Touhou Sofubi, Sakuya & Reimu

Now these are some little figures I picked up somewhere on some trip sometime.  Why did I get them?  I can’t really remember.  I got Sakuya because she fits in nicely with my ‘Violent Maid’ collection.  As for Reimu, I have no idea….

As it turns out, they are from the same line as this Aya I picked up a while ago and still love now.

Unboxing Metroplex

I’d been looking forward to this guy for a while and after I finally had him in hand, I was not disappointed. 

He arrived one overcast morning and I trekked out to pick him up from my loyal Post office..  Realising it’d be a big box, I had come armed with a trolley.  He’s not that heavy, but very very bulky.

Cheerful Japan Nendoroid Miku

A bit after the big earthquake, tsunami and subsequent nuclear cock-up (nice one Tohoku Denryoku) , actually, that should be cock ups,  Good Smile Company launched a money raising campaign called ‘Cheerful Japan’ where they refashioned some toys, gave them a flag or something and a whack of money went to help the people in the Tohoku region to cope with the triple blast they got. 

This Miku is a Nendoroid, so a cute and cuddly ‘chibi’ version of Miku.  I don’t generally get Nendoroids as instead of having articulated joints, you have to swap over arms and stuff, but hey, this was a special situation.  Although not all are bad.  Sonic is pretty good and this one is cute.

Bot Shots Jetfire video review

Been looking at some videos I have and hadn't been able to edit yet due to time constraints, so here I am with a lovely little review of the Bot Shots version of Jetfire.  Short n Sweet.

1980s Bad guy Goodness–Classic Mumm-Ra!!!

Although I never watched much of Thundercats, nor did I get many of the original toys, somehow I ended up with an original Mumm-Ra (as a kid) and somehow, it disappeared somewhere.  Sad days because as I think back to it now, Mumm-Ra was actually my favourite 1980s cartoon bad guy.  He looked cool!  As a result, I really really, really wanted a Classic Mumm-Ra.  They did Lion-O, so why not Mumm-Ra??

Eventually, Bandai did make a Classic Mumm-Ra.  Sadly though, while my first release Lion-O was made in the 8 inch scale, Old Mumm-Ra here has been relegated back to six.  Of course they then released a shrunken 6 inch Classic Lion-O.  He did have an angrier face, but (funnily enough) that wasn’t enough for me to care.  Sadly my Classic Mumm-Ra is a good 2 inches shorter than Classic Lion-O.

Toys that make ya go Woooooooo!

That’s what I like!
I bought this guy and Mr Sinister together from a pal online and interestingly this guy was an add on.  I didn’t care for him and only added him on to make the postage more worthwhile.  Mr Sinister was at the top of my list. 

Yet when I got them out of the box, he was the first one that I played with.  Best of all, I felt the need to do this:

Things are looking good!

Thus I bring us to the review for Toy Biz, Professor Xavier from the Marvel Legends.

Great Gaming Moments: Journey

Today I was cruising around the shops and saw some games on sale.  One of them was Journey Collector’s edition, which comes with a bunch of stuff as well as ‘Flower’ and ‘flow.’  I had already bought  Flower a while ago and found it a fascinating experience and knew that reviews of Journey were pretty good.

Crappy phone pictures inc.

Since I chase a different game experience, I decided to buy it for Journey.  Flow is a bonus.  When I got home, I booted up the PS3, played something on the hard drive to warm it up.  It seems to not read Blurays until it’s been on for a while.  Shame on you Sony.  My PS3 is only 4 years old and the bluray laser is a bit buggered.  My Sega Saturn on the other hand is 18 years old and works like the day I bought it…

Back on topic.

While playing, I think I got to the second level and there was another little fellow running around the place.  At first I thought that it was an NPC there just to help guide me along, I knew that the game was designed to have a bit of multiplayer and wasn’t too sure whether it was a real person or not.  It would make sense to have an NPC there though, just to guide you to things and let you know, exploration is one of the aspects of the game.

Turns out it was a real person.  With your limited communication abilities, which is essentially a ‘ping’ you go along helping each other through the level.  I came to the conclusion that my helper was another person, as they kept leading me to power-ups that would help my flying ability.  Curious.

Then the feelings that came with that realisation, I kept playing, I originally had no intention of playing for so long, but the thought of abandoning my companion was a tad distasteful.  Hell, I felt bad when I paused it to go boil the kettle and make a cup of tea…

Anyway, long story short, this other guy and I went along and he led me through the levels, it was strangely fun.  Occasionally his character would trip over in the sand, I’d hang around, ping him some help.  It was strangely fun.  No proper communication.  And yet we worked well. And Strangely fun.

We ended up finishing the game in that sitting.  The end, looked a bit bleak, but at a moment, you come good again.  My first thought was, “Where’s the other guy?  I hope he’s ok!”  Yup, he was fine.  We knocked off the final level and got to the obviously final point, and drew some thanks in the snow.  Then walked to the final gate together.

Game finished.  Now, it may sound a little bit drab as I describe it now, but I have to tell you, it was a rather moving moment.  Watching the credits, I sat through all of them thinking about the whole game.  It was truly something special! 

Amazing.

I haven’t had a game have such a profound effect since I finished Shadow of the Colossus. 
It’s interesting, as I think back on it, I suspect I wouldn’t have stuck with it so long in one go (because it might have been a bit samey) without meeting the other player.

At the end, it informs you of the the other players that you met on your journey through Journey.  I had such an enjoyable time, I felt compelled to send a little thankyou message to the other player.   Turns  out so did he.  I ended up playing through the game with a guy from Japan!

So the Great Gaming Moment of Journey is the Multiplayer.  Well implemented and it made the game!

I highly recommend this game, it is an amazing experience and despite it’s simple premise is pretty cool and very well done.  The graphics are pretty good and I was impressed that they managed to make various types of desert look so good.  Give it a crack!  Trailer embedded below for good measure.