pretty cool.

 I accidentally realized that you can take off his head, and I didn't notice at the time, but you can also take away the front of his chest, like in the Republic Commando game! Pretty cool feature. I feel like once I removed it for the first time, the chest piece never stayed in place very firmly, but once you put the head back in it locks it in place, so no worries there. And for such a little gimmick... his insides are very nicely sculpted, and he has some added paint apps in there too... so I can't be too hard on the guy. The Black Series team did try.

 He has a small ball jointed ab-crunch, but he doesn't get much range beyond turning around. His elbow joints are a circular joint that can be rotated, and the forearms can be rotated too for extra articulation. The knee joins have similar engineering, but due to the way the legs are sculpted you can't turn them, so don't try. The pegs on the elbow joints are TINY, so be careful! His right elbow is a bit tight, so I can tell the forearm peg is getting stressed, but since the thing swivels, I don't think I'll loose much beyond the arm bend if I have to superglue it back on. While the articulation isn't spectacular, it's not like this android was very nimble anyways, so I can't fault it for that.

 In my figure's case, his hip joint is slightly off centered. I've managed to push the right hip back in, but it eventually goes out again. Bummer, I know it's not a big deal, but I just can't ignore the off-centered legs! He is a bit taller than Bucky Cap.

 He is alright, y'know? I honestly don't think much else could've been done with him. Maybe cast it in a more appropriate grey, make the pegs a bit thicker? I think they did the most that they could with him, and even added the extra innards for battle damage. So while it's not the most exciting action figure ever, he gets the job done.

6.5

Action Figure #769: Star Wars The Black Series Phase 1 Clone Trooper (Super Battle Droid 2-Pack)

 Audiences liked Boba Fett so much we got an entire army of him!

 Alright, alright, I admit it... I kinda like clones now, so I had to get a Phase 1 Clone Trooper sometime, and what better than this little 2-Pack with a Droid I was sorely lacking? And I gotta say, for a budget army-builder release, I love the little cardboard box these two guys came in.

 Well... It's a Phase 1 clone trooper. The one thing that caught my eye is that the figure feels a little gummier than your average Black Series figure, but since the engineering is simpler, and better, than Marvel Legends, nothing feels as if it would break. What's more, the softness of the figure kinda feels nice, everything is very smooth. Unlike the Storm Troopers, this guy has a matte finish, so no glossy looking armor. The paint apps are very simple, this is a generic Clone Trooper after all, and he has no weathering. I like it that way, but I know some people like their clones dirtier. His helmet can be removed, and he comes with two different fire-arms. I kinda love the longer rifle, makes him stand out among my other troopers.

 He has single jointed elbows and knees, the cuts allow for bends slightly beyond 90 degrees. Thanks to the butterfly joints and the ball jointed ab crunch you can get some nice poses out of this guy. He has swivels on his thighs, which you must use to lift his legs due to the shape of his armor. Pauldrons can be rotated, so his arms don't lose any range. The one thing that caught my eye is that unlike other clones I own, his kneepads hang loose instead of being glued to the leg armor, not my favorite design choice, but it's not too bad. He is a bit shorter than Bucky Cap.

 So... I kinda love this guy. He is super simple, but Clone Wars has made me love Clones, and I think they pulled off the figure very nicely. I kinda felt the same way about the Storm Troopers. They are very simple designs, and maybe that's a strength when turning them into toys, but I think he looks fantastic, and has been a pleasure to pose around with his rifle.

7.5

Game #1352: Horizon Chase Turbo

 Huh? Where's Aloy?

 Talk about fast games! Horizon Chase Turbo is a love letter to oldschool 2-D, behind-the-back racing games.

 The game is very fast, but once you get the hang of it, it becomes very manageable. What is rather annoying is that the AI feels very rubber-bandy? Kinda? You are meant to start at the last place, and slowly work your way up throughout every round. You'll never be on the first place on the first lap. Yeah, rubber-bandy isn't the word for it, but I lack for a better term.

 The only thing I absolutely hate is how progression is gated behind points. You will absolutely need to replay older stages and aim for better spots, for more points and thus unlock more stages. But gaining points, and unlocking cars, goes beyond first place, you also need to collect every coin on every race. And this is a game in which practice makes perfect. After a few runs I was perfecting every single race, unlocking every car and what not, but I hated being FORCED to replay older levels to unlock new ones. There are plenty of tracks, for what it's worth.

 You have to look out for your fuel gauge, because if you run out you will lose the race, so you have to memorize where the fuel tanks are. Sometimes you have to choose between coins or fuel tanks.

 Something I hated is that you absolutely must update the game, otherwise the game will bombard you with reminders to update the game between menu prompts. Who designed this?

 It was quite a fun game, and you can play the main campaign in local co-op, which made it more fun, but I'm not fond of game-design that forces you to replay old stuff in order to progress. After I unlocked every race, but not every care, legitimately, I used codes to unlock every car and color, so at least there's that.

7.0

Game #1351: Deathwish Enforcers

 No sunsets here, just hookers and pimps.

 I loved Sunset Rider, and the developers of Deathwish Enforcers did too because this is a clone through and through.

 It's a very simple and somewhat slow-paced, you can't dash and walking speed is very slow, side-scrolling shoot-em up that trades cowboys and horses for a very 70's pulpy Miami Vice vibe, full of 2-D nudity, hookers, pimps, drugs and... even zombies. No, really, the game tries very hard to be edgy, it's filled with 2-D bare boobs and jiggling boobs, and loads and loads of 69's written all over the place.

 Edge aside, the game is very brutal, you carry your power ups, including your screen-clearing bombs until you get hit and lose a life. You can change the amount of continues and lives in the options menu, but the game is hardcore!

 For the most part it's pretty competent, but it has a few oversights. For instances, beams you can cross overhead are sometimes obscured by the health-bars. Or when you are on a high level than ground, shooting while crouching will have you aim downwards instead of shooting in front of you, which is very annoying, sliding is disabled too in this instances. Some parts of the stages don't make it clear enough that you can jump upwards or below

 It's no Sunset Riders, that's for sure, but it's fun for how little it lasts.

6.5

Game #1350: Nier Automata - The End of YoRHa Edition

 The rise of the robot waifus.

 Took me too long to play Nier Automata: The End of YoRHa Edition considering how much I love weird Japanese Games, quirky Japanese directors and Platinum Games but better late than never!

 So, at first I didn't really like the game. I usually love Platinum games, but I wasn't feeling the combat. Holding down a button all the time to constantly pelter the enemies with bullets, while mixing weak and strong attacks just felt kinda meh. I also am so very tired of modern gaming trends, such as empty worlds and having to boringly gather items to upgrade my weapons or craft stuff... it felt samey. The story was fine, but I didn't think it was anything worth writing home about. Oh, look, the robots are developing human emotions, humans at the end are just machines made of blood, yadda yadda.

 I also hated how if I died I had to go back to retrieve my body or lose all the chips I purchased and crafted with my hard earned money. A few times the game bugged out and my body was nowhere to be found. And what about how some quests were impossible to complete because their levels were way higher than mine? Ironically enough, all the story content was very easy because I was too overleveled for that... but too underleveled for some of the side content. I knew about the alternate endings, but I thought I would be done after the first playthrough.

 So, next playthrough, now you play with a different character and now I lose an attack button, being stuck with a single attack string and a charge attack, and gaining the ability to hack. I hated it.

 ...at first. All those side quests I was too underleveled to complete? Now with hacking I could cheese everything. I never liked the combat too much anyways, but 9S, this other character, made it easy with his overpowered charge attacks and hacking, plus, now I understood the chip system better and could turn myself into a lean, mean killing machine. Money was no longer an issue either.

 And then... only after playing the game twice with different characters do you unlock the next two routes, and while it's set in the same environment, now the second half of the game truly starts. The stakes rise higher, the plot gets much more interesting as 9S' sanity starts slipping and we get introduced to a third playable character, and even better, now dying is a game over and the annoying mechanic of having to retrieve your body is finally axed for good.

 Then, and only then, did I fall in love with the game.

 So yeah, I think it's a tough sell. I had to play about 20 hours before I was finally able to truly enjoy it, but once it did... Yeah, Automata is really good. I think it's a tad overrated, but it's still REALLY good. I liked it!

8.5

Game #1349: New Super Mario Bros. U Deluxe

 Might as well carry on.

 Alright, alright, let's catch up a bit, now with New Super Mario Bros. U Deluxe. I probably won't write about games I played last year, too late for that now, but it's not too late for this one!

 So, I'll make it quick and snappy. New to this subseries is the Squirrel power up, which is an alternate take on the Propeller costumes but with better vertical gliding and the ability to cling to walls. You also get baby Yoshis, which are Yoshis you have to carry and they get different abilities, such as encasing enemies in bubbles or producing light.

 Something I kinda hated is that they removed the Blue Toad, kinda. He is hidden behind the yellow Toad, you have to hold down the L button to pick him... but the Blue Toad and the Yellow Toad can't be used at the same time. If you are playing with four players, one of the players HAS to play as Toadette, which is sort of an easy mode, as she gets multiple jumps, gliding and her own unique power up... or they can either play as Nabbit, who can't use power ups, and is the most boring character, but he is invincible to anything but bottomless pits... being the extra easy mode. Forcing players to use easy modes is downright stupid.

 Packed alongside the main game is New Luigi Bros. U, which was a DLC campaign. This has as many levels as the original, they share an overworld, but stages are compltetely different. They are much shorter, but much harder. Of course, you can always use Nabbit to cruise through it.

 So... Well, it's more of the same. What was once new now feels predictable, as there really isn't much that makes this New NSMB stand out from any others in the series. So yeah, it's a perfectly safe game, it's fun, the stages are creative, but there's nothing really new about this franchise anymore. I won't fault it for it as long as the quality remains above par, unlike Pokemon.

6.0

Game #1348: Pokemon Scarlet

 Are we doing this again?

 So... while I haven't been writing about games, and I haven't been playing as many... I have played games, including this Pokemon Scarlet here. I wasn't planning on writing about games again since they jaded me a bit with how incomplete and buggy they are out of the box, but... man, this was something else.

 Let's start with the main gimmick, the open world. This is the first open world Pokemon game, and it sucks! For as much flak as Sword and Shield got, I believe that was the perfect template for what Pokemon should strive for. A large open area, akin to Pokemon Safari, but a structured and semi-linear main game. And there are multiple reasons as to why that is the best approach.

 For instance, having an open world means that there are no dungeons whatsoever. 90% of the caves are linear hallways, there are no block puzzles, nothing fun to do besides entering and exiting caves that look almost identical to one another. The world is littered with tiny glowing pixels that represents items, but there's nothing really special to be found while exploring beyond 32 stakes that hide four of the five legendary Pokemon.

 This extends to the towns, they are so boring. There are almost no important NPCs to talk to who may reward you with goodies, and beyond the Gyms, which are all identical, no building insides were designed. Towns have little to no personality, with very little to make them stand out, and what little they have... there's no point to it, since exploration rarely nets you anything truly special.

 And just like there are no dungeons and no puzzles, gyms have lost their dungeons too, now you have challenges, which are the stupidest minigames ever made. One is... pushing a giant olive through a net. Another is... just fight 3 trainers in a row. Another one is the world's lamest Simon says minigame. This feels like something made for babies. I understand that Pokemon games are for everybody, but at some point Nintendo has to acknowledge that most of the people that keep buying this junk are the adults that grew up with it. Mario is still fun, Mario is still creative, Mario still has optional challenges... Pokemon has nothing for adults beyond competitive fighting.

 Going back to the legendaries, by now we have over 1000 different Pokemon species... and there are only 400 in the game. That's pathetic. And there are only 5 Legendaries, one which is given to you from the start. During the DS days some idiots complained about having too many legendaries... man, legendaries were great, legendaries usually were rewards for dungeons or optional quests. They were extra stuff for players to do. Finding 32 stakes hidden throughout this empty world is so boring! I'd take fetch quests over them any day of the week.

 Then there's Tetralizing, because Pokemon feels like Digimon lately since they can't stick to a mechanic and add depth to it. Mega-evolutions were the best thing to happen to Pokemon, but then they tried different, and worse, tweaks to it, probably because designing new forms for Pokemon was too time consuming and Game Freak always takes the laziest approach possible. Tetralizing is at least interesting, because you could potentially change the type of your Pokemon and mess up your opponent, so I'm sure that it's a fun competitive mechanic... but for us that care about the single player experience, this is just a lengthy animation that adds a silly hat to your Pokemon and looks lame as hell.

 Paradox Pokemon are interesting, they are futuristic(Violet) or past(Scarlet) versions of Pokemon, but there are so few of them. They could've been fantastic additions as new Mega-Evolutions.

 And then, of course, as per usual, Game Freak always takes a couple of steps back with each new release. How come Pokemon X and Y had the best trainer customization throughout the entire series? Sure, in this game you have a more in-depth face-hair editor, but beyond gloves, shoes, socks, backpacks, hats and glasses... you are stuck with four stupid looking uniforms that you can't even change the colors of. They use the Pokemon Highschool theme as an excuse, but it's just gamefreak being lazy. Besides, the uniforms truly look stupid. And, of course, we are back to consumable TMs. They made changes to the formula that were beloved by everyone, like TMs that are multiple use, but they undo it. I swear, Game Freak are one of the dumbest developers around, and they get rewarded for it with great sales.

 And that's not even getting into the technical issues. The framerate is all over the place. Due to the open world, NPCs or Pokemon may walk in the middle of cutscenes or battles, which isn't gamebreaking but does look dumb. Plenty of times when initiating battles the camera just points at thin air. Where is Nintendo's seal of quality? No, really, this feels like shovelware with how poorly made it is. The game crashed a bunch o' times. A Nintendo game crashing, is this really their new standard? Oh, and since monsters don't de-spawn while battling, it's perfectly possible to exit a fight only to have a Pokemon standing directly over you, instantly triggering another battle.

 I will say that the game does have a few good elements to it. You are given three main objectives, Gym Leaders, Star Squad bosses and Titan Pokemon that you can tackle in any order. Nothing scales alongside you, so it's perfectly possible that you'll overlevel most areas by the time you reach them, particularly if you are thorough with capturing 'mons and what have you. To be honest, I prefer this approach to Final Fantasy VIII of having everything scale alongside you, but they could've taken certain measures, such as having the levels of the Pokemon you face on each trial change depending on how many you tackled before. So the first Gym Leader you tackle, regardless of who it is, will always have Pokemon at a certain level and so on. That would've fixed everything, but Game Freak doesn't get paid to think, I figure. Another thing I'll give them is that by the time you have unlocked every exploration ability... moving around the open world, as empty and forgettable that it is.... can be kinda fun.

 I also liked the final stretch of the game. It's the closest thing to a dungeon that the game has, and you have your three buddies running alongside you while bickering and talking, which reminded me a lot of X and Y, when your other buddies would sometimes run alongside you. How come X and Y already did some of the things this game does but better? Speaking of that... the story is kinda endearing at times, particularly everything involving Arven. The Cassiopeia storyline is too stupid for anyone over 3 years to find interesting, surprising or entertaining in any way.

 Also, the ending credits song is a total banger.

 I've played Pokemon my entire life. I've loved Pokemon my entire life. People disliked Pearl and Diamond... I didn't, I liked them a lot. Even their remakes which got low scores I considered to be really good. While most people hated Sword and Shield for how basic they were... I still thought they were decent games. I still do. But this is where that stops. This is a low quality, low effort game. Game Freak have gotten away with it because Pokemon's formula is simply fun, but this game just took too many steps back, and is just too unpolished to be worthy of having the "NINTENDO" label on their cover. This is downright shameful. If I was Nintendo I would take the IP away from GameFreak and give it to another developer to have a crack at it, because this is insulting. I was done with writing about games but this game was just so horrid that I couldn't help myself. It's THAT bad.

2.0

Action Figure #768: Power Rangers Lightning Collection S.P.D. B-Squad Blue Ranger

 Time for the main event!

 Well, now the main reason I bought this two pack, the S.P.D B-Squad Blue Ranger which was, kinda, the last SPD ranger I was missing, so the team is complete... for now, and yes, Spoilers!

 Much like the Yellow Ranger being a repaint of the Pink Ranger, this is a repaint of the Green Ranger, even the weapons are the same... although his' are painted blue instead of black. So, in order to learn how to slot his weapon, look up my SPD Green entry. Well, I do think this design looks better in blue, for what it's worth, BUT, matching up the "2" on his left side is a bit harder than with any other SPD ranger. And I know it's possible because it looked fine before I took him out of the box! He came with two gripping hands, a hand to hold his badge, his badge, an open palm hand, his unmasked head, his morpher, and his weapon in its two forms. Yes, one of the gripping hands is missing from the photo... because I gave it to the Green Ranger so that he could FINALLY properly gold his weapons! Blue Rangers tend to be nice like that.

 You know the deal about this, so let me copy paste a bit. Articulation follows everything this line has, with double jointed elbows and knees, butterfly joints, swivels on his biceps, thighs and boots, with a hinged waist a ball jointed diaphragm. Luckily, no drop-down hips. Well, this figure's shoulders aren't as tight as the Green or Red Rangers', so that's a good thing. He is almost as tall as Bucky Cap, which is weird because the red Ranger seemed shorter. Curious.

 He is a fun new addition to my collection, he is just as good as the other SPD ranger, at least the ones from the B-Squad, and I'm happy that I finally completed the team... for now.

8.0

Action Figure #767: Power Rangers Lightning Collection S.P.D. A-Squad Blue Ranger

 So... I'm collecting the A-Team now?

 Saban's deal was being as cheap as possible. It's the reason Power Rangers was made splicing pre-existing footage with new connective tissue. The actors were paid poorly, and when they had to make new costumes, they looked cheap. The S.P.D. A-Squad Blue Ranger as well as his team were made as cheap as possible: Reusing Megaranger/In Space helmets and equipping them with motocross protectors, a la Mortal Kombat Ninjas. I didn't want to collect this team, but I guess this 2-Pack will now force me to do it, huh?

 And this figures stays true to the 'as cheap as possible' philosophy. Well, let's be fair, a good amount of work went into the figure, a lot of pieces, the chest, the leg guards, the additions to the helmet... What they needed to sculpt, they did. The problem is that despiste the work that went into making the figure... he still looks lame as hell! And we have to also mention his accessories, he comes with two gripping hands, two fists, a rifle and a blast effect piece for the rifle. First of all, and more of a nitpick, securing the effect to the rifle was a pain, it kept falling off. But that's the least of its issues, the actual issue... is that his weapon has a trigger, but he has no trigger finger hand, so he'll NEVER hold his weapon well enough. That's just pathetic.

 Articulation is on par with the line. Swivels on his boots, thighs and biceps, double jointed elbows and knees, butterfly joints, a hinged waist a ball jointed ab crunch, so no issues there. He is a bit shorter than Bucky Cap.

 So, A-Squad... did anyone beyond the die-hards actually want these guys? These deep cuts would've been really neat after making other more important teams. Regardless, here is where I stand: This is a well made figure, the articulation is up to snuff, work went into the sculpt, and the only real issue is the lack of a trigger finger... BUT, one has to also keep in mind that the design is really lame. So make of that what you will.

6.5

Action Figure #766: Marvel Legends Triton

 Oh boy... another green skinned character...

 And now, the main event, Triton , the guy I actually needed. Triton is probably the Inhuman I know the least about, but... I was missing him, so I got him ASAP. Sadly, I had to cancel the Medusa two pack due to money issues, but I'll try getting them this year.

 Well, this guy seems to have a lot of new sculpting just for him. His legs and arms are all scaly, and not like the armored scaly legs, so it does seem to be a new figure, the torso too is unique. His head is a different shade of green than his body, which does look a bit odd, but I'm pretty sure he used to wear a body suit over his body that was also colored green. I might be wrong, so I won't take points away for it. Overall, I think he is OK. he comes with an alternate head, two fists and two open hands.

 Articulation is pretty good. He has some miserable butterfly joints, but they are there. He has swivels on his biceps, waist, thighs and boots, and his elbows and knees are double jointed, while his ab crunch is on a hinge. So far, so good...

 But the arms are disgustingly gummy. Like Spider-Man 2099. Those shoulder pegs are already looking stressed and none of his joints feel stiff, so it makes no sense... and yet, I know that some day, these WILL break. Goddammit, Hasbro. He is a bit taller than Bucky Cap.

 So... a character I don't care about beyond filling a team... made with some of the gummiest arms I've seen that I know will break at any moment? Nah. One has to be careful buying Marvel Legends these days. Just buy the characters you are missing.

4.0