The Fantastic Four. Marvel’s First Family; Reed Richards, Sue Storm, Ben Grimm and Johnny Storm were forever transformed by cosmic rays into the Fantastic Four! There’s been one failed attempt at a movie, two more that weren’t great and now a brand new reboot from director Josh Trank (Director of the fascinating Chronicle) and written by Simon Kinberg (Writer of X-Men: The Last Stand, Days of Future Past and Star Wars: Rebels). Can these two bring us a unique and awe-inspiring take on the Fantastic Four? Here’s a hint:

 
Highlight of The Trailer

It does not bode well when the Marvel logo (not even the fancy new 3D one) elicits the biggest smile for the next 2 minutes. And what’s with that narrator? I didn’t know Tony Todd was in this movie! (Spoilers: He’s not. Boo-urns.)

Fresh Faces

Here are your Fantastic Four! These young pups are the latest heroes on the scene, given “daunting” new powers after teleporting to a parallel universe. Hoo boy. Let’s run down these cats. Miles Teller (Reed Richards) is known for starring in Divergent, so he’s right at home here, it looks like the same movie. Kate Mara (Sue Storm) was a US Marshal in Iron Man 2 and that’s the only thing I’ve seen her in. Michael B. Jordan (Johnny Storm), despite the backlash against his casting, seems like a solid actor plus he was in The Boondocks so that wins him points with me and finally Jamie Bell as Ben Grimm. Billy Elliot is The Thing. I don’t even need to make a joke, it writes itself.

Power Play

We all know the powers of the Fantastic Four by now so how do they look from what little we see? Not too shabby! We don’t get much (Johnny being the most notable) but Reed looks stretchy without looking like ropey CGI, Sue seems to have a similar effect to Jessica Alba but it’s invisibility, what can you do? Johnny’s flames are a little more subdued than Chris Evans but that’s not a bad thing and The Thing is not a rubber suit. That’s all I can say because there’s TWO shots of him.

Money Shot

Admittedly, that does look cool. (If a little Mass Effect-y.)

The teaser gives us nothing in terms of plot, just a lot of shots of science and military men looking stern while the narrator tries to make is overdose on gravitas but we get plenty of shots of the heroes and that’s that. I’m probably not going to see this. Mildly interesting familial dynamics and different takes on power sets I’ve seen before aren’t enough to draw me in but we’ll see what the general public things when The Fantastic Four hits screens on August 6th 2015.

Right out of the gate, we’re introduced to the downtrodden, out of work father of one, Mike Peterson (played by Angel Alumni, J. August Richards) as he’s witness to an apartment explosion and wastes no time in jumping in to rescue a woman. His heroic efforts catch the eye of a young hacker and, eventually, the attention of SHIELD as Coulson and Maria Hill gather a new team together in an effort to recruit new heroes as they appear and put a stop to foreseeable threats.

Being the pilot for a new show, we’re hit with a lot of information very fast but none of it feels especially rushed. We spend a little more time with Maria Hill and learn that she actually has a sense of humour, as well being conspiratorial with SHIELD physician, Dr. Streiten, played by Firefly Alumni Ron Glass. If more and more actors from Whedon’s past projects show up, I’ll be a happy camper. Who wouldn’t want to see the likes of Nathan Fillion, Jewel Staite and Adam Baldwin in this show?

Now, to the subject of speculation: Phil “Agent” Coulson. We all saw the Son of Coul die in New York but why is he here now? According the man himself, Fury faked his death and sent him on vacation to Tahiti but Hill and Dr. Streiten seem to know more. Is he a clone? A Life Model Decoy? Hell, is he even human? This will no doubt be an underlying subplot throughtout the season but my personal take is this: He is Coulson. Doesn’t matter what he is, he’s still Coulson and that’s good enough for me. For now.

The rest of the team is assembled and is a surprisingly diverse bunch. Ward is a specialist, conflict resolution, that kind of deal, but he admits to being scared of women and that he loves his Grandma. Admittedly, he said that after being nailed with truth serum by Coulson but still. Melinda May is Mulan the pilot and obviously has a mysterious reputation as a field agent. Fitz and Simmons are the adorable techies who have a really fun brother/sister bond and Skye is the hacker I mentioned earlier. They don’t get much development but you get a good sense of each character and we’ll be seeing more of them throughout the season so it’s a good introduction.

One thing I love in my entertainment is continuity and references so this show will be perfect for me. All the little nods to the cinematic universe and to a larger Marvel Universe made me smile. Mentions of Puente Antiguo, Project P.E.G.A.S.U.S., and freakin’ Longshot all had me sitting there saying:

The pilot episode was quick, to the point and highly entertaining. I can see so much potential for this show being the springboard for concepts later seen in the movies and vice-versa. We could have all-new heroes and villains to deal with and, budget be willing, maybe even some A-list guest stars (The A stand for Avenger). I’m looking forward to what wonders and woes this series will bring us and I hope you’ll be following along with his here on The Website of Doom! See you next weeeeeeeeeek!

Back in 2011, Wyrd Miniatures created an appealing little wargame-but-on-a-board entitled Puppet Wars, but after an initial flurry of mini-expansions, the puppets were left in their toybox and forgotten about…until now

My initial interest in Puppet Wars was piqued by the promise of a fast, fun and tactically satisfying miniatures-based board game, but it fell between two stools. Too complex for board gamers, yet too similar to Wyrd’s main game Malifaux to draw the existing wargames crowd, Puppet Wars didn’t find much of an audience and failed to wrench my wallet open. Wyrd took their misfit monster back to their lab and gave it a thorough dissection and now the leaner, more focused Puppet Wars: Unstitched is unleashed upon the world!

Oh just look at that smiling face!

In this article I want to delve into the Pandora’s toybox of Puppet Wars: Unstitched and show you what lovely things lie within. Let’s see…crank the handle and a tinny little tune plays, then SPROING! off comes the box lid and good grief, what is that smell? This is not that faintly librarian, fresh-paper-new-game-smell, but a violently plastic assault on the nostrils; it’s best to open this one in an airy room.

The box itself feels very solid and sturdy, the card is thick and glossy; it feels like you could use it as a coffee table (don’t). Underneath the lid (and smell) lies the game board, which just feels quality. The edges are taped, the hinge moves freely and it doesn’t multi-fold like some demented origami puzzle, but collapses simply in half. It’s the sort of board you get in old-fashioned games and looks like it’s going to last a very long time.

Behold! The filthy floor of a witch’s shack!

Digging a little deeper there’s the mysteriously widescreen rulebook and a vastly oversized sheet of assembly instructions. The latter is most welcome, given that you’ll be assembling forty-four of those little puppet buggers.

There is also this cereal-box-thickness sheet of tokens, which are pretty feeble, but at least the printing is dead centred.

I’d have preferred a cut-out-and-keep mask…

Crammed up in one end of the box there are two puppet decks – one per player – which hide the miniature bases, stat cards and more tokens – plastic this time and very nicely engraved.

That last deck of cards is a bit pessimistic.

Ok, ok, we’re getting to the part everyone wants to see, so here we go: The plastic sprues! No, really, look at how those have been designed to stack up so nothing breaks in the box; that is really, really smart. These sprues are honestly some of the best I’ve ever seen, you can tell that they’ve thought about where the attachment points are, so that no details are going to be messed up when you clip the miniatures free.

A little engineering is all it takes.

The original Puppet Wars came with metal miniatures which I wasn’t too keen on; they were small and cramped and fiddly, so it’s great to see that the replacement plastics are not only bigger, but completely resculpted and oh, sweet mother of petrochemical products, do they look grand.

Look at all those wonderful toys.

The moulding on these miniatures is pin-sharp and they’ve been sculpted just right; enough detail to add character, but not so much as to make them too busy. The puppets are a Tim Burton-esque genre-bent nightmare of undead, knife-appendaged cuteness. Assembling them is very tricky in places, ranging from simple two-piece constructions to, well, this:

There are three of this one to assemble. His badge is about 3mm across. Yep.

It’s safe to say that this is not a board game for the inexperienced gamer and certainly requires a few hours of clipping and gluing before you can play, but once you’re done you’ll have a formidable puppet army and probably some hobby knife injuries to show for your hard work

Come out to pla-aay!

They’re all unique little personalities and easy to identify when on the board, which is quite an achievement for unpainted plastics. This little bruiser is my favourite.

The years of isolation have not been kind to Edward…

At first glance, Puppet Wars: Unstitched looks and feels like a very high-quality game with few aberrant cheap components. The miniatures are clearly the stars of this puppet show, but the board, cards and even the box are excellent. The oddly-sized box is clearly a compromise to give a better game board and the aforementioned stackable sprues and cleverly moulded attachment points show that much thought and care has been poured into this game’s production.

It’s worth mentioning that Unstitched may find itself facing down a bit of an angry mob. As I understand it, Wyrd Miniatures aren’t offering owners of the original Puppet Wars a downloadable .pdf of the rules, nor the updated stat cards from Unstitched. Essentially, this means that the people who sank money into the game originally would have to buy an entire new copy to play with the new rules and many are seeing this as a bit of a kick in the teeth. If the risk of alienating existing players wasn’t enough, Wyrd seem to have put little effort into publicising Puppet Wars‘ return; a cursory Google of the title brings up precious little information and even the official site does little to show off the gameplay, or even the beautiful miniatures, very Wyrd indeed.

Next time I’ll be digging into the rules of Puppet Wars: Unstitched and learning how to pull the strings. PULL THE STRING!

I’m in this pic, just barely offscreen. Trust me.

That movie is Equestria Girls.

I have to preface this with two very big points. One, for the majority of the 72-minute feature My Little Pony film, all the characters are human (with the exception of one, who is a dog). And two, when fans first got wind of this, there was a SHITSTORM.

This pretty much sums up the reactions.

Think about it: you have a magical world where ponies go on adventures, and then suddenly for no sensical reason, we turn them into teenagers in a high school setting. Who wouldn’t be a little apprehensive? Okay, the reason was to compete with the likes of rival company Mattel’s popular Monster High line of dolls. But still! Why not create a new series based in high school from the onset rather than drag a series with a huge fan base that has nothing to do with high school into it? Well, that’s it, right there. There’s a huge fan base consisting of mostly older viewers, some in high school. So why not go after the guaranteed sell?

Just… just don’t look directly at them.

BUT for review purposes, I won’t be focusing on the business end of it, because it somehow (like the show, which was initially made to sell toys) manages to transcend the marketing ploy. This film features the talents of the team at DHX Media, who creates the regular pony show, as well as the writing of Friendship is Magic head writer Meghan McCarthy. Since the trailer was first released, and this fact was made known, it put a lot of people’s minds at ease, myself included.

Theater Experience

The showing we went to was sold out, and the crowd was amazing. People came from all over, and the audience ranged from little kids to geeky adults with no kids. Even though our group was big, it only made up a fraction of the theater. It was fun to Brony-spot outside before the showing.

Inside there was much laughter, clapping, oooos, ahhhhs, dancing in seats, and a few “What the hell?!”s as the film’s plot unfolded. My favorite audience moment happened toward the end when (*SLIGHT SPOILER*) the villain wields a sledgehammer and for two seconds it looks like she’s about to use it on Spike (*SLIGHT SPOILER OVER*), which caused someone from the back to yell out “JAYSUS!”

I’m not saying it was entirely appropriate for “What the hell?” or “JAYSUS!” to be uttered in an audience comprised of one-third little kids (and I don’t encourage it), but it was funny nonetheless.

Overall, it was probably the most fun I’ve had in a theater for a while. And those kinds of experiences where the audience is totally involved in every step of the movie are exceedingly rare.

The Actual Movie

I know I said I wasn’t going to focus on the business end of it, but I kind of wish Hasbro had just marketed it as The Friendship is Magic Movie (set in an alternate universe) instead of its own separate thing. Because that’s basically what it is; a proper movie based on the show, which is exactly what I wanted. And boy, it didn’t disappoint.

It opens shortly after the close of the third season, wherein Twilight Sparkle, the unicorn main character of the show, has been transformed into an Alicorn Princess (a pony with both wings and horns who possesses incredible magic powers). She is at the Equestrian capitol of Canterlot, fretting over both her new responsibilities and new wings to her Dragon assistant Spike. In the night, her magical crown is stolen, which leads to a chase that ends with the perpetrator going through a mysterious mirror portal.

“I don’t have fingers yet, but TAKE ONE OF THESE!”

Celestia (the Equestrian ruler) tells Twilight that she alone must journey to the world through the mirror and retrieve her crown, or else the Elements of Harmony (Okay. I’m not going explain every single thing from the show or we’ll be here forever. Let’s just say they’re important, alright?) will have no power in their world, leading to all sorts of catastrophe.

“Your friends can’t come with you because Plot Device.”

On the other side, she finds she is a new and unfamiliar being called a human, and the place she appears in front of is Canterlot High School. And so our story begins!

Bring on the humans!

What I Thought

On the whole, the film is low-key, letting the story unfold through character interactions, with the occassional musical numbers, and an action montage. Normally with direct-to-video (which I’m not sure technically applies in this case) feature-length films based on tv shows for kids, there are a bunch of pointless scenes that play out solely to pad time. While sometimes it feels like this might be happening (for example the soccer match between Twilight and Rainbow Dash), it actually serves as a plot point further on. Not to say those scenes aren’t fun.

SPOILERS: Twilight has her ass handed to her.

In fact I cannot think of a single scene that could be removed and not affect something else that happens. The human version of each character is slowly rolled out, so we can spend a little time with each before the whole gang gets together and acts as a whole. It’s pretty tightly written and well paced, lacking the troubles some of the hour-long episodes suffer at not having enough time for the story.

The comedy is solid. They play with Twilight getting used to the human world in fun ways, without overdoing it.

This scene from the first trailer is what actually sold me.

Most of the jokes are character-based, but are written as such that they’d be funny regardless. The same good, solid laughs present in the show can be found here, much to fan delight. Pinkie Pie keeps her trademark impossible cartoony slapstick and physicality. The first thing her human doppleganger does is take one of the balloons sewn into her skirt and blow it up. Perfect.

You just keep on being Pinkie, Pinkie.

The ending was unexpected, and did not disappoint! I will not go into spoilers, but it sorta-kinda fulfilled a hope I had for the movie as a whole.

All in all, it felt like a proper MLP:FiM movie (sort-of sans Pony –they manage to work it in), which is all I really wanted.

Oh, do they work it in.

There are tons of things dropped in for fans, and it did a good job of standing on its own, working as both a movie and as part of the regular series via a side adventure. I would even venture to say that one who is not familiar with the series would also enjoy it. But of course it’s a much richer experience if you are.

Rock on, bafflingly popular background character!

Equestria Girls comes out on DVD and Blu ray on August 6th for those who missed the theater experience.

Albert runs an offbeat film podcast with his friend Austin called The Film Room. They are currently discussing GOJIRA.

This is the official press release from the Licensing International Expo:

Saban Brands announced today that it will launch Saban’s Power Rangers Super Megaforce, the newest season of Power Rangers, in 2014 on Nickelodeon. Power Rangers, one of the top rated and longest running boys live-action series in television history, offers SUPER MEGA action, excitement, humor and entertainment, while maintaining core themes of friendship, teamwork, fitness and helping others.

“As Saban Brands and Power Rangers celebrate the 20^th Anniversary of the iconic franchise this year, it is more apparent than ever that the show has a strong connection to fans of all ages and backgrounds,” said Elie Dekel, President of Saban Brands. “We are happy to continue our partnership with Nickelodeon and we look forward to entertaining our fans with more action-packed, SUPER MEGA adventures in 2014 with Power Rangers Super Megaforce.”

The upcoming season of Power Rangers Super Megaforce focuses on the Rangers’ mission to defeat a massive alien army Armada that was sent to conquer Earth. To face this threat, Gosei, a supernatural guardian who has protected Earth for centuries, gives the Rangers special morphers and keys, which allow them to morph into Super Megaforce Rangers. The Rangers also have an added special ability to morph into any team of Power Rangers from the past. These super-sized adventures can only mean one thing: the all-new Power Rangers Super Megaforce has arrived!

But you’re not interested in promotional spin, you want to know who these Legends are that I referred to! The tale of returning Rangers has been one long debacle but Saban settled on 13 Legends to return for the Anniversary! They’re an interesting bunch with some interesting surprises.

What do you guys think? Have you been following Super Megaforce during production? What do you make of the returning Legends and the adaptation of a much beloved Sentai series? Let me know in the comments below!

]]> https://www.thewebsiteofdoom.com/articles/power-rangers-super-megaforce-unveiled/feed/ 1 https://www.thewebsiteofdoom.com/articles/lego-minifigures-photography-at-play/ https://www.thewebsiteofdoom.com/articles/lego-minifigures-photography-at-play/#comments Fri, 07 Jun 2013 22:51:40 +0000 http://www.thewebsiteofdoom.com/?p=8577

Hi-ho, reader-rinos! A long time ago, on a website still in its infancy, Aaron put up an article about people taking pictures of their Superman toys on Flickr. I really liked that article. I also like LEGO Minifigures. Do you see where I’m going with this? Of course you do, you read the title. Enough build-up, let’s take a look at what I found!All of these images were found on tumblr but I’ll give credit when I can!

Toxic Shock by WampaStompa

Dance for me, George by Walter Boy

The Dream by Powerpig

Keystone Troopers by Kevin Poulton

King Kong vs. Godzilla by Chris “cjdc” Christian

Is there a problem, Commander? by Chris McVeigh

What do you guys think? Are there any particular LEGO Minifigure pictures that make you laugh? Let me know in the comments below!

Friends, Doomites, countrymen and women and those of other countries as well, let us discuss Ender’s Game. I first read Ender’s Game about fifteen years ago. It was suggested by a friend and I had little to no expectations from it, as the two of us did not always share the same tastes in entertainment. Imagine my surprise then, when I got a story of a young boy who, in order to stop himself from bulling, created a whole new way to think of combat and warfare. It presented a government so burned by an act of violence that it spent every resource it had, including it’s children to such a thing from ever happening again. As an American living in a world before our government spent over a decade of war based on a single act of violence, it seemed fantastical indeed and was written well enough to sweep me into narrative and it’s tale of Ender Wiggin.

Time has passed now, and as I stated, the idea of an obsessive government is not as far fetched as it once was, and the author of Ender’s Game has turned out to be a horrible homophobic dickbag that goes out of his way to repress the rights of humans that he disagrees with. Personally, I am not sure I can be swept away in this story anymore, but I still am hopeful that a movie that has lived in development hell for almost two decades can still make me care about the story again.

Let’s watch that traler..

Hoo Boy. Well, that happened. Here are some thoughts:

– Captain So Low

I imagine Harrison Ford felt a little odd standing at the exact same window that Luke, Leia, R2-D2, and C-3PO were standing at when they went to go find his frozen ass.

– Whose Movie Is It, Anyway?

Thank heavens Tony Stark made his new armor so…spacious. I always felt claustrophobic watching those other suits.

– Gotta Catch ‘Em All

Seriously people, pick a movie to steal from! I think this shot is stolen from JJ Abrams Star Trek!

– It’s Ending Time!

At last we have found the secret breeding ground of the Mighty Power Ranger. Look at them in their natural habitat. I have always wanted to watch them graze. Oh, look one in the back looks almost ready to start morphin’ soon!

– Jeebus, My Freakin’ Eyes!

This probably upsets me the most. This training room is where many of the key moments in this film should happen. It is in this room Ender finds a whole new way of thinking. I ask you, can you tell what shit is in this room. Imagine the inevitable 3-D…It is over saturated with CGI and your eyes can’t focus on anything. Didn’t we learn anything from George Lucas? Too many effects look cheap, simple.

Look at the difference between Pan’s Labyrinth and Attack Of The Clones, which one stays with you?

I rest my case.

—————————————————————————————————-

Overall: So it looks like the guy who last gave us Wolverine Origins is giving us a by the numbers regurgitation of every sci-fi film that has come out in the last 5-10 years. Hooray.

I want to be wrong, I want to love it, but this preview looks sterile, and vapid.

How sad.

spinny~spinny~spinny

Journey to the Centre of the TARDIS starts out strong as the TARDIS is captured by a brotherly band of scavengers and the TARDIS interior is thrown into disarray. While the Doctor “gently coerces” the scavengers on a Clara-hunt, Clara herself is left to find her own way through the TARDIS’ labyrinthine corridors, discovering things along the way that are both wonderful and terrifying, as the TARDIS should be.

Nice to see the Doctor’s cupboard is as cluttered as mine.

Out of the guest stars this time, only Tricky is likable and it would have been nice to see him join as a companion, because seriously, I’m getting tired of modern era companions and having a future dude with robot eyes could be useful. His brothers are tall and stupid and short and dickish, respectively. But in a move that Moffat has used before, the dickish brother remembers what the Doctor told him before the timeline reset and treats him better from then on. It’s stupid and contrived but I like Tricky so at least he’s better off. Oh, yeah! Another time reboot, sure it’s only a couple hours but this kind of thing undermines an episode immensely, especially given what Clara learns about the Doctor. It’s right up there with “And it was all a dream” in the realms of bullshit status quo resets.

Spoilers

I don’t think I can consider this a Doctor-lite episode despite the focus being on Clara exploring the TARDIS. They’re not seperated for long and we do see a lot of the Doctor’s efforts. It just feels like it should be have been a Doctor-lite episode and wouldn’t have lost anything. Hell, they could have built on the Clara/TARDIS animosity and have them resolve it as the TARDIS helps Clara avert disaster as the Doctor is offscreen doing something else but what we got was fine, it was still fun.

You shut your beautiful mouth, Clara!

What really made this episode for me was the continuity nods. I freaking LOVE continuity porn and this episode was drenched in it…. What? *Ahem* All the little nods and references are what I live for. I love it in MTMTE and I love it here. From the whispers in the console room (I quoted the 9th Doctor line used here to my friend Ryan while we were watching an earlier scene) and the swimming pool to the library (housing a book that I think every fan would love to have a flick through) and the telescope from Torchwood House and the 7th Doctor’s umbrella!
This episode was full of fun little details and it was great to see the layout of this new TARDIS.

Journey to the Centre of the TARDIS is fun but flawed. It has lots of interesting hooks and some great visuals but falls a little short of being the perfect episode for me. Next week we have the return of Mark Gatiss and something he knows a thing or two about. Mundane and wholesome exterior meets sinister and twisted morality. What secrets hide behind the gates of Sweetville? Join us next week as we come face-to-face with The Crimson Horror.

With a wealth of bow-wielding female protagonists dominating media, with the likes of The Hunger Games, Brave and Tomb Raider, it was only a matter of time before someone capitalised on that and Nerf is leading the charge with this new line aimed squarely at that demographic and is on course for a bullseye in my opinion.

“Hit me with your best shot!”

The aesthetic is refreshing and the design of each blaster is certainly unique, rather than simply painting a Maverick pink and calling it a day. Each blaster is curvaceous, with eye-popping pinks, purples and white paint apps and apparently some decal customisation option as well!

The focus is not only on empowering female Nerfers with a line of blasters that rival the boys (Matching the N-Strike Elite blasters’ range of 75ft ) but also encouraging social interaction and expanded play features. Let’s take a look at some of the products that are going to be on offer.

Heartbreaker Bow

Heartbreaker Bow

Taking the mechanics of the classic Big Bad Bow and giving it a stylish make-over, the Heartbreaker is the quintessential bow weapon but if I’m honest, it looks a little goofy, especially given its size. It’s less Katniss Everdeen and more Baby Cupid in terms of scale. The Heartbreaker Bow will retails for around £19.99.

Crossbow

“Smile, you sonuva–!”

No quaint little title for this hefty beast, it’s a mo’fuggin’ CROSSBOW and isn’t afraid to say it. It’s no doubt going to be one of the best blasters of the line on looks alone, I mean, look at it. It’s awesome! The tactical rail is useful for the Smartphone Cradle, which will help with the App-based gaming experience they’re so quick to peddle towards you, which is cool but I think this blaster stands on its own merits. The Cradle will be £14.99 and the Crossbow itself will retail for £24.99.

Alpha Girl Mission Kit

“Shiny, let’s be bad girls!”

If bows aren’t your forte, you can always go cowgirl. NOT LIKE THAT! The Alpha Girl Mission Kit features a pretty cool looking Revolver pistol, with a cocking mechanism that favours holding it one handed so these would be really fun to dual-wield. Not only do you get a kick-ass pistol but you also get protective eyewear and holster. This is looking to be a fun rival to other sidearms like the Maverick and Strongarm.

Mission Control App

Other products include a mini crossbow pistol, a two pack for “BFFs” and a variety of accessories to compliment the line. All-in-all, it’s shaping up to be an incredibly successful line, much like LEGO Friends has been, not conforming to the typical “Girls like dresses and horses and being subservient and nothing but pink“ stereotype. As the older brother to a 7 year-old girl, I’m thankful that more and more companies are realising that the old girl archetypes don’t hold anymore. I’ll be glad to pick up some of these for my little sister and she can have some kick-ass Nerf all her own (so she isn’t bugging me for MY Nerf guns).

The Nerf Rebelle line will be launched worldwide this coming Autumn.

First up, the 4-inch figures! You may have seen me review some of the MMPR 2010 and Samurai figures last year but this year we can expect a lot more figures that span the entire franchise! These will be Limited Edition figures with a metallic finish and while I think that’d look pretty goofy alongside the regular figures, it’ll be great to see brand new figures of older Rangers in the 4-inch scale.

Limited Edition Metallic Figures

Tokyo Vinyl are in the business of stylised “chibi” interpretations of pop culture characters, in much the same way Pop! Vinyl are and both will be releasing chibi Ranger figures in the near future. Depending on your fetish, you might go for these or not but personally, they’re not for me but I do find them fun in their own way.

Tokyo Vinyl Red Ranger

Want a Megazord but don’t have space for massive chunks of plastic? Then the Retrofire line is for you! The Retrofire line has been around for a few years but with varying degrees of success. They tend to have a weird asymmetrical articulation thing going on where not all the joints can move like it’s opposite though there are a few figures that have regular articulation (both arms and legs move the same way) but if you’re just planning on putting them on a shelf to display, they are generally designed for poses so it’s not too bad. As well as the Megaforce Megazords, they seem to be re-releasing the Dino Megazord as well.

Retrofire Megazords

Want a Megazord and have a sturdy shelf to place heavy objects on? Then the Die-cast Legacy Megazord is for you! It’s the same old Megazord, but it’s heavy as FFFUUUUUU– A lot of grey plastic has been replaced by shiny die-cast metal, notably on the arms and legs (maybe even the sword) and it even comes in a retro stule package that homages the original. I can see these appealing to both fans and 90’s nostalgia buffs.

Legacy Dino Megazord

Rounding out the Megazords and stepping into the realm of Japanese awesomesauce are the Super Robot Chogokin figures. Taking the idea of Retrofires and dialing up the awesome to 11, the SRC Megazords are Japanese die-cast collector figures and so far, there’s been a fair few released. At NYTF, only the Dino Megazord, SPD Delta Squad Megazord and the Samurai Megazord were on display (Alongside some excellent S.H. Figuarts, highly articulated collector figures which I lust after like you wouldn’t believe) but SRC have also create a figure for the Mystic Force Titan Megazord as well so we can probably expect more down the road. I know the SRC Daizyujin (Dino Megazord) is available for pre-order on the US Toys ‘R’ Us site (Due out on the 15th Feb).

SRC Megazords and S.H. Figuarts

Going to a slightly smaller, but no less awesome scale, are the Mighty Morphin’ Legacy Mask Collection. Based on a similar line the Japanese do for all the Sentai Red Rangers, this set is purely for the original Mighty Morphin’ team and it looks glorious! I don’t know whether the full production run will have the Metallic finish like those in the package or there’ll be two variations but either way, I’ll be glad to have them in my display cabinet.

Mighty Morphin’ Legacy Mask Collection

And now, the crown jewel of this entire line-up, the most requested and desired of anything PR-related… The Legacy Power Morpher.

*Squeeeeeeeee*

Yeah, drink it in, friends. This is flavour country. Coming with 5 coins and chock full of lights, sounds and die-cast, the Legacy Power Morpher is the must-have item of this selection and guaranteed to get any fan or nostalgia buff pumped! I don’t have to say anymore, now do I?

That’s all I really have to show you for now, folks! The images I’ve used were gathered by Tokunation and they have more extensive galleries you can check out. I can say for certainty that the Americans and Canadians amongst you will have little to no trouble finding these out in the wild on your side of the pond but for us UK fans, the availability of ANY of these products is up in the air. I guess the 4-inch figures and Retrofires will make it but as for the high-end collectibles? No clue. No word. Only hope that we will not be forgotten in the coming year. Be on the look-out for more Power Ranger articles coming from the DOOM Towers in the coming months and may the Power protect you, always.