Thank God for a great and final day in Seattle, Washington: Sept 18, 2015 Snoqualmie Falls and Discovery Park

A day of hikes! You have been warned.

Snoqualmie Falls

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Thank God for a great day in Seattle, Washington: Sept 17th, 2015

Woke up early at 4AM. Waited for sunrise and everyone to wake up. Took pics of my friends backyard. Chickens and Squirrels!

Favorite hangout spot for them.

 

Thank God for a great day in Seattle, Washington: Sept 16, 2015

 Back in Seattle once again.... for the 5th time in several years. This time I made an resolution not to do the same touristy stuff all over again. God made it work this time because my friend moved from Shoreline to Everett, so I focused mainly on those areas and beyond. I took an overnight flight from the previous day upon arriving. I couldn't sleep on the flight so I ended watching Terminator Genisys on the plane (it's my 3rd viewing). I arrived around 6:15AM in the morning. Got to my rental car which was Thrifty and the girl who helped me told me that Hawaii folks are usually her nicest customers. Awesome! So I made the drive to Everett and traffic was prevalent. Nevertheless, I decided to stop by Lynnwood to get Chick-Fil-A!

 

It was good. The tater tots were really salty though. I ordered myself coffee just to help stay awake and get some warmth. Seattle was really a nice sunny day by the way.

I finally arrived at my friend, Heath's house around 9:30AM. Had a bit to catch up and we decided to go to Legion park. However Legion park was closed due to some chemical issues. So we settled to chill for a bit at Forest Park. Bring your wife, kids or family for some downtime here.

Takara Tomy Unite Warriors Menasor UW-02 review part 2 of 2

Menasor! With Menasor now in the picture, the Aerialbots have met their match... or have they? How does Menasor do in comparison with Superion? Does it pale in comparison or is it another hit with Takara/Hasbro? Let the pics fly.

 

 He looks decent, does he not? Sadly, the complaints start to appear here. He doesn't have the best hips in the world, nor is it that good looking. Because he has a bulky top thanks to Motormaster, Menasor falls a lot. This guy has trouble standing. Many fans have complained about how awkward he looks thanks to the hips once again, but there is a quick remedy for this though it still doesn't prevent him much from falling. He does look a little better but that still isn't saying much. You can toggle with his legs the way you want, here is how I prefer it if I wanted to. Not to mention it makes him a little taller.

Takara Tomy Unite Warriors Menasor UW-02 review part 1 of 2

Good September to you all! Been really busy as I finally got around to shooting some pics on the latest Takara Tomy combiner release: Menasor! So without further delay, let's get started!

Boxing and packaging:

 

 

 

So the Decepticon combiner comes in a box set very similar to the Superion set. You get the original Stunticon team which also includes Wildrider, who was originally omitted in the western release due to his departure from the team in the IDW comics. He was replaced by Offroad for a short period of time before the west decided to release their own version of Quickslinger (Slingshot) and Brake-Neck (Wild Rider). What is included here you see is the instruction manual and a quick cheat sheet ( I think) on how to transform the limbs in Japanese. Behind the manual is an artist rendering of the Stunticons on the race track doing their own racing. You can see Metroplex and the Aerialbots also in the background. 

Mario Wii U Fightpad controller Quick review

I decided to pick this up after my Gamestop Gamecube controller wasn't functioning properly. When playing any game, the characters would always venture left and I had to keep popping the joystick back up or toggle with it till the character stopped moving. When I pressed on the joystick, the character just went "left" all over again. This is the 2nd time that Gamestop controllers had given me issues. I finally decided to just go to Wal-Mart and pick up a Nintendo brand controller; I had a classic controller but one day a bunch of ants decided to hibernate in the handheld. I fumigated the controller, took it apart, killed the remaining ants, and put the controller back together short after. Surprisingly, the controller still worked though the down button on the Dpad is very stiff now. If one button is out of order, I simply replace the controller. I'm that strict, yes, i know.

Box Covers

 

 

Looks good. No complaints here. The only version they had in my local Wal-Mart was the Mario one. In the back cover, you can see advertisement for a Peach or Yoshi controller. Mario is awesome, so no qualms here once again. 

Controller out!

 

So you can that it uses the trademark colors of the respective character you are buying. In this, Mario is Red and blue. The layout looks identical to that of the Gamecube. The only difference is that the controller plugs into the Wiimote only and the joystick is slightly larger than the original cube controllers.

Functionality and replayability (final results):

I know some of you folks are probably thinking that I will be reviewing this controller due to Smash Bros from which this controller was intended for. Sadly, I don't own a Wii U but this controller is backward compatible with the original Wii and that is why I bought it for. I have a couple Virtual console games that I decided to re-visit. So if you are looking for Wii U playability, look elsewhere now. Otherwise, I can tell you that this controller is awesome! I am mainly using this for Mario 64 on the VC, but this controller works amazing. The buttons are very responsive, no awkward joystick toggling like how the Gamestop controllers are giving me, and the feel is very comforting I might add. I pretty much have no doubt if I tried this on the Wii U, I be amazed on it's comfort and durability. After 10+ years, Nintendo brand GC controllers still got the touch! My real qualm on this, however, is that it only works on the Virtual Console, Wii, and Wii U. That means, if you decided to play a Gamecube game on the Wii, this controller doesn't work. You won't be able to plug this bugger into a Gamecube port let alone. Overall, you are probably better off getting a Gamecube controller (with an GC port) and buying a Hub in order for you to play it on the Wii U. Why you ask? At least you have the GC ports on the original Wii if you decided to replay GC games. Last but not least, I got this controller for $29 tax included. In Amazon, you can get this controller for $10 less though you would need to purchase another $15 item to get the free shipping. So choices, choices, choices..... If you don't care about the Gamecube, then by all means, get this controller. Overall, this Mario Wii U fightpad as a controller is an awesome one. For me, its Nintendo brand all the way and no more third party nonsense for me anymore. See you next time (in Mario's voice). 

Transformers Combiner Wars Powerglide review (2015) Guest star: Unite Warriors Superion

It was inevitable that Powerglide would join the fray. Billed as a part of the combiner war legacy, does Powerglide fare great? First off, it took me a while to get him because I was debating whether to spend an extra few bucks just to get the Japanese version. I decided to stick with the western release because I hated the autobot sticker on the Japanese one. Seriously, what were they thinking? Now on with the pics like usual. Sorry for the loads of dust on the black floors.

 

This is probably the last time I am buying an TF figure from Amazon. First off, I bought Tailgate and the package came all creased up. Now, it you look carefully on the first pic, the box is slightly creased and it seemed as it was opened to begin with. It was taped in between the Powerglide portrait and the actual figure itself. And Amazon had the balls to decrease the price after I bought it for $10.88; they decreased the price back to retail $9.99 after I bought it. I love Amazon, but I seem to feel so disappointed every time I buy TF figures from them. Never again unless if have to. 

 

Takara Tomy Unite Warriors Superion UW-01 review 2 of 2

Surprise Megatron, meet Superion! I have to say that forming Superion was easy. He wasn't that difficult to transform at all. The funny thing is that Silverbolt's head goes in the crotch area or you can say Superion's head comes from the crotch area of Silverbolt. Until I get Menasor or other combiners, you see Superion in his fullest glory.

 

 

 

Takara Tomy Unite Warriors Superion UW-01 review 1 of 2!

                                                         

So with all the combiner wars hype, I was intrigued in getting a few of these figures--namely the real combiners such as Menasor, Superion, and Defensor etc. When I heard Takara was releasing their version combiners named "Unite Warriors", I figured why not? The bad news was that it was almost a half a year wait when it was announced back in January. The bonus: Slingshot was to appear as a completed G1 team replacing IDW Alpha Bravo. I said sweet! Then around April, Hasbro released their own version of Slingshot re-named Quickslinger to the western fans. So what was the point of waiting or getting the Takara exclusive at the time? By then I had already pre-ordered Superion which was announced as a gift set. So I told myself why not wait  again since it is more G1 colored and style..... and because I couldn't get refunds on Amiami.com.

July 7 came and the USPS mailman dropped this off!

  

However, due to work, I was un-able to open the first official Autobot combiner in G1 cartoon history until July 12. The results: Sloppy...... what???? My camera work that is.. hee hee. Got you there. My camera work was blurry in some pics but I was so lazy to fix it. My apologies folks, but due to time constraints and heavy workload, I can only do so much for now.  If time allots it, I will try to fix some of these pics in the future.

 

 

Energon BBQ!

 So this is what I like: It all comes in one instead of buying them separate though Hasbro may have a gift set of their own in the future. It comes with a nice trading pic of the Aerialbots having Energon BBQ on Metroplex. Weird I know. Here's the Aerialbots for your viewing pleasure!

A step into the past: Street Fighter IV Collector's Edition (2010)! Not a Review!

I was browsing through my old Flickr account which I haven't used in years and came across this. Wow, I kinda forgot I had all this which is in storage right now. Though I don't have time to play games much these days, I remember having a blast with Street Fighter IV and Super Street Fighter IV. Let the pics do the talking. The headband is a gamestop pre-order bonus. Yes, and let me rant on Gamestop on that day. Gamestop didn't get the shipment on the day of release and they rudely told all their customers that because we live in Hawaii, shipping was delayed. The guy didn't want to help any one at all by the look of his expression. Load of monkey manure because I used to work retail and I tell you games, especially popular games, we would receive them nearly a week or a month in advance. Gamestop always manages to piss customers off. To make it worse, lying when you could had just said "sorry, we didn't get the shipment in yet." What's hard about telling the truth? Anyways, for your viewing pleasure. Click on link for a few more pics.

https://www.flickr.com/photos/terry981/sets/72157623517574895