1997 was a very dark time for Power Rangers . With the failure of Power Rangers Turbo , it seemed like the its ride on the hype train had come to a stop and that very soon the franchise would come to a close. 1998's 43-episode series  Power Rangers in Space  was originally conceived to be the end, closing the curtain on six seasons worth of storylines and the ongoing saga of Zordon's teenage defenders. Bearing very little similarity to its Super Sentai counterpart Denji Sentai Megaranger , Power Rangers in Space  was so popular that it breathed new life into the franchise, allowing it continue until this day. The Astro Megaship crew - Carlos, Cassie, Andros, Ashley and TJ Following on from the events of Turbo ; TJ, Cassie, Ashley, Carlos and Alpha 6 have jetted off into space with the intent to save Zordon from Dark Specter and his United Alliance of Evil (including previous villains Zedd, Rita, the Machine Empire and Divatox). During their long space flight th...

The Doctor Who Christmas specials are something I feel very mixed toward. While the now annual tradition of sitting down Christmas evening to watch a new episode is something I look forward to every year, the stories themselves often leave much to be desired. While the first one, The Christmas Invasion , was a brilliant story that introduced us to a brand new Doctor in the form of David Tennant, later offerings have often been bland, forgettable or even outright bad (looking at you The End of Time ). Once again the Christmas special is being used to usher in a new status quo for Who, featuring the first proper appearance of the brand new companion, a new TARDIS interior and even a sparkly new opening (featuring the face of Matt Smith, a classic trait that's been absent since Who's  revival). Could The Snowmen  be the first Christmas special to win me over in a long time? The setting is 1842 England, where the Doctor has retired from saving the universe and is lam...

We're back with more entries into series 3 of Character Building's Doctor Who microfigures, this time with a  look at a common figure, an uncommon figure and a rare one! From the common side of things we have the Handibot, which appeared in the episode The Girl Who Waited  from season six. Its probably the blandest and least interesting figure in the wave, being almost entirely white and featureless. The stretched out palm is a nice touch, but its the only plus on what's otherwise a pretty boring figure. Secondly there's the Ood, an uncommon figure which has appeared numerous times since the show's relaunch, but most notably  The Impossible Planet/The Satan Pit  from season two and  Planet of the Ood from season four. The Ood face tentacles are moulded onto the face as a solid piece, and the figure comes with a translator device accessory. As for the rare figure, its none other than a Vashta Nerada from the season four 2-part...

Its been a little while since I last painted a custom Dalek, but after receiving a second Classic Dalek set 2 for Christmas I found myself with three new Daleks ready for new paint jobs. The first was a pretty simple, but very effective job - the Dalek Supreme from 1965, appearing in both The Chase and The Daleks' Master Plan . This custom was made from an Evil of the Daleks Emperor Guard Dalek, with the skirt section and eye piece painted with Citadel Chaos black. Like I say - not really a lot done to it, but not a variant Character Options will probably release any time soon. Stay tuned for more Dalek customs soon, including a particularly big project that will please fans of Big Finish's audio adventures!

As one of the biggest problems with the first Full Metal Panic season was its constant fluctuation between serious and comedic, the second instalment of the franchise makes sure this doesn't happen again. 2003's Full Metal Panic? Fumoffu is a 12 episode series which ditches the military/mecha aspects in favour of focussing purely on the relationship between high school student Kaname and military sergeant Sousuke, partticularly the latter's inability to use common sense amidst a high-school background. Unlike the first season which was made by Gonzo, Fumoffu was the first full length series animated by Kyoto Animation (which would move on to do Haruhi , Lucky Star and K-On! , among others). Unlike the first season which featured an ongoing plot with various story arcs, each episode of Fumoffu (with the exception of episodes eight and nine) are completely standalone, with many of them split into two shorter stories. Plots range from standard high school anime...

Following the excellent Power Rangers RPM and the completely forgettable remaster of Mighty Morphin Power Rangers season one, the future of Power Rangers seemed bleak. Disney had completely lost interest in the franchise, so it was as good a time as any for it to return home. Saban Brands bought back Power Rangers  and began work on Power Rangers Samurai , the 18th season and adapted from the Super Sentai series Samurai Sentai Shinkenger . What was different about Samurai to previous seasons is that it was split into two 20 episodes seasons (plus specials), with the second half/19th season taking the name Power Rangers Super Samurai . Centuries ago the Power Rangers Samurai protected the Earth from the evil Master Xandred and his army of Nighloks, who planned to flood the world with the waters of despair from the Sanzu river. Although they managed to seal away Xandred, the Nighloks return in present day to continue what they started. Jayden, descendant of the R...

For what will probably be my last past tokusatsu review of 2012, we return to Super Sentai for a series that's widely regarded as one of the best the franchise has to offer. Chōjin Sentai Jetman is the 15th entry, following on from Chikyu Sentai Fiveman . It ran for a total of 51 episodes between 1991 and 1992. Some notable trivia includes the fact it was the last Super Sentai series to not have any form of Power Rangers adaptation, and its success in Japan led to it even receiving a (non-canon) manga sequel. In the year 199X, a defence agency known as the Sky Force protect the peace on Earth. Among its officers are Ryu Tendoh, along with his fiancée Rei Aoi. The two were to be part of an experiment to create superhuman soldiers using "birdonic waves". However following Ryu's successful transformation into the first Jetman (Red Hawk), their ship is attacked by creatures from another dimension known as the Vyram, killing Rie and scattering the remaining four bi...