When the viewing figures for Kamen Rider 1979 weren't as high as hoped, a number of options to retool the series were considered. Among them was the introduction of "Kamen Rider V9", a space-themed hero that could either support Skyrider or even take over from him entirely. But Manichi Broadcasting seemed hesitant to the idea, and as ratings steadily improved these plans were shelved - but not forgotten about entirely. Instead Kamen Rider V9 was reimagined as Kamen Rider Super-1, the next instalment in the franchise which ran for a total of 48 episodes between 1980 and 1981. Unlike prev ..read more

Release Date: April 2024 RRP: £39.99 Although the B&M stores exclusive range has been doing a lot of the legwork for the Doctor Who figure range for some time now, in the last couple of years Character Options have also been making a big impression with their online exclusive releases as well. Released in more limited fashion with a (very slightly) higher price tag, these releases are an opportunity to get new figures with significantly new parts and tooling - something the B&M range for the most part lack. Character already kicked off the year with a bang by releasing the Fugi ..read more

If there's any concrete proof that literally anything is on the table when comes to Toei Tokusatsu Fan Club specials, it's the fact that for some unbeknownst reason there's been not just one but FOUR Yodonna spin-off episodes. What it is about the Mashin Sentai Kiramager villainess that warrants such bizarre adult-aimed specials isn't exactly clear (though it doesn't take much to guess), but whatever it is it clearly proved popular enough for them to continue into 2024. That said, as its name suggests Mashin Sentai Kiramager Spin-Off: Yodonna THE FINAL is set to be the last in the series – r ..read more

The annual Winter crossover movie has been such a staple of the Kamen Rider franchise over the last decade or so that it's now moving well beyond the usual Movie War tagline and incorporating it directly into the film's branding. The casts of Kamen Rider Geats and Kamen Rider Gotchard come together in the rather lengthily titled Kamen Rider The Winter Movie: Gotchard & Geats Strongest Chemy★Great Gotcha Operation - the 14th entry in this series of team-up films. Though written by Gotchard co-head writer Hiroki Uchida, this was with supervision from Geats head writer Yuya Takaha ..read more

Release Date: February 2024 RRP: 11000 yen With the Showa era of Godzilla films all reaching their 50th anniversaries over the last few years it's been a particularly good time for the S.H. MonsterArts line. After years of mostly ignoring it, Bandai Tamashii Nations have been marking these milestones with long-awaited releases of classic characters, starting with Godzilla vs Hedorah before moving forward into both Godzilla vs Gigan and Godzilla vs Megalon. 2023 was particularly special as it saw the release of S.H. MonsterArts Gigan, but what good is one of Godzilla's most iconic foes if we ..read more

  Release Date: February 2024 RRP: 15800 yen 2024 marks the 40th anniversary of the Transformers franchise, and a milestone like that certainly isn't going to uncelebrated. And part of that celebration is naturally looking back to where it all began with the original 1984 Optimus Prime toy. While there have been countless renditions and reissues of the Autobot leader over the years, none of them have been quite like what TakaraTomy have delivered here. Transformers Missing Link C-01 Convoy is an all-new rendition of the original Optimus ("Convoy" in Japan) toy, not only improving the de ..read more

Release Date: January 2024 RRP: 21,000 yen "There was an idea...The idea was to bring together a group of of remarkable people to see if they could become something more. To see if they could work together when we needed them to, to fight the battles that we never could."  - Nick Fury, The Avengers The Shin Japan Heroes Universe is a collaborative project between Toho, Studio Khara, Tsuburaya Productions and Toei that brings together the works of Hideaki Anno for all manner of merchandising and special events. During and following the production of his Rebuild of Evangelion film serie ..read more

If there's one important thing for a modern Kamen Rider fan to learn, it's that a series ending is never "the end". As finite as an ending may seem, between subsequent Winter crossover movie, V-Cinext releases and any other spin-off Toei might want to throw out in the not-too-distant future you can guarantee that all your favourite Riders will be back a good few times long after the final episode has aired. Kamen Rider Geats is no exception to this of course, with the stars of the Desire Grand Prix back once more for their first V-Cinext/epilogue outing in Kamen Rider Geats: Jyamato Awaking ..read more

Proving that trains and giant robots continue to be a winning combination, the Shinkansen Robo Henkei Shinkalion franchise has returned for a third instalment in 2024 - but this time mixing things up a little bit. Not only does Shinkalion: Change the World appear to be starting afresh with a brand new continuity (ignoring the 2018-19 original series and its 2021-22 sequel Shinkalion Z), but it's also working with a slightly older cast. From a production standpoint things have slightly changed too, with Production I.G. and Signal.MD taking over animation duties from OLM. The first episod ..read more

Release Date: January 2024 RRP: 14080 yen While the quality of the Terminator franchise certainly declined in later years, no one can deny the strength and impact those first two films had. The general consensus may lean toward Terminator 2: Judgment Day being the better of the pair (I personally prefer the first one), but both are very close to what should be considered 'perfect' films. Along with the strength of the cast, story and dialogue of the films, one aspect that's really stood the test of time is the robot designs and visual effects - with the T-800 Endoskeleton definitely earning ..read more