My Shiny Toy Robots

Continuing my Power Rangers/Super Sentai kick is the first toy I've bought from the series that has started this whole phase off - Kaizoku Sentai Gokaiger. This is the 35th anniversary series of Super Sentai, complete with a pirate motif and a team with the ability to change into any of the 35 Sentai teams. From Bandai, this a collection of candy toy model kits of their mecha - the Gokai Galleon (Red), Gokai Jet (Blue), Gokai Racer (Green), Gokai Trailer (Yellow) and Gokai Marine (Pink). The name 'candy toy' is a very loose term though, given how each box only contains one measly piece of candy... While single sets are likely to be available on eBay, the cheapest option is probably to pick up an entire case of these candy toys. This will give you 10 boxes (nicely packed into 2 of each version, so you'll definitely have an extra set). Whether you choose to sell the second set off (like I did) or keep it so that you can pose them in both vehicle and combined mode...

Excel Saga is 26 episode TV series (based on the manga of the same name). Fast-talking and hyperactive Excel is an officer of ACROSS, an secret corporation believing the world to be corrupt. Alongside fellow officer Hyatt (a mysterious space princess who dies more often than she probably should) and emergency food supply Menchi the dog, they carry out the plans of ACROSS leader Lord Il Palazzo. Meanwhile in the anime various other plots are also carried out by various side characters - Watanabe, Iwata, Sumiyoshi and their exploits in the Department of City Security and South American immigrant Pedro's battle to rejoin his family and defeat 'That Man'. And the series director, afro'd Nabeshin has his own involvement with them all. Perhaps one of the most interesting elements of Excel Saga is that the majority of episodes each parody a different genre of film/TV/anime (for example sci-fi, detective, teen dramas etc.) while others directly parody animes themselves (wa...

The second instalment to the TV series section is another from Power Rangers - this time Power Rangers RPM, the 17th season in the franchise and adapted from the 32nd Super Sentai series Engine Sentai Go-Onger . While I have never watched Go-Onger myself, I know that it is a relatively light-hearted series, with a fair amount of slapstick and sentient anime-style mecha. Power Rangers RPM on the other hand does a complete u-turn and takes a very different approach to things. In the near off future, a sentient computer virus known as Ventrix has taken over the Earth, controlling all computer systems and creating an army of robots to destroy humanity. The last remnants of the human race have been forced back into the domed city of Corinth, their last safe haven. While the force field protects them, Ventrix's forces are still able to break into the dome and cause havok. Led by their mentor Doctor K, Corinth's only hope is the Power Rangers. Making up the team are Scott Truman...

This installment's figure is now a little bit of an oldie, having originally been released in 2009. While I probably would have picked this up around then had it been released in UK it (unsurprisingly) wasn't, and given the latest phase I'm going through there was no better time to hit eBay and pick one up than now. What we have here is a smaller scale figure of the original Dino Megazord from Mighty Morphin' Power Rangers, around the average size of a Revoltech/Robot Damashii figure (or, more accurately, around 5"). While this figure doesn't offer the transforming features that the deluxe megazords do, it makes up for that through posability - something the deluxe figures are almost incapable of. To begin with we'll take a look at the sculpt of the figure. Not only have Bandai managed to include all the important details in at such a smaller scale, they've also managed to put a unique twist on them. The Retrofire figures have exaggerated (a...

NB. This review is based on the White version of the game. While some of the differences between Black and White will be addressed I have not played Black version, and therefore some differences I cannot comment upon. The time is upon us once again. A new generation of Pokemon has arrived, and this time its mixing things up a bit. For Pokemon Black & White (Generation 5) Game Freak take us to the far away region of Unova, where Pokemon from previous generations are considered rare and (until you beat the Elite Four) are uncatchable in the game. As usual you take the role of a new trainer ready to start a new adventure along with your starter Pokemon - grass snake Snivy, fire pig Tepig or water otter Oshawott. As you challenge the gym leaders with the aim of one day becoming Pokemon League champion you face the threat of Team Plasma and their mysterious King, N - whose goal is to liberate Pokemon from humans. A whole new story brings a whole new map, and the Unova regi...

With Saban regaining the helm of the Power Rangers franchise with Power Rangers Samurai and Super Sentai celebrating its 35th anniversary with Kaizoku Sentai Gokaiger this year, it would be an understatement to say that I've been bitten by the Rangers/Sentai bug once again. Having given up on Power Rangers following Power Rangers in Space and being completely new to the world of Super Sentai, I still have a lot to learn. Thus I decided it was time to take a trek through history and have a look at the things I've missed over the last few years. And Power Rangers Dino Thunder seemed the best way to ease myself back in, with a whole new story featuring a few familiar faces. Adapted from the 27th Super Sentai series "Bakuryū Sentai Abaranger", the 12th season of Power Rangers sees the return of Tommy Oliver (played by Jason David Frank), the green and white rangers from Mighty Morphin Power Rangers and the red ranger from Zeo and half of Turbo. Now a Doctor, he has re...

This is a bit of a rarity. Not only am I going to be reviewing something that is outside the realms of the usual toy lines I collect, but its also a review of an American toy for once (something I don't believe I've done since my last Transformers review). But this was a figure that I couldn't pass up. I'm a big fan of Marvel and DC comics, but have never really been into the figures (well, not since the days of the Batman and Spider-man animated series' anyway). Not that I have anything against them, there's just so many characters that I couldn't afford to collect them alongside the lines I'm already buying from, even if I'm just carefully selecting characters. The DC Universe line is something that's interested me for a long time - a line of reasonably poseable figures across the age of DC akin to the Marvel Legends line. It just so happens that one of the newer figures in the line happens to be my favourite Batman character and one ...