Action Figure #828: Blokees Wolverine

 The short king got shorter.

 Well, why stop at one Blokees when I could have two, now with Wolverine joining the fray. This is actually my third Blokees, but my Deadpool broke. Twice. Ah, well!

 Well, while Aioria was fairly well organized, Wolverine was not AS much fun to build. Mind you, I didn't hate it, but unlike Aioria, Wolvie comes with many pieces that aren't numbered, so you have to look very carefully at the images in order to get the right side of things. It's not a huge deal, but it's something I noticed. The end result of Wolverine looks pretty nice, I love the deep yellow and dark blue, but he certainly looks a bit... cartoony, which I wasn't expecting since Aioria looked relatively anime-like. Still, it's a good looking figure.

 You end up with two heads, an angry and a neutral look, four shoulders, two have pegs for the shoulder pads, the other ones do not, and four hands, two clawed fists and two cupping hands.

 Articulation is excellent. Double jointed elbows and knees, with swivels on his thighs and biceps. The ab crunch, the neck and the waist are all ball jointed, and he even has toe-articulation! Not to mention butterfly joints. The shoulder pads click onto a peg that can be moved around a bit, and lets you play around with them. The only issue is that the shoulders with the shoulder pads don't have as much range to the sides, but thanks to the butterfly joints, you can still get good range from them. He is about as tall as my Aioria, and quite a bit shorter than a Marvel Legends.

 Well, my girlfriend and I had a fun time building up Logan. He was another fun Blokees to add to my small collection.

7.5

Game #1354: Tomba! 2 - The Evil Swine Return Special Edition

 Suddenly, I'm craving some smoked ham...

 After playing so many modern day letdowns, why not go back to the classics with Tomba! 2 The Evil Swine Return Special Edition for the Switch! I finished this game eons ago, I'm pretty sure I covered it on the blog, which I brought with me from Miami. And at the time the game was incredibly expensive, so I'm glad it's been made easily available for everyone, because it's worth it!

 I started the game yesterday and I pretty much 95%ed it today because it was so addictive. The game is every bit as great as it used to be, it's sort of an Adventure game with Metroidvania-like elements in which you slowly amass more and more power ups with in turn lets you finish more and more sidequests. The game is as much fun as it used to be. 

That said, it does have a few issues. Firstly, controls are very slippery, sometimes getting on top of certain platforms is a bit of a pain because Tomba slides right off! Secondly, some of the sidequests CANNOT be finished without a guide. Literally, the three Towers, which are optional content, offer no clue whatsoever of where their HIDDEN doors are. You need a guide, full stop. Same goes for a scant few others, like the miner's ring quest. That's kinda bullshit. It's a lovely game anyways, but if you mean to finish everything you WILL need a guide.

 As for this version, besides the mandatory art gallery, you also get the ability to play the entire game with the relatively different Japanese Soundtrack as well as the very useful Rewind feature, which is a blessing. This is not a hard game, but it simplifies things, such as maybe avoiding status effects you accidentally contracted.

 Overall? Games like these show how much more fun games used to be sometimes. Pure gameplay goodness.

9.5

Game #1353: Haven

 Just what I wanted, clean up duty!

 So, I've been meaning to write about Haven for about a month, but I couldn't bring myself to because... I kinda hated it.

 The game has two main elements: Exploring/Cleaning and Fighting. Exploration  is probably the most fun, because gliding around planets is sorta fun... for about an hour. After your fifth island, gliding around trying to clean it of Rust, by gliding over it, and gathering ingredients... you'll realize that this is all there is to the game. What makes it annoying is that after clearing some rust your 'energy' runs out, so you have to move around searching for an energy path to glide over to restore some of your rust-cleaning energy. Beyond an automatic little flip you unlock, and the ability to push your partner forward, there's no fun stuff to do, no grinds, no fun aerial grinds, nothing, it's very repetitive. Exploration isn't rewarded with costumes or new abilities, but, at most, some useless collectibles that may trigger conversations between both characters back at the camp.

 Combat is similar to Mario & Luigi. Each character has four options tied to the digital pad for one of them and the four face buttons for the other one. You have a physical attack, an energy attack, defense and purify, which is the only way to truly defeat an enemy and can only be done when an enemy is out of HP, failure to purify them in a short while has them getting back up. Because that's always so much fun. If both characters use the same type of attack at the same time you can synchronize a more powerful attack.

 But combat is just boring. If you want to 100% clean every Island you have to defeat every enemy in them. Each enemy has a specific strategy needed to be defeated. Maybe you have to attack them in a specific order, maybe during one of their attacks, maybe you have to block first... but it's all very boring. Your characters automatically decide which enemy they will attack, because that worked so well for Lunar Dragon Song. And there are no truly fast ways to deal with enemy groups, plus, there are, what, 10 enemy types at most? I dragged down the difficulty all the way down after a few hours because I just wanted to get done with it. Not that it helped, combat still took more time than it should.

 Apparently, the focus is on the story and on the romantic relationship between both characters. I found it boring. Dialogue at the homebase grants more experience than fights, and whenever the XP gauge is full, the only way to level up is to have special conversations at the homebase. Meh. Honestly, I just found the plot boring. There's a free patch that lets you change the gender of the couple, so that you can be a pair of gay or lesbian lovers... but you can't play with a straight version of the opposite version of each character. The excuse they gave is avoiding gender roles... by enforcing 'opposite' roles of a head-strong female and a passive male. Kinda dumb if you ask me, but it's OK, because the gender-swapped version of each character just looks off.

 Overall? Boring. I know Game Journalism has been at an all time low this past decade or so, but the fact that 'professionals' scored this game in the high 9s is beyond me. But then again, they probably enjoy a game in which reading is the focus and gameplay is so laid back, just check out IGN's Doom gameplay.

3.5

Action Figure #827: STORM Arena Street Fighter Alpha Dan Hibiki

 You fought the best, now fight the rest!

 Well, there was no chance I was skipping Dan Hibiki was there? Dan the man, the myth, the legend! I'm glad that Storm Arena is finally covering characters Jada's Street Fighter II line won't cover!

 Despite the unflattering art they picked for Dan's boxart... man, they made him look badass! Just look how cool that serious head sculpt looks, coupled with his anime-styled musculature! This figure makes pink look GOOD. To be fair this is pretty much a Ken figure with a different head and a black shirt underneath, but that figure looked incredible already, so this one is no exception. Much like other Storm Arena figures, his chest is made out of soft plastic, which is a choice alright, and much like Ken you can take off the top of his gi. The only oddity is that, much like Ken, said top gi is a noticeably different shade from his pants, but I don't find it too annoying. What I did find a bit of an odd choice is that the ponytail and wisp of hair hanging from his head are both made of hard, somewhat fragile feeling plastic. Why not make it a bit softer like the head itself is beyond me. 

 He comes with two heads. Sadly, none of them re goofy, it's either him looking badass or getting hit, which is nice, but Dan is a joke character! He also comes with four pair of hands, fists, cupping hands, claw-like hands and Gadoken hands. He also includes an stand, as per usual... and extra pieces to hold his Gaoken piece. The Gaoken has a translucent copy of his hand inside, which is accurate to the games, but you can take it off in case you don't like it.

 His Gaoken hands are kinda chubby, so unless you are going to pose him with the Gaoken... they don't look very good for other poses.

 Articulation is great all around. Elbows and knees are double jointed, he has swivels on his biceps, thighs and on the cut where his legs and pants meet. He has very generous butterfly joints, a ball jointed ab crunch, and a hinged waist that connects to the legs via a ball joint. He has drop down hips, but the pegs look very thick, so I'm not scared of them breaking. He has toe articulation, and you van rotate the tie on his belt. His ponytail can be turned 360 degrees. He has been very fun to pose. Unlike Ken, Dan didn't have a single tight joint in him. So far I had no issues, no clicking, no nothing... so maybe Storm finally figured it out! If anything changes, I'll update the score. That said... If I go too hard bending his torso, sometimes the torso will popout of his pelvis. It's the only issue I've had, and a pretty minor one at that. He is as tall as Jada's Ken and almost as tall as Bucky Cap, making him still compatible with Jada's figures.

 Well, I've been playing with the guy for over a week now and have had no issues whatsoever... so what can I say, I love him. They made Dan look cool! I absolutely love that Jada has found some competition.

9.0

Action Figure #826: Jada Toys Street Fighter II Balrog

 Definitely not Mike Tyson, see? The name is completely different!

 And with Balrog in tow we've now got all four Shadaloo Bosses accounted for, let's go Jada! Only two more characters to go...

 So, as per usual with Street Fighter II characters... Balrog's design is very simple, so there's nothing to interesting about him beyond being a Mike Tyson lookalike in a blue jumpsuit. That said, Jada brought the design into plastic perfectly, the proportions, the look, the textures, the paint apps... if you like Balrog, congratulations, you get a perfect representation of the guy!

 He comes with two heads, one with a neutral expression and another one with a nasty smirk showcasing his missing tooth. He has two pair of gloves, ones for punching others for... parrying? As well as not one, but two different punch swish effects, one longer than the other. Nice!

 Brilliant articulation as per usual, double jointed elbows and knees, a ball jointed ab-crunch complimented with a ball jointed waist that gives him a lot of range, swivels on his biceps, thighs and ankles and their new 360 butterfly joints for all sorts of fun punching, and last, but not least, toe articulation! He's been a blast to pose around. He is a bit taller than Bucky Cap.

 Brilliant figure. His articulation is top-notch, and his nasty, imposing look and frame has made him a blast to pose around. As per usual, about the only bad things to say about him is... well, how basic and simple the original design is!

9.0

Action Figure #825: Jada Toys Street Fighter II E. Honda

 Now THIS is a THICC boi.

 It's always a good day when we get more Jada... or is it? Well, E. Honda is here now, getting us one step closer to having all the original World Warriors in beautiful plastic form.

 Well, good news first: It's a gorgeous, thick, heavy action figure. As with the other World Warriors, Honda's a very simple design, but Jada did a nice job sculpting all his muscles, which get highlighted by a darker beige wash. They even sculpted his fundoshi, which you'll never see since you can't remove his kimono.

 He comes with two beautiful headsculpts, both bear a perfect likeness to how he looks in the game, two fists, two slapping hands and a pretty neat Hundred Slaps accessory. The Accessory's afterimage hand skin paint don't quite match Honda's skin, but it's not a big deal.

 Articulation-wise, well... He has a ball jointed ab-crunch that goes up and own, as well as a ball jointed waist. Neither is too impressive. His elbows are double jointed, and he has swivels on his biceps, complimented by their fantastic new 360 butterfly joints that give Honda's arms all sorts of possibilities. Then we go below the waist and... Unlike all their other figures with skirt-like pieces, Honda's kimono is rather hard, greatly restricting how far his kicks go, so no luck getting him on his butt stomp. But the really big issue.... is how goddarn tight his knees are. I've put plenty of oil on his double jointed knees, but they are still hard. At least Jada's plastic is good, unlike Hasbro's, so his hips haven't broken. He has swivels on his thighs and ankles, as well as on his toes. He is a smidge taller than Bucky Cap.

 Well... considering how Jada has pulled knockout after knockout, I guess they are entitled to one decent but unimpressive figure like Honda. I mean, most of him is really, really good, but it sucks how limited and tight everything below the waist is, which is a bit shocking considering how they have never had this issue with other figures!

7.0

Action Figure #824: Marvel Legends X-23 (Deadpool & Wolverine)

 Oh, man, if I had done this one before it could've been 8-23!

 We'll we ever get a good X-23 figure? Maybe when the Gamerverse version comes out, I guess. So... yeah, I love X-23, but she hasn't had a really good Marvel Legends. I had some high hopes for this one, but... Well, let's get on with it.

 Looks-wise? This is a really good looking figure. The Dafne Keen likeness is spot-on, the clothes look really nice, with folds, and textures, the jacket being a particularly detailed highlight, and the boots too look very nice. About the only bad thing I can say about her, in this section, is that her arms might be a tad too slim. The figure itself is on the gummy side, but the arms being some of the gummiest parts on her.

 She comes with a nice amount of accessories: A backpack, Juggernaut's helmet, to pair with Nova if you have her, two alternate, clawless hands, a pair of glasses and an alternate head. At first I had to do a double take, did my figure accidentally come with the same head twice? Nope. Both heads look exactly the same but for the hair which... is an odd choice. Why not have one of heads with a smirk? or a grunt? While the likeness to the actress is perfect, this is the most neutral, lifeless expression they could've gone with, and you get it twice!

 And then comes the articulation. She has double jointed knees and elbows, with swivels on her biceps, thighs and boots. Her ab-crunch is on a ball joint, with not much range, and her waist is on a swivel. Overall? Good enough, except...

 That her pelvis is too wide, or rather, the crotch piece, so her legs don't go high enough. Here's compared to Deadpool, D-Pooly can sit in a 90 degree angle no issue, but X-23 can't. You can't get her in good kicking poses, much like her comic counterpart figure, which kinda sucks since she does have a toe-claw for something, and it ain't for peelin' potatos.

 But her arms, her arms are the worst part. Being super gummy means that the shoulder pegs are always stressing, but even worse, she can't get her arms parallel to her torso, so unless you turn her arms and use the elbow bend, you can't get her clawing or punching straight forward, which is so annoying for a character like her! She could've definitely benefited from butterfly joints, and Hasbro has done this before with their MCU female bucks, like Kate Bishop, so why she didn't get them is beyond me. She is about half a head shorter than Bucky Cap.

 Looks-wise? Yeah, she's great, but it's a shame that articulation-wise she's so lackluster! Just a few simple tweaks would've made her really good, but as it stands? Disappointing. X-23 deserved better. She still does. C'mon, Hasbro, just one good figure!

5.5