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Transformers Reviews: Encore #20 Devastator /w XTransbots XP-1 Add-On Kit

Sun, 22 Jan 2012 12:21:51 -0500

Transformers Reviews: MP-10 Optimus Prime

Wed, 14 Dec 2011 19:37:37 -0500

MP-01 was the original Masterpiece Optimus Prime. MP-10 is the new Masterpiece Optimus Prime with a completely different mold. The new MP-10 is shorter than the MP-01. He's more in scale with the MP-09 Rodimus Prime/Hot Rod. I think the scaling works well if you use MP-10 with MP-09 as Rodimus Prime and use MP-01 with MP-09 as Hot Rod. Another difference from MP-01 is that there is no die-cast metal except in the toes and the Matrix. Although, the Matrix is made from die-cast, it doesn't open like with the MP-01's Matrix.

I can't say that one version is better than the other. They both have their good points. For MP-01, I liked that it had die cast, it had working pistons, it had shocks, it had movable air vents. All those things made it feel like a Masterpiece to me. The MP-10 has none of those things. At least the tires are made of rubber and the parts that should be chromed are chromed. And the gun is black, not gray like most of the MP-01's or blue like the "DVD" version.

What the MP-01 does have is a more realistic looking truck mode. It has a gun that can be stored in Optimus' backpack in robot mode. It has more posable feet for better stabilization. Some might think that it has a better head sculpt. I personally think the old head sculpt was fine.

This version also comes with a trailer, so I guess it's more comparable to MP-04. The trailer is similar to the MP-04 trailer. It's pretty much like the G1 trailer for those who don't have the MP-04 trailer. It comes with a Roller but there is no launch mechanism for Roller like in the G1 trailer. It also comes with a little Spike figure and an energon axe.

I would give the figure a 10/10. It's a very nice figure but not better or worse than the original MP-01, just different.

Photos

Encore Trailbreaker

Sat, 24 Sep 2011 22:14:53 -0400

Sadly, my blog has become just status updates. My newest Transformer. I also have Knight Morpher Commander and MP-10 Convoy version 2 coming in the mail. Knight Morpher Commander is a 3rd party toy that is Optimus Prime as a train. I already have Knight Morpher Annihilator, which is the evil black version of this mold and I think it's pretty awesome, so I decided to get the one in the Optimus Prime colours. MP-10 is a new version of the Masterpiece Optimus Prime. He's smaller in scale and the truck mode is supposed to be more realistic.

Transformers: Dark of the Moon Review

Fri, 01 Jul 2011 11:16:30 -0400

Oh, Michael Bay, even after you turned on your own movie, Revenge of the Fallen, and claimed that Dark of the Moon would be better, the critics still hated it.

I was disappointed that they replace Megan Fox with Rosie Huntington-Whiteley. Rosie is attractive enough, but I prefer Megan Fox. Not only that, but I felt that they threw away the chemistry that was built between the Mikhaela and Sam character. I didn't feel the same connection between Carly and Sam.

There were way too many humans. They couldn't even concentrate on one human story because there were way too many of them.

The beginning felt kind of slow and the end was just one long loud battle scene, which is a common problem with all three movies.

It felt like the robots also got less dialog time with each other than in Revenge of the Fallen. I think all Transformers fans want more dialog time between the robots.

Another thing that I was disappointed in was that Optimus Prime is kind of less badass in this movie.

There were some good things about this movie. I saw it in IMAX 3D and I liked how the 3D help separate the robots from the background. The Decepticons tend to look like one big pile of garbage in the background due to their lack of colour. The 3D helped with this problem.

I liked that they used plot ideas from two of my favourite Transformers TV episodes. I thought that the plot started out well but ended poorly. And still, some things didn't make sense.

As a Transformers fan, I give this movie 3.5/5 stars. That is lower than what I gave Revenge of the Fallen, which was 4/5 stars. Although, I think the average movie goer may enjoy this movie more than Revenge of the Fallen because the plot is less complicated.

If you don't want to be spoiled, stop reading here.

And HAPPY CANADA DAY to all the Canadians!

Transformers Reviews: Henkei Hound

Fri, 17 Jun 2011 22:20:48 -0400

So, I've been getting a lot of Transformers lately but no time to review any of them, which makes me sad :-( In the picture above you can see Reveal The Shield: Jazz and Generations: Wheeljack. Distribution of Transformers toys has been horrible this year so I've been getting all my Transformers online. But now there's a postal strike! I have a Transformers Animated Optimus Prime coming in the mail so I hope he makes it here OK.

Anyway, back to Hound! Hound is a much better figure than I originally thought. I really didn't like the Hasbro version, so that's why I didn't get him when he originally released in North America.

Transformers Reviews: eHobby Exclusive United Kup With iGear Kup02 Custom Head

Wed, 01 Jun 2011 02:43:19 -0400

This is the eHobby version of the United Kup that came with the Autobot 3-Pack. The head is the custom Kup02 head from iGear. This head is specifically for this version of Kup. There is also the original Kup01 head which is for the normal version of Generations or United Kup, which is more of a teal colour.

SpeedTouch THOMSON ST516 Modem Mode Only

Wed, 27 Apr 2011 01:48:33 -0400

Since my blog about my old modem was so popular, I've decided to write a tutorial on how to set my new modem in modem mode only. The setup for this is relatively easy, though, compared to my previous modem.

Transformers Reviews: MGT-01 Delicate Warrior (Arcee)

Thu, 14 Apr 2011 01:19:18 -0400

Today, I got in the mail, MGT-01 Delicate Warrior (Arcee) from iGear. Finally, after 25 years we have a cartoon accurate Arcee!

Oracle: Select Distinct From a Many-To-Many Query

Fri, 11 Mar 2011 01:31:24 -0500

Once upon a time, I wrote this blog that showed how you could select distinct based on a single column, while at the same time select other fields from the table.

Looking back on that blog, I didn't really explain why you would need something like this and that example wasn't really a good one since in most situations, the reason you would need this is on a one-to-many or many-to-many relationship.

Going back to that example, I would change company to resident and this would have been a more useful query:

select r.id, r.fname, r.lname from resident r inner join address a on r.id=a.resident_id order by a.move_in_date;

In this example, we're storing a history of a resident's address and the above query would get a history of their address ordered by the move-in date. But suppose you only wanted the current address.

In MySQL, you could actually do this:

select r.id, r.fname, r.lname, max(a.move_in_date) from resident r inner join address a on r.id=a.resident_id group by r.id order by a.move_in_date;

This is not something you can do in Oracle. In Oracle, you would need to do a sub-query:

select r.id, r.fname, r.lname, a.move_in_date
from resident r, address a
where r.id=a.resident_id
and a.move_in_date=(select max(a2.move_in_date) from address a2, resident r2 where r2.id=a2.resident_id and r2.id=r.id);

What this query is doing is it's getting all the addresses for resident r. Then, it also requires that the address move_in_date is equal to the max move_in_date of the resident (r2.id=r.id).

Transformers Reviews: Generations Dirge

Wed, 26 Jan 2011 23:26:57 -0500

More Transformers reviews! Two in a month! Finally got the last cone-head seeker! I wasn't a big fan of the cone-heads on the G1 cartoon or toys but I must say they look fabulous in these modern toy forms.

Transformers Review: HFTD Human Alliance Jazz

Mon, 03 Jan 2011 03:08:09 -0500

Happy New Year! First blog of 2011 on vxt.ca!

I'm actually only doing this review because I wanted to test out my new camera so I took some photos of Human Alliance Jazz. The camera I bought is the Canon PowerShot SX130 IS, if you were wondering. My old camera, a Canon PowerShot SD1000, is great for its compactness but takes terrible macro shots.

It was lucky that I was to pick up this figure because I was waiting for it to go on sale and was able to get it 30% off. That's my justification for buying more Transformers these days. I wasn't so lucky with War For Cybertron Megatron, which was all sold out.

Transformers Reviews: MP-03G Ghost Starscream

Sat, 24 Jul 2010 21:29:36 -0400

You can read my original review of MP-03 Starscream here.

The MP-03G version comes with all the accessories the original Starscream did. The only difference is that this Starscream is made of mostly translucent plastic.