Non-transforming Transformers figures – Auldey AAE

When I searched for Yolopark on TaoBao, I came across Auldey AAE series. If I had known about this earlier, I would not have bothered with Yolopark. These are super toon looking and super articulated.

Auldey AAE (Alpha Action Elite) Wave 1

If there is a downside, it is that these figures are 13 cm tall — too big to mix-n-match with MST-scaled Legends figures. At a glance, they look just like MST figures (*) — that's how good MST figures look, and they transform!

(*) I wonder if Hasbro wil use this line to go after unlicensed 3P Legends figures in the future.

There are two chase figures, but the chance of getting them are pretty low. A carton has 72 figures (12 cases of 6 sets), the chase figures are 1/12 each — they replace a specific figure.

Wave 1 and Wave 2 are already on discount (~250 yuan, S$45.64). Wave 3 is just out and is still at full price (414 yuan, S$75.54). Wave 4 should be out around middle of next year. Coneheads are also out (MSRP 199 yuan, S$36.32). There are also some premium editions, but I'm not interested in them.

As usual, the line starts out strong, but there will be more re-colors (to maximize mold reuse), unpopular characters and non-G1 characters to fill the ranks.

Breakdown:

• W1: S1/2 - 7/10, S3 - 1/10
• W2: S1/2 - 7/11
• W3: S1/2 - 2/10, S3 - 4/10
• W4: S1/2 - 4/9, S3 - 2/9

Non-transforming Transformers figures – Yolopark

In the past, non-transforming Transformers figures were the only way to get close to toon look. But 3P Masterpiece and Legends figures have given these a run for their money in the past 10 years. Some are so good that you won't believe they transform.

Non-transforming figures often don't look right: their proportions look off. Transforming figures, because of the need to transform, are kept 'honest'.

Yolopark AMK Starscream

I would have given this a miss at its original S$45 price, but at S$25? I don't mind.

(Though I later found it is available on TaoBao for ~95 yuan, or S$17+, so it is not really a bargain.)

Despite the big box size (33 cm), the figure is only 19 cm.

This looks just like DS-01 (Deformation Space Crimson Wings) — which transforms. You can tell how good DS-01 is.

I also bought several AMK Mini Wave 2 figures at S$15 and BMK (Basic Model Kit) figures at S$13. These, I should have bought on TaoBao.

AMK Mini figures are 12 cm tall. Wave 2 looks way more G1 than Wave 1. Wave 1 figures have overly big heads and hands too.

BMK figures are 16 cm tall, but are less — much less — articulated. Their legs cannot be posed at all, they are effectively statues. I've wasted my money. :cry:

Age of toon mainline Transformers

Mainline transformers are getting ever closer to Sunbow cartoon look. For some reason, Hasbro has always resisted it. Perhaps it means they are out of ideas and have to appeal to nostalgia.

Brawl

Brawl, AotP 2026

Not very toon, actually, but hey, it's a tank!

Hasbro's current take on 5-member combiners is to make them frame-based, meaning the limbs stick onto a skeleton-frame rather than forming the limbs entirely.

I have no interest to get the entire combiner sub-groups, but I've considered getting Motormaster and Silverbolt. But I did not because they were not toon enough.

In terms of physical size, Brawl is Deluxe class, but it is categorized as Voyager class and priced as such. It feels expensive even after 20% off (S$47.26).

Soundwave

Soundwave, SS86 2026

Soundwave is easy to get right in both modes, though its alt mode is 'boring' and out-of-date — who knows what is a Walkman these days? This figure is also way overpriced at MSRP. I got it at 25% off, and it still felt overpriced at S$76.49.

This is Leader class, can you believe it? It is likely due to the tapes, which aren't that well-done, IMO.

Thundercracker

Thundercracker, SS86 2026

Wow, this looks Masterpiece. This shows that if Hasbro wants toon look, it can be done. The last time they came so close was WfC Kingdom Cyclonus.

(Side note: F-15, introduced in 1976, is even older than Walkmans. Even if people don't know its name, they know it is a fighter jet. If someone sees a Walkman, they may think it is a relic MP3 player — the oldest thing they can think of.)

I usually get only one seeker, and it is usually Starscream — like many others, no doubt. No wonder this time Hasbro starts with Thundercracker first. I may be convinced to get multiple seekers if I can get them at 20% off, putting them just under S$50. Unlike Brawl, this feels like a genuine Voyager.

I look forward to the Coneheads. I hope they are done to my liking — which they often aren't.

Megatron

Megatron, SS86 2025

Very toon looking. There is almost no hint it transforms into a tank! Let's face it, there is no way a mainline Megatron will ever transform into a realistic gun — it ain't the 80s anymore.

Tank alt mode

I didn't get it, though. It just fell a hair short of my toon criteria. I'll reconsider if it is reissued.

Is OBU battery draining?

So coincidental, my CB400F's battery went flat the week before the article came out because I forgot to ride it for two weeks. However, the last time I rode it, the cranking already felt weak.

Ever since I installed OBU on the CB400F, I've tried to ride it at least once a week, taking it on a 10 km spin around the semi-abandoned Sungei Kadut industrial estate.

The old trick of disconnecting the battery does not work anymore. The workshop said the OBU will stop working — and needs to be replaced — once the battery is disconnected. Well, at least now I know it is not true — it has an internal battery. However, it is unknown how long it can last. IU 1.0 has an internal battery too. My unit was disconnected for many years and only died this year. I don't want to take the risk for OBU.

Sadly, the battery went flat in spite of the weekly ride.

Towed the bike to the workshop for $50 (used to be $40). The workshop said the battery had died, needed a replacement. The mechanic recommended a normal battery and not a lithium-ion one (like my current one). He said lithium-ion is not suitable cos the OBU draws trickle current all the time. Lithium-ion battery used to be good for infrequent riders cos it holds charge for a long time.

There may be some truth to using normal battery. My YBR125 seems fine even though I don't ride it that often — though now at least once a week since I need to go back to office.

But there was more bad news: the bike was only charging the battery at a low 13.2 V. This explained why the battery went weaker over time — it was not really charged at all!

When the mechanic told me this, I vaguely recalled he mentioned it before, so it was not a new problem. It was fine in the past cos the IU did not drain the battery constantly.

Two parts needed to be changed: the coil ($530) and the rectifier ($195). Ouch! Both were taken from other (close) bike models since mine was long OOP. Costs aside, I was relieved there were still spare parts. With the change, the bike now charges at 14.5 V.

(If the parts were not spoilt, the battery replacement costs 'only' $110.)

The mechanic's advice to me was to ride the bike more often. I don't have many reasons to ride it, unless it is to work (20 km each way). And I don't do so cos it does not have a box to hold my stuff. But this is really a poor excuse — I can always wear a backpack, though I rarely do so.

Things I didn't know about installing new memory

And now I do.

First, it can take 2+ minutes for the notebook to check the memory with a blank screen. Now that it happened, I vaguely remembered reading about it when I added RAM in another notebook, but at that time it only took 30s or so.

I thought the new memory was defective or not compatible and spent a while swapping it around.

Second, installing new RAM will trigger BitLocker recovery check. I don't remember encountering this previously. So, make sure you have the recovery keys on hand, or you are SOL. BitLocker is a hassle.

Are you responsible for your forefather's deeds?

J did a number of things to many parties. Everyone has moved on. Did they forget? No. Did they forgive? Not really, but they have moved on. Maybe they weren't in any position to demand anything, so they have moved on. But they have moved on, nevertheless. Their hearts have healed.

Except for C. C refused to move on. C was once weak and was bullied by J. Now that it is 'strong' — or so it thinks — it feels it should be the only one calling the shots in the neighbourhood. It feels threatened by a rising J.

As far as J is concerned, it has paid the price. Its generals were tbeheaded, but were immortalized as heroes. That should tell you the two sides of war — one man's villain is another man's hero.

C being angry with J now is really ironic. J said it would defend T. Isn't T whom J really fought with in the past? C took advantage of their fight and came into power.

This reminds me of another group of people demanding outrageous reparations for their ancestors' suffering, from people whose ancestors did not do so. I would pay this reparation, but they can only ask for it once (and not once per generation) and must cut their ties and leave.

Really, how many times must you bring it up? Yes, we know your ancestors suffer. We remember. It gets old every time you bring it up like it happened to you.

More thoughts on ToDG

With the passage of time, after the 'newness' wore off, I began to see the flaws of ToDG. And boy, was it flawed!

At the start, Nie Li did not have any capital, so he went for a few nights of hunting. He used his knowledge to bring down a lucrative but normally difficult-to-hunt animal. Even so, he had to hunt a few hundred of them to earn enough capital.

This was the first problem. Would there be hundreds of such animals? The answer was obviously no.

The second thing was, Nie Li created a miracle cultivation pill using common ingredients — again from his vast knowledge. Everyone was buying it, even his enemies. Low cost, high profit, monopoly. How not to make money? Nie Li became the richest man in the city. Money was no longer an issue.

The third thing was, Nie Li's cultivation was unique. Everyone could only have one spirit, but he could have multiple. He was the only one who had this ability, yet no one made a big deal out of it. It should be a super big deal. It made him very flexible in battles and allowed him to defeat stronger opponents. The drawback was he leveled up very slowly — a clutch put in by the author, or he would have overpowered everyone just by consuming his endless cultivation pills.

Arc 1 had variety. Nie Li went to several places, including 'small worlds' for his adventures. The main adversary was someone called "Demon Lord". But somewhere along the way, the author decided to make it 'multi-realm', so Nie Li went to a higher realm in Arc 2. The higher realm was much more powerful, so nothing in this world mattered anymore. All foreshadowed plots were abandoned.

There are a total of five cultivation levels: Bronze, Silver, Gold, Black Gold and Legend. Pre-Nie Li, Gold was considered very high. Nie Li's family was a declining one and had only one Gold cultivator — the family head. There was only one Legend cultivator in the whole city.

Post-Nie Li, everyone was at least a Silver. His friends leveled up by leaps and bounds to Legend. They had to reach that level to qualify to enter the upper realm.

Arc 2 is effectively a reboot. The sect Nie Li joined in his past life was destroyed. This time, he wanted to save it! It was a race against time. This place was nostalgic to him and he got to see younger self of people he knew in the past — people here live hundreds of years.

There is no more cultivation pills. It is all about spirits and spiritual stones now. Nie Li had a magical pot that could create higher-tier spirits from lower-tiered ones. He found an ally who could supply him lots of spirits, so he started his spirits business and had an income stream right away.

With his newfound money, Nie Li could outbid everyone at an auction and won a 'Myriad Miles Rivers and Mountains' painting which no one knew the true value of — except Nie Li, of course. This was a 'small world' with abundant Heavenly Energy. It was also very portable and could hold people as well — very useful to bring an army along with you.

Spiritual stones are needed to cultivate. They come from "Deity's Lakes". Deity's Lakes are basically mines — except they are floating islands. They are quite plentiful. A small group (of tens of people) can own a low-grade dying one producing 3k stones per year — they need to guard it 24/7. Even a big faction of low thousands has only 3 low-grade ones, each producing 30k stones/year. I don't know if the math checks out.

Nie Li was of course different. He had a way to transplant the core of a Deity's Lake into his MMRM painting, where they flourished due to its dense Heavenly Energy. He bought several Deity's Lakes and stole some from his opponents. Spiritual stones are also currency. Once Nie Li achieved this, he was basically printing money.

Nie Li needed loyal servants. Just nice, there was a group of people who were cursed to remain in their cursed lands. The only way they could leave was to be enslaved. They agreed to do so because their lands were infertile — all food had to be imported. They were also extremely loyal. Nie Li purchased a large number of them despite their high cost. Everyone could only afford one or two. Nie Li bought a few hundreds... and stuffed them into his MMRM painting.

Nie Li is using pay-to-win strategy. I actually pity his foes.

This realm also has five cultivation levels: Heavenly Fate, Heavenly Star, Heavenly Axis, Dragon Dao, Martial Ancestor. Heavenly Fate is an extension of Legend. Real cultivation begins at Heavenly Star.

Pre-Nie Li, Dragon Dao was very high. Only top disciples were at this level. MA is sect elder level. A sect's strength is determined by the number of MA it has. Nie Li's sect is one of the weaker ones and has only 5 MAs.

It would take Nie Li forever to level up. This time, instead of relying on his formulas, a Deity-level conscious passed him unused pills he left behind when he ascended. With it, he created a ton of power pills. He used these pills to bribe convince sect elders into making him the sect leader. Later, he used these to negotiate with other sects. He not only powered up his entire sect, but also allied sects. Dragon Dao was now entry-level.

Why the power-up? The Big Bad, the Sage Emperor, is two levels above Martial Ancestor. So Nie Li has a long way to go — and the author wanted to end the story quickly.

And so we enters Arc 3. Nie Li ventured out of his sect and interacted with other sects at sect leader level.

The author stopped at chapter 496 for a long time. Later, he released another 11 chapters, then stopped again. I did not read them as I had lost interest.

Surprisingly, the manga is still continuing. It is at chapter 506 now — coincidentally. It has gone past the novel and doing its own storyline now — I think. I didn't read.

Tales of Demons and Gods (妖神记)

(A tale from the past. I wrote this in Nov 2021, but never posted it.)

Tales of Demons and Gods is a 'manga' (actually web-toon) I started reading last year during the Covid-19 lockdown period.

The basic premise is that the protagonist, Nie Li, lost the final battle against the Big Bad, but instead of dying, he time-travelled back to his 13 years old self. This time, he would use his past-life knowledge and experience to change the outcome.

Is it good? Well, at the time when I read it, I thought it was a masterpiece. :-P

Okay, it is not that great, but I like it — it is like reading a game walkthrough.

Later, I discovered it was based on a web-novel, so I started to read that. Unfortunately, the author had lost interest since around 2018 and released only one chapter a month. It has stalled completely at chapter 496 (Jan 2021).

The webtoon is still released at a chapter a week. It is now at chapter 352, which corresponds to web-novel chapter 330, so it has a long way to go before it catches up.

There are 3 arcs, using novel chapters:

• Arc 1: ch 1 to 262
• Arc 2: ch 263 to 442
• Arc 3: ch 443 to 496 (ongoing)

The three arcs are mostly self-contained. Very few people and items cross over, so it is possible to read arc 2 before arc 1.

Arc 1 is good. While it has its problems, it is generally a good read.

Arc 2 is good for most part, but from ch 432 onwards, the stakes are raised way too high too quickly.

Arc 3 has just started. It is now Big Leagues time.

The problem

The problem with Tales of Demons and Gods is that Nie Li is too over-powered. In arc 1 and 2, he struggled a little at the start due to lack of money, but that did not last long. Once he got his "economic engine" running using his past knowledge or out-of-the-world tool, there was nothing he could not afford. In both arcs, his wealth was unimaginable.

And this became a problem, because after a while, you start to realize he was using money to solve problems! What he could not solve with money, he had his vast past knowledge and various excellent skills to use.

Is there any challenge for him?

Promising web novels

I have been looking for good web novels of Release That Witch calibre since "forever". I have failed, until now. (*)

Incredibly, I came across three in a short span of time:

• Surviving the Game as a Barbarian (ch 706 [free], ch 874 [paid])
• The Regressed Mercenary’s Machinations (ch 715 [free], ch 838 [paid])
• Hiding a House in the Apocalypse (ch 220.1 [free], ch 293.8 end [paid])

All three are Korean.

StGB and TRMM are ongoing. HaHitA is completed. It looks short, but that is due to its .1, .2 numbering. There are 741 chapters altogether.

In StGB, the protagonist is 'transported' to a game world and he has to keep his true identity hidden. This provides tension and suspense. Although it is not regression, it is similar because the protagonist has completed the game, so he has fore-knowledge. He is always in danger of being exposed. Will the story remain good?

TRMM has time regression. This is a common trope in web novels and is generally hard to write well. If you have future knowledge, you have a great headstart even if you start from zero. You know the hidden talents, who to trust and where the treasures are. It's sure-win. Time paradox and butterfly effect? The whole idea is to change the future! The protagonist has gone beyond the future he knew, so now he is in uncharted territory. Will the story remain good? Let's see.

HaHitA has poorer translation, but it is still acceptable. It is not as well written as the other two, but it is still pretty good (B+ compared to A). It is written in first person, so you only see things from the protagonist's perspective. What I like about the story is that it subverts your expectations, and key characters are 'semi-complex' — they are not one-dimensional good or bad, though they are not really fleshed out much. Weak point: the world feels a little small — the protagonist travels to different places quite easily.

(*) Not strictly true. I came across the recommendation Reverend Insanity and read it. It is very well written — better than RTW — but it is not the type of story I like to read, so I stopped quite early.

Newsflash: CCP banned it in 2021. The story was too against social values and the protagonist too amoral and ruthless.

I read Chinese web novels with a pinch of salt. You never know how they were changed subtly to reflect 'social norms'. The stories can never have government corruption or authorities portrayed negatively.

It is said RTW was changed due to CCP censorship as well. In the story, the Central government creates country-wide policies, maintains strong control and has absolute say. This can be seen in frontline sending latest information to the Capital and waiting for their reply before acting.

This came up especially strong when the protagonist discussed the style of Government with someone from the 'old system'. But in the story, major cities or regions have a capable mayor and they are highly autonomous (they have to implement policies from the Central government, though).

A new form of Government is not the only reform the protagonist introduces. I always felt the reforms took effect too quickly and easily — it's not realistic.

Of all things absurd

Jews voting for a Muslim mayor?

There are some things you must not do, some lines you must not cross.

The reason is obvious. You treat people fairly, you assume they will treat you fairly, but they do not.

If you don't understand, you have to learn it the hard way.

A bunch of oldie Chinese songs

It has a total of 2,700 songs in a 32 GB USB drive:

• 100 featured classics
• 330 70s classics
• 460 80s classics
• 360 90s classics
• 400 sad/love songs
• 200 featured Chinese
• 120 featured English
• 200 featured Douyin
• 100 featured DJ
• 300 HK live
• 50 featured "grassland"
• 80 featured Min-nan

It uses 320 kbps MP3, which still stands up to the test of time.

The songs sound extra crisp. The vocals are boosted at the expense of the instruments which sound softer. It sounds off when listening in a home environment.

I forgot why I buy this, I don't have a habit of listening to music, much less Chinese music. Sometimes I like to listen to DJ version for their 'high-energy' take. They can transform a slow song into a fast song!

Paying for web novel translation?

Web novels are mostly low quality. Their translations are also mostly low quality.

There are paid translations, but I have never considered paying for them.

You can always get free ones (sometimes scrapped from paid sites). The paid sites usually have some sort of scheme to let people read for free. For example, they may unlock a free chapter every day.

Just read all the free chapters and move on to another web novel. But what if the story is actually decent?

I looked into how much it'll cost. There are several models. One is Patreon. You pay a monthly subscription fee. Everyone loves this model, even big companies. But I hate it.

Another is pay-per-chapter. Each chapter is very cheap, but it can add up very quickly. Plus, a web novel "chapter" is normally pretty short — really only a couple of pages. The authors get paid by chapters — they just need to meet a minimum word count.

Let's say a chapter costs 15 cents. It is cheap, but a web novel can be 1,000 chapters. This works out to be $150!

It is said that current AI-based translation tools are now much better — previous ones translate too literally and without taking context into account. It may be viable to buy the novel in the original language and translate myself. There are also some novels that are not being translated for one reason or another.

COE through the roof

Cat A COE hit record high at S$128k. A car will cost around $190k all-in.

A new car is out of my reach. How about renewing COE?

It is also too high.

Previously, LTA reported a record number of people renewed their COE. It is interesting that cat A renewals were mostly 5 years and cat B renewals were mostly 10 years. This reflects the financial strength of the two groups.

For cat B renewal, we are looking at S100k+.

That's too rich for me. I thought about it a little. My comfortable threshold is half my annual income. Half to annual income, need to ponder. Anything over? Don't need to think.

$100k is way beyond half my annual income.