Author: Xyon McKell

Categories
Food Japan Mystery Boxes Reviews

Japan Crate May 2016 Review

May is here and so is another box of snacks and treats from Japan. This is the first month featuring the new, larger boxes with more snacks.

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As usual Japan Crate includes a booklet / mini-manga that explains what everything is and has various additional content. A bonus in all crates this month is a random Kitty Cups gashapon. Ridiculous but cute. On to the edibles.

 

The Excellent

As I’ve previously mentioned, I adore cola flavored candy. So Premium exclusives PachiPachi Panic Cola and Kajirittyo Cola Candy are exactly to my tastes. The former is a crackling candy with a mix of sour lemon in it, and the later a soft chewy rope candy with a cider flavored center. Both provide a nice combination of flavors. I also received an unlisted bonus Sour Cola Gummy Rope, which was quite good.

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The chocolate treats also continue to shine. Puku Puku Taichoco is a taiyaki cookie with a airy chocolate filling. Another Big Bar Z variation was included, and it tasted just as divine as the last one. It’s a wafer bar infused with chocolate flavor, this one White Choco. This is the clear star of this month’s box.

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.Sakusaku Panda Cookies are cute cookies with a chocolate back.  These tiny, crunchy snacks are quite tasty. Another of the Premium exclusives is King’s Lost Crown, a large cookie with a creamy chocolate filling.

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The Decent

The Premium drink this month is Hajikete Grape Cider, a light, smooth drink that taste like grape soda.

There are two possible types of chips, and I got Nori Shio Potato Chips. This salted seaweed flavored snack is quite good and features a flavor unique to Japanese snacks.

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An advertised bonus for the Premium Crate that’s unlisted in the book is Japanese Oreo Snack. I got macadamia nut mini candy bars. Great inclusion.

Nomuccho Jelly is a simple DIY that produces a melon jelly when mixed with water. The consistency varies depending on how long it’s allowed to sit.

 

Caramel Corn is an interesting snack with the consistency of cheese puffs but the flavor of Cracker Jack.

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Pandaro Cookies are the second panda themed cookie this time. It’s a light, crispy butter cookie.

Sour Cider Gum is lightly flavored with another flavor unique to Japanese treats.

 

The Meh

Mochitto Kinako Mochi is traditional soybean flour covering mochi, a Japanese rice cake. This is a good inclusion, again highlighting things unique to Japanese snacks. I just personally didn’t care for the taste.

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Big Mashuro~ is indeed a big marshmallow. Hachimitsu 100% are hard candies made of honey. I like honey, but didn’t care for the flavor of these personally.

 

Conclusion

Strong start for the “new” Japan Crate. The bigger box and more snacks makes this an excellent value, and the Premium upgrade is back to easily being more than worth the extra $5.

This is my last crate for now due to budgetary restrictions, but the changes are great and I highly recommend trying out Japan Crate for yourself.

Categories
Board Games Reviews

Quick Thoughts: Dark Tales, Flick ’em Up, Steampunk Rally, and Tumult Royale

Here are some brief thoughts on a few interesting games I’ve played once or twice so far.

Dark Tales

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Dark Tales is a fantasy / fairy tale themed card game that revolves around card effects that vary largely based on what else is currently in play. Even the power of special tokens in the game and end game scoring differ from game to game based on randomly chosen setting cards. There’s a lot of luck based on the cards drawn, but the core mechanics are good and I had fun with this. Looking forward to trying it with more people and playing the expansions.

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Flick ’em Up

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The production value of this dexterity based game really shines, as a lot of effort was clearly put into both the aesthetic and producing quality components. The cowboy and bullet pieces are perfect. The cowboys readily fall over when directly hit, but hold their ground well when grazed or hit from the side. The two scenarios we played were largely tutorials, so I expect a lot more depth from the later ones. Amusing game that makes the most of its theme. As far as flicking games go I think I prefer Disc Duelers a little (even though I was better at this), but Flick ‘Em Up is still fun.

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Steampunk Rally

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Steampunk Rally is a neat little game that revolves around building and racing contraptions piloted by famous inventors. The track is variable and the mechanics solid. The best part for me is it really captures the feeling that you’re constantly fighting entropy trying to keep your machine going. This is a unique game that makes excellent use of its theme.

 

Tumult Royale

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Tumult Royale is my favorite game of this bunch. The real time resource collection is done in a way I haven’t seen and works extremely well. Trying to get what you need while worrying about the total limits among all players each round adds a wonderful “press your luck” element, and the area control aspect is great too.

 

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Just a quick look at some games I’ve had the pleasure of trying. Hope to be back with more in the not too distant future. 🙂

Categories
Manga Reviews

Demon King Ena-Sama Goes to Manga School Volume 1 Review

“You should feel honored human, for I have come to make this world my own.”

Bored with inherited power and automatic domination over her world, the 666th Demon King Fienalia Glengard Flamveil breaks tradition and unseals The Dimensional Mirror looking for somewhere new to conquer. She ends up a bit sidetracked after becoming enamored with manga artist in training Kento Sugitani’s pet project, but having cut off his dominant arm the surer path is to learn to draw it herself. And so the Earth is spared her wrath for now…

 

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Well, if you got through my summary above and are still here this manga is probably worth a shot. It’s as ridiculous (possibly more) than it sounds, with over-the-top dramatic overtones to boot. But somehow this blending of a harem romantic comedy with fantasy elements in a manga school setting is working for me. The parallel background events back in Ena’s world add a sense of foreboding future developments.

Demon King Ena-Sama Goes To Manga School is beyond odd, but in a good way as far as I’m concerned. I’m enjoying this and intrigued to see where things go as the series gets beyond the initial set up and introductions.

 

Categories
Reviews Wrestling

ROH War of the Worlds NYC Live Thoughts

May 14, 2016 in Manhattan, NY

Big show for ROH at Terminal 5 in NYC to wrap up the War of the Worlds tour, with a great number of NWJP stars in the US to face ROH regulars.

I was extremely excited for the pre-show autograph session and the chance to meet some of the stars of NJPW. I grew up watching Jushin Thunder Liger and he’s a big reason I became a lifelong wrestling fan. I’m also a huge fan of Hiroshi Tanahashi. I was beyond honored to meet them both and get a picture.

The show was nine matches long, and apparently had some last minute changes made due to injuries. Comparatively what we got looks better than the original matches.

reDragon (Fish and O’Reilly) vs ANX (Kenny King and Rhett Titus) was a decent opener. Honestly ANX’s currently heel run isn’t really working for me. The megaphone gimmick did nothing since they still couldn’t be heard, and they stall way too much. Really prefer their work when they’re faces. That said, they were still ok here against the red hot Fish and O’Reilly, who really got the crowd going to start the show.

Fish stayed at ringside to provide commentary for Lio Rush vs Michael Elgin vs Moose vs Dalton Castle, no doubt to scout future challengers for his TV Title including number one contender Castle.

I adore Dalton Castle and his antics, and the pre-match ritual was even more amusing then normal with Elgin kissing Castle’s hand in lieu of shaking for the Code of Honor. Rush followed suit and Castle even insisted on the ref doing so as well.

The match itself was great, perhaps my favorite of the night. All four wrestlers know how to use their strengths to build up the action appropriately, and with a high-flyer in Rush, two big power wrestlers in Elgin and Moose, and Castle somewhere in between there was a lot of potential for interesting pairings. Particularly awesome spots included a huge pop-up powerbomb by Elgin on Moose and Castle performing deadlift German suplexes on each of his opponents in succession.

Kushida vs Silas Young was like something out of a time warp, which I suppose is fitting for Kushida’s gimmick. 😉 Silas is 100% old school heel, from using the back rake to doing the Rick Rude mooning the crowd spot. I don’t think I’ve seen that in at least a decade. Slow for me, but not bad and the crowd was way into Kushida.

Gedo subbed for Rocky Romero and teamed with Trent Baretta to face the Motor City Machine Guns (Alex Shelley & Chris Sabin). I like the Guns and it was nice to get to see them live again. Baretta and Gedo had decent chemistry and played off each other well. There was an awkward sequence where Gedo tied up the ref and Romero slid in to interfere while Sabin STOOD AND WATCHED from the apron without even trying to save his partner. Baretta then knocked Sabin off the apron after Romero left the ring and the ref turned back around. Would’ve made much more sense with the order reversed. Small point, but it really broke the immersion for me. Fun match otherwise. The heels got into a scuffle among themselves after the match, but made up with a triple hug to annoy the crowd.

The super-team of Jushin “Thunder” Liger & the Briscoes faced the Bullet Club (Tama Tonga, Tanga Loa & Adam Page) in the pre-intermission spot. Smart choice, as the face team was over enough to get cheered in equal measure to the heels by the sea of Bullet Club t-shirts that comprised the audience. The Briscoes came across as thrilled to be teaming with the legend, and it’s amazing what Liger can still do in the ring. Pure crowd pleaser here. Was surprised to see one of the current IWGP tag champions take the fall instead of Page, but I suppose it may be setting up a title shot for Dem Boys.

During intermission Mandy Leon came out to great the fans. Taylor Hendrix ambushed her after a few minutes and laid her out with a DDT on a chair.

Cedric Alexander got a strong reception from the crowd and “Please Don’t Go” chants for his last appearance in ROH. He and Donovan Dijak had a decent little match with Cedric putting Dijak over on his way out.

After The Addiction (Christopher Daniels & Kazarian) recently capturing the ROH World Tag Team Championship in an impromptu match the previous week, War Machine (Hanson & Raymond Rowe) got a rematch here. They dominated the champs for the majority of the match, forcing Daniels to resort to a blatant belt shot in front of the ref to get DQ’d and keep the titles. This was fine, but suffered a bit due to the crowd being lukewarm about War Machine’s quest for revenge. Daniels is never seriously booed in NYC.

Hiroshi Tanahashi vs Matt Sydal was up with the four-way and the semi-main as my favorite matches of the show. Tanahashi carries himself like the star he is and it was wonderful to see him in singles action against someone who could keep up with him. Sydal’s in the best shape of his life and looked great here as well.

The semi-main of Tetsuya Naito vs ACH was a treat. Naito has incredible presence and charisma, and ACH was the perfect opponent to fly around trying to outdo NJPW’s Champion.

The revised main event was a three faction face off seeing Bullet Club (Adam Cole & Matt Jackson) vs Team NJPW (Kazuchika Okada & Tomohiro Ishii) vs Team ROH (ROH World Champion Jay Lethal & Roderick Strong). The Rainmaker felt the love in NYC. His mock bills were handed out throughout the evening to fans. The visual of them falling when he came to the ring was fantastic. The crowd was on fire for both the Bullet Club and NJPW’s duo, which made it a bit unfortunate that this was ROH’s big win of the tour. Personally I’m neither a fan of the heels Lethal and Strong as conquering heroes nor Cole and Jackson’s “cool heel” antics, so while the action was fine I wasn’t over the moon for this. Okada and Ishii were a lot of fun though.

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Overall

Good end to ROH’s War of the Worlds tour. Extremely predictable, especially NJPW sweeping all of their singles matches, but enjoyable regardless. Strong effort up and down the card and some definite in-ring highlights, on top of an amazing opportunity to meet numerous stars before the show.

Categories
Mystery Boxes Reviews

Sci-Fi Block May 2016 Review

May’s box is the final Sci-Fi Block of my subscription of science fiction and pop culture related collectibles. Let’s see how it turned out.

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I’ve never been a big fan of Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy so this month’s t-shirt goes right into the trade/gift pile, but it’s a suitable property to use the design is decent.

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The product of the month is a 60th Anniversary Edition of Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury. This was advertised ahead of time and is a nice alternative type of item. Fahrenheit 451 is a classic and a smart inclusion.

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Star Wars Wacky Wobblers features one of four possible characters. It looks nice and I’m ok with Kylo Ren, although I’ll admit I’d have preferred any one of the others.

The second Star Wars item this month is Furry Chewbacca Can Koozie. Absurd and amusing, which is exactly what I expect when ordering these boxes, although also something I likely won’t use.

The third and final Star Wars item is supposed to be an exclusive BB on Board Bumper Sticker. Cute design and pun. Unfortunately it was missing from my block.

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For the third month in a row, my box includes a “classic” style action figure. This time it’s a Funko Reaction: Star Trek Spock figure. Although there’s no variety in possible figures this time, Spock’s a good choice. Whether due to packing of the block or the figure’s packaging itself, mine arrived open with the plastic detached from the card back. Disappointing, since I likely would have tried to trade this. The figure and accessory were undamaged though.

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The Futurama Art Print comes in green or blue and looks good, but I personally don’t care much for these as inclusions in general.

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Conclusion

My experience with Nerd Block’s latest offering, Sci-Fi Block, was ok. I was disappointed to discover after subscribing that their “choose your block, switch anytime” advertising on the main page doesn’t apply to Sci-Fi Block. I honestly would’ve switched to Arcade Block after one month if I had been able. AB’s just more to my tastes. And this final month brought both my first packaging problem and my first missing item among all the NB products I’ve tried.

On the other hand the quality and variety of stuff in the boxes was good, even if the property choices weren’t always to my tastes. While it didn’t quite work out for me and I won’t be renewing it’s a decent product that will be worth it to certain collectors.

Categories
Board Games Reviews

Monstrous Card Game First Impressions

I noticed Monstrous during its Kickstarter, and was drawn to both the mythic theme and its unique take on dexterity games. I’m quite pleased with my initial experiences with it.

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Gameplay

The core gameplay of Monstrous is extremely simple in concept. Five oversized Location cards are placed on the table and players take turns throwing Monster cards. Players score Faith (victory points) and use special abilities based on which Location and/or other Monsters their cards hits. Players’ hands may not cross the plane of the table’s edge when throwing. The game ends when a player has no more cards in hand and none to draw (everyone else gets one more turn), and most Faith wins.

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General Thoughts

The little details in Monstrous provide a considerable amount of depth. Players have identical Monsters in their decks, but draw hands at random so the particular cards available at any given time will vary. Monsters can be thrown either with their unique power side face up or with the standard power side ever card has face up. Some cards’ powers trigger when a they are thrown, and others cards have powers that come into play when they are already on the table and are hit by other cards.

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There are numerous “scenarios” provided that specify particular combinations of the five locations used in a game (from eleven possibilities). They’re identified by difficulty/game length to allow some control over the level of game desired. Of course the locations can also be drawn at random, providing a wide variety of variations and challenges. A few Monsters are excluded from all players decks each game, further making sure no two games feel/play quite the same.

Cards left in a player’s hand/deck/discard are subtracted from their Fame total at the end of the game, so going out first and triggering the game end can be advantageous. On the other hand the more cards on the table the greater effects can be achieved by hitting multiple cards at once so sometimes playing a little slower will pay off. It’s little nuances like this that make the game shine and I’m impressed with what they’ve accomplished in both depth and balance within a game that’s very new player friendly and easy to pick up.

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Overall

Despite my lack of success in my initial games due to poor throwing ability, I enjoyed Monstrous thoroughly. The theme amuses me and I adore the art. It plays quick and is easy to understand, yet rewards skill and has strategic choices to be made. Most importantly, it was fun. 🙂

Categories
Books Reviews

The Paladin Caper Review

This is the third book in Patrick Weekes’ Rouges of the Republic series. It’s a complete story on its own and does an ok job of explaining the key concepts and past events, but it builds heavily on previously known characters and spoils revelations from the earlier books. Best not start here – go back to The Palace Job (book 1).

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The first quarter of the book contained more action and plot development than some other entire series, and I mean that as a compliment. The pace is breakneck without ever being confusing or feeling rushed.

The core plot of The Paladin Caper is strong itself, but it also brings together numerous elements from the first two books masterfully. Very little is left unresolved and this is a great wrap up or the trilogy while leaving enough room for future books. Weekes’ prose is easy to read and flows well, and he does a phenomenal job providing surprises and tension while keeping everything logical. The balance of action and intrigue is excellent. There were some supporting cast members I wish had gotten more development and a few plot conveniences, but the main cast’s personalities and motivations were explored well and the story excellent overall.

Loch’s band of thieves and rebels have their best outing yet in The Paladin Caper, and the series as a whole is a lot of fun.

Categories
Manga Reviews

Claymore Volume 27 Review

“It’s been a long time since I let myself run wild.”

This is the final volume of an intricate manga with epic, interwoven stories building throughout. It would be beyond ridiculous to start here. Read from the beginning.

I’ll be sharing thoughts on the series as a whole here with as few spoilers as possible.

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Perfect. This is the perfect end to the story of Claymore, and I’m amazed at how many remaining surprise Yagi had left up his sleeve. “Silver Eyed Warriors” is the final arc and is a fitting culmination of all the layered, intertwined stories building to this point.

Claymore started a little slow but was laying critical groundwork, which all paid off down the stretch. And even in the middle once things got going it was an incredibly compelling manga filled with nuanced characters, gruesome action, and a multitude of brilliant twists and surprises. This has become my favorite manga and while it’s bittersweet to see it end I’m thrilled to see it remain gripping and engrossing to the very last page.

Highest possible recommendation.

Categories
Manga Reviews

Claymore Volume 26 Review

While volume 26 technically starts a “new” arc, this is the penultimate volume in a series filled with layered storylines going all the way back to the beginning. Don’t start here.

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The entire volume is comprised of The Blade From Far Away (parts 1-6), which sees the remaining warriors employ a desperate gamble to oppose Pricilla’s near omnipotence. The plan is not without complications and cost.

The way in which Yagi has orchestrated these final conflicts and woven in a multitude of long running, diverse agendas and twists is masterful. Foreshadowing and clues that have been laid in little by little of the course of the series become illuminated in hindsight and add great depth to everything. And in a series with several shocking yet logical surprises, the end of this arc provides the greatest yet. I think my jaw’s still on the floor.

 

Categories
Manga Reviews

Claymore Volume 25 Review

“We will protect your spirit.”

Not only does volume 25 open with the end of an arc started in volume 24, we are approaching the end of a layered series filled with storylines building all the way back from the beginning. Don’t start reading here.

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Army of the Underworld (part 6) closes the arc started last volume featuring the Abyssal Ones joining the battle with Cassandra while two great powers battle elsewhere. The shifting alliances and developments here directly lead to the next story.

Sword of the Dark Deep (parts 1-5) sees Rabona under extreme attack while another battle ends decisively and a third rages on in the distance. Yagi’s incredible balancing of story and action is on full display here. Among all the chaos and gruesome fighting several long running plot threads are resolved spotlighting characters than have been in the background recently. The depth of the characters and their motivations is wonderful and the implications and ramifications of what happens here are heart-wrenching.

In addition to all of that, vital background is woven in explaining the factors that resulted in the strongest creature ever created by the Organization, as well as some important glimpses into its psyche.

This volume was just perfect in both exploring outstanding mysteries and bringing everything towards the final stratagem. Just fantastic stuff that has me beyond excited to read the last two installments.