Thursday, 1 January 2015

Happy New Year 2015!

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

It isn't very often I take a break from the non-stop reviewing to do a more editorial style blog entry, but the start of a brand new year seemed like a good time to make a few changes around here. I've been doing My Shiny Toy Robots now for six years now, with the last two or three in particular seeing the site really rise in terms of productivity and viewership. So to start this (hopefully) very brief post I'd like to thank everyone who's taken a look at this blog at some point (even if it was just one review!) and hope that you'll stick around this year and beyond for what I have in store for the place.

What started out as just a way for me to get some of that extra journalism energy I had flowing around me during my university days has become a huge part of my life, and I really want to see this site continue to grow. Not just in terms of readership, but also in terms of the kind of content I provide. That said, I've made a small list of things I HOPE to implement over the next year. These things include:
  • A layout/design overhaul to make this feel more like a unique website and less like a minutely-edited Blogger layout.
  • More opinion style posts akin to my Sontaran rant and Future of Power Rangers piece.
  • Potentially some news pieces, mainly relating to the monthly Tamashii Nations releases (since that's the main toys I cover) or anything else that catches my eye. This one is a big "if" since I already struggle to keep up with my backlog, but my toy hauls are a bit slower for the next few months so I'll see how things go.
  • Branching outside of just tokusatsu and anime reviews to take a look at some Western shows and cartoons. I've already dipped into this a few years ago with Birds of Prey and Transformers Prime, but it never went any further than this. I have a few shows I'd REALLY like to review, so hopefully I'll be able to make these happen over the next 12 months.
And that's about it really! I never intended for this to be a particularly long post, but wanted to get something out while 2015 was still fresh and new (unlike my Figuarts reviews which come about a month later because I'm too tight to use anything other than SAL shipping). I don't know how quickly some of these things are going to come to light (my January backlog is especially big, so I can say with certainty it won't be right away), but at the very least it'll be fun to read this back this time next year and see how things turned out. The pressure is on!

As for what's coming up in January, I currently have a backlog of EIGHT figure reviews to post - covering my November/December hauls as well as a few fun little bits I got for Christmas. On the toku front, I should have the Kikaider REBOOT DVD coming any day now which I'm very much looking forward to. There's gonna be some good stuff so I hope you'll all stick around.

All that's really left to say is thank you once again for checking out the blog and that I hope you all have a safe, happy and toy-filled 2015.

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