Leonardo Flores "Modcineaste", CDX writer, will be DJing a 45 min set of 1960's Japanese Group Sounds, Anime and Tokusatsu 45rpm vinyl records during the 3:00 hour at the OC Japan Street Fair on Sunday November 15 on the main stage.
Only a $2.00 entry fee for the entire fair and $5.00 for parking. Over 50 vendors will be present selling all types of Japanese items such as toys, food and clothing. Even an appearance by the famed Maids of Maid Cafe of Akihabara are scheduled!

Leonardo Flores "Modcineaste", CDX writer, will be DJing a 45 min set of 1960's Japanese Group Sounds, Anime and Tokusatsu 45rpm vinyl records during the 3:00 hour at the OC Japan Street Fair on Sunday November 15 on the main stage.

Only a $2.00 entry fee for the entire fair and $5.00 for parking. Over 50 vendors will be present selling all types of Japanese items such as toys, food and clothing. Even an appearance by the famed Maids of Maid Cafe of Akihabara are scheduled!

If you never heard what Group Sounds is here a short paragraph on the OC Japan Street Fair official website:

"When The Beatles performed in Japan during their 1966 world tour, who would have known it was going to inspire a new generation of Japanese teenage musicians and singers. The sound the youth of Japan created in 1966 was called Group Sounds. GS was an exciting combination of Japanese enka melodies, American surf and R&B music and British rock & roll. Group’s like The Spiders, The Tigers, The Golden Cups and Hitori GS singers like Jun Mayuzumi and Akiko Wada would change the sound of Japanese popular music forever and whose influences can still be heard today in J-Pop over 40 years later.
Music collector and writer Leonardo Flores will showcase and DJ his collection of rare and original 1960’s Japanese pressings of GS, anime and takusatsu 45rpm vinyl records. Do not miss out on this unique opportunity to hear the wild and youthful Group Sounds that made Japan “Swing & Groove” from 1966 to 1970. For more info you can check out at www.modcineaste.com, www.collectiondx.com, and www.nippop.com."

More info on the OC Japan Street Fair website.
Hope to see you all there!

GS with The Tigers

The AMP Suit (aka the "Iron Lady") is very cool, but the 3d webcam control gimmick is amazing. A first of its kind.

Includes HD video of the iTag system in action

Avatar is not the story of the Last Airbender. That was the cartoon. This is James Cameron's Avatar, his latest big budget extravaganza. People are anxiously awaiting this movie, due out in December 2009. Me, I have mixed feelings about it so far, from viewing the trailer. We'll see.

In anticipation of the release of the film, Mattel sent out a bunch of sample toys to us to take a look at. I had been eyeballing this powered suit so their timing was good.

The main gimmick of the Avatar line is the iTag system. The iTag system enables you to have a 3D model of the toy you bought on your computer. But it is not just any model. The iTag system uses a webcam to detect the iTag included with each Avatar toy. Once it locks on, it displays a 3D model of that toy on your screen, on top of the tag you are holding. Turn the tag and the model turns. Tap the info square and an information block appears. It is very, very cool.

To use the iTag system, you must first go to http://www.avataritag.com and download a small application. Once installed, it runs in the browser and allows you to interact with the website.

The AMP suit uses this iTag system to great effect. Just watch this video:

The iTag system is worth the price alone. But the powered suit is not bad either, and for $20 bucks you can't go wrong.

The name "AMP Suit" is short for "M-6 Amplified Mobility Suit". In the movie the AMP Suit is 13 feet tall and six feet wide, with verbally activated cockpit commands, hip mounted 30mm cannon, flamethrower and slashing knife. The toy however is only 9 inches tall, and does not shoot flames.

The box is interesting. It's heavy cardboard and an odd polygonal shape. It looks as if a toy like this would not fit inside, as the box is only 2.5 inches deep. The trick is that it's in a bunch of pieces.

To say some assembly is required is an understatement. You have to attach the cockpit cover, torso, arms, legs and cannon.

Once assembled, you've got an honest-to-goodness solid, playable TOY. It's a lot of fun.

Oh - the pilot figure is not included. I'll review him later.

The cockpit of the AMP suit looks a bit like the front of a helicopter. The clear canopy can open and close. Inside the cockpit there is no painted detail, no stickers. any 3 3/4 figure should fit in just fine as you just stick the figure in a hole - you don't bend the legs. There's nothing for the figure to hold on to, but once again, TWENTY BUCKS.

The shoulders each are on a long curved track that allows the arms to slide backwards. Unfortunately they do not "click" in any position so they have a tendency to move on their own. The shoulders are detented, ans they also have a hinge that swings out. Above the hinged elbow is a swivel joint, and the range of motion is pretty good. The hand is hard rubber and only swivels at the wrist. The hand details are a bit mushy.

The top half can swivel at the waist, but motion is restricted by the attached knife and holder. Why a giant powered suit needs a big crocodile dundee knife is beyond me, but whatever. The knife can be removed from the holder and placed in either hand, but you have to place it just so else it will fall right out.

The hips are solid detented joints, the knees are simple swivel joints. The feet bend at the ankles and then there is another joint at the toe.

The big gun that comes with the toy is actually pretty cool. First, there are rubber ammunition belts that clip into the gun and the back of the body. On the gun it looks like it can clip in two positions. While you can remove the gun from the hand, the ammunition and clip are permanently attached to the figure. The gun is nicely detailed, and big, with several places to hold onto. The main gimmick with this gun is that it is a missile launcher, but the launcher is weak and the thing only comes with ONE missile. Also, the AMP suit has a loose grip on the gun.

It may sound like I am complaining here, but I really am not. Keep in mind, this thing was $20. It's a toy, it's gonna have a few minor flaws, and kids won't care. Collectors may bitch and moan but you just know a company like Hot Toys or Aoshima will make a high-end gokin toy of this. But it is fun to play with, looks good, and the iTag gimmick is fun.

AMP Up Your Avatar Toy Collection

While clearly an effort is being put forward here to have a stronger influence of Japanese culture and history involved in “Shinkenger”, this set just doesn’t do it for me.

Video review included!

This toy appears courtesy from HobbyLink Japan.

Thirteen generations ago, special ancient samurai warriors called the Shinkenger were authorized by the Japanese Emperor to defend their country against the Gedoushuu monsters from the mythical Sanuz River. The Shinkenger succeeded, and the Gedoushuu were defeated. Hundreds of years later in 2009, the Gedoushuu have slowly rebuilt themselves and they are slipping through all dark crevasses once more to collect human screams to flood the Sanuz River into the world for their return. Takeru Shiba, the current samurai lord of the Shiba Clan, now summons four vassal samurai from different clans, and arms them with the magical scripture power known as mojikara to become the new Samurai Sentai Shinkenger!

In Act 1- “The Gallant Appearance of the Five Samurai”, Takeru gives his four vassals a Shodou Phone on the condition that they fight to the end, or leave immediately. With it, they can use the Phone Mode to keep in touch with each other, or fold it length-wise to transform it into Brush Mode. In this second form is where the Shinkenger control their power of mojikara- allowing them to create calligraphy (the art of East Asian writing) in the air, and then make it real. As with any language- particularly-so with mojikara- the correct length and sequence of the brush strokes is just as essential as what word to use to get the results they want. While the Shodou Phone is a powerful tool and henshin device, it can also work in concert with the Secret Discs under the right circumstances, such as activating an Origami’s attack power and initiating a samurai gattai (combination).

Phone Mode

The clock along the outside, set to 24-hr format, reads 20:09 (aka 8:09pm), with the joke being repeating inside above the ‘battery status’ icon in the decal display, implies the year that “Shinkenger” aired: 2009.

The clock along the outside, set to 24-hr format, reads 20:09 (aka 8:09pm), with the joke being repeating inside above the ‘battery status’ icon in the decal display, implies the year that “Shinkenger” aired: 2009.

On the keypad, only the Connect, Power, 1, 2, 4, 5, 7, 8, 0, and * keys are functional. The Disconnect, 3, 6, 9, and # keys are molded in as part of the plastic and cannot move (having been painted white with the black lettering printed on).

These are the keys’ individual sound effects when pressed:

• green Connect - ringtone (x3) in Phone Mode, activates henshin sequence in Brush Mode
• white 1, 4, 7, * - generic keypad tones (all the same)
• red PWR - Shishi Origami grows big and roars
• red 2 - Ryuu Origami grows big and roars
• red 5 - Kuma Origami grows big and roars
• red 8 - Saru Origami grows big and roars
• red 0 - Kame Origami grows big and roars

The Shodou Phone folds down the center of the Phone Mode. When this happens, an ABS brush tip will spring out of the top end. Once Brush Mode is completely formed, the henshin sequence effects will automatically activate. The green Connect button can be pushed to end this early, or it will finish off on its own after 12 seconds of waiting. After the toy is quiet once more, the Connect button can restart the henshin sequence again, though it is shorter that when it is first changed to Brush Mode. However, while holding down the Connect Button will keep the brush-stroke sound going, when released it will not continue the henshin sequence again.

Brush Mode

For convenience, the five colors above the red keys remind you which sound belongs to which Origami.

The brush tip can be pushed back in this mode, but will not lock back in place until the toy returns to Phone Mode.

I am going to be honest here: I did not care much for this toy even before I got it. So then why did I get it? Why, only so that I could demonstrate for you on CollectionDX how mojikara is used when I cover the DX-sized Origami sets, of course! (In other words, I took one for the team… You’re welcome.)

Aside from how it folds, there is no great or inspiring gimmick here. I was stunned when I found that not only did four of the keys have the exact same sound, but five out of the 15 keys weren’t even functional! One of the bigger problems, really, is that this is now the fifth regular-use cell phone changer we’ve had since they came out with the Henshin Keitai G-Phone in 2001’s “Hyakujuu Sentai GaoRanger”! Bandai, Toei, PLEX- it’s getting really old now. I mean- the arm bracelet used to be the standard Super Sentai Series henshin device, and those are being used sparingly at best now! (The earliest changers were simply LCD watches with a sound effect-or-two and a decal!) A cell phone can be an interesting henshin device because you can use the multiple keys to create variable codes and unique sound effects- which was done to amazing effect with both the Mahou Keitai MagiPhone from 2005’s “Mahou Sentai MagiRanger”, and Bouken Keitai Accellular from 2006’s 30th-Anniversary series “Gougou Sentai Boukenger”; and they both also had an extra physical feature in addition to all those codes ‘n such. (I have both of those toys, by the way, and I love 'em to death!) But here, it’s just… dead. I think of the cell phone changers as extra soundboards to be used with the purchase of other toys. Bandai could easily have incorporated a few more sounds into the four white keys rather than have them all spout the same crap. What also irks me is the continuity- if the Shinkenger were around hundreds of years ago, would they have had cell phones back then as well…? I don’t think so either. Calligraphy has been used before [as a weapon] with the Wing Pentact from 2003’s “Bakuryuu Sentai AbaRanger”, but it looked more like a feathered quill pen. While clearly an effort is being put forward here to have a stronger influence of Japanese culture and history involved in “Shinkenger” (so much so that for the first time in 18 years, there will not be a new Power Rangers adaptation in 2010), the Henshin Keitai Shodou Phone just doesn’t do it for me. Recommended for no more than the youngest crowd and completists-only.

The Shodou Phone can be stored inside of the Shodou Phone Holder (sold separately), which is a fabric & Velcro fold-over pouch that can attach to a real belt or the Hidden Disc Buckle set (sold separately).

(I will not be covering either of those toys, so I cannot demonstrate this.)

A lunchbox with a helicopter inside.

Back when I was a wee lad there were a plethora of what I consider to be "go-nowhere" toy lines that sprang up with only a handful of commercials to promote them. While many of these lines came from prominent manufacturers such as Mattel or Hasbro, they tended to be focused entirely on one gimmick. For Hot Wheels Key Force, "YOU GOT TA HAVE A KEY!"

The overall theme of Key Force was very similar to M.A.S.K. in that it featured conventional vehicles transforming into all different kinds of fighting machines. I honestly don't recall if I particularly wanted the Key Force Van, but in retrospect it is probably the best toy of the line.

The Van starts off as a very "futuristic" six-wheeled vehicle. It rolls along on very squeaky plastic wheels and features some basic paper sticker details. I like the strange paint splatter that adorns the sides. It's like a conversion van of the future.

Each Key Force vehicle came with two plastic keys. One key could be stored on the underside. Enterprising young children were encouraged to keep their duplicate keys on a fake key ring.

Let's unlock the fun!

The lock on the back of the Van releases its inner contents. This futuristic lunchbox on wheels has a helicopter inside. The main rotor is spring loaded and will unfold when the van casing opens up.

The helicopter itself is much nicer than the exterior. Despite the glaring lack of a tail rotor (then again maybe the circular vents are the rotors), it looks almost like a feasible design. I especially like the chrome engine detail and chrome air vanes. The bright orange weapons are a little gaudy. The fact that they come packaged on a parts tree is just asking for sloppy work as little hands weren't always wizened by the ways of Gunpla. Also did I forget to mention you're supposed to extend the pontoons and side guns using the key? Even as a kid I thought using the key for something like that was completely unnecessary.

The back of the helicopter features another key slot which is used to control the flip-out gun turret. Pushing the key inward unlocks the gun and twisting the key rotates the gun left or right. The rotation has never been that smooth and if it was I doubt it would stay that way with constant play.

The final key gimmick is a small bomb on the underside of the helicopter. Inserting the key into a side slot drops the bomb. It's not nearly as exciting as the commercial suggests.

Overall I can see why this line quickly died off with little notice from toy collectors. The key gimmick (pun intended) is just too bulky to allow for anything other than variations on spring loaded panels. Normally I don't go for toys with a lunchbox style of transformation, but this one has enough childlike coolness in the helicopter that I think it stands out from the rest of the line.

You need to look at the mecha here not just as more transformable mecha, but as folding and twisting and bending in the same way as the ancient Japanese paper craft, origami.

Video review included!

This toy appears courtesy from HobbyLink Japan.

Thirteen generations ago, special ancient samurai warriors called the Shinkenger were authorized by the Japanese Emperor to defend their country against the Gedoushuu monsters from the mythical Sanzu River. The Shinkenger succeeded, and the Gedoushuu were defeated. Hundreds of years later in 2009, the Gedoushuu have slowly rebuilt themselves and they are slipping through all dark crevasses once more to collect human screams to flood the Sanzu River into the world for their return. Takeru Shiba, the current samurai lord of the Shiba Clan, now summons four vassal samurai from different clans, and arms them with the magical scripture power known as mojikara to become the new Samurai Sentai Shinkenger!

Each Shinkenger posses a small “folding-spirit” known as an Origami, which have been passed down from generation to generation. Each Origami is an embodiment of its owner and will follow only his or her command. Their small size allows them to spy on Gedoushuu activity or act as distractions. Through the use of both mojikara and specifically-designed Secret Discs, a Shinkenger can command their Origami to perform special maneuvers or even grow to giant size to combat the second lives of an Ayakashi monster!

The Shishi, Ryuu, Kuma, Saru, and Kame Origami belong to the core Shinkenger team. Each has a dormant Emblem Mode, which displays the kanji symbol of the specific Shinkenger that controls them.

Shishi Origami

kanji: fire (火)

Ryuu Origami

kanji: water (水)

Kame Origami

kanji: heaven/sky (天)

Kuma Origami

kanji: wood (木)

Saru Origami

kanji: earth (土)

When instructed to, they can unfold themselves into Animal Mode, and act independently/sound like the animals they physically appear as. All are able to fly, though when grown to giant size, only the Ryuu and Kame Origami can still fly (the others become land-bound except for attacks and special maneuvers).

Shishi Origami (lion)

Ryuu Origami (dragon)

Kame Origami (turtle)

Kuma Origami (bear)

Saru Origami (monkey)

Though intelligent on their own, when the Origami grow to giant size through the use of the Henshin Keitai Shodou Phones and mojikara-

“Origami dai-henge” (great change)

kanji: big (大)

-they are boarded by their respective Shinkenger for more-direct control in battle. They can also modify their forms as needed, converting back to a larger version of their Emblem Mode for escape or special attacks.

For the toys, both the Emblem and Animal Modes are at 1/1-scale with how they appear in their smaller forms in the series. (Shrinking/enlarging mecha is rare [thus-far] in the Super Sentai Series, and so to have them in-scale is extra special. Only the living-mecha Engines from 2008’s “Engine Sentai Go-Onger” had their toys in 1/1-scale, which could later grow to gigantic proportions in the series.)

Samurai Gattai

This is what happens when a gattai is performed incorrectly- without mojikara…

kanji: unite (合)

“Shinken-Oh, united under Providence!”

Shinken-Oh’s primary weapon is the DaiShinken katana sword. (The blade is hollow PVC, the rest is ABS.)

Notice the simple-shaped Origami that appears on the blade…

The Hiden Shield (essentially a giant Secret Disc) is normally stored on its back. (This was also true for real samurai in ancient times.)

It can be placed on the side of the left arm…

…or it can be held in either hand, usually the left.

For the toy, the Hiden Shield can be removed from its base…

…and placed onto the Hiden Saiseitou ShinkenMaru. Thus, the Shield becomes the Shinkenger’s own Shield Disc- which is used to activate the Shinken-Oh’s finisher, the DaiShinken Samurai Slash.

The loss of poseability on the separate Origami is no big issue since smaller Super Sentai mecha usually get such treatment anyways. Poseability has never been a strong point in DX-sized mecha, and this one is no different. In this toy- if it moves, it is needed for a transformation only. The exceptions are the jaws of the Shishi, Ryuu, and Kuma Origami, and the shoulders of the combo. In combined form, it is only the shoulders that are dedicated to posing. What does irritate me, though, is the kanji symbols in Emblem Mode- they only appear on one side of the figure rather than both sides. While this is countered a little by the presence of smaller patterned shapes molded into the black surfaces, there is no such black surface on the back of the Shishi Origami- just a mass of folded-up parts. One thing to note that is different from the series is the golden crown on the helmet- it is closed on the toy, whereas in the series there is a gap between the two horns. I seriously doubt this was changed for safety reasons, and was more likely for stability of the plastic used. A returning flaw is really annoying- it cannot hold the full length of the grip of the DaiShinken in the right hand since it is closed on the other side of the fist. One must remember, though, that Bandai and Toei like using puns and play-on-words in their naming of items, mecha, and monsters- Origami (in this case, “folding spirit/god”) is meant to be a homonym of the word origami (“folding paper”). Thus, you need to look at the mecha here not just as more transformable mecha, but as folding and twisting and bending in the same way as the ancient Japanese paper craft. When you can see it that way, the value (or rather, the unusually-high price) of the DX Samurai Gattai Shinken-Oh becomes clearer.

The ultimate Transformers challenge.

Through the annals of Transformers toys, there has been only one toy dubbed the Ultimate Transformers Challenge. Sixshot was a legend at the playground. For a kid, a robot that turned into something was always awesome (or radical), but a robot that turned into five different vehicles was an impossible dream. To this day Sixshot has remained largely unchanged through his myriad of appearances in Transformers media. There is something about this figure that many people find prolific. Does Sixshot deliver the goods? Let's find out. One thing I must point out is I got this figure secondhand and I he did not come with his twin rifles, but the figure is perfectly fine without them.

Sixshot is a large toy. Around a foot in height, he looks and feels like a solid toy. Unlike his Autobot counterpart, Quickswitch, Sixshot is almost completely devoid on articulation. He can only rotate his arms at the shoulders, and even then you have to move his chest wings out of the way to allow his arms to rest parallel to the ground. This figures combination of colors and stoic stance make for a toy that successfully straddles the line between looking cool and being functional. That is to say the solid blocks of plastic he is comprised of work well together without the need for painted details.

The details of this figure are surprisingly good. The paper stickers are well crafted with lots of complementary colors and designs to the bare plastic.

In laser pistol mode, Sixshot is fairly sizable toy gun. The handle is more than adequate even for adult hands. This figure comes with a pair of dual flip out guns in each leg so that without the rifles, the gun mode still looks like a weapon.

Sixshot's next mode is a space fighter. Drawing heavily from what was contemporary sci-fi designs, the whole thing has a very Star Wars or Buck Rogers feel to it. Despite its blocky look, it still looks sleek enough and the small cockpit completes the effect.

As you could probably tell from his robot mode, Sixshot's familiar car-front shins allow form the front of his "armored carrier" mode. In this form, Sixshot looks right at home with the sci-fi cars that would come to dominate the late Generation 1 era of Transformers. It rolls along on a total of seven plastic wheels.

One of Sixshot's more infamous modes is the Winged wolf. Looking like one of Generation 1 Predacons, Sixshot takes the form of a mechanical beast with his robot mode limbs serving as as his wolf form's haunches. He looks somewhat fierce, but I can't shake the feeling that his big blocky feet and large form makes him kind of cuddly.

The wolf head is nicely sculpted although it doesn't appear to be very canine like. Its sort of just a generic robot animal. Still the moving jaw is a cool feature. The lower jaw forms the cockpit of Sixshot's next mode.

A shot from behind shows that Sixshot even has a small tail, which was re-purposed from the "radar dish" from armored carrier mode.

Sixshot's final mode is a tank. This is the only mode where you make use of his double jointed knees to fold his shins up and over his thighs. The wolf's jaw forms the cockpit of this mode while the dual leg guns point upward which makes the toy look like a futuristic anti-aircraft tank. I like the use of the green intakes on the front. Makes the tank look like it has a pair of nasty cowcatchers.

For the Headmasters television series, Sixshot used this extra seventh mode called "WINGWOLF" to subdue Ultra Magnus. This is one of the many examples of the Japanese series using additional transformations created by just playing around with the toy.

So is Sixshot deserving of all the love? I think so. While it is true that Sixshot ultimately does the same thing as Quickswitch in where the same limbs are used as different parts, Sixshot has just enough transformation involved with each limb and just enough extra detail that each mode feels complete and well thought out. It is true that most of his modes are cloaked heavily in that "futuristic design" mentality, but here I think it works. I am no ninja consultant, but I think Sixshot is worth a look. He was re-issued once before and he may make another appearance in the Encore line. Be vigilante, the ninja moves quickly and silently.

"Where are we going? Life, the timeless, mysterious gift, is still evolving. What wonders - or terrors - might evolution hold in store for us in the next ten thousand years? In a million? In six million? Perhaps the answer lies in this old house in this old and misty valley..."
..in this action figure...

Gwyllm Griffiths comes from the episode "The Sixth Finger", from the first season of The Outer Limits, and aired on October 14, 1963. The story concerns a dumb peasant boy who allows himself to be subjected to some evolutionary experiments that basically hurl him thousands of years into his "biological future". In other words, he doesn't actually travel through time himself, but his body undergoes the changes of the species as it advances through the generations, one of those changes being the addition of a sixth finger, for added dexterity. The entire episode is viewable online. Here is part 1:

Gwyllm Griffiths is another one of those figures that I never cared much for until I actually owned it. On the surface, it doesn't look that spectacular. It's just an egghead with an extra finger on each hand and a boring all white costume. But perhaps because of it's almost antiseptic appearance, the figures really stands out from the rest of my monster toys. Perhaps moreso than any other figure I've got, this one just screams "SCI-FI" more than horror.

As you might expect, the head sculpt is once again phenomenal. Even if they weren't set so far back into the skull, I think those eyes would show a depth rarely seen on a toy. There is some real emotion in these eyes, from sadness to arrogance and contemplation.

Unforunately, perhaps because he has just a bald head, the seam lines across the top of the cranium is a bit more noticeable here than it might be on other figures. Still, it's not a huge distraction.

The hands are unremarkable, excepting of course, the addition of the sixth finger on which the episode is named. The costume, a simple white patient's uniform, is well made and features buttons along the right side of the figures torso. These buttons appear to be old fashioned from the outside, but underneath have metal snaps. A pocket is also sewn into the left breast. The pants have no real distinguishing characteristics to speak off and the black shoes are removable. All in all, it seems to be an accurate representation of the character from the episode.

The only accessories included with this figure are two books: "Descent Of Man" by Charles Darwin and "Bach: Preludes For Piano". They are rather large so I don't bother displaying them with the figure, but he can hold them if you so desire.

The packaging matches the other releases from the line. A black and white photo adorns the front cover with pertinent episode information on the inside flap.

Although he's using the "wrong" finger, the image on the back looks rather, uh, dismissive. Who knows.. maybe customs, and hand gestures, have also changed 10,000 years in the future.

Halo 3 ODST comes as the first expansion to the Halo universe and the first time the franchise has made players take off their MJOLNIR armor and strap on the boots of the toughest the UNSC has to offer, the Orbital Drop Shock Troopers. Strap in because it is time to drop into Hell, feet first.

The Halo experience is unlike the game genre it resides in, capable of successfully captivating audiences with a well written and engaging story combined with easy to figure out, pick up and play gameplay. Halo 3: ODST continues using the same formula the series it is named for, and gives new players a chance to experience another side to the popular Halo games.

PREPARE TO DROP!

The story of Halo 3: ODST takes place in the year 2552, during the war between the human race, led by the UNSC (United Nations Space Command), and the alien alliance known as the Covenant bent on exterminating the human race over their relationship to a mysterious race known as the Forerunners. While the title shares the number of the more recent Halo 3 (released in 2007), Halo 3: ODST takes place during the missing hours of its predecessor, Halo 2 (released on the original X-Box in 2004). The Covenant forces have discovered the location of Earth and seized the city of New Mombasa in Africa as their beachhead for the assault on the human home world. Meanwhile, the UNSC’s Office of Naval Intelligence prepares a top secret mission vital to the war based on the Covenant’s arrival to this particular city. Masking their intentions, they order a counterstrike mission by sending a team of Orbital Drop Shock Troopers, the ODST, who believe their mission is to land on the Covenant flagship hovering over the city. However things go awry as the flagship makes a daring escape from the planet and scatters the Troopers across the devastated city in its wake. Long after the cataclysmic event, a lone ODST emerges from his crashed drop pod, The Rookie. Alone, he must covertly navigate through the besieged New Mombasa and put together the clues of the time he lost and find his missing comrades. It is time to drop.

The Halo 3: ODST package is divided into three components. The first is the ODST game and its subsequent multiplayer modes.

True to its franchise, Halo 3 ODST remains a First Person Shooter (or FPS) where the player sees things first hand down the sights of a weapon with cinematic breaks in between to elaborate the story. The action of the game is a combination of navigation and shoot-out action, with enough room for the player to engage enemies in their own way. While the FPS genre is populated by games that take players between narrow hallway fights, Halo relies on a broader scale giving players the opportunity of seeing a world through the eyes of the character and experiencing the fights ahead of them in their own way, be it a duck and cover firefight in a narrow corridor or across rolling landscapes in armored vehicles. This portrayal of scale is what Halo truly excels in, making players feel like they are only a small part of a bigger world rather than the biggest stick in a fight or the general target of the enemy’s offensive.

Figuring the player’s role in the game is also a matter of difficulty and Halo 3: ODST comes in the four flavors of destruction: Easy, Normal, Heroic, and Bungie’s ever so popular Legendary, modes where the increasing the odds against the player are measured in both enemy numbers and enemy behaviors. Enemies will appear in larger numbers and begin acting smarter; troops of Grunts swell into legions of the crazy, grenade throwing midgets that duck and dodge at every shot ringing over their heads and the phalanx of shield toting Jackals will be complimented with sharp eyed snipers that rarely miss. In the increasing difficulties’ means of devastation, the player’s assistant non-playable characters will be dwindled down in seconds, leaving the player alone against hordes of angry, gun-toting aliens of all different shapes and sizes. Believe it or not, this is a good thing when a game does not just overpower the player with a difficulty scale that is measured in damage point ratios. These ratios do exist however for fending off larger enemies, but it is not ridiculously scaled against the player.

Halo 3: ODST comes as a first entry into the Halo franchise to exclude the series’ lead protagonists: the Master Chief, the UNSC’s armor clad Spartan II super soldier (and Microsoft’s Poster Child) and the Arbiter, a leader figure of the later deposed Covenant species, the Elites. Instead the game centers on a whole group of regular soldiers rather than seemingly unstoppable individuals, which becomes one of the greater challenges players have to overcome. Playing as ODST compounds the sense of vulnerability where players from the previous Halo titles will miss the game’s patented, bullet-absorbing energy shields that recharge instantly. Instead, players will have to rely on scattered med-kit health packs between enemy encounters. With death more imminent than anticipated, survival begins to look like a better idea than how many kills a player can get.

DANGER AHEAD! KEEP RIGHT!

Trapped behind enemy lines, the Rookie is alone against the odds in the besieged city. Under the cover of night and with no mission to guide him, the story of the Rookie has the player searching for clues scattered across the city to uncover the events of the time he lost. True to another facet of Halo’s story design game design, the player is never truly alone thanks to the guiding lights presented by New Mombasa’s Superintendent, an Artificial Intelligence entity that controls the city’s functions. The Superintendent is by no shape a replacement for the Halo series’ digital heroine Cortana, who normally is tasked with providing the player with their sense of direction in scripted dialogue and comedic banter. The Superintendent instead communicates to the players through his functions: flickering street signs and random traffic announcements placed at locations guide player through the city and point the Rookie in the right direction if he gets lost. Beneath the surface, the Superintendent has its own secret story buried in the game which the player can discover by accessing random kiosks and phone booths throughout the city. These scattered messages delve into the events transpiring during the Covenant’s invasion of New Mombasa and shed light on clues that the Rookie will come across. Accessing these points will unlock useful locations for the player later in the game.

The City is an open sandbox designed as a hub with series of interconnected zones that become unlocked in relation to the player’s progress of the game’s story. There is quite a bit of backtracking involved when going between the key locations of interest, but at no time does the process feel old repetitive thanks to the randomly moving Covenant patrols.

Throughout the city, the Rookie will have to contend with Covenant patrols comprised of the main enemy forces as they were arranged in Halo 3, despite Halo 3: ODST’s chronological placement in the hours of Halo 2. The Elites, who were the dominant enemy species in Halo: Combat Evolved (and the early portion of Halo 2), are replaced entirely by the Brutes, who command the Grunts, Jackals, Drones, and Hunters. Some patrols will also be supplemented with the assistance from a previously unseen species of the Covenant, the Engineers. These seemingly harmless, floating creatures have been the subject of interest in the Halo universe, revealed in the game’s tie-in novels written by Eric Nylund (The Fall of Reach and First Strike) and Halo 3: ODST’s lead story writer Joseph Staten (Contact Harvest). Until now, the Engineers have been reluctant from appearing in the Halo games. In Halo 3: ODST, the Engineers serve as support for the other Covenant species by bolstering the patrolling forces’ survivability with extra shields and making them tougher to beat in a gunfight. Fighting any of the patrols as the Rookie is almost an optional affair unless it is unavoidable. Coming across these patrols in large enough spaces, the player can choose whether to fight or move around them without being seen but along the narrow roadways, the enemies will often spot the Rookie before the player sees them.

The scripted interactions between the Rookie, his team, and the game’s layout make this the most Story driven entry into the Halo series. As the Rookie encounters the clues he is searching for, the game cuts to a series Flashbacks which take players out of the Rookie’s perspective and drops them into the roles of his fellow ODST squad mates. These missions change between different times during the day light hours in the areas the Rookie passes through during the night while the majority of these missions send the player to areas the Rookie cannot access. The episodic format in which these missions take place is an interesting adjustment to Halo’s standard “start to finish” formula where the game’s feature of placing the player in an ever changing situation from one mission to the next. As an expansion pack to the overall Halo experience, these missions play out as samples of the different variety of combat zones from the other Halo games ranging from ground combat in the city of New Mombasa to being in the driver’s seat in high octane vehicular mayhem across the war ravaged landscape.

While the ODST lack the implied armor and stamina of the Spartans, they do have the gadgetry to improve their place on the battlefield ranging from specialized weapons to suit functions. The new perks exclusive to the ODST include the VISR, a virtual night vision system with a sharply colored heads up display that not only breaks through the darkness, but highlights significant objects in the environment such as accessible doorways, items, and enemies. VISR also works in conjunction with the game’s menu system, with a pull down map display at the touch of a button. This replaces the main Halo games’ motion-tracker radar with a full screen view of the environment. The VISR has tabs dedicated to labeled missions objectives, which combine with the map to show the player where they need to get to next and what they need to do when they get there. While the VISR is a useful tool in the ODST arsenal, the game restricts its use primarily to the Rookie because of its night vision function. Using it during the missions of his squad will blind the player when trying to use it because their activities in the daytime hours. On the other hand, the VISR works perfectly inside buildings.

Compared to other games in the First Person genre, Halo has one of the more diverse varieties of weapons to choose from and Halo 3: ODST only adds to it. Unlike the bombastic front line action of the main Halo titles, ODST is crafted around infiltration and the player is given two new firearms geared for stealth in the forms of the scoped, silenced pistol and sub machine gun. Both weapons are a useful in any situation, but are more in tune with the Rookie’s side of the story. Moving through the darkness of the city, the silenced pistol can covertly topple the legions of smaller troops without the player being seen or heard and the scope function on both weapons allows the player the freedom to hold enemies off from a greater distance away. During the Flashback missions of the other Troopers, the player is given the chance to sample through the Halo series variety of louder, more explosive, weaponry and vehicles. Often some of these weapons are located where the player will need them the most but the game is lenient enough to give something to the player at each mission’s starting point. As the Rookie, weapons are rare except for discarded items found near battle sites, and ammunition is limited. To save the player from constantly being low on supplies, weapons depots are scattered through the city which are unlocked by accessing the previously mentioned phone messages left by the Superintendent. These depots are set so the Rookie can replenish his starting arsenal or swap out for an alternative weapon located in each depot. If too far from a depot and running low on ammunition, the player can always take the survivalist’s route and claim weapons from defeated enemies to tide them over.

NEVER FIGHT ALONE!

While the campaign of Halo 3: ODST is a designed for a single person affair, the developers have made the extra effort by included their popular Co-Op (or cooperative) mode. Co-Op supports up to four players who can team up to complete the story together via a single console, on X-Box Live, or LAN party system link. Contrary to the idea of playing as multiple copies of the same character, Co-Op mode will set the Host player in the role of the main ODST character for each flashback and the other players in the boots of blank Troopers. While Co-Op makes the game far easier even when each game is set to a higher difficulty setting, the experience boosts the fun value when getting to play with friends.

Halo 3: ODST has another cooperative game called “Firefight.” Firefight is an escalating gauntlet game where groups of up to four players face off against waves of Covenant forces being dropped in over a closed map. Firefight is arranged into three round sets where winning the game requires defeating all enemies in the field before moving on to the next set. How the game plays out is dependant on how well the team works; if players are not cohesive or fast enough, they can be overwhelmed by enemies in a short time period. Maintaining supplies is also another complicating factor of the game, where the players are restricted on starting weapons available to them and weapons placed on the map that will not be replenished until after each round is completed. The group dynamic is the core concept of the game’s penalty system, with the players sharing a given number of ‘Lives.’ Every time a player is killed and revived at the starting checkpoint, one life is deducted from the group. Completing each set will reward players with additional lives, and if players can complete a bonus round after each set, they will be rewarded extra lives to continue playing.

Adding some variety into the game, a series of “Skulls” are activated which act as point modifiers change the enemy Artificial Intelligence (AI) behavior and stack the odds against the players. The Skulls have a number of different functions, ranging from how enemies avoid danger to how little ammunition they leave behind in dropped weaponry. Adding some frustration into the mix, Firefight is able to mirror the difficulty settings of the ODST campaign mode from Easy to Legendary, which greatly affects the level of intensity the game can play at. Even on Easy, the Skull modifiers keep the game intense and the thrills alive.

Making Firefight a diverse game mode is the selection of characters to use. A familiar format in games such as Gears of War (by Epic Games), the player can select a default character from the game’s story to use as their avatars in the online component. Although there are no perks relating to each character such as starting weapons or unique abilities, each character does have a series of spoken expressions and individual appearances that make each player distinguishable from each other. Players seeking to use these characters will have to go through the game’s story mode first; where completing each Trooper’s mission will unlock them for use in Firefight. One character not unlocked this way is Sgt. Johnson, a recurring character from the main Halo storyline. Johnson is an exclusively downloadable character for players who pre-ordered Halo 3: ODST at select retailers activated by a special download code.

SOUNDS OF ORCHESTRATED WAR!

The sound design of Halo 3: ODST is an extensive display of sounds and music with an excellent voice cast to boot. The sound effects behind every weapon, character, and item are distinct and resonate perfectly to their interactions, sometimes cuing to whether or not the player will see what they think they hear. Continuing his audible reign over the Halo series is composer Marty O’Donnell, who has provided the music for the whole Halo experience with an orchestral balance of epic excitement and intense emotional outpour. There is a certain feeling of urgency with Marty’s score for ODST that evokes the seriousness and tension of the events in the game, transitioning between soft tones for the Rookie’s solitary quest through the abandoned city to the bombastic overtures during the action of his squad’s stories played out in scale battles. O’Donnell’s score combines with the game so fluidly that it really exemplifies a truly balanced soundtrack and gaming experience. The game’s voice cast consists of former “Firefly” stars as key members of the ODST squad: Nathan Fillion, Adam Baldwin, and Alan Tudyk. To make their characters stand out, Bungie modeled Nathan Fillion’s character Sgt. Buck after him and leading female cast member, Tricia Helfer of “Battlestar Galactica,” who plays ONI specialist Veronica Dare.

MULTIPLYING MULTIPLAYER!

The second portion of the Halo 3 ODST experience is the Mythic Multiplayer disk. This standalone disk is exclusively based on the existing Halo 3 Multiplayer game which exists already in the form of Halo 3. What makes this disk a part of the ODST release is the inclusion of three new maps which are not available through the X-box Live Marketplace (where players would normally download expanded data) for the original game:

Longshore

Heretic

Citadel

These three maps are scaled to the various forms of game-types Bungie has developed for Halo 3’s Multiplayer from the larger (16 player) big-team games to the smaller (8 player) free-for-all slayer games. These maps however come as the game’s strongest negative mark where the multiplayer disk makes players who already have Halo 3 purchase the same Multiplayer game a second time. Despite this, the Halo 3 Multiplayer game is still fun and amusing when playing with friends.

THE FALL OF REACH!

The last portion of the Halo 3: ODST package is the Beta for Bungie’s next project, Halo: Reach. While nothing is available now, the ODST game disk will act as the Beta’s access come its launch period. According to the story of Halo, the planet Reach was the UNSC’s largest military outpost and site of the last major conflict of the war before the Covenant’s arrival to Earth. Detailed in Eric Nylund’s “HALO: The Fall of Reach” and “HALO: First Strike,” as the last time whole teams of Spartans were seen in combat. There are only scant clues as to what Reach will be about, but the general consensus is that the game will focus on squad based combat, hinted at by the game’s promotional poster where a group of what appear to be Spartans are shown in silhouettes set to the background of a burning world. In other speculations, Halo 3: ODST could be the example of a new format of telling the story of multiple characters through flashbacks. Until Bungie releases more information behind their secrets, the gamer world will have to wait patiently. Unlike the Halo 3 Multiplayer Beta that was limited to first edition copies of “Crackdown” released in 2007, Bungie made certain the Beta for Halo: Reach is available through all copies of Halo 3: ODST.

Overall, Halo 3: ODST proves that the Halo franchise can do more than get by without its more recognizable characters and fits into the game series for all of the right reasons. If there are flaws to the game that damage it, it has to be the game’s overall length and price point. Start to finish, Halo 3: ODST is not a very long game but it is not very short either. Players spending time as the Rookie and scouring the ravaged New Mombasa will get their hours worth of entertainment, whereas aggressive players will find themselves beating the Flashback missions of his squad in no time at all. To the more casual audience, the story breaks and cinematic cut-scenes make up for the playable length. While the costs of video games have gone up over the years, it is disappointing that even the shortest games cost as much as the longest ones. However to its credit, the standard market price for Halo 3: ODST is made up for by its included features. The Mythic Multiplayer disk is only a deal if first time players do not already own a copy of Halo 3 but is still an upset to those existing Halo multiplayer fans who bought ODST buying the same game twice. The invitation to the Halo: Reach Beta is something of some concern too. While the automatic guaranteed entre is assured, players are paying now for something that will be available later without the guarantee of getting to play it. This same thing occurred for some players during the Halo 3: Multiplayer Beta that was released in Spring/Summer of 2007 where the access to play it did not guarantee the time to play until it was disabled. If Bungie plans to make the Beta functional until the final build of the Halo: Reach game is released, then the Beta will justifying the price of this game. Until then, the world may never know. None the less, Halo 3: ODST is a well crafted and executed game, marred only by the publisher’s marketing strategy.

Thanks in the making of this review go to Danny "Boomathingy" West and Andrew "Treb Rigander" Morris. Shown here riding along while I drive.

All Screenshots for this review were taken by Rob Braun*, MobileSuit_Rob of Collection DX, using the game’s Theater mode. All visually printed material is copyright of Bungie LLC, used with permission.

(*) = X-box Live gamertag: Had Weltall

"A war between worlds had long been dreaded. Throughout recent history, Man, convinced that life on other planets would be as anxious and belligerent as life on his own, has gravely predicted that some dreadful form of combat would inevitably take place between our world and that of someone else.

And Man was right."

"Nightmare" was an episode of the classic science fiction program "The Outer Limits" and aired during the first season, on December 2, 1963 to be exact. The episode featured a young Martin Sheen as an Earth soldier captured by an advanced race of aliens from the planet Ebon (pronounced with a soft "E", like "Eh Bon") and separated from his fellow soldiers for questioning.

In 2002, Sideshow Collectibles (then still known as Sideshow Toys) released a series of 12" figures to commemorate the classic program. In addition to the Ebonite Interrogator, there were the Zanti Misfits from the episode of the same name, Ikar and Ikar's Soldier from the episode "Keeper Of The Purple Twilight", Gwillm Griffiths from the episode "The Sixth Finger" and The Helosian ("O.B.I.T.") and Andro ("The Man Who Was Never Born"), who were sold together as a set.

Originally, I didn't care too much for the box art for these figures, but over time I'm come to like it a lot. It's simple, but really evokes the feel of the show. The front lid opens and a ton of information about the episode (a synopsis, production notes, cast and crew) is printed on the inside front cover. Across from that, the figure is visible throw a plastic window as it rests in it's tray.

As with most of these types of figures, a fully poseable generic doll body is used along with character specific designs for the head, hands, costume and accessories. I can't say enough about the sculpt of the head of this one. It is PERFECT. This guy looks like he stepped right out of your TV screen and onto your shelf. Even the paint applications on the head perfectly highlight the ridges of the creatures skull without being distracting or overstated.

The hands are also well done and are molded specifically to hold the characters included accessories. The interrogation wand fits snugly in the left hand while the right hand can hold the mind control device.

The costume is simply but effective. A plastic collar circles the neck and a black outfit, highlighted with light purple, covers the rest of the body. The wings of the are large and exaggerated, running literally from the ankles to the wrists, but are an effectively spooky addition.

If the figures fails anywhere, it's because the stand (included) cannot really wrap around the figures waist without compressing those wings against the body. The back of the costume can be unbuttoned so that you can insert the metal clamp around the waist under the costume, but you have to really pull it down a bit farther than it goes naturally to do it. Still, I think it's the best way to display it and if it stretches out the costume too much over time....well, so be it.

I really like this figure and am glad it never really shot up in price. I got mine for about $10-$15 on Ebay not long ago, along with the Gwyllm Griffiths (review forthcoming). I would highly recommend these to any monster or sci-fi fan.

The Ebonite Interrogator was limited to 5,000 pieces.

The legacy of Transformers Generation 2 continues.

This toy was kindly donated by Rodimus78.

A while back I reviewed the Transformers Generation 2 set of Dreadwing and Smokescreen. The Smokescreen figure in particular caught some interest from both fans and designers alike. I have said that the Generation 2 line was a starting point of novel concepts in Transformers like articulation and especially ball joints. Someone must have really liked this toy because the exact same design was used to create the Starscream figure for Transformers Energon almost a decade later.

Starscream starts out as a F-22 style jet. He's not nearly as sleek as Smokescreen. He sits on a full set of tricycle landing gear with fixed wheels.

One complaint against this toy is that it has a lot of molded "battle damage" to reflect the character's image of a kind of ghostly apparition. It doesn't look that impressive and subsequent repaints of this toy look uneven with pristine paint contrasting cracked armor.

Folding down Starscream's wings reveals a pair of missile launchers. They are your standard spring loaded type and send their plastic payload a good couple of inches across the table.

You can also attach Starscream's energon weapons to his wings.

Transformation is quick, easy, and practical identical to the Smokescreen figure. Starscream features articulation in his shoulders, elbows, knees, neck, and hips. In robot mode, this figure certainly looks the part of Starscream. In fact he seems to have more of the original Generation 1 appearance than the Armada design he succeeds.

The paint apps on this figure are a little dull. None of the colors stand out and the "damaged" gives him a halfhearted asymmetrical appearance. His eyes feature the typical light piping gimmick but his cloudy gray eyes barely let anything through except an intense flashlight blast from the rear.

On the back you can see some of the figure's better details like the embossed Decepticon symbols and the bright green wing damage. The silver details around the backpack damage is again, mediocre.

Snapping his weapons together, Starscream gains a sword that would make Cloud Strife blush. While it looks cool, there's really only one way for the figure to hold it with both hands.

Energon Starscream is a decent figure but in many ways I feel his unique weapons are not as well realized as Smokescreen's very straightforward approach. Oddly enough the Smokescreen figure was released as Starscream in the Beast Wars II line. This particular figure has received a few repaints, most recently as Transformers Collector's Club figures. Still its an interesting curiosity. Further proof that the legacy of Transformer Generation 2 continues onward.

I do not claim to be an artist.