A More Action-Oriented Yoda, Increased Playability, Less Character From The Attack Of The Clones Figure!

The Good: Good sculpt, Good accessories
The Bad: Inability to hold some of his accessories.
The Basics: Fun and playable, the Attack Of The Clones Yoda action figure justifies its own existence by providing the first action-oriented Yoda toy on the market.


As I wrap up my month of daily Star Wars action figure reviews, I wanted to continue my Star Wars figure reviews with another Yoda action figure. The last Star Wars toy review I did looked at the virtues of the first Yoda action figure (reviewed here!) from the Kenner Power Of The Force line. When I opened my big box of Star Wars figures to consider them, the next one staring up at me was Yoda from the "Episode 2" line.

The Attack Of The Clones Yoda action figure seems to be based on two fundamental changes in both the Star Wars series and the collectibles market. This Yoda is sculpted in more of an action pose with his robes flowing than the passive Yoda from the original Star Wars trilogy. This Yoda is more youthful in appearance and looks ready to kick some Sith butt. Similarly, as science fiction films and television shows have become more prevalent, Hasbro realized they were competing for fewer dollars in the hands of collectors and released a Yoda action figure that was loaded with accessories to try to increase the overall value of the figure. Given that Yoda is a diminutive figure - in physical size, not stature - the ability to pack the action figure with more incentives to buy in the form of recognizable or usable accessories makes sense. This is what pushes the otherwise average Attack Of The Clones Yoda figure up from average to above average territory.

Basics

Yoda in this form is a Jedi Master posed in a dramatic action moment during the Battle Of Geonosis from Attack Of The Clones (reviewed here!). He is posed with his legs in a solid stance, but spread. As well, this Yoda's robes are molded open so it looks like they are being swept back from the force of his movement. His feet are positioned such that it looks like he is striding or in mid-flight for a jump and kick. Yoda's arms are spread and hinged to allow a wider range of motion than earlier Yoda figures, which makes sense as this Yoda was the first to be engaged in lightsaber battles. This Yoda figure stands only 1 3/4" tall and he is slightly hunched over. Yoda is appropriately coifed in his tan Jedi robes with his brown tunic underneath. Yoda's green head and hands are exposed, as the hood on Yoda's robe is down and Yoda never wore gloves.

This toy is a decent sculpt, which is pretty easy considering Yoda is one of the most distinctive characters in Star Wars and it is very easy for toy manufacturers to get him right. He is easily recognizable and Yoda is impressive in his coloring detail, save that the character he is based on sometimes lacks realistic flesh shading details.. The detailing on the figure's face is somewhat monolithic and the skin tones are nowhere near realistic for anything other than a puppet. Conversely, Hasbro made an effort to both mold and color the figure's hair (which is still remarkably thin on the back of my Yoda's head) and the finger and to nails are appropriately colored.

Accessories

Yoda, being a noble Jedi Master, might not need a lot of accessories, but this one comes loaded with four scene-appropriate accessories. This Yoda figure comes with a lightsaber (the "blade" detaches), a platform from Geonosis, his cane, and Force energy used to deflect attacks. The lightsaber is a one and five-eighths inch plastic green lightsaber that is translucent - like the one in the movie - to its base. This lightsaber is nicely cast in shiny silver plastic and the "blade" of the lightsaber may be pulled off to allow Yoda to appear peaceful. Unfortunately, because the base of the lightsaber blade is a thin pin that fits into the base, this accessory breaks real easy leaving one with a detached blade and a choking hazard. As it is, the lightsaber may fit into either of Yoda's hands and the right hand has a magnet in it which attracts the base of the lightsaber.

Yoda comes with a tiny cane as well. The brown plastic stick is straight and lacks any surface details, but it fits easily enough in Yoda's left hand.

Unique to Geonosis, where this action-oriented Yoda is intended to be from, there is a platform. The platform is a cool, mushroom shaped accessory that is just under two inches tall. At the base, the platform is 3 1/4" in diameter and the platform is in two pieces, with the base and the actual platform. Yoda has a hole in the bottom of the figure which fits into a peg on the platform and when one twists the platform or the base, the Yoda figure rises on the peg! This is intended to mimic the appearance of Yoda using the Force to levitate and it is a cool idea. The platform is copper colored and looks well-detailed, making it an ideal way to add value to a Yoda figure. As well, one of the four feet on the base may be removed to make it look like Darth Tyrannus has shattered it using a Force blast.

That fragment of the platform fits perfectly into the Force Energy accessory. The Force Energy accessory is a blue plastic vine that wraps around both the fragment (or anything else of similar size) and attaches to Yoda's arm, to make it look like he is using the Force to deflect things being thrown at him! Unfortunately, this is made of a soft plastic and it often sags under the weight of things like the fragment and it poorly attaches to Yoda. Still, it is not a bad idea for an accessory.

Playability

The four inch toy line was designed for play and Yoda is not bad in that regard. First, Yoda has the "Force" hand function (the magnet in the hand is a neat enough idea and because the magnet and lightsaber are so small, it looks good, even when it doesn't work so well). Second, in addition to the fight-ready action pose, this Yoda has the appearance of levitation when on the base and he is the only figure to fit the peg on the platform.

The figure is generally playable as it has excellent balance. Yoda figures are not known for wonderful articulation and comparatively, this Yoda has low articulation . . . until one compares it to other Yoda action figures. This Yoda is gifted with only four points of articulation and for a figure so small, this is more than enough. Yoda, as an action figure, has joints at the waist, shoulders, and neck. There is no articulation in the knees or groin socket and half of the joints are simple swivel joints. The shoulders, though, are ball-and-socket joints, so they have more articulation than usual and they are only limited for full articulation by the way the molded sleeves drape on the figure.

Collectibility

Yoda is part of the 2002 Star Wars Attack Of The Clones collection of four-inch action figures. This series of Star Wars action figures was fairly common and the Yoda figure was #23 in that collection and was slightly shortpacked in the cases. As a result, Yoda was mildly scarce initially and is slightly less common on the secondary market today. Still, this Yoda is a poor investment and is more ideal for collectors and children who actually want an interesting Yoda to play with!

Overview

Yoda is an wonderful figure and this is one of the better action-oriented Yoda figures offering enough value to collectors to make it worth hunting down yet another Yoda figure.

For other Attack Of The Clones action figures and toys, please check out my reviews of:
Hailfire Droid
Nexu
Deluxe Yoda with Force powers
Geonosian Starfighter
Shaak Ti

8/10

For other toy reviews, please visit my index page for an organized listing by clicking here!

© 2011, 2009 W.L. Swarts. May not be reprinted without permission.





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Why She's Getting Rid Of Her Nikon Coolpix P5000 Digital Camera . . .

The Good: Easy to use, Good picture quality, Some decent options, Durability
The Bad: Lack of genuine telephoto options (cannot switch lenses), Energy hog
The Basics: A strong recommend, the Nikon Coolpix P5000 is a wonderful camera to get started on, but has some limitations which prevent it from being an ideal professional camera.


We all have our issues and sometimes, they cloud our reasoning with perfectly good products. In the case of my wife, her issues have taken the physical form of a camera. Her camera is a Nikon Coolpix P5000 that she has had for a few years now and that has some emotional baggage attached to it. Since she told me the story of her Coolpix P5000, I have been looking to replace her camera for her, as she is a serious photographer and she is advancing quickly on the website we met on through the quality of her photography. My search led me to check out the Nikon Coolpix S60 digital camera to keep within the brand, but I quickly jumped ship and wrangled a Canon EOS 10D camera for her. This will allow her to have a quality camera and will give me back my Fuji Finepix camera. I only take photos casually when we are on vacation, so the Finepix is fine for me. But excising the Coolpix P5000 from the house has been a big issue for my wife and it was definitely the right move for us.

But before she got rid of it, I had a few weeks to tinker with and experiment with the Coolpix P5000. Even as an amateur, my use of this camera led me to the conclusion that is an excellent beginner's camera for those who want to take serious, quality pictures. The Coolpix P5000 is a great, highly-automated digital camera which allows budding photographers to get a strong basis in the fundamentals before moving onto a higher end model which affords them the ability to have a wider array of options. For most people, the P5000 will be more than adequate and that made it easy to recommend, even if it has some shortcomings.

The Coolpix P5000 is a digital camera and it serves only the function of being a camera/video camera. This is designed to take quality pictures, so those looking for something simple to take cameraphone quality pictures will find this has far too many options for them. The black base fits easily into one's hand as it is four inches wide, 3 1/8" tall, and a hefty 2 1/2" thick. I actually found I liked the depth as it generally helped protect the lens when I had the cap off; the plastic ring of the lens is the same depth as the hand support on the right side and whenever I carelessly let the camera flop over, the outer ring protected the ring from scratches because of its depth. The Coolpix P5000 comes with a simple strap for around one's neck, which attaches to two brackets on opposite sides of the camera. This model also comes with a lens cap, which is worth mentioning because one needs to remember to remove it to take pictures (this might seem like a "well, duh" thing, but we live in a nation where one of the highest reasons peoples computers aren't working when they call Technical Support is that they have not plugged it in!).

The front of the camera has the lens, which cannot be removed or exchanged with a telephoto lens. It also has the flashbulb and viewfinder, the latter of which seems pointless to me given the bells and whistles this camera possesses. The right side has a forward grip which allows one to wrap their fingers around the front of the camera to hold the camera very stable while taking pictures. The back of the camera contains controls as well as a rotating viewfinder and control panel.

The screen on the back of the camera is an LCD screen, but it does not have touchscreen technology, so manipulating controls is still done with the dials and menu controls to the right of the screen. The viewscreen is only 1 3/4" (diagonal measurements) so it is mostly used to frame shots and a thumbnail view of the pictures one takes. The full flip-out panel is 2 1/2" that the camera details (viewed by clicking the "View Details" button at the top of the review listing) claims to be, but the usable screen area is defined by a LCD screen that is 1 1/2" wide by 1 1/8" tall. The useful thing about the LCD screen is that it flips out, so when the camera is off and in storage, it is protected because the screen is flipped facing the body of the camera. When one is using the Coolpix P5000, they pull the screen to the left on its hinge and the screen may be rotated in the z-axis then to allow one to use it as a viewfinder when one is standing above, in front of or behind the camera! This function is nice when taking shots like family portraits that the photographer wants to be in themselves. They can set the controls, then after the timer function is set, they may leap into frame - confirming their presence by checking out the viewfinder screen while it is facing them.

The Coolpix P5000 succeeds at embodying a camera that is functional, durable and programmable. This camera comes with a rechargeable 7.4V lithium-ion battery and my biggest gripe with the camera is that after two years on the same battery, this recharges to only give the photographer about fifty shots from the Coolpix P5000. The specifications claim that it is good for two hundred-fifty pictures, but in natural lighting, the best I pulled off was seventy-five and with the flash, forty-five before it needed to be recharged again. My partner has a separate battery which allows the user to continue shooting with the camera, but it is not included.

Fortunately, most of what anyone who uses the Coolpix P5000 will need does come in the box. This includes the software to upload and manipulate the images one takes on this camera. There are cd-roms for PC and Mac users which allows one to remove pictures from the card - the standard chip that comes with this camera is a 128 MB chip. The camera also comes with a USB cable to connect the camera to one's computer (there is a USB port on the camera's right side, when holding the camera and looking at the back of it, right next to the alternate power source input), the strap, the lithium-ion battery, and the battery charger. This is nice because Nikon includes everything needed to actually use this camera right in the box.

Using the camera is fairly easy. There is an on/off dial atop the camera that boots up the camera within five seconds of being turned to the "on" position. This causes the lens to extend out from the body of the camera (a valuable thing to know before one does it while pressing the camera to, for example, an aquariums glass side!) and the viewfinder screen to activate. That the camera becomes ready within five seconds makes for a great ability to take photographs that are candid or make use of sudden opportunities when they present themselves. When the camera is turned back to the "off" position, the lens retreats tot he main body of the camera.

In the center of the on/off dial is the shutter control (the button one hits to actually take the photograph). One cannot mix the two up as turning the power on requires a rotating motion and taking a picture is done simply by depressing the button in the center. Taking pictures is often that easy. When the camera is on, the viewscreen lights up and the pictures may be taken by simply looking at the back of the camera and pressing the button on the top of the camera. Physically pressing the button on top is the only way to take pictures I found. It is remarkably easy to take pictures this way because of the automatic controls.

The pictures the camera takes are impressive, though their visibility is minimal on the viewfinder screen after they are taken. The LCD screen keeps the image up for approximately three seconds before it reverts to its viewfinder function and that may be sped up by simply attempting to take another picture by depressing the shudder control. The back of the camera has a simple slide button which allows users to go between picturetaking and reviewing functions.

The Coolpix P5000 comes with the camera set so everything is automatic. As a result, the camera has decent autofocus capacity when one whips around and stops abruptly. In normal daylight circumstances, it provided sharp, beautiful photographs within 1.5 seconds of my movement stopping, sometimes even when I did not think it would. The autofocus is impressive on this model. Similarly, the automatic light adjustment is decent. There was a slightly greater lag time when it came to the light adjustment (though it was never more than three seconds). The camera automatically adjusts to different lighting scenarios, most notably the change between indoor (artificial fluorescent) and outdoor (sun) light. The light adjustment tries to prevent washout and keep colors looking as close to how they do in reality.

One of the most serious problems with the Coolpix P5000 comes in the level of automation. The camera is over-automated for serious photographers. Attempting to take a photograph in lower light became a serious hassle for us - my wife got in on the action and after years of using this camera expressively illustrated why she wanted an upgrade other than her personal issues - because of the camera's lack of manual focus abilities. No amount of troubleshooting or changing of options allowed us to take a photograph where all of the elements were clear in low lighting. The autofocus continued to interfere and picked the wrong depth of field for our intent and this was very frustrating because there was no override. Similarly, if the Coolpix P5000 thinks (based on its light meter) that the image is too dark, it will activate the flash whether one wants it or not. For that, there is a manual override, but because there is no override on the focus, ours continually shot the wrong depth of field. This is seriously problematic for the serious photographer and an annoyance for the casual one.

The controls on the Coolpix P5000 are generally intuitive. Without my wife's help, I was able to figure out how to use the menus within half an hour. As a result, manually altering settings like red-eye reduction, using the autotimer function and turning off the flash are simple using the on-screen controls when the camera is in "review" mode. Similarly, deleting images from the camera's chip was simple enough by manipulating the menu arrows and hitting the "trash" button on the back of the camera. Rather conveniently, this function does not engage when the camera is in picturetaking mode, so there is no real risk of deleting images when one does not wish for them to be deleted. Even in the "review" mode, the camera asks for confirmation before deleting images. This is a very easy camera to learn the basics on!

As well, on the camera, one may zoom in - the zoom is only three and a half times closer, so this is not like a telephoto lens and there is no way to attach a better lens to this camera - and manually adjust the type of flash used. The easy menus allow for easy adjustment on the camera of such things as red eye adjustment, a manual use of flash (overriding the camera's sense of proper lighting) or flash off for situations where one does not wish to draw attention to themselves and their photography with easy to decipher graphics. The controls, however, must be adjusted within a minute of constant use. The Coolpix P5000 has an automatic switch-off function for powersaving, which means that after a minute of non-use (not pushing any buttons, including taking pictures or making setting adjustments) the camera shuts off (though the lens does not retract). This is seriously annoying when one is making significant setting adjustments and figuring out the camera via trial and error because when the camera shuts off, it reverts to the factory defaults and there is no way to disengage the powersave mode or save the adjusted settings!

When deleting photographs from the Coolpix P5000, I did not find a way to wipe the entire memory at once, at least not on camera. Through the hookup to our computer, the chip could be wiped clean, but otherwise, one has to go through image by image and delete them. This is time consuming and annoying.

As for the durability, this is an exceptionally durable camera. My wife was toting this around for years and it looks no worse for wear and she has never had any problems with it. The camera does have a two-year warranty and despite her extensive use, the camera continues to take wonderful photographs and no part of it broke down and required execution of the warranty.

As for programmability, this camera has an autotimer that is easily programmed. Outside that, the programmability is limited to the speed and experience of the photographer and the powersave mode seriously limits the programming options of this camera. Moreover, the lack of a manual focus nullifies some of the benefits of the zoom function.

The Coolpix P5000 takes .avi movies up to thirty seconds long and those were fair, though neither my partner nor I use that function extensively.

Ultimately, the P5000 is an impressive beginner's camera, but serious photographers who need to make adjustments will find too many of the camera's limitations to be a liability. Still, this is an excellent camera to begin on and offers a solid foundation for photographers to learn the basics. Were it not for my partner's baggage with this unit, I'd keep it and upgrade to this from the FinePix! As it is, she's found something better and is much happier with a camera that allows her significantly more control over lighting and telephoto options.

For other camera reviews, please check out my takes on:
Nikon L16 Digital Camera
Fuji FinePix A200 Digital Camera

7/10

For other electronics, please check out my index page on the subject for an organized listing!

© 2011, 2009 W.L. Swarts. May not be reprinted without permission.


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Top-heavy, Overly-buff And Later Recast, The First Dagobah Luke Skywalker Can Be Passed By!

The Good: Good accessories, Face sculpt is not bad.
The Bad: Ridiculously buff, Terribly unbalanced, Disproportionate accessory
The Basics: A disappointing sculpt of Luke Skywalker as he appeared on Dagobah, this action figure is overly buff and tips easily.


When Kenner had the Star Wars action figure line back in the mid-1990s, they did the best they could, for the most part. Still, they seemed to have a terrible sense of proportion and realism in the casting of many of their early Star Wars action figures. In the second wave of Power Of The Force action figures, for example, they produced the Luke Skywalker in Dagobah Fatigues, also known commonly as the Dagobah Luke Skywalker. Unfortunately, Kenner did a pretty lousy job with the sculpt and balance of this Luke Skywalker figure; it looks more like Luke Skywalker's head on the Terminator's body. Fortunately, Hasbro completely remade the Dagobah Luke Skywalker later on.

For those unfamiliar with Luke Skywalker as he appeared on Dagobah, in the middle of The Empire Strikes Back (reviewed here!), Luke journeys to the swamp planet Dagobah in search of Yoda, the Jedi Master. There, he trains and learns the ways of the Force. This figure represents Luke Skywalker out of his flight suit in the clothes he wore in the Dagobah marshes while training with Yoda.

The 4" Dagobah Luke Skywalker figure is decent, so long as one has absolutely no idea how Luke Skywalker actually looked. This Luke Skywalker is top-heavy because he is sculpted with such a ridiculous upper body that makes Luke look like a professional bodybuilder.

Basics

Luke Skywalker is a human Jedi-in-training, seen on Dagobah running and sweating in the middle acts of The Empire Strikes Back. The figure stands 3 5/8" tall to the top of his head; this might seem smaller than most Star Wars action figures, but this is because in order to get Luke to stand up, his legs must be spread a ridiculous distance apart, which allows him to stand flatfooted. Luke Skywalker is dressed in a gray-brown sleeveless shirt and brown pants that look dirty and wet! This Luke Skywalker figure is cast in monotonal white fleshtones, lacking realistic shading, but with impressive-enough sculpting details on the face. The figure is made entirely of hard plastic.

This toy is a decent sculpt, looking precisely like the Mark Hamill's face in terms of the sculpt. Where the figure goes wrong is that the fact lacks any coloring detail and the toy is muscled like a comic book superhero, not Mark Hamill or Luke Skywalker as he appeared on screen in The Empire Strikes Back. Luke Skywalker is fairly bland in his coloring detail, as far as the skin tones go. There is no sense of shading to face, including the lips which are uncolored, though there is a faint stripe of white to represent his teeth between his grimace. The fingers are molded to hold either of his accessories in either hand and they feature enough molded detail to impress, including Luke's fingernails. The only costuming detail that looks good is the shading at the bottom of Luke's shirt, which makes his tunic appear dirty or somewhat sweaty. Otherwise, the ribbing on the shirt is exaggerated.

Accessories

Luke Skywalker, stranded on Dagobah as he is, comes with two accessories: a standard lightsaber and a blaster pistol. The lightsaber is a 2 7/8" long plastic tube that looks just like the Jedi's weapon, including the translucent blue blade of the lightsaber and the silver base. The base is adorned with enough surface details to make this an impressive sculpt that looks exactly like the lightsaber. The Jedi's weapon fits in either of Luke's hands and looks good there!

As well, Luke Skywalker also comes with a little blaster pistol. The inch long choking hazard fits in either of Luke Skywalker's hands. This is a monolithically molded black plastic blaster that is simple and looks quite large for his hand. Still, the surface detailings, like the scope and ribbing on the barrel are pretty cool and this looks wicked in Luke Skywalker's hand!

Playability

The four inch toy line was designed for play and Luke Skywalker is below-average in that regard. The figure is poorly articulated, but he has terrible balance. Luke Skywalker lacks significant articulation to make him a big fighter and he is top-heavy, so he tips over when not in one of very few, specific poses. When the figure is posed flatfooted, he is solid as far as the balance, but moved slightly out of position and he falls over ridiculously easily. He comes with only six points of articulation, all of which are simple swivel joints. He has joints at the groin socket, shoulders, neck, and waist. The elbows do not extend, so all arm posing is straight-armed. In addition to standing fine when flatfooted, he may be posed in more outlandish poses on playsets because of the holes in the soles of his feet. They may be stuck in pegs on various playsets. With those, he may stand even better.

Collectibility

Luke Skywalker is part of the Power Of The Force four-inch series, a series of Star Wars action figures that was incredibly common. The Dagobah Luke Skywalker was overproduced, though he appeared on only one card. Because the figure was such a bad sculpt, it is easy to avoid this figure and pick up the later Saga Collection Dagobah Luke for serious fans and collectors.

Overview

The Dagobah Luke Skywalker is a mediocre-at-best action figure, lacking significant detailing to make him great. He falls over easily and looks unlike Luke as he actually appeared in the film, so there is a better version of the figure fans ought to pursue.

For other Luke Skywalker figures, please check out my reviews of:
2006 Saga Collection 005 Luke Skywalker X-Wing Pilot
2004 Original Trilogy Collection 01 Luke Skywalker (Dagobah)
2003 Original Trilogy Collection #03 Hoth Attack Luke Skywalker
2002 Attack Of The Clones Collection Bespin Luke Skywalker
Deluxe Luke Skywalker with Desert Sport Skiff
Power Of The Force Luke Skywalker In Stormtrooper Disguise

3/10

For other Star Wars figure reviews, please visit my index page by clicking here!

© 2011, 2009 W.L. Swarts. May not be reprinted without permission.



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Vastly Superior To The First Season, Fringe - Season Two Still Suffers On The Character Front.

The Good: Great plot development, Decent serialization, Good DVD bonus features, Generally good acting.
The Bad: Low on character development, Still clunky acting from Anna Torv
The Basics: In its second season, Fringe finds its own identity as a story about a growing conflict between two universes with FBI Agent Dunham, Peter and Walter Bishop at the center!


When I reviewed the first season of Fringe (check that out here!), I received a lot of feedback that was very negative. The most open-minded of that feedback stated that if I gave the subsequent seasons a chance, I might enjoy the first season more, the least productive feedback being that J.J. Abrams and his team were geniuses and I was a complete idiot for finding the first season of Fringe to be a second-rate knockoff of The X-Files (reviewed here!). Standing on its own, the first season of Fringe is a slow-moving, not-entirely-relevantly-developed story that more closely mirrors The X-Files than it tells a story of its own. That said, I trundled on and picked up the second season of Fringe and it is a vastly better season of television than the first and while the first might seem entirely derivative to genre fans, the second is engaging and (for the most part) original. Even so, Fringe Season Two is still low on character development (high on character revelations) and features some surprisingly stiff acting from the show's lead, Anna Torv.

Following in the tradition of J.J. Abrams' other hugely successful venture, Lost (reviewed here!), Fringe tells a highly serialized story in its second season. But, more like Alias, Abrams and his team dilute the overall narrative with episodic missions which only have a loose connection to "the pattern," the events that link our universe with an alternate universe. While the die-hard fans might claim that each little piece is a part of the larger puzzle, from apparent alien possession, giant parasitic worms that attack humans to shape-shifters and agents from the alternate universe working within our universe, some are simply weird stories that are fit in between the more vital episodes which focus explicitly on the alternate universe. The random episodes are fewer and farther between in the second season, though, and the second season of Fringe is actually quite enjoyable to watch, even if it is pretty low on character development.

Also, it is virtually impossible to discuss season two without some mention of aspects that were only alluded to or kept secret in the first season of Fringe. While I don't recommend watching the first season (outside, perhaps, the last two episodes), those who want the purest experience of watching Fringe ought to read my Season One review, then either watch the season or jump to season two. That's my "spoiler alert."

Olivia Dunham, last seen in the company of William Bell in the alternate universe, is in a car accident where she is thrown from her car and the person in the other car quickly disappears under mysterious circumstances. Coping with her memory loss and her wounded leg, Olivia returns to work at the FBI Fringe Division where she works with Walter Bishop and his son, Peter Bishop, to investigate unexplained events, like explosions that devastate places without any trace of a bomb or the growing threat from shape-shifters who are infiltrating our universe. With the aid of Nina Sharp, Olivia's leg is repaired and with Walter's help, she comes to recall her meeting with William Bell in the alternate universe.

That meeting has Bell providing the ominous prediction that war between the two universes is coming and that time is running out to save both distinct universes. As shape-shifting agents attempt to stymie the Fringe Division, Olivia becomes more and more convinced that Peter is not quite right and Walter finally confesses his big secret to her, which comes out sooner than Walter is comfortable with and sends Peter into the alternate universe in search of answers of his own!

The main problem with Fringe Season Two is that Agent Broyles is wrong when he states that for every answer the Fringe Division comes up with, it inspires two more questions. The Fringe Division uncovers truths about the paranormal and the alternate universe, but in order to keep the show going, more - and more elaborate - plot contrivances must be created. Not all of them actually work. The reason this is problematic is that the show's writers and creators are focused on continuing the story, as opposed to developing the characters. So more often than not, a character revelation that the audience already knows comes to light within the story and the characters react, but the impact on the characters is deadened by a new plot point which pops up an unexplained-phenomenon-of-the-week which lessens the menace.

This is not always the case and the climax of the season works because it is character-oriented. When Peter finally finds out what viewers who were attentive in season one already knew, he is less grateful and more annoyed at Walter. Fortunately, for those tuning in just for this season, we are shown exactly what happened, how Peter became ill as a child and died, so Walter abducted the Peter from the alternate universe and raised him as his own son here for the last twenty-five years. Similarly, the source of Walter's apparent craziness is revealed when it comes to light that part of his brain has been removed, a piece that had experiments that Walter did not want to be able to duplicate. It's a clever concept, but it only retroactively establishes character. In other words, it makes Walter from well-before Fringe began far more interesting.

Fringe in its second season is still fairly clever, with the Bishop family history being fleshed out as scientists spying on the Nazis. When Bishop encounters a genetically-targetted disease, the family history comes to light and pushes Peter and Olivia closer together. This, again, makes the characters more retroactively interesting, especially with Peter's somewhat-contrived excuses for not getting into a relationship with Olivia as the season progresses.

This leads me to the character development section. Usually, I look at the primary characters in a season of television and explore what their major character journeys are throughout the season. Because Fringe is so plot-based in its second season, the lead - Olivia Dunham - has no real character development. She continues to react to the reality of there being two universes and the crossovers between them without significantly growing or developing while she learns more about them or her own past. She continues to learn that she was trained to help fight the alternate universe should warfare develop, but instead of finding her newfound talents useful, she more often than not kvetches about Walter used her (and others) as a child.

Similarly, Walter does not so much develop as aspects of his past are revealed. This does not make him less crazy in the present and he does not change or grow throughout the season. In fact, the one with the most development or growth is Peter Bishop. Peter comes to learn that Walter abducted him from "over there" and he also begins to develop a crush on Olivia. But his anger at Walter seems forced - though it does have massive plot consequences when he flees to the alternate universe, hurt - and his refusal to engage Olivia falls shy of him actually developing.

The acting, though, is generally good. Joshua Jackson makes Peter very watchable and he plays the role of a young man coping with the extraordinary very well. It is still John Noble who rules Fringe as Walter Bishop. Forced to deliver less gross, but equally quirky random lines - like about food cravings for milkshakes - Noble embodies the perfect modern day mad scientist as Walter. He has a great sense of comic timing and enough gravitas to make it believable that he possesses one of the powerhouse minds of our time. In fact, Noble really comes into his own while playing the confident and strong other Walter in scenes in the alternate universe and he sells them as two characters who have the same background, but whose lives have taken very different turns. It's quite extraordinary to watch!

But for an executive producer known for bringing new female talents to the forefront of the American celebrity, J.J. Abrams and his team do little or nothing for Anna Torv. Torv plays Dunham as cold, stiff and largely dull. She is a plot-doll, a character tossed about by the plot more than moving the plot forward based on her own strength or machinations. Torv might not be responsible for the limp characterization of Dunham, but her frequently-stiff portrayal of Dunham is uninteresting to watch. Unlike the mysterious Nina Sharp, who is played with a constant "I know better than you" glint in the eye by Blair Brown, Dunham is straightlaced and without any zest in the hands of Torv.

On DVD, season two of Fringe comes loaded with behind-the-scenes extras as well as commentary tracks and story analysis geared toward making the larger story clear and interesting. These bonus features enhance what is present in the season and work well to give the fans more of what they want (while also making it clear that the show does not have excessively long arcs conceived for it).

In the end, fans of science fiction will find something to enjoy in Fringe Season Two, but it is still not all that it could be.

For other ambitious shows or memorable second seasons, please check out my reviews of:
Star Trek - Season Two
Heroes
True Blood - Season Two

7/10

For other television show reviews, please visit my index page by clicking here!

© 2011 W.L. Swarts. May not be reprinted without permission.






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The Saga Legends General Grievous Improves In Some Ways, But Is Still Not Perfect!

The Good: Decent detailing, Good accessories, Generally good balance.
The Bad: Articulation is less-than ideal. Only two arms.
The Basics: Still better than any of the Clone Wars General Grievous figures, the Saga Legends General Grievous is still problematically under-articulated.


Not very long ago, I got my very first General Grievous action figure (reviewed here!). I keep it in my collection because it is the only worthwhile four-armed version of General Grievous I have yet found. Even so, it is not at all perfect and when I had the chance to get the 2010 Saga Legends General Grievous at a ridiculous discount, I decided to enhance my collection and see how this one measured up. My second Grievous is fine, but still a far cry from the perfect figure I have been looking for to declare as the absolute Grievous that must be a part of every collector's Star Wars toy collection. As this is only the second Saga Legends Collection figure I have reviewed - after IG-88 (reviewed here!) - it is somewhat disappointing that the line which is almost entirely recasts is not hitting perfection each time.

For those unfamiliar with General Grievous, he is seen in Revenge Of The Sith (reviewed here!). Leading the Separatist Armies after the death of Count Dooku, General Grievous makes a good attempt at fighting Obi-Wan Kenobi but meets his demise pretty quickly. He is a droid with limited organic components.

The 4" General Grievous figure from the Saga Legends Collection is General Grievous in his standard operating mode with two arms with hands that have six fingers each.

Basics

The General Grievous figure stands 4 1/4" tall and is molded with feet that require the villain to be in an action pose. He is a robot with clawed feet which make it hard for him to stand unaided, outside of a few select action poses, with the general structure of a Battle Droid. General Grievous features two arms in this incarnation which is a more solid incarnation of the robot villain.

This toy is a great sculpt, which makes sense for a virtual character. General Grievous is cast with the solid skeletal framing of a Battle Droid in the legs and arms. The torso is more bulky, making it look like it has some sort of alien body beneath the droid armor there. Grievous’s head is like a mechanical skull and Hasbro captured the intended menace of the character well with this sculpt.

This General Grievous is also gifted with decent coloring. Despite having a clean droid body in this iteration, the panels and accent pieces of Grievous' armor are accurate in every way. Even the removable cloak that General Grievous comes with is appropriately colored. The gray and red cloak has a Separatist symbol on the back of it and it is pretty clean. It is colored so accurately that the fasteners that attach it to the body of General Grievous are colored in silver! Hasbro also got the coloring details in the eyes right as well, infusing the mechanical head with two eyes that resemble the golden eyes of the Sith lords, as well as red circles around them that imply the alien tissue of the creature!

Accessories

General Grievous is the leader of the Separatist Droid forces and comes armed ready to take on the Clone Army. He is thus outfitted with three accessories, in addition to his stand. He has a lightsaber, blaster and a electrostaff. The lightsaber is a 2 3/4" lightsaber with a translucent blue blade. This fits nicely in either of Grievous' hands and suggests that he could be a mechanized Jedi instead of just a dumb, programmed droid!

The blaster, presumably the one Obi-Wan would eventually use to kill him, is a simple 1 3/8" gun molded entirely in black plastic. The blaster features a scope on the top and a heavier barrel than many of the Star Wars toy blasters. It fits in either of Grievous's hands well and looks pretty natural there. This is pretty much the Battle Droid blaster.

The unique-to-this-Grievous accessory is the electrostaff which is seen in Revenge Of The Sith in the hands of both General Grievous and his bodyguards. In this figure, the staff is pathetically bland, as it is just a 3 1/2" gray plastic staff with smooth ends and a contoured center. There is no implication even of energy coming from the weapon.

General Grievous does come with a stand which was emblematic of the 2010 Saga Legends series. The stand is a 2 3/8" wide by 1 7/16" deep by 1/4" tall stand that is light gray colored. The holes in either of Grievous's feet fit the pegs on the stand and allow him to stand completely stable. As well, there is a slot for the game card that comes with the Saga Legends figure. The figure also comes with a bag featuring a random assortment of weapons from Star Wars figures (in my case seven) that allow one to customize the play experience. Some don't even fit in General Grievous's hands; others look ridiculous there.

Playability

The four inch toy line was designed for play and General Grievous is only fair in that regard. General Grievous has decent balance on or off his stand, which makes him good for play or display, so long as one keeps him flatfooted. Out of a flatfooted position, General Grievous tips over exceptionally easily.

This General Grievous is articulated at the knees, groin socket, bust, shoulders, elbows and neck. The head is on a ball and socket joint, as is the upper half of his torso. The shoulders and knees have great articulation with the hinged ball and socket joints. Unfortunately, the elbows are only swivel joints, as are the joints in the groin socket, giving Grievous some problematic posing issues. This gives him limited poseability and his arm articulation is comparatively poor, especially compared to other figures in the Saga Legends line.

Collectibility

General Grievous is part of the Saga Legends line that was released in 2010. General Grievous is 2010 Saga Collection figure SL09. General Grievous was fairly common and demand for it was easily met. Because General Grievous figures have been produced in so many toy lines since Revenge Of The Sith, this is one many fans feel they can pass by and I am only keeping until a more articulated two-armed version is released. This is not a great investment toy, despite the popularity of General Grievous.

Overview

The Saga Legends General Grievous is a good casting of a character who is a legend of the Star Wars Saga. Even so, this iteration is far from perfect in balance, accessories or articulation, despite having great attention to coloring detail and sculpted detail. Because the investment value in it is so low, this is one just for those who missed getting a prior two-armed Grievous figure.

For other figures of characters from Revenge Of The Sith, please check out my reviews of:
Vintage Collection VC46 AT-RT Driver
Legacy Collection BD47 Commander Bacara
Saga Collection 022 Firespeeder Pilot
Revenge Of the Sith Collection 62 Neimoidian Warrior
7/10

For other Star Wars toy reviews, please check out my index page by clicking here!

© 2011 W.L. Swarts. May not be reprinted without permission.




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Dying Hits The Late Middle-Aged Hard In "Half A Life."

The Good: Great actors, Interesting story idea, Wonderful character development
The Bad: Moments of disappointing delivery
The Basics: In "Half A Life," Lwaxana Troi returns in a tight dramatic role that explores a culture where the elderly kill themselves as a method of keeping an orderly society.


Star Trek The Next Generation had a remarkable way of getting wonderful actors to appear and play intriguing characters. Indeed, all of the Star Trek series' have managed to woo great actors, actresses and personalities. For example, Sally Kellerman and Teri Garr appeared in Star Trek, Star Trek Deep Space Nine managed to get Richard Beymer, Louise Fletcher and Frank Langella for multiple episodes and by this point in the series, Star Trek The Next Generation had been visited mostly by genre greats, such as DeForest Kelly and Mark Lenard. In "Half A Life," Star Trek The Next Generation is visited by a truly great actor, David Ogden Stiers, of M*A*S*H among other things.

The Enterprise journeys to a planet whose star is dying and there they meet Timicin, a scientist who is incredibly intelligent and has a plan to try and save his planet. Almost immediately, the mission is compromised by the presence of Counselor Troi's mother, Lwaxana. Lwaxana takes an instant liking to Timicin who is closer in age to herself than any of the other prospective mates Lwaxana has chosen in the past. When the initial results of the procedure appear positive, the crew is elated and Timicin is hopeful. When, however, the technique ultimately fails, Timicin reveals that he will never have a chance to try again; he is returning home to die. It seems that Timicin has reached the age that his people decide to kill themselves as a part of a population control and health care program.

More than anything, this is Lwaxana Troi's most serious and profound episode to date. Rather than being used as inane comic relief as she has been relegated to in her previous three outings, "Half A Life" puts Lwaxana in the middle of a serious dilemma. Lwaxana has fallen in love with Timicin and the societal pressures on him to kill himself come in conflict with her personal ethics and her feelings for Timicin.

The strength of the acting in this episode is surprisingly not in David Ogden Stiers, who is a phenomenal actor. Instead, the show is stolen by Majel Barret-Roddenberry. Instead of being a continual annoyance, here Barret plays Lwaxana Troi as a well-rounded, passionate character acting out of a very real sense of injustice. And how easy it is for the audience to identify with her! Who wouldn't be initially outraged over the idea of killing off the senior citizen population?

And this is possibly the most creative way of dressing up a current events issue that Star Trek The Next Generation ever came up with. Instead of tackling the problem of what to do with the elderly in 1990s Earth, "Half A Life" explores a possible solution and does it with an amazing amount of balance. Timicin, as a character, is caught between two conflicting societal pressures. On the one side, he loves his planet and wants to save it, on the other, he wants to be equally selfless and do what is expected of him, which is to die before he becomes a burden on his family and loved ones.

The only disappointment in this episode is the acting in the last half of the episode by Mr. Stiers. Usually great and creating the character of Timicin wonderfully, David Ogden Stiers' performance falls apart in the second half. From the moment he reveals that he is returning home to kill himself, Stiers' performance - not the character's actions - become uncertain, as if he completely lost direction for the character. It's disappointing considering how well he initially creates this unique character.

Michelle Forbes, who will end up playing Ensign Ro beginning in the fifth season, appears here as Timicin's daughter and gives a very different performance to what we expect from her later on. Similarly, the regular cast of the show backs up what is essentially a two-character debate. Most notable is Marina Sirtis, who plays Counselor Troi with less disappointment and more compassion than in previous Lwaxana Troi episodes.

Fans of Star Trek The Next Generation will enjoy "Half a Life" for the moralistic play, people who have not classically been fans will find a compelling drama in this episode. Instead of being terribly out there as a science fiction piece, this quickly becomes a focused character drama. And who could not enjoy that?

[Knowing that VHS is essentially a dead medium, it's worth looking into Star Trek: The Next Generation - The Complete Fourth Season on DVD, which is also a better economical choice than buying the VHS. Read my review of the fourth season by clicking here!
Thanks!]

8/10

For other Star Trek reviews, please check out my index page!

© 2011, 2007, 2003 W.L. Swarts. May not be reprinted without permission.
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Reader's Digest For Folks Who Want Only One Kind Of Story: Catholic Digest

The Good: Hits its niche precisely
The Bad: Ridiculously simple diction, Monotonous, Surprisingly addy, Strangely pricey
The Basics: With unchallenging diction/message that is repeated ad nauseam, Catholic Digest is an unnecessary addition to the lives of Catholics who might do better by doing good works than reading this.


As one who is always happy to rail against schmaltz, it never would have occurred to me that there was a niche market that found Reader's Digest to be somehow edgy or not child-friendly in a way that they felt compelled to splinter off with their own publication. And yet, take Catholic Digest, a magazine that is almost identical to Reader's Digest in size, shape and target demographic, save that the senior citizens who read this magazine are intended to be exclusively Catholic. If that seems like a dig, then one has not read Catholic Digest, with its sections like "Grandkids Say The Darndest Things" and a whole slew of articles under the heading "We Love Our Grandkids." Yes, Catholic Digest appears to be intended for an audience of elders to pass down their ways to the youngest generation.

As a reader of virtually anything, Catholic Digest fails to engage - at least anyone who is not Catholic or geriatric - because virtually all of the writing in it is identical. It is one thing to be thematically unified, it is entirely another to be monotonous in the way a subject stays on point. When it is not busy selling Catholic memorabilia, Catholic Digest is remarkably focused on the topics of creating strong families (unmarred by divorce), procreating the next generation of Catholics to be brought up by those strong families in the Catholic Church, and turning one's life entirely over to god. The solution to every hardship in Catholic Digest is to pray and let god's will determine the outcome. For those who are not part of that culture, this is a remarkably unsatisfying magazine to read and it is nowhere near enough to sway the naysayers to the hierarchy of Catholicism.

For the purpose of my review, I read the February 2007 issue of Catholic Digest. I was surprised by the hefty cover price of $4.95 as this is a pamphlet-style magazine printed on a half page. The 128-page magazine is a glossy booklet that is published once a month and has a website by the same name. The reason I was so surprised by the cover price, other than its relation to such a small magazine, was that the magazine is surprisingly filled with advertisements. The issue I reviewed had twenty-two full pages of advertisements with at least three additional half-page ads. While this ratio, less than 20% advertisements, might not seem like much, there are a lot more plugs inserted into the articles and some of the quality of the merchandise being hawked on its pages is disturbing. Most of the advertisements are essentially further reading for those who enjoy Catholic Digest.

As the name suggests, Catholic Digest is compiled from various other books, magazines and interview sources to create a magazine that cuts to the chase for Catholic readers. Here, they may get all the stories of faith and the strength of god in the daily lives of other christians without risking boredom or any counter-message writings from other books. The issue I perused featured cover stories like "The Sign Of The Cross Changed My Life," a short story about meeting the man of one's dreams in church (no kidding!), and dealing with winter weather through faith. As well, the magazine has regular columns on how to pray, what it means to be Catholic, good catholics (nominated by readers), catholic book reviews and guides to watching television for Catholics who only want to watch Catholic programming.

After the usual table of contents (spread out over several pages and broken up with full page advertisements), there is a note from the editor. In this case, editor Daniel Connors commented on the bonds between grandparents and grandchildren and here my schmaltz alarm began to go off in full. Connors reminisces about time with his grandparents in the most predictable and droll ways using nothing surprising or enlightening as far as his diction or imagery goes. There is a moment in Once & Again where a student complains about a fellow student getting an "A" on a project for writing about her grandmother's death because it was obvious and pulls on all the same heartstrings every other such story does. Similarly, the editor's recollection of getting jelly doughnuts from his grandmother is stiflingly dull; wow, grandparents giving kids sweets! I've never heard of that! Of course, part of the purpose of Catholic Digest is to reinforce the traditional stereotypes and archetypes, so the inclusion of them from the outset makes some sense.

The editor's note is followed by letters to the editor. They are all praise and reinforce previously-published articles or sentiments. None of these challenged the magazine or its premises in any way and they were fairly bland to read.

This section was followed by news for Catholics. These include news on missions around the world as well as health reports indicating people of faith live longer and better than those without it. There was, strangely for a publication from 2007, no update on the current state of the Catholic Church or current cases against it. I suppose we need Heretics Digest for those. The point here is that, just as the Catholic Church is often in deep denial of its status and its place in the world, Catholic Digest ignores the diversity within its church and the real-world issues effecting the perceptions (and realities) of the Catholic Church. The head-in-the-sand approach to actual news on the Catholic Church only serves to alienate new potential Catholics who do not deny the flaws reported within the establishments of the Church.

A few regular columns follow, including musings from a prominent Catholic on Valentine's Day and a Ph.D writing about how to pray. While the first column reinforced the importance of family values, the second advocates turning one's life and decisions over to god. The column completely avoids how one is expected to hear the divine, instead indicating a series of steps that ought to allow one to pray and communicate with god (for the record, the breathing exercises recommended did not make god appear to me, though I did notice they bore a strange resemblance to yoga breathing techniques I learned back in college). Another regular column informs readers on exactly why the sign of the cross is important and if one wants a summary of the entire magazine in a single line it comes perfectly from this column. In the "Heritage" section, there is a display quote "Never leave your house without making the Sign of the Cross. It will be a staff, a weapon, an impregnable fortress" (30) and that defines the mentality and sense of action throughout the entire magazine. Catholics, the magazine posits, are in a cultural war with all non-Catholics and they need to be defended and ready to attack spiritually at any moment.

Catholic Digest then features a special recurring feature, in this case an expose on a shipwreck where the people of faith managed to survive! This is followed by a reader who is nominated to be the month's "Good Egg," which earns them a spot in the magazine with a little expose on the person and their faith. The section on grandparenting is an interesting one. Take, for example, the article on "The ABCs Of Grandparenting." Here, the magazine is written to guide grandparents into helping to raise the grandchildren as people of faith. Each letter of the alphabet is split into directions for grandparents and directions for parents. Interestingly, the notes to the grandparents tend to be designed to help guide grandchildren toward catholicism with occasional notes on respecting parental boundaries, with the notes toward the parents mostly reading as "let your parents help raise your kids Catholic, but you can lay down guidelines." This section is filled with simple stories of grandparents and grandchildren getting together and learning about catholic life.

Like the rest of the magazine, this section has big pictures, generally large typeface and diction and vocabulary that is remarkably simple. Catholic Digest can be read by anyone with a fourth grade vocabulary and there are no offensive words or concepts to make the magazine in any way problematic to those who are able to read it.

The problem, though, is after three articles, one has pretty much read the entire magazine. The magazine continues to pound home the exact same concepts and viewpoints and the constant reiteration makes it a lower overall value for the price. Readers will get the message within the first few paragraphs, having more examples of the execution of those messages do not make the arguments or ideas any stronger. Instead, the repetitive quality becomes tiresome.

Just for fun, I picked up another issue and I found the same thing to be true, which forces me to ask "what's the point?!" After all, if a good Catholic goes to church, they already have the message. In addition to a weekly reminder, do Catholics honestly need another monthly reminder? I say "no" and suggest that Catholics looking to protect god's green Earth would do just as well to forego this magazine and let a tree grow instead of cutting more down for this repetitive publication.

For other magazines reviewed by me, please check out my take on:
Consumer Reports
Star Wars Insider
Lost Magazine

0/10

For other magazine reviews, please visit my index page on the subject by clicking here!

© 2011, 2009 W.L. Swarts. May not be reprinted without permission.
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If You Don't Want The Component Figures, HK-50 Is Worth Picking Up On The Secondary Market!

The Good: Great coloring detail, Good accessory, Wonderful articulation, Good balance, Great investment value
The Bad: The only way to assemble is through some pretty lame Legacy Collection figures . . .
The Basics: The Legacy Collection Build-A-Droid HK-50 creates the assassin droid wonderfully and is well worth assembling, even if it means getting some less wonderful figures!


Since I started getting Star Wars action figures again, there have been few things that have bugged me more than the Build-A-Droid figures. The concept behind the Build-A-Droid figure is that for every four to six figures one buys, there is a part of a droid and that droid may be assembled to give fans a fifth, sixth or seventh figure "free" for buying the others. My issue is not with the concept - it's fine and has been done by other toy manufacturers to boost sales as their toy lines become less familiar or otherwise profitable - but rather with the fact that most of the droids one has to build are not at all recognizable to fans of the Star Wars Saga. Even so, the first droid I managed to successfully build was HK-50, a droid that was the bonus in the 2009/2010 Legacy Collection line. HK-50 is not from any of the Star Wars films.

The 4" HK-50 is a super-articulated figure from the 2009 and 2010 Legacy Collection and it is one of the most sought-after build-a-droid figures because of the popularity of the character from the Star Wars - Knights Of The Old Republic II video game. HK-50, as it turns out, is an assassin droid and it looks pretty badass.

Basics

HK-50 stands 3 7/8" tall to the top of its head. HK-50 is sculpted based entirely on the digital designs of the droid in the video game and Hasbro got the form to fit every image I could find of it online! HK-50 is a powerful droid body with a somewhat insectoid head. The face looks like a stylized skull or a bee and that only makes it look more like the efficient killing machine it is supposed to be!

HK-50 is colored with pretty amazing attention to detail. This metallic blue droid was mass-produced and has every servo, port and armor plate replicated in meticulous detail. The figure is colored accurately with lighter steel-colored panels and darker accents to give it a sense that this droid is assembled in a factory, though it is a clean model and this has not been in the field.

Accessories

HK-50 is a mass-produced robot and it comes with a short blaster rifle. The blaster rifle came with the same figure that had the head piece. The near-flat blaster rifle is 1 1/2" long and looks like an automatic weapon in its barrel. The small gun is monotonal gray, does not have a handle and looks decent in either of HK-50's hands, so long as HK-50 cradles it with the other hand that is not wrapped around the trigger.

Playability

The four inch toy line was designed for play and HK-50 is exceptional in that regard. First, the figure has decent balance. Flatfooted, HK-50 is entirely solid, and because of the lower half articulation of the figure, it has decent posing options. Even poses outside having him flatfooted can be done without using the holes in its feet! Even so, the holes in the bottom of its feet allow it to stand tall on any number of playsets in outlandish poses.

HK-50 holds up extraordinarily well in the articulation department, which is a surprise for a droid figure. This droid has hinged ball-and-socket joints at the ankles, knees and elbows, as well as a ball and socket joint which allows a great range of motion for the bust. The shoulders, groin socket, neck and wrists all have simple swivel joints that provide the figure with more than enough posing options to make the figure worthwhile! This is incredibly poseable and that makes it very worthwhile for play!

Collectibility

HK-50 is part of the Legacy Collection line that was released late in 2009 and early 2010 and it is one of the harder ones to assemble, largely because it was packaged in parts with so many lame figures, like the guy seen running through Bespin in The Empire Strikes Back. Still, there are people who bought all of the standard figures needed to assemble HK-50 and sell him assembled in the secondary market. His value there is pretty high, though, and is likely to remain high unless this figure ends up packaged on a card of its own in the future.

Overview

HK-50 is a worthwhile droid figure worth assembling for fans of the broader Star Wars universe!

For other Legacy Collection figures, please check out my reviews of:
BD17 Princess Leia (Slave Leia)
BD34 Leesub Sirln
BD37 Clone Commander Deviss
BD39 Jawa with Security Droid
BD41 The Utai
BD42 Jeremoch Colton
BD43 Agen Kolar
BD47 Commander Bacara
BD49 AT-AT Driver
BD50 Wing Guard
BD52 R2-X2
BD54 Zuckuss
BD55 Snowtrooper

10/10

For other Star Wars toy reviews, please check out my index page by clicking here!

© 2011 W.L. Swarts. May not be reprinted without permission.




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Great Social Commentary Turns Monotonous In American Industrial Ballads By Pete Seeger.

The Good: Good lyrics, Generally decent presentation.
The Bad: Monotonous presentation, Musically unimpressive, Thematically oppressive, Short.
The Basics: Thematically oppressive and failing with any sense of musical or vocal diversity, American Industrial Ballads might have historical significance, but it is not Pete Seeger's best.


I am all too happy to admit that I have some weird pet peeves. One of them is I become unusually irked by people who tell me the reason I don't consider 2001: A Space Odyssey one of the top ten films of all time is because I don't "get" the film. I get it; I just think it is stiflingly boring. By similar extension, my father and I have a serious difference of opinion over some of the works of Pete Seeger. My father seems to take the tact that historical importance trumps any aesthetic issues with a musical work. So, in the case of American Industrial Ballads by Pete Seeger, he argues that because the folk songs on it made an impact at the time and reflected shifting attitudes in the late 1950s, the album is an instant classic that everyone should listen to and own.

I take a different view; American Industrial Ballads is musically mediocre, thematically repetitive and boring to listen to repeatedly. I'm not saying that the Smithsonian did something wrong by buying out Folkways Recordings to preserve the recordings of people like Pete Seeger and keep them in print, but rather that the album is not one of Seeger's best for anything OTHER than a historical document. Pete Seeger is my Artist Of The Month and I have enjoyed God Bless The Grass (reviewed here!) and generally liked his live album We Shall Overcome (reviewed here!), but American Industrial Ballads lacks a repeatable quality that those other albums have. Perhaps this is because I was born after the eight-hour workday was instituted or because I am a happy socialist (yes, I'm one of those people who argues that if you want to help the economic problems in the United States, lower the workweek to thirty hours a week while maintaining wages at their current rate!) who understands how much work our forebearers did on the problems, but the music on American Industrial Ballads is just old music. It has value, but low repeatability and low musical quality. The value of this album is almost exclusively in the lyrics.

With twenty-four songs, clocking out at 50:35, American Industrial Ballads is a concept album about the struggles of the labor movement. It casts workers as heroes against oppressive capitalist organizations. Workers are victimized physically, emotionally and spiritually throughout the album and given hope only in the unions and a sense of political optimism that is quaint. Indeed, it is only on a Pete Seeger album where the problems of political naivete will be solved when the abused shout, "But now I've roused up a little / Their greed and corruption I see / And the ticket we vote next November / Will be made up of hayseeds like me" ("Hayseed Like Me").

The album has very little of Pete Seeger's creative influence on it; the liner notes are especially unhelpful, but there are ten credited songs, none of which were written by Pete Seeger. The remaining fourteen are not credited with any writers, but it appears they are "traditional," meaning there is no known writer. Songs like "Peg And Awl" and "Seven Cent Cotton And Forty Cent Meat" have an older flavor to them, so the assumption that they are not written by Pete Seeger and are public domain songs is a fair one. In addition to not writing any of the songs, Seeger does not appear to have any production influence over the album. The result is an album where all Seeger does is sing and play his banjo.

This is not to say that he does either of those poorly. However, track to track, there is little musical deviation on the songs and the album has a monotonous quality to it that gets old fairly quickly. Instrumentally, the album is stark, basically one man strumming his banjo. He uses the banjo as an accent to his vocals on songs like "The Farmer Is The Man" and "The Blind Fiddler." "Beans, Bacon, And Gravy" has more of a tune to it, but still the vocals overwhelm the instrumental accompaniment to such an extent at times one can barely hear the banjo. There are no songs where the instrumental accompaniment actually dominates; there are no banjo tunes per se on this album and as a result, Seeger's playing is more punctuation to his words.

Vocally, Pete Seeger presents on American Industrial Ballads two ways. His range is smooth, mellow and mid-range, never going high on this album. He goes into a slightly lower than tenor range for songs like "He Lies In The American Land." But for the most part, he sings or singspeaks his songs one of two ways; forceful or slow and mournful. Songs like "Casey Jones" and "Hayseed Like Me" are loud, articulate, direct and energetic. They are songs designed to enrage and energize the listeners, to get them to overthrow the oppressive factory owners and institutions of capitalism. The singsong "The Farmer Is The Man" is designed to stick in the listener's head with the reminder of how important the farmer is to all walks of life and Seeger performs it memorably.

The other style of presentation on American Industrial Ballads are more traditional-sounding ballads. They are slow, mournful and sing the pain of the workers. Songs like "Peg And Awl" and " have sad-sounding refrains that make it sound like Seeger is weeping through the words. This very effectively captures the sense of angst and pain of the workers. "Let Them Wear Their Watches Fine" sounds like a funeral dirge.

One of the thematic problems with American Industrial Ballads is that some of the songs that are designed for social change are not accompanied by a socialist message. So, for example, on "Peg And Awl," the singer tells the story of making shoes and how hard and dangerous it is. By the end of the song, the worker is replaced by a machine which makes one hundred shoes to the human's one. It's hard to feel bad for the guy who is now out of the dangerous work because of automation when all he's done before that is cry out how bad his conditions are. It becomes a problem because he now has no training or experience for anything else. Given how anti-industrialization so many of the songs are (the next one has a man going blind from an industrial accident - "The Blind Fiddler"), the song is counter-thesis. The machine prevents more wounds, even as the man retires. The song becomes a horrifying history, but nothing beyond a record of conditions. As a result, it is hard to listen to over and over again.

As well, many of the songs - "Cotton Mill Colic" and "Seven Cent Cotton And Forty Cent Meat" - have the musical narrators dying of starvation and oppressive bills, so it's not like this is an upper of an album. Music does not need to be happy, but it is hard to see the audience that would find this an album they would want to keep listening to over and over again. I mean, sure, you could take it into your factory job and blare it, but I think your coworkers would probably be less impressed (I suspect they already know they work in crappy conditions for too little money) and if one of the supervisors heard it, they would most likely ask you if you wanted to take some time off to think. This is not like an album of depressing love lost songs where one can listen to them and wallow about universal human emotions; these are songs about being poor and oppressed. It's nowhere near as cathartic to listen to those over and over again!

So, this is a good historical document and it bears listening to, but it's a tough album to want to recommend people buy; it is intense, monotonous and fairly monotonal. As a result, I'm not recommending it . . . and it's not because I don't "get" it or appreciate the history of it.

The best song is "Hayseed Like Me," the low point (which is saying something on this depressing album) is the unmemorable and repetitive "Raggedy."

For other, former Artist Of The Month reviews, please check out my takes on:
@#%&*! Smilers! - Aimee Mann
It Ain't Easy: The Essential Recordings - Wilson Pickett
Greatest Hits - Red Hot Chili Peppers

4.5/10

For other music reviews, please be sure to visit my index page by clicking here!

© 2011, 2009 W.L. Swarts. May not be reprinted without permission



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