Avengers: Age of Ultron Movie Review

It has been 25 days in release and the Avengers: Age of Ultron film has gross $1.277 billion dollars. Amazingly, many would consider this a weaker performance in comparison tp the first Avenger's Movie. Some may reason that the Manny Pacquaio v Mayweather fight took away a chunk of the Avenger's earnings. More Surprisingly, many slated that this would be the top dog for 2015 in terms of highest grossing film. And yet it is still close to 300 million dollars shy from what Furious 7 made this year.

Large consensus felt that the movie did not make a significant impact compared to its first movie but was it truly bad? Does it really deserve a mere "mehhh" in its entirety?

Being the crazy Marvel Fan I am, I will try as much to put as little bias in this review and shed some light as to what I think about the film. To begin (SPOILER ALERT), I shall give a summary of the film's plot.

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So after a whole bunch of movies showing our Main Heroes (Iron Man, Thor and Captain America) doing their own thing. Each of the movies lead to the the Avengers uniting once more. The movie begins with the team shutting the last remnant stronghold of HYDRA to obtain Scepter that was given to LOKI by Thanos.

In the battle where the Avengers are assaulting Hydra, we are made aware that the world has changed quite a bit, there are growing presence of enhanced humans that the Avengers know and have dealt before. Upon acquiring the scepter, Tony Stark discovers with Dr. Banner that the scepter contains a Mind Construct that could be the final key to initiate the Ultron Program which was intended to protect the Earth from an Alien Invasion. Consequentially, The Ultron AI is created but does not turn out the way Stark and Banner foresees it to be. Ultron enters the physical world and is bent on causing the extinction of the Human Race as he sees that the only way to protect the human race is for them to evolve or die. He recruits Hydra's greatest enhanced humans (Scarlet Witch and Quicksilver aka The Twins) to aid in his plans of stopping the Avengers.

The Avengers assemble to fight with Ultron and the Twins but are beaten promptly as Scarlet Witch manipulate their minds with visions of fear. It rattles the team and makes them disunited. Subsequently, Ultron uses the "cradle" to create what he deems as a perfect physical form in which he aims to upload his conscience into. The Twins realize Ultron's plan for human extinction and turn on him. The Rag Tack Avengers come back to stop Ultron from fully uploading his conscience into the body inside the cradle. Upon taking the cradle from Ultron, Stark decided to upload JARVIS conscience which he discovers was fighting Ultron online. Captain America and the Twins opposes this but after the Avengers tussle, Vision is born from the cradle. The Avengers are uncertain of his loyalties until Vision is able to lift Thor's hammer.

Ultimately, we see uncover Ultron's plan to lift the city of Sokovia and send it crashing down like an asteroid, plunging the human race into extinction. The Avengers with the addition of Vision and the Twins make their final showdown in stopping Ultron and wins. The whole film serves as a prelude to many things that each hero must answer for on their own. Scarlet Witch's vision that she had given to each of the hero serves as foreshadowing for what they must discover in their own movies.

And that, boys and girls is the summary of what is the basic plot of the show.

Having seen the show a number of times and hearing as to the various critics of the shows, I have come up with a few good and bad points.

For starters, I shall start on the bad points of the show:

1. Got a Little Draggy at some points:

Fans and non-fans alike highlighted that there were some parts that got a little draggy and I ahve to admit that that was true. There were moments in the show where you realize that the pace of the film slowed to a stuttering speed which could have made weary audiences dozing off. One of which was Hawkeye's safehouse scene. I can understand that Joss Whedon wanted to add more depth to Hawkeye's character but it was something that really got quite draggy for a bit. Pacing was a little lacking compared to the first Avengers.

2. Ultron. WHY YOU NO BADASS?

There were many fans who felt that Ultron's cavalier and candid demeanor made him less sinister than he was suppose to be. His occasional humor added to him being less scary than many of the Marvel fans know him to be.  Furthermore, with all the powers of being Ultron, a supremely powerful A.I, he was not very smart in wrecking more CHAOS. Aside from attempting to hack nuclear codes, he could have disrupt many network functions that could have brought the World tp its knees. (Loki's wet dreams if he were ruler of Earth) Or should we just presume that JARVIS got the whole cyber highway protected and if a battered JARVIS could do that, that makes Ultron look even crappier as a Villain.

3. Bad Russian Accents from the Twins
 
This doesn't even need elaboration. It was just cringe-worthy and cheesy to hear the generic Russian Accent coming out of Aaron Taylor Johnson and Elizabeth Olsen.

4. Scarlet Witch Costume Reveal for her as one of the new Avengers was weird.

During the end scene where the new Avengers' Team was revealed, Scarlet Witch looked more like a teen popper singer than a hero ready to fight some bad guys. The well permed hairdo and swanky costume just made me feel a lil weird.


5. Old Tricks don't always get the same response

There were several scenes that you could identify that were very similar to the first Avenger film. And while it still give a wow factor, it didn't cause as great an impact as the first show, but that's an issue all sequels struggle with.

However, despite these pertinent factors that made the show less than legendary, the sequel was still a good sequel. Joss Whedon did not pull a Matrix Revolution on this movie and there are great factor that makes this film score a distinction. Here are the Good points about the film

1. Took everything good in the original Avenger and use it again.

This was kind of a double edge sword but you got to give it to Joss Whedon for taking everything that's right and putting it in. Many of the Humorous scenes were based on critics and fans that pointed out that were funny about each of the characters/heroes. Furthermore, the battle sequences were still pretty epic. I guess there is quite some worth in the "If it ain't broken, don't fix it" phrase in this show.

2. Death of a Hero!

At least for now. I guess we have all been taking pokes at Marvel for resurrecting every damn hero in the Marvel Cinematic Universe but with the death of Quicksilver in protecting Hawkeye. This would be Marvel's first time in killing off a hero. I am quite sure it is also an indirect flip of a bird to FOX as Quicksilver is also related to the X-Men. By giving Quicksilver a death. it could perhaps leave less room for FOX to develop on the character.

3. More depth in Characters that the audiences are less familiar with

While some may disagree, I feel it was great to focus more on the characters that did not have a solo film. The focus on Hawkeye and his relevancy in the team was a realistic one and it was something that needed to be dug into. The Black Widow and Hulk romance got a lil awkward at times but it still did give audiences more insight on Bruce Banner's and Natasha Romanov's character.

4. Hulkbuster vs The Hulk

Enough said. Fans wanted it. Non-fans loved it. The Veronica Protocol beats the House Party Protocol anytime.

5. Vision

We have seen him as Jarvis. it is great to see Paul Bettany rise up as Vision. I like the way how Vision is fascinated with humanity. I like that even though he agrees with Ultron that the humans are flawed and are most certainly doomed that there is beauty in their failings and that he is proud to be with them despite not being Human himself.

6. Great Humor

While being over-marketed, the "Lifting Thor's Hammer" scene was a real wise-cracker. Hawkeye lines gave me a great laugh too. Especially the part where he wanted to aim an arrow at Quicksilver while saying "Noone would know..." And these are but one of the many lines that brought life to the film.

All in all, it is a great show. it ain't the first, but I honestly feel that it isn't one of those sequels that should not have been made. Could they have done it better? Perhaps. But I feel that the whole Marvel Cinematic Universe has matured quite a bit with this Phase Two Avengers and while it may not have killed 2015 box office. It's in a strong number two and I am confident that Marvel as a whole is going in the right direction.

And the movie also serves as an influence to consumers to get Marvel Franchised Products.

Speaking of which, below are the HOT TOYS Avengers: Age of Ultron lineup so far. Of which, I am getting Ultron, Hulkbuster and probably Vision. (Updated: Hot Toys have also released the Iron Legion and War Machine figures)

These stuff are real blood suckers.. but I guess I can't help it. The Marvel Cinematic Universe has unleashed the old Marvel Fan Boy I was. For all you Hot Toys collectors out there, Do you think they would be releasing Quicksilver and Scarlet Witch characters for the Avengers: Age of Ultron Movie?

And other than that, do leave a comment on what is your take on the movie?

Till then, toodle loo!

Call of Duty - Campaign Memories

Hey Everyone!

Unless you're living under a rock, you must have heard of the Call of Duty series, the FPS giant that has become the "FIFA" or "Madden" of FPSes...always leading in sales, and always updated every year. October 29th, 2013 will mark the 10th anniversary of CoD's first release, and its latest title "Ghosts" will be hitting shelves soon. Looking back, the series has indeed come a long way since its 3D accelerated WWII roots. I was crazy about the first CoD, and I fondly remember playing the single player demo repeatedly due to its engaging D-Day mission.

Just some thoughts on Ghosts: I am disappointed that the campaign is about some South American coalition invading the United States, using hacked satellites to wreck destruction throughout the world, a plotline that is too cheesy for me. The plot sounds awfully similar to Cobra's attempt to world domination in GI Joe: Retaliation, doesn't it? What I was expecting was a game that featured Ghost from the Modern Warfare storyline, even if his backstory was covered in a comic book. Of course, there's always a possibility that Ghost isn't dead...and it's pretty obvious that Ghost will somehow be involved.

I just completed CoD 2 and stated the single player campaign for BF3. Yes, my backlog of games is approaching ancient history. Strangely, playing both games in close proximity has given me a clues on the formula behind CoD's success as a single player game, which might partially explain CoD's enduring "Apple-like" appeal in the FPS genre.

Even if BF3 far surpasses CoD 2 in terms of graphics, the older game's campaign was a much more enjoyable experience for me. BF3 is a functional shooter, it plays just as it was made to and its destructible environment adds variety to the game. Of course BF3's campaign was thrown in as an "extra" to its multiplayer, but its comparison to CoD will be inevitable. (Also, there are other FPSes that are well-known for their campaigns, such as Halo, Resistance, and Killzone.)

However, the main difference between the campaigns of BF3 and CoD 2 lies in presentation and panache. BF3's story is a meandering mess of backflashes, you get dumped into the campaign without any context, and I couldn't care less about its protagonist. In CoD 2, the missions are presented in a sensible fashion, you get moments to take in the settings (like the long truck ride in North Africa), the briefing videos provide context, and your friendly AI help in making you feel part of a team. In short, CoD 2 made me feel like I was fighting alongside comrades, but BF3's campaign made me feel just playing on a computer.

Do note that I've only played Infinity Ward's entries in the CoD series, so I can't really state the same for the Sledgehammer ones. From what I've experienced, it appears that the developers have used a consistent formula in the making of their campaigns, which includes character development of its main characters, dramatic twists in the storyline, a slight nod to realism, moments that let the player soak in the locales, and providing proper context to each of its missions (videos, briefings, small talk etc). While CoD's storylines are not the pinnacle of literature, they consistently deliver a solid and exhilarating experience for players.

In light of the impending release of Ghosts, I'd like to share top memorable moments I've had while playing the various CoD campaigns. Do let me know what are yours!

Memorable CoD Moments (IW)

Call of Duty: Stalingrad

You begin the mission as a pitiful private in the USSR army, and all you're given to storm the formidable MG42 nests is just a clip of rifle rounds, and when I first played that I thought it was a bug! Also, if the Germans didn't get you and you faced the wrong direction...your friendly neighborhood Commisar will be ready to kill you for "defeatism."

Call of Duty 2: El Daba (End of the Beginning)

The "demo" mission for CoD2 started off with an incredible scene. You're sitting in a truck within a British convoy, taking in the sights of the Egyptian desert, a calm moment before jumping into the hell the Germans have prepared for you.

Modern Warfare: Shooting Zakhaev (One Shot, One Kill)

Cpt Price is perhaps the most popular character of the CoD series, and what can get better than playing as him? While the mission ended up as a failure, it made me feel like a total badass: infiltrating enemy lines, shooting Zakhaev's arm off, taking a Havoc down, and surviving long enough to escape.

Modern Warfare 2: Prisoner #627

I should have seen this moment coming, but I was surprised out of my pants when Cpt Price (previously assumed dead/MIA) punches you to the ground when you breach a wall. Normally, you'd expect to be in full control of the situation, taking cronies by surprise, but this time...not just someone beat you to the punch, and it's none other than Cpt Price!

Modern Warfare 3: Down the Rabbit Hole

I hate to leave friends behind, and this one did hit me...you've played with Team Metal under Sandman throughout the campaign and you've got to leave them behind. While the theme of sacrifice may be cliched in a military settings, it takes on a different feeling when you identify with those you leave behind.

And most difficult mission? Mile High Club in CoD4, easily.



As CoD reaches its 10th birthday soon, it still remains one of the juggernauts of the FPS scene, rising from its single player campaign to blossoming as a multiplayer game. The series will always have its detractors, but it is undeniable that their single player campaigns consistently deliver awesome experiences.

Your Guide to Modern Military Kits.

Good day Readers,

I am sorry for the long hiatus. In this part of the world, it has been a really busy period largely due to the festivities of the Spring Festival/Lunar New Year. As such, I haven't been able to get around writing. Furthermore, my progress on my models and miniatures is at a standstill along with getting around to do my new set of features for the blog.

For now, I shall begin with a new feature I promised and that is giving a guide to finding Modern Military Model Kits. In this day and age, hobby model kit shops are scaling down. In fact, more often than not, you might not be able to even get the model kit you want without asking the shopkeeper to reserve or pre-order for you. (That is, if you manage to find a convenient Hobby shop around your area) With the continual influence of video games, building model kits has become more niche than before.  It doesn't make it easier if you wanted Modern Military Kits.

For the vivid hobbyist, you may know that the model kit markets is largely made up of World War 2 and Gundam. Thus, Modern Military Kits range is the little brother of these ranges of model kits. However, fear not, there are a few brands out there that provide you ample amount for you to suffice your Modern Military interest and start your very own Battlefield 3 line of vehicles and soldiers.

Recommended Brands for Modern Military Kits

In terms of Modern Military Armor, there are quite a few brands that specialize in various scales.

For starters, Tamiya and Trumpeter have an adequate selection of 1/35 scale armor that range from your current MBTs to your famous Modern IFVs. As such, if you are into the bigger scale Armor, your best bet is on these two brands. However, if you are into a more smaller and conventional scale (like me) and you want to do 1/72 Armor, Revell and Trumpeter are the masters of this range. These two have an extensive range of Western armour that none can compare. Of course, it is up to individual preference on which model kit set is more suited to your craftsmanship. For me, I prefer Revell as I have more familiarity with their kits compared to Trumpeter. An additional note to take account is that if you are more keen on collecting Japanese Modern Armour, your best bet would be to look out ff the Western Brand Range and into Japanese Model Makers. Aoshima, Pit-Road and Fujimi provide lots of JGSDF vehicles. These Japanese brands provide high quality model kits and are very detailed.

As for Modern Military Aircraft, Big scale that range from 1/32 - 1/72 are largely dominated by Japanese Brands. Tamiya is a good bet. They have your F-15 and F-16 model kits that come with great detailed parts and awesome looking boxes. Hasegawa, Revell and Trumpeter are also main contenders in this scales. Even hyper modern jets like the F-22 Raptor are among their selection.

However, when it comes to the small 1/144 scale. Dragon and Pit-Road provides most of the modern aircraft that I can think of at the top of my head. Furthermore, super advanced fighters like the PAK-FA T-50 and J-20 PLA Stealth Fighters are among the latest of their range. Revell has a wide range too but I have preferences for Pit-Road and Dragon. However, if you are looking for the 1/144 scale F-22 Raptor, it seems Trumpeter is the only brand that offers that scale at the moment, as featured on my F-22 Raptor post.


Lastly, for Modern Naval Warships and Submarines, Dragon, Aoshima, Pit-Road, Hobby Boss and Trumpeter are great brands for scales 1/350- 1/700. Through my own experience, I particularly favour Dragon, Pit-Road and Aoshima for 1/700 Modern Naval Ships. Dragon has a great range of US, UK and Russian Naval Ships (inclusive of the Russian Admiral Kuznetsov Aircraft Carrier). Aoshima and Pit-Road does have their own range of US Naval Ships (including the US Nimitz Class Aircraft Carrier [SOLD OUT]) but they are also great in providing model kits for the JMSDF or Japanese Navy.

Where to get them?

When all else fails in term of finding your desired model kit in your nearest hobby store, your best bet would be to go online and get it from an online store. To cut the search short for you, I am recommending these two online hobby stores.

HobbyLink Japan and Hobby Search are the two most extensive hobby shops I have ever seen in my life. This is taking into account my many years doing Modern Military Model Kits. Aside from their huge collection of Modern Military Kits, they have action figures, anime collectibles and many more awesome stuff. Both have really competitive prices and provide international shipping to most countries. (I would say that Hobbylink has a greater price value compared to Hobby Search but there are stuff that Hobby Search have that Hobbylink might lack vice versa)

As both companies are based in Japan, they charge their goods in Yen. You need not fret because they have a price converter for every product and would give you the price in terms of USD ot local currency. Furthermore, the yen is weakening and shopping for Modern Military Kits in these two stores would be even cheaper than before.

The good part about searching for Modern Military Model kits via these two website is that they would be able to tell you the availability of the model kits and whether they would restock it if it is sold out. If these two websites have discontinued any of the kits you are looking for, you best bet would be to find it through ebay or Amazon.

If there are no model kit brands that have your desired armoured vehicle/plane/warship, you could try finding scale resin model kit via the search engine as a last resort.

Personally, in terms of 1/72 Armor, 1/144 Planes and Helicopters and 1/700 Warships, I have never come across a situation where I am not able to find what I want. However, if you have any queries that you want to ask on how to get certain modern military kits, do drop a comment.

Other than that, stay tune for more post!

Cheers guys!

War for Cybertron: Bumblebee

Welcome Back to Toyconstruct!

We have finally made it to the first week of 2013!

And to start off, I shall be giving a review of the War and Fall of Cybertron version of Bumblebee and also a short review of the Fall of Cybertron Game that I have completed.

"Float like a butterfly and sting like a bee". Famous words by the Great Muhammad Ali. It is also a phrase that can easily describe the small but ever so chirpy Bumblebee. In War and Fall of Cybertron as well as many of the TV Series, Bumblebee represents the "little guy". However, more often than not, he plays a vital role to the Autobots exploits and adventures. He is also known to be a wise-cracker that has to put in more than a few words of his opinion in things.

In spite of what I have mentioned, Bumblebee is the mascot of the Transformers and his small physique and youthfulness allows him to be able to associate well with a young human kid, Sam Witwicky who made friends with the Autobots in the Transformers Series. On many occasions, even in the trashy Michael Bay Transformer films, we see how Bumblebee overcomes adversity with his agility and speed. At times, his "smallness" also helps him perform missions that his bigger compatriots are unable to do.

 Melee Blades on Bumblebee's arms

Bumblebee is aware that he is small. Furthermore, he knows that he is younger than many of his Autobot compatriots. This makes him feel compelled to always try and prove his worth in the eyes of his Autobot superiors.

Bumblebee Draws his weapon

Truth be told, Initially, in the G1 TV Series, I never really liked Bumblebee because I didn't think he was cool and he wasn't really that powerful. he was just a little kid. You would have thought that because i was a kid back then, I could associate with Bumblebee. However, I didn't really like his name, the beatle car he transformed into, his design and abilities weren't that great. Like most kids, we were into the dude with the most power and coolest design.

Bumblebee's Metallic Legs that look like skates.

After awhile though, Bumblebee started to grow on me. The attachment to him deepens as the TV Show develops his relationship with the Humans and Sam Witwicky and you could almost believe like if Transformers did exist, Bumblebee could be your friend. Ahh.. what childish delusions I had when I was a kid.

Vehicle Mode

In any case, his Cybertronian vehicle mode looks sleek, curvy and cool. Cybertronian Design really makes all of the Transformers look way cooler. And speaking of the Cybertronian version, I shall now finally touch upon the Transformer: Fall of Cybertron Game.

Bumblebee Zooming across the Road in Vehicle Mode

Fall of Cybertron had a few additions and changes compared to its prequel, War of Cybertron. For starters, there are achievements to be unlock in Steam now. Improvements have also been made on the Escalation and Multiplayer Gameplay. With the addition of the Teletraan 1 in the game, Ammo shortages and getting of weapons should not be a problem in this game.

On top of that, expect to see more massive robots and awesome cool scenes which work well with the gameplay to give a good sequel to the previous game. In this game, we see how Optimus prepares to depart Cybertron on the Ark and the events that lead to that. For the first half of the Campaign, you will play for the Autobots working towards making the Ark Operational. You will witness the massive power and strength of Metroplex but the game is more rigid in which each mission already has a preassigned Character rather than allowing you to choose various Characters to play for that part of the mission.

The good part would be that the mission focus much more on the character and its abilities. This gives the character more weight in the story that is unfolding.

Optimus commands Metroplex to smash Megatron.

 After the first half of the story, you will play various Decepticons in their attempt to stop the progress of the Autobots. Personally, the best mission would be playing the all mighty Bruticus.

Combaticons Combine!

This badass monster leaves a trail of destruction whereever it goes. With a good storyline, great looking Transformers, it seems like a great sequel to the Transformer Cybertronian Series. However, the game is not absent of flaws.

The New Optimus Design does not really go down well with me.

For starters, there is a lot of buggy issues with the game. Sometimes the gameplay will roll into a cinematic cut scene with the absence of audio dialogue. Furthermore, because of some graphic or bug issue, there are times where the game after going through a certain cut scene or boss fight would just crash back to desktop. I had encounter this problem before I open my NVIDIA graphic card control panel to use my graphic card to directly run the game, giving it a smooth run throughout the game.

It's Hard not to love the Transformers. And if you are a fan of the G1 series, you will like this cool version of Transformers, inclusive of Bumble Bee.

It can be really really frustrating having to deal with those issues. If you manage to rectify it though, you are in for a treat involving Robots, Battles and Awesome fight scenes. There have been criticism that the Multiplayer doesn't enable friends to be able to play together against people online. Multiplayer has been also criticize for no port of communication. Aside from these stuff though, the positives of the gameplay, storyline and multi-play outweigh these issues.

Grimlock STRONG!

For me, the best part of playing the Autobots inthe campaign would be to get control of Mr. Leader of the Dinobots, Grimlock himself. A beast of a warrior, this guy could pack a real meaty punch in the game. When he changes into Dino-mode, epic strength and fury is dealt at great proportions to his enemy.

The Arc leaving Cybertron with Metroplex on the Background.

My final analysis is that if you are a fan of Transformers and Michael Bay has suck out your happy views of what Trasnformers might be (Yes, I truly do not like the Michael Bay Transformers), Fall of Cybertron, just like its predecessor will give back to you that joy and happiness of how G1 was like for you. The game is simple enough to pick up for an FPS. It gives you an experience of seeing and playing many of the iconic Robots that have been so familiar to many adults and kids around the World. So take up the game and live the story of Transformers: Robots in Disguise!

Lastly, this game has resulted in new Cybertronian Transformer to be release under the Hasbro Toy line. I have mentioned in my Optimus Post that I was contemplating to get the New Optimus but I have decided not to. Somehow or another, the new Deluxe version of Fall of Cybertron Transformers looks particularly small. As mentioned above, the new Optimus doesn't go down well with me. As such, I shall not be buying Optimus Prime. Aside from Optimus, Hasbro has announced that there will be a release of Jazz, Shockwave, Sideswipe, Kickback, Starscream, Grimlock and Bruticus for the Fall of Cybertron toy line.

I shall be pouncing on Grimlock as soon as possible. Furthermore, I might consider getting the SDCC 2012 Exclusive Bruticus in original gameplay colours, Shockwave and Starscream. I must reiterate though, that I am still contemplating. Thus, aside from Grimlock, the rest might not be a "for sure" circumstance in which I would buy them. Due to acquiring many collectibles, painting materials and model kits, I am quite broke now. :p So much consideration must be done into making a purchase on anything.

Ahh such is the troubles of being a hobbyist and a collector of many toys and action figures. Sometimes, I am quite convinced that calling me Super Nerd Geek would not be an understatement. (I wonder whether I should be happy about that :P)

Till the next post, 

Thanks for reading!

Crazy Intense Model Making

Good day to all!

Today's post would be more of a self-reflection on my ability as a modellers and painter. This post would give you my take on an intense model-making experience that I had attempted a while back. It involved a 6 hour model-making and painting session and another similar 12 hour session. During the free time span I had earlier in the year, these two particular activities were the most energy-draining and mentally-challenging thing I had ever done in terms of my hobby activities.

Initially, I always wondered how much progress would be made if I actually did a whole day affair of model-making. Aside from the usual routine of one to two hours on a very good day (in which I would have been motivated to do my hobby), I never really had such an opportunity to dedicate a huge chunk of time to painting and fixing models. While the routine made progress for the completion of my models rather slow, it did compel me to question myself about how much could I do if I dedicated more hours into it and what was the potential that I could achieve with the time and effort.

Armed with my trusty Citadel Paints and Brushes, I am rearing to go!

 6 hour Stint

The first 6 hour stint of painting went pretty well. With a light snack and a cup of tea, I set about doing the paint task on hand. Bit by bit, I was progressing with speed and quality. By the half way mark, hands and back were stiff and aching.  As such, I decided to take a sizeable long break before I continued on. The next 3 hours, my engine was rolling full steam in terms of painting. With Music to soothe my mind, I was actually enjoying the process of seeing my models come to live. The only disappointing part of the session was that when the 6 hour timeline ran its course, I was kind of surprised that I still had a long way more to go. More surprisingly, while it was only 6 hours of labour, I was pretty bummed out that the entire day had been expended.

My Messed up workstation after the day's work.

12 hour stint

Procrastination took hold of me for a period of time before I could prepare myself to take on the 12 hour model-making and painting stint. Finally, with my mind made up, I gave it my all and began the epic journey of painting.

The first 6 hours ran like clockwork. During that period, I managed to paint my primary base coat and layer with an extra secondary coat on the Bloodletter models that I was working on. By this point, the day was almost over and grinding the next few hours of the night was a difficult task. I felt much agony without the long breaks as I was hard-press for time. Furthermore, I wasn't really giving the finest of touches to my model pieces.

One of the Bloodletter parts I was doing up during the painting stints.

It was at this point that I realized it was pretty impossible for me to sit down and paint non-stop for more than 3 hour at a time. Furthermore, anything beyond 3 hours of painting or fixing anything, and my productivity level would go out the window.

Airbrushing my F-22 Model. (This was a real hassle)

In summary, painting and assembling a model kit or miniature isn't the same as rushing to revise for a final year exam. In my context, these things take time to build and be painted. This is especially so if you want to give it the best quality paintjob and assembly that you can do.

I concluded that my old way of painting bit by bit for short periods of an hour or so per day is a more efficient and fun-filled way of doing my hobby than putting myself in a predicament where I work on something and lose all motivation to do it after grinding on it for long hours. In 20 hours of painting and assembling, I had completed 5 + Bloodletters. I did expect myself to do more, but I am not too disappointed at the progress.

Now, do not get me wrong guys, this post is not to subtlely tell you that I am runnig out of models andminiatures to feature. In fact, I have so much in store, aside from the stuff I am working on.

So do stay tune because there would be lots to show you! Till then, Cheerios!
 

Samurai Madness!

Good Day to you all again,

Hope you guys enjoy the current surplus of awesome posts. There have been much discussion and I would like to add that the last article by Joshua on the Human and Robot dichotomy was really intriguing. It was great to see so many people putting great pointers and opinions on the topic.

As you have noticed recently, I have been putting up many figures from the Rurouni Kenshin and Samurai X anime as the release of the live-action film of Rurouni Kenshin is coming soon. Weirdly enough, my week has been centered around much of ancient Japanese culture. From passing my Aikido grading to doing all these Samurai blog post, it seems that the Bushido spirit has washed over me.

Today though, I shall be talking about an epic game that Josh and I have been playing that pretty much showcase the Bushido Spirit of the Samurai and the Traditional Japanese Culture of Feudal Japan. The game is none other than Shogun Total War 2



This game is a true example of the saying "If it ain't broke, don't fix it". Creative Assembly (Designers of the Game) decided this time round to go back to its roots and bring back Shogun Total War in this new sequel.

Taking everything the fans loved from the old Shogun Total war and implementing new modifications taken from the development of the Total War Franchise, Shogun Total War 2 was everything I imagined it to be. From the great graphics to the improve AI that enabled allies to act as allies rather than distrusting backstabbing enemies, this game was awesome. The last game from the Total War series that I played was Medieval Total War 2. I did pretty much skipped the entire Napoleanic era, including Empire total War, so for me, it was a great delight to discover that there is a Multiplayer Co-op Campaign feature in Shogun total War 2. While this was something that was already implemented in Empire Total War, it was something new and great to me. (If my late friend Qamarul were here, he would have been overjoyed at getting his hand on this game and join me and Josh in some awesome Samurai fun)

I must reiterate the part in which Creative Assembly had taken all the good stuff from the Old Shogun Total War and implemented it to the new one. Things like the Samurai Music and Soundtrack which gave me a nostalgic feeling of the old game, to the Ninja Cutscenes which are so iconic to the old STW.

All in all, the Total War gameplay mechanics is addictive and the result in endless fun replaying single or multiplayer campaign mode. PC Gamer mentioned that the average Shogun total War 2 players plays about 100 hours, which is relatively true. I am in my 80th hour soon and I don't see myself stopping anytime soon. And I can easily say the same for Joshua.

So far,

Josh and I had successfully impose our Mighty Rule in our first Multiplayer campaign using the "Easy" Difficulty level.

Together, our Takeda-Tokugawa Alliance was strong


Takeda-Tokugawa Alliance


Joshua's Daimyo, Takeda Shingen


Tokugawa Ieyasu, apparent heir in our game for the Tokugawa Clan

While this alliance was not meant to be of any historical significance, I could safely say that there were only a small handful of times where our growing influence and power was ever challenge. It was really awesome and ecstatic to see strong clans falling under our might which culminated in the showdown between our alliance and the Ashikaga shogunate.

Our second failed campaign involved us getting in over our heads and choosing "Hard" difficulty using the Date and Uesugi Clan. We were swiftly disposed off by neighbouring clans, ending off in a sad misery of defeat as the Massive Hatakeyama Army marches to eliminate the last of Joshua's provinces while I had to contend with a double assault from the Mogami and Honma Clan. Our folly was the result of getting in over our head and sending an attack force against our enemy that was too small. We should have slowly build up ourselves but we were underestimated and lost big time.

As of now, we are in the midst of a "Normal" Difficulty campaign in which we are doing pretty well. Josh taking the Shimazu Clan and I using the Chosokabe clan. Our dominance is note-worthy and it will be a matter of time before we come in contact with the Shogunate. Hopefully, we can do well to gear us to take on "Hard" difficulty again.

This brings me to the next part of this entry,

Shogun Total War must have definitely gotten a lot of its inspiration in terms of battle gameplay from old films like Ran and Kagemusha directed by the great Akira Kurosawa.


Kagemusha (Courtesy of Wikipedia)
Winner of Best Direction and Costume design for the BAFTA awards

For me personally, my first samurai battle film I had ever watch was Heaven and Earth by Haruki Kodakawa. An epic film that depicts battles between the Uesugi and Takeda clan. While not as critically acclaim as Akira's films, it was rated as Number one japanese film in the Japanese Domestic market in 1990.


Snippet of Heaven and Earth.

It would be the start of my fascination for Samurais and the Bushido way of thought. It was after this that I was introduced by my late buddy, Qamarul to Aikido and we also began sharing our interest and conquests in Shogun Total War.

And then the Last Samurai film came along, and it would be this iconic song that he and I would never fail to sing along the yelling part that really just brings me back good memories and gives a warm feeling in my heart even today.



So for those who are into the whole Samurai thingamajig, this game is guaranteed to be pretty darn awesome. The downloadable content are also pretty damn great. Furthermore, if you were a sucker for the Last Samurai movie, the latest expansion, Shogun Total War 2: Fall of the Samurai would be a fitting game to fulfill any imagination and fantasy construct you might want to play out in that expansion.

Aside from my review of STW2, i have also recently discovered an upcoming tabletop game called Bushido.



It is a 2 player tabletop 'skirmish' type wargame that is based on Oriental Fantasy storyline. Much of the game play is represented by 32mm figures in which players are to outwit and defeat each other to achieve their personal objectives. I for one, particularly like the Prefecture of Ryu starter set as seen above as it is very Samurai-orientated. While it is a new tabletop game, it will take awhile for it to establish itself, but if you are a fan of skirmish tabletop wargames like Warmachines and Hordes, this might be something you can embark on.


As of now, that is all from me. Hope you like the Rurouni Kenshin and Samurai extravaganza for the past few weeks. Will be coming back with the usual Model kits and Miniatures real soon!

Till then, Any Samurai or STW fans out there? Give me a holla on what do you think about the New STW 2 and its latest DLC, the Fall of the Samurai.