Mr. Robot (TV Series) - a complexity we need in our lives

I'm a fan of Breaking Bad and Better Call Saul - and I develops an interest of another thriller drama series on USA network, and it's Mr. Robot.

Now the title itself doesn't really explain what the actual series is all about. Or maybe it is - but maybe I will let the philosophical and meaning to the imagination of the audiences.

To this date it has generate 8 episodes for the season 1 - and it has delivered intrigues, surprises, and sometimes misleads in the story. The story mainly focuses on Elliot Alderson, a security network computer engineer employee on a small-medium sized company, AllSafe, which the company partners with one of the largest company ever - Evil Corp. Although the naming are pretty ease to follow, they impelement more in the concept and the story. For some reason, our main character who is a prodigal genius in computer network and software engineering savvy, find life itself misleading and controlled. An introvert, Elliot tends to summarize the concept of humanity in his head and drew his analytical result for himself. Himself to be a hacker is a mean to supervise his social surroundings, since he has trouble open himself up and keep a small group of people he related to socialize with.

In the course of the movie we will encounters the mind of Elliot until it summing up to the solution of the destruction of Evil Corp. He won't do it alone of course, there will be groups, teams, alliances as well as broken alliances. Driven by revenge, Elliot way of destroying Evil Corp tends to be more rational and more conscious-tolerated. This really brings up the ideology of anonymity and how the works of rebellious (or maybe order) group works.

All that has been said, this series for me has it flaws. I am referring on how slow the progress of each episode are. Perhaps this can't be put into a focus, because I think they have a reason for it - artistically or monetary. Either way, each episode always leave you dangling for another puzzle to be solved. Sometimes it thrive for the content of the puzzle, but another times it felt a little bit pushy. At least until now, I've seen too many twist that I couldn't predict would happen. Mr. Robot may be bringing a complexity in a way that we wish we want to understand, but at the same time we also wonders whether or not all of it becomes tangible. This is series follow up for its questions, predictions, opportunities, as well as the risk.

I have enjoyed the series so far. My background is in IT - but I don't think you have to be one to understood the course of this series. Although brings up the topic of hacker as it main theme, but it was all just some kind of tools to use for their main storyline. The technical stuff will not overcome the thriller drama of which what the series are. Overall - I'm pretty recommending this series to friends. I find it intriguing and addicting to know what the characters are up to. 

Fant4stic - is it worth all the rant?

With the launch of rebooted Fantastic Four movie - or Fant4stic as the title in the poster is written - many review has been ranting about the movie. It's not that hard to spot, if you pretty much put fantastic four on the search bar on YouTube - you will see either the trailers or the rants. I haven't seen the movie then - but now I have watched it and I have got to tell you - I kind of understood why all the rants...

The rebooted story begins as the young Reed Richards had a vision of being the first to teleport and building the teleportation machine. It's not magical and all, he wanted to build it with science. After in need of some particular item, Reed befriends Ben Grimm. Several years later their project caught the attention of a foundation who then gives scholarship to Reed into building the experimental teleportation project. Along with the story we can see how Reed met Sue Storm, Johnny Storm and Victor Von Doom. In this moment - all the scientific as well as the montage of how the team bonds takes point converging into the making of the machine. They successfully made it, but then of course a plot takes it turn. Something went wrong with the machine and turns all the main characters into some kind of mutated people. They also bring along Ben Grimm who later become the Thing, which mainly just because to sync the storyline with the source.

That was the first half of the movie. If you think it's pretty anti-climatic well then it is. There were many great moments that this movie could've tried to deliver - but it failed. I have no idea why - the discovery of the teleportation machine, the encounter with Victor Von Doom (Before he became a villain), the montage of the team bonding building the machine, even their arrival at the new strange dimension - all of them felt pretty bland. I watched it and even though I understood the course of the movie, I just kept thinking "why isn't this the great moment? What happen?"

I'm not going to tell what the rest of the movie would look like, I'm not going to spoil it here, Wikipedia can help you with the plot. But for me, the first and the second half of the movie all felt the same. This movie struggle so much to runs smoothly - a standard they're aiming wrong. There are nothing building up the story into a point. And it makes this movie, just as most review said, boring. And I think it's a shame we felt that. I'm not a fan of Fantastic Four myself, but I am drawn a bit into feeling there are many moments in the movie that they could've elaborate more to a focus. As an audience, I'm intrigued with part of the story, but then the movie fails to deliver.

I like all the characters played here, as well as the actors and actresses. The new faces of live action Fantastic Four is looking better than before. The character played well and I like the more realistic version of Fantastic Four. That being said, once again the thing that make them Fantastic "Four" is reduced. There are no chemistry between each member of the team. Even Dr. Doom looks as a stranger and not a broken team member with the history or such. The team may look like they're being together - or maybe isn't? I'm not sure, because there are too many time leap going on in this movie.

Before you know it, you will see your watch (on your smartphone most probably as you browse the social media while watching this movie) and made a calculation on your head and realize that you're nearly at the end of the movie. This is the time when I think they should've make this movie longer, or not - I felt conflicted by my opinion here because this movie already leaves too many unsettling questions. At this moment, I watched all the action part of the movie which they already show it in the trailer (seriously, watched the trailer, and you pretty much have seen most of the action in the movie).

So I understand why this movie got so much rant. I like the science of the movie - but then again they didn't elaborate much on it. I like the look on the new Fantastic Four, but again they didn't elaborate on it. Dr. Doom earn its name in this movie by becoming a dark villainous character that you would scared to encounter... and shamefully this also has little (if not none) story of it.

If I have to rate this movie - I would probably gave the same rating just like everyone else. 1 out five stars, 2 out of 10, E- in a scale of A to F, you name it. Not because this movie is bad - but it fails terribly to generate the excitement throughout the movie. And when they have the chance to did it, it was already too late.

No, I will not recommend you to watch this in the theatre - I may just urge you to wait and see whether or not they release director's cut DVD for this movie. But even though it may or may not happen, I wouldn't cling on a hope that this movie will turn to better. It would be just too late - leaving you with bland taste and an empty feeling. 

Jakarta's Toys Expo 2015

I am going there :)

There will be a toys expo open in Kartika Expo - Balai Kartini on 15-16 August 2015. Almost every toys distributor or stores all around Jakarta and surroundings will be there.

I personally will only look for one thing to collect, and it is pretty slim chance to find anything new there for my collection. So I guess I can safely say my wallet is pretty safe :)

I'm da Juggernaut B*tch!!! - Marvel Select's Juggernaut

One of the icon of strength and brute force of the X-Men universe - Juggernaut, unlike other mutants in the series, received his power by possessing power from Cyttorak's gem. In a way, Juggernaut is not actually a mutant, rather a manifestation of powerful mystical being. A step brother of Prof. X - his real name is Cain Marko, and become the bully of Charles Xavier.

Now that we have through with the grim history of this bully, we can focus on the action figure itself. For me - this might be the best Juggernaut action figure ever made. The sculpture of this figure is amazing - represents almost the real comic version.

The muscle looks amazing, the ratio of the hands and torso though looks unrealistic for real life - but really brings out the mean strength Juggernaut is representing. Even the face expression is near perfect.

There might be only few poses this figure can do - but being a Juggernaut, what more poses do you need besides charging, standing, punching, or showing of how buffed it is. This figure looks strong and ready to charge at everything on its path - and that's all that matters.

Tone color is pretty accurate and detail. Painting with tone color not far from the color of various chocolate milk bar, it actually giving you what would it be like when a comic drawn character is bring to life. And for me it is perfect.

Another thing that I really loved with this figure is how heavy it is. Now - this may a variant opinion, but I think for a character with so much power, the weigh on this thing only support the opinion. I actually like how heavy it is when I'm holding it.

Marvel Select and Diamond Select made an excellent figure with this one. It may not comes with many accessories, but I really don't care about it. This thing felt like the behemoth among its variant, and this is by far the best Marvel Select figure I have seen.

Horrible... just horrible

I'm sorry - but I just had to post this

I was browsing at this e-store/e-merchant thing when I found this item below

And I am in loss of words. I mean where to start - Avengers 2 Age of Ultron The Flash with guns, and on the back you can see the other team of Avengers such as Superman-Green Lantern-Batman-like super hero. And to top that, you can make your mash-up super hero by replacing the left leg with Superman's, right leg with Green Lantern's, and right arm with Batman's.

This is clearly either a cheap knock-off, or such a horrible spin-off combination between Marvel and DC that somehow got passed under the radar without any notice by the fans. I'm safely picking the first option as a highly possibility.

Play Arts Kai - DC Variant The Flash

So I just wanted to share my thoughts about one of my collection here. I haven't been long ago to start collecting action figures again - I used to collect when I was in high school before I have to sell them all long time ago. And one time, I have been long into knowing the manufactures of any toy figures or statue, I saw this unique model of the Flash by Play Arts Kai - Square Enix. Of course at that time I don't even know what Play Arts Kai is, but Square Enix, DC, and the Flash - that's what finally intrigues me.

I passed by this toy figure about a year and a half ago when I was attending toys fair in Jakarta. I have been a fan of the Flash - but ever since DC start cancelling their comics back in 2000's, it's getting hard to keep up with the collection back then, so I start just putting all my old collection into boxes. As my wife only let me to have one shelf on my book cupboard to be placed with anything other than books, I start putting my Flash collection again on that shelf. And this figure is actually the first item to be placed there.

I purchased this one back then for about 40-50 bucks, which is kind of an okay bargain for me - since the same amount can also purchase console games. The thing about this is that even though you only put it on the stand - you kind of get to see how fast the Flash is. The team in Square Enix really knew how to shape the scarlet speedster.

The Flash is all about speed force, and this figure really know how to make the Flash seems like acquiring the persona of delivering it. I really like how they shapes the armor, the mask, the shoes, and everything else. For putting it on the shelf, it really does stands out.

This figure stands about 24-30 cm. It also comes with some accessories such as lightning for the head, the hand, and around the waist. There's also replaceable hands in both arms with open palm or closed one. It also provided with one figure stand (but it requires some kind of constructing it, so I rather buy a third party one where it hold the figure on the crotch).

Of all the good things I can see on this figure, I still noticed some minor things on this figure. First - the ear piece is easily broken apart. At one point I actually broken one of the ear piece and I had to use plastic model cement to hold it back together again. The next part is the joint - especially the one on its hands are easily noticeable being a black round ball between the forearm and biceps. Although the joint works for many kind of pose - but the one on the arms are the ones really bugging me. Lastly, the waist is really loose. Being separated from the leg and the torso is a good thing, but as you hold the figure - the waist part is really loose to hold, and creates an unsettling feeling for it.

Still - this figure looks amazing. The detailed sculpture is unique, and the coloring brings a perfect balance for it. I have been put this figure on the shelf from the first day I bought it and haven't been bored looking at it. This figure have some great dynamic pose you can think about - and with the help of double jointed knee, posing the Flash in running position (his speed signature pose) is probably the only thing you can think about posing this figure.

Square Enix brings the best of the Flash in this variant form, but still including the Flash's signature into it. This is a great collection figure - at least for me :)

Anybody excited about this Deadpool trailer? As seen on youtube from 20th Century Fox channel here , more footage from the movie and we can see bit of Deadpool's sense of humor there.

Of course there's a more mature content trailer - the red band trailer that can be seen on www.deadpoolwebsite.com - you should check it out :)