My Shiny Toy Robots

When the team behind Gurren Lagann first announced that this would be the name of their next project, along with this trailer , I'd be lying if I didn't wonder what the hell they were thinking. Gainax have always been known for taking things to the extreme, but this looked like it was that little bit too far. Nevertheless, because of the quality of Gurren Lagann and other Gainax works I planned to give this a go. And I am so glad I did. The plot is simple. It revolves around two angels by the names of Panty and Stocking, who were kicked out of heaven due to their behaviour and have been assigned with ridding Daten City of demonic creatures known as ghosts. They are guided by black-afro priest Garterbelt and aided by their pet/chewtoy Chuck (who is a homage to the disguised Gir from Invader Zim ) and ghost hunter/geek boy Brief. Panty and Stocking's powers are as their name suggests - Panty has the ability to turn underwear into pistols (and various other weapons)...

Ever wondered what you get when you cross Doctor Who with a cheap imitation of Professor Layton? The answer is, unsurprisingly, an appalling game. Evacuation Earth begins with a fairly interesting plot - The Doctor and Amy arrive in the Lake District in the far future, where the last remnants of humanity are preparing the leave the planet due to the incoming solar flares (the same ones mentioned in the season 5 episode The Beast Below ) and get caught up in the evacuation due to the TARDIS going missing on-board the ship. Meanwhile the Silurians also have plans to evacuate the Earth and later some Daleks (who seem to be from the games Wii-counterpart Return to Earth ) who are also in need of the Doctor's help/have their own dastardly plans. It'd be a plot that could carry an episode of the series - if it wasn't so damn short. The game is made up of a measly four chapters - the Daleks are beaten almost as soon as they turn up and the game can easily be completed in thre...

First off, I'd like to wish a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year to every reader of this blog. Hope Santa brought you everything you want and you have a great rest of the year. Next, here I decided to review something that I'd never seen but was already close to my heart. I'm a long time fan of Dragon Ball/Dragon Ball Z - DBZ was pretty much what INTRODUCED me to anime. But Dragon Ball GT (which after much searching the internet I found stands for Grand Tour) was something I had never watched. I don't know whether it was because of the debated canonicity or the fact most fanboys seem to hate the series, but it had always escaped me. So now after playing Dragon Ball Z Budokai: Tenkaichi 2 on the wii (whose story mode featured the sagas from GT) I decided it was finally time to give this series a go. Set 5-10 years (depending on the version) after DBZ, GT sees Goku returning to life as a child after an accidental wish is made on the Black Star Dragon Balls, which a...

Admittedly I'm writing this one a little later than I should be since I finished the series (both seasons) two weeks ago, but admittedly I've been a little busy of late and better late than never I guess. Anyway, moving away from the usual mecha, murderous notebooks, space bounty hunters and more mecha for a while, K-ON! is a heart-warming slice of life anime revolving around the lives of a group of school girls who are members of their school's light music club. The story takes us through the girls' three years of high school, starting with the beginnings of their friendship and their attempts to stop the club being abolished (due to a lack of members), to their first live performance and the arrival of a new member and more. In some ways, think Lucky Star but swap out the geek references for musical ones - from Black Sabbath to The Who and more (and for those with a keen eye, even Krauser from Detroit Metal City pops up from time to time). Don't think the r...

The Drone and Strategist each got their own review, but with the release of the Dalek Supreme, Eternal and Scientist happening at once (in a Dalek-only wave nonetheless) it's time to wrap up the Dalek Paradigm review in one more post. There's not a lot left to say about the figure itself, so I'll let the pictures do the talking. What I DO have to say though is that despite my reservations about the new Dalek design and claims that it was missing something both on screen and in toy form, bringing them together is what truly makes them shine. I'm guessing this is what the designers were going for when presenting them in a myriad of colours, but having a complete collection in this case really pays off. The Daleks have officially been brought into 2010, and I can't wait to see these Daleks in action in the future. Victory of the Daleks was just a teaser, I'm ready for the main event. Oh, and about this being a wrap up? Scrap that, expect to see the stone...

Games reviews aren't something I do often. In fact, I'd go as far as saying I don't buy games very often, and when I do they're usually big franchise games like Pokemon , Zelda and Sonic. But while the game I'm about to review stars the biggest franchise character in the world, he's hardly a gaming icon. But from a mere glance at the concept art, Warren Spector's Epic Mickey became my most anticipated game in a long long time. Not even Pokemon Heartgold and Soulsilver were this anticipated. When you look forward to a game that much, how often does the real thing match up to expectations? Well, this game sure does. Epic Mickey follows the adventures of Mickey Mouse as he is sucked into a world now known as the wasteland - a land for forgotten Disney characters which has now been taken over by the combined forces of Mickey villains the Phantom Blot and the Mad Doctor. Using a magic paintbrush capable to both painting and thinning people and the l...

Death Note is undoubtedly one of the biggest animes names in the world right now. Somehow it manages to stand alongside big names such as Bleach , Naruto and Fullmetal Alchemist despite being in most cases less than half the length of them. And until now I hadn't even sat down and watched it in its entirety (well, the anime anyway - I saw the two live action films a few years back). It was about time to rectify this.... Most people have heard about or watched Death Note by now so I won't go into any great detail with the plot - high school student Light Yagami finds a mysterious note book called the 'Death Note' which has the power to kill people and even manipulate the events leading up to said death. One large ego trip later and Yagami attempts to become god of a new world by killing all the people he deems 'evil' in the world. The world dubs him 'Kira' and it is soon up to the police and the mysterious L - the greatest detective in the world,...

NB. This is a review of the wiiware version of the game, any differences between this and the psn, xbox arcade and iphone versions will not be covered as I have not played any of them. There have been so many disappointing Sonic games over the last few years that it's begun to feel hard to believe that the hedgehog was once one of the greatest video games characters of all time, but when Sonic Team announced the episodic Sonic the Hedgehog 4 - a direct sequel to the Mega Drive's Sonic & Knuckles which would use the original 2d side scrolling style which made Sonic popular in the first place, there was finally a glimmer of hope that this could be the game that saved the hedgehog from being ridiculed forever. At 1500 wii points (or £10) it already has a tall order to fill given its status as a episodic game (as in this isn't the whole thing). But right away this game feels so right . There are no proper cutscenes, no voiceacting, no extra characters - just S...

Character Options have really been churning out the Forbidden Planet exclusive classic Doctor Who figures. Not really sure why, because if anything they should be focusing on the new series 5 figures (which so far have been less than impressive on the whole), but then I'm not going to complain. One of the more cost effective figures in their recent releases is 6th Doctor/Stealth Cyberman (or Cyberscout if you prefer) set from the story Attack of the Cybermen . Not much really to say about the figures on the whole so I'll let the pictures do the talking, but I still have a few words on the subject. The 6th Doctor (as played by Colin Baker) is a straight re-release of the figure included in the very first wave of Doctor Who classic figures, albeit with a brand new accessory (which sadly isn't the Sonic Lance that was prominent in so much of the story). Despite the fact that many buyers will probably already own the figure, it remains a great likeness of Colin Baker...

This is it. This is the review I've wanted to do for a long time. Here we go. Revoltech Professor Layton (which if you didn't know is the star of the Nintendo DS puzzle games of the same name) is a figure that has caught my eye and occupied my 'must buy' list for a long time now, but at the same time I never go around to actually buying him. Now, after a series of unexpected events led him to him appearing in my hands and (swiftly might I add) purchasing him, he is finally mine. It's time to see what the internet has been raving about and what pictures have been suggesting. Is Professor Layton one of, if not the, best Revoltech figures to date? And the answer is yes. By god yes. EVERYTHING works about this figure. The fact is proportions aren't realistically human make the sculpt really stand out and the revo joints integrate nicely into the design (something I've never really found with human/humanoid revoltech figures). The soft pl...

In attempt to both add something a little new to the blog AND break up the current cluster of figure reviews, here's a new section devoted to manga, novels, comics and all things book. The first thing up for discussion is the brand new Doctor Who graphic novel The Only Good Dalek , by Justin Richards & Mike Collins and starring Matt Smith's 11th Doctor and Amy Pond. The synopsis reads ; Station 7 is where the Earth Forces send all the equipment captured in their unceasing war against the Daleks. It's where Dalek technology is analysed and examined. It's where the Doctor and Amy have just arrived. But somehow the Daleks have found out about Station 7 - and there's something there that they want back. With the Doctor increasingly worried about the direction the Station's research is taking, the commander of Station 7 knows he has only one possible, desperate, defence. Because the last terrible secret of Station 7 is that they don't only store...

So after 2 weeks of no internet and a longer than expected (but nobody's fault) delivery time from AmiAmi, I finally get to do the review I've been waiting for - the highly anticipated (by me anyway) Ver KA Gurren Lagann! The first obvious thing to point out is that it differs from other Gurren Lagann in that it is covered in highly stylised tribal markings/tattoos - a trademark of designer Hajime Katoki (famous for designing all kinds of mecha, including the mobile suits from Gundam Wing Endless Waltz ). While this may be something that could potentially put you off the figure, if anything it was one of the things that drew me toward it even more. For a start its something different and it'll set it apart from the rest of my Gurren Lagann collection, but there's also much more to it than that. The tattoos are highly reminscent of those Kamina had, and in a series that openly flaunts the possibility of parallel universes, perhaps something he may have put on the robo...