If you asked me about a year ago if I'd have a complete collection of Juuko B-Fighter S.H. Figuarts by summer 2015, I'd have probably laughed in your face. But Bandai Tamashii Nations have really delivered when it comes to the 1995 instalment of the Metal Heroes franchise, with releases coming hot on the heels of each other to get the whole team out in a relatively short space of time. Blue Beet came in January, Black Beet followed in March and then finally in May G-Stag and Reddle have joined them as a Tamashii web exclusive 2-pack release. For those more familiar with the American adaptation Big Bad Beetleborgs , you're probably more likely to know these two as the Green Hunter and Red Striker Beetleborgs. Of course, the most obsessive of collectors will probably argue that to truly get a complete B-Fighter lineup we need the Extradimensional Supplier Kabuto/White Blaster Beetleborg. But let's not get too ahead of ourselves, we have a pretty good thing goin...

It's not an area of discussion that comes up on this blog very often, but I like to consider myself a pretty big Western comics fan. I've got love and time for both Marvel and DC, but if I had to pick a side it'd most likely be with DC Comics - they're the ones with my favourite heroes and the company I regularly buy comics from. With the advent of the New 52 a few years back I've bought a select few titles every month - one of which was World's Finest starring Huntress and Power Girl - the Robin and Supergirl of Earth 2 trapped on a parallel world (which also happens to be the "main" DC universe). The comic ended its run starring those characters in August 2014, with the title itself facing cancellation in May. Elsewhere, DC Collectibles have produced a rather spiffy  two-pack figure set of Huntress and Power Girl which I just couldn't say no to.

In the late 80s through to the 90s and early 00s, Doctor Who   toys were produced by a company by the name of Dapol. They drew criticism for some easily avoidable inaccuracies (a six-sided TARDIS console, two-handed Davros and green K-9 - although the latter two were fixed in later rereleases), but released the widest spectrum of Who figures until Character Options took over with the relaunch of the series. One thing Dapol were particularly good at was milking their Dalek mould - in addition to the usual colour schemes they produced red, green, blue and even glittery versions over the years. Imagination certainly wasn't something they were short of. This short history seems especially appropriate when talking about the second of Character's new range of Toys R Us exclusive   3.75" Dalek Collector sets , as it's the first the company have produced where they show a similar amount of imagination. Admittedly it has a bit more sense to it than Dapol's - takin...

Despite a rather mixed reception toward Character Options' no-longer-particularly-new 3.75" scale Doctor Who figures, it's an almost universally agreed fact that the Dalek figures are the best on offer. With the more recent waves having now dived into the realm of classic-era Daleks, its no surprise that a series of two-figure collector's sets were soon put into production and released as Toys R Us  exclusives. Some of these proved to be more imaginative than the usual "... of the Daleks " sets released in the older scale, featuring Daleks that haven't even appeared onscreen in the television show! The first of these three sets is based on Children of the Revolution , a Doctor Who Magazine/Panini Books comic strip featuring the Eighth Doctor in world populated by human-factor Daleks that escaped the aftermath of 1967 story The Evil of the Daleks . This is the second time Character have paid homage to the story, the first being the Eighth Doctor/Dalek...

The S.H. Figuarts line is getting closer and closer to releasing all of the main Kamen Rider heroes, so in order to keep the line going strong and steady Bandai are also going back and revisiting some old favourites to fill in some gaps. And in terms of the Showa era Riders, the biggest of these gaps is of course their motorcycles (after all, they are Kamen Riders ). But rather than just release the bikes for those collectors clamouring to make their collection more "complete", Tamashii Nations is also giving fans a second chance to get these classic characters with two-pack releases with their respective Rider or reissues to accompany those single pack bike releases. Now I'm not usually one to collect the bikes - there's a whole lot of Riders out there and I simply don't have room for everything . But when it came to a 2-pack of Kamen Rider 1 & the New Cyclone , I just simply couldn't pass it up. If any Kamen Rider figure in my collection deserve...

Character Options continues its journey through the history of Doctor Who 's most famous monster with another Toys R Us exclusive Doctor/Dalek 5" figure 2-pack. To cover third Doctor Jon Pertwee's tenure we take a trip back to 1973 for one of my first experiences with the show, and thus a personal favourite - the six-part adventure Planet of the Daleks . Here we have the Doctor in the costume he appears in for the story, alongside the Anti-Reflecting Light Wave Dalek seen at the very end of episode one.

Despite 2013 being a celebration of Doctor Who 's 50th anniversary, anyone remotely in the know can tell you that it hasn't been a great year for Character Options ' 5" toy line. Not only have the modern series figures been replaced with a brand new 3.75" line, but the classic figures have halted to a non-existent snails pace. Its not outright stopped because thankfully there's a 5" War Doctor (with alternate eighth Doctor head) coming in February 2014, but that's still a while off. So what has the line given us this year to celebrate this momentous anniversary? More Daleks of course! Love it or hate it, Doctors and Daleks seem to be one of the few sure sellers this scale has and so CO have decided to kill two birds with one stone by making 11 Toys R Us  exclusive Doctor/Dalek sets for each Doctor. While all of these are only repaints, some of them are quite interesting - like this one for example, the Eighth Doctor and Dalek Alpha . ...

Superhero figures are great, but where's the fun if there's no villains for them to fight? While this next review isn't the first Super Sentai villain to appear in the S.H. Figuarts line (that honour would go to Shinkenger's Juzo), its by far the most exciting. Released as a Tamashii web exclusive last year was Kaizoku Sentai Gokaiger's star villain Basco ta Jolokia (in his monster form), in an extra special 2-pack that also included a Figuarts Zero (an alternate line of non-poseable statues) of his simian partner-in-crime Sally. The box is a rarity among the Figuarts line, as its one of the few releases that doesn't have a standard window box. The figures are fully covered, with the front of the box depicting the two figures alongside their names and Basco's personal logo. One thing to note is that the packaging refers to the character as "Vasco" rather than "Basco". From what I gather this is because in Japanese B's and ...

While the Panty and Stocking figure set may be great, its arguably the least interesting set of the four Phat Company have released as the characters in their generic costumes are available via a variety of costumes (also available is the highly-coveted-by-me Angel ver. set, and a limited edition version of their police uniforms with the colours done by clothing company Galaxxxy). But alongside the three Panty/Stocking sets is one featuring characters whom as far as I know have not had any other form of figure release. I'm talking of course about the demon sisters and series bad guys Scanty and Kneesocks. After rewatching the series I've found myself liking these characters more and more, so picking them up really couldn't have come at a much better time. Like their angel counterparts Scanty and Kneesocks are packaged in the same "You either open it or keep it MISB forever. You can't have it both ways." bubble packaging, only their colourful card feat...