Junk review: Crossovers Darth Maul and Animated Ratchet

So this is basically going to be a pocket of mini-reviews as I go through some of my toys and deciding whether to keep or dump. This is more for my own note taking purposes as I collect my thoughts on what I like or hate about each toy.

Crossovers Darth Maul: Deluxe size (?). Kinda scrawny like the actual guy. His arms seem really fragile and can likely break off with mild pressure. Most of the SW Crossover Jedi figures come with lightsaber weapons but I don't know where his went. Interesting note is one hand is normally molded but the right hand has the grip hole covered. Likely so he can hold two lightsabers together like his weapon in the movie.

Alt-mode is his iconic vehicle from Phantom Menace. The landing gear is permanently protruding with no way to really stow it out of the way. You can tuck it flush against the fuselage but it still sticks out so not helping much in that regards. Like many deluxe class SW Crossovers, the cockpit can open and fit a small enough figure inside. It's unfortunate that many of those figures didn't include a mini-figure as that would have raised the play value immensely. The cockpit seat even rotates so that it's in a somewhat upright position when Darth Maul is in robot mode. Anyways I'm junking him, next!

Deluxe Class Transformers Animated Ratchet: I never watched much of the Animated series but the toy line was by far one of my favorites because they were somehow take these very Western aesthetic styled characters and somehow transform them perfectly into a perfectly looking vehicle mode with that same animation aesthetic. The designers for this toyline are genius. Unfortunately, this Ratchet isn't one of the ones that transform all that smoothly and frankly it's a pain. This guy has a surprising amount of spring activated parts. One in each arms for his tools/weapons, one for his pop-up head (transformation gimmick), and one more for his vehicle mode rear end (also to aid transformation). Fitting his legs in during transformation is a pain and a half; the left one pops off if I'm not careful enough while trying to cram it in. Also his chin has a bit of scrapping on the chin due to the pop-up gimmick. Status: junk!

Be politically active part 2

I just realized that I never did make my point in my previous post. That's what happens when you make a post late at night. 😂😂😂

What was my point again? Oh yes, why you should vote or at the very least, influence those who can. By not voting, you're essentially letting others choose for you and most importantly, you lose the right to bitch about the results because you weren't a part of that process. Anyways, something to chew on. If you're not in the US or someplace where the voting is rigged (like Russia 😜), this don't apply to you.

I'm thinking about outright dumping some of my toys. I'm kinda in spring cleaning mode but due to the coronavirus, there's not going to be much takers for my junk. So I may just donate or throw away the stuff I don't want to keep. I definitely have way too much stuff. 😅😅😅

Be politically active if you can

So...we're in the middle of a coronavirus pandemic. Hope everyone's doing well. As an active voter in the US, I find it difficult to talk about current events and news without going into the political aspects as well. Back before I became an active voter, it was easy to harbor the thinking of maintaining a neutral stance and I understand that a lot of people whose blog I visit and/or follow on Twitter maintain that view. I'll straight out and say that it's a naive point of view because politicians that are in power, regardless of whether you helped put him/her there, will affect aspects of your daily life including the chances of you getting sick or die from the pandemic. If you follow news at all, you'll know that certain countries have weathered the coronavirus better than others. Unfortunately, the US and UK are some of the ones faring worse and one of the leading reasons for that has been that the political leaders of each respective country tried to pass off this disease as if it's a mild thing and never quite took it seriously. Well, the fact that one of them actually fell ill to the disease sure changed their perspective, no? Of course, it's far too late to improve the situation at that point. 😒

So back to my point, take an active interest in the news and make sure your source is one you can trust like NPR, Reuters, BBC. And even then, take things with a bit of salt, even more so if it's from some place you've never heard of. Unfortunately, enemies of the common good have taken to fabricating lies and half-truths to influence those who are easily mislead and they seemed to have done quite a good job seeing how fucked up the US has become since Trump became president. MAGA indeed. SMH

Me? I guess I'm doing okay. I'm working as usual since my work is considered "essential". My bro gets to work from home but not sure how stable his position is since the oil industry has completely gone south earlier this week. I guess I'm done ranting for now. Hopefully, I'll have something more normal to post next time, ha!

PotP Starscream micro-review

 

In a nut shell, the Power of the Prime Starscream sucks. His plastic quality rivals the better knockoffs you find in discount stores and the poorly printed and placed stickers do not help. If not for the package and instructions, you'd swear it was a knockoff. Because of the combination of poor plastic and reliance on plastic tolerances that plagues much of the movie line, Starscream's transformation is utter crap. His jet mode does not hold together well at all. Anyone wants him, hit me up. I'll give him away for shipping & material.

DLsite, a site for e-doujinshi and eromanga

While I do buy physical copies of doujinshi once in a blue moon, the majority of doujinshi I buy are digital. Most of them are bought from a place called DLsite (www.dlsite.com). They sell a gamut of downloadable goods including doujinshi, games, voice works, etc. The site has been around for at least over a decade; my earliest purchase is back in 2006! My main reasons for using them are their frequent sales and that a good chunk of their stuff are DRM free. There's plenty of DRM content but those are clearly labeled. Although I usually avoid DRM material, some are either from my favorite artists or too cheap to ignore so I can't help but buy a few of them. (shrug)

DLsite's closest competitor is probably DMM but I'm not a fan of them. They're like the Walmart/Amazon of digital goods and kinda shady too, IMO. It seems they may have dabbled in some piracy in the past before entering the legal game. Regardless, I'll probably have to get an account at some point as they seem to be the cheapest place to get the all-ages manga I'm looking for.

While you can get some regular manga at DLsite, the selection is far limited compared to DMM and other major digital book sellers. DLsite mainly specializes in doujin and ero works which is fine for me. My latest poison is actually voice works, mainly composed of either mimikaki or other ASMR-related stuff as well as some ecchi stuff too. Usually listen to them at work, heh.

TF/Lego hybrid oddity...

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Beast Hunters Apex Armor

From Transformers Prime Beast Hunters, it's the Apex Armor featuring Breakdown. Basically a power armor for Legends class figures. A main figure can stand in the main chest cavity while two more can stand on a platform you can flip up from the back.

Assault mode. Transformation reminds me of Gunhed. You split apart the legs and pulling apart the side parts roll forward the chest and shoulder cannons. The cannons can't roll into place in robot mode because the side parts block the way.

Basically a simple but nice looking assault vehicle for legends class figures.

The included figure, Breakdown. His chest doesn't look in place so it tends to roll apart during play.

Breakdown's vehicle mode. Solid vehicle but if you forget how to take the vehicle apart for transformation, you may end up throwing him against the wall.

I think I'll get rid of him eventually. I'm planning to do spring cleaning and this guy's already first on the list. I got the Apex Armor to satisfy my curiosity so now that's quenched, I can get rid of him. :p