My Shiny Toy Robots

And before the year is out there's just enough time for one more tradition - the annual countdown of my top ten favourite toys of the year! There's been a lot of great releases in 2025 but there's no doubt that (for me) it was truly the year of S.H. Figuarts Shinkocchou Seihou, with that line taking up half the spots in the list! In fact with me largely out of the Star Wars Black Series loop now and no Transformers  quite reaching the top spots (although collecting the Constructicons and forming Devastator was A LOT of fun, and I look forward to doing the same with Bruticus next year), it was very nearly a clean sweep for S.H. Figuarts in general. As usual I've adhered to my own personal rule of only counting figures first released in 2025, which discounts both reissues and the handful of 2024 figures I hadn't reviewed at the beginning of the year. It also discounts some figures I haven't quite gotten around to receiving and/or reviewing yet (mostly November and...

I've come to enjoy all the little traditions I've created doing this website over the last decade or so, but these end of year lists are definitely my favourites. As always I'll be ending the year with a rundown of my ten favourite toy releases, but before then I like to look forward to some of the figures coming in 2026 first. Bandai definitely continue to dominate here, but I like to think there are a few surprises in the list in amongst the usual Figuarts fare. With a few of the figures on last year's list ending up of my forthcoming "Favourite Toys of 2025" piece, I've got high hopes these will also be similarly impressive in-hand.

Release Date:  October 2025 RRP: 9900 yen While the order in which Bandai Tamashii Nations  are introducing Heisei-era Kamen Riders into the S.H. Figuarts Shinkocchou Seihou line seems to be random, when it comes to the Showa era the pattern is a little more predictable. For the last couple of years we've been treated to a new addition to the roster each year, with 2025 finally seeing the completion of the original "Seven Legendary Riders" with the long-awaited release of S.H. Figuarts -Shinkocchou Seihou- Kamen Rider Stronger.  However despite the character's popularity and significance of the show itself he, along with V3 , Riderman and X , was still inexplicably a Tamashii web exclusive release rather than general retail.

Given the fact that it will also soon be going on indefinite hiatus, one might think that Super Sentai had some extra special planned to celebrate its 50th anniversary. However instead it seems like business as usual for the franchise, with No.1 Sentai Gozyuger 's first movie outing the usual Summer release. But if there's one thing you can be certain with about the 50th Super Sentai team, it's that they'll celebrate things in their own unique way regardless. Released alongside Kamen Rider Gavv the Movie: Invaders of the House of Snacks ,  No.1 Sentai Gozyuger: Resurrection of Tega Sword  was written by series showrunner Akiko Inoue and directed by Ryuta Tasaki .

Release Date: November 2025 RRP: 13,200 yen It's hard to believe that Super Sentai S.H. Figuarts have been back for a whole five years now, having previously made their return during the franchise's 45th anniversary with the release of Zenkaizer . From then the range has continued strong with a great selection of red and sixth heroes (sadly no more teams as of yet), as well as fan favourites like Gokai Red and Kyoryu Red joining the prestigious Shinkocchou Seihou line. For the 50th anniversary naturally we've seen Gozyu Wolf join the main line, but it wouldn't be a proper celebration without the original red also joining in on things. S.H. Figuarts -Shinkocchou Seihou- Akarenger (Super Sentai 50th Anniversary Ver.) is the third entry in the Sentai Shinkocchou Seihou range, and an extra special one at that.

Although it seems like this may be it for Super Sentai (for some time at least) following the announcement of Project R.E.D. , there's no denying that the last few years have been a particularly interesting time for franchise. This period of experimentation yielded some rather unique shows, as well as arguably making Bakuage Sentai Boonboomger stand out all the more when it adopted a more "back to basics" approach. But what happens when they cross over with one of the most unique Super Sentai shows in terms of setting and format? Bakuage Sentai Boonboomger vs King-Ohger is 30th entry in the long-running series of VS films, written by Boonboomger head writer Atsuhiro Tomioka and directed by Hiroyuki Kato .

Parallel worlds are a staple of Kamen Rider movies. From the “completely unrelated to the main series” movies of the early Heisei era to the newer “main character from the series travels to an alternate world” take, it’s an effective way to tell raise the stakes and tell a self-contained story without being confined by the parameters of the main story. With the format working well for last year’s Kamen Rider Gotchard: The Future Daybreak , it isn’t all that surprising to see Kamen Rider Gavv ’s movie offering to do a similar thing – swapping the alternate timeline setting for a more straightforward parallel world. Kamen Rider Gavv the Movie: Invaders of the House of Snacks was written by Junko Komura , directed by Teruaki Sugihara and released in cinemas alongside No.1 Sentai Gozyuger: Resurrection of Tega Sword . It’s also notable for being the only Gavv movie release, with Fuuto PI: The Portrait of Kamen Rider Skull previously taking the spot of the usual Winter team-up film.

Release Date: November 2025 RRP: 13,750 yen Once upon a time Tamashii Nation event exclusives were reserved for the most unique of Kamen Rider forms - movie exclusives, one-off variants, that sort of thing. But when Shinkocchou Seihou Kamen Rider Diend was revealed as an event exclusive in 2019 it was a sign of things to come, and now its fair to say that anything outside of key characters and final forms could be an exclusive. So appears to be the case for  Kamen Rider Gaim , with  S.H. Figuarts -Shinkocchou Seihou- Kamen Rider Jimber Lemon Arms  selected as the  Kamen Rider  representative for 2025. With Bandai Tamashii Nations  debuting the  Gaim  range in 2024 its selection as a series doesn't come as a huge surprise, but seeing a form that was once a Tamashii web exclusive back in 2014 reappear in an even more limited form just goes to show how the market has shifted.

Release Date:  November 2025 RRP: 11,000 yen If there's one thing you can guarantee about Bandai Tamashii Nations (or any toy company that has any sort of business sense really) is that if a particular release is popular, they're going to milk it. The original S.H. Figuarts Shinkocchou Seihou Kamen Rider 1 figure released all the way back in 2017, but returned once more (albeit it with a slightly altered colour scheme) in 2021 as a "50th anniversary editon". Now it's back once more in the form of the  S.H. Figuarts -Shinkocchou Seihou- Kamen Rider 1 (Legendary Showa Masked Riders Edition) , once again slightly updating the deco whilst bringing it more in line with some of the more recent Showa era Kamen Rider releases. 

Release Date: June 2025 RRP: 8580 yen While there hasn’t been an obvious pattern as such to which Super Sentai mecha join the Shokugan Modeling Project line, Bandai certainly aren’t ones to pass up an anniversary tie-in. 2025 marks the 20th anniversary of Mahou Sentai Magiranger , so despite only being partway done with Seijuu Sentai Gingaman the model kit range has now jumped forwards a good few years with the release of Shokugan Modeling Project Magiking . A particularly interesting mecha due to its unique components and combination sequence, this general retail set offers fans a model kit that enjoys all the advancements in moulding, engineering and articulation that have come in the two decades since the series first debuted.