Kamen Rider Ryuki  is the third entry in  Kamen Rider 's  Heisei era, and the 12th installment over all. It ran for a total of 50 episodes in 2002, complete with a feature length film, a TV special and one Hyper Battle Video crossover with the previous series,  Kamen Rider Agito . When people start being mysteriously abducted without a trace, online journalist Shinji Kido is sent to investigate. He discovers an Advent Card Deck, and is sucked into a nearby reflective surface into the Mirror World. Attacked by monsters, Shinji is saved by Ren Akiyama - who appears in the Mirror World as Kamen Rider Knight. Ren warns Shinji to keep away from the Deck and the Rider Battle, where 13 Kamen Riders must fight to the death in order for the victor to have their wish granted. Uninterested in the prize but wanting to protect innocent lives from the monsters and end the fighting, Shinji makes the required contract with a giant dragon named Dragreder to become Kamen Ri...

If you're looking for a Kamen Rider series to ease you into the world of S.H. Figuarts , Kamen Rider Ryuki is not the series I'd recommend. With 13 Riders, 2 powered up forms and an extra "Rider", it's one that could push you right down the rabbit hole - not just because most have been seen at various Tamashii events, but also because half of them are Tamashii web exclusives. However the big four - Ryuki , Knight , Zolda  and Ouja  are comfortable purchases and considered by many to be the best the line line has to offer. While Ryuki and Knight included their respective contract monsters and Zolda comes with an impressive arsenal of weapons, Kamen Rider Ouja  was not so fortunate. Psychotic criminal Takeshi Asakura isn't one to rely on a great deal of weapons, and his contract monster Venosnaker was saved for the impressive Genocider set. Can the figure stand on its own merits? (Oh, and for Kamen Rider Dragon Knight fans I should mention that this is Kame...

If you own a Nintendo handheld console, chances are you've played a Pokémon game in your life. If you were a child in the late 90s/early noughties, most of these fond memories were probably spent playing the original Red and Blue versions on the Game Boy or watching the anime series. While Pokémon has always had a huge following outside its target demographic, there hasn't been much in the way of poseable figures aimed at adult collectors. Until now that is, as Bandai welcome them into their video-game based D-Arts line. Their first release is the 150th Pokémon Mewtwo  - clone of Mew, final monster in the original Pokédex and star of the very first Pokémon movie. Joining him later this year will be the fully evolved forms of the Kanto starters Charizard, Blastoise and Venusaur. While my reviews usually look at the packaging of the figure, I'm going to take an extra moment just to appreciate Mewtwo's. Being a Pokémon character, I had fears that the ...

While English-speaking Garo fans continue the long wait for a subbed version of the "Demon Dragon of the Blue Cries" ( Soukoku no Maryu ) movie to find out the conclusion to Kouga Seijima 's story, the legend of the Makai Knights continues on in a third Garo  season, entitled "The One Who Shines in the Darkness" ( Yami o Terasu Mono ). This season features an all-new cast, with just how it continues on from the original two seasons still unclear. With the fate of Kouga a mystery, the Garo armour has found a new owner in the form of Ryuga Dougai. Though the armour strangely lost its golden shine with its former master, it still wields the power Ryuga needs to battle the evil spirits known as Horrors. Ryuga has travelled to Vol City, drawn to the high concentration of Horrors plaguing the city. Causing quite a scene killing a Horror masquerading as a bride, the newest Golden Knight catches the attention of the city's special task force SG1, but a group of...

With Zyuden Sentai Kyoryuger  well underway and the DX line on the shelves since its premiere, it's time to take a look at the cheaper alternative to those big clunky toys. After a fairly impressive year with Go-Busters , it's time for Kyoryuger  main mecha Kyoryuzin  to get the minipla  treatment. If you are unfamiliar with the minipla line, these are smaller model kits that include stickers and usually feature far more articulation than their larger counterparts - including knees and elbows. Despite Kyoryuger featuring a 5-piece team, the mecha bizarrely uses a 3-piece formation with Green and Black's Zyudenryu being used for an alternate formation (named Kyoryuzin Western, whose parts are included in the second minipla release). This first set includes Gabutyra (made up of two boxes), Stegotchi and Dricera - who come in one box each. Included is the usual piece of soda flavoured candy, this time in a clover shape rather than the usual circle....