Hauls: Pre-Birthday Clearout!

Hey, guys. Been a while. Hope you're still all safe out there in the nastiness. On to business, I've got a couple of things to archive here before my 29th Birthday on Sunday, so let's blow through some more nerd paraphernalia!

But first...

I've actually moved since my last post, so here's a peek at my new digs! Been really enjoying it here. (Just being able to play console games from my bed again is a significant upgrade to my situation.)

Now that that tangent's out of the way, on with the stuff!

TMNT Vintage Super Shredder Figure

This guy was a neat surprise! My parents actually found him at a thrift store a little while back and I was shocked by how intact he was. Still had his armor AND his belt. Actually have quite a bit of nostalgia associated with this guy (both because Secret of the Ooze was the TMNT film I grew up on and because he's one of the earliest TMNT figures I remember getting), so it's really nice to have approximate Kevin Nash here back in my collection after all these years. He'd make a great companion to NECA's upcoming Super Shredder figure...if I can manage to score one.

Mario + Rabbids Kingdom Battle - Rabbid Peach Figure (Amazon)

World of Nintendo Cranky Kong Figure (Amazon)

This order was half patchwork, as that Cranky Kong figure I bought specifically to replace one that got lost in the previously-mentioned move. (Good thing he was still a decent price.) While I was browsing Amazon for that, I found that the smaller scale Kingdom Battle amiibo-esque Ubisoft figures were readily available, so I decided to use the opportunity to add one to my collection. (Went for Rabbid Peach, as she was kinda the star of the show in that game.)

WarioWare Gold (Amazon)

Speaking of Amazon, this was an amazing deal. I had never played a WarioWare game (aside from the Game & Wario spin-off that I got free from Club Nintendo), so I was really interested in WarioWare Gold when it was announced. (Both because it featured a lot of microgames from throughout the series' history and because it had full voice-acting.) However, I never got around to picking it up because it was hard to justify buying a full price 3DS game in a series I had never jumped into in a Switch-dominated world.

However, that all changed when Amazon had it down to ELEVEN BUCKS at the start of the month. I just COULDN'T pass up a deal that good! (It was even better than that time I got Project X Zone 2 for thirteen bucks!) Beat it a couple weeks ago. Really fun and hilariously quirky. Definitely worth the full price, but ABSOLUTELY worth the severely discounted one. Glad that I was able to jump on it when the opportunity arose.

Mega Construx Pokemon - Psyduck (Cracker Barrel)

Mega Construx Pokemon - Ditto (Cracker Barrel)

Another find from my parents! They picked these up for me at Cracker Barrel while they were caught in the middle of an intense saga of car troubles. (Don't ask.) These are my first Mega Construx Pokemon and they're definitely neat little things. Having a Psyduck figure with arm articulation is a very amusing novelty and I didn't have that much Ditto merch to begin with, so they're nice additions to the collection.

Nintendo Heroes: Mario and the Incredible Rescue (Amazon)

Here's a random one! Picked up this old Mario book I had my eye on for a while. (Chiefly because Origami King hype put me in the mood.) Why did I have my eye on this one specifically? Well, it's because the content of this book is made up of the most eclectic and disparate Mario references despite the year it was published. (2006.) This book not only features all the usual Mario beats and characters you would expect from a typical kids book based on the franchise, but also locations and a couple minor players from Super Mario RPG! Yep, this is the only other story in the franchise to feature appearances from Frogfucius and Toadofsky despite SMRPG not even being on the Wii Virtual Console when it was published! Crazy, right?

Being the huge Mario RPG fanboy that I am, I just had to get it based on that detail alone. Story itself is okay. Just a simple plot about Mario, Luigi, Toad, and Yoshi finding magic Mushrooms to repel evil ghosts summoned by Bowser. The odd-for-2006 references are easily the best part. It's not even just Mario RPG nods, either. They even throw in a detail from MARIO & WARIO, a game that didn't even release in the West! Someone seriously knew their stuff. Very unique addition to my personal treasure trove of Mario merch.

Wii Fit Trainer amiibo (Best Buy)

Ordered Ms. Trainer here when I pre-ordered some other amiibo from Best Buy. (Stay tuned for those.) I like having all the weirdo characters, so she'll be right at home on my amiibo shelf.

Remember in 2014/2015 when these three were the most rare, sought after amiibo in the line at that point? The Lazy Shell remembers.

NECA Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Cartoon Two-Pack - Slash and Leatherhead (Zavvi)

Finishing up this post with a DOOZY! A little while back, I got in NECA's Slash figure based on his appearance in Turtles in Time. I also mentioned a couple of their other upcoming TMNT figures that I was interested in and thanks to Zavvi's US site, I was able to score two of them without having to deal with the bot-dominated nightmare of Target distribution: the 1987 Cartoon versions of Slash and Leatherhead! 

Some of my earliest memories of watching the '87 Turtles involved renting the old "Bad Guys Series" VHS tapes and "Turtles vs. Leatherhead" was easily my favorite. Not only was it the only video in that series where BOTH included episodes involved the villain spotlighted on the box, but Leatherhead himself was just a cut above that show's usual recurring threats. Jim Cummings' super entertaining performance slathered in cajunisms made him really likeable and he held his own against the Turtles far better than Bebop and Rocksteady. Leatherhead's been one of my personal favorite TMNT characters ever since and he might've even helped to spearhead my lifelong affection for Alligators, so to have an incredibly nice, high-quality figure of the version that introduced me to him complete with way more accessories than I know what to do with is simply amazing.

As for Slash, well, he's mostly a bonus, haha. I was introduced to Slash through Turtles in Time, so to later see him in the cartoon with his...unique redesign was more than a tad underwhelming. Still, it's really fun in a way to finally have a toy version of this design and he looks great next to his Turtles in Time counterpart. He even comes with his binky! 

That's all for now, but stay tuned in a few days for my 29th Birthday haul!

Review: Pokemon Ultra Moon

Ever since we were first introduced to the Alola Region in 2016, it's been a largely beloved addition the Pokemon world. From the tropical scenery backed by a gorgeous new gameplay engine to the score of new faces and Pokemon that quickly became fan favorites, Pokemon Sun and Pokemon Moon reinvigorated the franchise with a lovely combination of elements both old and new. 

However, after launch, many wondered what their next step into the world of Alola would look like. Many speculated a Switch follow-up called Stars and even more weren't quite sure. The answer was finally given right before E3 2017 when Pokemon Ultra Sun and Pokemon Ultra Moon were announced via a Pokemon Direct presentation. Billed as an alternate take on your previous adventure in Alola, many with Switch-happy brains were underwhelmed. Months later, the game released and here we are today. How does Pokemon Ultra Moon stack up to the previous game? What's new to experience? All these questions and more I aim to answer in this review.

Pokemon Ultra Moon (or Sun, but I bought Moon, so yeah) begins just as the previous title did. You're a young trainer just starting out having moved to the Alola Region. You quickly meet both friends and foes, obtain a starter Pokemon, and get on your way to fulfilling an Alolan right of passage called the Island Challenge. While there are odd changes here and there, as far as the game's opening hours go, you'll have a hard time noticing much in the way of differences. However, things start to get more interesting when you're introduced to the mysterious Ultra Recon Squad and become tangled in a situation involving the Legendary Pokemon Necrozma.

As far as the story goes, Ultra Moon is a very interesting beast. While it builds upon the same elements and characters as the original games, you might see a very different amount of focus given to certain characters versus others. For example, while Sun and Moon put a TON of focus on Lillie's family and her growth as a person, in Ultra Moon, even though some of that stuff is still here, it feels overshadowed by the Necrozma plot. On the other hand, while Hau didn't receive much story focus in Sun and Moon due to the game really being Lillie's story, here he's a lot more noticeable and has a nice character arc. As soon as I finished the story, I got what the developers meant by this being an alternate take, as it truly feels like another universe's version of the same events.

My team. Can you guess what my naming theme was?

Moving on to gameplay, it's the same world and great battle system from Sun and Moon, only with some added areas, NPCs, mini-games, and additional little quality-of-life improvements. For example, while the unrelenting SOS Battles were one of the worst points about the original games in my eye, Ultra Moon completely fixes that issue by making it so a Wild Pokemon can only call for help ONCE. This makes encounters MUCH more bearable and makes the hunt for new team members all the more fun because of it.

Some of the most interesting additions are the Episode RR post-game scenario and a couple of brand new Ultra Beasts. Episode RR takes place directly following the main story as an interdimensional legion made up of previous evil team bosses from Pokemon games past called Team Rainbow Rocket seize the Aether Foundation for their own purposes. Being the upstanding young champion that you are, it's up to you to venture through their nutso base and beat each boss while squashing scores of identical grunts along the way. Episode RR was honestly a blast with all the fan service, the numerous puzzles, Guzma being a BOSS, and it overall feeling a lot meatier than the previous post-game from Omega Ruby and Alpha Sapphire, Episode Delta. As for the additional Ultra Beasts, it's really cool to see a "third version" introduce entirely new Pokemon and a few are really cool like Naganadel, buuuuuuut that also transitions into my biggest disappointment with this game...

There are no additional Alolan forms. Despite it being an extremely cool concept and a big part of the original Sun and Moon's marketing, all you have are the ones from the last games, which is a bummer, especially after having most of them revealed pre-launch for the original games and having so few "surprises" left to discover. Here's hoping form variation isn't a concept Game Freak puts back in the closet for Gen 8, as it'd be an INCREDIBLE shame to see an amazing concept's potential used so poorly.

My only other real gripe about the game is the RotomDex being so needy. While RotomDex just served as an adorable companion to you in the original Sun and Moon, here you can interact with him to gain some neat extra powers that'll help certain parts of your journey along. However, the problem with it is HOW OFTEN he seems to want input from you. If you only ever chat with him a couple times every once and a while, he just sits there with sad eyes on your bottom screen, making you feel bad. I appreciate the added functionality to RotomDex's role in the game, but DON'T GUILT-TRIP ME BY MAKING IT SEEM LIKE I'M MAKING A POKEMON SAD TO PUSH YOUR EXTRA FEATURE. It's silly.

In conclusion, while Pokemon Ultra Moon features a TON of familiar stuff and story beats, it also features a nice bit of unique content in it's own right. While the amount of new stuff doesn't touch the likes of Black 2 and White 2, it's perfectly serviceable as far as a usual Pokemon "third version" game goes. Plus, just getting away from all the talk of "new stuff," it's still built off of the amazing Sun and Moon, so it's still a quality game regardless.

When it comes to whether or not you should pick it up, it's really a question of how HUGE a Pokemon fan you are. If you're a Pokemon nut, of COURSE you'll pick it up, wanting to experience the alternate story and new Pokemon and areas and stuff. If you adored Sun and Moon? Sure, I'd say it's worth a look, especially for getting kind of a different viewpoint on the plot and it works as a neat way to kind of "replay" the region without erasing your game or owning both versions. If you still play a lot of 3DS titles? Can't think of many better library additions than the latest Pokemon game. If you're looking for a totally new experience and mostly play Switch these days, however, I'd probably recommend just waiting for Gen 8.