Eer guv, you ‘eard the news today? The way I eeerz it old London town ‘as bin invaded by crazy faceless rabbits!! It’s not safe I tell ya! Woe betide any who enter the area housing them, known to locals as the “Forbidden Planet“.

Much worse than that old chap! It doesn’t stop at London either! The group seem to belong to an international terrorabbit cell know in their home country as “Les Lapins Crétins“. From London they plan on setting off on a world tour of unfunny-bunny mayhem! They may have designs on world domination, but I decided to go face-to-faceless-face with them. Take the fight to their turf before they are forced back underground! I just hop it’s not too late…

Location: Forbidden Planet, Shaftsbury Avenue, London, UK.
Time: 6.08pm

As I rushed through the doors of the London location, my first thought was that I was late. Late for a very important date. Well, technically, I’m late for a time, rather than a date – I wasn’t THAT late. And it didn’t seem that I was too late to have missed any action. Although on closer inspection of the events unfolding before my eyes, perhaps the two grenades and hunting knife I had packed MAY yet turn out to be unnecessary. Turns out the only shooting I was going to be doing was with my camera.

For the uninitiated, the Raving Rabbids are the enemy opposition of Rayman who all proved popular enough to launch their own series of (mainly mini-game collection based) software. The Eeerz series now see the Rabbids expand into having their own line of collectable and Do-It-Yourself-Designable vinyl dolls. The Eeerz Invasion Tour invaded London with a collection of smaller and larger vinyl Rabbids designs. Some very talented artists were exhibiting examples they had sculpted and were on hand to showcase their talents with some live hand drawn designs.

Above: Snaking from top left to bottom right, shows a timeline montage of Luc Hudson, Creative Director of Triclops Studios. The top left shows how he starts with a blank 28cm Rabbid and, using a sharpie marker, builds up his intricate zombunny design. Luc is pictured in the bottom right with the finished design next to another Rabbid made by another of the artists.

Even though the Forbidden Planet store is usually stocked from wall to ceiling with everything a comic book super hero movie geek could ask for, they still found space to clear an area for the artists crafting and for visitors to try their hand at some Rabbids designs on paper templates. They even managed to clear space to get some non-hands-on time with the latest Kinect Rabbids title, Rabbids: Alive & Kicking.

Above is a close up of two of my favourites of the designs being showcased and below is a shot of the whole selection on display. The top three levels are those designed by the artists, but you can also see pictured the range of felt designs. Below that, you an make out the top of DIY versions on the bottom shelf.

The blank DIY Rabbids are available for £34.99 and the felt designs for £59.99. That seems a little expensive to me, but am unsure how that compares with similar products and they could make an ideal Christmas present for the artistic rabbit or Rayman fan in the family. They can also be viewed online here. If that doesn’t suit your budget, mini “pre-made” versions are available (including a rather nifty looking Assassin’s Creed version) for a much more affordable £3.99.

If you are in London (and rapid) you may be able to find the collection still on display in Forbidden Planet. Failing that you will have to catch up with them on the next lucky rabbits leg of their world tour.

WARNING: This article contains more rabbit based puns than is fit for human consumption in a 24hr period. Always use in a well ventilated room and if symptoms persist please purchase every Rayman game you can find. It won’t help, but it will make the people at Ubisoft feel all warm and fuzzy.