It looks totally amazing. =)

I'm not the only one who thought Charles Lee and Bartholemew Roberts looked similar right?
You know, aside from the Heterochromia.

So is Black flag any good? I like anything with a pirate theme.

Well, I think it's excellent. The best game in the series I've played (my numbering for best is 4,1,3,2. Yes I liked 2 the least, bite me! :p)

The story outside the Animus is not as convoluted as the story was for 2 & 3, you're a guy in research and development for the next Assassins Creed game from Abstergo Entertainment, which is something I like. Why would the Templars need to bother converting recruits or abducting people when they can just have unsuspecting schmucks do all the work?
Your character actively doesn't participate in modern day assassinating, but he does interact with those two yuppies from the last game. In fact, this captures the fun mystery of the 1st game that the last two didn't.

Inside the Animus, you assassin about as a Welsh pirate who, after killing renegade Assassin Duncan Walpole, you take his robes and identity to make some coin and unknowingly advance the Templar mission. Eventually you encounter Assassins and see their "Everything is Permited" thing as the ideal model for living as a pirate. Once with the Assassins, you work to stop the Templars from locating a seer of sorts, Juno's husband Aita reincarnated who hold the key to unlocking The Observatory, a Precursor building housing a device that will let the Templars omnisciently see wherever anyone on the planet is.

Gameplaywise, you retain the Air Assassination ability from 3 and have gunplay be a more active part of gameplay, able to create 4 holsters and carry 4 guns that you can fire in combo strikes. You also get a blow dart gun that gives you Sleep darts and Bezerker darts.
Sailing is a main selling mechanic. You can pick up major coin from raiding ships for Rum and Sugar to sell. The majority of your coin will probably go to upgrading armor and firepower (like the wonderful mortars). And the aiming of cannons and sailing of ships is much easier and more refined in 4 than with 3.
You can also go whaling and hunting for crafting clothes, holsters and ammo pouches. And while docked, you can chase down glowing papers containing Sea Shanties. These shanties will be sung by your crew while sailing, which I love.

And just between you and me, you'll want to watch Gokaiger, listen to Alestorm and sail the seas in a wooden rig.
Plus unlike me, you won't be playing a game set in the Carribean while there's 6 feet of snow outside, rendering you a bitter little barrel of grog. You even live in that region! :lol

Did you guys see the Unity trailer from E3? Looks promising but I'm not a fan of Lorde so I was a tad disappointed that Ubisoft went with her for the trailer theme(like they did with Drake for ACIV). I dunno, AC games do better with just instrumental music, like the main AC theme and theme from ACIII.

Also I'm still disappointed we have yet to see Figuarts Assassin's Creed figures. Any of you buy the PAK figure of Connor? Forgot if it was even released.

I was excited by Unity and then immediately terrified. I'm glad that the put up a webpage explaining all of the multiplayer immediately (since they did a poor job at doing more than saying "LOOK AT IT!!!!" during the Ubisoft conference). I was thinking at first that parts of it would be required and it would be ruining the singleplayer experience I so love about the Assassin's Creed series... But those worries have largely been put to rest and now I can look forward to what I hope will be a good game.

Not preordering just yet, though... Need to see what collector's edition they'll come up with this time heh.

I think the reason we don't see any figuarts of AC characters is because Square Enix might own the licensee for the AC figure line. There is already a ton of Play Arts Kai AC characters, it's either that or other companies don't have the need to make them since SE has already made the Play Arts Kai versions.

Impulse bought (finally) the pirates three pack of Blackbeard, Black Bart, and Benjamin Hornigold.

Bart is cool, but I really don't get why he came with a rifle in addition to his pistol. So that's the one accessory that will be staying in the package. And the pistol he has is just so freaking huge... Getting in the hand was a chore. Not to mention the sword of mine was messed up so had to struggle to get it in his hand too - the guard is of a really soft plastic, which isn't a bad thing in principle. Too bad mine was squished flush against the grip, so I had to work around it and not tear it off while getting it in his hand. He really just suffers in the accessories quite a bit.

Hornigold I only have because of this three pack. He was just so forgettable. At least I justified him holding his rifle... Because finally there's a figure with a dedicated scabbard for the sword! So I can justify him holding the rifle too. Same problem with the pistol as Bart though.

Teach is... a mixed bag. On the one hand, I freaking love all of the weapons he comes with and how there's a place to put all of them. Even if the two in his hands were difficult. But that's a fault in the line. The hands are just too damn hard all round. I hate it. And then on the other hand, or rather, leg, his right leg's knee ratchet simply doesn't work. It does still hold a position just fine, but it hits no detents when bending it. So it's not the end of the world. And hey, he's freaking Blackbeard, and looks fantastic.

In all, with these three, there's definitely some incredible, incredible appearance over the initial wave. Mainly that the skirt and jacket pieces are a wonderful soft plastic!! You can actually do things with the legs! Mostly. The hips are still horrible and rigid as hell. So they can't really move forward... But it's progress. And the ball jointed feet seem a lot better than the old ones.

I'm glad to finally have them all the same. I just can't wait for the line to move beyond this era... And since the next wave is Adewale and Aveline, that's going to be a bit of a wait still. Though I do really want them. :P

So I've been on a mini AC kick lately, mostly inspired by the Rogue trailer and getting Liberation HD for $5 a couple weeks back (both good ways to distract myself from Unity's damn next gen exclusivity). I wanted to try some of the new Mega Blocks AC stuff, but all I can find are the tower kit and the figure packs - I'm holding out for the small, cheap glider with the Ezio figurine. So, failing that, I decided to sample the McFarlane line, now that it's showing up at my local Target.

I decided to get Aveline because she looks cool, I'm currently playing Liberation (along with 3-4 other games, so it's kinda inconsistent), and I've heard that Connor is meh and I have zero interest in Adewale. She's a neat figure. The sculpt is freaking gorgeous and I like a lot of the accessories, although the extended hidden blade doesn't plug in very well. The articulation, though... ugh. Maybe I'm spoiled from not really getting many 6" figures that aren't Figuarts, but man is she limited. The elbows barely go ninety degrees, the waist just swivels, and even if it weren't for the coat her hip articulation is pathetic. Still, for $14 it's a pretty nice display piece with some reasonable posing options. I may look into getting some of the others; Edward is still pretty easy to find online and the mohawk Connor looks a bit better than the original. Definitely getting Altair whenever series 3 drops, but I'll hold out for a non-Revelations Ezio because meh Revelations.

Yeah, Aveline was just not that great. :/ Mine really just doesn't want to stand. Got her and Ade almost as soon as they started showing up and it was kind of a let down after the three pirates I had just finally picked up too. Seems like they went backwards with the slightly harder goods and still having no hip articulation. Which these things need damnit!

Meanwhile the next wave is actually showing up already; friend found them at a Walgreens in Maryland. Seems McFarlane's a little behind that though since they just released all the official photos for the wave that's "coming soon." :p

And I'm torn... Arno in particular should have no excuse for not having great leg articulation. Yet his hips look like they'll be incredibly rigid again. For no good reason.

Just doesn't seem like they really want to improve these.

Yet I'm sure I'll end up getting all of them but the new Edward. *sigh* They are the only reasonable option after all and the character selection is great...

Well I'll be... next day, I found Arno, Altair, and Ezio at TRU (strangely no Ah Tabai or Mayan Edward... though I will probably stil pick up the former if I ever see him).

*SIGH*

I think I need to accept that McFarlane just doesn't understand how to articulate hips.

My biggest nitpick is with Ezio. This is supposed to Revelations Ezio - the game in which the hookblade was not only the focal point of the climbing mechanic (seriously I miss that) but also easily the best line in the game. And the action figure has two ordinary hidden blades. >_< Dunno why, but I was hoping for one to have a hook end. I know it's kind of a petty nitpick, but it would have been a nice inclusion.

Altair I have a slight problem with too since he can only look down. The hood forces his head into that position and because it's glued in the back, you don't have any wiggle room to make him look up.

And Arno doesn't have anywhere to sheath his sword.

Otherwise they're not bad... comparatively. Really just about par with everything else in the line. I just wish they'd raise that bar across all of their action figures a bit.

Yeah, I've ended up picking up three more: mohawk Connor, Edward, and Altair. I was going to put Arno in a PoL at BBTS, but it sold out before I could grab one. I'll likely just wait and see if I can find one offline. I can't play Unity now anyway, so it's not a huge pressing concern. I'm on the fence about Ezio... he is my favorite of the lot, but they picked my absolute least favorite design for him to get a figure first. I kinda want to wait and see if AC2 or, even better, Brotherhood Ezio are going to come out in the spring with Shay and McFarlane Arno. At any rate, the figures are all pretty much bricks below the waist, but they do look really nice lined up together on a shelf.

Also, behold the glory that is Texio:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KycIuE_Md2c

now whose ready fro assassins creed victory?