While not every classic tokusatsu hero has proved to have the staying power of Kamen Rider or Super Sentai , one way or another many of them have been revived over the last few years. The Metal Heroes ' Space Sheriffs received continuation in the form of a new movie and a handful of v-cinema spin-offs, while the likes of Inazuman , Space Ironmen Kyodain , Azumaizer-3 and La Belle Fille Masquée Poitrine have all found new life in recent Kamen Rider movie outings. But other than a quick cameo in OOO, Den-O, All Riders: Let's Go Kamen Riders , Kikaider and company haven't had a live-action project since 1995's Mechanical Violator Hakaider . This all changed in 2014, with the arrival of Kikaider REBOOT - a brand new cinematic reboot of the popular Shotaro Ishinomori hero. It's clear that the character's popularity hasn't wavered in Hawaii either, with Generation Kikaida officially releasing the movie on DVD in the US shortly after its home video release ...

While the Android Kikaider  tokusatsu series wowed audiences onscreen in the early 70s, on paper creator Shotaro Ishinomori took the series in a darker direction with the accompanying manga published in a variety of children's magazines. In 2001 the manga was brought to life as a 13-episode anime series, straightforwardly titled Android Kikaider: The Animation . Animated by Studio OX and the now defunct studio Radix , the Kikaider anime even received an English dub and aired as part of Cartoon Network's Adult Swim programming block. So for many American fans, this is perhaps the Kikaider  that they are most familiar with.

Having dived through a fairly extensive array of both Kamen Rider and Super Sentai shows but still having plenty left to watch, I decided it would be good to take a little break from the "big two" franchises and take a look at some of the lesser known tokusatsu heroes Japan has to offer. And having just received a reboot movie and guest appearance on Kamen Rider Gaim the Kikaider franchise seemed like the perfect place to start. Despite probably not being quite the household name Rider and Sentai are, Kikaider (again created by the the late great Shotaro Ishinomori) is still an incredibly popular hero and actually one of the more successful non-adapted heroes outside of his home country. Due to his huge popularity in Hawaii both live-action series have received an official DVD release , while the anime adaptations were also aired on Adult Swim. Anyway there's no better place to start than the beginning, so my journey through the Kikaider  franchise starts with th...

Of course, there was no way I could buy the Xerneas model kit without picking up the opposite game's mascot too! Representing Pokémon Y is the legendary dark/flying type Yveltal - a legendary Pokémon that continues its lifespan by sucking the life energy from everyone around it. However this Pokémon Plastic Model Collection version (numbered 34 in the "Select Series") is of course made of plastic, so I should be fine from any life-sucking shenanigans. Yveltal is packaged in an identical way to Xerneas (and thus, most standard model kits) and the box is emblazoned with a picture of the Pokémon in flight, with a background similar to that of the battle animation in the game when you finally encounter it. The contents include three plastic runners (one red, one black and then one that's a red/black/grey/clear combo), one sheet of stickers and an instruction booklet. Time to get building! Once again Yveltal is a relatively simple build, with most of...